Dario Castello

Dario Castello (Venice, bapt. 19 October 1602 - Venice 2 July 1631) [1] was an Italian
composer and violinist from the early Baroque period who worked and published in
Venice. As a composer, he was a late member of the Venetian School and had a role in the
transformation of the instrumental canzona into the sonata.

Biographical details

Dario Domenico Castello was born in Venice, where he was baptised on 19 October
1602.[2]

The title page of the 1621 edition of the first volume of the Sonate Concertate in stil
moderno records him as Capo di Compagnia de Musichi d'Instrumenti da fiato in Venetia,
indicating that he led a Venetian company of piffari, a band that could include sackbuts,
cornetts, shawms, but also violins and viols.
On 19 November 1624 he was appointed «sonador di violin» (violin player) of the St.
Mark's music chapel, at the time headed by Claudio Monteverdi.[3]

The title page of the second volume (1629) of the "Sonate concertate in Stil moderno" lists
him as Musico Della Serenissima Signoria di Venetia in S. Marco, & Capo di Compagnia de
Instrumenti, indicating that he worked at the great Basilica of St. Mark's where Claudio
Monteverdi was maestro di capella. Castello's use of the stile concitato (agitated style) —
with quick repeated-note figures— is consistent with his association with Monteverdi.

His brother Francesco (trombonist) and his father Giovanni Battista (violinist) also were
working at St Mark's.

Dario Castello died in Venice on 2 July 1631 during the great plague of 1630.[4]

Style

Of his music, 29 separate compositions survive. Castello's music is inventive and

technically challenging. Strictly worked polyphonic sections alternate with dramatic
recitatives over basso continuo, in keeping with the title of the publications "in stil
moderno"; however he also uses some of the older canzona technique, which uses short
sections of highly contrasting texture, and active rather than lyrical melodic lines.
Unusually for the time, Castello often specifies the instruments for each part, calling for
cornetti, violins, sackbuts (Baroque trombone) and dulcians. That these works were still
being reprinted in the 1650s attests to Castello's influence. Modern editions of the
complete sonatas are published by Ut Orpheus Edizione.

Works

Cover of a
facsimile of Dario
Castello's
"Sonate
Concertate in Stil
Moderno per
Sonar nel Organo
overo Spineta,
Libro Primo, V".

Sonate Concertate in Stil Moderno, Libro I, Venice, 1621

Sonate Concertate in Stil Moderno, Libro II, Venice, 1629

Exultate Deo, motet (Ghirlanda sacra 1625 and 1636).

Ensembles with Castello's name

"Castello Consort" . (The Netherlands)

References

1. ^ Rodolfo Baroncini, "Dario Castello e la formazione del musico a Venezia: nuovi

documenti e nuove prospettive", Recercare, 29 (2017), p. 66, 88

2. ^ Rodolfo Baroncini, "Dario Castello", p. 66

3. ^ Baroncini, "Dario Castello", p. 73

4. ^ Baroncini, "Dario Castello", p. 88.

Further reading

Rodolfo Baroncini, "Dario Castello e la formazione del musico a Venezia: nuovi

documenti e nuove prospettive", Recercare, 29 (2017), pp. 53-100.

Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Dario Castello: A Non-Existent Biography, Music and Letters,

LIII/2 (1972)

Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi, 3rd ed.
Mineola NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-486-28151-5

Recordings

The Floating City, His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, Hyperion CDA67013 .

Viaggio Musicale, Il Giardino Armonico, Teldec 8573825362.

Dario Castello Sonate, Ensemble La Capriola, Mieroprint EM 6005.

Dario Castello: Sonata Quarta a2, Reversio, (6-2 studio/REVERSIO. Catalog number: 6-
2STD-CD013)

Falla con misuras - 15th-17th Century Italian Chamber Music, Reversio,(6-2

studio/REVERSIO. Catalog number: 6-2STD-CD008)

Sonata Concertate - Book I The Academy of Ancient Music dir Richard Egarr, Catalog
number: AAM005

Sonata Concertate, Europa Galante dir Fabio Biondi (Label Opus 111, 1992))

Sonate concertate in stil moderno, Ensemble Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci (Label
Tactus, 2006)

Sonate concertate in stil moderno, John Holloway, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Jane Gower
(Label ECM, 2010)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dario Castello.

Free scores by Dario Castello at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Last edited 2 months ago by Quaerendo invenietis

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