«Con la misura giusta per ballare». Salvatore Mazzella e i suoi Balli (1689)

Salvatore Mazzella (c.1620–1690), a Neapolitan violinist active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century, owes his fame to the collection Balli, correnti, gighe, sarabande, gavotte, brande e gagliarde... for violin and basso continuo, which he published in 1689, dedicating it to Cardinal Fulvio Astalli. The article presents some new biographical data on the composer, which integrate the few so far known that can be deduced from the title page of the Balli and from a mention made by Athanasius Kircher. In his treatise Itinerarium extaticum (1656), the German Jesuit give an account of the performance of an “academicum trium”, formed by Michelangelo Rossi, Lelio Colista, and Salvatore Mazzella, all musicians probably gravitating in the entourage of Cardinal Camillo Astalli (1619–1663). In the second part, the article presents the Balli, describing the contents and the structure of the collection. The composer divides the pieces into eight Balli and five Partite (Folia, Tarantella, Passacagli, and two Ciaccone). Each Ballo is organized in form of a suite, consisting in five bipartite dance movements in the same key: the Ballo (or Balletto), which serves as a prelude, is followed by Corrente, Giga or Gagliarda per ballare, Sarabanda, Minuetta [sic] and/or Gavotta. The analysis of the pieces reveals that the style of Mazzella’s Balli appears closer to the instrumental dance music of 1660–70s Bolognese collections, than that of the Roman sonate da camera of the late seventeenth century, such as those of Carlo Mannelli and Arcangelo Corelli.