Ciaconna

Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665) and Francesco Turini (c. 1595-1656) were contemporaries active in northern Italy during the height of the early Baroque. Turini is thought to have been born in Prague, where his father was a court musician—and the talented boy’s first teacher. Merula, on the other hand, was born in Italy and earned his first important positions at home before advancing to a royal position abroad in Warsaw. Both were important figures in the development of the Baroque ensemble sonata, typically featuring a combination of treble instruments moving above the basso continuo’s harmonic foundation. A second central feature of this repertoire is the role of rhythmic diminution—the technique of gradually shortening rhythmic values to add variety and energy to an established melodic line. In this way Turini’s sonata heard today has similarities to Merula’s Ciaconna, which takes its very raison d’etre from the concept of variations on a recurring harmonic ground. Both works revel in the conversational interplay between treble voices—contrasting the recorder’s softer tones with the violin’s incisive voice—and the rock-like consistency of the accompanying basso continuo.