Sonata IX for violin and continuo in C minor

Lonati
is one of the many composers from the intense development of 17^th
and early 18^th century Italian music to have slipped between the
uncertain records of that era. He was known as the Queen’s hunchback as he was
leader of the orchestra of the cross-dressing and physically deformed Christina
of Sweden, who moved to Italy after her abdication. Arcangelo Corelli, who has
been better treated by history, was a rank-and-file violinist in the Queen’s
orchestra and may well have been inspired by Lonati’s startling virtuosity and
polyphonic writing for the violin. Lonati and Corelli both produced major
collections of violin sonatas at the beginning of the new century.

The only known
manuscript source of Lonati’s 12 sonatas, formerly held at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek,
Dresden, was lost during World War II. Based on pre-war photographs, Christoph
Timpe has issued a facsimile of the collection. On the surface it shows the
same layout as several other Italian sets of violin sonatas of the period. The
12 sonatas are divided into six sonate
da chiesa and five sonate da camera, culminating in an extended
set of divisions on a ground bass. The collection also has a number of archaic
elements, such as unexpected harmonic alterations, extrovert rhetorical
gestures and a degree of virtuosity unknown to the following generation of
Italian violinists. All arias display extensive polyphonic writing and hence
double-stopping.