Exposition

The Birth of Cello Virtuosity (2025)

Antonio Pellegrino
open exposition

About this exposition

At the turn of the nineteenth century, cellists were trained to provide chordal continuo realisation for recitativi in various parts of Europe. In other words, when they accompanied an upper voice, players would create a harmonically rich texture to better support the line above them, filling in chords rather than playing single bass notes. My research aims to trace the origins of this practice, examining pedagogical materials from the Neapolitan conservatories at the end of the 1600s. First, we investigate sections of the Montecassino Manuscript MS 2-D-13 (1699), analysing cases when Neapolitan-trained cellists needed to conjure up music beyond the written bass line. Selected works by prominent cello virtuosi and pedagogues of the time (Rocco Greco, Gaetano Francone, and Francesco Supriani) help us grasp how the violoncello gained the possibility of playing sophisticated improvised lines upon a bass and even (dare we say) partimenti. The second part of my research takes us forward in time to the second half of the eighteenth century. We discover how Salvatore Lanzetti and Antonio Guida continued the pedagogical traditions established by the preceding generations of Maestri, crafting methods that trained cellists to employ the rule of the octave in order to get comfortable with chordal improvisation. Ultimately, these explorations aim to suggest how the ground may have been fertilized for the growth of the aforementioned recitativo practices in the late 1700s, treating chordal continuo realisation as a result of a dynamic process across generations rather than an isolated phenomenon.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsPartimento, Cello, chords, improvisation, Naples, classical cello, pedagogy, early music, baroque
date16/11/2024
published30/06/2025
last modified30/06/2025
statuspublished
copyrightAntonio Pellegrino
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3190581/3190582
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/koncon.3190581
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects


Copyrights

nameFrancesco Alborea
copyrightJohann Jakob Haid
licensePublic domain
usagespicture
nameLanzetti
copyrightCharles van Loo
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameAlborea
copyrightJohann Jakob Haid
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSupriani
copyrightIMSLP
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameMontecassino MS Cover
copyrightGuido Olivieri
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSinfonia Quinta
copyrightRocco Greco
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSinfonia Sesta
copyrightRocco Greco
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSinfonia Quinta (updated)
copyrightRocco Greco
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
namePartimento della Sinfonia Sesta (Rocco Greco)
copyrightRocco Greco
licenseAll rights reserved
usagesaudio
nameSupriani 1
copyrightSupriani
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSupriani 2
copyrightSupriani
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameRocco Greco - Prima Pagina delle antifone
copyrightRocco Greco
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
namePassagagli per violoncello del signor Gaetano Francone
copyrightGaetano Francone
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameAntonio Guida Rule of the octave G major
copyrightAntonio Guida
licenseAll rights reserved
usagesvideo
nameGuida Rule of the octave a minor
copyrightAntonio Guida
licenseAll rights reserved
usagesvideo
nameLanzetti 1
copyrightLanzetti
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameLanzetti 2
copyrightLanzetti
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameRule of the Octave
copyrightEwald Demeyere
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameGuida 15a
copyrightGuida
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameGuida 20a
copyrightGuida
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture

comments: 3 (last entry by Maggie Urquhart - 05/03/2025 at 22:56)
Santo Militello 02/03/2025 at 12:59

Approved by Supervisor (Militello)

Maggie Urquhart 05/03/2025 at 22:55

Proved 

Maggie Urquhart 05/03/2025 at 22:56

Approved

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