Concerto Grosso in c, Op. 1 No. 2

A generation younger than Vivaldi, Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764) came to maturity at the same time as works like The Four Seasons were first being heard. And whereas Vivaldi was born and worked almost exclusively in Venice, Locatelli traveled quite widely from his native Bergamo. As a teenager he moved to Rome to seek his fortune, possibly studying for a time with the great Arcangelo Corelli. Enjoying aristocratic support, Locatelli flourished in the Eternal City and was able to publish his first set of ensemble concertos in 1721. Throughout the next decade he journeyed north of the Alps, composing hundreds of works for his own performance at stops in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, and other cities. His final years were spent as a teacher and music publisher in what was, at the time, the Western world’s capital for music publishing: Amsterdam. Thus by virtue of geography, Locatelli had ample opportunity to see and study the latest music being created by masters across the continent.
His twelve Concerti Grossi, Op. 1 (1721) were published while Locatelli lived in Rome. They all betray Corelli’s influence in both structure and substance. Consider the second work in the collection, a C-minor concerto scored for string quartet with added strings and basso continuo. It opens with a gracious Adagio in which the prevailing homogeneity of tutti strings allows brief moments of solo writing to slide into and out of the full texture with consummate ease. As expected, the second and fourth movements are faster and based on fugue (see last evening’s program note for a refresher!). The first fugue sets a subject that will sound familiar to devotées of Bach’s G-minor Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin, and the second fugue is no less infectious or rhythmically spirited. Onto the “church sonata” foundation epitomized by Corelli, with its four movements arranged slow-fast-slow-fast, Locatelli adds a spirited final dance in Allegro tempo. Throughout the concerto, he demonstrates a command of tonal structure—more varied than Vivaldi’s—as well the ability to show the string family in its best light. Every phrase shows a master’s hand, as the writing moves between agile brilliance and tender expressivity.

(c) Jason Stell