Cavalier Giovanni Battista Buonamente

Giovanni Battista Buonamente was among the most original and inventive Italian composers of the seventeenth century. Peter Allsop reveals his importance as part of a tradition that stands in direct antithesis to that of the Corellian sonata today regarded as the 'norm'. This development is traced in a series of likely teacher-pupil relationships from Salamone Rossi to Marco Uccellini, the most prolific Italian composers of instrumental ensemble music in the first half of the seventeenth century. Featuring over 100 music examples, this book provides both a detailed examination of some of the most sought after music in seventeenth-century Italy and a fascinating picture of the nature of musical patronage at this time.

Peter Allsop

Contents: Preface; Life and times: a preview; La serenissima casa Gonzaga; The imperial court; From Vienna to Assisi; Variation sonatas; Dances and sinfonias; Free sonatas; The canzonas; The legacy; Music examples; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.