III.

Italy

As an instrumental introduction, the sinfonia (symphony) became an important part of 17th-century Italian opera, as for example, “sinfonia avanti l’opera” in the works of Alessandro Scarlatti. By about 1700 these opera overtures called sinfonias had taken the format of three sections or movements. A fast opening movement was followed by a slow second movement and a fast, dancelike third movement that was often a minuet.

Not organically related to the operas they introduced, these overtures were also performed as concert pieces, and Italian composers such as Tomaso Albinoni, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and Antonio Vivaldi began writing independent sinfonias in the same fast-slow-fast format. The opening movement of this type of symphony soon came to use sonata form for its musical structure, and various precursors of sonata form also figured in the development of the symphony.

Another important influence on the Italian symphony was the intermezzo (a one-act comic opera), a form developed in Naples. So that the words could be understood, melodies in the intermezzos consisted of combinations of short, clear motifs supported by uncomplicated harmonies, in contrast to the elaborate melodies and harmonically complex accompaniment often found in earlier music. This development provided the composer with raw material—the motif, or theme—to recombine, reharmonize, and otherwise develop within the sonata form.