Giovanni Battista Bassani, too, derives his importance largely from his personal influence, especially as the teacher of Arcangelo Corelli. Bassani’s chamber music compositions include Balletti, Correnti, Gighue e Sarabande a violino e violono overo spinetta, con il secondo violino (1673); twelve sonate da camera (each containing four dances in the following order: 1—Balletto, 2—Corrento, 3—Gigha, and 4—Sarabanda); Sinfonie a due o tre instrumenti con il basso continuo per l’organo (1638), in which each single piece bears the title of ‘sonata.’ All these compositions are interesting rather than attractive; though while emphasizing and broadening the technique and form of his predecessors, Bassani improved upon their harmony and exhibited more fluency and smoothness through better modulations and transitional passages. We may note especially his independent part-writing, his rythmic steadiness, and his ingenious working-out of motives taken from the main theme. The device of developing themes in contrapuntal works had been variously used since Gabrieli, but the credit for first resolving a theme into its motives and working with them skillfully belongs to Bassani. The following examples will clearly show Bassani’s skill in thematic development.
The theme of a Sonata (for two violins, violoncello ad libitum and organ, 1683):
![[PNG]](#4545014759173569793_p480_score1.png.id-5533381752055700940.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The motives:
![[PNG]](#4545014759173569793_p480_score2.png.id-8926499606946590775.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
and
![[PNG]](#4545014759173569793_p480_score2.png.id-6590880624556956027.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}