La Bergamesca
Marco Uccellini, arr. Sorrell
Born: 1603, Forlimpopoli, Italy
Died: December 10, 1680, Forlimpopoli
Year Composed: Unknown
Length: c. 4 minutes
World Premiere: Unknown
Last ISO Performance: This is the ISO’s first performance of this piece
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, basso continuo, strings
Marco Uccellini is credited with two major contributions to music history: developing violin technique and expanding the canon of Italian secular music. There is little surviving documentation about the composer’s life, but all that remains points to his importance and popularity in 17th-century Italy.
He was a skilled violinist himself, and his sonatas reflect his expertise. Uccellini focused much of his compositional output on violin sonatas written in the popular Italian style: technically challenging passagework and virtuosic, leaping intervals. His style demanded a highly skilled violinist and required musicians to advance their own proficiency in order to perform these works. Uccellini’s Opus 5 Sonatas for Solo Violin were published in 1649 and are some of the first works published for solo violin.
Uccellini composed droves of secular works—several collections of instrumental music are some of his only surviving compositions—during his time as capo deg’instrumentisi at the Este Court in Modena, Italy. Later, Uccellini served as maestro di cappella at the Farnese Court in Parma, Italy, and likely wrote opera, ballet, and vocal works, although virtually none of these manuscripts survive.
Marco Uccellini’s La Bergamesca is joyful and sprightly. Historically, the bergamesca is a rustic peasant dance, with its title referring to its place of origin: 17th-century Bergamo, Italy. Clowns and “buffoons” (jesters) were common in this region and would have likely performed to this type of music, much to the delight of the locals. The bergamesca was a beloved form of entertainment across genres and mediums. In fact, William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream closes with a carefree “bergomask” performance by the lower class characters. Uccellini’s charming musical treatment of the bergamesca form is easily imagined as the background music for a troupe of lighthearted Renaissance performers.
The three-minute work is playful and bright. The orchestral texture varies as melodic material bounces across string sections, creating a delightfully buoyant and multi-dimensional sound. Ascending scales flourish, motivating the otherwise simple harmonic progression. First a foundational continuo instrument, the harpsichord shines as a soloist in the latter half of this arrangement, which leads to a gradual and graceful ritardando as Uccellini’s work draws to an elegant close.