Britain's Ashgate Publishing Limited released Stephen Bonta's Studies in Italian Sacred and Instrumental Music in the 17th Century, a collection of articles written by Stephen Bonta over the last 30 years. Bonta is the Margaret Bundy Scott Professor of Music, Emeritus. Fifteen articles, all individually published previously, have been gathered and re-printed in one collection.
Focusing primarily on strings, Bonta discusses 17th-century religious Italian music within the essays in the novel. As much of Bonta's research examined the history of the bass violin, several articles within Bonta's collection discuss the instrument, the evolution of the instrument, and the music significance of the violin. Bonta also examines instruments as the viol one, violoncello, and other string instruments.
In addition to examining the musical instruments of 17th century religious Italian music, Bonta also studies the great composers of the era. During this time, religion and culture in Italy coincided. Therefore, the most popular composers of the time, including Monteverdi and Legrenzi, created religious music. Monteverdi's Marian Vespers is one religious piece that Bonta focuses on in one chapter; originally published in 1967, Bonta's essay explores the piece's liturgical problems in the second chapter.
The book covers additional topics pertaining to the music of the era, including an extensive study on the making of gut strings, the cultural and musical significance of the genre, the style of Legrenzi, Brossard's instrumental music, as well as a listing of documents concerned with music in Santa Maria Maggiore from 1583 until 1710.
Bonta taught at Hamilton College for 35 years, from 1961 until 1996. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University, a master's from Columbia, and his A.M. from Harvard University. Bonta's own personal interest in sacred Italian music precedes his time at Hamilton and the publication of his articles, as his dissertation topic was "The Church Sonatas of Giovanni Legrenzi."
As a member of Hamilton's music department, he taught Principles of Music, Medieval and Renaissance Music, Baroque Music, Classic and Romantic Music, 20th Century Music, First-Year theory, Composition, Senior Study, and Seminar(s) in Music History. He also directed several on-campus vocal performance and instrumental performance groups. Bonta was also involved in Hamilton's performing arts department, aiding with the music for BartholomewFair, Don Juan, and Cox and Box. He also served as the music department chair from 1964 until 1989. Outside of Hamilton, Bonta performed with the Utica Symphony, and the Utica Junior Symphony. Bonta also extended his talents to the local community as he served as the organist and choirmaster St. James Church in Clinton, N.Y.
