Dario Castello's Sonate concertate in stil moderno is a collection of 29 trio sonatas in two volumes, with 10 of them employing the sackbut. These works represent a significant repertoire for the sackbut in an era where specific instrumentation was only starting to become a convention. While these pieces are often studied, performed and recorded in Europe, most American trombonists are not aware of their existence. This study seeks to acquaint the American trombonist with the sonatas of Castello and to provide performance suggestions for those less familiar with this genre. Chapter 1 presents a survey of the current literature on Castello. Chapter 2 provides an historical background for music in Venice in the early 17th century, while Chpater 3 focuses on the composer and his music for sackbut. Chapter 4 investigages the sonata in early 17th century Venice. Chapter 5 provides an insight into early baroque performance practice by discussing principles such as affect, tempo, ornamentation, diminution and articulation. Examples from the ten sonatas are used to illustrate these principles, providing the modern trombonist with a framework in which to study Castello's music. The final chapter discusses the implications of this study on the American trombone curriculum.

The String quartet, a representative genre in the chamber music, was emerged in the Pre-Classical era, a period that the trio sonata was about at end of its development. The musical characteristics of the string quartets and trio sonatas were closely connected. The present study centers on the transitional stylistic features of the two genres in order to classify the initial stage for the development of the string quartet. This research focuses on the analysis of works of the trio sonata and the string quartet which were written during the transitional period. The thesis consists of three main chapters, in addition to the introduction and conclusion. Chapter one discusses the background of the string chamber music in Pre-Classical era. Chapter two describes the development of the trio sonata from 1720 to 1770. Chapter three concentrates on the musical characteristics of early development of the string quartets. The works of the trio sonata in mid-eighteenth century had already been characterized by the treble-dominated homophonic texture. In addition, the viola replaced the basso continuo and the chordal texture in the inner voices that led to the result in the change of the texture of trio sonata to the string quartet. The emergence of plentiful social occasions in Pre-Classical era required a large number of the chamber music. The string quartets were brought during this crucial moment. The composers at this stage tried a variety of tastes of styles and eventually, the mixed characteristics evolved into a natural, elegance, balanced, and symmetrical style and led the string quartet to its maturity.

No description available.