Grab your bass and continuo instruments and join Anna Marsh (dulcian) and Peter Sykes (harpsichord and organ) for an informative playing session that explores the conversation between and roles of the basso continuo and solo instrument in early Baroque solo sonatas!
We will play through Sonatas 1 and 2 of the Bertoli Sonatas (1645) in sections and will discuss approaches to basso continuo style and solo playing in the seventeenth-century repertoire. These are purportedly the first collection of sonatas dedicated to one instrument and continuo. Peter Sykes will play organ and/or harpsichord continuo and will discuss seventeenth-century continuo style including figures, voicings, collaboration, and techniques of elaboration for these pieces. Anna Marsh will consider and demonstrate articulations, ornaments, meter changes, and timing, considering early sources as a reference.
Materials: 1) Peter Sykes will provide play-along tracks; 2) a transcription of the sonatas is available at https://imslp.simssa.ca/files/imglnks/usimg/9/9d/IMSLP579314-PMLP932226…
Pitch: A=440
Audience: open to all bass instruments (including dulcian, gamba, cello, sackbut, bass recorder, and bass) and organ and harpsichord continuo players.
Level: Intermediate but open to all.
Format: Lecture/Demo/Play-along
SFEMS nationally renowned series of summer workshops, first held in 1980, are now online while we remain socially distant.
Visit our website for all the offerings: www.sfems.org/workshops