The Trio Sonatas of Michele Mascitti (original) (raw)

2023, Marchitelli, Mascitti e la musica strumentale napoletana fra Sei- e Settecento

The Neapolitan violinist Michele Mascitti (1663/4-1760), who emigrated to France in 1704 or a little earlier, was from that year until his death the leading Italian exponent of the solo sonata and trio sonata for strings in his adopted homeland and an early composer of concertos there. He was a disciple but not an epigone of Corelli, being one of the first composers in Europe to exemplify and help to solidify a 'Neo-Corellian consensus' regarding the normal structure and style for a sonata. In France he remained highly popular, providing a model for those French composers, starting with Dandrieu in 1705, who sought to write sonatas of markedly Italian cast, even though both he and his French imitators took care to make tactful accommodations with indigenous taste. He enjoyed the successive patronage of many high-ranking persons in Paris, among them the duc d'Orléans, cardinal Ottoboni and elector Max II Emanuel of Bavaria. From about 1715 onwards he was under the protection of the prominent Crozat family, at whose house he lodged. Between 1704 and 1738 Mascitti produced nine collections of instrumental music. All included sonatas for violin and continuo, but the first and fourth each contained in addition six trio sonatas for two violins, cello or bass viol and continuo, the sixth a trio sonata for violin, obbligato cello or bass viol and continuo, and the seventh four concerti grossi for an ensemble structured along Corellian lines. The article focuses on his rarely discussed trio sonatas from Opp. 1, 4 and 6. It highlights his rich musical imagination and high level of musical craftsmanship with the aid of copious music examples. His indebtedness to Corelli-greatly overstated by some disparaging later commentators-is acknowledged wherever in evidence, but equal weight is laid on his more adventurous, sometimes even experimental, side. A final plea is made for his elevation to greater prominence in musical life via more comprehensive publication, performance and recording of his music.