Composer: Marco Uccellini (b. 1603 - d. 1680)
Performance date: 29/06/2014
Venue: St. Brendan’s Church
Composition Year: 1642
Duration: 00:03:48
Recording Engineer: Richard McCullough, RTE
Instrumentation Category:Small Mixed Ensemble
Instrumentation Other: 2vn, vc, db, lu
Artists:
Kate Hearne -
[recorder/cello]
Fredrik Bock -
[lute]
Mattias Frostenson -
[bass]
Fredrik From -
[violin]
Peter Spissky -
[violin]
The
Bergamasca is one of the oldest and simplest of all the grounds, based on a
repeated I-IV-V-I pattern. The dance’s origins lie in the Northern Italian city
of
where it was performed as a courtship dance for couples, and the earliest
surviving instrumental version dates from around 1560. Uccellini’s uplifting
‘Aria sopra la Bergamasca’ appears in his opus 3 collection of 42 sonate, Arie,
et correnti, published in
in 1642. With this work, he proves himself to be a master of variation form,
and during the 31 repetitions of the ground bass, the violins duel in a battle
of virtuosity that never fails to raise spirits and get toes tapping.
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