Antonio Bertali, Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra, ed. Andrew H. Weaver, April 2008 Introduction, p.

i
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INTRODUCTION

On 30 January 1649, King Charles I of England was beheaded by his own government,
having been found guilty of high treason and sentenced as a “tyrant, traitor, murderer, and
implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England.” While the long-term results of this
execution are well known to students of early modern English history, its immediate impact
on all levels of European society can be difficult to fathom. In the age of Absolutism, this
supreme blow to the God-given authority of the king sent shockwaves throughout Europe.
One can only imagine the fear it must have inspired in other European monarchs, who were
forced to acknowledge how very tenuous was their own hold to power. Among the many
artistic responses to Charles’s execution was a sympathetic work from the Habsburg court of
the Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna, an Italian poem by Emperor Ferdinand III’s younger
brother, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614–62), which was set to music by Antonio Bertali
(1605–69), maestro di cappella of the imperial court chapel. In both its text and music, this
lament of Charles’s French-born Catholic queen, Henrietta Maria, looks back to the ne plus
ultra of all seventeenth-century laments, Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna of 1608, although
it also bears witness to the textual and musical conventions that were rising to prominence on
the Venetian operatic stage.

The Composer

Born in Verona in 1605, Antonio Bertali spent his youth studying music with Stefano
Bernardi, maestro di cappella of the Verona cathedral.1 He seems to have joined the
Viennese court chapel already by 1624, but the earliest document of his presence at court is
his marriage certificate dated 26 January 1631, which identifies him as an instrumentalist to
the emperor. Bertali established himself early in his Viennese career as both a virtuoso
violinist and an accomplished composer, serving with high favor under three successive
emperors: Ferdinand II, Ferdinand III, and Leopold I (the last of whom probably received
musical instruction from the composer).2 Upon the death of maestro di cappella Giovanni
Valentini in 1649, Bertali rose to this prominent position in the imperial chapel, continuing to
serve as chapel master until his death in April 1669.
Bertali never issued a publication of his music during his lifetime. The only works by
him that appeared in print during the seventeenth century are a three-voice motet included in a

1
On Bertali’s biography, see Rudolf Schnitzler and Charles E. Brewer, “Bertali, Antonio” in The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., 3: 452–54 and Niels Martin Jensen, “The Instrumental Music for
Small Ensemble of Antonio Bertali: The Sources,” Dansk Årbog for Musikforskning 20 (1992): 25–43.
2
A manuscript held in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna (Cod. 18831) contains musical works
composed by Leopold I in 1655 and 1656 (when the future emperor was a teenager), one of which features a part
for viola bastarda added by Bertali.

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Milanese anthology from 1649 and two posthumous publications of instrumental music issued
in 1671 and 1672.3 We know, however, that Bertali was a prolific composer, thanks to a
manuscript inventory of the music library of Leopold I, the so-called Distinta specificatione
housed in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.4 This inventory devotes 64 pages (fols.
10r–41v) to Bertali’s music and lists a total of 599 works by him, including 361 Latin-texted
sacred works, 188 Italian-texted works, and 50 sonatas.5 We can get a sense of how highly
his music was valued at court from the fact that he wrote Requiem masses for the most
important members of the imperial family. His first commission came even before he was
chapel master, for Ferdinand II’s funeral in 1637. He wrote commemorative music for
Ferdinand III, Ferdinand IV (Ferdinand III’s eldest son, who died unexpectedly in 1654),
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, and several of the emperors’ wives. He also composed musical
settings of Italian poems written by Ferdinand III and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm––of the
titles listed in the Distinta specificatione, at least six correspond to poems written by
Ferdinand III, and at least seven to poems by the archduke.6 Bertali also gained a strong
reputation as a composer for the stage; libretti (and some music) for ten operas and four
oratorios produced at the imperial court between 1653 and 1667 survive at the Österreichische
Nationalbibliothek.
Bertali’s surviving music is scattered in manuscript copies housed in libraries
throughout Europe. Some music survives at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, primarily
secular music and strictly liturgical works, including a series of settings of introit chants. The
latter are the result of Bertali’s collaboration with his vice-chapel master Giovanni Felice
Sances to provide a complete set of polyphonic introits for the liturgical year, which
continued to be performed by the imperial chapel for generations. Two library collections in
particular contain a significant amount of Bertali’s music: one is the former collection of
Prince-Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Castelcorn of Olomouc (r. 1664–95) housed in the archives

3
The motet, Exultate et cantate, is in Teatro musicale de concerti ecclesiastici a due, tre, e quattro voci di
diversi celebri e nomati autori… (Milan: G. Rolla, 1649), reprinted in 1653. The instrumental publications are
the lost Thesaurus musicus (Dillingen: Johann Kaspar Bencard, 1671) and Prothimia suavissima, 2 vols. (n.p.,
1672). The ascription of the 1672 works to Bertali, however, is problematic.
4
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Suppl. mus. 2451. This manuscript was prepared sometime
after 1679. We know this because it contains a section listing works by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and
identifies the composer as the emperor’s maestro di cappella; Schmelzer only rose to that position in that year.
The latest datable work listed in the inventory is a Requiem mass composed by Schmelzer for Empress Claudia
Felicitas (Leopold I’s second wife), who died in 1676.
5
The Latin-texted works comprise the following: 33 masses, 8 Requiem masses, 5 sets of lessons and
responsories for the dead, 32 introits, 1 sequence (the Stabat mater), 8 complete vespers settings, 10 complete
compline settings, 78 vespers psalms, 16 Magnificats, 70 antiphons, 16 litanies, 3 Miserere settings, 5 Te Deums,
and 76 motets. The Italian-texted works comprise the following: 40 “compositioni morali, e spirituale per
camera,” 14 “compositioni proprie,” and 134 “compositioni amorose.” These numbers differ slightly from those
given in the New Grove works list.
6
Ferdinand III published Italian poetry in Poesie diverse composte in hore rubate d’Academico Occupato (n.p.,
n.d.), and Leopold Wilhelm published poetry in Diporti del Crescente, divisi in rime morali, devote, heroiche,
amorose (Brussels: G. Mommartio, 1656).

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of the Collegiate Church of St. Maurice in Kroméříž, Czech Republic,7 and the other is the
famed Düben Collection housed at the Uppsala University Library in Sweden, which holds
the unique manuscript copy of the Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra.8

The Text

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm wore many hats throughout his life: Bishop of at least five
dioceses (as second-born of the Holy Roman Emperor he was destined for a life in the
church), commander of the imperial army (under whom the Habsburgs suffered some of their
worst defeats during the Thirty Years’ War), and, from 1646 until 1657, Governor of the
Spanish Netherlands.9 He distinguished himself above all, however, as a patron of the arts.
Most celebrated as a collector of paintings, he assembled an enormous art collection, which
today forms a large part of the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.10 He
was also a patron of music, maintaining his own musical establishment and frequently
borrowing musicians from his brother. A manuscript inventory of his music collection drawn
up by his chapel master Giuseppe Zamponi lists 26 books of music (both printed and in
manuscript), 484 individual compositions, and 12 musical instruments.11 Together with
Ferdinand III, he was an avid writer of Italian poetry; both he and his brother founded literary
academies in the Italian manner and published their own books of Italian poetry.12

7
For more information on this collection, much of which is available on microfilm at Syracuse University, see
Craig Allen Otto, Seventeenth-Century Music from Kroméříž, Czechoslovakia: A Catalog of the Lichtenstein
Music Collection on Microfilm at Syracuse University (Syracuse: Syracuse University Libraries, 1977).
8
A catalogue of the Düben Collection, edited by Erik Kjellberg and Kerala J. Snyder, is available online at
http://www.musik.uu.se/duben/Duben.php (accessed 20 March 2008).
9
For a brief biography of Leopold Wilhelm, see Andrew H. Weaver, “Piety, Politics, and Patronage: Motets at
the Habsburg Court in Vienna During the Reign of Ferdinand III (1637–1657)” (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale
University, 2002), 49–52.
10
Karl Schütz, “The Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm,” in 1648: War and Peace in Europe, vol. 2, Art
and Culture, ed. Klaus Bussmann and Heinz Schilling ([Münster]: Veranstaltungsgesellschaft 350 Jahre
Westfälischer Friede, 1998), 181–90.
11
Vienna, Hofkammerarchiv, Niederösterreichische Herrschaftsakten, W61/A/32, fols. 2-11. For information on
the musicians employed by Leopold Wilhelm, see Weaver, “Piety, Politics, and Patronage,” 59 and 65–68. See
also Agnes Kory, “Leopold Wilhelm and his Patronage of Music with Special Reference to Opera,” Studia
Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 36 (1995): 11–25.
12
On the cultivation of Italian poetry at the Habsburg court, see Herbert Seifert, “Akademien am Wiener
Kaiserhof der Barockzeit,” in Akademie und Musik, ed. Wolf Frobenius et al. (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker
Druckerei und Verlag, 1993), 215–23; Erika Kanduth, “Italienische Dichtung am Wiener Hof im 17.
Jahrhundert,” in Beiträge zur Aufnahme der italienischen und spanischen Literatur in Deutschland im 16. Und
17. Jahrhundert, ed. Alberto Martino, Chloe 9 (Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1990), 171–207; Ulrike
Hofmann, “Die Accademia am Wiener Kaiserhof unter der Regierung Kaiser Leopolds I.,” Musicologia
Austriaca 2 (1979): 76–84; Theophil Antonicek, “Italienische Akademien am Kaiserhof,” Notring Jahrbuch
(1972): 75–76; and Umberto de Bin, “Leopoldo I. imperatore e la sua corte nella letteratura italiana,” in
Bolletino del Circolo Accademico Italiano, 1908-09 (Trieste: Caprin, 1910), 1–78. Ferdinand III’s and Leopold

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The text of the Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra was published in Leopold
Wilhelm’s poetry book of 1656, where it appears among the “heroic” poems.13 It is quite
probable, however, that the poem was originally written closer to the date of Charles I’s
execution. The Distinta specificatione lists Bertali’s setting among his “compositioni
proprie,” but unlike all of the other works in this section, no specific occasion or event is
listed as the reason for its composition.14 The poem as it appears in the 1656 publication
differs from the text provided in Bertali’s composition, as is evident in the “Text” document
provided with this edition, which places side-by-side the 1656 poem, the text as it appears in
the musical setting, and an English translation of Bertali’s text. Many of the differences
involve minor changes in word choice or word order, but there are also a number of more
substantial changes, including lines that are completely rewritten and bear no resemblance to
each other (such as the last line of the first section), lines that exist only in the printed version
(such as the third line of the second section), as well as lines that exist only in the musical text
(such as the ninth line on the second page).
Because no other copies of the archduke’s poem exist (and also because we cannot
precisely date Bertali’s composition), we have no definitive way of knowing how these
differing sources relate to each other. The 1656 version of the poem may represent a later
revision of the text that appears in the musical setting, but it is also likely that the printed
poem is the original version, which Bertali consciously altered to comply with his musical
ideas.15 This second option seems more probable, not only because such poetic manipulation
was a common procedure for many seventeenth-century composers, but also because some of
the changes either improve the poetry (Bertali was a native speaker, whereas Leopold
Wilhelm was not) or seem to have been made for specifically musical reasons. In three
places, for instance, the musical text condenses two settenarii of the 1656 poem into one

Wilhelm’s published collections of poetry are cited in fn. 6 above; manuscript copies of additional poems by
members of the imperial family survive in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 9401*, Cod. 10108,
Cod. 13278, and Cod. Ser. n. 4270.
13
Leopold Wilhelm, Diporti del Crescente, 91–94.
14
Bertali’s composition is listed on fol. 35v. The entry in the Distinta specificatione lists the performing forces
as “à 7. C. A. B. con 4. viole,” whereas the manuscript in the Düben Collection calls for only canto and basso
voices. While it is possible that Bertali composed two different settings of this text, one that was recorded in the
Distinta specificatione and one that was distributed beyond the confines of the court, it is just as likely that the
alto voice mentioned in the Distinta specificatione is a scribal error. It is also possible that the alto part was
removed when the work was copied into the Düben manuscript. Kerala J. Snyder has shown that Düben himself
sometimes made changes to works when copying them for his own use, including adding new parts; for instance,
he added a viola part to Dieterich Buxtehude’s Ad Latus, the fourth cantata in the composer’s cantata cycle
Membra Jesu nostri. See Kerala J. Snyder, “Beyond Sources and Works: A Fresh Look at Buxtehude’s
Legacy,” unpublished paper presented at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Society for Seventeenth-Century
Music, University of Notre Dame, 21 April 2007; I am very grateful to Prof. Snyder for sharing her paper with
me. The hand of the Bertali manuscript, however, has not been identified as Düben’s.
15
It is also possible that changes were made to the poetry when it was copied into the Düben manuscript. It
seems unlikely, however, that the copyist would have made so many conscious alterations to the original text,
especially as many of the changes would have required significant recomposition of the music. Kerala Snyder
has also informed me that such changes do not conform to Düben’s usual practice (personal communication, 27
February 2008).

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endecasillabo, thereby simplifying unnecessarily wordy passages: “Cadevero infelice / Cada

il mio corpo esangue” becomes “Cadaver morto cada il corpo esangue”; “Misera ben
m’avveggio, / Che nel dolor vaneggio” becomes “Ah, vaneggio et hor ben me n’avveggio”;
and “O ciel dammi tu aita, / Lo spirto manca, già manca la vita” becomes “O cieli, aiuto! Il
spirto già mi manca.” (This last change is especially effective, making the words of the
swooning queen both more emotionally powerful and more credible in their brevity.) In the
second section on the second page, the musical text differs slightly from the printed text at the
end of the second line, thereby creating a parallel with the last line on the first page, which
Bertali’s setting echoes with repeated music. Another substantial difference between the two
texts occurs in the third section; in the 1656 version, this section ends with a rhymed pair of
couplets that seem to call for arioso or aria, but in the musical text, these four lines appear as
two endecasillabi set as recitative.
In its sectional structure consisting predominantly of settenarii and endecasillabi in
versi sciolti, as well as in its traversal of a wide range of contrasting moods, Leopold
Wilhelm’s poem bears close resemblance to Ottavio Rinuccini’s text for the Lamento
d’Arianna. Indeed, many of the moods experienced by the English queen are found not only
in Ariadne’s lament but also in its many imitators: the desire to die, the self pity, the angry
curse, the desperation, the long farewell, and also the much imitated sudden change of mood
and accompanying disbelief at her wicked words (though in Henrietta’s case, she is horrified
not by an angry outburst but perhaps by the fact that she, a devout Catholic, turned to the
pagan Jove for assistance). Leopold Wilhelm also makes a bow to one of the most enduring
of lament conventions, one that originated in the ancient Greek tragedies from which early
opera drew its inspiration and that was also present in the original operatic version of
Ariadne’s lament (if not the published chamber version): the use of a commentating chorus,
here seen in the narrative second and final sections, which are uttered in a different voice from
the queen’s and which Bertali assigns to a different singer.
Despite these obvious debts to Rinuccini’s text, Leopold Wilhelm’s poem also
displays some more fashionable characteristics not present in Ariadne’s lament. The most
obvious of these is the occasional employment of metric verses calling forth the aria style; in
addition to the instance noted above (changed in the musical text), the first section of the
poem features not free verse suitable for recitative but two parallel rhymed, metric tercets.
Also notable is the poetry for the queen’s curse, which abandons the versi sciolti of the
surrounding sections in favor of parallel lines with the sdrucciolo endings that were beginning
to be associated with incantation scenes, best known today from Medea’s sorcery scene in
Francesco Cavalli’s Giasone of 1649.

The Music

Just as Leopold Wilhelm looked to Rinuccini’s Lamento d’Arianna when writing his lament,
so too did Bertali turn to Monteverdi’s setting of that text as model for his music. The focus
throughout is on a canto soloist, who sings the queen’s words, while a basso soloist assumes
the function of the chorus in the two narrative sections.16 While the canto is accompanied
16
If the alto voice mentioned in the Distinta specificatione is not a mistake (see fn. 14 above), this third singer
would have probably also participated in the narrative sections.

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only by the continuo (doubled by bass viol), the basso is accompanied by an ensemble of four
viols; the instruments also help set the mood in two sonatas, one at the beginning of the work
and one before the section in which the queen decides to pronounce her curse. The music is
dominated by flexible recitative singing, featuring a wide melodic range and unpredictable
phrases that mirror the queen’s mood swings. Even the aria sections veer closer to recitative
than a true aria style. For instance, although the first vocal section (mm. 26–69) is in triple
meter and contains clear-cut phrases and some sequential repetition, the phrase structure is
anything but balanced; while the majority of the phrases are four measures long, some contain
six and even five measures. Bertali does not in this section follow the structure of the text by
presenting two parallel tercets; in fact, he even alters the poetic structure of the first two lines
by repeating words (“Mortali, vedete / Esempio crudele” becomes “Mortali, vedete, vedete, /
vedete, Esempio crudele”). Even the queen’s angry curse (mm. 169–88), which begins as we
might expect in a presto triple meter that emphasizes the dactylic rhythm of the sdrucciolo
lines, gives way in m. 183 to an adagio duple-meter recitative for the last five lines. There are
only two other exceptions to the emphasis on recitative in the work: the first is the repeated
section on the words “io griderò vendetta” (mm. 157–68 and 191–202), in which Bertali
illustrates the queen’s new-found determination with ascending sequential repetitions in a
duple-meter aria style over an active bass, and the second is the final line of the poem, which
Bertali transforms into a heartrending adagio triple-meter aria in which a single phrase is
woven imitatively through all of the voices.
By far the most powerful tool used by Bertali to increase the expressive effect of the
music is the harmonic language. As with all other mid-century music from the Habsburg
court, the harmonies falls into the modal-hexachordal system as explicated by Eric Chafe for
the music of Monteverdi and elaborated upon by later scholars.17 This system, however, is
treated with great freedom throughout the work. The composition is clearly grounded tonally
on G and begins and ends centered on the 2-flat hexachord (E-flat, B-flat, F, C, G, D), but the
harmonic language traverses much ground during the course of the work, extending as far as
the natural hexachord (which is often indicated in the music with a signatio change). The
shifts in cantus occur primarily across sections, but they can also occur within sections. For
example, the canto’s first section begins solidly on the 2-flat hexachord, with cadences on G,
E-flat (the flattest pitch in the 2-flat hexachord), and F. Beginning in m. 46 with the authentic
cadence on D (the sharpest pitch in the 2-flat hexachord), the cantus gradually begins to shift
in the sharp direction. The shift away from the 2-flat hexachord is confirmed in m. 52 by the
authentic cadence to A (the sharpest pitch in the 1-flat hexachord), and the signatio change

17
Eric Chafe, Monteverdi’s Tonal Language (New York: Schirmer, 1992). See also Beverly Stein, “Between
Key and Mode: Tonal Practice in the Music of Giacomo Carissimi” (Ph.D. dissertation, Brandeis University,
1994) and eadem, “Carissimi’s Tonal System and the Function of Transposition in the Expansion of Tonality,”
Journal of Musicology 19 (2002): 264–305. The harmonic language of a work in this system is determined by
its cantus, which consists of three interlocking hexachords: the central hexachord supplies the six cadential
points available to the composer, while the three hexachords taken together provide the entire harmonic
vocabulary. For example, a cantus mollis work, which is centered on the 1-flat hexachord and will feature a
signatio of B-flat, can include cadences to triads built on B-flat, F, C, G, D, and A (the six pitches of the
hexachord beginning with F, rearranged according to the circle of fifths). For the total harmonic language in the
work, however, the composer can also choose to use chords built on E-flat (the flattest pitch in the 2-flat
hexachord) and E (the sharpest pitch in the natural hexachord).

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and phrygian cadence to E (the sharpest pitch in the natural hexachord) in m. 61 indicate that
we have shifted to the cantus durus. While the shifts in this section are rather subtle, in most
other cases Bertali prefers to introduce shifts in a more jarring manner, often with the sudden
appearance of an unexpected triad that lies beyond the bounds of the cantus. He also enjoys
creating striking harmonic effects within a single cantus. In four places, for instance, he
places in close proximity in the bass the sharpest and flattest pitches of the cantus; this occurs
in mm. 76–79 (an A-flat major triad appears three measures after an A major triad), mm. 83–
85 (chords built on E-flat and E-natural within the space of three measures), mm. 108–111 (an
especially striking case in which a B major triad is followed only three measures later by a B-
flat minor triad, a chord that is a tritone away from the E major cadence in m. 109), and mm.
235–37 (chords built on A-flat and A-natural with just four intervening beats).
In all of these cases, the harmonic fluctuations serve the text by mirroring the
instability of the queen’s state of mind and her rapid shifts among contrasting affects. They
also often serve a more specific text-expressive function by emphasizing important aspects of
the poem. For instance, the above-mentioned jarring appearance of a B-flat minor triad in m.
111 highlights the moment when the queen makes her request to Jove, after accusing him in a
durus harmonic language of being a tyrant to her. In m. 154, a sudden shift to the cantus
durus marks the moment when she decides to stop lamenting (before pronouncing her curse),
and after beginning the curse back in the work’s original cantus, the music again shifts to the
cantus durus with the return to recitative in m. 183, highlighting the very important moment
when Henrietta addresses other kings and urges them to avenge her husband’s murder.
Another powerful harmonic shift occurs in m. 210, with the sudden juxtaposition of C and E
major triads at her last impassioned outburst to Heaven, marked in the score with the
performance indication “subito.” Bertali then graphically depicts the sudden draining of the
queen’s energy with a drooping chromatic descent in which the singer astonishingly drops out
before the final cadence, leaving the continuo instruments to finish the section at a hushed
“pian piano” dynamic.

Suggestions for Performance

Bertali’s Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra poses few unusual performance practice
questions. Singers need to allow rhythmic freedom in the recitative passages and give the
natural declamation of the words priority over the precisely notated rhythmic values. There is
ample room for tempo fluctuations throughout the work; the music often calls for this with
tempo indications, although those in the middle of sections (e.g., mm. 40, 97, 111, and 127)
should usually be taken more as general suggestions for interpretation rather than dramatic
tempo changes. The proportional relationship between the duple- and triple-meter sections is
that of proportio sesquialtera, in which three half notes in triple meter equal two half notes in
duple. This creates the aural effect of one measure in triple meter equaling one measure in
duple, which produces satisfying results for the first and last triple-meter sections in this
work, but not for the presto section in which the queen declares her curse (mm. 169–82). It is
thus more advisable to choose tempi more freely according to the affect of the text rather than
to adhere slavishly to correct proportions.

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The violetta parts were most likely intended for members of the viol family, which
continued to be used at the Viennese court throughout the seventeenth century. While it is
possible to use members of the violin family for these parts, the low ranges, the use of C1
rather than G2 clefs for the top two lines, and especially the mournful character of the piece
seem more appropriate for viols. Although the manuscript specifies the use of the cembalo
for the continuo line, performers should not feel tied down by this; other types of keyboard or
plucked string instruments would work equally well. In the opening five measures of the
cembalo part, the music doubles the lines of the soprano, alto, and bass viols, but from m. 6
on it doubles only the lowest instrument. While the continuo player can choose to play all of
these lines in the opening measures, they may have been included in the manuscript only as an
aid for the performer. It is thus recommended that the continuo player begin only with the
entrance of the bass viol in m. 4.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the Uppsala University Library for providing a copy of the original source
and for granting permission for the publication of this edition. Thanks are also due to
Kathleen Anders-Musser, my research assistant at the Catholic University of America, for
transcribing the music, and to Kerala Snyder for sharing information about the Düben
Collection.

Andrew H. Weaver
The Catholic University of America
April 2008

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CRITICAL REPORT

The Source

Bertali’s Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra survives in one manuscript source: Sweden,
Uppsala University Library, Vokalmusik i handskrift 47:21. According to Bruno Grusnick,
who catalogued the vocal works of the Düben Collection in the 1960s, the manuscript was
copied ca. 1669.18 The manuscript consists of seven parts, and the outer wrapper reads as
follows: “Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra / Parole del Ser.mo Arciduca Leopoldo
Guilielmo. / Musica di Antonio Bertali Msto di Cappella di Sua M.ta Ces. / Canto Solo. | 3
viole, e Basso di Viola. | Basso solo con le viole” [vertical lines written as such on the
manuscript].

Editorial Methods

The voice names in the edition are provided as they appear in the manuscript source, but
abbreviations have been expanded. Also reproduced as they appear in the source are all other
verbal aspects of the edition, such as dynamic markings and tempo indications; if a tempo
indication occurs in more than one part in the source, it has also been added editorially (in
square brackets) underneath the cembalo line. The two sonatas are labeled as such in all
parts; the edition places the label only over the top staff. Text and voicing cues that
occasionally appear in the parts as aids for the performers have been tacitly removed in the
edition. In the poetic text, the first word of each line has been capitalized, and punctuation
has been added if necessary. When possible, spelling and punctuation follow the version of
the poem that appears in Leopold Wilhelm’s 1656 poetry book, with spelling changes
mentioned in the critical notes.
The use of clefs in the parts is as follows: canto = C1; basso voce = F4; soprano
violetta prima = C1; soprano violetta seconda = C1; alto violetta terza = C3; basso di viola =
F4. The cembalo part uses primarily the F4 clef, except for two brief passages in the first
sonata that use C1 and C3 clefs respectively; the edition uses exclusively the bass clef for the
cembalo, with the clef changes indicated in the critical notes. The canto and basso voce parts
both include the basso continuo line in score, and the cembalo part includes the vocal line in
score for all of the canto sections and for the first vocal section for basso. Discrepancies
between the various lines have been indicated in the critical notes.
This edition preserves the original rhythmic values in a 1:1 ratio. The original meter
signatures have been preserved in the edition, with the exception of the first triple-meter
section, in which a C appears in front of the triple-meter signature in all of the parts but has
been removed from the edition. Barlines appear throughout the parts, but in an irregular
fashion (especially in the triple-meter sections and in the viol parts); they have been tacitly
18
Bruno Grusnick, “Die Dübensammlung: Ein Versuch ihrer chronologischen Ordnung,” Svensk tidskrift för
musikforskning 48 (1966): 78.

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regularized in this edition. Thin-thin barlines occasionally appear in the source to demarcate
important section breaks and have been reproduced in the edition; editorially added thin-thin
barlines are mentioned in the critical notes.
This edition follows modern practice for stem direction and beaming, employing
“vocal beaming” in which notes are beamed based on the syllabification of the text. The
source generally beams eighth notes in the duple-meter instrumental parts in groups of four,
which has been followed in the edition, even when different beaming appears in the source
(which is not mentioned in the critical notes). All slurs have been retained in the edition, with
editorially added slurs indicated with dashed slurs. Note values interrupted by the editorial
barlines (including instances in which the source places an augmentation dot across a barline)
have been broken with ties as per modern practice.
All original accidentals have been retained in the edition, including those that are
redundant or unnecessary in modern practice. Although natural signs occasionally appear in
the source, existing accidentals are more frequently negated with sharp and flat signs; in the
edition, sharps and flats used as accidentals of negation have been tacitly changed to naturals,
following modern practice. All editorially added accidentals are placed in square brackets,
with editorially added cautionary accidentals placed in parentheses. Once introduced, both
editorial and source accidentals remain in effect until the end of the measure, as per modern
practice.
Figured bass symbols are generally reproduced exactly as they appear in the source,
but natural signs (which are not used in the source) have been used in place of cancelling flats
or sharps in accordance with modern practice. Editorial figures have been placed in square
brackets; in ambiguous circumstances, figures have generally not been added, leaving the
realization to the performer’s discretion. The continuo lines in the canto and basso voce parts
frequently carry figures, and the figures in these parts sometimes do not appear in the cembalo
part (and vice versa). All of the figures from all three parts appear in the edition, with the
critical notes reporting all instances in which a figure does not appear in one of the parts. The
basso di viola part also occasionally carries figures; these figures, which always match the
cembalo part, are indicated in the critical notes.

CRITICAL NOTES

The notes below describe readings in the source that differ from those in the edition, except
for the changes discussed in the editorial methods. Pitches are given according to the system
in which middle C is c′. The following abbreviations are used: C = canto, B = basso voce,
V2 = soprano violetta seconda, Bv = basso di viola, Cemb = cembalo.

M. 1, Cemb, to m. 5, beat 3, C1 clef.

M. 17, Cemb, note 2, to m. 18, note 4, C3 clef.

M. 26, time signature in both staves of the cembalo part has a 1 instead of a 2.

Mm. 26–27, Cemb, notes are tied in canto part.

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M. 28, Cemb, note 2, accidental not in canto part.

Mm. 30–31, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

Mm. 38–39, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 40, C, tempo indication not in cembalo part.

M. 44, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

M. 50, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

M. 51, Cemb, sharp in second figure not in canto part.

M. 52, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

Mm. 56–57, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

M. 59, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 60, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

Mm. 60–61, C, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 61, key signature change does not appear in the upper staff of the canto or cembalo parts
and is also missing from the basso di viola part.

Mm. 63–64, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 67, C, note 2 in cembalo part has a flat.

M. 68, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 69, Bv, no fermata.

M. 70, B, notes 3 and 4 in cembalo part have no accidentals.

M. 71, B, note 6 in cembalo part has no accidental.

M. 72, Cemb, note 2, figure not in basso voce part.

M. 73, Cemb, basso voce part has one whole note.

M. 78, Cemb, note 2, figure not in cembalo part.

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M. 82, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

M. 84, Cemb, note 2, figure not in canto part.

M. 84, C, beat 3, key signature changes to a natural sign in both the canto and cembalo parts
(but not in the lower staff).

M. 85, Cemb, the only figure in the cembalo part is a sharp on note 2.

M. 86, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part.

M. 89, Cemb, the only figure in the cembalo part is a 6 on note 2.

M. 90, Cemb, note 2, the only figure in the cembalo part is a sharp, and the figure in the canto
part has no accidental.

M. 92, C, note 1 in the cembalo part has an augmentation dot, and the following eighth rest is
omitted from the same part.

M. 93, C, notes 5 and 6 in the cembalo part are eighth notes.

M. 96, C, notes 2–3, slur not in cembalo part.

Mm. 97–98, Cemb, canto part has a tie across the measure.

M. 98, Bv, note 2 is figured (matching cembalo part).

M. 102, Cemb, two tied half notes in canto part.

M. 103, Cemb, note 1, figure not in canto part.

Mm. 104–5, Cemb, canto part has a tie across the measure.

M. 105, Cemb, note 1, figure not in canto part.

M. 106, C, note 2 in cembalo part has no sharp.

M. 106, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part; note 3, figure not in canto part.

M. 107, Bv, note 1 is figured (matching cembalo part).

M. 108, Bv, note 1 is figured (matching cembalo part).

M. 108, C, notes 4–5, slur not in cembalo part.

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M. 110, C, notes 6 and 7 in cembalo part are eighth notes.

M. 111, C, tempo marking not in cembalo part.

M. 111, Cemb, note 5 in canto part has no flat.

Mm. 111–12, Cemb, tie not in canto part.

M. 112, C, text reads “altra forma.”

M. 112, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part.

Mm. 112, Cemb, note 2 to m. 114, figures not in canto part.

M. 114, C, notes 1–3, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 116, C, note 4, sharp not in cembalo part.

M. 116–17, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 118, key signature change occurs at the beginning of the measure in both staves of the
canto part, and it only appears in the bottom staff of the cembalo part.

M. 118, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part.

M. 120, C, note 2, sharp not in cembalo part.

M. 120, Cemb, note 2, to m. 122, figures not in canto part.

M. 121, C, text reads “nissun”; note 6 in canto part has no sharp; note 5 in cembalo part has a
sharp.

M. 122, Bv and Cemb, no key signature change; tempo indication only in canto part.

M. 125, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

M. 126, Cemb, note 1, accidental not in cembalo part.

M. 127, tempo marking only in canto part.

M. 128, Cemb, note 2, figure not in canto part.

Mm. 128–29, C, slur not in cembalo part.

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M. 129, Bv, regular bar line instead of thin-thin barline.

M. 130, Bv, note 1 is figured (matching cembalo part).

M. 145, Cemb, figure not in canto part; canto part has two tied half notes.

M. 148, C, notes 5–6 in cembalo part are a dotted eighth note and sixteenth note.

M. 148, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part; note 2, figure in canto part is just #6.

M. 149, Cemb, note 1, figure not in canto part.

M. 151, Cemb, beat 1, A-flat half note is not in cembalo part, and figure is not in canto part.

M. 152, C, note 2 in cembalo part has no augmentation dot, and notes 3 and 4 in cembalo part
are eighth notes.

M. 152, Cemb, note 2, figure in canto part is only a sharp, and figure in cembalo part reads “3
4” with no sharp.

M. 153, C, notes 2–3, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 154, C, cembalo part omits the quarter rest on beat 1, and note 4 in cembalo part is a
dotted quarter note.

Mm. 154–55, C, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 155, Cemb, figure not in canto part; canto part has two tied half notes.

M. 156, Cemb, only figure in canto part is #6 on note 1.

Mm. 156–57, C, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 157, Bv, key signature changes on beat 1.

M. 157, Cemb, “cacciato” indication not in canto part; tempo indication only in canto part.

Mm. 160 and 163, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

Mm. 164–65, C, tie not in cembalo part.

M. 164, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part.

M. 166, Cemb, note 4, figure not in canto part.

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Mm. 166–67, C, tie not in cembalo part.

M. 167, Cemb, note 1, figure in canto part is just a sharp; figure in cembalo part is “3 4” with
no sharp.

M. 168, Cemb, fermata not in cembalo part (on either staff); figure not in canto part.

M. 169, C, text reads “Cadan i fulmini.”

M. 171, Cemb, figure not in canto part; note in canto part has no augmentation dot.

M. 174, Cemb, figure not in cembalo part.

M. 179, C, text reads “oscurinsi.”

M. 180, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

M. 181, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

M. 182, fermata not in basso di viola part nor on either staff of cembalo part.

M. 183, C, text reads “Pigliate.”

M. 183, C, key signature change occurs one measure later in cembalo part (but occurs at
beginning of m. 183 on bottom staff); because of this, sharps are added to notes 1, 4, and 6 in
cembalo part.

Mm. 184–85, Cemb, canto part has tie over the measure.

Mm. 184–88, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 188, Bv, key signature changes on beat 1; Cemb, key signature changes on beat 1 in the
bottom staff of the cembalo part, but on beat 3 in upper staff (change occurs on beat 3 on both
staves in canto part); Cemb, figure appears over note 1 instead of note 2 in cembalo part.

M. 189, Cemb, the only figure in the entire measure in the cembalo part is 4 over note 1;
canto part has a tie connecting notes 1 and 2.

M. 190, Cemb, the tie in canto part starts on note 2.

M. 193, C, note 6, flat not in cembalo part.

Mm. 194 and 197, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

M. 198, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part.

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M. 199, Cemb, note 11, figure not in canto part.

M. 200, Cemb, note 6, figure not in canto part.

M. 201, Cemb, note 1, figure in cembalo part has no sharp, and figure in canto part is only a
sharp.

M. 203, Cemb, note 1, upper note not in cembalo part; note 2, figures not in cembalo part.

M. 204, C, note 7, sharp not in cembalo part.

M. 205, C, notes 2–3, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 205, Cemb, figures not in canto part.

M. 206, C, text reads “grida” instead of “vibra.”

M. 209, C, note 6, accidental not in canto part.

M. 209, Cemb, note 2, figure reads “4 3” in canto part and “4 #” in cembalo part.

M. 210, C, “subito” indication not in cembalo part.

Mm. 210–11, Cemb, tie not in canto part.

M. 212, Cemb, note 1 has augmentation dot in canto part; figure over note 1 in cembalo part
reads “#3 4.”

Mm. 212–13, C, the only slur in the cembalo part is between notes 5 and 6 of m. 212.

M. 213, Cemb, note 2, figures not in cembalo part.

M. 214, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

M. 217, C, notes 4–5, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 217, Cemb, note 2, figure in canto part has no accidental.

M. 219, Cemb, figure not in canto part.

Mm. 220–21, Cemb, tie not in canto part.

M. 221, Cemb, note 2, figure not in canto part; C, note 4 in canto part has augmentation dot.

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M. 222, C, note 2, flat not in cembalo part.

M. 222, Cemb, note 2, figure not in canto part.

M. 223, C, notes 2–3, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 223, Cemb, note 1, figures not in canto part.

M. 224, Cemb, note 1, figure not in cembalo part.

M. 225, Cemb, canto part has a tie between notes 1 and 2; cembalo part has one figure, which
is placed between notes 1 and 2.

M. 226, Cemb, note 2, figures not in canto part.

Mm. 226–27, C, slur not in cembalo part.

M. 227, Cemb, canto part has tie between notes 1 and 2.

M. 228, Cemb, dynamic marking not in canto part.

M. 229, no barline in basso di viola and cembalo parts.

Mm. 231–32, Cemb, tie not in basso voce part.

M. 232, Cemb, note 3, figure not in basso voce part.

M. 233, Cemb, note 1, figures not in basso voce part.

Mm. 234–35, Cemb, performance indications not in basso voce part.

M. 235, Cemb, note 2 is figured with a sharp in basso voce part.

M. 236, Cemb, basso voce part has whole note instead of two half notes; figure on note 1 not
in cembalo part.

M. 236–37, B, text reads “aflitte.”

M. 237, Cemb, figures not in cembalo part.

Mm. 244–45, Cemb, figures not in basso voce part.

M. 247, Cemb, note 2 in basso voce part is E.

M. 249, V2, note 3, f′.

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M. 251, Cemb, note 3 in basso voce part is a half note; note 4 not in basso voce part.

M. 255, Cemb, note 2, figures not in basso voce part.

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