I now continuare the last topic~ last time I have told the story of Handel~ although it may not true but  is an interesting story~

Today ~ Francois Couperin~ a close friend of mine~
In Couperin's programmatic trios. Le Parnasse, ou L'apotheose  de Corelli~1724~ and Concert instrumental sous le titre d'Apotheose compose a la memoire immortelle de I'incomparable Monsieur de Lully ~1725~ the different styles of Italian and French music were associated with the composers who came to define them around 1700 ~The latter concludes with a trio sonata or "Sonade en trio"~ as Couperin called it~ that demonstrates how "the union of the French and Italian styles must create musical perfection".

Much orchestral and chamber music by Handel, J.S. Bach, Telemann and their contemporaries is concerned with the same issue, and requires theperformer to distinguish between the French and Italian elements~

The differences between the styles arose partly because French music was much more conservative than Italian music, and preserved features ofRenaissance musical practice into the my living century~ The French retained the archaic five-part type of orchestral writing, with a singleviolin part and three viola parts~ they continued to use the viol as a solo instrument~they continued to use older types of vocal writing, with a fluid relationship between recit and air~ and they were reluctant to use "abstract" Italian musical forms such as the concerto and the sonata~most French Baroque music of all types is based in some way on dance music~

In general, French musci stood for delicacy, decorum, elegant melody and graceful agrement, while Italian music stood for passion, extravagance, virtuosity and florid ornamentation or passaggi~ Too often performers today fail to respect these differences, performing Italian music with inappropriate restraint and French music without its refined performing conventions~

Thank you for reading my humble works~
del Antonio Vivaldi