Ardenza

Virtuosic chamber music with specified instrumental parts flourished in Italy in the early 1600s, especially in the cities of Venice and Rome, as shown in the dramatic works of Cavalli, Marini, and Castello among others. This was echoed later in the century in the Germanic lands to the north, especially in the Habsburg Empire and the Hanseatic League, in the strange and intriguing sonatas of Schmelzer, Bertali, Legrenzi, and their contemporaries....