Francesco Rognoni, the son of Richardo Rogniono, published a treatise on ornamentation in 1620, which included these rather spectacular examples for Viola bastarda.
Francesco Rognoni’s reworking of a canzon da sonar by the Brescian musician Antonio Mortaro is taken from his Selva diVarie Passaggi secondo l’uso moderno, published in Milan in 1620.The source for Mortaro’s original is his Primo Libro di Canzoni da sonare a quattro voci, publish in Venice in 1600 by Ricciardo Amadino.
It is tempting to speculate about why out of the hundreds of canzoni da sonare published around 1600 Rognoni chose one by Mortaro. It could have something to do with the fact that Mortaro was from Brescia, a city that was at that time famous for violin making and violin playing. Composers from Brescia at this time tended to write music that was particularly suitable for the violin, as in the sonatas of Giovanni Battista Fontana, the ensemble sonatas of Cesario Gussago, and the canzoni of Pietro Lappi, which sometimes keep top parts right above the stave for long periods.
Another reflection of this can be seen in Viadana’s Sinfonia La Bresciana, which of all that composer’s 18 sinfonias named after Italian cities, is the one that most requires violins. Francesco Rognoni was a performer on the violin and the viola bastarda.
This edition follows Rognoni’s text literally; this includes the slurs, which are original. A few editorial accidentals have been supplied above the stave: these apply to the one note only. Players of instruments other than the violin should perhaps use this edition as a starting-point, rather than taking it literally, as the range of the decorated part is rather wide.
