As Italian composers developed the idea of virtuoso singing and playing in their music, Marcin Mielczewski (MAR-tsin Myel-CHEV-sky) of Poland was not very far behind them, judging on the evidence of this delightful and quite inventive Canzona for small string ensemble.

Very little is known of Mielczewski, aside from the fact that he worked for a while as a musician in the Royal Chapel of the King of Poland—who, it should be remembered, ruled one of the largest and most important kingdoms of Europe in this part of the seventeenth century. He then moved to Lowicz as a member of the chapel of the primate of Poland, and finally back to the area of Warsaw in the service of Ferdinand Waza, the Bishop of Plock (and, not so incidentally, the King's younger brother).

He works were also judged fit to consort, as it were, with musical "royalty," as some of his music appeared in a publication printed in Venice in 1658 along with music of such masters as Monteverdi and Cavalli.

He was said to have held Monteverdi as a musical model. The instant work shows how Mielczewski adopted Monteverdi's style in combining solo or choral voices with violin and viol family stringed instruments. This, in turn, led them both to begin writing with a view toward showing the skill and brilliance of a player, the beginning of the idea of composing virtuoso music.

The instant work is an example. It one of only six instrumental works—all of them designated Canzoni—left to our time by Mielczewski. (Central Europe, with its numerous wars, was not a safe place for manuscripts.) It is in three voices—two melody lines and a line of harpsichord bass continuo with a cello doubling the bass line.

It is a relatively long single movement, though it is a highly section work, being a set of short variations of embellishments on a stately theme. Each section treats the theme to a different rhythmic figure, usually suggesting dance, and often scored in novel and contrasting ways. In addition, the music is written in generally increasing brilliance and difficulty, allowing its players to make a strong virtuoso showing.

© Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide