Monteverdi

Journal ed. 2018. Published: 2019.

Abstract:
The construction of character on the early operatic stage by means of musical gestures is an arresting achievement of Italian master Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), a practice first evident in his signature opera L’Orfeo, 'Favola in Musica.' In Monteverdi’s depiction of character, notably that of Orfeo and Apollo, his decisions to express emotion through voice type and musical/rhetorical devices appear at the surface to be connected primarily to contemporary aesthetic concepts and singing style conventions, representing the ideas of morality/character (ethos), reason (logos), and emotion (pathos) in much subtler ways than in his late opera 'L’incoronazione di Poppea.' Monteverdi’s operatic style in Orfeo is indebted to several factors, namely cultural, personal, and social conditions (e.g., his exposure to musical activities in other Italian city-states, his involvement with cultural academies, and the constraints resulting from his Mantuan patronage). Lacking the freedom to write for the public theater as in his later operas, Orfeo can be seen as a result of three determining factors: cultural environment and the patronage system; aesthetics of singing/performance practice; and the influence of cultural academies, in particular the Accademia degli Invaghiti. By re-examining primary sources and re-evaluating several contemporary scholarly studies, this paper aims to further an understanding of Monteverdi’s aesthetic position as it affected his construction of operatic characters and their musical depiction, informed by the three factors above. Such an impact will be discerned using Orfeo’s 'Possente spirto' and the duet between Apollo and Orfeo 'Saliam, cantando al Cielo' (without excluding other excerpts of great importance in this opera) in which similar musical settings represent different dramatic situations.

In Europe, between the years 1575 to 1625, a fundamental change appeared in the approach or underlying assumptions of the strategy to thought regarding the principles, composition, and musical performance. This paradigm shift was a combination of the inevitable evolution of the new Baroque style, the foundations of which can be traced way back into the Renaissance, with transformations purely built on forms and practices of the time; and secondly, a revolution brought about by the intellectual Camerata group of Count Giovanni de' Bardi of Florence spreading through the cultural centers of northern Italy including Rome, and France, Germany, Spain, and England. Concerning instrumental music, four distinct area shifts are seen: idiomatic writing, texture, instrument use, and orchestration. Although polyphonic voice parts were still prominent, it is this feature more than any other, that separates Renaissance music from Baroque.

Studio sulle modalità seguite dall'Accademico Gian Francesco Busenello (1598-1659) nel rappresentare la figura di Seneca nel libretto della Incoronazione di Poppea, musicato da Claudio Monteverdi, con particolare attenzione all'utilizzo fatto delle fonti antiche relative alla vicenda rappresentata.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ENNO POPPE – INTERZONE : LEADER UND BILDER – LIVE PERFORMANCE,CITÉ DE LA MUSIQUE, PARIS, DECEMBER 3, 2009
2. JOHANN STRAUSS – DIE FLEDERMAUS
3. JAN WILLEM DE VRIEND – EVA BUCHMANN – HANDEL – AGRIPPINA
4. ILDEBRANDO PIZZETTI – ASSASSINIO NELLA CATTEDRALE
5. PAUL MCCREESH – GABRIELI CONSORT – JEPHTE – JUDICIUM SALOMONIS – JONAS
6. SERGEY EISENSTEIN – SERGEY PROKOFIEV – IVAN THE TERRIBLE
7. JANACEK – BOULEZ – CHEREAU – FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD
8. HANDEL – NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT – JEPHTHA
9. HANDEL - JEPHTHA
10. HANDEL – ISAREL IN EGYPT
11. DELLER CONSORT – PURCELL – KING ARTHUR
12. ALBAN BERG – LULU – PIERRE BOULEZ
13. JEAN-CLAUDE MALGOIRE – PHIIPPE JAROUSSKY – FRIEDRICH HANDEL – AGRIPPINA
14. GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL – NICHOLAS MCGEGAN – JUDAS MACCABAEUS
15. VIVALDI – JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS
16. MOZART  LA FINTA GIARDINIERA
17. MOZART - MITHRIDATE
18. MENDELSSOHN – A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
19. MOZART – ASCANIO IN ALBA
20. MOZART – LA FINTA SEMPLICE
21. PIZZETTI – KARAJAN – MORD IN DER CATHEDRALE – 1998
22. CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI – L’INCORONARIONE DI POPPEA – GABRIEL GARRIDO
23. HERVÉ NIQUET – HENRY PURCELLE – KING ARTHUR
24. GABRIEL GARRIDO – MONTEVERDI – LA FAVOLA D’ORFEO
25. GEORG FRIEDRICH HANDEL – ARNOLD OSTMAN – AGRIPPINA
26. RICHARD STRAUSS – DER ROSENKAVALIER – PHILIPPE JORDAN – ANNE SCHWANEWLIMS
27. RICHARD STRAUSS – SALOME – SIR GEORG SOLTI
28. GIUSEPPE VERDI – RIGOLETTO STORY
29. RACHMANINOV – ALEKO
30. SHOSTAKOVICH – THE NOSE
31. CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI – IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA – GABRIEL GARRIDO – ENSEMBLE ELYMA
32. PHILIPPE JORDAN – DAVID MCVICAR – RICHARD STRAUSS – SALOME
33. VERDI – OTELLO – PLACIDO DOMINGO
34. JOHN BLOW – VENUS AND ADONIS
35. BENJAMIN BRITTEN – CURLEW RIVER
36. BENJAMIN BRITTEN – PETER GRIMES
37. BENJAMIN BRITTEN – PETER PEARS – BILLY BUDD

The construction of character on the early operatic stage by means of musical gestures is an indisputable achievement of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). Such an accomplishment was the result of a continuing development of musical ideas over many decades that encompassed additional modes of inquiry from philosophy to rhetoric. The merging of these fields is evidenced in the Preface to Book VIII, in which Monteverdi laid out a concatenation of threefold divisions: three genera--concitato, temperato, and molle--in association with a high, medium, and low voice and with three emotions / virtues: anger, temperance, and humility / supplication. A detailed inquiry into the Preface terminology reveals its roots in a series of theoretical, rhetorical, and philosophical sources. An indepth musical analysis of Monteverdi’s Venetian operas Ulisse and Poppea and their main roles--Penelope and Ulisse in the former, and Nerone, Poppea, Seneca, and the betrayed spouses in the latter--demonstrates that the application of the three genera went beyond Book VIII. The primary emphasis of this research is devoted to how Monteverdi extended this system, along with all his musico-rhetorical devices, to the construction of character and depiction of emotion in his operas. Such an analysis illustrates the development of the composer’s musical aesthetic and his search for verisimilitude conveyed in his human operatic characters, a quest that he pursued for many years.

A comienzos del s. XVII, el creciente interés por comunicar emociones a través de la música contribuyó al abandono de la polifonía y al surgimiento de la monodía acompañada. En las obras vocales, este nuevo estilo de composición fortaleció la relación entre música y texto, volviéndolos sumamente interdependientes. A menudo, esta relación es tan estrecha que su estudio contribuye a una mejor comprensión de la intencionalidad expresiva y a la elaboración de una iterpretación declamatoria (especialmente, de las primeras monodías). Sin embargo, la aplicación de estos conocimientos al estudio de la música vocal suele circunscribirse a contextos reducidos de enseñanza y práctica musicales (clases, ensayos, talleres, etc.), lo que dificulta su divulgación. Con el objeto de contribuir al estudio de la música antigua, presentamos un estudio de la relación entre música y texto en la obra Quel sguardo sdegnosetto de Claudio Monteverdi y su síntesis para una propuesta de interpretación declamatoria. Además, brindamos materiales que ‒esperamos‒ puedan asistir en el proceso de aprendizaje: análisis poético del texto, traducción al español, transcripción fonémica, requisitos para su correcta dicción y edición crítica.

Frescobaldi’s Preface to his 1615 collection of 'Toccate & Partite' is often cited in discussions of rhythm and tempo in early 17th-century music. Since Frescobaldi compares his style to concerted vocal/instrumental music, his Rules are relevant to ensemble situations well beyond solo keyboard-playing. Nevertheless, we should be cautious: precisely where and when can we apply the Frescobaldi Rules? Just how do they work in practice? These article offers a brief survey of the context in which Frescobaldi wrote, with an English translation and commentrary on the 1615 Rules and other Prefaces.

Facsimile and Critical Edition by Luigi Collarile.
ISBN 978-88-271-3055-1

L’analisi di un’edizione musicale conservata oggi in un unico esemplare senza data e luogo di edizione, ha permesso di identificare una raccolta prodotta dall’editore veneziano Alessandro Vincenti. Tra il 1650 e il 1651, egli diede alle stampe due importanti raccolte postume di Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). Ad esse va ora aggiunta una terza edizione. Essa contiene quattro mottetti mariani, tre dei quali ancora completamente sconosciuti.

Il presente volume contiene un’introduzione storica, un’edizione critica dei mottetti e il facsimile della stampa musicale originale.

Reviews:
- Il Giornale della musica n. 291 (avril 2012), p. 32 (Fiorella Sassanelli)
- Early Music 41 (2013), p. 161-163 (Noel O’Regan)

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Giovanni Rovetta (ca. 1597-1668) is best known as Claudio Monteverdi's successor as maestro di cappella at St. Mark's in Venice. While sometimes overshadowed by his great predecessor, Rovetta was one of the most outstanding figures in Venetian musical life of the seventeenth century. His works include five large collections of sacred music (with vesper psalms and mass settings), four volumes of concertato motets, two books of concertato madrigals, two operas, and numerous other works found in various printed anthologies and manuscripts. As such, his music offers almost the complete variety of vocal and instrumental genres and styles, both sacred and secular, that were current in the Seicento.

A comienzos del s. XVII, el creciente interes por comunicar emociones a traves de la musica contribuyo al abandono de la polifonia y al surgimiento de la monodia acompanada. En las obras vocales, este nuevo estilo de composicion fortalecio la relacion entre musica y texto, volviendolos sumamente interdependientes. A menudo, esta relacion es tan estrecha que su estudio contribuye a una mejor comprension de la intencionalidad expresiva y a la elaboracion de una iterpretacion declamatoria (especialmente, de las primeras monodias). Sin embargo, la aplicacion de estos conocimientos al estudio de la musica vocal suele circunscribirse a contextos reducidos de ensenanza y practica musicales (clases, ensayos, talleres, etc.), lo que dificulta su divulgacion. Con el objeto de contribuir al estudio de la musica antigua, presentamos un estudio de la relacion entre musica y texto en la obra Quel sguardo sdegnosetto de Claudio Monteverdi y su sintesis para una propuesta de interpretacion declamat...

Reception history is not simply a question of compiling a list of performances of a given work, rather it addresses the two-way conversation between two historical periods: the older work sometimes changes the world that has rediscovered it, and vice versa present-day practice integrates and modifies the work in order to be able to enjoy it and make it its own. A comparative reading of twentieth-century transcriptions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo provides a synthesis of such mechanisms, and offers us a point of departure for the history of the rediscovery of early music. The essay suggests seven paradigms of recuperation,which can be subsumed into three strands: (1) discovery: earlymusic has a strong exotic flavor (in a chronological rather than a geographical sense); it is thus a novelty that the public must be allowed to ‘‘taste’’ through careful selection, so that it can above all be enjoyed; (2) re-elaboration: earlymusic can be a sort of gym in which (re)compositional verve can be exercised, with the intention both of renewing aesthetic and emotional reception of works that are too distant from modern sensibility, and of appropriating works that providemany ‘‘open areas’’; (3) restoration: an effort ismade to reproduce themusical text in historically ‘‘correct’’ terms, both editorially and in performance.
The prevalent reception paradigm generally gives more importance to those who provided the ‘‘transcription’’, and the way it was carried out, rather than to the original work. Because of this, an examination of different approaches to some key aspects of Monteverdi’s score, and the interpretation of the clues that emerge from the different solutions, ultimately concerns the study of the poetics, techniques, and performance practices of twentieth-century music.

This dissertation offers a reading of Alessandro Striggio and Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo as a reflection of the Accademia degli Invaghiti's humanist philosophy, focusing on the topics of oratory and symmetry. Additionally, this study offers new insight on the Invaghiti's views regarding music's power and its function in theatrical representation that helps to reconcile apparent disparities between the view of this work as a "hymn" to music's greatness and the failures of the musical protagonist. For example, on the subject of oratory--which served as one of the group's primary areas of study--I demonstrate how Orpheus's failure to persuade Charon through his aria-oration, "Possente spirto", results not only from his exhibitionism and affectation, but as suggested in academy member Stefano Guazzo's writings, his substitution of clever sophistries and musical brilliance for morally sound arguments and modest displays of ability. On the topic of symmetry--which was commonly associated with beauty during the period--I demonstrate how this formal design was used to project the "beauty" of moral uprightness, reflective the academy's Neoplatonic motto, "Nothing is more beautiful than virtue" (e.g., the symmetries of the first act representing Eurydice's "morally upright" decision to relent from her disdain for Orpheus's love, a "female vice" addressed by several of the academy members). I also consider the subject of gendering in relation to both of these topics, asserting that the marginalization of female characters not only "silences" them, but also creates an Aristotelian structure found in academy member Ercole Udine's narrative, La Psiche, that draws focus to the protagonist's inherently gendered character flaws (in this case, "male" flaws such as pride and fits of romantic despair). I expect this research to contribute to discussions on the impact of humanism on the development of early opera, giving much-needed attention to the views and practices of the group that sponsored Orfeo's creation.

The book presents the historical and religious context of 17th-century Venice as well as the venues for music-making in Venice, illustrates the organization of Claudio Monteverdi’s two collections of sacred music that he composed when he worked as maestro di cappella at the basilica of St. Mark’s in Venice, and analyzes selected pieces from these two collections, drawing conclusions on the general stylistic developments in Italian sacred music c. 1620–1650. Detailed literary analyses of Latin and Italian texts set to music are included. The book was awarded the University Prize of Bonn University in 2001.