Download Chapter 7: Humanism and the Birth of Opera I. Introduction A. The

Chapter 7: Humanism and the Birth of Opera
I. Introduction
A. The chief musical style of the Renaissance, the Ars perfecta, did not blend well with
the idea of “rebirth”—the meaning of the word “Renaissance.” The ideals of humanism pushed
for a different aesthetic, one that found its meaning in the relationship between text and music.
B. Italian music dominated European style ca. 1600.
C. Absolutism was the main political influence of the period.
D. The word “Baroque” is problematical for numerous reasons, yet there are
consistencies in Baroque style (basso continuo, theatrics, neoclassicism).
II. The Pressure of Humanism
A. During the sixteenth century, academies formed in Italy to foster interactions between
artists and thinkers. They were modeled loosely on the academies of ancient Greece as begun by
Plato.
B. The most important academy was in Florence.
1. This group considered the performance of Greek drama and poetry as a musical
event. Their conclusions were:
a. It was monophonic.
b. It worked to convey affections to the listener.
2. These ideas, codified by Mei, were adopted by a group of humanists known as
the Camerata.
a. Through various connections, Mei’s research on ancient Greece was
introduced to Vincenzo Galilei (father of the scientist Galileo).
1) Galilei, a lutenist, arranged polyphonic music for solo
performance accompanied by lute.
2) He sought to take counterpoint out of music and substitute it for
a more natural delivery.
3) He rejected madrigalisms.
III. The Representational Style
A. Galilei thought that music should represent the meaning or emotion of what is being
expressed.
1. He arrived at this concept through Plato, arguing that music should be able to
persuade.
2. This is known as stile rappresentativo, which Galilei felt could be better
expressed by a single voice (monody) rather than a group (as in madrigals).
IV. Intermedii
A. Intermedii were allegorical pageants performed between acts of spoken comedy.
B. The intermedii performed at a wedding in 1589 experimented with the ideals discussed
by Galilei.
1. They featured texts by Ottavio Rinuccini and staging by Emilio de’ Cavalieri.
2. Some of the works were large, choral numbers with instrumental ritornelli by
Marenzio and Cristofano Malvezzi.
3. They also included pieces by Guilio Caccini (1551–1618), a singer and member
of the Camerata.
V. The Monodic Revolution
A. Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo (1600), performed in Rome at the
Oratorio [note name] di Santa Maria in Vallicella, included solo music that we would recognize
as recitative. It included figured bass.
B. In 1601, both Caccini and Peri set Rinuccini’s drama Euridice.
1. Peri’s is earlier and includes quite a bit of recitative. In this way dramatic
continuity overtrumps spectacle.
C. In 1602, Caccini published Le nuove musiche, a book of solo songs with figured bass.
D. Much has been made of the “new music,” but we should remember not only Caccini,
but also contributions by Peri, Viadana, and Cavalieri.
E. The move to monody happened gradually and over time, not at midnight on 1 January
1600.
VI. Madrigals and Arias Revisited
A. Le nuove musiche includes a large proportion of songs to be performed in an
“aristocratic” (and artful) manner.
1. The songs are of two types: a strophic air, or aria, and a through-composed
madrigal.
2. The experimental madrigals were for solo, not group, so that the individual
singing could move the listener emotionally.
a. Amarilli mia bella demonstrates that a madrigal does not have to
contain madrigalisms (obvious word-painting). It focuses instead on a speech-like delivery.
b. Everything in this song, including harmony, works toward rhetorical
emphasis.
c. Four repetitions of the woman’s name are all performed differently, thus
highlighting the emphasis.
B. Caccini instructs the reader how to embellish for the correct affects.
1. These include mirroring various types of speech, such as exclamation or
trembling.
2. He also discusses “graces”—what we would call ornaments.
VII. Favola in Musica
A. The style of music developed by Caccini soon found its way to the theater, which
makes sense because it was conceived as an imitation of Greek theater.
1. Several early songs in this style existed in intermedii.
a. The Favola di Orfeo served as the base story for numerous early
musical plays.
b. None of these survive intact, only fragments.
2. The first true opera, La Dafne by Peri and Rinuccini, does not survive, but the
performance took place during carnival 1597–98.
a. A later published version of this work informs us about its history.
b. This later publication acknowledges that dialogue-music was gaining in
popularity, and music was not seen as only for song-and-dance spots in performance.
B. Gagliano called this genre favola in musica (musical tale).
VIII. Operatic Conventions: Heard and Unheard Music
A. Opera was the first large-scale secular genre typically discussed in European music
history, but the earliest practitioners did not use that word.
B. The idea of recitative—speaking from stage in song—did not win universal approval.
C. Opera had to operate on two levels: speech and music.
1. The music held underlying codes that the audience was supposed to understand.
2. Sometimes the music was only meant for the audience, not the characters.
D. In Peri’s Euridice, long passages of stile rappresentativo provide intense drama to the
performance.
1. The bass line does not move frequently, which frees the singer to express the
text as appropriate.
2. The music is unpredictable, which means the drama is not interrupted.
3. The most intense scene in Euridice occurs when Orpheus learns of Eurydice’s
death.
IX. Monteverdi: From Court to Commerce
A. Monteverdi was the first great opera composer.
1. His first contribution, a favola in musica, dates from 1607 and was performed
in the Mantuan court for invited guests.
2. His last work, an opera regia, was performed thirty-six years later for a paying
public in Venice.
B. Monteverdi’s first favola in musica was L’Orfeo.
1. By the time of L’Orfeo, Monteverdi had established himself as a madrigalist
and was seen as the primary composer associated with seconda pratica.
2. When his brother, Giulio Cesare, defended Claudio against Artusi’s
condemnations, he claimed that the composer was reaching back to Plato, via de Rore. By
claiming a descent from Plato, he trumped those who favored Ars perfecta with humanism.
X. L’Orfeo: The Quintessential Princely Spectacle
A. An academy produced L’Orfeo, not the court.
1. The occasion was carnival season in 1607—a time of spectacle.
a. L’Orfeo does not require a large number of players, although the
continuo group is substantial.
b. Woodwinds and brass augment the instrumental ensemble.
c. These instrumentalists are used to great effect several times in the opera,
including the opening toccata.
B. Outline of analysis:
1. Instrumental toccata lets the audience know it is time to begin.
2. La Musica sings a five-verse aria (with instrumental ritornello) that
demonstrates the power of music.
3. Act II
a. Orpheus sings happily of his love for Eurydice. After a series of arias
sung by various characters, Orpheus sings the joyful “Vi ricorda, o bosch,” notable for its use of
hemiola. References to his lyre lets the audience know that the music is heard by the characters.
b. The Messenger (a nymph) arrives and announces Eurydice’s death. The
happy song-and-dance music is replaced by stile rappresentativo. Only continuo instruments
play, which suggests that those on stage do not hear the instruments—it is “unheard.” The use of
dissonance is reminiscent (but better than) that heard in earlier versions of the story.
c. Analysis of the music demonstrates the tensions created by Monteverdi
and their purpose in the drama.
4. The last two acts take place in the underworld.
5. The longest aria occurs in the middle and is Orpheus’ attempt to convince
Charon to take him over the river (“Possente spirto”). A version with Monteverdi’s own
ornamentation allows modern performers to study what the composer might have had in mind.
6. The story ends differently from Ovid’s—much happier, with Orpheus
ascending to heaven.
XI. Monteverdi in Venice
A. Monteverdi was rudely dismissed from his post in Mantua.
B. His career ended in Venice at St. Mark’s, from 1613 until his death (although he was
semiretired in 1630).
C. All of his Venetian compositions include instruments with voices, most notably in his
8th book of madrigals (1638).
1. From this collection, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda tells the story of
a ferocious battle. To represent the battle, Monteverdi invented a new style of music known as
stile concitato: agitated style.
2. Another piece from the publication, Lamento della ninfa, uses a descending
tetrachord, which has since been associated with the lament.
D. In his post at St. Mark’s, Monteverdi composed a substantial amount of sacred music.
XII. Opera and Its Politics
A. In 1637, Venice saw the opening of the first public opera house in Western Europe.
1. When thinking about the significance of this event, we should think not only of
the composers who used it, but also the audience in attendance.
B. The Italian court spectacles necessarily included homage and praise of the princes in
attendance.
1. The virtuosity of performers could have been viewed as a threat because they
upstaged whatever political event was being celebrated in the first place.
C. When opera moved to a more public venue, the virtuoso performers thrived, an aspect
of opera that has continued to this day.
1. The most virtuoso singers were castrati, opera’s first stars.
a. They were the most educated and received the best roles (heroes, gods,
and generals).
b. Castration of the talented boys was officially illegal, but demand for the
stars meant that it occurred frequently.
D. As the century wore on, distinct types of opera emerged.
1. Opera seria was serious, as opposed to opera buffa (commercial).
E. Women who sang in operas were seen as threats in several ways.
1. Some considered them provocative and therefore immoral.
2. The roles some women sang positioned them to insult, degrade, outwit, and
humiliate men—clearly a role reversal.
F. Opera has always had the potential to be disruptive to traditional values and has been
associated with destabilization throughout its history.
XIII. The Carnival Show: L’incoronazione Di Poppea
A. Monteverdi came out of retirement to compose L’incoronazione Di Poppea and two
other operas for another public opera house in Venice, the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
1. L’incoronazione Di Poppea was the last of these.
a. It was an unusual opera subject that champions vice over virtue.
b. It curried favor with Venetians because it valued their republic over
Imperial Rome (which is portrayed in a very negative light).
c. Monteverdi includes a variety of styles in this work, often juxtaposing
low style/characters with high ones. His layered use of such devices informs the audience in
ways the libretto alone cannot.
d. There are several uncertainties concerning differing versions of
L’incoronazione Di Poppea; these involve order of pieces, inclusion of pieces, and intentions.
B. The political tensions inherent in L’incoronazione Di Poppea can be seen in operas
composed since 1637.