Costanzi - 11 Sinfonias and Sonatas for Cello and Basso, Vol. 1 (Urtext Edition)

Giovanni Battista Costanzi was an Italian composer and cello virtuoso active in eighteenth-century Rome. He entered the service of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in 1721 and later held important positions at S. Luigi dei Francesi, in the households of Cardinal Trojano Acquaviva d’Aragona and Cardinal Albani, and as maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia.

Costanzi’s best-known work today is the D major Cello Concerto, once attributed to Haydn, but he also wrote many chamber works for his own instrument. This edition brings together eleven works for cello and basso: five sinfonias and six sonatas. The sinfonias are essentially sonatas in style and function, offering cellists a valuable group of eighteenth-century Italian works for two bass instruments.

The sources for this edition come from several collections. The sinfonias and the G major Sonata come from a private collection. The C major and G minor Sonatas are based on manuscripts in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde collection, MSS 23 and 43. The C minor Sonata comes from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Mus. MS 4204. The F major Sonata comes from the Alströmer Collection, MS 150:18, and the Sonata da camera in F major comes from the Universitetsbibliotek, Uppsala, Gimo 79. The Sonata da camera is written in the style of corni da caccia and may be played entirely in first position by both cellists.

The set includes a playable cello-basso score, a separate cello part, and a basso part, which may be played by a second cello.

We gratefully acknowledge the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for making the manuscripts available for this edition.

More information about the individual works is available here: https://yuriyleonovich.com/blogs/musings/posts/7178762/critical-notes-series-costanzi-s-sinfonias-and-sonatas

ASTA level: 2.5-3