Felice Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is generally characterized nowadays as a “universal genius”, although any attempt to apply this term to a figure from the 15th or 16th centuries is not without its problems. After all, the view that an individual whose creative endeavours came from within himself was a “genius” is a radical innovation of the 17th and 18th centuries. Prior to that date it had not been the originality of the creative endeavour that was decisive for its status as a work of art but the category of imitatio – the artist’s ability to take his cue from models created by older authorities. Only in aemulatio – the artist’s desire to compete with and surpass his rivals – was there any scope for innovation. The present recording is largely centred around the frottola, a musical genre that emerged in Leonardo’s day from Upper Italian courts such as those of the House of Este (no. 10) and that is illustrated by pieces like Il marchese di Salutio (no. 1). The frottola quickly spread to the rest of Europe thanks not least to the printed editions produced by Ottaviano Petrucci. Among the composers who are mentioned by name, Bartolomeo Tromboncino (no. 18) and Marchetto Cara (nos. 5, 8 and 14) are among the frottola’s leading representatives.

Manuscript number Mus. Ms. 31528 of the British Library, London, is a collection of 46 undated works for violoncello. Of these at least 30 are autograph works from Giuseppe Dall’Abaco (a mix of solo sonatas with basso continuo, 2 virtuoso cello duos, as well as 1 ‘Duetto’ of debatable provenance) including his unpublished „Op.1“ (XII Sonate | Per il Violoncello, e Basso | Del Sig. Giuseppe Barone | Dall’Abaco). The very high quality script, along with the appearance of bass figures at critical moments, strongly suggests that this set of pieces was in preparation for publication. The manuscripts of the remaining 18 sonatas are not so carefully prepared, including scribbled revisions, and are in need of some final corrections. Furthermore, the bass line appears almost entirely without figures, leaving ambiguity as to which instrument(s) would have made up the continuo section.