104616198 Developments of the Florentine Camerata in Music and Text

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Developments of the Florentine Camerata in

Music and TextBy Robbie Blake

With the advent of the 16th Century, composition, performance and practice in the

contemporary music was changing. Many instruments, most of which would lead to

our modern day orchestra, were emerging; a move towards tonality had begun with

the establishment of major and minor modes; professional performers were

heightening the standard of music to be heard and new national styles had their

ferment in this period. At the same time, a group of intellectuals were casting their

eyes backwards to antiquity in search of refinement and emulation of the ancient

Greek musical style; this group was the Florentine Camerata.

The Camerata

Chiefly a group of intellectuals and musicians, the Camerata was led by the

Florentine noble Giovanni de Bardi, and included composers and virtuoso singers

Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini, poet Ottavio Rinucini, and nobleman and musician

Vincenzo Galilei amongst others. Their main discussion and occupation as a group

was that concerning the music of ancient Greece.1

The music that they thought to be of this ancient style was greatly different to

that of renaissance polyphony. The text was of utmost importance; Caccini says that

he thought to follow that style so praised by Plato [] who maintained music to be

nothing other than rhythmic speech with pitch added (and not the reverse!).2 They

condemned and attacked the renaissance style as they concluded the poetry was

1John Walter Hill,Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 15801750 (New York and London:

W. W. Norton & Co., 2005), 25.2Oliver Strunk (ed.), Source Readings in Music History: The Baroque Era, Vol. 4, Leo Treitler (Rev.

ed.)(W. W. Norton & Co., 1950), 100.

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literally torn to pieces (laceramento della poesia), because the individual voices

sang different words simultaneously.3[See Ex. 1] They sought to compose a style for

solo voice that reflected the text, which was rhythmically governed by it and

expressed the meaning as faithfully and clearly as possible. These were the principles

that the Camerata believed to be of ancient Greek music. From these thoughts and

ideals, another form of composition was to be added to the musical repertoire. This

was monody, which means, fittingly, one song in Greek.4

QuickTime and adecompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Example 1 Palestrina, O crux Ave, Soprano and alto, bar 21-29.

Courtly Musicians

By its very nature, the Camerata was tied up with the Florentine court proceeding

heavily, and in fact Caccini and Peri were both employed by the Duke Ferdinando

de Medici in the early 16th century, if not before.5 It was at court festivities where

the theories and beliefs of the Camerata were first exposed.

During the wedding celebrations of the Dukes marriage to Chrsitine de

Lorraine in 1589, the playLa pellegrina was performed with musical interludes

based on ancient mythology. These interludes, called intermedi, were composed and

sung by members of the Camerata: Caccini, Peri and, the Roman, Emilio de

3Manfred F. Bukofzer,Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach (New York and London:

W. W. Norton & Co., 1947), 5.4

David Schulenberg,Music of the Baroque (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001),48.5

Tim Carter, Jacopo Peri inMusic & Letters, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1980), 124.

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Cavalieri. The intermedi consisted of songs, dances and choruses. Caccini composed

the fourth intermedio, which was sung by his wife; Peri composed and performed in

the fifth; and Cavalieri composed the sixth, Godi turba mortal.6

In this solo vocal work, Godi turba mortal, the voice and text take full

attention. The melody is a mixture of syllabic and melismatic passages. The

melismatic passages are placed on words being emphasized, like lieta (happy) or

Godi (Rejoice) but also acqueta (labour).7 There is a fourpart accompaniment

played on the chittarone which, other than the top line which doubles the melody,

merely outlines the harmony, the other parts giving basic harmonic support. The

vocal line is highly embellished and includes examples of the new practice of writing

out ornamentation rather than leaving it to the performers discretion. 8

Another point is that the text and setting of this intermedio is allegorical. It

depicts earthly mortals rejoicing in the gifts from Jupiter. This would be seen as a

positive reflection on the ruler of the period from those who composed and produced

the scene.9This foreknowledge might have also led Cavalieri to compose such an

embellished work.

This composition however is still somewhat in the renaissance style, it is like

a polyphonic madrigal that was then embellished in virtuoso style.10 It lacks the

severance from the old style which we see in the works of Caccini and Peri at the end

and turn of the 16th century.

6Schulenberg,Music of the Baroque, 51.

7Ibid., 54

8Ibid., 52.

9Ibid., 51.

10Ibid., 54.

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The New Departure

In1592, the Camerata's patron, de Bardi, was transferred to a diplomatic post in

Rome, and that most of the members (including Caccini, Peri and Rinuccini)

continued meeting together but under the patronage of another Florentine noble,

Jacopo Corsi.11 This was an important change as now focus was placed upon the

production of musical stage works, and not as strongly on research and discussion of

Greek music or philosophy.12 However the style that had emerged from these

previous discussions was about to make further developments in the works of Peri

and Caccini, that of monody.

From this new group emerged the first specimen of opera,La Dafne. This

work in fact went through many stages until it was performed. To a libretto of

Rinuccinis, the music was first written by Corsi himself, then by Peri and Caccini

together and its final version was mostly composed by Peri, with contributions from

Caccini.13 Monodies form the basis of the work, although only fragments survive of

the original text. It is likened more to the intermedi ofLa pellegrina, than to the

developed monody style which emerges.14 It was privately performed first in 1598,

then subsequently several times in the Dukes court. After such a success,15 the more

extended work ofLEuridice was begun from the impetus of Corsi, again with a

libretto by Rinuccini.

LEuridice

Two versions of this important work actually survive today, one by Peri and one by

Caccini. A third version was performed on the important wedding celebration of

11Hill,Baroque Music, 27.

12Ibid., 26.

13Ibid., 26.


15Hill,Baroque Music, 26.

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Maria de Medici to Henry IV, king France, which was composed three quarters by

Peri, and one quarter by Caccini. This work is very significant as instead of spoken

dialogue between choruses and dances, the drama was completely sung throughout.

This was a crucial element in the significance of this work, as from this came forth

the true form of recitative as we know it, and was indeed given this name, stile

recitativo, in the years to come.16 As well as the recitative, from this monody we also

see the aria take shape.17

For the recitative, the text was set in a way which attempted to create a sort of

speech-song. The music emulated the text. Syllables which were emphasized in

speech were emphasized in the music with longer notes, often meeting with

consonant accompaniment. The other unstressed syllables were short as if spoken

quickly, sometimes passing through dissonances. The melodic line reflected the

emotion of the text and of speech, and it would ascend or descend accordingly. 18 The

accompaniment was unobtrusive to the vocal line, providing a steady accompaniment

which freed the vocal line of rhythmic and harmonic boundaries, and therefore

likening it to declamatory speech.19 [See Ex. 2]

InLEuridice we find the early form of aria also. The aria was usually

accompanied with a fuller complement of instruments and was played with much

more movement. The vocal line included more melisma and fluid motion. The arias

were the expressive passages of the work, which had the characters declarations of

love or sorrow.

16Hill, Baroque Music., 27.


18

Claude V. Palisca,Baroque Music, H. Wiley Hitchcock (ed.), 3

rd

edn (New Jersey: Prentice Hall,1991), 33.19

Daniel Shanahan, Lecture Notes, (Oct., 2008)

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QuickTime and adecompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Example 2 Peri,LEuridice. Sourced fromBaroque Music, Palisca.

Into the 17th Century

The new aria and recitative styles which had their formulation in this time period

would now be refined and used countless times over throughout musical history.

Even as shortly as seven years later, Monteverdis Orfeo was performed for the first

time, a work which surely owes a great deal to the developments of men like Peri and

Caccini. From the very first experiments of the Camerata, the intermedi, up toDafne

andLEuridice, and concluding with the countless bottles of ink spilled writing

theories, and formulae, let alone the numerous collections and performance guides,

like that of CaccinisLe nuove musiche; from the extensive contribution they made

to this period, it is easy to see they played an immense role in the evolution of opera

and the musical art form.

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Works Cited

Bukofzer, Manfred F.,Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach (New

York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1947).

Carter, Tim, Jacopo Peri inMusic & Letters, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1980).

Hill, John Walter,Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 15801750 (New York

and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 2005).

Palisca, Claude V.,Baroque Music, H. Wiley Hitchcock (ed.), 3rd edn (New Jersey:

Prentice Hall, 1991).

Schulenberg, David,Music of the Baroque (New York and Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2001).

Shanahan, Daniel, Lecture Notes, (Oct., 2008).

Strunk, Oliver(ed.), Source Readings in Music History: The Baroque Era, Vol. 4,

Leo Treitler (Rev. ed.)(W. W. Norton & Co., 1950).

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104616198 Developments of the Florentine Camerata in Music and Text