The compositional tools which can be considered the recurrent features in the Torelli's concerto-form are: the concertato style (as the repetition of the same rhytmic-melodic material amongst different acustic groups, such as tutti/solo); the progression (repetition of the same pattern at different pitches, in order to prolong the musical discourse); the repetition in echo (the same idea is mirrored in opposed dynamic levels in order to underline it or potenciate it); ritornello form (the periodic reappearence of the Tutti, contrasting the solo episodes).
A milestone in the history of the concerto it's represented by Torelli's op.6. This collections of 12 Concerti was printed for the first time in 1698 in Augusta, Germany, by Lorenz Kroniger and dedicated to the Electress of Brandenburg Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (the same dedicatee of Corelli's op.5, Rome 1700). One year before, Torelli had the chance to visit the Electress in Berlin and to performed at her request. In the same year, 1698, the same collection was published also in Amsterdam by Estienne Roger, without the dedication to Sophia Charlotte.
The importance of this collection is given by the fact that this is the first publication of solo concertos, ever. The concerto n. 6, 10 and 12 of this collection are violin concertos, while the others are string concertos. A concise and clear instruction is given by the author in its preface:
“Ti averto, che se in qualche concerto troverai scritto solo, dovrà esser suonato da un solo Violino;
il Rimanente poi fa duplicare le parti etiamdio tre o quattro per stromento, che così scoprirai la mia intenzione, e vivi felice.”
“I warn you, that if in some concertos you will find written solo, it will have to be played by only one Violin;
for the rest add three or four players per part, in this way you will discover my intention, and live happy”.
It might look like a superfluous and unnecessary indication, to the eyes of a nowadays reader, but since the practice of marking solo and tutti on the parts was unknown until that time in the editorial market, it clearly required an explanation. It is also interesting the indications of doubling the ripieno parts with more players, giving a clear evidence of the orchestral vision – rather than chamber-like – towards which Torelli was projected. A similar indication was also added in the preface of his op.8.
With the Concerti Musicali op. 6 Torelli definitely emancipated the concerto-form from the sonata. In fact, the form that he adopted is the one in three movements (Allegro-Adagio-Allegro) – with the exception of the concerto n. 10 that present a slow introduction, Adagio. Moreover, the concertos of this collection are even purified from his usually common subdivision of the second movement in different sections. This structure recalls the one of the sinfonia avanti l'opera (the symphony that precedes the beginning of the opera), a genre that he knew and that he already, albeit occasionally, frequented: L. F. Tagliavini attributed to Torelli the authorship of the overtures of two operas composed by Perti “Nerone fatto Cesare” (1693) and “Astianatte” (1701).
In the external fast movements of these concertos the thematic material, incisive and brilliant, is always presented by the tutti, most of the time with fugal motives that create tonal antithesis. The soloistic episodes proceede in a more discursive way: in the solos an idiomatic writing allows the voice of the violin to brightfully come out of the texture with scales, figural patterns and string crossings passages.
This process of affirmation of the soloistic role culminated in his Concerti Grossi op.8. In this collection the first 6 are concertos for two violins, while the other 6 are soloistic concertos: “Con un violino, che concerta solo”. In these compositions it is presented a more advanced violin technique: passages in high positions, arpeggios, double stops. The writing in the solos shows clearly the component of ornamentation and improvisation which are inherent in the technique of soloistic competence.
In 3 out of 6 concertos the opening thematic exposition is left to the solo violin, while in the other 3, the motivic elaboration is entrusted to the orchestra with a distribution of tutti/solo that follows the typical procedure of transposition to the fifth. In the external movements the thematic material is mostly presented in a fugal motif.
The second movements of the concertos of this collection are multisectional, as it was the habit for his compositions for San Petronio, and this characteristic enhances the contraposition between orchestra and solo. The central section is a virtuosistic episode for the solo violin, written in a figural and athematic way, giving the impression almost of a moto perpetuo passage. In the slow sections, framed by the chordal orchestra's interventions, the expressive and melodic elements are always left to the soloist.
This general formal organization of the material manifests a clear distinction in the role of the soloist and the orchestra, which assumes a constitutive and structuring value. The instrumental specify of the solo violin is emphasized in a twofold way: showing the virtuosistic technique in the figural passages and letting the soloist free to voice his expressivity in the melodic, cantabile slow section. Agnese Pavanello identified in the Torelli's writing a process of formalization of aspects connected to the improvisational instrumental practice, such as: the particulare care used in the notation of the embellishments in the slow movements; the purely figural conduction of the soloistic episodes that connect the thematic sections in the external movements19.
Fig. 12 Quantz, Johann Joachim. Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen. Berlin, 1752, Paragraph 30, Chapter 18.
Die Concerten haben ihren Ursprung bei den Italiänern. Torelli soll die ersten gemacht haben. Ein Concerto grosso besteht aus einer Vermischung verschiedener concertirender Instrumente, allwo immer zwey oder mehrere Instrumente, deren Auszahl sich zuweilen wohl auf acht und noch drüber erstrecket, mit einander concertiren. Bey einem Kammerconcert hingegen befindet sich nur ein einziges concertirendes Instrument.
[The concerto owes its origins to the Italians. Torelli is supposed to have made the first. The concerto grosso consists of an intermixture of various concertante instruments in which two or more instruments, the number sometimes extending as high as eight and above, play together in turns. In the chamber concerto, on the other hand, only a single concertante instrument is present.18]
Fig. 13 Title page of the first edition of Torelli's Concerti Musicali op.6, Lorenz Kroniger, Augusta, 1698
