Marco Di Pasquale

In the Italian musical historiography of the nineteenth century the concept of Renaissance passed through several elaborative steps. This slow process was deeply influenced by the ideological positions connected to the developing political conditions of the country and by changing attitudes in history writing. The historians concerned with civil life, the figurative arts, and literature described the Renaissance as a typical Italian phenomenon that began in the early fourteenth century and lasted 200 years, but the historians of music were unable to detect a correspondence in music during that period, mainly because of the preeminence that Flemish music and musicians were given in Italy. This led to the recognition of the characteristics of the Renaissance in the later music of Palestrina, particularly in the Missa Papae Marcelli. That composition was thought responsible for introducing the modern tonal system, which discarded medieval counterpoint, and for stating a genuine national aesthetic principle—that of the melody, which is better realized in singing. This vision was delivered by Girolamo Alessandro Biaggi, who benefitted from Giuseppe Baini's famous study on Palestrina's life and works. This vision is exclusively concerned with sacred music, as every secular genre—the madrigal, for instance—was considered the result of the Flemish occupation. In the second half of the nineteenth century Oscar Chilesotti contributed to a more extended definition of the Italian musical Renaissance. Many of his studies are devoted to the so-called melodia popolare, which in his opinion was the spontaneous manifestation of the Italian folk emerging mainly from the practice of solo singing with the lute. The melodia popolare enabled Chilesotti to antedate the beginning of the musical Renaissance and to define it as an event pertaining the secular realm of music. In the late fifteenth century the melodia popolare merged with the Flemish compositional technique and originated the typical Italian genres of the frottola and villanella, which through the madrigal developed into seventeenth century opera. By the end of the century the more up-to-date image of the Renaissance was offered by Alfredo Untersteiner, an amateur musicologist who was conscious of the contemporary musicological literature, especially in German. His Renaissance had a first start in the Italian ars nova, a short artistic experience that deeply influenced the Flemish composers from Dufay and underwent a continuous technical refinement until Willaert, who gave up the artifices of the Flemish school and adopted the typical Italian style.

The interpretations of the musical Renaissance by Girolamo Alessandro Biaggi (1819-1897) and Alfredo Untersteiner (1859-1917) were emblematic of the two principal historiographical trends in the late nineteenth century in Italy: that of historians who concentrated primarily on religious music and allowed themselves to be influenced by matters of faith; and historians who made no distinction between the religious and the secular domains and concerned themselves with evaluations of music-historical relevance. These two views of the musical Renaissance are compared with conceptions of the Renaissance as a broader artistic movement that exerted a deeper influence on the historical disciplines in Italy during that period. The aim of the comparison is to identify the historiographical methods developed by the earliest Italian musicologists and their kinship with the methods adopted at the same time by civil, philosophical, literary, and art historians.

Giuseppe Baini’s Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1828) is an early example of an outstanding life-and-works monograph centred on a composer of the past. The result of original research and a profound knowledge of the cultural and institutional contexts in which Palestrina operated, it provided the documentary basis for all Palestrinian studies to come for at least the following fifty years or so. Even though the factual foundations remained unchanged for the most part of the nineteenth century, the biographical and critical works that a number of Italian musicographers devoted to Palestrina display irreconcilable traits due to the different historical conceptions and methods adopted by the respective authors, and to the different ways in which they perceived the historiographical, ideological and aesthetical issues of their own time. Although the connotations varied, Palestrina was generally acknowledged as the hero who revealed the true features of Italian music, which were viewed as a prominent element of national identity and a crucial issue in the Risorgimento, i.e., the period which led to the administrative and cultural unification of the country. In the last decades of the century, further insights into the history of early modern music suggested that the emergence of the Italian musical spirit was to be first detected in the frottola or in the melodia popolare (folk song), therefore in a previous age, dating from the very beginning of the sixteenth century or even earlier, and in the realm of secular instead of sacred music.

The vogue for historical concerts—understood as comprehensive surveys of a particular repertoire—arose in Italy after 1869, first in association with recitals of keyboard music. Historical concerts had been in existence elsewhere in Europe many decades before they became fashionable in Italy. By the end of the 19th c., Italy was awash in a wave of historical concerts in every media, from keyboard music to religious polyphony and orchestral music. This movement owed much of its vigor to the scholarly work of Oscar Chilesotti, who revitalized historical musicology in Italy. His contributions to the revival of interest in Italy's musical heritage and to the establishment of a performance tradition are examined. Three appended letters from Cesare Pollini to Chilesotti (1888–89) shed additional light on the cultural significance of historical concerts.

The paper traces the history of the piano from its invention in Florence ca. 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori, via further developments in England and in the German-speaking countries, which were to some extent independent of Cristofori. The subsequent impact on the Florentine court of innovations in piano design made in Northern Europe are registered in documents preserved in Tuscan archives. There does not seem to have been any real renewal of interest in the instrument in Tuscany before the 1780s. Documents also provide information on the maintenance and restoration of court pianos from this time onward.

The op. 23 by Cecchino (Cecchini) from 1628 contains his only surviving instrumental works. These are eight sonatas, clearly destined for a religious context. Their style reflects two main sources of influence. One was the tradition west of the Serenissima (in Brescia, Mantua, Cremona, and Verona), which favored variations and was represented by Giovanni Battista Fontana and Biagio Marini. The other, favoring the dialectics of contrasting elements, was from Venice itself and was perfected by Giovanni Gabrieli, Dario Castello, and especially, Giovanni Battista Riccio. Cecchino's sonatas are not difficult to play and this was possibly a reason for their popularity. The edition bears a dedication to "Monsig. Aloisio Ivaneo, canonico, et primicerio nella chiesa catedrale di Lesina", an indication that the music was considered suitable for Hvar Cathedral, and possibly was performed there.

Paolo Veraldo was born in Rome between 1560 and 1563, and received his musical instruction at the chapel attached to the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia. Around 1585, he settled in Venice where, on 13 December 1586, was hired at the dogal church of San Marco. Evaluated by the maestro di cappella, Baldassare Donato, as one who “non ha cattivo metal di voce, et canta honestamente” (“has no bad voice and sings honestly”), Veraldo was also active as a singer in various devotional and charitable institutions of the city, such as the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista and Scuola Grande di San Teodoro. Married twice, he had numerous children. Two of his sons became acolytes at San Marco and were noted for their excellent musical performances in reinforcement of the ordinary members of the chapel. In 1620, the “procuratori de supra di San Marco” (i.e., the magistrates responsible for the management of the basilica) granted him an annuity in recognition of his long service rendered and the progressive deafness that made him unfit to work. The following year, the Senate of the Republic considered recognizing him with an annual benefit for his suggestions concerning the improvement of the Venetian tax system. Having reported numerous stab wounds, Veraldo died on 19 July 1623.
During his stay in the lagoon, Veraldo was in contact with important personages, such as Celio Magno (writer and secretary of the Council of Ten, the body charged with the security of the Venetian state), members of the nobility, such as Giovanni da Lezze, Marco David, Bernardino Belegno and Giovanni Lolin, and emerging personalities of the opulent citizen class, such as Bartolomeo Bontempelli dal Calice, Orfeo Giannucci and Valerio Bontempo.
The latter was regent of the Accademia degli Intricati, of which little is known and to which Veraldo himself was affiliated with the nickname of “lo Svegliato” (“the awake one”). In 1606, the academicians staged a play by Veraldo, L’intrigo, et torti intricati, which was printed in that same year. Afterwards, Veraldo also published Mascarate, et capricci dilettevoli (1620), L’anima dell’intrico (1621) and Le tre mascharate (1621). These theatrical works, belonging to the genres of the “commedia ridicolosa” and “mascherata”, enjoyed several editions and were reprinted several times, even in Milan and Bologna, at least until 1683.

Giovanni Gabrieli, a consortium of organists, four companies of musicians: unpublished documents on the autonomous musical cooperation in early seventeenth-century Venice.
Five notarial deeds certify the establishment of as many societies among instrumentalists and singers dedicated to the cooperative practice of the profession. These documents constitute the sole proof that has so far emerged in Venice of musical associations indipendent of state authorities or sponsoring institutions.
The first consortium was formed by eight of the city’s most prominent organists: Giovanni Gabrieli, Francesco Sponga Usper, Giovanni Picchi, Giovanni Priuli, Giovanni Battista Riccio, Antonio Romanin and Giovanni Battista Grillo. Its aim was to intercept any commission coming from the local confraternities and churches. The partners’ operative procedures are reflected in the lists of expenses for the annual festivals of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, given that on many occasions most of the above organists were engaged at the same time. It is not known how long the consortium was active, but the fact that, even after the death of Gabrieli, several of its members maintained professional dealings with the confraternity suggests continuity with the past.
Three other deeds provide the only available evidences of three companies of violins. Two among those constitutive acts describe the respective associations as “great companies”, a definition whose meaning is now unclear, and identify their scope of engagement as the “major and great festivals, such as those of Prosecutors, marriages, parental circles, and others”. One of the contracts discloses that two other teams of string instrument players operated on those same days in Venice and, when necessary, all three joined their forces.
The last document regards a company of singers formed by six priests and a friar.
The five notarial records raise questions that, at present, remain unanswered. Given that other societies among musicians existed in Venice, it is difficult to understand why further archival documents like those presented here are still untraceable. Other questions concern the professional relationships that the different companies might have established between each other and with their customers. One wonders whether cooperative associations of this kind were able to push up the price of their services and induce patrons to recruit more, or larger, groups of musicians. This is also a question posed by the substantial involvement of the organists headed by Gabrieli at the ceremonies in honour of San Rocco, but there is no way to ascertain the function actually assigned to each keyboard player and, endeed, if they were all strictly required.

In the sixteenth century, the sovereignty of the Venetian Republic over Verona denyed local patricians a role in the government of the town, so that they were relegated to administrative duties. The former ruling class, therefore, endeavoured to confirm its identity — claimed to be provided by virtue, wealth and power — in a realm secluded from the theatre of politics (even if somehow mirroring it). That sphere was the Accademia Filarmonica, established in 1543, marked by ideological and philosophical conceptions affected by Platonism, and soon fallen under control of the upper class. Inspired by Italian courts, the institution acted as a kingdom ruled by its own laws, not subjected to any other authority, and became an advocate of a patronage model comparable to that exercised by princes. As a result, the Filarmonica was reputed to be the sole association in the territory capable of promoting the relationships between its members, guests of noble lineage, and representatives of the Venetian government. In compliance with the eminent function that behaviour manuals ascribed to music in the improvement of the gentleman, the academy stimulated its fellows to the practice of singing and playing; for that purpose, it also provided itself with a rich music library and an extraordinary equipment of musical instruments. Furthermore, the academy promoted public musical events, recruited skilled personnel and protected the composers by accepting the dedications of their works. Those forms of sponsorship constrained the musicians with patron-client ties described by the social gap between masters and servants, the heterogeneity of services provided, the longevity of the relationships, and the extensibility of obligations and benefits to the relatives of the two parties. For example, Jan Nasco, the first “maestro di musica”, engaged in 1547, apart from teaching to sing and composing music on the poems submitted by his employers, was requested multiple tasks, also exceeding the contractual arrangements, and was expropriated of the opuses written during the period spent serving the institution. On the one hand, the resort to occasional musicians, mainly for balls offered to notables of the city or from abroad, demonstrates the type of patronage defined as institutional, that symbolized high rank according to stereotyped canons deduced from courtly and municipal ceremonials, and, as a consequence, did not reveal patrons’ particular leanings. On the other hand, the performances occasioned by the first of May (anniversary of the establishment) and various festivities, which involved the academicians as singers and instrumentalists, appealed to the paradigm of the so-called humanistic patronage, charged with the display of their superior musical competence. In order to defend its reputation, the academy attentively evaluated the pieces to be admitted in its repertoire as well as the editions received owing to a dedication: elective commitees of members listened to the compositions for issuing an opinion. However, a check I carryed out on the thirteen books of music offered to the academy between 1548 and 1600 shows (when the relevant documentation survives) that the acceptance and the resulting donative were approved after the publication. The pieces addressed to, or otherwise selected by, the academy were delegated to advertise its aristocratic superiority. Even though the inquiry about the intrinsic qualities of those musical works goes beyond the limits imposed on this paper, on account of the fact that the publicly ostentated performance constituted the ultimate goal of musical patronage, it is worth noting that such a research should not leave out of consideration the criteria adopted by the academicians and/or their subordinates to convert those compositions into sounding events. Notwithstanding the archival records do not provide conclusive responses to those queries, various evidences suggest that the “concerto”, being an extraordinary and very exacting performing option, represented, both from the symbolic and sonorous points of view, the ideal consistent with the academicians’ conceptual and ideological attitudes. Urged to certify their social, cultural and, in some manner, even political eminence, they made use of music — whom Platonism attributed very strong powers — as the more appropriate expedient of persuading their interlocutors.

From the very beginning, the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona — founded in 1543, when the Accademia Incatenata and a preexisting Accademia Filarmonica merged — enjoyed widespread renown, due in part to the exceptional skill displayed in the performance of celebrated “concerti” (a term used to indicate performances in which voices and instruments were combined). Though this practice is borne out in surviving music and theoretical works, as well as contemporary chronicles, the most explicit evidence is to be found in the precious collection of instruments which was at the academicians’ disposal in the sixteenth century and which has partly survived to the present day. If one consider the Accademia’s musical repertoire, which the contemporary inventories reveal to be heavily weighted in favour of sacred and secular vocal works, the instruments can only be justified within the context of a kind of performance practice which by no means subscribed to the “a capella” ideal. The collected documents — some previously unpublished, and others well known but often subjected to transcription and interpretation errors — permit us to follow in detail, though not continuosly, the rapid growth of the collection, which by the last two decades of the sixteenth century had amassed more the 150 instruments. The reading of the archival evidence, however, is anything but easy, because it is not always in agreement with the established contemporary writers on instruments (Zacconi, Cerone, Praetorius, etc.), and also on account of the somewhat inconsistent terminology adopted and the prevalence of dialect expressions. The documents also permit us to identify some of the surviving instruments and to impose limits on their dating. For example, the recorders marked with the well known rabbit’s paws are prior to 1543, while the two “doppioni” date from between 1569 and 1580; the crumhorns antedate 1545. Some of the documents mention instruments now lost with unusual characteristics for the period and the area; a harpsichord with one stop, a four-stop regal, a regal with cardboard pipes, etc. Other documents simply throw light on the history of the collection, on the way in which each article was puchased (and for what price), not to mention the various ways of describing the instruments. Lastly, three eighteenth-century documents inform us that the Accademia eventually decided to sell the instruments to raise the necessary funds to provide for the upkeep of its collection of inscriptions (the present-day Museo Lapidario Maffeiano) and its property. The final document (dated 1718) states that “at present there seem to be greater possibilities for the sale of the collection”. This is not altogether surprising, for if one remember that Alessandro Marcello in the same period possessed a large collection of renaissance instruments (now in the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali in Rome), the Veronese instruments could well have aroused a collector’s interest. A letter written by an acquaintance of Giovanni Battista Martini’s in 1764 confirms that by that date the Accademia Filarmonica had only few instruments (mainly woodwind), though he attributed the cause of this state of neglect to pilfering.

Archival documents illustrate different ways of using instruments in religious ceremonies from the late medieval period to the end of the sixteenth century. Particular attention is focused on mixed instrumental ensembles and the relations between voices, plainchant, instruments and organ.

Archival documents illustrate different ways of using instruments in religious ceremonies from the late medieval period to the end of the sixteenth century. Particular attention is focused on mixed instrumental ensembles and the relations between voices, plainchant, instruments and organ.