(It.: ‘church sonata’).
A Baroque instrumental work, often in four movements. In many churches during the 17th century, ensemble canzonas and sonatas replaced the organ solos that had regularly been substituted for elements of the Proper at Mass and Vespers. Despite the strong evidence for this practice (e.g. in organ tutors), the label ‘da chiesa’ appears in only about 20% of the volumes containing abstract instrumental works printed between 1650 and 1689; even Corelli's opp.1 and 3 are called simply Sonate. It is in this light that Brossard's statement (Dictionaire de musique, 1703) that church (as opposed to chamber) sonatas ‘are what they [the Italians] properly call Sonatas’ may be understood.
Mid-17th-century church sonatas ordinarily begin with a fast imitative movement, and include triple-metre sections and expressive adagios, although no single formal design dominates. Musicians may well have adapted such sonatas to the requirements of the service by performing isolated sections, a practice that would have encouraged composers to build sonatas from movements better able to stand alone. The four-movement design that was standard early in the next century is evident in about half of Corelli's abstract sonatas (opp.1, 3, and 5 nos.1–6): a slow introduction, followed by a movement in fugal style, an expressive slow movement (sometimes merely a short transition) and imitative finale. Biber's Mystery Sonatas (c1676) illustrate his more dramatic and virtuoso approach to the church sonata.
The ‘da chiesa’ label was little needed, since volumes not suited for church use were obvious from both scoring and content; moreover abstract sonatas, even if conceived for liturgical use, were no doubt heard elsewhere as well. Dances were clearly identified as secular, and some titles proclaimed their mixed content (e.g. Agostino Guerrieri's Sonate di violino a 1.2.3.4. per chiesa, & anco aggionta per camera, 1673). The use of organ continuo and the presence of a separate melodic bass partbook were clearly associated with church sonatas, whereas in secular collections the bass was scored for one instrument, either chordal or melodic (e.g. ‘violone o spinetta’). Italian composers from Buonamente (1620s) to Corelli (1680s) conformed to this pattern – evidence of the lingering influence of the contrapuntal canzona on sonatas in which the melodic bass participates fully in contrapuntal dialogue. But such distinctions between church and chamber sonatas evaporated in Corelli's lifetime (dances intrude on church sonatas, expressive adagios on chamber sonatas; the melodic bass and continuo share a single line; even the church sonata's fugue could be replaced by a binary movement). Thus when J.G. Walther defined the sonata as a serious piece in which adagios and allegros alternate (Musicalisches Lexicon, 1732), the church and chamber distinction had little relevance.
NewmanSBE
S. Bonta: ‘The Uses of the sonata da chiesa’, JAMS, xxii (1969), 54–84
J. Sehnal: ‘Zur Differenzierung der sonata da chiesa und sonata da camera in der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts’, Musica cameralis: Brno VI 1971, 303–10
J. Daverio: Formal Design and Terminology in the Pre-Corellian ‘Sonata’ and Related Instrumental Forms in the Printed Sources (diss., Boston U., 1983)
S. Mangsen: ‘The Trio Sonata in Pre-Corellian Prints: When Does 3=4?’, Performance Practice Review, iii (1990), 138–64
SANDRA MANGSEN