Castello, Dario (EN)

Castello Dario, * baptised 19 October 1602 Venice, †2 July 1631, Venice, Italian composer and instrumentalist, son of the violinist Giovanni Battista Castello and brother of Francesco Castello – musicians at St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. In 1627 he was ordained a priest. Very little is known about his life; all that is certain is that around 1625 he was the chief instrumentalist of the orchestra at St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and that he died of the plague.

Both collections of Castello’s sonatas, comprising a total of 29 pieces for various instrument combinations, are of great importance for the development of the sonata. The composer treats it as a multi-movement cycle, in which usually two or three movements are written in fugal style. Castello’s sonatas are characterised by rich melodic invention; they also feature short virtuoso passages for various instruments (especially the bassoon); these sonatas are among the first, alongside Buonamente’s works, to include tempo markings for certain movements; for the first time, the titles of the sonatas indicate the interchangeability of the organ with the spinet or harpsichord.

Literature: W.S. Newman The Sonata in the Baroque Era, Chapell Hill 1959, 2nd revised edition 1966, revised edition New York 1972; E. Selfridge-Field Dario Castello, a Nonexistent Biography, “Music and Letters” LIII, 1972; E. Selfridge-Field Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi, Oxford 1975; E. Kubitschek Die Sonate concertate in stilo moderno… Libro primo von Dario Castello, in commemorative book for O. Wessely, ed. M. Angerer and E. Diettrich, Tutzing 1982; W. Apel Italian Violin Music in the 17th Century, Bloomington (Indiana) 1990; P. Allsop The Italian “Trio” Sonata. From Its Origins until Corelli, Oxford 1992; A. Dell’Antonio The sensual sonata: Construction of desire in early Baroque instrumental music, “Repercussions” I (1992); A. Dell’Antonio La prima forma-sonata. Morfologia e sintassi nelle sonate di Dario Castello (1621), “Il saggiatore musicale” II, 1995; A. Dell’Antonio Syntax, form and genre in sonatas and canzonas 1621–1635, Lucca 1997; C. Pellegrino Sonata concertata e stil moderno: Primi segni di un’estetica “barocca”? Le sonate concertate di Dario Castello, “Hortus Musicus” II (2001); A. Dell’Antonio Construction of desire in early Baroque instrumental music in: Gender, sexuality, and early music, ed. T. Borgerding, New York 2002; R. Baroncini Dario Castello e la formazione del musico a Venezia: Nuovi documenti e nuove prospettive, “Recercare” XXIX (2017).