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Dario Castello (c. 1590 – c. 1658) was an Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 composer and instrumentalist (either the antiquated cornetto
Cornetto

Cornetto may refer to* Cornett, a Renaissance period musical wind instrument* Cornetto , a branded frozen ice cream cone* Croissant Italian word for Croissant, typically to be consumed with Cappuccino....
 or the bassoon, it is not clear) from the early Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 period, who worked and published in Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
. He was a late member of the Venetian School
Venetian School

In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced....
, and played a part in the early transformation of the instrumental canzona
Canzona

In music, a canzona was a 16th-century multipart vocal setting of a literary canzone and a 1500s- and 1600s instrumental composition. At first based on Franco-Flemish polyphonic songs , later independently composed, the instrumental canzonas, such as the brass canzonas of Giovanni Gabrieli, influenced the fugue and were the direct ancest...
 into the sonata.

e is no biographical information about Castello at all; even his birth and death dates are unknown, although it is thought he may have died during the great plague of 1630.






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Dario Castello (c. 1590 – c. 1658) was an Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 composer and instrumentalist (either the antiquated cornetto
Cornetto

Cornetto may refer to* Cornett, a Renaissance period musical wind instrument* Cornetto , a branded frozen ice cream cone* Croissant Italian word for Croissant, typically to be consumed with Cappuccino....
 or the bassoon, it is not clear) from the early Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 period, who worked and published in Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
. He was a late member of the Venetian School
Venetian School

In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced....
, and played a part in the early transformation of the instrumental canzona
Canzona

In music, a canzona was a 16th-century multipart vocal setting of a literary canzone and a 1500s- and 1600s instrumental composition. At first based on Franco-Flemish polyphonic songs , later independently composed, the instrumental canzonas, such as the brass canzonas of Giovanni Gabrieli, influenced the fugue and were the direct ancest...
 into the sonata.

Biographical details

There is no biographical information about Castello at all; even his birth and death dates are unknown, although it is thought he may have died during the great plague of 1630. Certainly he published no new music after this date. The title page of the 1629 edition of the first volume of Sonate Concertate records him as Capo di Compagnia de Musichi d'Instrumenti da fiato in Venetia, and the second volume (1644 edition) as Musico Della Serenissima Signoria di Venetia in S.Marco, & Capo di Compagnia de Instrumenti.

He was probably associated with St. Mark's, where Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, viol, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the music of the Renaissance music to that of the Baroque music....
 was maestro di capella. Castello's use of the stile concitato—quick repeated-note figures—further suggests association with Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, viol, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the music of the Renaissance music to that of the Baroque music....
.

In addition, there are records of other instrumentalists with the surname Castello working at St Mark's, and it is possible they were relatives of Dario.

Style

Of his music, 29 separate compositions survive. Castello's music is inventive and technically challenging. Strictly worked polyphonic sections alternate with dramatic recitative
Recitative

Recitative is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech. The mostly syllabic recitativo secco is at one end of a spectrum through recitativo accompagnato , the more melismatic arioso, and finally the full blown aria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the mus...
s over basso continuo, in keeping with the title of the publications "in stil moderno"; however he also uses some of the older canzona
Canzona

In music, a canzona was a 16th-century multipart vocal setting of a literary canzone and a 1500s- and 1600s instrumental composition. At first based on Franco-Flemish polyphonic songs , later independently composed, the instrumental canzonas, such as the brass canzonas of Giovanni Gabrieli, influenced the fugue and were the direct ancest...
 technique, which uses short sections of highly contrasting texture, and active rather than lyrical melodic lines. Unusually for the time, Castello often specifies the instruments for each part, calling for cornett
Cornett

The cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles....
i, violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s, sackbutts and dulcian
Dulcian

The dulcian is a Renaissance bass woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore. Equivalent terms include "curtal" in English, "dulzian" in German, "baj?n" in Spanish, "dou?aine"' in French, "dulciaan" in Dutch, and "fagotto" in Italian....
s. That these works were still being reprinted in the 1650s attests to Castello's influence.

Works

  • Sonate Concertate in Stil Moderno, Libro I, Venice, 1621
  • Sonate Concertate in Stil Moderno, Libro II, Venice, 1629
  • Exultate Deo, motet (1625 and 1636)
  • Modern editions of the complete sonatas are published by Ut Orpheus Edizione.


Further reading

  • Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Dario Castello: A Non-Existent Biography, Music and Letters, LIII/2 (1972)
  • Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi, 3rd edn. Mineola NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-486-28151-5


Recordings

  • The Floating City, His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, .
  • Viaggio Musicale, Il Giardino Armonico, Teldec 8573825362.
  • Dario Castello Sonate, Ensemble La Capriola, Mieroprint EM 6005.


External links