# Giovanni Battista Fontana



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Born Brescia, ?1589; died ?Padua, ?1630. Italian composer and violinist. Knowledge of his life and work is confined to a few documents, the most extensive of which is the preface to a posthumous memorial publication, Sonate a 1. 2. 3. per il violino, o cornetto, fagotto, chitarone, violoncino o simile altro istromento (Venice, 1641/R in Archivum musicum: strumentalismo italiano, v; eds. in RRMBE, 99, and MMI, 28). There he is described as being from Brescia and as having also worked in Venice, Rome and finally Padua. His death was attributed to 'the voracity of the pestilence', that raged in northern Italy in the years 1630-31.

The 1641 collection comprises six sonatas for solo violin and continuo and 12 ensemble sonatas for one to three violins and continuo, the latter group often including a technically demanding concertante part for bassoon or cello. None of the individual works can be firmly dated: it can only be stated that they represent sonata composition from the beginning of the Seicento to about 1630. The underlying contrapuntal and harmonic vocabulary is quite conservative, with the bass line often a regular voice part rather than a truly accompanimental line. Works such as sonatas 5, 6 and 16 show Fontana to be a leading figure in the early development of the sonata, especially the solo sonata.

Sonata V

Sonata VI

Sonata VIII

Sonata XIII

Sonata XVI


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