Fantasia - Music

Fantasia by Giovanni Battista Dalla Gostena

Giovanni Battista Dalla Gostena

Artist Biography For Giovanni Battista Dalla Gostena

Giovanni Battista Dalla Gostena Spent Much Of His Professional Life As Maestro Di Cappella Of The Cathedral In Genoa The City Of His Birth. Presumably Born Around 1540 He Became Chapel Master From Perhaps As Early As 1572 And Remained There Until His Death In December 1590. Like Most Maestri Di Cappella He Would Have Been Expected To Provide New Music Of His Own Composition For Liturgical Use When Needed And Like Numerous Others Applied His Skills Of Musical Invention To Areas Beyond The Requirements Of His Ecclesiastical Duties. Indeed Giovanni Battista Became An Accomplished Composer Of Secular Works That Survive In Far Greater Number Than His Church Music. According To His Own Testimony In One Of His Early Madrigal Books He Had Studied With None Less Than Philippe De Monte. In Addition To One Lost Madrigal Book Printed In 1572 Four Books Of Madrigals And Canzonette In Four And Five Voices Were Published Between 1582 And 1589 With Another Madrigal Volume Appearing Posthumously In 1595. Besides These Works His Surviving Vocal Music Includes A Ten Additional Madrigals Five Motets And Three Settings Of The Magnificat All Published In Anthologies Between 1585 And 1612. Most Of These Posthumous Publications Are Likely To Have Been Negotiated By His Nephew Simone Molinaro. Giovanni Battista’s Madrigals Are Consistent With The Style Of Works Being Composed In This Genre In Northern Italy In The Late Sixteenth Century And His Use Of Basso Continuo In Most Of His Known Church Music Suggests A Venetian Influence. For Many Chapelmaster-Composers The Lute Provided Not Only A Form Of Musical Recreation But Through Playing Intabulations The Opportunity To Absorb And Analyse The Music Of Other Composers. Some Of Giovanni Battista’s Contemporaries Palestrina Among Them Are Known To Have Done Just This. The Lute Also Offered Vocal Composers The Means By Which They Could Test Refine And Experiment With Their Own New Works. It Is Less Frequent However To Find Original Lute Music Surviving By Such Composers. We Are Fortunate That Simone Molinaro—not Only Giovanni Battista’s Nephew But Also His Student A Highly Accomplished Lutenist And His Eventual Successor In The Position Of Maestro Di Cappella In Genoa From 1602— Chose To Include In His Intavolatura Di Liuto… Libro Primo Venice 1599 What Is Now His Uncle’s Only Surviving Lute Music. In Addition To Three Intabulations Of Chansons By Costeley Crecquillon And Lasso These Comprise The Twenty-Five Fantasie Di Gio Battista Dalla Gostena Zio E Maestro Del Molinaro. The Most Astounding Thing About This Set Of Fantasias Is That Each Is A Highly Individual Work Extending Beyond The Bounds Of The Stereotyped Themes Formulae And Idiomatic Cliches Of The Age. This Variety Betrays The Diversity That Giovanni Battista’s Breadth Of Compositional Experience Had Given Him. The Fantasias Are Assured In Their Counterpoint And Deft In Their Imitative Point-Writing But Also Employ A Broader Range Of Textures And Devices Sometimes Simply Passages Of Free Counterpoint Or Expressive Devices Drawn From The Madrigalist’s Palette Of Musical Colours. They Make Bold Use Of Dissonance A More Abundant Use Of First-Inversion Chords Than Was Common In The Language Of Earlier Generations Of Lute Composers And They Frequently Employ Interrupted Cadences To Maintain Their Momentum Within Internal Sections. Larger Structural Units Within The Fantasias However Are Generally Punctuated With Full Cadences. The Fantasias Are Carefully Crafted Works That Demand Equally Careful Attention From The Performer Who Seeks To Unravel Their Complex Polyphonic Web Particularly As Their Textural Density Impedes The Immediate Recognition Of Imitations Statements Of Themes Or Other Important Material. The Fantasias Are Of Varied Length Mood Structure And Idiomatic Resources. They All Fit Well Under The Hand And While Some Textures And Passages Stem Directly From The Lute Tradition Many Others Reveal The Madrigalist And Church Polyphonist. Fantasias 1 And 4 Are Indebted To The Expressive Madrigal Style While Others Including Fantasias 3 5 16 And 18 Begin With Imitative Expositions That Are Identifable Equally With Both The Church And Instrumental Traditions. Rhythmic And Structural Elements More Akin To The Instrumental Canzona Characterise Fantasias 6 And 12 With The Latter Work Also Including An Extended Closing Passage In Triple Meter. The Ornamented Cadences Of Fantasia 14 Are Reminiscent Of Organ Works Such As Those Of Andrea Gabrieli And Others. Another Group Of Works Including Fantasias 7 And 8 Conclude With Sections Based On Rapid Melodic Passaggi Over Simple Tenors. Fantasias 2 Is One Of The Polythematic Works Where Nearly Every Section Is Developed As Imitations Of A New Theme While Other Works Are Monothematic Such As Fantasia 25 Which Is Dominated Throughout By A Single Chromatic Theme. The Other Principal Example Of Chromatic Imitation Is The Central Section Of Fantasia 7.