Monteverdi, Lamento della ninfa, with descending tetrachord bass [Spoken to Love:] Make my love return as he once was, or kill me yourself so that I will not torment myself any longer.

Monteverdi, Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti, with chacona bass Chacona bass Zephyr [the gentle breeze] returns.

Monteverdi, Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti, with chacona bass b. Zefiro torna, mm. 5–9 Zephyr [the gentle breeze] returns.

Female Musician with Viola da Gamba, almost certainly a portrait of Barbara Strozzi around 1637, painted by Bernardo Strozzi (perhaps a relative). Her seductive costume, the flowers in her hair, and the musical attributes (instruments and songbook) suggest that the subject is a personification of La Musica, allegorized as an invitation to sensual love. (Gemaeldegalerie. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen. Dresden. Germany. Photo: Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY)

Strozzi, Lagrime mie My tears, [what holds you back?]

Viadana, Exsultate Deo, from Cento concerti ecclesiastici Exult in God our helper.

Contrasting styles in Grandi’s O quam tu pulchra es Recitative style Oh how beautiful you are.

Contrasting styles in Grandi’s O quam tu pulchra es b. Aria style Arise, hasten, arise, my bride.

Heinrich Schütz at about age seventy, in a portrait by Christoph Spetner. (Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library)

Contrasting styles in Grandi’s O quam tu pulchra es Recitative style Oh how beautiful you are.

Contrasting styles in Grandi’s O quam tu pulchra es b. Aria style Arise, hasten, arise, my bride.

Title page of the first publication of Jewish liturgical music in polyphony, Salamone Rossi’s Hashirim asher lish’lomo, printed in Venice in 1622–23.

Girolamo Frescobaldi in his forties, ina chalk drawing by Claude Mellan. (Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, France. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Frescobaldi, Ricercare after the Credo, from Mass for the Madonna in Fiori musicali

Frescobaldi, Partite sopra ciaccona, first three variations

Marini, Sonata IV per il violino per sonar con due corde

Frescobaldi, Partite sopra ciaccona, first three variations

Music for Chamber and Church in the Early Seventeenth Century

Style and Function Theorists recognized different styles for church, chamber, and theater music. Composers gave increasingly distinctive flavors to genres in both vocal and instrumental music. Styles and techniques developed for opera continued to influence other genres.

Italian Vocal Chamber Music Secular works in concertato style For solo voice or small vocal ensemble with basso continuo Included madrigals, canzonettas, strophic songs, dialogues, and recitatives Widely published and performed

Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Monteverdi and concerted madrigals Madrigals with instrumental accompaniment Monteverdi’s madrigals after 1605 used basso continuo and sometimes additional instruments.  Book 7 (1619), titled Concerto Book 8 (1638), Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (Madrigals of Love and War), his last book of madrigals Large variety of forces: solo voice, small vocal ensemble, chorus, continuo, instrumental ensemble

Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Monteverdi and concerted madrigals (cont’d) Book 8 (1638) (cont’d) Includes dramatic works Styles range from sixteenth-century madrigal style to stile concitato and operatic recitative. Ostinato basses Basso ostinato Persistent, or obstinate, bass Also called ground bass (bass that is the ground, or foundation, for the work)

Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Ostinato basses (cont’d) Common features Triple or compound meter Two, four, or six measures long Often features a descending tetrachord Became a favorite device in opera Monteverdi’s Lamento della ninfa (Lament of the Nymph) from Book 8 of his madrigals The bass line establishes the tonal center. The voice conveys distress via dissonance against the bass (marked with an “x”).

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Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Ostinato basses (cont’d) Guárdame las vacas A Spanish pattern similar to the romanesca and ruggiero of Italy Developed from a long tradition in Spain and Italy of extemporizing on a bass

Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Chacona (Italian ciaccona) Dance song with origins in Latin America Pattern of chords (for guitar originally) used as a refrain Monteverdi’s Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti (1632) Uses fifty-six repetitions of the pattern Two tenors sing of happy emotions during the chacona portion. The ending uses a slow, expressive recitative to portray a lover’s lament.

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Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Cantata Originally simply “piece to be sung” Characteristics by mid-seventeenth century Secular composition on a lyrical or quasi-dramatic text Usually for solo voice with continuo Contains several sections, including recitative and aria Main composers: Rossi, Cesti, Carissimi, and Barbara Strozzi

Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Cantata (cont’d) Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677) Venetian singer and composer Studied with Cavalli Supported by her father (poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi) and wealthy patrons Published eight collections of music in the mid-seventeenth century, for a total of over one hundred works Published more cantatas than any other composer of the time

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Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Cantata (cont’d) Lagrime mie (1659), by Strozzi Sections in recitative, arioso, and aria styles Recitative uses descending line, minor mode, and augmented intervals to portray a weeping lover. Other sections portray different emotions, using styles appropriate to each.

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Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Secular music outside of Italy Italian genres of monody spread to northern Europe, especially England and Germany. In France, the air de cour (court air) was popular. Homophonic, strophic song The text-setting is syllabic, with long and short syllables dictated by the length of the vowel (similar to musique mesurée).

Italian Vocal Chamber Music (cont’d) Secular music outside of Italy (cont’d) Ma bergere non légere (published 1613) by Gabriel Bataille (ca. 1575–1630) Binary form A courtly sophistication can be seen in its teasing poetic imagery and varying lengths of poetic lines. The irregularly phrased melody runs up and down in breathless excitement while maintaining an elegant balance. The lute part is fully written out.

Catholic Sacred Music Stile antico polyphony continued to be used throughout the seventeenth century. Pure stile antico, exemplified by Palestrina’s style, carried associations of tradition, reverence, and sanctity. Over time, basso continuo was added and the style was updated.

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Stile antico polyphony (cont’d) Gradus ad Parnassum (Steps to Parnassus, 1725) Treatise by Johann Joseph Fux Codified the neo-Palestrina style counterpoint of the time Used as a counterpoint textbook for over two hundred years

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Large-scale sacred concerto For major feast days at large churches Many voices and instruments, sometimes in cori spezzati (divided choir) Used for settings of Vespers, psalms, and movements of the mass

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Large-scale sacred concerto (cont’d) In ecclesiis by Giovanni Gabrieli Gabrieli wrote polychoral motets for St. Mark’s in Venice. In ecclesiis was published posthumously in 1615. Setting for four vocal soloists, a four-part chorus, a six-part instrumental ensemble, and organs Mixture of styles includes arias, instrumental canzonas, and Renaissance polyphony Builds to a massive sonorous climax

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Large-scale sacred concerto (cont’d) Orazio Benevoli (1605–72) wrote for three or more choirs and organ for St. Peter’s in Rome. Small sacred concerto For solo singer(s) with organ and often one or two violins Lodovico Viadana (ca. 1560–1627) Cento concerti ecclesiastici (One Hundred Church Concertos) was the first book of church music to use basso continuo.

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Small sacred concerto (cont’d) Lodovico Viadana (ca. 1560–1627) (cont’d) Exsulate Deo, uses four-voice imitation in a two-voice piece by having each voice enter twice with the theme. The continuo fills in the harmony, making it possible to perform the piece even if one of the soloists was absent.

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Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Small sacred concerto (cont’d) O quam pulcrha es (1625), blends elements of recitative, solo madrigal, and lyric aria. By Alessandro Grandi (1586–1630), who worked for Monteverdi at St. Mark’s Grandi composed solo motets using monody. The sensuous text from Song of Solomon represents God’s love for the church. Grandi’s sense of drama parallels that in Bernini’s dramatic religious sculptures.

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Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Music in convents Nuns sang within convent walls for devotion and reflection, not for public audiences, but some insisted on musical accomplishment equal to that of men. Lucrezia Vizzana (1590–1662) published Componimenti musicali (Musical Compositions) in 1623. Twenty motets, most for one or two soprano voices with basso continuo

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Music in convents (cont’d) Lucrezia Vizzana (cont’d) Style incorporates theatrical monody and elaborate vocal ornamentation. The music expresses the text with declamatory phrases and expressive use of unresolved dissonance.

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Oratorio Definition: religious dramatic music incorporating narrative, dialogue, and commentary The text was in Latin or Italian. Called “oratorio” because it was similar in function to the prayer hall (oratorio), where people met for nonliturgical worship Developed in Rome in the seventeenth century

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Oratorio (cont’d) Differences from opera Almost never staged Used a narrator (a singing role) The chorus took on different roles and functions. Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674) was the leading composer of Latin oratorios.

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Oratorio (cont’d) Jepthe (ca. 1648), by Carissimi, exemplifies the mid-century oratorio. Biblically based libretto (Judges 11:29–40) with paraphrasing and added material Jepthe promises God that he will sacrifice whatever creature first greets him on his return home if God will help him defeat the Ammonites. The narrator introduces the story and describes the action in recitative. Stile concitato helps to depict the battle scene.

Catholic Sacred Music (cont’d) Oratorio (cont’d) Jepthe (cont’d) Jeptha’s daughter laments her impending death, accompanied by two sopranos and a small vocal ensemble, using rhetorical devices such as a descending tetrachord in the bass.

Lutheran Church Music Both Catholics and Protestants adopted concertato medium and monody. Sacred concerto Both large- and small-scale were composed. Johann Hermann Schein (1586–1630) Published two collections (1618, 1626) Book 1 features duets in the Italian style but based on Lutheran chorales.

Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Sacred concerto (cont’d) Johann Hermann Schein (cont’d) Book 1 features duets in the Italian style but based on Lutheran chorales. Book 2 has more varied styles than Book 1, with solo instruments that contrast with ensembles and more varied styles. Schein’s style set the precedent for later Lutheran works.

Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) Biography Studied with G. Gabrieli in Venice 1612: Returned to his home (Kassel) 1615 to his death: In the service of the elector’s court in Dresden Composed in all genres, including the first German opera (1627), German psalms, Latin motets, sacred concertos, and works based on the life of Christ

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Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Heinrich Schütz (cont’d) Early works Psalmen Davids (Psalms of David, 1619): German-texted but influenced by Gabrieli Cantiones Sacrae (Sacred Songs, 1625): sacred songs (motets) using madrigal-like word-painting Effect of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) The economic hardship of the war reduced the number of musicians at the Dresden chapel. Schütz delayed publication of his Kleine geistliche Konzerte (Small Sacred Concertos, 1636, 1639) because of the war.

Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Heinrich Schütz (cont’d) O Lieber Herre Gott (O Beloved Lord God, 1636) Schütz used Italian monody to portray the text. Used techniques developed by Monteverdi to portray the varied affects of the text (supplication, wakefulness, joy) Saul was verfolgst du mich From Schütz’s post-war book of Symphoniae sacrae (1650)

Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Heinrich Schütz (cont’d) Saul was verfolgst du mich (cont’d) Return to large-scale forces, with two choirs, doubled by instruments, six solo voices, and two violins The style merges Gabrieli’s polychoral style with Monteverdi’s expressiveness

Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Heinrich Schütz (cont’d) Musical figures Counterpoint patterns that had become associated with specific emotions First developed in Renaissance text-painting and enumerated by Schütz’s student Christoph Bernhard (1627–1592) Example 15.6 a uses cadentiae duriusculae (harsh cadential notes) to portray Jesus’ words “Why do you persecute me?” Example 15.6b uses saltus duriusculus (harsh leap) to suggest the hard road ahead for Saul.

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Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Historia Historia, a musical setting based on a biblical narrative, was a prominent Lutheran genre. Schütz’s Seven Last Words of Christ (possibly composed in the 1650s) sets Jesus’ words in expressive monody and narration in recitative or chorus with sinfonia. His Christmas history (1664) sets the narration in recitative and scenes in concertato medium.

Lutheran Church Music (cont’d) Historia (cont’d) Passions, settings of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, were the most common type of historia. Schütz used plainsong and polyphonic motet style for his three passions.

Jewish Music European synagogues mixed tradition with innovation. Cantillation remained the primary form of Jewish musical worship. Oral, improvisatory style Cantors incorporated popular non-Jewish tunes into their improvisations. Polyphony Introduced to Ferrara and then to Venice by Leon Modena (1571–1648), rabbi, scholar, and humanist

Jewish Music (cont’d) Polyphony (cont’d) Hashirim asher lish‘lomo (The Songs of Solomon, 1622–23). The first book of Jewish liturgical polyphonic music Thirty-three pieces composed by Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570–ca. 1630) of Mantua Modena wrote the preface. The contents include psalms, hymns, and synagogue songs (not the Bible’s Song of Solomon: the title was a pun on Salamone Rossi’s name). Few other attempts were made to write Jewish liturgical polyphony until the nineteenth century.

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Instrumental Music Abstract genres carried over from the sixteenth century were the main focus, but elements of vocal music styles permeated instrumental composition. Interest in moving the affections Focus on the soloist and virtuosic embellishment Styles such as recitative and arias Violin music imitated the voice and absorbed many vocal techniques.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Ways of categorizing instrumental music By performing forces Solo works (keyboard, lute, theorbo) Chamber works for soloist or small group with continuo Large-ensemble works with two or more players per part (important after 1650)

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Ways of categorizing instrumental music (cont’d) By venue or social function Church Chamber Theater By nationality Composers in each region preferred certain stylistic elements. Composers sometimes borrowed and blended styles from other lands.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Ways of categorizing instrumental music (cont’d) By type of work: Types through ca. 1650: Improvisatory pieces (toccata, fantasia, or prelude) Fugal or imitative pieces (ricercare, fantasia, fancy, capriccio, or fugue) Pieces with contrasting sections, often in imitative counterpoint (canzona or sonata) Settings of existing melodies (e.g., organ verse, chorale prelude)

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Ways of categorizing instrumental music (cont’d) By type of work: Types through ca. 1650 (cont’d) Variations of a melody (variations, partita) or bass line (partita, chaconne, passacaglia) Stylized dance movements, alone, paired, or in suites

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Ways of categorizing instrumental music (cont’d) Types of works after ca. 1650: For keyboard, the principal types were prelude, toccata, fugue, chorale settings, variations, and suite. Ensemble music consisted of sonatas, suites, sinfonias, and concertos. Elements from one type of work often appeared in others, to the delight of audiences who knew the distinctions.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Toccata Giralamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643) The most important composer of toccatas Born in Ferrara 1608–1628: Organist for St. Peter’s in Rome, with extra income from performing and teaching harpsichord to noble patrons 1628–1634: Organist to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence 1634: Returned to Rome under the patronage of a noble family

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Instrumental Music (cont’d) Toccata (cont’d) Giralamo Frescobaldi (cont’d) His keyboard music was renowned in his lifetime, and his compositional style became the model for subsequent generations. Works include toccatas, fantasias, ricercares, canzonas, and partitas, as well as some vocal music.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Toccata (cont’d) Fiori musicali (Musical Flowers, 1635) His collection of three organ masses contained the music an organist would play at Mass. Toccatas before Mass and at the Elevation of the Host before Communion Some extra toccatas in two of the masses Short, sectional pieces with sustained notes idiomatic for organ music

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Toccata (cont’d) Johann Jacob Froberger (1616–1667) was Frescobaldi’s most famous student. Organist at the imperial court in Vienna His toccatas alternate improvisatory passages with sections in imitative counterpoint. Later generations merged toccata and fugue more completely, following his example (e.g. NAWM 92 by Buxtehude and NAWM 96 by J. S. Bach)

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Imitative genres: ricercare and fugue Ricercare Serious composition for organ or harpsichord, using one subject or theme in continuously developed imitation Frescobaldi’s Fiori musicali, use constantly shifting harmony, a distinctive subject, and a contrasting countersubject.

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Instrumental Music (cont’d) Imitative genres: ricercare and fugue (cont’d) Fugue From the Italian fuga, “flight” A term used in Germany for serious pieces that treat one theme in continuous imitation Fantasia Imitative work on a larger scale than the ricercare Leading composers were Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (Dutch, 1562–1621) and Samuel Scheidt (German, 1587–1654).

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Imitative genres: ricercare and fugue (cont’d) Fantasia (cont’d) Sweelinck’s fantasias usually use different countersubjects in a series of sections. Scheidt’s Tabulatura nova (New Tablature, 1624) notates the parts for each voice on a separate staff, instead of tablature. English fantasias (called fancy) were composed for consorts of viols by Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger (ca. 1575–1628) and John Coprario (ca. 1570–1626).

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Contrasting sections: canzona and sonata Canzona Imitative piece in contrasting sections for keyboard or ensemble Characterized by markedly rhythmic themes and liveliness Frescobaldi’s organ masses included canzonas. Some canzonas use a different theme in each section. Variation canzona: uses a single theme in each section (e.g. HWM Example 15.9 by Giovanni Maria Trabaci [ca. 1575–1647])

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Instrumental Music (cont’d) Contrasting sections: canzona and sonata (cont’d) Sonata Early in the seventeenth century, the term meant any piece for instruments. Later the term was reserved for pieces with specific characteristics. Scored for one or two melody instruments, usually violin(s), with basso continuo Idiomatic for instrumental capabilities Similar to canzona in its use of sections

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Contrasting sections: canzona and sonata (cont’d) Sonata IV per il violino per sonar con due corde by Biagio Marini (1594–1663) Marini was a violinist, serving under Monte­verdi at St. Mark’s for part of his career. Idiomatic violin techniques include double-stops, large leaps, and sequential figures Alternation of rhapsodic and metrical sections, similar to Strozzi’s cantatas By the mid-seventeenth century, the sonata and canzona had merged, and both were called sonata

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Instrumental Music (cont’d) Settings of existing melodies Organists composed settings of liturgical music in both Catholic and Lutheran churches. Frescobaldi set Gregorian chants in his organ masses. Settings of chorales became known as chorale preludes.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Variations (also known as partite, divisions) Three common techniques Repetition of melody virtually unchanged, with variation in accompanimental parts (sometimes called cantus-firmus variations) Repetition of melody with different embellishment in each variation and accompanimental parts essentially unchanged Bass or harmonic progression serves as the foundation, as in the romanesca.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Variations (cont’d) Variations over a ground bass (though with origins in distinct patterns) The pattern was usually four measures long. Meter was typically triple. Tempo was usually slow. Frescobaldi published Partite sopra ciaccona and Partite sopra passacagli in 1627

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Instrumental Music (cont’d) Dance music Composed for social dancing, dance movements in theatrical productions, and as stylized chamber music Suites of movements extended the idea of linking dance movements in pairs. Johann Hermann Schein’s Banchetto musicale (Musical Banquet, 1617) contains twenty suites for five instruments and continuo.

Instrumental Music (cont’d) Dance music (cont’d) Suites of movements (cont’d) Schein’s suites have a standard sequence: pavane, galliard, courante, allemande, and tripla (triple-meter variation of the allemande). Movements of suites sometimes use the same melodic idea, but may be only subtly linked.

Impact of Early Music for Church and Chamber Grew from sixteenth-century traditions, but intensified the idea of distinct music styles for different venues Genres developed or codified in this era became important genres of the next hundred years. Later composers studied the music of this era, though it was no longer being played.

History of Western Music StudySpace Organize, learn, and connect on the History of Western Music StudySpace Review key points from the text Explore the Listening Quizzes for each chapter Test yourself with the Chapter Quizzes and Flashcards …and much more!

A History of Western Music, 8th Edition This concludes the Lecture Slide Set for Chapter 15 by J. Peter Burkholder Donald Jay Grout Claude V. Palisca © 2009 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc Independent and Employee-Owned