Rossi
Rossi
Rossi
APPROVED: Lynn Eustis, Major Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Music Hendrik Schulze, Minor Professor Elvia Puccinelli, Committee Member Jeffrey Snider, Chair of the Division of Vocal Studies James C. Scott, Dean of the College of Music James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School
Griffiths, Sarah Abigail. Luigi Rossi: Early baroque Italian cantatas for the modern singer, with modern editions of selected works. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance), August 2011, 65 pp., musical examples, references, 65 titles. The early baroque songs, or cantatas, of Luigi Rossi (1597-1653) are largely absent from the canon of standard Italian vocal repertory utilized by young singers and voice teachers today. In this document Rossis composition style is considered, along with modern edition trends, within the emerging genre of Italian early baroque song. Several of Luigi Rossis vocal works chosen for their simplicity, brevity, dramatic content, and suitability for a young singer are presented in modern transcriptions for voice and piano. The following document lays the groundwork for the inclusion of Luigi Rossis songs in the modern canon of Italian vocal music. Part I provides an introduction to Luigi Rossi and the considerations involved in creating modern editions of early baroque solo vocal music. In Chapter 1, Rossis patronage and compositional output are considered along with the reception and dissemination of his works in Italy and France. Chapter 2 of this study explores the historical context and lasting influence of Parisottis Arie Antiche, the larger collection from which the ubiquitous Schirmer edition, Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, is drawn. One well-known song that appears in the Schirmer edition is Giulio Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella. In an effort to illustrate trends in modern editions and performance practice, this song is traced from its first appearance in 1602 through representations in modern anthologies. Chapter 3 considers the practical concerns of modern editors of baroque vocal music such as performance practice applications, ornamentation, and pedagogical considerations with respect to the cantatas of Luigi Rossi. Chapter 4 discusses the three cantatas by Luigi Rossi that are presented in Part II as performance editions.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank a number of people for sharing their skills, knowledge, and expertise. Specific acknowledgement must go To Elliot Figg, for his artful and inspiring continuo skills and partnership in this performance project, To Dr. Elvia Puccinelli, for her love of the Italian language and for helping me create the best possible translations of the songs for these editions, To Dr. Hendrik Schulze, for his expert feedback and advice, To Dr. Lyle Nordstrom, for mentoring me and for consistently challenging me to grow as a musician, To my friends and family you have inspired me and kept me in good spirits along this journey, And finally, to Dr. Lynn Eustis, for showing endless patience while helping me to grow as a singer and for being an amazing model for me as a developing teacher.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ..................................................................................................v PART I: LUIGI ROSSI AND THE CREATION OF MODERN EDITIONS ................................1 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................2 Context for the Early Baroque Cantata Luigi Rossi: Biographical Information Rossis Solo Cantatas Past and Present Reception of Rossis Cantatas 2. Arie Antiche and the Many Visages of Amarilli, mia bella ...................................12 Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella Accessibility vs. Authenticity 3. The Creation of Modern Editions ..........................................................................28 Style Guides and Resources Vocal ornaments and style Text expression Basso continuo realization Special consideration in creating new modern editions 4. Introduction to Selected Rossi Cantatas ................................................................39 Final Thoughts References ..........................................................................................................................46 PART II: MODERN EDITIONS OF SELECTED ROSSI CANTATAS .....................................51 Addio, perfida, addio .........................................................................................................52 Duna bell infedele ...........................................................................................................57 Amanti, piangete ................................................................................................................61
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LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Page 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-6 2-7 2-8 2-9 2-10 2-11 2-12 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-4: Le nuove musiche, 1602 ...................................15 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-3: A Musicall Banquet, Robert Dowland .............15 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-5: realization of lute transcription ........................16 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-4: Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias, ed. Alessandro Parisotti ...........................................................................................................17 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-4: Early Italian Arias, ed. Ida Isori ......................19 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-6: Early Italian Songs and Airs, ed. Pietro Floridia ............................................................................................................................................20 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-5: Pathways of Song, eds. Frank LaForge and Will Earhart ................................................................................................................................21 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-5: La Flora: Arie &c. Antiche Italiane, ed. Knud Jeppesen .............................................................................................................................22 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-4: Italian Songs of the 17th and 18th Centuries, ed. Luigi Dallapiccola ..............................................................................................................22 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-4: The Aria, Renaissance and Baroque, ed. Ruggero Ven ....................................................................................................................23 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-3: 26 Italian Songs and Arias, ed. John Glenn Paton ................................................................................................................................24 Caccini, Amarilli, mia bella, mm. 1-5: 28 Italian Songs and Arias, ed. Richard Walters ............................................................................................................................................25 Luigi Rossi, Addio, perfida, addio, mm. 4-5 .....................................................................31 Rossi, Amanti, piangete, m. 12 ..........................................................................................32 Rossi, Duna bell infedele, mm. 26-29 .............................................................................33 Rossi, Amanti, piangete, mm. 22-23 ..................................................................................33
Chapter 1 Introduction Most classical voice teachers agree that the songs from the classic Schirmer edition of Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries can be very useful pedagogical tools, especially for young singers working to develop solid singing technique. However, aside from this commonly performed core of Italian vocal literature, the works of many early baroque composers are generally overlooked in performance editions and anthologies. The cantatas of Luigi Rossi (1597-1653) deserve a place in the standard Italian vocal repertory, both for their aesthetic beauty as well as their pedagogical value.1 Surprisingly, Rossis music is largely absent from the canon of Italian baroque vocal works that is available in modern performance editions. This authors goal is to make the solo vocal music of Luigi Rossi accessible to a broader modern audience and to present these cantatas as excellent vehicles for vocal pedagogy. In later chapters, practical and pedagogical considerations in the creation of modern editions are discussed at length, but it is first important to place Rossis cantatas in historical context. Luigi Rossis music has largely escaped mention in the popular Italian song anthologies made available to American singers and voice teachers over the past century.2 There has been
The term cantata, as applied to Luigi Rossis compositions, refers to the early baroque term for a non-theatrical, non-liturgical vocal work, often for solo voice, with basso continuo accompaniment. Throughout this discussion, I use this term interchangeably with the more generic term songcommonly used in such modern anthologies as Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, ed. Alessandro Parisotti and trans. Theodore Baker (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1948)to distinguish a single-movement solo song from an aria that is taken from a larger vocal work such as an opera or oratorio. 2 For example, Alessandro Parisottis Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, and other popular anthologies of the 20th- and 21st centuries, including 2
significant musicological research on the composers cantatas within the past thirty years, however, notably in Eleanor Caluoris book, The Cantatas of Luigi Rossi.3 In the past decade, the scholarship of Alessio Ruffati has further illuminated Rossis connection with French style, one potential explanation for this composers absence in most modern anthologies of Italian song.4 The style, form, and influence of Rossis cantatas are introduced more fully below. Rossis music is first placed in a historical context, looking at the atmosphere of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and the development of this genre.
Context for the Early Baroque Cantata The movement towards a more humanistic approach for solo vocal music in the latter half of the sixteenth century can be summed up in the philosophies espoused by the Florentine Camerata.5 This assembly of artists and intellects was unified in its humanist beliefs about the partnership between music and text, which were found to be lacking in the virtuosic trends of the time that, according to Giulio Caccini (1551-1618), offered no pleasure beyond that which pleasant sounds could give solely to the sense of hearing, since they could not move the mind
but not limited to Pietro Floridia, ed., Early Italian Songs and Airs: Volume I, Caccini to Bononcini (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Oliver Ditson Company, 1923); Frank LaForge, and Will Earhart, eds., Pathways of Song (New York: M. Witmark & Sons, c.1934); Luigi Dallapiccola, ed., Italian Songs of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Volume 2 (New York: International Music Company, 1961); and John Glenn Paton, ed., 26 Italian songs and arias: An authoritative edition based on authentic sources (Van Nuys, CA: Alfred, 1991). Further discussion of these anthologies is found in Chapter 2 of this document. 3 Eleanor Caluori, The Cantatas of Luigi Rossi: Analysis and Thematic Index (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1981). 4 Alessio Ruffatti, La rception des cantates de Luigi Rossi dans la France du Grand Sicle, Revue de Musicologie 92, no. 2 (2006): 287-307. 5 The term humanism refers to the restoration of classic Greek ideals of language, poetry, and philosophy. 3
without the words being understood.6 Caccinis connection to the Florentine Camerata and his prominence as a singer and composer made him an influential figure.7 Caccinis 1602 monody8 collection Le nuove musiche (1602) and the accompanying preface detailing style, ornamentation, and performance within this emerging genre paved the way for a generation of monody composers such as Jacopo Peri, Francesca Caccini, and Sigismondo dIndia.9 At the same time that these monody publications were beginning to circulate, several important shifts occurred in Italy, where the pressures of the Counter-Reformation were being felt in both sacred music and secular music. The patterns of music printing changed in the late sixteenth century to reflect the favoring of printing of polyphonic sacred music; by the midseventeenth century, local and international dissemination of secular solo song was largely occurring through hand-written copying of manuscripts. Seventeenth century music scholar Stephen Rose highlights the economic crisis of the 1620s and the deadly plague that spread throughout northern Italy in 1630 as additional reasons for this shift towards manuscript writing.10 Rose also asserts that the newer styles of music were incompatible with the part-book format that had dominated printing in the previous century. With the diversity of genres constantly evolving and national styles emerging, circulation through manuscripts was more efficient.
Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche, Firenze: Maescotti, 1602, facsim. ed. (New York: Performers Editions 35, 1987), 44. 7 Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche, ed. H. Wiley Hitchcock, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. IX (Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 1970), 7. 8 Monody is a type of accompanied solo song specific to Italy in the first half of the seventeenth century. 9 Richard Kolb, Style in Mid-Seventeenth Century Roman Vocal Chamber Music: the works of Antonio Francesco Tenaglia (c. 1615-1672/3), (Ph.D. diss., Case Western Reserve University, 2010), 23. 10 Stephen Rose, Music in the market-place, The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music, eds. Tim Carter and John Butt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 67-69. 4
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, secular song was prominently featured entertainment in the intimate court settings of private concerts.11 In her study of the secular song genres of the early seventeenth century, Margaret Murata states, printed music was largely destined for a commercial market of educated amateur performers.12 The music composed by these court musicians was often intended for intimate courtly gatherings and performed by nobles or by the musicians they employed.13 With manuscript as the most common form of distribution, the emerging cantata genre became less accessible for amateur musicians, limiting the dissemination and expansion of the form to the professional musicians and upper-class courts.14 Musical patronage from courtly benefactors allowed baroque composers financial support, the prospect of commissioned works, and opportunities for networking.15 Some nobles viewed musical patronage simply as a way to gain social status, while other courts gained reputations as true centers for musical development.16 Of particular import was the Barberini family, which was very prominent in seventeenth century Rome. They were especially influential during the years between 1623, when Cardinal Maffeo Barberini was elected as Pope Urban VIII, and 1644, when his death led to the election of Pope Innocent X.17 Two Barberini brothers, nephews of Pope Urban VIII, had notable reputations (and perhaps rivalry) for musical patronage during this time. Cardinal Francesco continued in the Renaissance tradition of music Margaret Murata, Image and eloquence: secular song, The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music, eds. Tim Carter and John Butt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 379. 12 Ibid., 382. 13 Ibid. 14 Rose, 70. 15 F. Hammond, Music & Spectacle in Baroque Rome: Barberini Patronage under Urban VIII (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 37. 16 Ibid. 17 Robert R. Holzer, Rossi, Luigi, in Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 5
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academies,18 while his brother Cardinal Antonio patronized composers Marco Marazzoli, MarcAntonio Pasqualini, and Luigi Rossi, all of whom made important contributions to the development of the cantata in the 1630s and 1640s.19
Luigi Rossi: Biographical Information Rossis earliest biographical information is sparse. Records indicate that he served under the Spanish patronage of MarcAntonio Borghese as early as January 1620, and his service to the family continued until September 1636.20 However, in 1633, Rossi took a new position as organist at the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, the French national church in Rome; this position had been held previously by Jean de Macque, a Franco-Flemish composer and Rossis first composition teacher in Naples.21 The exact date is vague, but at some point in the late 1630s Rossi entered the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini.22 Rossis employ in these diverse Roman establishments may well have been reflected in his compositional style, but very few of his cantatas can be dated with any specificity.23 Rossis gravitation towards France and the French style were evident early in his career, but when the crowning of a new pope, Innocent X in 1644, led to Barberinis departure to France, Rossi was provided with an important opportunity to travel.24 Rossi remained in Barberinis service until
Hammond, p. 111. Ibid. For Pasqualini in particular, who was also a castrato employed to sing in the popes private chapel, see Murata, 392. 20 Caluori, p. 1. 21 Ibid., 1. 22 Detailed biographies of Luigi Rossi are available in Holzer, Rossi, Luigi. 23 Of Rossis extant cantatas, one can be dated 1628-1630, two others by 1640, another between 1632 and 1641. Hammond, p. 111. 24 Holzer, Rossi, Luigi.
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the composers death in 1653, with various visits to the French court on the invitation of Cardinal Mazarin.25
Rossis Solo Cantatas One generation after Caccinis publication of Le nuove musiche (1602) marked the arrival of monody, the forms and styles of vocal chamber music evolved with further compositional experimentations and changes. Rossis own cantata output spanning the 1620s through the mid-seventeenth century represents the diverse styles of the age from monody to Italian early baroque virtuosity.26 Rossis music is slightly different from many of his Italian contemporaries in that his cantatas reflect the refined simplicity of the French airs de cour.27 Eleanor Caluoris extensive study of Luigi Rossis cantatas identifies 294 cantatas that can clearly be attributed to the composer; 202 of these are written for solo voice with continuo.28 The variety and subtlety of length, form, and style found within these cantatas make them difficult to categorize; Caluori identifies six distinct categories of cantata based on form: binary, rounded binary, ternary, rondo, lament, and the aria di pi parti, the latter of which includes Rossis longer, multi-sectioned cantatas in free form.29 Richard Kolb finds Caluoris formal categories to be too rigid to account for many features in the music of this era marked by formal
Caluori, 1. Luigi Rossi, Cantatas, ed. Francesco Luisi (New York: Garland, 1986). 27 The air de cour is a genre of French song of the mid-seventeenth century, emerging from of a movement similar to the humanists of the Florentine Camerata which espoused classic principles to embrace the French language and transform poetry and, subsequently, song (Murata, 387). The graceful lines, lilting phrases, and dance-like quality in many of Rossis cantata reflects this French aesthetic. 28 Caluori, 3-4. 29 Ibid., 4. It should be noted that even the more extended aria di pi parti cantatas were still single-movement works, as opposed to the multi-movement cantata form that became prominent in the later baroque era.
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experimentation and flexibility.30 Nevertheless, elements of form do exist within Rossis cantatas, and Caluoris list serves well as a point of reference in studying Rossis cantatas. The various selections of poetry set by early- and mid-baroque composers have encountered substantial criticism over the years, notwithstanding the cantatas of Rossi and his Italian contemporaries. The perception of this poetry as banal and disingenuous has been voiced by generations of music historians,31 but recent studies have offered new approaches to the study of these texts. In his dissertation on the subject, Robert Holzer discusses the backlash of the Counter-Reformation, the resulting censorship and restriction of expression placed on the arts, and the interactions between poetry and music that can be found in these cantatas.32 Roger Freitas takes a closer look at the court chamber setting in which these cantatas would have been performed, where wit and cleverness were highly prized; he suggests that the ingenuity of these cantata texts can be found in the contradictions of the musical settings.33 Indeed, Rossis cantatas are filled with examples of subtle and specific text placement and repetitions that create layers of subliminal meaning in seemingly melodramatic poetry. Examples of this will be discussed in Chapter 3 of this document. Rossis close affiliation with the French style has been noted and celebrated by French scholars. Caluoris book provides a list of seventeenth and eighteenth century publications including Rossis cantatas, in which the only edition listed in the eighteenth century was a Paris
Kolb, 7. Roger Freitas, Singing and Playing: the Italian cantata and the rage for wit, Music & Letters 82 (2001), 509. 32 R.R. Holzer, Music and Poetry in Seventeenth Century Rome: Settings of the Canzonetta and Cantata Texts of Francesco Balducci, Domenico Benigni, Francesco Melosio, and Antonio Abati (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1990). 33 Freitas, 541.
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publication.34 Rossis music is also represented in Parisian publications Echos dItalie (185?187?) and Franois Auguste Gevaerts Les Glories de LItalie (1868), the earliest modern publications of Rossis works.35 In a study of Rossis reputation and influence, Romain Rolland quoted a 1724 source stating that The famous Luiggi [sic] Rossi was one of the first men to give Italian airs a clever as well as a graceful turn, which makes them still admired by connoisseurs of to-day.36 Recently, especially within the past ten years, important contributions have been made in studies of Rossis connections to France and French style.37
Past and Present Reception of Rossis Cantatas In the 1688 dedication of his Cantate morali e spirituali, Giacomo Antonio Perti hailed Luigi Rossi, along with [Giacomo] Carissimi and [Antonio] Cesti, as the greatest lights of our profession. 38 Why then is this important composer absent in most modern anthologies of Italian song, in which both Carissimi and Cesti are represented? One potential explanation is that while music history recognizes Rossis roots as Italian, his influence and cultural ease aligned more heavily with French aesthetics in the generations after his death.39 Rossis influence and popularity in his own lifetime is evidenced in his career path, contemporary accounts, and in the patterns seen in his manuscript dissemination. He had close Caluori, pp. 210-211. Ibid, p. 211. 36 Translated from the Catalogue de Brassard, Romain Rolland, Some musicians of former days, (London: Paul, Trench, Trbner, 1915), 124. 37 Ruffatti . Don Fader, The Honnte homme as Music Critic: Taste, Rhetoric, and Politesse in the 17th-Century French Reception of Italian Music, The Journal of Musicology 20, no. 1 (Winter 2003): 3-44. 38 Rolland,126. 39 Ruffatti studies these influences in great detail, through specific study of his manuscripts in the hand of French contemporaries, documented responses of contemporary French composers to Rossis music, and observation of the dissemination patterns of his manuscripts throughout Europe.
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ties with Antonio Barberinis influential court and was invited throughout his career to such locales as Paris, Romagna in Bologna, and Florence.40 According to Caluori, Rossi is named in Severo Boninis Discorsi e regole as the head of the Roman school of musicians.41 At home in Rome, Rossi hosted a music academy of great esteem in 1644.42 His vast repertory of cantatas can be found in nearly two hundred manuscripts. Even more telling, many of his cantatas appear in concordances, indicating the widespread popularity of this music.43 Martha Gerhart states that there have been several modern publications of Rossis songs, but such collections have highlighted only a handful of songs.44 Furthermore, most of these editions are not readily available in the United States. Within the past twenty years, a number of performances and recordings have featured several of Rossis solo songs, but these recordings have only served a very unique audience of baroque performers and connoisseurs.45 Most of Rossis solo vocal music remains dormant and unperformed. Many of his cantatas are only available in manuscript form, though some of this music is available in published manuscripts
While serving for six months in the court of Ferdinand II dei Medici in Florence, Rossi and his wife, famed harpist Costanza de Ponte, taught lessons to Francesco Caccinis daughter Margherita. Suzanne Cusick, Thinking from womens lives: Francesca Caccini after 1627, The musical quarterly 77, no. 3 (Fall 1993): 498. 41 Caluori, 1. 42 Accounts of this summer-long academy are found in Kolb, 18-19. 43 These manuscripts, now housed in libraries throughout Europe and America, are listed as an appendix in Caluori, vol. 2, 206-210. 44 Martha Gerhart traces the published versions of the seven songs that have appeared in performing editions: Italian Song Texts from the 17th Century (Mt. Morris, New York: Leyerle Publications, 2002), 379-386. 45 Cantatas by Rossi can be found on the following recordings, though availability is limited and this is just a select list: Luigi Rossi, La bella pi bella, performed by Emanuela Galli, Gloria Banditelli, Sergio Foresti, et al. under the auspices of La Risonanza (Stradivarius 2A2W4K, 2004); Rossi, Le Canterine Romane, performed by Stephen Stubbs and Tragicomedia (Wea Apex Classics UK 2XNLW4, 2006); and Musica Dolce: Works by Caccini, Monteverdi, Rossi, DIndia and Others, performed by Julianne Baird and Colin Tilney (Dorian Recordings 1Q86, 1993). Performances of Rossis cantatas have included such artists as Julianne Baird, Jennifer Lane, and my own professional ensemble, Armonia Celeste. 10
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and, with varying degrees of legibility, on microfilm.46 A modern performer who is not trained in continuo realization, or who is not an avid scholar and researcher, would perhaps never have the opportunity to sing the songs of this relatively little-known baroque composer. It is this authors goal to put these songs into the capable hands of the modern performer, balancing authenticity (staying true to the composers intentions) with accessibility (a modern edition that will at once be readable, singable and have a realized keyboard line).
Luigi Rossi, Cantatas, ed. Francesco Luisi (New York: Garland, 1986); Roger Bray, comp., Italian Music manuscripts in the British Library (Brighton, England: Harvester Press Microform Publications, 1987), Reels 2-4. 11
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Chapter 2 Arie Antiche and the Many Visages of Amarilli, mia bella The music of Luigi Rossi was esteemed and praised by his Italian contemporaries, and was still being performed in France many generations after his death in 1653. Furthermore, his songs contain all the pedagogical tools to help a young singer develop flexibility, range and expression in their singing.47 Yet Rossis songs have largely escaped mention in the Italian song anthologies, such as the ubiquitous Schirmer Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, which American singers and voice teachers have used over the past century. With Rossis impressive pedigree and praise from contemporaries for his songs and operas, the question must be asked: what can be done to illumine his songs as important and interesting alternatives to the Schirmer anthology of twenty-four Italian songs and arias? It is not enough simply to establish which early baroque songs are popular today. The works of this genre must be traced and studied from their origins through editions available today. In an effort to better understand the considerations that must be made in creating a modern edition of Luigi Rossis unknown songs, I will examine Giulio Caccinis song, Amarilli, mia bella, from its earliest appearance through contemporary song editions. Amarilli, mia bella is one of the songs in the Schirmer anthology Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. This popular anthology, first published in 1894, is a sampling of a larger collection of songs compiled by Alessandro Parisotti in the late 1800s.48 Between 1885 and 1900, Parisotti compiled and edited an anthology called Arie
I discuss this further in Chapter 3. The G. Schirmer publication of this anthology has undergone slight modifications over the past century. The initial condensed edition from 1894 contained only 21 songs. In 1948, three
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Antiche, which he described as a collection of songs gleaned from old manuscripts and ancient editions, where they lay in unmerited oblivion.49 The Parisotti collection is the cornerstone of singers editions of baroque and classical Italian song published in the past century. Much of the modern canon of Italian repertoire for young singers is drawn from this late nineteenth-century anthology.50 In the past century, many editors have offered interpretations and further modernizations of the Schirmer publication of Twenty-four Italian Songs and Arias.51
Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella Although Rossi began his career a full generation after Caccini, contemporary scholars consider Rossi an early baroque composer, and similarities can be found in the compositional
songs were added to create the well-known 24-song collection. Several more recent editions have expanded the collection still further, hence the slight variations in anthology titles. Despite this slight discrepancy in numbers, most of these anthologies contain the same core of early Italian songs and arias. Maurice Hinson, ed., 28 Italian Songs and Arias (Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Publishing Co., 1988), foreward. 49 Although referred to throughout this chapter with the Italian title, Arie Antiche, translations of Parisottis words were taken from the English translations: Alessandro Parisotti, ed, Anthology of Italian Song of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, trans. Theodore Baker (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1894), III. The complete Arie Antiche anthology was published in three volumes over a period of fifteen years with publications appearing in 1885, 1895, and 1900. 50 The lasting influence of the Parisotti edition is common knowledge within the singing community, though it has escaped mention in most pedagogical sources. Mention of the 19thcentury source can be found, however, in many of the editors prefaces to the anthologies discussed later in this chapter, including Floridia; Hinson; Paton; and Knud Jeppesen, ed., La Flora: Arie &c. Antiche Italiane. Copenaghen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1949. 51 Anthologies that largely replicate the repertoire from the Parisotti anthologies include: Dallapiccola; Hinson; Ida Isori, ed., Early Italian Arias, Vienna, Universal Edition, 1912, German trans. Richard Batka (Huntsville, Texas: Recital Publications, 2005); Estelle Liebling, rev. and Ruggero Ven, ed., The Aria, Renaissance and Baroque (New York: Franco Colombo, Inc., 1963); Paton; and Walters. 13
styles of the two composers.52 For this reason, one of Caccinis popular songs, Amarilli, mia bella, is traced below, from its origin to its most current edited form. The recent editions are also explored to assemble valuable information as it pertains to the young singer today. The compositional style of Amarilli, mia bella, features figured bass format and relates directly to the challenges that exist in constructing a modern edition of Rossis songs. This song found immediate popularity, as seen in its rapid dissemination in manuscript replications, transcriptions for lute and virginal, and later, in various forms of modern editing. As you will see, comparing these editions, through the application of editors comments to the examination of each setting of the first phrase of Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella, demonstrates the emerging patterns of taste and adherence to performance practice trends.53 Giulio Caccinis song Amarilli, mia bella first appeared in his 1602 publication Le nuove musiche [The New Music], and indeed, the music in this collection was unlike anything that had come before. The performance of this style of monody augmented the text and brought fresh expression and drama to solo singing. The manuscript for Le nuove musiche, in Example 2-1 below, consists of a vocal line and a single bass line with limited figures, which are found above the bass line, mostly at cadences.
Richard Kolb describes Rossi as the oldest of the mid-19th century monodists, further stating that some features of his style may reflect the slightly earlier period during which he flourished, and his works include a greater proportion of shorter pieces with strophic repeats than do those of his younger contemporaries. (Kolb, 28) 53 What follows is only a limited study of selected editions of this work, beginning with Parisottis 1895 edition and extending through selected 21st-century publications. More detailed studies of contemporary sources of the song are discussed at length in Tim Carter, Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella: Some Questions (and a Few Answers), in Journal of the Royal Musical Association 113 no. 2 (1988). 14
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Amarilli, mia bella quickly gained popularity. One year after its initial publication, it was transcribed for virginals. The song even managed to find its way from Italy to England within the decade: in 1610, it appeared in Robert Dowlands A Musicall Banquet, a collection of lute transcriptions, as seen below in Example 2-2.
Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche, Firenze: Maescotti, 1602, facsim. ed. (New York: Performers Editions 35, 1987) 12. 55 Robert Dowland, comp, A Musicall Banquet, London: Printed for Thomas Adams, 1610, facsim. ed. (New York: Performers Editions 59, 1990), XIX. 15
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A modern piano/vocal rendition of Dowlands lute tablature, as seen in Example 2-3, presents a harmonically supportive accompaniment to the melody, with a few rhythmic variants giving the lute some independently moving lines. The continuo scholar Giulia Nuti describes this setting as a true composed accompanimentadding to the vocal line with the composers own ideas and making the whole accompaniment an integral part of the composition and no longer an improvisation.56
Example 2-3. Realization after Dowlands (1610), Le nuove musiche, ed. Hitchcock, 1970.57
Amarilli, mia bella likely continued to circulate widely in the generations directly following Caccinis initial publication. However, it was only at the end of the nineteenth century that it found a mass audience and widespread publication once again. Parisotti was one of many musicians in the second half of the nineteenth century who was responding to the mood of national discovery through the collection of early Italian songs.58 His anthologies found immediate international popularity. Arie Antiche, the first volume of which appeared in print in Giulia Nuti, The Performance of Italian Basso Continuo: Style in Keyboard Accompaniment in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), 34. 57 Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche, ed. H. Wiley Hitchcock, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. IX (Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 1970), 85. 58 Richard Taruskin, "Nationalism," Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online (21 May, 2011). 16
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1885, was published in New York with English translations by 1894.59 By the time Parisotti compiled his anthology in the late nineteenth century, he claims the songs were gleaned from old manuscripts and ancient editions, where they lay in unmerited oblivion.60 Regarding the inclusion of Amarilli, mia bella in the collection, he stated that it was selected by reason of the rare artistic treasures which it reveals.61 Considering the Romantic landscape in which he lived and worked, Parisotti had an impressive intuitive understanding of the stylistic considerations of this music, and a clear nationalistic pride in the Italianate lyric simplicity that he found in this music. What follows is Amarilli, mia bella as it appears in Parisottis Arie Antiche. Notice in Example 2-4 the fully realized piano part and editorial expressive markings.
Example 2-4. Twenty-Four Italian songs and arias, ed. Alessandro Parisotti, 1894.62
In his editions, Parisotti sought clearness and simplicity of form, depth of feeling, and a suave
Alessandro Parisotti, ed, Anthology of Italian Song of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, trans. Theodore Baker (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1894). 60 Ibid., book 1, III. 61 Ibid., book 2 p. III. 62 Alessandro Parisotti, ed., Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, trans. Theodore Baker (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1894), 8. 17
59
sincerity throughout, and encouraged the singer to show delicacy of intuition and a thorough understanding of the laws of the good Italian style; it should be at once calm, elegant, correct, and expressive, yet without coldness or heaviness.63 In the decades that followed Parisottis anthology publication, the characteristic style of the Romantic era became even more evident in publications of anthologies that featured Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella. Ida Isori (1875-1926), a celebrated bel canto soprano in her day, made considerable revisions to this particular song by adding more dense harmonies and various forms of arpeggios.64 Example 2-5 below shows that she also added an early entrance of the soprano line, which resembles a seventeenth century intonazione della voce, a type of ornament commonly performed by baroque singers.65
Parisotti, Anthology of Italian Song of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, book 1, III. Isori, now known primarily for the Isori-Album publication, also donated a memorial tablet for Giulio Caccinis house in Florence, unveiled [in] 1914. International Whos Who in Music and Musical Gazetteer, ed. Csar Saerchinger (New York: Current Literature Publishing Company, 1918), 300. 65 Further discussion of the intonazione della voce, and other vocal ornaments from Caccinis time, will be discussed at length in Chapter 3.
64
63
18
Pietro Floridias 1923 edition perhaps makes the most radical changes to Amarilli, mia bella. Floridias description of the song is itself quite dramatic: The perfect outline of the melody, its unquestionable beauty, its virginal purity and intimate tenderness, while recalling to the mind visions of the Greek sculptorial art, have a living emotional fascination denied to the marble: it is like a Praxiteles statue, but animated and palpitating.67 Floridia completely disregards the basso continuo; Caccinis harmonies are replaced with tonal language more familiar to early twentieth-century ears. The simple accompaniment is also replaced with florid writing and constant arpeggios, pointing to a very late Romantic pianistic style. Example 2-6 depicts a few of Floridias adjustments, namely the lavish piano argeggi and the amplification of range and articulations. Floridias edition of Amarilli, mia bella, originally published in 1923, continued to circulate in publication for many years, and was reused in later anthologies, notably
66
Isori, volume 2, 3. This example also marks the first appearance of Amarilli, mia bella in a different key than the original publication. Throughout the study of modern editions of this work, editors present this song in a variety of keys, for pedagogical reasons and to make these editions available to different voice types. The issues of such transpositions are discussed further in Chapter 3 of this document. 67 Floridia, xvii. 19
Example 2-6. Early Italian songs and airs, ed. Pietro Floridia, 1923.69
The anthology Pathways of Song, published in 1934, was a general, multi-volume anthology of music, the central purpose of which was to make available to students and teachers of voice songs of great musical worth and authentic vocal style.70 In the edition of Amarilli, mia bella by Frank LaForge, the Romantic stylings of Floridias piano accompaniment are replaced in favor of a more contrapuntal accompaniment, perhaps in attempts to become more baroque in essence, but still completely disregarding the basso continuo line and the style commonly associated with early Italian monody.71
Mabelle Glenn and Bernard U. Taylor, eds., Classic Italian Songs for School and Studio (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Oliver Ditson Company, c.1949.) 69 Floridia, 1. 70 LaForge, volume one, foreward. 71 Indeed, the composers of Caccinis time endeavored in their songs to eliminate the polyphonic writing style that permeated the 16th-century madrigals. Counterpoint rules will be discussed further in Chapter 3 of this document. More information can be found in Nuti, 14-16. 20
68
Example 2-7. Pathways of song, Volume 3, eds. Frank LaForge and Will Earhart, 1934.72
In 1948, Knud Jeppesen published La Flora, an important three-volume anthology of music from the Italian bel canto era. Although many of the original songs found in Parisottis edition are found in La Flora, Jeppesen introduces additional songs that had not been previously published. In his preface, Jeppesen discusses basso continuo style and his own realization, stating that an attempt is made here, on the basis of the general principles of style which may differ considerably from the somewhat older recent editions which, influenced by the romantic school of piano songs, almost give the setting of a lyrical ballad.73 The result is a fairly simple, if somewhat rigid, accompanimental line, and the basso continuo line is clearly indicated and reemployed, as seen below in Example 2-8.
LaForge, volume three, 16. Knud Jeppesen, ed., La Flora: Arie &c. Antiche Italiane, (Copenaghen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1949), VI.
73
72
21
Example 2-8. La Flora: Arie &c. Antiche Italiane, v. 1, ed. Knud Jeppesen, 1948.
In more recent modern editions, two anthologies of the early 1960s reflect further changes that were occurring in modern performance practice. The 1961 anthology by 12-tone composer Luigi Dallapiccola contains no preface or foreward, but Dallapiccolas understanding of the style is evident in the realization with the basso continuo clearly serving as a foundation of the fourpart texture. He employs a stand-alone bass line in the left hand of the piano part, as seen in Example 2-9, although he also goes against basso continuo rules, allowing the piano range to go above the vocal line in the fourth measure.
Example 2-9. Italian songs of the 17th and 18th centuries, v. 2, ed. Luigi Dallapiccola, 1961.
Only two years after Dallapiccolas 1961 edition, another modern edition by Estelle Liebling was published with clear indicators that it was intended as a performance anthology.
22
Liebling, most notably remembered as Beverly Sills voice teacher, makes important pedagogical decisions in her edition. In her foreward of the 1963 edition, she pays specific attention to the discussion of vocal range and embellishments, and she creates English translations that can be sung. This edition of singable English translations came just on the tail of Dallapiccolas edition, which contained no English text. Several earlier editors had made similar attempts to clarify or modernize the English text Pathways to Song especially noted this effort. The balance between poetic, rhyming translations and literal translations is always in flux; issues of syllable emphasis, word painting, and the differences in vowel color may figure into different interpretations of these song translations. Regarding the accompaniment, Liebling states the following, today, the demands are for a less elaborate accompaniment, to maintain the Baroque character of the composers. The piano revisions by Ruggero Ven can be seen in Example 2-10 below.
Example 2-10. The Aria, Renaissance and Baroque, rev. Estelle Liebling and ed. Ruggero Ven,
1963.74
Moving forward to the end of the twentieth century, John Glenn Paton poses this question
74
Liebling, 34. 23
in the preface of his 1991 publication 26 Italian Songs and Arias: why do yet another addition of these same arias? Is it still necessary? His answer is emphatically, Yes, because we still have not heard them as their composers meant for them to sound.75 With his anthology he strives to undo some of the layers of Romanticism that have been added to these pieces over the years. In Example 2-11, note the simple nature of the piano accompaniment imitating a plucked instrument below the simple presentation of the vocal line.
Example 2-11. 26 Italian songs and arias, ed. John Glenn Paton, 1991.76
Paton provides a lute-like texture through the arpeggios of the opening measures, and he includes subtle ornamentation deemed to be appropriate by modern performance-practice standards to this piece. The accent on the first note of the vocal line, followed by a crescendo, is way to notate an esclamazione, an ornament that Caccini discusses at length in the preface to his Le nuove musiche.77 Much more can certainly be said regarding the performance practice issues presented, but Paton understandably keeps his explanations on the subject very simple in his anthology. In this way, his approach is more basic and reflects more of what was originally
75 76
notated by Caccini. This leads to the final Amarilli, mia bella setting in this study, edited by Richard Walters in 2008. Walters edition remains relatively true to Parisottis realization, although he adds an optional rolling of the opening chord before the singer enters, much like a lutenist might strum a chord to establish the key and mood of a piece.
Example 2-12. 28 Italian songs and arias, ed. Richard Walters, 2008.78
He says of his edition that though other points of view, reflecting mid- to late 20th-century values of baroque performance practice, have been made to this music since, Parisottis versions [of these songs] remain musically convincing on their own terms, and are preferred by many singers and teachers.79 After tracking these modern editions through a century of alterations, additions, and embellishments, this brief study ends where it began with Parisotti in 1890.
78
Richard Walters, ed., 28 Italian songs and arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 2008), 34. 79 Walters, preface. 25
Accessibility vs. Authenticity These two most recent editions by Paton and Walters stand at the center of my argument of authenticity vs. accessibility. The traditional Parisotti/Schirmer editions of these songs remain, by far, the most popular for young students. The authenticity of Parisottis renderings may be questionable, but they are accessible in several important ways. Their popularity is already widely established so they are easy to find in music stores and libraries. The accompaniments generally provide solid support and are easy to sing with. Furthermore, the scores are very low priced, an important consideration when copyright infringement is so carefully monitored and photocopying music is frowned upon. John Glenn Paton offers a contrasting aesthetic in his anthology the music sounds fresh, and many of students regard the suggested ornaments with a renewed energy for the style. However, not all young students can grasp the unfamiliar aspects of Patons realizations, preferring the traditional texture of the G. Schirmer edition published by Parisotti over one hundred years ago. This collection of songs, as presented in either of the above-mentioned editions, is a very important teaching tool in the studio, a way to introduce young singers to pure Italian vowels and the supported legato of bel canto singing. The lyric, yet often simplistically notated music of early baroque composers is particularly well-suited for young singers because it highlights vocal beauty, technical mastery and musicality. The issue remains that the 28 songs from Parisottis Arie Antiche, especially those from the early baroque period, have remained by far the most popular song representations from that time. An increasing number of modern anthologies strive to introduce new vocal music from the baroque era, most notably the editions of La Flora editions of Jeppeson, Carol MacClintocks The solo song 1580-1730, and John Glenn Patons continued work in promoting new editions of this music. These anthologies pay homage to that
26
which came before while also positively impacting the students experience pedagogically. It is my hope that new music from this early baroque period will continue to be published and that it will continue to find a broader audience of modern performers.
27
Chapter 3 The Creation of Modern Editions In the opening remarks of the Preface to his 1991 edition, 26 Italian Songs and Arias: An Authoritative Edition Based on Authentic Sources, Paton recognizes that there is no true way to measure the composers intentions for each work.80 A modern edition of early baroque solo song faces both technical and interpretive challenges for the editor. The composers intention cannot be realized absolutely in a modern edition with figured bass or basso continuo, as the songs are inherently improvisatory in nature. Singers from the baroque period would have improvised ornaments and articulations based on their abilities and the affects they wanted to create in various performance venues. Performances of baroque songs would change based on the performer and the type of affect that he or she wished to elicit. The previous chapter examines the various editorial decisions that have influenced performance publications of Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella over the past 130 years. The patterns found in these editions act as guides in the creation of modern editions of cantatas by Luigi Rossi; these editions strive to be accessible to the young classical student while maintaining the integrity of the early baroque style. An overview of available resources, vocal ornaments, and continuo realization guidelines is provided as a resource for teachers with limited background in baroque performance practice.
Style Guides and Resources There are many primary sources from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries available and accessible to modern performers and scholars in which technical and stylistic suggestions are
80
Paton, 3. 28
provided for the performance of these songs. Recent research in performance practice also extends to the application of seventeenth century instrumental treatises in vocal performance; many instrumental treatises of the time instruct the instrumentalist to imitate the human voice as much as possible.81 The development of the performance practice aesthetic in Italian baroque art song, as it applies to the modern performer, has been traced in editors commentaries in Italian song publications over the past 130 years, and Paton outlines the recent trends in prefaces to his anthologies.82 Common performance practice of this vocal genre can also be noted in several books, discussed below, that are available to the modern performer. Several contemporary studies have undertaken the task of organizing and translating the trends and rules that would have guided the early performances of these songs. Martha Elliots Singing in Style (2006)83 provides a comprehensive approach to vocal practices during the seventeenth century, and Giulia Nutis The Performance of Italian Basso Continuo: Style in Keyboard Accompaniment in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (2007)84 cites, translates, and contextualizes primary sources that span the history of Italian basso continuo performance. These modern publications, along with the primary sources that are referenced and translated in them, provide most of the material that has been applied to the creation of the modern editions of Rossis three songs that follow in Part II.
Bruce Dickey, Laccento: In Search of a Forgotten Ornament, Historic Brass Society Journal 3 (1991): 98. 82 Additional Italian anthologies edited by John Glenn Paton include Gateway to Italian Art Songs: an anthology of Italian song and interpretation (Alfred Publishing, 2004); Italian Arias of the Baroque and Classical Eras (Alfred Publishing, 2006). 83 Martha Elliot, Singing in Style: A Guide to Vocal Performance Practices (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006). 84 Nuti, The Performance of Italian Basso Continuo. 29
81
Vocal Ornaments and Style In compiling a select list of ornaments that might have been sung in Luigi Rossis vocal music, it is important that the primary sources reflect the international appeal of Rossis compositional style. Perhaps the most important primary source to consider in the study of early baroque vocal music is the preface to Giulio Caccinis 1602 Le Nuove Musiche, the details of which were translated and edited in 1970 by H. Wiley Hitchcock.85 Additional consideration is given to several of the seventeenth century German treatises contributed by Christoph Bernhard and Michael Praetorius.86 Although these sources were created for a German audience, the Italian style at this time greatly influenced German practices. These sources describe vocal ornaments with a clarity that is lacking in the available Italian documents from that time. Rossis presence in France in the 1640s and 1650s tells us that French style ought to be taken into consideration as it enhances and colors much of his music, especially his cantatas. One particular French treatise, Bacillys Remarques curieuses sur lart de bien chanter (Paris, 1668/1679) details ornaments that might have been applied to early performances of Rossis vocal music.87 I have employed several of the ornaments discussed in these sources in the three Rossi songs that I have edited. Although the description and potential placement of these ornaments is discussed further in Chapter 4, these ornaments are not included on the actual pages of the Giulio Caccini. Le Nuove Musiche, ed. H. Wiley Hitchcock, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. IX (Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 1970). 86 Christoph Bernhard, Von der Singe-Kunst oder Manier (ms., ca. 1650), edited and translated in Walter Hilse, trans., The Treatises of Christoph Bernhard, The Music Forum: Volume III, eds. William J. Mitchell and Feliz Salzer, 1-29 (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1973); Michael Praetorium, Syntagma musicum III (Wolfenbttel, 1619), edited and translated in Michael Praetorius, Syntagma musicum III, ed. and trans. Jeffery Kite-Powell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). 87 Edited and translated in Bnigne de Bacilly, A commentary upon the art of proper singing, ed. and trans. Austin B. Caswell (Brooklyn, NY: Institute of Medieval Music, 1968). 30
85
performance editions, in order not to overwhelm the novice singer.88 What follows is a selected list and description of ornaments from the above-mentioned sources that likely would have been implemented by performers of early and middle baroque song.89 intonazione della voce: This ornament, which made an appearance in Ida Isoris edition of Amarilli in chapter 2 above, suggests the way the first note of a song may be sung. The singer has options that are described by Caccini as attacking the first note of a phrase begin[ning] with a third below. Others begin on the note itself and make a gradual crescendo.90 Example 3-1. Luigi Rossi, Addio, perfida, addio, mm. 4-5.
esclamazione: Akin to the intonazione described above, Caccini offers a somewhat similar ornament to decorate the first note with a vocal flourish that begins with an attack and then immediate diminuendo (like a drawn-out sforzando) followed by a long crescendo this entire vocal flourish was understood by the performer to occur on one note. The esclamazione is described by Caccini as a strengthening of the relaxed voice,91 and further illustrated by Praetorius as the actual means where by the affections are moved
Likewise, in the possible future creation of a full collection of Rossis songs, the definitions and examples of the ornaments would be limited to the preface of the collection. 89 Some of these ornaments are also written out in examples from the critical editions of Rossis songs that follow in Part II. 90 Caccini, 48; Praetorius, p. 215, offers further suggestions, as some want to start a second lower and then gradually raise the pitch. Some prefer to start a third lower, others a fourth, and some with a charming, subdued voice. 91 Caccini, 51 31
88
through the swelling of the voice. This ornament would have been commonly applied to dotted figures within a moving line, as well.92 trillo: While the name looks like trill, a trillo is a bit different. Caccini indicates that this ornament, should begin with the first quarter-note, then re-strike each note with the throat on the vowel , up to the final breve.93
Praetorius cautions that it is impossible to learn how to perform a trillo properly from what has previously been written; it can only be learned through the resources and demonstrations of a teacher.94 cercar della nota: This ornament, which Bernhard describes in detail, translates literally as searching for the note and can be sung at the opening or middle of a phrase. The neighboring tone (either below or above) is lightly touched, then glides from this quite imperceptibly to the written note.95 Noted in Example 3-3 below, the cercar della nota is applied first at the beginning of a phrase (on chio), and in the middle of a phrase (on che).
92 93
port de voix: Not far removed from the Italian cercar della nota, this French ornament most simply is the movement made by the voice from a lower note to a higher one, and it is often accompanied by a mordent, 96 as shown below in Example 3-4.
Example 3-4. Rossi, Amanti, piangete, mm. 22-23, A: as written, B: with written port de voix, and C: with written port de voix and mordent.
Text Expression Several aspects of style and aesthetic in the first half of the seventeenth century effect Rossis compositional style, as he further experimented with the monodic style of such earlier composers as Caccini. Reflecting his involvement with the Florentine Camerata, Caccini lauds the philosophy of Plato, who declared that music is naught but speech, with rhythm and tone coming after; not vice versa.97 Caccini also warns against the overuse of passaggi, or melismatic ornamentation, as such embellishments could not move the mind without the words Bacilly, 65. A mordent is defined as a rapid alternation between the written note and the note directly below. 97 Caccini, 44. 33
96
being understood.98 The passaggi mentioned above likely refer to the virtuosic flourishes extending over longer phrases, which were very popular in solo vocal and instrumental music at the end of the sixteenth century. Bacilly provides further aesthetic guidance suggesting that a piece of music can be beautiful, but at the same time unpleasant when ornaments he deems necessary are omitted.99 Bacilly highlights the importance of the beautiful and pleasant pronunciation of words and the observance of their length.100 He often suggests the use of these ornaments on words and notes that might not feel vocally or expressively natural.101 As an example, upon describing and providing an example of a port de voix of the fourth, he offers the following: I find it more appropriate to omit the port de voix here though it may be merely because of the fact that the syllable of offencez being short would seem to oppose ornamentation. Bacillys argument reinforces the importance of balancing the performers artistic license with the task of serving the text.102 The prominence of the text is key. Text expression is dictated by the composer in the setting of the text, and amplified by the singer through ornamentation choices and nuances in the performance. Many examples of text amplification are found within the three performance
Ibid. Bacilly, 64. 100 Ibid. This statement reflects the mid-seventeenth century movement to use essence of the French language to inspire the poetry and music of the age. Margaret Murata, Image and eloquence: secular song, The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music, eds. Tim Carter and John Butt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 387. 101 Bacilly, 71. 102 A young performer should work with a coach or a teacher when deciding which ornaments would work best in their voice and in the expression of music in this style.
99
98
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editions of Rossi cantatas included in Part II. Rossi emphasizes and magnifies the text with such tools as rhythm, range, meter and repetition.103
Basso Continuo Realization Performance practice resources outline rules and/or expectations that governed the playing of unrealized basso continuo music in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but there remains ambiguity in the application of these rules. The very concept of the basso continuo line rests largely on the principle of giving the player(s) freedom to express the music while supporting the singer according to his or her own taste and judgment, on keyboard (such as harpsichord or organ), or on a plucked instrument (typically lute or theorbo, but also guitar or harp).104 Several basic principles apply to the seventeenth century approach of realizing the continuo line of a solo vocal work. Giulia Nuti summarizes the early seventeenth century harmonizing conventions very simply in her groundbreaking early baroque performance practice companion, The Performance of Italian Basso Continuo: All chords take a 5/3 chord (i.e. root position chord), except the instances when a 6/3 (i.e. first inversion chord) should be played: 1. on the leading note in the bass 2. on any accidental sharp on the bass note 3. on the middle note of three bass notes in a row. A 7 leading to a 6 is essentially a harmonic ornament of a 6; 7-6 can be played if there is time and the upper parts suit it. Passing notes should be identified, especially at cadence points, and should not all be harmonized.105 Nuti also reminds the reader, in the words of Agostino Agazzari, that it is not possible to give rules on how to play pieces which have not signs [figures]; be aware that the composers
103
Examples of this interplay between text and music can be found in the Chapter 4 discussion of each individual song. 104 Nuti, 1. 105 Ibid., 24-25. 35
intention must be followed, as it is free and may, at his sole discretion, [vary] depending on which seems to him most appropriate or necessary for the words.106 Nutis insights extend to the awareness and expression of the affetti107 in the vocal line, and the importance of maintaining the presence of harmony without adding contrapuntal bass line.108 Nuti translates a passage from Bianciardis Breve regola that further emphasizes the importance of reflecting affetti in the continuo line: Indeed, often the words require that one looks for fullness of voices [full chords], and in esclamazioni, help from the lower notes. With joyful subjects it is best to stay as high as possible; in sad [pieces] stay low.109 These indications, of course, refer to recommended ranges to employ when accompanying singers on specific passages, as well as how full or sparse the harmonic texture should be. Many continuorealization principles, especially those associated with affect, are subjective, which is why the attached modern performance edition may look different than another scholars edition.
Special Consideration in Creating New Modern Editions As James Grier states in The Critical Editing of Music, editing consists of [a] series of choices educated, critically informed choices; in short, the act of interpretation.110 Even Pietro Floridia, in the most radical modern edition of Amarilli, mia bella discussed in Chapter 2, made an educated interpretation of Caccinis song. While disregarding basso continuo practice, Floridias harmonic alterations made better use of the equal-tempered modern piano. Translated from Agazzari, Del sonare sopral basso, p. 6, in Nuti, 25. The term affetti refers to the baroque principle of applying specific moods and emotions to a musical performance. In early 17th-century text expression, this concept was closely tied to the importance of text over music. Elliott, 18-19, 56. 108 Nuti, 27. 109 Nuti, 31. 110 James Grier, The Critical Editing of Music: History, Method, and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 2.
107 106
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In the creation of performance editions for the Luigi Rossis cantatas found this study, choices were also made to ensure consistency and clarity in the editing process. The first consideration in creating these modern editions was to avoid any transcription inaccuracies. In keeping with the modern trends of performance practice, I endeavored to create simple, straightforward piano accompaniments for the songs, with the young singer in mind. Regarding basso continuo realization, certain rules were followed to ensure that the harmonic language matches the composers intent by following the figured bass line, although this was necessarily balanced with the desire to create an accompaniment that would provide solid support and encourage full, supported singing for a young singer. With the advent of basso continuo accompaniment in the early baroque period, the transposition of songs was easily accomplished in the pursuit of full, expressive singing. In the early seventeenth century, in Giulio Caccinis words, he who professes this art, when he is to sing alone with a chitarrone or other stringed instrument, not being forced to accommodate any others but himself, should choose a key in which he can sing with a full, natural voice, avoiding false notes [notes out of his natural range]. While these modern editions maintain the original keys in the manuscripts, the teacher should feel free to transpose these songs to a range befitting different voice types, if such a transposition is deemed necessary. As mentioned earlier in Chapter 2, the purely academic approach of trying to reflect informed performance practice in a modern edition can sometimes intimidate a young singer, who might require a more supportive accompaniment in order to be encouraged to sing out with confidence. One of the goals in creating modern Rossi piano/vocal editions is to realize the basso continuo in a way that supports the young singers voice. These accompaniments not only
37
provide solid harmonic support, but they stay below the soprano range, allowing for continuous clarity of the Italian language when sung by a young voice.
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Chapter 4 Introduction to Selected Rossi Cantatas The three Rossi cantatas found in Part II are selected from two manuscript sources: the 1986 Garland publication that reproduced manuscripts of selected Rossi cantatas;111 and the 1987 Harvester Press Microform Publication of manuscripts from the British Library.112 Within the British Library microfilm collection, Rossi cantatas within the Harley Manuscripts 1264, 1265, 1273, 1501, and 1863 were examined. Forty-eight cantatas from these sources were evaluated for issues of duration, complexity of form, and legibility of music and text. Three cantatas, Addio, perfida, addio, Duna bell infedele, and Amanti, piangete, were chosen their simplicity in the vocal line, brevity, dramatic content, and suitability for a young singer. Although critics have suggested that there is a bourgeois quality about the cantata texts of this period, 113 these texts are quite dramatic and deal with universal themes of love and loss that appeal to many young singers. The vocal range of these three Rossi songs is not extreme within an octave and a third remaining mostly within a comfortable middle tessitura, with occasional notes above the staff. This is preferable when teaching the novice young singer who is often afraid of singing high notes or sitting in an uncomfortably high tessitura. It is also helpful when focusing on more fundamental pedagogical principles such as posture, breathing, Italianate vowel formation, legato phrasing, and language. The melodies have beautiful moments of lyricism, which Rossi has accentuated with occasional ornaments and melismatic passages, and which are suitable to helping young singers exercise flexibility, range and expression. Luigi Rossi, Cantatas, ed. Francesco Luisi (New York: Garland, 1986). Roger Bray, comp., Italian Music manuscripts in the British Library (Brighton, England: Harvester Press Microform Publications, 1987), Reels 2-4. 113 An argument for the value of these texts, can be found in Freitas, 509.
112 111
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Several alterations were made in the performance editions in an effort to write in the musical language of the modern performer. The soprano line, which appeared in C-clef on the first line (soprano clef) in the manuscript, was rewritten in the more standard modern G-clef (treble clef) for the piano/vocal edition. Likewise, the basso continuo line, which frequently changes clefs in the manuscript, was edited to appear in the F-clef (bass clef) only; additionally, the figures were moved below the staff to clarify and retain the harmonies indicated by the figured bass. Differences of note spelling, such as a sharp preceding a B-flat, or a flat symbol before an F-sharp, have been altered enharmonically with a natural sign. Rhythmic inconsistencies are amended, to reflect the meter implied by the vocal line. Further editorial alterations were made in the creation of the performance editions in order to make the score legible and pleasing to the eye and to encourage an expressive performance. The accompaniment is supplemented with additional suggested figures in squared brackets for keyboard players who might wish to experiment with their own interpretive realizations. Apart from the realized basso continuo, several additions such as dynamics and articulations were added to both the keyboard part and in the vocal line. In the voice, several ficta markings have been suggested in brackets above the note to create a less jarring melodic line. The meter has been simplified in some of the triple-meter sections of the songs. In the triple meter sections, there can be three, six or nine beats in a measure, without metrical indicators denoting these changes, and the performance editions reflect a simple 3/4 measure in some of these places, indicated below in the discussion of each song.114 All diacritical and expressive markings, except those found in the manuscript to indicate syllable underlay, should be understood only as editorial suggestions. It is likewise implied that the realized keyboard part
114
Grier discusses this problem of providing the editions audience with rhythmic values placed in a familiar context and that communicates the approximate tempo of the piece. Grier, 170. 40
is editorial, so these notes are not marked in brackets. For each of the performance editions, the authors original literal and poetic translations are included with the Italian text. Addio, perfida, addio provides three clearly contrasting sections, allowing the singer to explore different types of expressive singing. The opening section resembles the monodic tradition of Caccinis Amarilli, with a lament-like rolling of slower chords in the piano. Each arpeggiated chord in this section suggests an affect derived from the text it supports. This leads to a more declamatory middle section of recitative, which gives bite to the singers pain. The shift of affect can also be felt in the meter change to the final section, with the fast triple meter suggesting the self-directed irony in the final line of poetry, How easy to deceive one who is so trusting! The clever layers of meaning associated with these court cantatas are also found in this song;115 the first appearance of sol (only) in measure 14 also happens to be sung on the fifth scale degree (also known as sol). In the performance edition, the text underlay has been altered in the first line of the recitative section to make it easier for a young singer to read and to emphasize the appropriate syllables in the Italian text. Potential ornaments in this song should be limited to the first section, with only a few ornaments scattered elsewhere in the cantata, where Rossi writes in a more expressive melodic tone. The monodic opening passage does not require ornaments as long as it is sung in a simple and elegant manner but, for example, such ornaments as an intonazione della nota on the first note, some cercar delle note (for example, mm. 6, 12, 14, 21, or 27), and a trillo at cadences (m. 18) could magnify the beauty of the line. Duna bell infedele is a fast song in triple meter that explores the interplay between the vocal and continuo line. In the beginning of the song, the continuo moves in tandem melodically
115
Freitas, 509. 41
with the voice; this is offset by the brief melismatic moments in the voice, and by the moments where the voice remains static singing one note while the harmony changes. Subtle changes can be felt throughout as the affect changes from joyous love to pining and from teasing to tormenting. Emphasis is given to important words through long melismas, as in the opening section of Duna bell infedele. There is an additional layer of text painting added here, in the opposing colors of the melismas on the text infedele (unfaithful, mm. 3-5, a jarring run with abrupt rhythmic turns) and fedel (faithful, mm 17-19, a contrastingly smooth, graceful run). A few changes to notes, text, and meter have been made in the performance edition. The text underlay in measure 9 has been altered to ease the flow of the phrase. Several ficta markings have been placed above the score, in measure 9 (C-sharp) and measure 62 (B-flat). The meter has been altered to a consistent 3/4 meter from measure 43 to the end. Expression markings are used here to indicate places where the phrasing might be subtly impacted by the placement of bar lines in the manuscript (i.e. mm. 51-53 and 60-62). In the third measure, there is an unclear rhythm in the voice line of the manuscript that might be a quarter note followed by two eighth notes, or a dotted quarter followed by two sixteenth notes. I have opted to employ the latter rhythm in the performance edition. Repetition within the sections provides opportunities for the singer to improvise ornamentation. The levity of the fast triple meter belies the serious text, and ornaments should reflect the affect that the singer intends in the moment, for instance, esclamazione and cerca delle note for the more lamenting moments, and mordents for a sharper attack on a note or word. The triple meter towards the end of the cantata impacts not only phrasing, but also some notes in the voice line that now tie over the measure line. The choice to simplify meter was made
42
because it is hoped that the visual image of the tied notes across the measure lines might encourage the natural singing of esclamazione on these notes. The syllabic underlay of the exclamation Ahi! is very clear in the manuscript (see mm. 43 and 45). The emphasis noted on the second syllable of Ahi! augments the wailing quality of this cry. Finally, Amanti, piangete provides a dramatic challenge to the singer: how many different ways can you sing the word no! In this song there seems at times to be a dialogue between the voice and continuo, with offset entrances and descending lines that suggest a lament. The text in this musical setting If you could see every suffering [in the world], my pain would be greater than any other suggests a more elevated melodramatic performance than the previously mentioned songs. Direct word painting is found in the dissonance of crying and lamenting (pianti, m.6 and lamento, m. 23). Repetition of text can also add layers to the meaning of the text, with the n, n, n in the final section of Amanti piangete taking on a multitude of suggested meanings in its various rhythmic, harmony, range, and insistence. The word n is sung three times when it first appears in m. 56, but when it returns in m. 63, it is sung five consecutive times, three of which have an offbeat emphasis. Several changes have been made in the performance edition of this cantata. The text has been altered in several places, changing the spelling of piangete_a in measure 2 so that it matches later repetitions of this text (mm. 8 and 13), and improving the flow of the text by changing the text underlay (mm. 20-21, and m. 49). One ficta marking has been added, a sharp above the G in measure 72. The triple-meter sections have also been altered in this song, from the beginning to measure 24 (with expressive markings reflected in the performance score in
43
mm. 4-5, 8-9, and 25-27) and from measure 29 to the end of the song (phrase markings indicated in mm. 53-55, 59-61, and 69-72). While there are ample opportunities for ornamentation in this song, the somber mood and slower tempo suggest that such elaborations on the vocal line should be limited. One ornament to consider is an altered intonazione della nota at the beginning, connecting the first two notes of the vocal line. This cantata has many dotted rhythms on descending lines, ideal places for the subtle articulation of an esclamazione. Other ornamentation might include a trillo, which would be appropriate at a few of the cadences (specifically, mm. 26-27), and a port de voix on lamento in measure 45.116 In measure 19 of the manuscript, the continuo line is obscured. I have notated this as a dotted half note in the critical edition, to give full length to this measure. Also, in measure 31 of the critical edition, there appears to be an octave doubling in the continuo line of the manuscript. I have chosen to retain this octave doubling in the modern editions.
Final Thoughts Over the past five years, I have had several opportunities to sing the music of Luigi Rossi in early music ensembles, and I have often wondered why such intriguing and beautiful music is not readily available for a wider range of performers. Rossis music is becoming more popular in the baroque performance world, but it has not yet gained the same recognition in the broader performance community. It is my hope that in making performance editions available for the studio and the stage, this study might help expand the modern voice teachers repertory of early baroque solo song. It is also my hope that this dissertation will eventually lead to an edition of
116
Both of these ornaments are provided as written-out examples in Chapter 3 of this document. 44
Rossis songs that could be made available to teachers and singers through publication or, perhaps, as an online resource.
45
References
Ashworth, Jack and Paul ODette. Basso Continuo. A Performers Guide to SeventeenthCentury Music. Ed. Stewart Carter, 269-96. New York, NY: Schirmer Books, 1997. Bacilly, Bnigne de. A commentary upon the art of proper singing. Edited and translated by Austin B. Caswell. Brooklyn, NY: Institute of Medieval Music, 1968. Bernhard, Christoph. Die Kompisitionslehre Heinrich Schtzens in der Fassung seines Schlers Christoph Bernhard. Edited by Joseph Maria Mller-Blattau. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hrtel, 1926. Bray, Roger, compiler. Italian Music manuscripts in the British Library. Brighton, England: Harvester Press Microform Publications, 1987. Brown, Lydia. Alessandro Parisotti's Arie antiche: Its transformation into the Schirmer 24 Italian songs and arias and a survey of contemporary performing editions. D.M.A. dissertation, Julliard School, 2006. Caluori, Eleanor. The Cantatas of Luigi Rossi: Analysis and Thematic Index. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1981. Carter, Tim. Caccinis Amarilli, mia bella: Some Questions (and a Few Answers). Journal of the Royal Musical Association 113, no. 2 (1988): 250-273. Cusick, Suzanne. Thinking from womens lives: Francesca Caccini after 1627. The Musical Quarterly 77, no. 3 (1993): 484-507. Dickey, Bruce. Laccento: In Search of a Forgotten Ornament. Historic Brass Society Journal 3 (1991): 98-121. Dickey, Bruce. Ornamentation in Early-Seventeenth-Century Italian Music. A Performers Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music. Edited by Stewart Carter, 245-68. New York, NY: Schirmer Books, 1997. Elliot, Martha. Singing in Style: A Guide to Vocal Performance Practices. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Fader, Don. The Honnte homme as Music Critic: Taste, Rhetoric, and Politesse in the 17thCentury French Reception of Italian Music. The Journal of Musicology 20, no. 1 (2003): 3-44. Freitas, Roger. Singing and Playing: the Italian Cantata and the Rage for Wit. Music & Letters 82, no. 4 (2001): 509-542.
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Gerhart, Martha. Italian Song Texts from the 17th Century. Mt. Morris, New York: Leyerle Publications, 2002. Grier, James. The Critical Editing of Music: History, Method, and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Hammond, F. Music & Spectacle in Baroque Rome: Barberini Patronage under Urban VIII. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994. Hill, John Walter. Roman Monody, Cantata and Opera from the Circles around Cardinal Montalto. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Hilse, Walter, trans. The Treatises of Christoph Bernhard. The Music Forum: Volume III. Edited by William J. Mitchell and Feliz Salzer, 1-29. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1973. Holzer, R.R. Music and Poetry in Seventeenth Century Rome: Settings of the Canzonetta and Cantata Texts of Francesco Balducci, Domenico Benigni, Francesco Melosio, and Antonio Abati. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1990. Holzer, Robert R. Rossi, Luigi. In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, 2006. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/23893 Saerchinger, Csar, ed. International Whos Who in Music and Musical Gazetteer. New York: Current Literature Publishing Company, 1918. Kagen, Sergius. Music for the Voice: A Descriptive List of Concert and Teaching Material. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968. Kolb, Richard. Style in mid-seventeenth century Roman vocal chamber music: the works of Antonio Francesco Tenaglia (c. 1615-1672/3). Ph.D. dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2010. Lionnet, J. The Borghese Family and Music During the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. Music & Letters 74 (1993): 519-29. Luisi, Francesco, ed. Cantatas by Luigi Rossi (c. 1597-1653). Vol. 1. The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century, edited by Carolyn Gianturco. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1986. MacClintock, Carol. Readings in the History of Music in Performance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979.
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Murata, Margaret. Image and eloquence: secular song. The Cambridge History of SeventeenthCentury Music. Edited by Tim Carter and John Butt, 378-425. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Murata, Margaret. Roman Cantata Scores as Traces of Musical Culture and Signs of its Place in Society. International Musicology Society Congress Report XIV: Bologna, 1987. Murata, Margaret. "Singing about Singing, or The Power of Music Sixty Years After." In cantu et in sermone: for Nino Pirrotta on his 80th birthday, ed. Franco Piperno and Fabrizio Della Seta. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1989. Nuti, Giulia. The Performance of Italian Basso Continuo: Style in Keyboard Accompaniment in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma musicum III. Edited and translated by Jeffery Kite-Powell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Rolland, Romain. Some musicians of former days. London: Paul, Trench, Trbner, 1915. Rose, Stephen. Music in the market-place. The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music. Edited by Tim Carter and John Butt, 55-87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Rossi, Luigi. Cantatas. Edited by Francesco Luisi. New York: Garland, 1986. Ruffatti, Alessio. La rception des cantates de Luigi Rossi dans la France du Grand Sicle. Revue de Musicologie 92, no. 2 (2006): 287-307. Taruskin, Richard. "Nationalism." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/50846 (accessed May 21, 2011.) Ziino, Agostino, ed. I rapporti musicali tra Italia e Francia nel Seicento. Studi musicali 25, no. 1-2 (1996): 41-51. Scores Caccini, Giulio. Le Nuove Musiche. (Firenze: Maescotti, 1602.) Facsim. ed. New York: Performers Editions 35, 1987. Caccini, Giulio. Le Nuove Musiche. Ed. H. Wiley Hitchcock. Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. IX. Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 1970.
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Dallapiccola, Luigi, ed. Italian Songs of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Volume 2. New York: International Music Company, 1961. Dowland, Robert, comp. A Musicall Banquet. (London: Printed for Thomas Adams, 1610.) Facsim. ed. New York: Performers Editions 59, 1990. Floridia, Pietro, ed. Early Italian Songs and Airs: Volume I, Caccini to Bononcini. Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Oliver Ditson Company, 1923. Gevaert, F.A., ed. Les Gloires de LItalie. Paris: Heugel & Cie., n.d. [1868?] Glenn, Mabelle and Bernard U. Taylor, eds. Classic Italian Songs for School and Studio. Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Oliver Ditson Company, c.1949. Hinson, Maurice, ed. 28 Italian Songs and Arias. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Publishing Co., 1988. Isori, Ida, ed. Early Italian Arias. (Vienna, Universal Edition, 1912) Translated by Richard Batka. Huntsville, Texas: Recital Publications, 2005. Jeppesen, Knud, ed. La Flora: Arie &c. Antiche Italiane. Copenaghen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1949. LaForge, Frank, and Will Earhart, eds. Pathways of Song. New York: M. Witmark & Sons, c.1934. Landshoff, Ludwig, ed. Alte Meister des Bel Canto. Leipzig: C.F. Peters, n.d. [1912?] Liebling, Estelle, rev. and Ruggero Ven, ed. The Aria, Renaissance and Baroque. New York: Franco Colombo, Inc., 1963. Parisotti, Alessandro, ed. Twenty-Four Italian Songs and Arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Trans. Theodore Baker. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1894. Parisotti, Alessandro, ed. Anthology of Italian Song of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Trans. Theodore Baker. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1894. Paton, John Glenn, ed. 26 Italian songs and arias: An authoritative edition based on authentic sources. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred, 1991. Paton, John Glenn, ed. Italian Arias of the Baroque and Classical Eras. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., 1994. Walters, Richard, ed. 28 Italian songs and arias of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 2008.
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Primary Sources Agazzari, Agostino. Del sonare sopra il basso. Siena: 1607. *Bacilly, Bnigne de. Remarques curieuses sur lart de bien chanter. Paris: 1668/1679. Banciardi, Francesco. Breve regola per imparar a sonare sopra il basso. Siena: 1607. *Bernhard, Christoph. Von der Singe-Kunst oder Manier. Manuscript, ?1650. Bovicelli, Giovanni Battista. Regole, passaggi, di musica. Venice: 1594. *Caccini, Giulio. Le nuove musiche. Florence: 1602. Fleury, Nicolas. Mthode pour apprendre facilement toucher le thorbe sur la basse-continu. Paris: 1660. Locke, Matthew. Melothesia, or Certain general rules for playing upon a Continued-Bass. London: 1674. *Praetorium, Michael. Syntagma musicum III. Wolfenbttel: 1619. Sangiovanni, Geminiano. Primi ammaestramenti della musica figurate. Modena: 1714. * indicates that modern translations of these primary sources are also found elsewhere in the Bibliography.
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51
Addio, perfida, addio Source for this edition: Mecklenburgische Landesbibliothek, Schwerin. MS 4718a, pp. 4, 12-13.117 Additional source: Bibliothque du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles. MS 17197, pp. 7-9 (copy of 4718a).
118
Addio perfida addio goodbye treacherous one goodbye Goodbye, treacherous one, goodbye. cos tradire un core thus to betray a heart How you have betrayed a heart che sol per tua belt si strugge e that solely for your beauty itself languishes and that solely for your beauty languishes and dies! le parole tue infide the words your untrustworthy Your untrustworthy words, le lusinghe omicide119 promettendo al mio the illusion that gives death promising to (the) my the fatal illusions, which promised my heart blissful destiny, cor heart beata sorte blissful destiny more dies
Ah che120 m han dato morte penose e dura Ah that to me (they) have given death painful and long-lasting Ah, how they [the illusions] have brought death to me, painful and enduring! quanto lieve ingannar chi how much is simple to deceive who How easy to deceive one who is trusting! s assicura oneself trusts
117 118
Facsimile in Luigi Rossi, Cantatas, ed. Francesco Luisi (New York: Garland, 1986), pp. 1-3. Source information and catalog numbers found in Caluori, vol. 2, 24-25. 119 In the original manuscript, this word is spelled homicide. 120 The pronoun che refers to the murderous illusions in the previous line. 52
53
54
55
56
Duna bell infedele Source for this edition: The British Museum, London. Harley 1273, f. 78v.121 Additional sources: Mecklenburgische Landesbibliothek, Schwerin. MS 4718a, pp. 46-48. Christ Church Library, Oxford. MS 17, f. 10. Bibliothque du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles. MS 17197, pp. 11-13 (copy of 4718a). The British Museum, London. MSS Additional 14336, ff. 7-8v. (Arrangement for two sopranos and bass voices, with continuo.)
122
Duna bell infedele123 chha di spirto divin voce e sembiante Of a beautiful unfaithful one who has of spirit divine voice and semblance Of a beautiful unfaithful one who has voice and semblance of divine spirit io son fedel I am faithful I am a faithful lover. amante lover
s io dico che ladoro chio languisco per lei che per lei mor if I say that her I love that I languish for her that for her I would die If I say that I love her, that I pine for her, that I would die for her, risponde in dolce note, amici lamenti (she) responds in sweet tones friendly laments she responds in dulcet tones, (in) friendly laments, non e ver te ne menti not true you (about it) lie its not true, you are lying! Ah! Thus says she ahi ah cos thus va costei goes (speaks) she
che non ha se non tocca non crede. who (does) not have if not touch or believe who does not accept me (in love), since she will neither feel nor believe (what I tell her). Bray, Roger, comp., Italian Music manuscripts in the British Library (Brighton, England: Harvester Press Microform Publications, 1987), Harley 1273, f. 78v; Hughes-Hughes vol.ii, 490. In the hand of Humphrey Wanley, Reel 4. 122 Source information and catalog numbers found in Caluori, vol. 2, 24-25. 123 Infedele is capitalized in the manuscript, which, in modern Italian, refers specifically to heretic. It has been altered here to unfaithful one.
121
57
58
59
60
Amanti, piangete Source for this edition: The British Museum, London. Harley 1273, f. 78.124 Additional sources: Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica di S. Pietro a Majella, Napoli. 33.4.12, ff. 161v-166v. Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica di S. Pietro a Majella, Napoli. 33.4.7, ff. 83-88v. Mecklenburgische Landesbibliothek, Schwerin. MS 4718a, pp. 43-45. Christ Church Library, Oxford. MS 951, f. 25-28v. Bibliothque du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles. MS 17193, pp. 163-164 (copy of 4718a).
125
pianti weeping
se vede ogni penar la pena if is seen every suffering the pain If [you were] to see every suffering, my pain, maggior dogn [de ogni] altro il greater than every other the my lament would be greater than any other. Crudeltade inaudita di bellezza cruelty unheard of of beauty Unheard-of cruelty of infinite beauty,
infinita infinite
la mia donna trovo un si che dice the my woman I find one thus who says in my woman I find one who says: no, no, no!
n, n, n no
Bray, Roger, comp., Italian Music manuscripts in the British Library (Brighton, England: Harvester Press Microform Publications, 1987), Harley 1273, f. 78; Hughes-Hughes vol.ii, 490. In the hand of Humphrey Wanley, Reel 4. 125 Source information and catalog numbers found in Caluori, vol. 2, 48-49.
124
61
62
63
64
65