Domenico Silvio Passionei (1682-1761) was a prominent figure in the Italian church during the 18th century, lauded for his many accomplishments as a churchman, diplomat, antiquary, man of letters and bibliophile.

Strangely, however, his not inconsiderable achievement as a musician disappeared entirely from the historical record after his death. Passionei conceived these cello sonatas with the noble aim of amusement and as it is for us to enjoy his rhetoric and gain more knowledge from it. The artists on the album have chosen eight of the twelve Sonatas to represent Passionei’s output for the cello.

The violoncello originated in the second half of the seventeenth century in Bologna and its neighbouring territories as a small version of the ordinary bass violin (violone), from which it was distinguished by having covered strings. It was the ideal instrument for agile, soloistic performance, although it very quickly accommodated itself to all roles, prominent or not, that the bass instrument of the violin family could be expected to perform.

In structural terms, Passionei’s sonatas generally conform to the model describable as ‘neo-Corellian’, which was the dominant one for Italian sonatas written between 1700 and 1720. This comprises four movements grouped as two pairs, each of which is configured slow-fast as regards tempo.

Only two of Passionei’s sonatas deviate from this pattern: no.4, which imitates a French-style suite by having six movements, and no.8, which has only three movements. A pleasing feature of the sonatas is their embrace of advanced instrumental technique. There is much writing in the tenor register, plentiful use of rapid passage-work and a prodigal use of multiple stopping (most notably, at the opening of the tenth sonata, with its rasping triple and quadruple stops). If anything, Passionei is ‘appassionato’ to excess!