CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MUSIC Cornell University Library ML 172.L35 The renaissance of music. 3 1924 022 269 603 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022269603 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. MOETON LATHAM, M.A., Mus. Bac, Cantab. Honttoit : DAVID STOTT, 370, OXFOBD STEBET, W. 1890. PREFACE. Professor Max Muller has said that * the art of reading at the present day is the art of knowing what not to read ; and De Quincey, in one of his essays, says that, if a man has found out nothing new, he has no right to write a book at all, and if he has found out something new, he certainly has no right to conceal his discovery in five hundred pages, but should state at once on what page it is to be found. Volumes and volumes have been published on the Renaissance ; histories of art and histories of music have been written ; and biographies have been piled upon biographies without number. My " apologia " for these pages is that an attempt is made in them to show the intimate family relation between Music and her elder sisters — a relationship always traceable, and most evident at the period when they attained to years of discretion, and, passing from the traditions of a period of nurture, began to think and to act for themselves. Morton Latham. 25th October, 12&& CONTENTS. CHArTElt I. Inteoductoby II. WlLLABET AND THE VENETIANS ... III. Palestbina and Chuech Eefoems IV. Peei and the Florentines V. Monte veede and Mantua... VI. Monteveede and the Venetians VII. The Chiesa Nuova VIII. Passion Plays and the G-eemans IX. Cambeet and the Feench X. La wes and the English PAGE 1 24 35 50 82 125 141 159 173 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The most striking change of thought in the history of modern civilization and modern art is that which resulted from the gradual discovery that, shortly before the Christian era, there had been a civilization more refined, more complicated, and more artistic than any that had been known during the middle ages. It is this change which received the graphic name of , the Renaissance, and the object of these pages is to^ show that the musicians of that cultivated period were as much influenced by the new revelation as their brothers of the brush, the chisel, and the square. The time of the Renaissance was a time of revolution, a time not of mere change of detail, B I THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. but one in which old-established principles which had been taken for granted for many generations were questioned, and when men fearlessly investigated the very foundations of religion, of society, of science, and of art. It was impossible that, in the midst of a revolution so general, and which affected art to so great an extent, music alone should have remained uninfluenced by that which was exciting the attention of polished society in the palaces of Popes at Rome, of princes at Florence, and of merchants at Venice. Undoubtedly the new learning affected music rather later than it did the other arts ; but that has ever been the case with music. It will always be found that music is the last of the arts to be subjected to external influences. There are reasons for this, no doubt. One, perhaps, is the close association of music with the Church. The Church is always con- servative, and it is no doubt right that, before any change has the sanction of Religion, the merit of the change should be well established. Another reason is the peculiarity that music acts upon the senses through the ear, while every other art acts through the eye; and indeed music, notwithstanding the wide extent of its influence, is more than any art a hidden INTRODUCTORY. 3 mystery to all but the initiated. It is further removed from the objects around us, and only draws its inspiration frbm external objects in- directly through the sensations which they excite within us. In order to understand how music was affected by the Renaissance, we must first get a clear idea of what was the change in thought which we designate by that word, and then we shall be able to see how musicians were affected by it, and in what way the new ideas were expressed by them in their own art. In the fifteenth century, and to some extent earlier, the recluses of Constantinople, driven westward by the advancing Mohammedan power, fled to Italy, and revealed to Western Europe the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, which they had sheltered from, the rude inroad of barbarian Goths, and of which the inhabitants of Italy had but a glimmering knowledge. The wanderers were welcomed on all sides, by the Medici, by the Popes, by the Republic of Venice. The classical-languages became the basis of all education and all thought. The people to whom this revelation came were ripe to receive it. They already had .their cultivation and their arts. Literature was, of course, the first of the arts to be affected. From literature B 2 4 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. the change spread to painting, to sculpture, to architecture, and in the end to music. And the change was no servile copying of antique forms ;• it was the application of old principles to modern circumstances. To quote the words of Mr. Symonds, " The pure art of the Cinque Cento, the painting of Raphael, Da Vinci, Titian, and Coreggio, the sculpture of Dona- tello, Michelangelo, and Sansovino, the archi- tecture of Bramante, Amadeo, and the Venetian Lombardi, however much imbued with the spirit of the classical revival, takes rank beside the poetry of Ariosto as a free intelligent product of the Renaissance. That is to say, it is not so much an outcome of studies in antiquity as an exhibition of emancipated modern genius, fired and illuminated by the masterpieces of the past. .... Its religion is joyous, sensuous, dramatic, terrible, but in each and all of its many-sided manifestations strictly human. Its touch on classical mythology is original, rarely imitative or pedantic." * One single example will serve better than pages of words to show how completely un- servile was Renaissance thought, and it shall be the finest spire in the most complete * Encyclopaedia Britanniea, article " Renaissance." INTRODUCTORY. Renaissance city in the world ; a specimen, indeed, of late Renaissance work, erected at a time when the knowledge of classical details was perfected, but before architects had lost their originality and become mere copyists. Every Londoner — indeed, every Englishman — should know the spire of Bow Church well. That clearly is not a classical work. No classical architect ever built anything of the kind. Every single detail is classical ; but, at the same time, the whole idea of the soaring spire, the way in which, above each range of columns, the brackets are reversed and thrown back to the main body, in a manner suggestive of dome construction, in order to carry up the gradual taper of the spire, is one of the most beautiful conceptions which ever entered into the mind of man — a piece of work classical in detail, but Renaissance in thought ; a work which is alone sufficient to establish the fame of our greatest English architect. See Bow spire, bright in the sunlight, and it cheers you ; see it grey against a leaden sky, and it impresses you ; see it half lost in London fog, and you long to search out its reality ; see it glittering in sparkling snow, and you are fascinated with its unreality. There are vast numbers of other instances 6 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. throughout the length and breadth of England in the architecture of the Jacobite times, in which may be found the Gothic form, but covered with details of classical character, twisted about and moulded to suit the building to which they are applied, with the perfect freedom of original thought. But none will exhibit more completely than Bow spire the perfect knowledge of the classical, coupled with perfect freedom, in dealing with it, which was the secret of the power and originality of the Renaissance period. C One principle, then, of Renaissance thought, for which we must search in music, is deriva- tion from the classical without copying. > Now, a leading principle of classical ^rt is truth to natu re. We see it in classic literature, in the classic statues which have been dis- covered, in the sculpture of classic buildings. It was this principle of truth to nature that was such a revelation to the Western world, which had for centuries been governed by the principle of truth to tradition. The stiffness and formality of mediaeval art is the result which one would expect to find when men take to copying from each other instead of thinking for themselves. Thus drapery in sculpture and in painting, formalism in all thought and art, having become INTRODUCTORY. 7 stiff and unreal, would have remained so for ever but for a revolution like that of the Renaissance. And it was the knowledge of this very principle of truth to nature that prevented the Renais- sance artists from merely copying classical work. Therefore, to prove the connection between music and the Renaissance, we must find not only clas- sical inspiration, but study from nature, and a revolution against formality and convention!) The intimate connection of music with the services of the Church naturally Jeads us to look at the effect of Renaissance thought upon religion. It has been said that Renaissance thought was irreligious. But it was not so. The times in which men were led by St. Bernardino or Savonarola, by Luther or Calvin, were not times of irreligion. Renaissance thought was opposed to ecclesiasticism ; that is, to tradition and to conventionality in religion as in everything else, but not to religion itself. And we shall see that the changes in music connected with the Church were changes in favour of true religious feeling. At the same time, there could hardly be a clearer proof of opposition to ecclesiasticism and tradition than the abandonment of the old Church modes, and the general adoption of the modern scale, which was itself stigmatized by ecclesiastics as the " modo lascivo." THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. CHAPTER II. WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. The love of colour may be said to have made its way into Western Europe through Venice, and there, where it was first appreciated, it has always been most strongly felt. Mr. Ruskin said, in his Edinburgh lectures, " The fourteenth century is pre-eminently the age of Thought, the fifteenth the age of Drawing, and the sixteenth the age of Painting." * And the sequence that is true of one art is true of all. But though the love of colour only found expression in art after the perfection of drawing, the sentiment existed from an earlier period. The sense of colour is as keen as the sense of form, or perhaps keener; and it is this very keenness that tends to make the expression of colour more difficult than the expression of form. The forms of distant objects, as they present themselves to the spectator, vary slightly with changing lights, but the colours of distant , * Lectures on Architecture and Painting, p. 151. WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. 9 objects vary largely and continuously ; and therefore the translation of the form on to canvas is easier than the translation of the colour, with all the subtle gradations of light and shade, and the delicate mystery of at- mospheric effect. The Venetians at the beginning of the twelfth century took part in the sacking of Tyre. The Tyrians had always made much money by their trade in red dyes, which they obtained from shells found on the coast of the Mediterranean. When Tyre fell into the hands of the Crusaders, a third part of the city was granted to the Venetians. They developed the trade in red dyes, and Venetian red is a name in use at the present day. But the Venetians' love of colour was inspired by something more lasting and more impressive than trade. The waters of Venice lie like a mirror before every man's door, and in his daily path, to receive the reflection of sunsets, pro- verbial for their beauty, till, in the words of Mr. Ruskin, " the waters glow, like an Eastern tapestry in soft flowing crimson, fretted with gold."* , No wonder, then, that merchant princes * St. Mark's Best, part i., p. 40. 10 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. built their palaces of coloured marbles — beautiful in themselves, and beautiful in reflec- tion. No wonder that the Venetian school of painting was essentially the school of colour. And, as the love of colour grew, the coloured marbles failed to satisfy. The Venetians felt that applied colours would give richer reflec- tions, and richer reflections they must have ; so they heightened the natural colours of the stone they used. Of this we have some interesting evidence. In 1886 a contract was discovered, which is dated in 1430, and relates to the decoration of, the Ca d'Oro (or " House of Gold"), in Venice, the property of the Contarini family. All the gold and all the applied colour have long since disappeared from this building ; but the following extracts from the contract tell some curious facts, and will enable us mentally to build anew on the canals of Venice palaces as gorgeous in colouring as those which stood there in the days of her magnificence. The contract contains a clause which provides for " painting in white lead and oil of all the crowning cornice, with the arches and cusps, and the cornice on which they are placed, veining the battlements to make them look like marble, with some black mark about their edge if it looks proper." Thus the white WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. 11 stone was made a purer white by paint. The contract also specifies a great deal of gilding to be done. "Also shall be touched with black the field of the cusps in the interior of the. arches." This was to obtain the effect of penetration. Then comes the most remarkable clause of all. " All the red stones of the facade and the red dentils shall be painted with oil and varnish, with colour, so that they look red." * Cavaliere Giacomo Boni, the Italian architect, to whom we are indebted for this information, says of the wall-veil of the Ducal Palace, which, as we* see it, is composed of red and white marble, that he has no proof that the white Istrian was covered with white lead, though it is possible ; but " the red Verona marble shows also traces of red colour applied with a brush." This contract tells much of the Venetians' love of colour in the fifteenth century ; and to this prosaic evidence may be added four lines from the poet Cavalcanti, enumerating the things which are alone surpassed in beauty by his beloved : — "The stillness of the air when morn doth glow, And, when all winds are hushed, the falling snow, A meadow full of flowers, a rushing river, And ornament of gold, and blue, and silver." * Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, vol. iii., p. 33. 12 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. It is extraordinary that after references to nature he should conclude with the line : — " Oro, argenfco, azzurro, in ornamenti." Those were the days " When reds and blues were indeed red and blue ; " and what the Venetians had in their architec- ture, in their paintings, in their very dress, the colour, which was a part of their every-day life, they naturally sought for in their music, whether practised as a pastime at home, or em- ployed to lend magnificence to the pageants of a sovereign republic, or to heighten the solem- nity of religious functions in the cathedral church of St. Mark. The founder of the Venetian school of music of the sixteenth century was Adrian Willaert, one, perhaps the greatest, of the many Nether- land musicians who migrated to the southern side of the Alps. Welcomed at Venice, and appointed organist of St. Mark's, the citizens made Willaert one of themselves under the title of " Messer Adriano." The style which Willaert brought with him was a Northern style, one of 'drawing, and not of colouring ; one in which the careful and cold sequence of parts was essential, but which lacked the warmth and colour of harmony. The tree, whose wood had WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. 1 3 been hardened and matured in the bracing North, was now to bear fruit, a rich, deep-coloured, luscious fruit, in the genial warmth of a Southern clime. Willaert may be treated as the founder of modern harmony ; that is, of the idea of har- mony in chords for the beauty of the harmony itself, as opposed to the colder scientific interest of the sequence of parts. Willaert also adopted a style of antiphonal writing for two choirs, which tended to heighten the colouring of his music. It has been said that, owing to there being two organs in St. Mark's, he took to writing for two choirs, and it is possible that the presence of the two organs may have sug- gested to his mind a similar treatment of voices; but it is pretty clear that what he was aiming at was breadth of harmony. Anti- phonal singing, which the words of the Psalms distinctly suggest, had existed in plain song from time immemorial, but it was reserved to Willaert to colour the bare drawing of the picture ; and the very name which the Vene- tians gave to Willaert's music, "Aurum potabile," shows how completely they felt that he was carrying into a new art the prevailing feeling. That the advance thus effected by this great 14 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. musician may be seen even at a glance, two ex- amples are given. The first, which is in the older style, is, for convenience, taken from the six- teenth century Mass* by the Englishman, Wil- liam Byrd. Any page of this Mass would have served the purpose, but the part selected is the " Christe Eleison." The second example is the commencement of a secular work by Willaert — a " Dialogue in Seven Parts." It was pub- lished in 1558, with motets and madrigals, in a work dedicated to Alfonso d'Este, Prince of Ferrara, and styled " Musica Nova di Adriano Willaert." The example is scored from the original parts in the British Museum, and for convenience barred, and for the same reason some of the clefs have been altered. It must be understood that in the original neither work is scored nor barred. To those who are not familiar with old music the names of the parts in this example will be interesting. When more than four parts were required, it was customary to number the added : parts, fifth, sixth, seventh, and so on ; but there was no indication except the clef to show what voice was added in each case, or its rela- tion to the other parts. * This Mass, which has been discovered by Mr. Barclay Squire, has been edited by himself and Mr. Rockstro and published by Messrs. Novello & Co. this year. WILLAEET AND THE VENETIANS. 15 Cantus. Altus. Tenok. 8ve lower. Bassus. CHRISTE ELEISON. W. Btkd. (16th Century.) £^= Chris ^ f - > o te . t=t ^ ^ Chris P G > t=t Chris - te e lei m£v= lei e - lei 3^£ f - > o Chris te. -ri- Chris te e lei i i z±: son. i -P~ Chris te , V ^ I Chris te lei HI ~??~ ^2: e - lei Chris \ j — i -i° i f^rinp-p E ?2Z ^ Chris te lei a e* 1 ' j j. ^F Td~ i e - lei ^^bJ E ri: Chris - te cH lei ± S ■ lei m - son, Chris- rTr r r ^ ■ * Chris te 16 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. lei Cantus (trans- posed into G clef), Sesta Parte (transposed into G clef). Altus. QUINTDS. Tenor. DIALOGO A SETTE VOCI. Willaert. (Died 1562.) Settima Parte (transposed into P clef). Bassus. fll IZZ Quan-do la ter |S| 1=1= 'j-ri Quan-do la ter m 321 f^Fh Quan-do la ter We - o r - > { ■ > 3=^ n • fi m Quan-do nas - ces - t'A- mor ? fir- -&— (*- X tJ • |T> 3= m |gg uan-do nas - ces - t'A- mor ? -t- o _ o ~ry Qnan donas-ces-t'A-mor?QuandoIa ter ^i o • Quan-do nas- ces t'A - mor ? WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. 17 £ rJ o -r± P^S i ra Si ri - ves - te di d'e bel co lo q=t <' d rJ ver d'e bel co lo - ves ra Si te di

f? -s>-e> 1- 1= 32: ± ra Si ri te di ver d'e bel co - lo m i fr— tre t i ** 3£bk 6 =W= f> f> 3=t Al hor di chi nas :fc= <"J o S ZZH It Al bor di chi nas- ces -o- 32 ^ -I- -F Al hor di chi nas - ces M ■ ra o ■o- ~Z3 Al hor di chi nas - ces THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. P 3=P z&z -rl--ri r $ D'un do - re Ch'o-tio e las P= =! ri rj a cJ - -T=> **- rs Ch'o D'ud. ar- do tio e las ci i JU-i^-_ ^ =pz; zi D'un. ar - do re Cb'o tio e las - ci *5« £ ti? ^t~tN1 f * ti? ^ - X 3==^ 23t ti? D'un do Ch'o-tio e las i *3^S £f ri rj r-r- Z± '* rs e »2f= I via in se-rae-chiud' e ser B 3=* ■ j o Q tj- ser - ra, rac-chiud' e ser - ra. viainserac - chuid' te i j f-> f ■> <-? — f-> fy trt. 3=1- *=t 322= 1S>- ra. - rac -chiud' m m^ ^Bk=mm '■er r -I — = -F- =t ra rac-chiud 1 =] e ser - ra. WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. 19 Translation. • Love, when wast thou horn ? When the earth clothed itself with green and beautiful colour. Then, of whom wast thou born ? Of a warmth which ease and pleasure embrace. It will be at once noticed that the interest in Byrd's music lies in the manner in which the several parts answer each other ; first one and then another taking up the same melody, while the harmony which results from the combina- tion of the parts is but accidental. In Willaert's music, on the other hand, the harmony is the essential feature, and instead of one voice answering another, one set of voices answers another set of voices. The antiphonal character suggested by the questions and answers of the words is preserved in the music, but it is anti- phony of harmony, riot of melody. Thus Willaert as colourist comes first of musi- cians who followed painters in Renaissance thought. He was also like them in another respect — practicality. Having divided his choir into two halves, he had to secure unity of time and of pitch between the two halves. This he secured by ignoring boldly the necessity of pre- serving as many parts as there were voices, and by combining the bass voices in one part, thus giving a firm and united foundation to both superstructures. This expedient was c 2 20 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. adopted by Bach and others afterwards, but to Willaert, it seems, must be given the honour of the discovery of a practical method of simpli- fying the performance of a complex form of composition. There is at Venice a picture by Carpaccio, of "St. Jerome in Heaven," which the re- searches described in one of Mr. Ruskin's works have rendered peculiarly interesting to English visitors ; but it is not commonly known that the music copied in that picture is believed, by no less an authority than Mr. Rockstro, to have come from the pen of the musician whom the Venetians honoured and received as one of themselves as " Messer Adriano." Willaert died in 1562 ; and as his star set, the star of the other great Venetian master of that century was rising. Giovanni Gabrieli, a native Venetian, was but five years old when Willaert died. He was a pupil of his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli, who was himself a pupil of Willaert. As a boy the young Giovanni may have seen and heard Willaert, but beyond this his knowledge of the great master must have been derived from his works and from tradition. That Gabrieli faithfully followed in the footsteps of Willaert may be seen by his eight-part Magnificat, a noble piece of antiphonal " WILLAEBT AND THE VENETIANS. 21 harmony, recently republished and performed in England.* But he was much more than a mere imitator. He developed the improvements which Willaert had commenced. The advance made by Gabrieli is chiefly to be seen in free use of accompanying instruments, a clear indication of a love of colour. One example is cited in which he used a cornet (by which we must understand either the old cornet, which was a curved in- strument in the shape of a horn, with vent-holes to be stopped by the fingers of the player, or else an instrument resembling a slide trumpet, which is really a modification of the trombone, rather than anything like the modern valve cornet) and three trombones as an accompani- ment to one half of the choir, in St. Mark's, answered by a violin and three trombones as accompaniment to the other half of the choir. The use of trombones to supplement the organ became common after Gabrieli's day. One of his pupils, a German, carried the practice into his own country, and it will be referred to later when the Renaissance in Germany is con- sidered. The practice existed in England, and this general use of these instruments is important evidence of the spreading love of colour in music. It must be remembered that the organs of those *Bach Choir Magazine, No. 7. 22 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. days were not provided with swell-boxes, and were therefore incapable of suggesting the idea of gradation of sound from soft to loud^ a senti- ment which is, to some extent, foreign to the strictest school of organ music. But the trom- bone is capable of the most delicate gradations of tone, and as a wind instrument blends admirably with the organ. Gabrieli also wrote for three choirs, which Willaert had done, though to a less extent ; thus increasing the interest of contrasted harmonies, and showing that if the two organs of St. Mark's suggested the use of two choirs, they happily did not suggest the use of not more than two choirs. Mention, too, is made of a passage for a solo voice by Gabrieli — a foretaste of the greatest revolution in musical art. Giovanni Gabrieli died in 1613, and with him may be said to have ended the first Venetian school. On his deathbed he sent for a young German who had been his pupil, Heinrich Schiitz, a name of note in the history of the development of music in Germany. Gabrieli presented his signet ring to Schiitz as the only man worthy to wear it. Schiitz returned to Germany with the ring, which may almost be treated as the emblem of the transference of pre-eminence in Church music from Italy to Germany. WILLAERT AND THE VENETIANS. 23 Schtitz has borne testimony to the genius of his master, and his classical allusions are of special interest in the mouth of a musician of the Renaissance period. His words may be fitly used to close this chapter — " I served my first year of apprenticeship under the great Gabrieli. Ye immortal gods ! what a man was that I If the ancients, so rich in expression-, had been acquainted with his powers, they would have placed him above the Amphyons ; and, if the muses had been inclined to. enter the marriage state, Melpomene would have desired no other husband than he, so great was he in his art." 24 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. CHAPTER III. PALESTRINA AND CHURCH REFOBMS. In the last chapter an attempt has been made to show how a first feeling towards the study of truth in nature and its practical application to art was exhibited in the effort of the early- Venetian masters to introduce colour into music ; but a far greater principle of the Renais- sance in its struggle towards nature was its revolt against convention, and its efforts to realize the truth of objects as they exist around us. Conventionality is the acceptance of the evidence of other men's senses in lieu of our own ; a practice which, if carried to an extreme, must ultimately degenerate into mere symbolism. Cimabue discovered Giotto not tracing mosaics in the interior of a monas- tery, but endeavouring to portray one of his own sheep on a stone, studying, in fact, directly from nature ; and it has been well said that this story may be treated as the parable of the Renaissance.* Now, if Willaert and Gabrieli * Symonds' Renaissance, " Fine Arts,'' p. 191. PALESTRINA AND CHURCH REFORMS. 25 were precursors of the great change as colourists, a greater than they, Palestrina, was a precursor as realist, striving to suit his music to his words, and to express the meaning of the words in his music. But to understand Palestrina's reforms, it is necessary to understand what were the evils which needed reformation. The early singing of the Church was what we know as " plain song ; " but plain song was really nothing more than a conventionalized form of intonation derived from the natural inflexion of the voice in ordinary speaking, or rather reading. The difference between speaking and reading is difficult to define, and yet so marked that, if a person's voice is heard in an adjoining room, there is not the least difficulty in saying if the person is speaking or reading. In plain song there were directions for the inflexions to be used at certain stops, as, at a full stop, a comma, or at a note of interrogation ; and, among other things, we find that sentences ending with an accent on the last syllable but one usually result in the fall of a minor third, and sentences ending with an accent on the last syllable but two in a fall of a minor third, followed by a rise of a tone. Thus, in the responses of our own Church , which are derived from plain song, we have — 26 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. i Lord have mercy up on us. Here the accent is on the penultimate. In the following sentence it is on the antepenulti- mate : — i E ** As we do put our trust in Thee. That these are but the inflexions of the speaking voice is a fact capable of test at the present day. On my way to a certain country railway station, I pass two schools ; first, a National or Church of England School, and then a British or Nonconformist School. As I pass the National School, I hear lessons in arithmetic proceeding after this fashion. The master gives out the multiplication table in a natural speaking voice : " Twice five, ten ; twice six, twelve ; twice seven, fourteen ; twice eight, sixteen." But the answer of the children, sentence by sentence, takes the following form, with approximate certainty : — ! | i ' ! | — r Twice five, ten; twice six, twelve; twiceseven.fourteen; twice eight.sixteen; PALESTRINA AND CHURCH REFOBMS. 27 At the British School I hear exactly the same. So that the result is no question of Church influence. The children in the British School have certainly not got the music of the Church responses so fixed in their heads that they cannot help singing the multiplication table to it, whatever may be the case with the children in the National School. The fact is that, when any number of persons, especially children, recite together, the words fall into a form of sing-song, and sing-song has much to do with the origin of plain song. In other words, ordinary reading may degenerate into sing-song or be elevated into plain song. There is no better type of the conservative influence of the Church than that to be found in its treatment of music. It was ordained that the plain song of the Mass should not be varied, and the tones were chained to the altar in token that they should never be changed. But the progress of art cannot be checked by iron chains, and the plain-song and the Church modes are practically no more. For that which is restored by much antiquarian study is some- thing very different from the original unlost art. William of Wykeham would be not a little astonished at some of the features of nine- teenth century Gothic architecture. Fra Angelico 28 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. would hardly recognize the connection between the pre-Eaphaelite school and his own work, and the Phrygian mode does not come to us with the facility with which it was handled by Josquin des Pres. The effect of the ordinance of the Church for- bidding any alteration in the music of the Mass was to restrict the first efforts of musicians, who sought to ennoble the service of the Church by improving its music, to making additions to the service, as they were not allowed in any way to vary the plain song setting of the Mass itself. The first addition was confined to something in the nature of a hymn introduced as a supplement to the Gloria ; that is to say, after the Gloria had been sung to the plain song, a hymn was inter- polated. A relic of this practice remained to a very late date, in the common addition to a Mass of a motet ; and the first .words of the motet were used to distinguish both it and its companion Mass. But after a time the law against change in the music of the Mass became a dead letter, and then musicians, instead of simply adding a hymn, began to set the words of the Mass itself to music ; that is to say, to new music, abandoning plain song. In doing this, that the music might awake sympathy in the congrega- PALESTRINA AND, CHURCH REFORMS. 29 tion, it was the practice to use as a canto fermo, out of which, and against which, the elaborate counterpoints were framed, some well- known melody, commonly that of a familiar hymn. This was in itself a noble idea, but it was followed, strange to say, by a step so in- artistic, so subversive of the whole object with which music was added to the services of the Church with a view to increasing their impres- siveness and solemnity, that it is surprising to find how general it became. This step was nothing less than the substitution as canto fermo of the melody of a popular song, in lieu of that of a hymn. This may have had its origin in proselytizing zeal. We know how largely the Church did in early days proselytize by apply- ing the state of things which she found to her own purposes, and by associating poems convey- ing the principles of Christianity with -melodies already familiar to the people ; much as in our own days, hymns, or perhaps they might almost more properly be called songs, of an attractive nature have been used by Messrs. Moody and Sankey, and by the Salvation Army, for similar purposes. At the same time the continuance of the prac- tice, in circumstances in which it could not be justified on such practical grounds is a most 30 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. curious example of the manner in which men may, by following conventional usage, lose all perception of reality and of the fitness of things, and be landed in the most grotesque inconsis- tency without being conscious of the incongruity. The evil did not stop at the adoption of the music of the popular air. That was bad enough, but the consequence was worse ; it was presently! followed by the substitution of the words of the song for the words of the Mass ; and it was the gravity of this abuse that led to the reform of the Mass not only in words, but in music. The most common popular melody adopted for the purpose was the air of a song called ' ' L'homme arme ; " and in the most sacred service of the Church might be heard combined the words and music of the Mass and the words and music of " L'homme armeV' The Council of Trent as a Council did not confine itself to condemning the heresies of the Reformers, it did much towards purifying the Church of Rome in many wavs, in- cluding the musical part of her services. So seri- ously was the abuse of the services felt that it was proposed, and we cannot be astonished at it, to revert to the plain song Mass, and to forbid all else. But it was felt by some of the Council that this would be a retrograde step, and among others by the intimate friend of Palestrina, Saint PALESTRINA AND CHURCH REFORMS. 31 Carlo Borromeo, the noble Bishop of Milan. The decree of the Council was therefore confined to the negative form of a prohibition of the use in churches of music of the objectionable form, with- out any direction as to the kind of music which should be used. The decree forbids the use of music in churches with an admixture of wanton songs and sounds, all the secular actions, pro- fane conversations, noises, and din (I'uso delle musiche nelle chiese con mistura di canto 6 suono lascivo, tutte I'attioni secolari, coloquii profani, strepiti, gridori). Thus the Council very pro- perly recognized that the Church music had reached a stage in which, instead of increasing the solemnity of the services, it could only be ranked with the disturbing influences of conver- sation and absolute noise. At the instance of two of the Cardinals, Saint Carlo Borromeo and Cardinal Yitellozzi, a Com - mittee was appointed to consider the whole question of the due performance of the services of the Church. This Committee appealed to Palestrina. Palestrina was indeed himself an offender. He had written Masses on sacred themes, which involved the repetition of words other than the words of the Mass.* He had even written a * Rockstro's History of Music, p. 65. 32 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Mass on " L'hoinine armeV' But in this he had but followed the fashion of the day. He was a man of undoubted piety. He was not only recognized as the greatest musician of his day, but perhaps, even then, as the greatest musician the world had produced. The Com- mittee felt safe in his hands, and events justified their confidence. Palestrina was re- quested by the Committee to compose a Mass which . should serve as a model for Church music in the future : a terrible responsibility. Palestrina, great as he was, felt that on his shoulders rested the whole question of the future of Church music ; and, instead of con- fining himself to a single Mass, he wrote three, and submitted them to the Committee. They were privately performed, and one Mass was selected for performance before Pope Pius IV. This was in 1565. We can picture to ourselves the anxiety with which Palestrina approached this performance. The whole future of the music of the Church rested on the issue of a moment. Should the Church fall back upon plain song and anti- quarianism,orgo forward and consecrate the most advanced and purest music in her service % The performance was a veritable triumph for the Committee, who favoured reform instead of PALESTRINA AND CHURCH REFORMS. 33 retrogression, and still more for the great artist who enabled them to gain their end. The warm words of praise which fell from the lips of the Pope have been recorded, and the decree went forth that in future all Church music should be based on the model of the "Missa Papse Marcelli." Vain edict. The iron chains of the altar of Milan, forged to preserve in perpetuity the old ecclesiastical tones, had rusted away, and could Papal ordinance hope to last ? Palestrina was hardly cold in his grave before the style of music had begun to change for ever. True, an abuse, such as has never been since, was purged away ; but, at the very moment that Palestrina was writing, the germs of the new style were being sown. In this great act of his life Palestrina proved himself a true realistic forerunner of the Renais- sance in his art. If music is to accompany words, it must fit and enforce their meaning, and a medley is not 4 fit music for the Mass. In nearly all else Palestrina belongs to the period of pre- Renaissance thought. In his music there are harmonies so beautiful that they cannot be accidental. Like Willaert, he felt for colour, but he would not yield a jot of his old style to attain it. Yet, when it came in his way, he 3 34 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. loved it. One single example may be cited t show how completely to his last day Palestrin; was under the influence of old ideas, and at the same time to illustrate the qiiainthess of the old school. In his motet, "Assumpta est Maria," composed twenty years after the " Migsa Papee Marcelli," pccur the words, " Ut sol spleri- dens," brilliant as the sun, — the words f ut sol " are repeated nine times. Seven times the words are allotted to the interval of a fifth from the tonic to the dominant, clearly follow- ing the suggestion of the names of the notes ut and sol. The two other repetitions are at the interval of a fourth, which is the proper tonal answer of a fifth. With Palestrina culminated and closed the Golden Age of Pure Vocal Music. He died in the year 1594, after receiving the last rites of the Church at the hands of his friend St. Filippo Neri — of whom more hereafter — and happy it is that he passed away before the great change came. CHAPTEK IV. PERI AND THE FLORENTINES. In 1579 there was celebrated at Venice the marriage of the Venetian beauty, Bianca Capello, to Francisco, the son of the Florentine Grand Duke, Cosmo de Medici ; and the Florentines were there. The music for the occasion was composed by Luca Marenzio, the contemporary of Palestrina, and famous as the greatest composer of madri- gals before 1600 ; and by Andrea Gabrieli, the uncle of the great Giovanni. The Florentines present were dissatisfied with the music per- formed, especially that which was associated with the dramatic representations, which, as usual, formed an important part of the festivities. This led to an animated correspondence between one of them, Galileo, the father of the astrono- mer, and Zarlino, a Venetian composer. At- tention having been drawn to the relation between music and the drama; a society was formed in Florence to improve music, and especially dramatic music. But before in- b 2 36 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. vestigating the proceedings of this society, it is necessary to follow the earlier development of the drama. The earliest drama^on^acla^ic^l_^ubject , of which we have any record is_the Orfeo of^JPoiiziano, the tutor of Leo X., the first MediciTope, who, in that Tie~was artist rather than priest, was typical of the Renaissance which he fostered. Leo X. was himself a musician, and it is curious that the subject of this first Renaissance drama should have been the fable which has been popular with musicians ever since Poliziano's Orfeo was produced in 1475^ It is important as the first step in a new direction, the substitu tion of a classica l^ subject foundejLoohuman passions, a nd full of dramatic incid^ntj_for the old conventional pastoral and religious jplays. - ,< The classical fable of Orpheus and Eurydice- is well known, but in the many versions that are the product of the Renaissance, two of which must be dealt with fully in this chapter and the next, there are variations in the incidents of the fable ; it will therefore be convenient here to give the story as narrated by Poliziano in the argument of his play. Aristseus, a shepherd, and son of Apollo, loved Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, in so violent a manner that he pur- PERI AND THE FLORENTINES. 37 sued her in the fields. In her flight she was stung by a serpent, and died. Orpheus, follow- ing her spirit to Hades, by his singing so softened the hearts of the infernal deities, that they suffered Eurydice to depart, on condition that Orpheus should not look behind him as she followed. Not obeying this injunc- tion, she was forced back to Hades. In his grief Orpheus resolved never to love another, and was torn in pieces by the Thracian women. * Beyond the great dramatic force of this story, the association through Aristeeus with shep- herds was important as forming a connecting link between the classical subject of the new drama and the more familiar subject of pastoral plays, which seem to have been in vogue from the earliest period of stage representations down to the French follies of berger and bergere in the last century. Poliziano's drama was in fiye_ acts, which was for some reason the orthodox number for the drama. In the later musical drama we meet with as many instances of three act dramas, but four seem quite an unusual number. This seems to be akin to the common feeling of the human mind, which is better satisfied with un- * From the translation in Burney'a History of Music, vol. iv., p. 1-J. 38 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. even than with even numbers. For instance, an architect knows that a small flight of steps will be effective if the number of steps be three or five, but not so if it be four. There is not the least doubt that Poliziano used music with his play, but the music must have been of the old madrigal form, and not really dramatic. In all plays written before the end of the sixteenth century the music was inci- dental, and not_jU3jnj^jgralj3art, of the work. Therefore, of necessity, the drama had to stop for the music to be performed, and the music had to stop for the drama to go on again. So far, therefore, as dramatic interest was concerned, the two arts, instead of assisting, restricted each other. A drawing in black and white, though limited to chiaroscuro, is a beautiful thing. A painting is a more beautiful thing. But a pic- ture that is partly one and partly the other would shock us by its incongruity. So also the pure drama is beautiful, and the opera is beau- tiful ; but when we pass from the drama we must rise at once to the complete opera, or we lose one art without gaining another. To obtain this complete art was the object which certain Florentines set before themselves on their return from the Venetian festivities given in honour of Bianca Capello, little as that lady deserved honour. PERI AND THE FLORENTINES. 39 The leading men in the society were a Bardi, a Corsi, and a Strozzi — three great names in Florentine history. Their first meetings were held at the Palazzo Bardi, a grim, grey old building looking northwards into the narrow Via dei Bardi, the very opposite of the brilliant stage effects that were being evolved in the brains of the inmates there assembled in council. With these three patrons of art were associated Vincenzio Galileo, who had had the correspondence with Zarlino; Amati, a name which suggests another phase of the Renaissance, the improvenlent of _the_ violin, and indeed of all musical instruments ; a musi- cian and singer named Caccini ; another musi- cian, Cavaliere, whose claims to notice will be considered in Chapter VII. ; a third musician, Jacopo Peri ; and, finally, the poet Rinuccini. Galileo was perhaps the first to struggle to- wards the new kind of drama. Cavaliere un- doubtedly produced some isolated dramatic efforts, and finally an important dramatic work, the first oratorio ; but the first continuous musical drama came from the pens of Jacopo Corsi and Jacopo Peri. This was a work called Dafne, the poem being written by the poet Rinuccini. This work was privately per- formed by way of experiment in 1 5 9 7. We really 40 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. do not know much about it ; it is possibly the same play that was afterwards adapted by Hein- rich Schiitz, and performed at Dresden, and which is commonly regarded as the first German opera. The success of Dafne was sufficient to induce the band of innovators to further efforts. Einuc- cini wrote a fresh play, entitled Ewr idice, based on the already familiar classical story, and this play was set to music by Peri. It is more than probable that his companions assisted Peri in the composition, though the publication under the sole name of Peri was sanctioned, and it- was frequently performed as his not only in Italy, but also in Germany and France. Thus we find that Caccini composed music to the same words, and his composition was published in Florence eight years before Peri's opera was published, though Peri's seems to have been the more popular version. There is a modern German edition of Caccini's first act ; and in it the music for the lament of Orpheus, on hearing the fate of Eurydice, is identical with the music of the same lament in Peri's setting. This renders it difficult to define how much of the work was Peri's own. But the authenticity is not of real importance. These men were striving not for their own glorification, but. for the advancement PERI AND THE FLORENTINES. 41 of dramatic musical art. They were not jealous of each other ; their jealousy, if any, was con- fined to Venice. With regard to their aims, we are happily not left to mere inferences. Peri's Euridice was published in 1608, and, by a curious irony of circumstances, at Venice. We have a copy of the original edition in the British Museum, which copy has, unfortunately, not been im- proved in the hands of the binder. Peri, in his Preface, tells us exactly what he and his friends were aiming at. He says, "I consider that the ancient Greeks and Romans (who, according to the opinion of many, sang on the stage the entire tragedy) used a harmony which, advancing from that of ordinary speech, arose so far from the melody of singing, that it took the form of something between the two ; . . . . and therefore abandoning every other kind of song heard till now, I gave myself wholly to seeking the imitation which is due to the poem." First of all, then, Peri considered that the Greeks and Romans sang the drama, and sang it continuously from beginning to end. Therefore the music of his drama must be con- tinuous. He assumes that the right model is the classical, and is but seeking how to apply it ; and to attain his end he has abandoned all 42 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. other precedents. These sentiments are but the expression of all Renaissance thought. Then he says, " Although I would not dare to affirm this to be the song used in the Greek and Ro- man fables, I have thought this to be the only one which could be given to our music to accommodate it to our language." In other words, he does not wish merely to copy classical art, he could not if he would ; but he seeks to discover its principles, and then to apply them for himself. This is exactly what all other artists had done and were doing. Renaissance thought is always ori gin al 1 thought, und er cl assicaljnfluence but applied in ) a_new„direction. The sentences quoted above are confirmed by others in the Preface, which it is unnecessary to set out here. The result was, the production of a work totally and radically different from anything that could have come from a disciple of Palestrina. The harmonies themselves are of the most flimsy character. With the exception of one chorus in the first act, there is nothing that can be called contra- puntal. On the other hand, we gain something akin to the painter's studies from real life in the attempt to depict the passions of men and women in music, which, as it closely follows the meaning of the words, has been named " mus- PERI AND THE FLORENTINES. 43 ica parlante." It is remarkable that, at a time when the use of the single voice was quite uncommon, the reformers should not only have adopted its use largely, hut that it should have been employed in the most true dramatic style. The recitative into which the musica parlante afterwards crystallized gives no idea of the dignity of its progenitor. Another novelty in this work was its musical continuity. The music no longer retards, but promotes the development of the drama. From beginning to end there is not a single spoken word. And the principle thus initiated continued an essen- tial feature of the musical drama in its early days. The drama is in three acts. The argument of the play, which differs in many details from the plot as given in Poliziano's work, is shortly this. The scene opens in the country, where Eurydice attended by Daphne is disporting herself with nymphs. After they have left the stage, Orpheus enters with two shep- herds. While in conversation, Daphne returns and tells of the sad fate of Eurydice — how playing in the grass she was stung by a serpent, and died. The jealous lover, Aristseus, does not appear in the play at all. Then follows the lament of Orpheus. In the midst of happi- 44 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. ness the most terrible calamity has befallen him. And his feelings under this shock are expressed in music so natural, so touching, and so original, that it is here quoted. EURIDICE. Act I.* Orfeo. Peki. (1600.) rtM <-• * ' • f /=*, Non pi an - go, r r | U E non sos - pi ro> " \f V i - mia ca - Mi' i (W. \Ss ri 1 — \&\ — *4] 1 £ D^ > jl « '/ '/ 1/ ra Eu - ri - di ce. g 4 4 2 1 Che sos -pi - rar — Che la - cri-mar non t & « ^ ?2Z ~ ^ ^ r * f t^tc ^^ ch'in va - no Non chia-ma-sti mo -ren do il tuo con sor - te Non m m {F^ u i - F * m H F -t^-a-arr-a^^-d- 3*1 W>'^< E P V-JLfe J f * is credited with a system of scoring. But the scoring in these early manuscripts is more intricate than the simple method adopted by the Florentines of placing one stave above another, and writing a separate part on each, as is done now ; . and the older barring had no reference to time, though a bar drawn through music and words, at the end of each phrase, served to keep words and music together. Thus we owe not only the opera, but three most practical inventions — scorings barring, and figuring — to those ten years of thoughtful conclave at Florence. The Renaissance did indeed produce, in every art, practical men of great originality. E 50 THE BENAISSANCE OP MUSIC. CHAPTER V. MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. Peri and the noble band of Florentine amateurs and enthusiasts, noble by birth, and noble in aim, acted as pioneers to clear the ground for the great genius of the new style. "The Lament of Orpheus" was undoubtedly a fine production; how fine only those can appreciate who have realized how thoroughly novel it was. But one short song, however fine, will not make an opera, . or establish the fame of a composer. Peri's Euridice was successful in other cities than Florence, and in other countries than Italy : but it was the success of novelty and the awakening of artists to the unfitness of the old style to dramatic situations. It was for a musician greater than Peri to erect on the ground which he had cleared a style of music fit to rank in constructive ingenuity with the architecture of Brunelleschi and Palladius, in colour with the paintings of Titian and Paul Veronese, in breadth of conception with the designs of Michael Angelo, in perfection of detail with the works of Benvenuto Cellini. MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. 51 Claudio Monteverde was born in__JJL6j8L at Cremona. The very place of his birth commands us to pause a while. It has been pointed out that one of the members of the Florentine association bore the well-known name of Amati. But here we have a truly great composer, the performance of whose works necessitated the improvement of violins, born in the town in which these instruments were chiefly produced. It is said that a violinist, on seeing his fine Cremona instrument swept from a chair by the rich velvet train of a lady's dress, exclaimed, " Mantua vce ! miserce nimium vicina Cremona." But Virgil's line cannot be so aptly applied to Monteverde, as the improvement of Cremona violins resulted from his position at Mantua, whither he went as a young man ; and there, as a player on the viol, he entered the service of the noble family of Gonzaga, which had been recently raised to ducal rank by the Emperor, Charles V. In this position he had the advantage of being under a sound contrapuntist, Ingegneri, from whom he learnt more or less ; judging by results in the strict style, probably less. In 1603 Ingegneri died, and Monteverde, who was then of an age which with musicians has always been deemed maturity, was raised to the post of director of the ducal music, and his original genius E 2 52 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. commenced a series of surprises for the musical world. Mgntexerde's ^sLiipera.Jwa&^TW^^- The poem — based, of course, on the classical subject — was supplied by Rinuccini, and the first per- formance took place in 1607 in honour of the marriage of Francesco di Gonzaga to a princess of the House of Savoy. Notwithstanding the fact that this opera was revived at Venice more than thirty years later, the music of it has been lost, with the exception of one number, " The Lament of Ariadne," which is said on more than . one occasion to have brought tears to the eyes of the audience. This air has been quoted in many works on music, most recently in Mr. Rockstro's History of Music, but it is nevertheless necessary to reproduce it here, as, although it consists of only nineteen bars, in that short space many examples of the innova- tions made by Monteverde will be found; innovations to which it is necessary here to call attention, and many of which have hitherto- been allowed to pass unnoticed. The quotation is taken from Winterfield's Life of Gobrieli, published in 1834, and for conveni- ence of reference the bars have been numbered.. MONTEVEKDE AND MANTUA. 53 ARIADNE. Erste Strophe des Klagegesangcs der verlassenen Ariadne. P 3 MONTEVEBDB. w=&& 5 'b * f p=* tz=tz: Las - cia ^ te - mi mo - ri las - cia - te - 1 i s l^=p" 1 =^=r "i — «^ — i — mi mo -J— 1 — &— - ri 1— — izF 3 re, -^ 1— * • E * J clie va - le - te voi . . rtoV ■ 1 | \W. | iH —J — ! s — l O 1 1 — s t-J v<3 r}. . I 10 11 -r~~M^ £ clie mi con for te, In co - si du - ra =1= ± ZEtZ d d d 12 13 S .14 15 -^ ^ -*-» 1 |>E-E rS: sor-te, in co- si gra mar - ti - re ? Las - cia T- ?2= 32= w 16 ^5 17 18 19 53 If *=¥- ^ 1=1=4 mi mo - n - re, las - cia - te - mi mo - n re. m w IB X2= Translation. Let me die. What is the value of you who comfort me, In such hard lot, in such great martyrdom ? Let me die. 54 THE BENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. It is commonly said that Monteverde was the first musician to employ the chord of the dominant seventh without preparation, although Dr. Burney states that Cavaliere used this chord in a similar manner in 1600 in the first act of his oratorio Del'anima e del corpo. * Here, how- ever, in the second bar is a seventh of a bolder kind taken without preparation. In passing, it may be noted that the first two chords are dominant, followed by sub-dominant. Between bars five and six we have consecutive fifths be- tween the voice part and the bass ; and in bar eight we have consecutive fifths on the accented beats ; so that Monteverde evidently had thrown over all allegiance to the old school. In bar eleven is an unprepared suspension, assuming that the C in the bass is meant to carry a com- mon chord, and not a chord of the sixth. But it should be remembered that in the earliest figured basses the chord of the sixth was not always indicated. This is all technical, but it has to be mentioned, because the free use of discords stamps Monteverde at once as a colourist of the first order, a worthy follower of Willaert, Gabrieli, and the masters of the first Venetian school; and, at the same time, his * Burney' s History of Music, iv., p. 30, and post chap. vii., p. 126. MONTE VERDE AND MANTUA. 55 wilful infringement of contrapuntal rules shows how completely independent he was of all tradi- tional conventionalities, devoting his attention to colouring his music, to express the feelings and passions of human beings, following the teaching of nature, and not the precepts of tradition. The most important constructive feature of the air, however, is only reached at the end of barfourteen. It used to be said that Scarlatti was the first to use the da capo, that is, the repeti- tion at the end of an air of the first part. Then we find the invention assigned to a musician named Tenaglio. Then it was brought earlier and attributed to Cavalli in his opera Giasone, to which reference will be made in the next chap- ter. But it was really half a century older. The conclusion of Monteverde's "Lament of Ariadne " is as distinct a recapitulation of the first six bars as could possibly be found — an absolute and undoubted da capo. And this da capo, like the grain of mustard seed, was the germ of an enormous plant. We speak of Haydn as the father of the symphony, and so he was, but he was not the great grand- father or more remote ancestor. The recapitula- tion in a symphony of Haydn, or even in the further developed style of Brahms, is but the 56 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. legitimate growth from this early recapitulation by Monteverde. In the same year, a second opera by Monte- verde saw the light, Orfeo. This opera has been preserved, and a modern German edition enables us to study it at leisure. The Orfeo was dedicated to the young Prince Francesco of Mantua, whose nuptials had been celebrated earlier in the year, and was first printed at Venice in 1 6 9 . A second edition was published in 1615, with the following title, L Orfeo, Favola in Musica da Claudio Monteverdi, Maestro di Capella della Sere?iiss. Republica." There is a copy of this edition in the library at Buckingham Palace, and the examples given from the opera are taken from this copy. I have, in places, added harmonies above the original bass, and some marks of expression. These additions are included in brackets. The libretto of this work was written by the same poet who had pro- vided Peri with his libretto, Binuccini, and on the same subject. The Orfeo is in five acts, with a prologue, in this respect identical with the form of the early drama of Poliziano. The plot also more closely resembles the old fable than did the play written for Peri; but Aristseus does not appear at all, and in lieu of the tragic death of Orpheus at the hands of the jealous MONTE VERDE AND MANTUA. 57 Thracian woman, he is carried to heaven by- Apollo, there to meet the form of Eurydice in the skies. When we turn from the words to the music, and to the stage arrangements, we see a great stride. The first thing that strikes us is the immense development by Monteverde in the use of the orchestra. Peri, it will be remem- bered, employed only five instruments, and these were chiefly used for mere accompaniment played from figured bass. Probably, therefore, the instruments were generally played separ- ately, and not as an orchestra, since it would be impossible that two persons should play at once from a figured bass. Let us compare with this the orchestra em- ployed by Monteverde. A list of the instru- ments is given with the opera of Orfeo : — Two gravicembali (no doubt for playing the accom- paniments from figured bass, possibly one being used on ' each side of the theatre for conveni- ence). Then two contra-bassi, three bassi di gamba (the predecessor of the violoncello), ten violins, and two small French violins. These small violins sounded a third higher than the ordinary violin. We frequently meet with them in Bach's music. Here is a complete band of seventeen stringed instruments ; but the list by 58 THE BENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. no means ends here. Two large harps (the list only mentions one, but in the course of the opera we find parts for two harps), two chitaroni (this was a large kind of guitar, which was invented about 1600). The fact of so many of the instru- ments being used in pairs suggests the division of the orchestra, so as to place some of the instruments on one side of the theatre and some on the other side. Two organi di legno (these instruments represent the wood wind of the modern orchestra ; they were small organs, with probably a single diapason or flute stop only), one regal (this was another kind of organ). Then we have a number of brass instruments sufficient to- balance the strings of a modern orchestra, and quite equal to the requirements of the most dramatic composer of the nine- teenth century. Four trombones, two cornetti, one clarino (the clarino is a soprano trumpet), three muted trumpets (these trumpets appear, from a note at the beginning of the opera, to have been what we should term B flat instru- ments). Finally, two flutes and one piccolo flute. Practically, we have a complete orchestra of strings, wood, and brass. In all thirty-nine instruments. In writing for this orchestra, Monteverde makes use of something approaching to a modern MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. 59 score. A separate part is not written for every instrument, but wherever an instrument is specially important, the part is written out for it. Thus the opera commences with an orchestral prelude, which is headed "Toccata." It is in the key of C major, with a double pedal, tonic and dominant, throughout, and three parts above the pedal. There is a direction that it is to be played three times, before the curtain rises, and by all the instruments. But in the composition, it is clear that Monteverde had specially in mind the use of the trumpets, and the trumpet parts are written each on a separate stave. At the end of the toccata the curtain was to rise, and the orchestra played a ritornello. The orches- tral interludes were commonly called ritornellos* Then follows the prologue sung by " Music " in verses separated by the ritornello for the orchestra. The arrangement of the clefs and other internal evidence show that in the ritornello the stringed instruments took the lead in the orchestra ; just as in the prelude the brass instruments had taken the lead. The constant repetition of the ritornello, which * This toccata and ritornello are printed in Kockstro's History of Music, pp. Ill, 112, and are therefore not quoted here. 60 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. was common in early operas, seems tedious ; but it was probably less so when accompanied by dancing, as was no doubt frequently the case, or other stage business. The first act commences, like Perl's Euridice, with a chorus of. shepherds, but the choral writing is of a much more elaborate character than Peri's. There are indications that the shepherds danced as they sang. The whole is essentially the realization of the happiness of existence, thoroughly human, and therefore appropriate to Renaissance thought. This act deals with the love of Orpheus and Eurydicei The first music assigned to Orpheus, to words " commencing " Rosa del del" is quoted in the article on Monteverde in Sir George Grove's Dictionary of Music. In the second act there are two airs, each with a da capo,, for Orpheus, of whose part, by the way, we may use the expression which a provincial actor once applied to that of Richard III., " one of the heaviest parts on the stage." But there are other peculiarities to be noticed. A duet for two shepherds, both tenors, perhaps the earliest instance of a vocal duet. In the middle of this duet, as an interlude, is a duet for two flutes, played behind the scenes, the effect of which must have taken the audience by MONTEVEBDE AND MANTUA. 61 surprise. As if to make sure of his surprise, Monteverde does not mention the flutes in the list of instruments of the orchestra, which may- have been in the hands of an audience. In the course of this act the news of the fate of Eury- dice is broken by degrees to her unfortunate husband ; the announcement comes at last, and is worth quoting. The apparent abruptness of the change from E flat major to E natural major, before the final words of the messenger, was possibly covered by a long silent pause. ORFEO. Monteverde. (1607.) Okfeo. (8va. Imoer.) la tuabclhaEuri - di oe Oi-me che o - do? » i r ^^% M mm *m ^^H—^==S=P^ mr*- Okfeo. -1 m g fl*-^ ? ^WH Jez: La tua di - let - ta spo - sa e mor - ta. Oi-me ! I t& — ll @^H- izai zzz: I II I I M 62 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIO. Translation. Messenger. Thy fair Eurydioe ! Orpheus. "Woe ! What do I hear ? Messenger. Thy beloved spouse is dead ! Orpheus. Woe ! After this last exclamation, Orpheus is silent for a long time ; he cannot listen to the details which the messenger relates to the two shep- herds ; at last his grief finds vent as follows ; the original accompaniment is confined to a bass. ■ part, with the following direction : un organd di legno ed un chitarone. LAMENT OF ORPHEUS. Oreeo {8va. lower). Montevekdk. (1607.) i im= as ■- r PPf Un organo di legno ed un Chitarone. Tu e' mcr - ta, $ S ^m s irTi w MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. 63 $ - P * *~ ^rry i*-^- - 7> o - f^T 1 "^ #— * # ^ mecotrarot - i a ri-veder le stel - le o se cid neghe i * VP 4=^= ^ ^ - / ■ > y~ f=r^ ^-M^-fr =*=£ S d d < - J ram-mi em-pio des -ti ne, ri-marro te - co in compagnia I ^aj-f^- =t :g= ^ m g* =^= ^^z i^^ MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. 65 p5l m j==t T3~p- 3^Z di mor - te ! ad-dio ter - ra ! ad-dio cie - lo £ : FH C ^=P 0. le! ad i -:^ $& g g -pe- ■#* ^ Translation. Thou art dead, my life, and I breathe. Thou art parted from me for ever, never to return ; and I remain. No, no. If verses could be of any use, I would certainly go to the profound abyss and touch the heart of the king of shades. Thou shalt be drawn back with me to see the stars again ; or, if that should be denied to me by unlucky destiny, I will remain with you, in company with the dead. Adieu, earth ! Adieu, sky and sun ! Adieu ! The beginning and ending of this lament are particularly fine, and for effective harmonic colouring the use (at A) of the augmented sixth, probably for the first time, should not pass unnoticed. I have amplified the accom- paniment and added a few marks of expression merely for general convenience. These additions, E 66 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. which are as far as possible indicated by brackets, are easily eliminated by the purist ; while to those who are less accustomed to thorough bass they may be more useful than the bare original bass in enabling them to arrive at an approximate realization of the intention of the composer. Attention has already been drawn (p. 44, note) to the inequality in length of the bars of Peri's music. It will be observed that the third bar in the above example is really only a half bar. The lament of Orpheus is followed by a chorus, and then comes, in the most realistic manner, a lament by the messenger at his own misery as the bearer of evil tidings. This ends with a striking passage in contrary motion between the voice part and the bass. i E3ES^J^h^ ^f=F^ n^ !l . me-ne ro vi ta al raio do - lor con-for - me. -ri- ~° -G>- -j^- -O- Tramslatvm. I will lead a life suited to my grief. Each act concludes with a chorus, followed by a symphony. Whether or not the symphony covered the whole time from the moment the MONTEVEKDE AND MANTUA. 67 curtain fell at the end of one act till the moment it rose at the beginning of the follow- ing act, it is impossible to say. There is internal evidence to show that this must have been the case in one instance, and it is possible that the opera was absolutely continuous from the first chord of the prelude to the last chord of the finale. The symphony at the end of the second act is written for the full brass and organ (regal), without the violins, but probably with the string basses, and it served not only to conclude the second act, but to commence the third, the scenery being changed during the performance of the symphony. This symphony is of great dramatic importance ; it foreshadows, as will be seen, the descent of Orpheus to Hades in search of Eurydice, a point only to be reached in the words of the third act, indicating the keenest dramatic feeling in the composer. The sym- phony is copied here both in full score and for convenience in short score. Without the full score, it would be impossible to appreciate the fine way in which the parts answer each other, and other details. The manner in which at the third bar a repetition of the subject is com- menced a tone higher should be noticed. There are other instances of this device in the Orfeo. E 2 68 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. SINFONIA. (Okfeo.) Between Second and Third Acts. MONTEVERDE. (1607.) O »-0-f2^- ^E dE=. - r - > • f m m ni u =B=ff n-fS>- ^ES S =t=t -P * ? -SI — »-• — o- -e »-»- -i^- EBEEEE -rir ±_^_ f^>_ MZgZ5Z fe^=« ?S S EEE (' ^ f *-l 1 - ^2Z i — n zzi: -^=^ ^tc EHZg =£2= EEE£ ■| j t - J Zt ^P M- r r r . ! r^r^ -<^ — H i -~ r -> * r =p= =p= =t=t= i -s>-. f3C -<- - > r - > i =y ES Efe EEEEEEEEE S :p? — t~p ~fy =£2= fc: - I I ! ^ tHt M ^ fc t= 1 & ^- -— - i=t J I p . ^ MONTEVEKDE AND MANTUA. 69 f 2 -!-* ^EQ f " * O ^f i -*= — o- ^ =P=F -?-j Q - -e e* - r^ <" ■ > £ B -ri- ej fjr @MI r > I ft = 1 r 2dZ zt @E £C Sit: iH ^ f W &- fS I (3- I I I I I tt ^fe ja- FS^ £ m m =P2- 32Z _f2_ 3*: ~o m *#: ■ rj <- J ~ 3=e- ^q-d-^- 22= -i-h 3=E n rJ—TJ' -&-*— *- 3C 70 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. i n=@=S2£S THE SAME IN SHOKT SCOEE I BJ8— &—— \- ... • •/.> is- ?* 1 — rr ^f -f2_ JfL^S- -&- -fS> m^m^ KL E£ *2= *C i i i i 1 1 tt -J- ! J JJ ri / ■ ) ■jf^S^S^^i. ?$& -r) \ *\ 4 zz: UJLJfU-f s: ~\ r~ j£2_^2_! ^2^-J -£2_ =^- m ■&. ^ ^ e==^ i 38= I rj ^ JoLu P E^EEiE I '— i M -£2- -Q-! ^ i rg &Jfedi=i p> £z*£3. * =£ =t=t =*2= ±=± i sJo-rJ^ :g* 1 4, ! *S= ^ !_, ! Q_ ^ ig I ^=-S3ET s» rr- =h=?^ -i — r In the third act some very remarkable music is given to Orpheus. The following passage will serve as an example : — MONTEVERDE AND MANTTTA. 71 Okfeo. ggjBFpSg^gg ma da ±vrrwrr F¥¥- =fs-fE * d ifi* &=^3r pre - su me. Translation. (Formidable spirit, without whose aid to make the passage to the other hank) the soul that has left the body presumes in vain. . It is difficult to know how to interpret the above. Is the florid nature of the music, and the strange rapid repetition of a single note, de- signed to depict the extreme excitement of one who had determined on a visit to the abodes of the departed ? It is curious, too, that the origi- nal contains also a simpler part, as though even Monteverde foresaw the improbability of finding many singers capable of interpreting the more florid music. The whole of this section is accompanied by two obbligato instruments ; first two violins, then two cornets, and finally two harps. The music for all these instruments is florid in the extreme, and must have astounded the players of the day, who were accustomed to a madrigal style. 72 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. This is followed by an interview with Charon. Orpheus embarks in his boat, and, as the passage across the Styx commences, the symphony, quoted above (p. 68), which connected the second with the third act, is repeated. As the other side of the river is approached, a chorus of spirits, one of the most important choruses in the work, is heard, accompanied by organs, trumpets, trombones, and string basses. The act concludes with the same symphony, which may be termed the " Passage of the Styx." The whole vividly recalls, both in stage arrangement and accompaniment, the representation at Bay- reuth of the journey of Parsifal to the Castle of the Holy Grail. Indeed, in many respects, there is close affinity between Monteverde and Wagner. This very symphony has in it all the elements of leit motif. The fourth act is in Hades. The plot, like that of Poliziano's Orfeo, is more true to the classical story than the plot of Peri's Euridice. Eurydice is to follow Orpheus, and to be saved if he does not turn to look at her. The scene where Orpheus appears singing, followed by Eurydice, must have been thrilling. With dramatic instinct Monteverde has here given to Orpheus some- thing quite like a modern air, except perhaps for the octaves between the voice part and the bass MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. 73 at the end. He is no longer speaking, the tnusica parlante is abandoned, and he sings that Eurydice may follow. The song is in three verses, with interludes for the violins. The second verse, and the interludes which precede and follow it, are given here. The harmonies for the accompaniment of the voice are not given in the original. It will be observed that, although there is no F sharp in the signature, the air is really in the key of G : — ,»w MONTEVERDE. (1607.) -^J, ■ rrri rrr Violins i Ohfeo (8ve lower). =£ * 8= ^* Lungo ha ■ S» ±3 ir »— teis $ ±±^ r- -~i=P= ^ &E vria . . fra le piii bel - le i - ma - gi - ne oe i m ~^^w m n THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. i ^fe m le sti, ond' al tuo snon le stel - le } — i _. c^? ! dan ze - £ES T-t£ =s}= -*— *- TT -*■ w -* *- i ^ I i=R ^E^ 8 3=f2= 23= *i** t=t= ran no in gi i^or tard' -S> — — E^EE SES= *n r'-r: ^f ^S pre sti. 43 ^^^i^S ^=#t= s^ vg=t My dwelling I shall have among the most beautiful heavenly pictures, whence to your music the stars will dance aroundj or late or soon, MONTEVERDE AND MANTUA. 75 Then a doubt comes into Orpheus' mind. Is his beloved Eurydice indeed following % Is he but the dupe of devils ? His doubts are increased by dreadful sounds which he hears behind him. The stage direction is " Qui si fa strepito dietro la tela." He turns, sees Eurydice, and she fades from his sight. He hears the condemnation. The sudden entrance of the bass voice, possibly from an unseen singer, per- haps accompanied by trumpets and trombones, must have been fine. S^^^ ,;: fPF Rott' hai le leg ■ 1 X. E se 1 di gra - tia in-de - gno. i i 1 E^E EBE BE fft* Use Translation. Thou hast broken the conditions, and art unworthy of favour. The act concludes with an important chorus of spirits in honour of Orpheus, who has indeed, though he does not know it, overcome the power of Hades. In the last act Orpheus is again on earth. He calls to the mountains and rocks : " With you," he says, " will I lament " (Io con voi lagrimero 76 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. mai sempre) ; and, carrying out this idea, the com- poser has introduced echoes into the lament which Orpheus utters ; an idea quite realistic of the situation, and repeated, as many readers will remember, by Gluck in the first act of his Orfeo. Then Apollo descends in clouds and carries away Orpheus to the skies, where he will find the likeness of his Eurydice in the sun and the stars. The opera concludes with a short chorus and a Moresca, sl dance. The music for the Moresca is given in Sir George Grove's Dic- tionary of Music in the article on Monteverde. As might be expected, there are no marks of expression in the score. They were not in use at that date. But the following direction shows that attention was paid to expression in the orchestra as well as by the singers. " Furno sonate le altre parte da tre viole da braccio e un contrabasso de viola tocchi pian piano." Beyondthegiganticstrideinmusicshowninthis work of Monteverde, who for breadth of dramatic conception can only be compared with Wagner, notice should be taken of the elaborate stage arrangements which he requires from the visit of Orpheus to Hades to the descent of Apollo in clouds. This development of the principle of realism, which is the essence of the Renaissance, was all akin to Palladian architecture, to the gor- MONTE VERDE AND MANJTTTA. 77 I geous colouring of Tintoretto and Paul Veronese, and to the mighty conceptions of Michael Angelo. And the subsequent history of music continues the parallel, how contemplative reflection, having given way to realism, realism yielded to the worship of the merely beautiful, and the practical was lost in the ornamental, till the delicate re- finement of the Renaissance was weio-hed down with the grotesque exuberance of the Rococco. Before quitting Mantua, one other musical drama must be noticed, the Dqfne of Marco da Gagliano, which was composed by the direction of the Duke for the Carnival in 1608. The name of Gagliano is known as that of makers of musical instruments at Naples, and the composer may have been one of the same family. After such a work as the Orfeo of Monteverde, the Dafne seems a step in the wrong direction. The poem was a rearrangement by Binuccini of that which he had written for the Florentine Society twelve years before ; and the music may have been written hastily for a company less strong than that which was collected to do honour to the heir of the Dukedom on his marriage. The instru- mental music seems to have been performed by violins and a bass. The opera abounds in repe- tions of ritornellos and short choruses. The chorus numbers are, as usual, in five parts, and 78 THE, RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. are harmonious ; but, with one or two exceptions, the work resembles the eaTlier Florentine school, rather than the grand conception of Monteverde. One exception is the music assigned to Apollo, which is florid, and with repeated notes similar to the passages composed by Monteverde for Orfeo. Both works may have been written for some singer with exceptional flexibility of voice. It is also interesting to note the words which Gagliano selects for this kind of ornamentation. Thus we have : — DAFNE. Apollo Gagliano. - lo. and again :- ghir-lau mm^m dee fre Translation. Garlands and ornaments. The most interesting section of the work is a long scene between Venus, Cupid and Apollo, MONTEVEKDE AND MAN' r^uA. 79 ending with a graceful song for Cupid and a chorus. The rhythm of the chorus is so ingeniously varied, giving the modern effect of 3-4 and 6-8 time alternately, and this with out the changes of time signature, which afterwards became common, that it deserves quotation. It is in five parts (two sopranos, alto, tenor, and bass). The slightly concealed da capo should not escape attention. The first of three verses is given here : — CHORUS FROM DAFNE. Gagliano. (1G08.) 1 1 iN^^ fm Nud' Ar - cier, che l'ar - co ten i che I I I ww? ^ fe -f=F i ^ iii =§= te am - be A le •LJU i glia, am - mi bil -efc ®£ f - > ( ■ >- I =P2= T = f = ^ r—r- $ ^g=g= 2E* ii^ =p= r=rwr nr m glia ! mor - tal - men - te i co ri of • I I ' , J I I r ^=f i f=r=r=r d: ■ fen i - Gl— I I 80 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. J L £ £ ^ *3 E£ W- r r r rf tt si t'in-fiam-mi,e*n. -cen - di ver-soundio, qnai sa - ran d @T "F=F — * ■ m t> y &- Dun - que sul car - ro mio del del piii ter - so splen- tfiV ((v. /» V^ 1 / r> n rj ' a^a£ do - re i rag 3^£ afe 3 -& — '-& -&&■-¥ §£. gi splen-di-no, ed il ter-re - no mo -I MP » * :«=SE =^ P~ jfefai t=t= V -»- p — ^-«- le a il lu - mi - nar a lm - mor - ta - W$=S *=r« 3S di seen di ^ ^ —i — i — — « 4 • ? TZ \ h ^S Translation. Then on my car, of the most proud splendour, the rays will shine, and will descend to illuminate and immortalize the earthly mass. MONTEVERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 91 The musica parlante of the earliest days of the opera was ultimately broken up into a recitative which was less eloquent, and aria which was more ornamental. The first appearance of this change is to be found in Cavalli's operas, in which certain rythmical movements called " arias," which are quite distinct from the musica parlante, make their appearance. The music assigned by Monteverde to Orpheus when he is followed by Eurydice is undoubtedly an air, but the situation is one in which an air is appropriate, and musica parlante would be inappropriate. If the drama had been a play to be spoken, and not sung, there would not have been any incongruity in allotting a song to Orpheus, to enable Eurydice to trace him through the dark abodes of Hades. But the arias of Cavalli are not confined to such special situations, and recur frequently. This appearance of the aria was in itself an indication of the approach of the last stage of Renaissance influence. What had happened in painting was about to happen in music. The love of the beautiful was growing and growing until it should be regarded as the essential, and not as the accidental ; and the principle of realism, of truth to nature, which was the great maxim of the early stage of the Renaissance, 92 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. should be lost sight of in admiration of the beauty of the setting ; until words should be wedded to music as ill fitted to express their meaning as popular songs were ill suited to the service of the Church. It was this love of the mere beauty of music that culminated in works such as Rossini's Stabat Mater, the music of which is eminently fitted for the dis- play of vocalization, and is in itself beautiful, but yet is so grossly inappropriate to the sad and solemn words with which it is associated as to be little less than blasphemous. To think that the same country should have produced two such settings of the Stabat Mater as Pales- trina's and Rossini's ! Three examples from the Giasone will serve to illustrate the nature of Cavalli's composition, and for comparison with the examples which have been given from Monteverde. The first example is in the part of Jason, who is an alto, when he first appears on the stage. This number is not styled " aria," but it has all the character of an aria, and in its regular phrasing is quite distinct from the music of Cavalli's master. The accompaniment is evi- dently for two violins and basses. The har- monies which I have added to support the voice are enclosed in brackets. The manner in which MONTEVEBDE A.ND THE VENETIANS. 93 the instruments answer the voice is interesting, especially at B, where the first phrase is broken into two sections, each of which is answered separately. The dominant seventh at A may be noted, the chord of the 6-4 at C, and the answers of the violins to each other in the final ritornello. In the quotation only the first verse is given ; there is a second verse, which varies but slightly from the first. For clearness, more bars have been added than appear in the original, and the voice part has been transposed into the G clef. The old notes have been adhered to, but the intention of the composer would be more quickly realized at the present date if the time were 3-4, and the minims were regarded as crotchets, and the crotchets as quavers. GIASONE. Giasone (in loco). Cavallt. (1649.) S^ =t *£ 1- =t 3± ■73 O- -o-j- ai- De li - zie con ten - te, che l'al - me be j l ^^ ^^ P=a=P§ =§^ i 94 THE RENAISSANCE OP MUSIC. i Z2t a - tc, y±4 fc=d=0= I ! fer- I HI -I 1— =t ~-g=^'- -&-J 32= Sit: I -=t te I fer- $ S= =P= ^=t I I ^ngzg ; ±=t S ^E =P2- t=t =St i (i te I I 3= m l ! SE I 1 \=i m -IS — P2= ^ -&- ±=t i =c=t ^ s -(^ zfc Tj . J ^ que - sto mio co re deb ! piii, deh piii, non stil- „ . r g^Ed:B=^^#jB^ 1? ^ ~ i*3 rJ - MONTE VERDE A.ND THE VENETIANS. |^ ^rffe 95 d'a- rt~ * t^ te le gio ie $ m i=t 3 3£ HEEgE * =9= 1 — *j — » « ' t> §^ C^J-J_ i 3± i^ Ac- i i^ip^ S3 w zat -£2 & £Z 2i=±l- i i— T3- j «M C-^_ oct li zie inie ca - re, fer ma - te - vi jjSi^ p qui -m- =g- g - ^ =zl=d^|^ Jto- 32Z ^ i -^ j *±o«u i j feEft^^H i=± ^ 3 3 P- JiQ- =gt =P2= 96 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. i tq=q= EBE j^-i- so pill bra- ma - re ; mi ba - sta co - A, \$ IE. §: -£- -g^f -©- -is«- i j-|-^ 1 > — f2 — _j. £ -rj- E§ i=E= fj c 1 • ^*- zzz so piU bra - ma - re, mi ba - sta co si ; de - * 1 :33b =£^ : ^= g= 1=g : S ^ JJ^- ^ i ^ — * o I ^J — s> li zie mie ca - re, fer- ^^f ^^Mi4 =^=p &=fM= EE3e£ -ra p -r fro i 3=E te - vi felfl -^-r I ! ~^± Mm tit ^ ^ hP= MONTE VERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 97 c $ -T^H> j i j i writ s Z3±. —rr -fej d ' i -H ?& • S el — cj — ^J — ' (Q-f^—F—f^ _| ^j_e s= ■ — i — | — i — i — a — V t b $ S=P-~ :& J J ! J P*g* m 72. t=£=f ^z -e — M- =pa=P =E=E Translation, Delights, contents, which bless the soul, rest, rest on this my heart. Ah ! no more stab the joys of love. My dear delights, remain here. I do not know what more to wish ; enough for me as it is. My dear delights, remain. I do not know what more to wish ; enough for me as it is. 98 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. The next example is marked " aria," and is also for the alto voice, though not allotted to Jason. This also has two verses and a ritornello. The first verse only is quoted :— GIASONE. i 1 Aria.' Cavaixi. (1649.) HI £ i=^ ■J&Z az? Trop - po so - a - vi i gu sti a- mor pro \% £ 5fc t^ =^& rv rr mt ^ Z22I I It It ± 4* -c^-p- -& — c»- met- te, a-mor pro- met- te e da in ter - min' trop-po an- I ~P~ =T=F m g rj *" r r ^ -c* — o- i t=F ^#=±•=2 P^ -#-# gu - sti ; di don-zel - la To - nor™ rac cMa- so sta ; I 31^3 4—1 — c =g: igpz^ ** igi^-f gJ v T - a^^^ F^-^ ^T^^fg i -f^-e- 5£ Z2 =t * The upper line of the accompaniment is that supplied by Professor Eitner for the edition of the opera published for the Gesellschaft fur jytusikforschung in 1883. MONTEVERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 99 i i". s I* >1 > spe - ri del mar spnman-te rao - co-glier l'on de in sen chi $ 3*E ^ m $ "¥=k P=% ^ it 3. J ■" " jU^ vnol te-ner a fren, chi vnol te-ner a fren it ^ g= =g= <■•-> Y i S=F =pc rj*p f^ffr i=t= i EEEE E ^ ^^^E^^S spe - ri-del mar spumante rac - fe - mi-na a- man 'A ft i p; ;^ :: f= 23 T o • m lEE ~g?~ -M- £ & coglier l'on-de in sen chi vnol te-ner a fren, chi it =?=g= =g= *¥ 3= <& i » t r - =p= 331 ^ H 2 100 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. i s \m vnol te-ner a fren fe - mi-na a man - te. 32Z ^S -CT" -P2= ^ a Too sweet tastes — love promises. Love promises and gives at last too much anxiety. The maiden's honour remains concealed. Hope from the foaming sea to gather a wave into your bosom, thou who wouldst hold with a rein a woman's love. The changes of time in this air should be noticed, as the practice became common at that period to change the time from two or four beats to three beats constantly. In the British Museum there are some volumes of motets, including a motet of Cavalli, published at Bologna in 1668, eight years before he died. The motet by Cavalli is written for two sopranos, an alto, and a figured bass, apparently intended for an instrument. At one point in this motet there is a bar of three beats, followed by one of four beats, then one of three beats, and then one of two beats. The following is the bass part of the passage referred to, and it will be seen that it is perfectly rhythmical. The object of the com- MONTE VERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 101 poser seems to have been to get the effect of a triplet whenever he marked 3-2 : — 56 Cavalli. (1668.) Although the use of bars had become common, if not universal, in dramatic works before the middle of the seventeenth century, it will be observed that there _are no bars used in this motet, and yet there is a distinct feeling of measure in the music itself. The position of the accidental flat to the first B in the above example is also curious. The acci- dental is not placed before the note which it affects, but at the beginning of what would be the bar, if bars had been used, in which the note stands. The last example* from Giasone shall be the incantation by Medea (who is, of course, soprano) at the end of the first act. The example is given with the original clefs, time-mark, and barring. The accompaniment is evidently intended for trumpets ; but the music is commonplace com- pared with what Monteverde wrote for trumpets in the Orfeo. It is followed by a recitative, in * The examples from this opera are all quoted from the Publication JElterer Musik-werke, vol. xii. 102 THE RENAISSANCE OP MUSIC. which Me.dea invokes the "Orridi demoni,Spiriti d'Erebo." Then conies a male chorus of spirits (alto, two tenors, and bass), and the act ends with a demon dance, doubtless accompanied by what Shakespeare would have called " horrid music. GIASONE. Cavaixi. (1649.) I i — r f t i i tS>-G>-<& c=*— e=*— e=*— i— ■& CJ o o Jt -r-r tf <9 o-s>-s>- -&-&~cJ {■> f -> — — fj ro fJ rj i=t If If Medea. =F f> ' p r> * d d — sJ o ' » — 5 Dell* an tro ma - gi - co stri - den - te car - di - ni - - 1 I i I =P2= S^ MONTE VERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 103 7? f j rJfj ffi^ 1-rt-t If o a oo m^ oood e>-- i q r> r - > • * ^ ^~ =£Z= -n — r V? il yar-co a pri • te-ni e fra le HE= =t=t I !_ gH f? p r ^- r J rJ f*7z zd fj f J s 7*7* S r -ei- o o ci q=H=t 3 ir 7^7*7^7* S3 * .O. * fQ - If F^r' f'U ^e*--o te - ne-bre del negro o - spi - zi - o las - sa - te me ! m ~g" rryj ^in <-J ri. ZZtL rJ O «= EEg=E -ie-o-(S>-f ^ 1= I 1 i -! J e* ----- ir 7*-7^-7j- Si if -e> — e> — G> — & So I'a-ra or - ri bi - le P2=pcpzpz=: P r? r - > r - > r^~ ^ 1 I 1 I J=$=i -1 — I — r— n 104 THE RENAISSANCE OP MUSIC. l-<3 fi£R ir ir &-&-&-& oo oo -,^2-P- P'fP h rr-r f Jel la - go Sti- gi-o i £o- chi splen-di-no ffi @; p r> r> p- - -} p pa rJrJ < - JrJ ririrlri ? «=t i-v p r - > p If ¥ OOO " — "- If ^R= f-"F^ l ?" 7 " II d * I I I ' I A- r= g3 ri~ e in su ne man - di no f u- mi che tur- bi- no la luce al — t— i — r yj rJ r Jr m. f O O O G I I I I rJ ri ri-ri o rs o - I ! !- d d cJ -ri =t=E=F ss a o - -&- -&■ : yj — e> m MONTEVEKDE AND THE VENETIANS. 105 Translation. Open the doors of the magic cave with creaking hinges ; and leave me in the shades of the gloomy abode. On the shores of the horrible Stygian lake the fires gleam, and send up smokes that darken the light of the sun. The weakest part of Giasone, though certainly realistic, is a long scene in which one of the characters is a stammerer. The Giasone was played in many places besides Venice, and was one of the earliest operas produced in Vienna. Cavalli composed several other operas, among them Xerxes, which was performed in Paris under his personal super- vision, when efforts were being made to intro- duce the opera into the capital of the Grand Monarque. Two other composers must be mentioned in connection with the later development of the drama at Venice — Legrenzi, who, being organist of St. Mark's, composed as much for the church as for the theatre, and who is also credited with having .considerably increased the number of strings in the orchestra, employing about twice as many as Monteverde ; and Marc Antonio Cesti, whose very name tells of the spirit of the age. Cesti is of interest in many ways. Though his art-life is associated with Venice, he was a native of Florence, and so seems to connect the last state of the Venetian 106 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. opera with the early development in Florence. Like Monteverde, he was a priest, but did not hesitate to write for the theatre. He was a pupil of Carissimi, whose influence on the progress of art will be considered in the next chapter. At the same time, he is his contem- porary, born after him and dying before him ; and there are many points of resemWance in the style of the two composers. Cesti composed a considerable number of works for the stage, and his music indicates a further development in the formality of the " Aria " beyond that shown by Cavalli, though Cavalli also outlived Cesti. The difference between Cavalli and Cesti is but a reflection of the difference between their masters. Cavalli, born twenty years before Cesti, came directly under the influence of Monteverde. Cesti, on the other hand, derived his first ideas from Carissimi, who was just junior to Cavalli. Thus Cesti may be said to be two art-generations from Monteverde, while Cavalli is but one. The following examples from Cesti's Operas will serve to show how completely the " Aria" had in his hands assumed a form resembling much more the style of Handel sixty years later than that of Monteverde thirty years earlier. The first example is the ritoruello of a tenor MONTEVERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 107 air in the opera La Dori, which was composed in 1663. The air is in two sections, the first being repeated after the second, a complete da capo. The ritornello is quoted because it shows the treatment of the parts. The subject of it is the same as that of the first part of the air, and it is played by violins and basses before each part of the air and at the end. The air is in the key of G, and the ritornello is so given in the following example ; but in the original there is no signa- ture at the commencement, and the F's are made accidentally sharp as required ; a common practice in the seventeenth century. The irregularity in length of bars, which is seen in the music of Peri, Monteverde, and Cavalli, quite disappears in Cesti's music. "LA DORI." Ritornello. Cesti. (1663.) ¥ ®*!>-" J Ren - de te mi il mio be - ne se vo- i ^ 3t =e ^ I I » =^: I£2Z_Z2_ n filti <>m =& 1 — pr --gr ^fe m n ri $ m i Y'jTV^ rr 1 r rip- r-> ^> =P2= gj= L P ^ fg : ^z S5 i Fine. ^1 S 2 Na ve io ^^ 1 M* r*f s be i - - j j < ^ - i ,i .s'ag - gi - ra (J ■ o son - oh' in mar I son noc- Wg ^ f - ' o- 'O < - J ; =©: ~p~ MONTE VERDE AND THE VENETIANS. Ill i 3=* ¥ sH- o o . J/im-\ — o . p ma sof i ± chier eh* al por - to as - pi - ra . . . L ifc gjH b> <> fJ = gz rf:zS te r O f£> fO> O- S ^ b b <•> " fcitfe 5 # QE iDC dJS»'m - ri o fian do an ra di I 3^ -& 1B- rrr s ^ i * tic <-J . -G> m j * nell' E gco d'A JS spe I ne ho ± "CT @fe* ZS2I zc fcfc £fe ^^ I I 1- zt "C3^ mil - le, mil - le nan - fra g l i is Ren- ^3 ~^5~ < P .1 ^ V ~1 I fir T3" a 2E i)oi sejnd J£ oZ Fine. 112 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Translation. Return me, my love, if you wish that I should live, unlucky stars ! I am a bark that revolves in the sea ; I am a sailor who longs for port ; but, blowing now with hope, I have, in the ^Egean of love, thousands and thousands of shipwrecks. The same opera contains a duet for two sopranos which certainly called for considerable powers of vocalization on the part of the performers. In another opera by Cesti, La Semirami (composed in 1667), we have a duet accom- panied by trumpets and drums, in which the voices imitate those instruments. In the Disgrazie d'Amore, composed in the same year, is a fine tenor air for Yulcan, accom- panied by the full string orchestra in five parts, and ending with a laugh. "LE DISGRAZIE D'AMORE."* Vulcano. (Tbnok, 8ve lower.') Cesti. (1667.) =£= m ^E -a-f*- 5* Sig - nor, bra- vo ! Sig - nor, bra - vo ! ti son $ =t *fe&p a PP«gp i ffiE 4 4 ■m- • -m- ■ U L-S- ^ g f-*r ■m- L <® -# bra - vo ! ti son schia-vo, pla-ca o- mai, pla-ca o-mai gli S ^ fi- ffoF^ g ^ s 6 *- i tefc S ^ ■ » ; - ni tuo i. * JC3J- •-P-*— »- -; _:,• #^s +3 ^ J i i * -*- -t- m -J J J ^ *a ^ r f; E J =j=^ hr 1 jT^ £*?£ i i — i pla-ca o-mai, pla-ca o - mai gli sdeg- ni tuo n=?^M ^E3 d— a^ =StE -a- ~p — ^ r m m f V~r \ ~* \ m P » m i — ' a ^ i — a — «— •-! ! ! m -r-r.j fiU r< g M ~ i ' T — » — i ^ r— »= ^ i I s =t=M= ^^1 MoNTEVERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 115 f^TTH^f, -f — F- Se tu puo - i far di men, fj r-\ r-i , — a ^=F i is deh, non m'uc-ci -de - re deh, deh, deh,non m'no-ci-de J=-f— - fTfV^ z±- £±M m m -zt fa^q^ f M=t |S£ d » « =t re. Oh, che ri de - re, Oh, che EJE i i * < -r-r 3=t I I Se i= I 2 116 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. m r P WW $ ± de -re -»—*- e e e e CT'; .*>*■■ ft HU^T^T? ' r . c£& ^J i -U m *-m- ^E =£ i p f r r. UJ^LJ/L. e e e e k r^J *' : ^ _ I jn ^ £fe -*-*- =&*=*= a =5=P= =£i=* JVtmstoion. Bravo, sir ! I am your slave, I now fear your disdain, that for payment I am ready to do all that you wish. If you can spare me, oh ! do not kill me. Oh ! what laughter ! The portions of accompaniment which I have added are included in brackets by way of distinction. Where the violins and violas are silent, the harmonies were doubtless supplied on a clavicembalo. Airs similar to those quoted above abound in Cesti's operas, and they serve to show that he belonged rather to the new school of beauty than to the higher school of true dramatic realism. The school of beauty may be termed MONTEVER.DE AND THE VENETIANS. 117 the operatic school, in contradistinction to the earlier musical dramatic school. The work of the later school culminated in the opera as established at Naples by Alessandro Scarlatti at the end of the seventeenth century; and with that, as completely post-Renaissance, we have nothing to do here. Contemporary with Scarlatti and the founder of another" school — that of instrumental music — was Corelli, whose work is also post-Renaissance. The city of Bologna laid claim to the honour of founding the opera, in opposition to Venice. She did undoubtedly establish the opera, as early as 1601, with a performance of Peri's Euridice, and Monteverde's sympathy with the progress of art in Bologna is proved by the fact that he was a member of the Accademia Filomusi, which was founded there in 1622.* But the operas performed at Bologna were not of native growth, and Venice, where the Renaissance began under Willaert and the native Gabrieli, completed her own work under Monteverde and the native Cavalli. Papal Rome lagged behind commercial Venice in the development of the Renaissance. More must be said of Rome in the next chapter ; but * Hawkins' History of Music, vol. iv., p. 77. 118 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. the opera was not established there before the middle of the seventeenth century. One of the earliest operas performed in that city was II Pallazzo Incantato (The Efochanted Palace), by Luigi Eossi, a Neapolitan settled in Eome. This opera is chiefly remarkable for the choral writing which it contains. There are choruses in three, four, five, six, eight, ten, and in one case twelve parts; and the final chorus contains much elaborate contrapuntal device. In other respects, the music is chiefly of the parlante style ; there is, however, one simple air for a soprano voice in the first act, each verse of which ends with a double echo. The following copy of this air is taken from a manuscript of the opera in the library of the Royal College of Music. Only the bass of the accompaniment is given in the original. ARIA FROM "IL PALLAZZO INCANTATO." Fiordiligi (Soprano). Luigi Eossi. (1642.) k w r r I rir^E P » m • is a Se mi to-glia mi-a sven-tu-ra chi la fa ci i ■P-4-4- —\ \-—0 1—, — i 1 1 1 1 Y ! —\ sM ±±^ MONTE VERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 119 Ie ~*~-g — *- w -p • = e-i — r i Cor mi des - ta l'al te rau - ra can ge - ro, I m m *- ^2=g= -w—p—P- ^^ -T3<- ^ g g B i Echo. -,- • # , ' r ^' JEpg • ^ SI r i i can ge-ro con la fo - re -L sta, re X sta, -*- i -*- -ar ;-sc S »g^ i — rl- ^ Echo. sta. Ritornello con tuttl U stromenti. $ fc *=* F= =F i i ■ff ffi -#— • — p- \tp=*z con octavi. i ^e=& ^s s ^Bi -i L Hor ch'io pren-do al ■ -J J 1 -»- -&- M& ^m -&- -s*- 120 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. mm *• f \ L-± Eg * d T tro sen - tier - ro u - dir par-mi il sno - no i-stes - £0 J Wm 4- -I 1- ^— at m ? ^ -*-_»- zzfc del guer - rie - ro Che nel I L - no, che nel se - no io 3 B w=*^=f=? -» — *- -5-P* Echo. Echo. £33 g^E§ por - to im-pres K MONTEVERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 121 fr-arrfr pm e F* a= ^-u^i^ fe^Pfa L'as-pre pe - ne ho - mai con - so - lo at - ten-den - do i ^^ =t ^ I i s _j _— a r g g-f » ±=3= -r* v — -ar - i f g i » f i f *± ^ =t=p di se - re - ni feiM S nel duo -lo fi - do A-r.ian-te, ! I I ^=t= *=* -» — 0- mt-r- ZZtL Ech: fi - do A-man-te a me sou-vie i fefe£ g ^1x1 j&l S ^e ^=p &Ao. •j" # -M r r - i | |° J^JlM vu — ' — i — r ri ni, vie - J — 1 ni. Deh chi mi chiama a ^ w-^ -# © '■J CJ fr 1 L22 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. W&=t j_J | hhhh^ E te - mo non si - a l'au ra ehe pren-da in gio-co il mio tor- ?M= J J j zi±= r? r : )r-t- ^ t=t: men to ; ma chi mol - to de - si PH it * i ^fcfe *£** I ^ ^ SE 22= 3=^ J 1 de an - co i seg - ni e - pres - ta fe - de al ven tfcfc to. =gt "-g-- "^ 2C ^ Tj- ± -rj- Tramlation. 1. If my misfortune takes hold of me that it darkens my heart, I will change high walla for the forest. 2. There I take another path to hear by me the same sounds of the warrior whom I bear in my bosom. 3. My bitter woes I now assuage, calmly waiting till in my grief my faithful lover come to me. Reoit. — Ah ! who calls me to him, if it be not the breeze which takes in mockery my torment ; but who longs much, believes still in dreams, and lends faith to the wind. MONTE VERDE AND THE VENETIANS. 123 Before concluding this chapter, let us see how the desire to be realistic degenerated into a mere love of spectacular display. A man who had seen as a child an early performance of Peri's Euridice might have lived to see in his old age such a performance as that of Freschi's Berenice, which took place at Padua in 1680. Dr. Burney tells us that the company engaged for that performance included " one hundred virgins, one hundred soldiers, one hundred horsemen in iron armour, forty cornets of horse, six trumpeters on horseback, six drummers, six ensigns, six sacbuts, six great flutes, six minstrels playing on Turkish instru- ments, six others on octave flutes, six pages, three sergeants, six cymbalists, twelve hunts- men, twelve grooms, six coachmen for the triumph, six others for the procession, two lions led by two Turks, two elephants by two others, Berenice's triumphal car drawn by four horses, six other cars with prisoners and spoils, drawn by twelve horses, and six coaches for the procession." At the end of the first act were boar and stag hunts ; and in the third act, a scene showing stables, with one hundred live horses.* All one can say is that Mr. Augustus Harris " isn't in it." * Burney's History of Music, vol. iv., p. 73. 124 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. The fondness for horses and animals on the stage is curiously constant. We read in the Spectator of March 6th, 1710-11 : "As I was walking in the streets, about a fortnight ago, I saw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his shoulder ' Sparrows for the opera,' says his friend. ' What ! are they to be roasted ? ' ' No, no,' says the other ; ' they are to enter towards the end of the first act, and to fly about the stage.' " Frederic Reynolds, the dramatist, tells us that, when Michael Kelly's opera, Bluebeard, was revived at Co vent Garden in 1810 with horses, the first forty-one nights produced £21,000.* And a few years earlier one of his own dramas was only saved from failure by a dog. Life of Frederic Reynolds, vol. ii., p. 404. CHAPTER VII. THE CHIESA NUOVA. In dealing with Church music in Chapter III, we saw how Palestrina died, with his friend, St. Filippo Neri, by his side ; and, commencing with the action of this friend of the great com- poser, the history of Church music, so far as it is specially connected with our main subject, must now be brought down to the period which has been reached in dealing with secular music. St. Filippo Neri was the founder of a Society called the Oratorians, whose object was to reclaim and reform men, especially by preach- ing ; and among the means employed to attract congregations to their Church was the use of music. In all ages of the Church more proselytizing seems to have been effected by hymns than by any other means. Magnificence of architecture and richness of ornament were also laid under contribution by the Oratorians, and their Church of St. Maria in Valicella, or the " Chiesa Nuova," as it was popularly called, became a fashionable resort of Roman society. One of the earliest composers for the new 126 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. sect in the sixteenth century was a musician of note, Giovanni Animuccia, who occupied the office of maestro di cappella at St. Peter's before Palestrina. Dr. Burney tells us that Animuccia's compositions for the Chiesa Nuova included dialogue, with a solo part now and then. In this respect they must have borne the same relation to sacred music that the solos of Galileo bore to secular music. But the year 1600, which saw the production of Peri's Euridice at Florence, witnessed also the performance of the first sacred musical drama, or oratorio, at the Chiesa Nuova. This was a work, called La Rappresentazione dell' Anima e del Corpo, composed by Emilio del Cavaliere, who, as we know, gave material suggestions as to the practical performance of Peri's Euridice, and who had written music for pastoral plays ten years earlier. Unhappily, the composer was no longer living when his oratorio was produced, but he had left careful directions as to the manner of performance. It was intended for representation on a stage, with scenery, dresses, and dances, in every way similar to the secular drama ; and there is no doubt that it was so performed in the jChiesa ■ Nuova, the dances being of course made suit- able to the subject and the place. THE CHIESA NUOVA. 127 The common use of dances in the early dramas was the principal associating link between them and their immediate predecessors, the pastoral plays. The music of the pastoral play was almost confined to the accompaniment of dancing, and people were so habituated to seeing dancing on the stage -that a play without it would hardly seem complete. Even to this day the incidental ballet is an essential part of the grand opera at Paris. Oratorios are not acted at the present day ; but, having originated in the sacred drama, it may be said that dramatic design is essential to an oratorio. A work which is not dramatic is rather a cantata than an oratorio ; and though Handel's Messiah is commonly called an oratorio, this is strictly a misnomer, as the work is not dramatic. On the other hand, Handel's Saul and Mendelssohn's Elijah may be cited as works which are essentially dramatic, and therefore fitly called oratorios. There is, unfortunately, no copy of Cavaliere's oratorio in England, and we have therefore to rely for our information concerning it chiefly on Dr. Burney.* A more easily accessible account is to be found in Mr. Rockstro's History of * Burney's History of Music, vol. iv., p. 89. 128 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Music* Cavaliere in his Preface recommends generally, for the performance of all sacred dramas, that, instead of the overture or sym- phony, a madrigal should be performed with all the voice parts doubled, and a great number of instruments. He also says that symphonies and ritornellos should be played by a great number of instruments, and he adds that the effect of a violin would be excellent ("un violino sonando il soprano per I'apunto fara buonissimo effetto "). This recalls the mention of a single violin among the instruments employed by Peri. Possibly it was at Cavaliere's sugges- tion that Peri added the violin to his small orchestra. Cavaliere then gives directions for the performance of the particular oratorio. These directions are quoted by Dr. Burney, and the following are repeated here because they show how carefully the stage arrangements and practical details had been considered, including the concealment of the orchestra, the dresses of the performers, and the incidental dances : — " 3. After the Prologue, Time comes on and has the note on which he is to begin given him by one of the players behind the scenes. * Rockstro'B History of Music, p. 125, et seq. THE CH1ESA NUOVA. 129 " 4. The chorus, when they sing, are to be in motion, with proper gestures. "7. The World and Human Life to be richly dressed ; but, when divested of their trappings, to appear wretched, and, at length, dead carcases. " 9. During the ritornello the four principal dancers to perform ballet (saltate con capriole), and to use the galiard, the canary, and the courant step." However, notwithstanding all this care in preparation, the oratorio did not, like the opera, leap at once into popular favour. We hear of occasional performances, such as that of Capollini's Lamento di Maria Virgine in 1627, and of Mazzochi's Martirio di Santi Abundio in 1638 ; but the ordinary services of the Chiesa Nuova seem to have been usually conducted in the old fashion, with motets as heretofore. Evelyn visited Rome in 1644, and there is a passage in his Memoirs describing the service and " rare musiq " which he was invited to hear at the Chiesa Nuova. He says : — " One of the order preached ; after, him stepp'd up a child of eight or nine years old, who pronounced an oration with so much grace, that I never was better pleased than to hear K 130 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Italian so well and so intelligently spoken. This course it seems they frequently use, to bring their scholars to a habit of speaking dis- tinctly, and forming their action and assurance, which none so much want as ours in England. This being finished, began their mottettos, which, in a lofty cupola richly painted, were sung by eunuchs and other rare voices, accompanied with theorbos,* harpsicors, and viols, so that we were even ravished with the entertainment of the evening." The reference to instruments is interesting, as it shows that it was the practice to accom- pany the motets. But this passage of Evelyn contains a reference to the singing which is more important. It was, of course, the practice of the Church not to employ women in her services, and before 1600 the higher vocal parts were commonly sung by Spaniards, who seem to have been celebrated for their peculiar power of singing in falsetto. But this was not sufficient to satisfy the taste of the new school, and the introduc- tion of the evirati is just the kind of step which a movement like the Renaissance was likely to take. It enabled artists more thoroughly to * The " theorbo " was a kind of big lute with open bass strings, which was introduced about 1600. THE CHIESA NUOVA. 131 realize the effects at which they aimed, and they were not scrupulous as to the means which they employed for the purpose. The first of the new class of singers was a priest named Rossini, a native of Perugia, who was admitted into the Pontifical choir in 1601 ; the last Spanish falsetto soprano died in Rome in 1625.* The complete establishment of the oratorio was only achieved by Carissimi, who was born at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and who died in Rome in 1674. What has already been said in dealing with the works of Cesti, which are less well-known than those of his master, Carissimi, and from which somewhat lengthy quotations have therefore been given, has been sufficient to show that Carissimi can only just be said to belong to the Renaissance period at all ; and the music of his greatest pupil, Alessandro Scarlatti, the founder of the Neapolitan school, could not have been pro- duced by one brought up in the pure school of Monteverde. Throughout Carissimi's music we find that the one simple idea of realizing what a person would have sung in a particular situation if it were the habit of people to express them- * Burney's, History of Music, vol. iv., pp. 40, 41. K 2 132 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. selves in singing, which was evidently the leading idea in Monteverde's mind, is sub- ordinated to another idea — that the music should be pleasing. Any audience beholding an opera of Monteverde's, from any point of view but his own, would have found much of the music tedious. Monteverde's answer would have been : "I am very sorry, but do not blame me; most people in every-day life are very tedious." Carissimi, on the other hand, considered that it was his duty to please his audience, and he certainly did not intend to allow them to call him tedious. Therefore, he took care to engraft some beauty on the music allotted to any character. Mr. Buskin has said that there have always been two schools of art — the real school and the picturesque school. In the real school the beauty is essential ; in the picturesque school, it is accidental. A noble building, beautiful in itself, belongs to the real school. A building which only derives beauty from its surroundings, perhaps from the creepers that half cover it, belongs to the picturesque school. Carissimi may in this respect be compared with Raphael. Great as was the painter Raphael, nevertheless it is in his hands that the figures of the Blessed Virgin and the infant THE CHIESA NUOVA. 133 . Jesus become the pictures of a Madonna and Bambino — that is, a mother and a child ; and one feels that the sentiment of truth, which in a picture that deals with a sacred subject should be, before all things, a sentiment of religion, is yielding to the expression of beauty, and that, though Raphael may be the greater painter, Fra Angelico is the truer artist. In the same way with Carissimi. His music is more beautiful, more pleasing — shall we say more pretty ? — than that of Monteverde. But, at the same time, Monteverde more nearly approaches to the exact realization of dramatic truth. Carissimi's chief works were for the church, and it is as a composer of oratorio that we here regard him. But so much has been said about his style that it will be sufficient to supplement it with a very few references to his works. It is hardly necessary to say that his oratorios are essentially as dramatic as operas. He recognizes the strings as the backbone, if not the entirety, of the orchestra, and, notwith- standing the recommendation of Cavaliere as to an accompanied madrigal, he makes use of an instrumental introduction, notably to the Judgment of Solomon and to Balthazar. As an example of ornament introduced rather 134 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. to display vocal skill than to express the meaning of words, the following passage may- be cited from Jephtha : — e r. i-i^ y^^a - ' ' > ' F =P et pug nat con - tra vos It is difficult to see anything very appro- priate in this florid ending for a word, the last in the sentence, and not the most important. Again, in the lament of the daughter of Jephtha, when she learns what her fate is to be, there are short florid terminations to each phrase, and these are repeated by an echo. We are at once reminded of the echo of the hills to the lament of Orpheus in Monteverde's opera, but in the present case the echo is sung by two voices. The notes sung by the daughter Of Jephtha are imitated exactly by one voice, but another voice is added to the echo, sometimes a third above it, sometimes a third below it, and sometimes with notes of a more contrapuntal character. Carissimi may have had in mind the confusion which occa- sionally occurs in the repetition of an echo, but it is far more likely that he thought the simple echo bald, and sacrificed truth to a desire to please. THE CHIESA NTJOVA. 135 Having traced the effect of the study of nature and her beauty, from the first gleams of colour in the music of Willaert to the representa- tion of human life and its realities in Monte- verde, and onward again to the sensuous pleasure of sound in Carissimi and Cesti, we may conclude our notice of the music which was the product of the Renaissance in Italy, with a few remarks on some of the incidental improvements of a practical character, especially in the matter of voice-production, which re- sulted from the general development of the art. The conceptions of Monteverde led, as has been seen, to the vast improvement of the violin, so that in less than half a century it advanced from the position of a good supplementary instrument, as suggested by Cavaliere, to that of the principal part of the orchestra in the compositions of Cavalli. Similar attention was paid by the reformers to the production of the voice, which was necessary for the performance of the delicate solo parts which they wrote; and this led to the establishment of schools of singing for the special study of vocalization. The story of Stradella and Hortensia may or may not be true, but it indicates the existence of a person before unknown, the singing master. 136 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. And beyond hypothesis based on romance, we have the instructions given by Gagliano in the introduction to his Dqfne, which have been referred to in Chapter V. ; and we also have contemporary evidence in the shape of a letter written in 1640 by the traveller Delia Valle. A translation of this letter is given by Dr. Barney, and in it the writer says of the old school of singers : — " Trills, graces, and a good portamento, or direction of voice, excepted, they were ex- tremely deficient in the other requisites of good singing, such as piano and forte, swelling and diminishing the voice by minute degrees, ex- pression, assisting the' poet in fortifying the sense and passion of the words, rendering the tone of voice cheerful, pathetic, tender, bold, or gentle at pleasure ; these, with other embellish- ments in which singers of the present time excel, were never talked of even at Rome, till Emilio del Cavaliere, in his old age, gave a good specimen of them from the Florentine school in his oratorio at the Chiesa Nuova, at which I was myself, when very young, present."* The concluding words of this extract are interesting, but more instructive are the refer- ences to expression on the part of the singers, * Burney, vol. iv., p. 40. THE CHIESA NTTOVA. 137 especially coupled with, the recommendations of Gagliano as to pronunciation,* and also to the development of the crescendo and diminuendo, or gradation of tone, which is, in music, exactly analagous to the gradation of light and shade in the sister arts of painting and sculpture, and, we may add, architecture. A rect- angular building will give contrast of light and shade in masses, as the sides are turned to or from the light ; but it is only in the dome, which was the great discovery of the architects' of the Renaissance, that we get gradation of light and shade; that is, a gradual transition from the highest light to the deepest shade. It has already been said, again and again, that one of the first principles of the Renais- sance was the direct study of nature, and there- fore one of the first practices of' artists, both sculptors and painters, was the copying of the nude figure. Let us consider what was the attraction of this particular study. First, the sculptor was attracted by the exquisite curva- ture of line that is to be seen on the human form. The straight line is not to be found, and practically no part of a circle can be seen. The circle can be discovered by close inspection — for instance, in the pupil of the eye ; but we * Ante, p. 81. 138 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. must remember that that circle is very small, is much hidden by the eyelids, and, which is most important, is not a circle in form, but only in colour. Mr. Holman Hunt has recently pointed out that, notwithstanding certain concave curves which exist in nature, there is no spot on any animal which is not part of a convex curve. If it lies in a concave curve in one direction, it does not lie in a transverse straight line, but in a convex curve in the other direction. Mr. Euskin has taught us that what grada- tion is in colour, curvature is in line ; and the study of the nude was not only interesting from the delicacy of curves which it revealed ; it also opened the eyes of both sculptors and painters to the fine gradations of light and shade which resulted from a light thrown on the figure — gradations more subtle a thousand times than those which the architect could obtain in his dome, owing to the incessant variation of the curves of the body. And to the painter was added the still more attractive beauty of local colour coupled with gradation of light and shade. The principle thus learnt he applied to every branch of his art ; and thus the stiff draperies of Cimabue disappeared, and the flowing robes, and graceful hair, and rich THE CHIESA NUOVA. 139 colouring of Paul Veronese took their place. As Burnet says, in his Essay on the Education of the Eye : " The inventions of Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, and others of the Venetian school, please and captivate all beholders, from their harmony of light and shade, and their beautiful and gorgeous arrangement of splendid colour." It is obvious that what curvature of line was to the sculptor, what gradation of light and shade was to the painter, the effect of crescendo and decrescendo was to the musician. Indeed, the mark that is used for a crescendo almost carries in it an illustration of the unity of all the arts in this respect. 1 If for the ordinary crescendo mark — — __ the following mark were substituted — — that is, curved lines instead of straight lines, and lines which increase in darkness or thickness instead of being uniform throughout, not only would it more exactly depict the crescendo which gathers force as it grows, but 140 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. also it would illustrate the analogy with curva- ture of line and gradation of light and shade. The effect of the Renaissance on music in Italy may be summed up in the words of Delia Valle, in the letter to which reference has already been made : " The modern masters have learned how to use and respect good poetry ; in setting which they relinquish all the pedantry of canons, fugues, and other Gothic inventions, and, in imitation of the ancient Greeks, aspire at nothing but expression, grace, and propriety." CHAPTER VIII. PASSION PLAYS AND THE GERMANS. In reviewing the progress of the Renaissance outside Italy, we must bear in mind that we have travelled away from the country where the revolution of thought had its birth. We shall find no examples of igneous rock forcing its way through the overlying strata. Speci- mens of such rocks we may come upon ; but wherever we find them we may be certain that they have been borne from the centre of erup- tion on the ever-rolling waters of human thought, and so deposited. They will there- fore interest us less than the twisting of the strata of mediaeval art, caused by the eruption in far-away Italy. When the tide of Renaissance thought and culture passed northwards over the Alps, it found Germany in a state ill-fitted to receive impressions of art and refinement. The history of a people is most permanently written in its buildings ; and we find but isolated examples of the transition period in Germany. At the time when the musicians of Germany might 142 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. have been affected by new ideas, the men, the means, and the morals of the country were all being absorbed in the struggle of the Thirty Years' War. The affliction of the plague stayed the progress of art in Italy for a few years, but the curse of war threw Germany back a cen- tury. "We read : " In all ranks life was meaner, poorer, harder The German people in the beginning of the seventeenth century was plainly inferior to the German people in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- tury."* It is, therefore, not surprising if Germany, at a time when she was striving almost for exist- ence, was unable to assimilate a new style 01 art which was essentially the product of a people used to opulence, luxury, and ease. The change of style in German music was manifested in a development of that which was familiar to all from its association with religion, and which was at the same time inexpensive in performance, as it required no scenic prepara- tion, and the performers were only those who were already associated with the daily services of the Church. Many persons from all countries have this * Gardiner's Thirty Years' War, p. 214. PASSION PLAYS AND THE GERMANS. 143 year flocked to see at Ober-Ammergau the last relic of a dramatic performance, which, though not originally peculiar to Germany, appears from its popularity in that country to have been especially suited to the tastes of the people. The more or less dramatic representation of the Story of the Passion of our Lord was com- mon in Germany at a very early period. The story being told in Latin led to the scenes being represented dramatically, that they might appeal more directly to the people to whom the words were unintelligible.* The natural consequence was the allotment of cer- tain characters' to individuals ; and but for the unhappy circumstances of the country, those Passion plays might have developed into a national sacred drama of great importance. As it was, the popularity of these representations induced their continuance in the Protestant Church, and ultimately with German words. But notwithstanding the substitution of the vernacular for Latin, one element remained which was, %o a certain extent, necessary in the absence of complete stage , arrangements and appliances, but which was incompatible with full dramatic realization—the character of the * Spitta's Life of Bach, English edition, vol. ii., p. 478. 144 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. narrator ; a character which is now familiar to us in Bach's settings of the Passion, but a character which he derived, even in the detail of allotting it to a tenor voice, from traditional sources. The representation of the Story of the Passion in churches in a dramatic or quasi- dramatic form was, as would be expected, asso- ciated with music from the earliest date. The Latin words being sung to plain song, and by single individuals, or, where the people speak, by the choir in unison. After the Reformation, not only were the German words substituted for the Latin, but the practice of writing in parts for the chorus was substituted for the unison of plain song. And we read of one instance in which the two false_ witnesses are made to sing in two-part imitation.* Passion music to German words, and written in parts, was common in the middle of the six- teenth century, indicative of musical instinct of a dramatic character antecedent to the full dramatic movement in Italy. The- earliest published Passion music of this character is stated by Winterfeld to have been printed in 1573.t In 1588 a Passion according to St. John was * Spitta's Life of Bach, vol. ii., p. 480. t "Winterfeld's Evangelisclw Kirchengesang, vol. iii., p. 362. PASSION PLAYS AND THE GERMANS. 145 composed by Bartholomaus Gese,* which com- mences with a chorus in five parts. This is followed by the narrator (tenor) in plain song, while the words of Christ are allotted to a four-part chorus, and other characters are treated in* a similar manner, instead of being assigned to a solo voice only. Heinrich Scbiitz, coming, as we have seen, from Italy at a time when the dramatic and realistic influences were being strongly felt — it will be remembered that his master Gabrieli did not die until six years after the production of Monteverde's Orfeo — infused into this pecu- liarly national form of music much dramatic force. As an example, may be cited the passage in which the disciples, hearing that one of them will be the betrayer of their Lord, tumultuously ask, "Is it I ? Is it I ? Is it I ? " And then Judas slowly, and after a pause, asks, " Is it I ? " and receives the answer, " Thou hast said." The arrangement of this incident by Schtitz quite suggests the question of Judas and its answer being treated as an aside and unheard by the other disciples. On the other hand, Schtitz retained the careful setting as an initial chorus of the words, " The * Leipzig Bach-Gesellschaft Edition of Bach's Works, vol. iv., Introduction, p. 16. 146 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. passion of our Lord and Saviour, as recorded in the Holy Gospel," which reminds one of Palestrina's chorus, " The Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah." He also retained and developed the contemplative choruses, corre- sponding with the chorales employed by Bach, which, though undesirable in the most realistic sense, were important factors in the religious character of a work. These early sacred plays, with music, were not confined entirely to representations of the Passion. Indeed, we have a record of one which begins with the creation of the world, and ends with the resurrection of our Lord. We also have many examples of "Marienklage," or Laments of the Virgin Mary, which are said to have had their origin in Thuringia;* and a copy exists in Berlin of one which is dated in 1491, in which the Virgin and St. John sing alternately, the words being fitted to music of old hymns ; while there are directions which indicate an intention of dra- matic performance. One of these directions is "hie accipe gladium in manu et extende." In this work, in order that both parts may be taken by men, the Virgin's part is given to a tenor, and St. John's to a bass. * Publikation JElterer Musilc-iverke, vol. x., p. 11. PASSION PLAYS. AND THE GERMANS. 147 Enough has been said to prove the presence of a strong dramatic instinct in Germany ; and, but for the Thirty Years' War, it is not im- probable that the earliest development of oratorio would have been in Germany, and not in Rome. Schiitz's dramatic efforts were not confined to sacred subjects. He made an effort to introduce the classical drama into Germany. His Daphne was probably not an entirely original work, but an adaptation to German words of Peri's first musical drama. The example, however, was not followed by others, and the experiment was not repeated by him- self. It was destined that opera should first appear in Germany as an exotic. That Schtitz had a strong realistic feeling, we know by the recent performance in London* of his setting of the Lament of David on the death of his son Absalom. This is a solo for bass voice, accom- panied by the organ and four trombones. Trombones — instruments which should be dear to us, first, as the most ancient instruments now in practical daily use, and, secondly, as capable (like the violin) of perfect intonation, though they are beginning to be inoculated * At the meeting of the "Wind Instrument Chamber Music Society on March 21st, 1890. Also performed at the Norwich Festival, in October, 1890. L 2 148 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. with the valve virus — were in common use, between two and three centuries ago, to sup- plement the organs, which were then frequently imperfect in quality of tone, incapable of grada- tion of tone,* and clumsy in mechanism, and therefore difficult of performance. The latest recorded use of four trombones alone in church that'we know was in Essex, in the early part of the present century. It is to be regretted that clerical zeal has in many places abolished the use of instruments other than the organ, instead of improving the performers. The want of power of gradation of tone in organs must have been as sore a trial to the ad- vanced musicians of the seventeenth century as the want of a facile action suitable to rapid passages. Though Schiitz uses the organ as well as the trombones in supporting the voice in the Lament of King David, yet one of the most interesting sections of the work is an instru- mental fugue, which is allotted to the four trombones, without the organ. Schiitz, however, after his final return to his native Saxony, appears to have been absorbed back into the musical style of his native country — a style more congenial to one brought * The swell was not invented till the middle of the eighteenth century. PASSION PLAYS AND THE GERMANS. 149 up in the sound school of Gabrieli, and who was not in immediate contact with men bent on reform, on classical lines, at any cost. His influence was that, of one who developed the art of his country without revolutionizing it. He died at Dresden, where he had lived for nearly sixty years, in 1672, at the extreme old age of eighty-seven, having seen the perfection of the style in which he was educated, its fall before the classicists, the extraordinary develop- ment of the new style (especially in 1 the, city which he must have loved for its old associa- tions with his early life), and even its introduc- tion into his native country, having perhaps observed the germ of grave disease sown in the new art, which was to poison it as it poisoned its sisters, who, one by one, suffered from something worse than the old epidemic of symbolism and conventionality — an epidemic of prettiness; and finally having borne into Germany the noble style of Gabrieli, and so paved the. way for that stride which German art was about to make in the hands of the mighty musician, who was born thirteen years after Schlitz died — Johann Sebastian Bach. If Schiitz was at times tempted by the glitter of the new style, he must have looked at Gabrieli's ring, and thought " In hoc signo vinces." His 150 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. mission was to carry the tradition of the Church style back to the North, from which it had sprung, that, in the hands of the great genius of the seventeenth century, it might rise again, combining the spirit of the old with the inde- pendence of the new. This trust was one which no single man could have performed ; the very miseries of the Thirty Years' "War and its consequences con- duced to the preservation in Germany of a national style of music, and its protection from foreign influence. The musical art became restricted to religious music ; and while the vocal style of the Netherland school, warmed with the sun of Italy, was carried back north- wards, an independent school of organ music was being developed in Germany, having also sprung, though at a later date, from the Netherlands. The last great composer of the Netherland sohool was also the founder of the great German school of organ-playing, which only became capable of existence when organs may be said to have changed from fist* to finger instru- ments. This was Sweelinck, who died in 1621, and is quaintly described by the Dutch poet * In early organs the notes were struck -with the, whole hand. PASSION PLAYS AND THE GEKMANS. 151 Vondel as " Phoenix of music and organist of Amsterdam." Descendants in the school founded by Sweelinck were two great organists, both born after his death — Reinken the Dutch- man and Buxtehude the Dane — who were respectively organists of the adjacent towns of Hamburg and Lubeck, and both of whom exercised a direct influence on Bach. Thus, apart from Renaissance feeling, there was a connection between Bach and the earlier school so strong, that, realistic, and at times vividly dramatic, as the great Cantor was, he cannot, either in feeling or in date, be treated as in any sense a companion of the classical reformers m Italy. In the meantime the opera was, in a tentative way, imported into Germany. Ziani, one of the Venetian school, whose first opera was produced in 1654, transferred the opera to Vienna, where Cavalli's Giasone was frequently performed. Ziani died in 1725, and was succeeded by Fux, whose name is well known as a great theorist, but who had little sympathy for the modern Italian music. Shortly after the introduction of the opera into Vienna, Agostino Steffani, an Italian youth of humble origin, settled in Munich, and introduced the opera there, com- posing himself for the stage. Quitting Munich, 152 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Steffani passed on to Hanover, and advanced dramatic interests in that capital — and through Hanover he has special interest for us — and manuscripts of many of his operas have been transferred from Hanover to Buckingham Palace.* The following is a quotation from one of these — Henrico Leone — which was produced in 1689, and which, though not so ambitious as Freschi's Berenice, required a car with four live horses, a griffin, who flies away with the hero, and places him in his nest, and other details involving extensive stage machinery. The example given here is for a soprano voice, the upper line of the accompaniment I have added, the bass is the original, and the da capo at the end is marked as shown in the example. FROM "HENRICO LEONE." SlEFFANI. (1689.) * I should like here to express my thanks to Mr. Cusins-' for the kindness with which he assisted me in referring to music in the library at Buckingham Palace. PASSION PLAYS AND THE GERMANS. 153 . SOPKANO. 154 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. ■ft- j^>1^^ =^ PASSION PLAYS AND THE GERMANS. 155 i » t r r i'* *=t >-o-— a= le . . . mie pe i * p =^ -rt •f %r - >* trr i U 1^-1 m [i t° ^ yf 51 " m & f* ° ri E fal - la ce e la spe - ran za I -rr 158 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. i - f.i ^^ che ri -hi - ce a . . . . ques - to cor s 32= m=zz: Q ri rl — -*- — e "ST I 3=^ -T 3 • ■ * £ « Efe =1= * cor, che' ri-lu- ce tt ques i ri ^s g= ^ 8: IS^ =3=0= * =p^ =t= £7n balen, Da Capo. Translation. A flash of uncertain hope is the only ray which lifts me from the clouds of grief. But my griefs are real ; and false is the hope which shines upon this heart. Steffani was much esteemed in Hanover, and at the age of forty he entered the service of the Government, and was sent as Ambassador to Italy. In his political character he may be compared with other artists — Rubens the painter, Milton the poet, and Marcello the musician. Like Monteverde and Cesti, he was a priest, and indeed a bishop. 158 THE RENAISSANCE OE MUSIC. Steffani died in 1729, at a time when the Handelian form of opera was thoroughly estab- lished in London, but, except in Hamburg, there could not be said to be any national German opera. Keiser, who was born in 1673, is commonly regarded as the founder of the national opera in Germany, at Hamburg, where Handel's first essays for the stage were made. But Reiser's operas were far from being the perfect works which had been produced in Italy. They had the terrible fault of attempting to combine spoken dialogue with music — an attempt to appeal to the mind in two different ways at the same time — with, as might be expected, a failure to achieve success in either. It was reserved to Gluck in the latter half of the eighteenth century to reform the incon- gruities which had found their way into opera, and diverted it from the true form of musical drama. But that was a reform of the errors which the Renaissance bred for itself. So far as Germany is concerned, her touch with the Renaissance in music, as in other arts, is but feeble. CHAPTER IX. CAMBERT AND THE FRENCH. There is not the least doubt that during- the sixteenth century music was in a far more advanced state in England than in France. The history of France had been a long history of sufferings from foreign invasions and internal struggles, ending with the most bitter of all wars — a war of religion. It was only at the commencement of the seventeenth century, when Henry IV. had embraced the Catholic religion and married a Catholic wife, Mary de Medici,* that the country became consolidated and comparatively peaceful, and therefore in a state favourable to artistic development. The prosperity of England during and immediately after the reign of the Tudors enabled her to outstrip her northern neigh- bours in the early periods of art history ; but the troubles of the Civil War threw her behind them in the middle of the northern Renais- sance, and especially behind France, whose recuperative power seems to have been as * Ante, p. 46. 160 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. wonderful in the seventeenth century as we have seen it to be in the nineteenth. The result of this check to art by civil war in this country was, so far, as music is concerned, that, although the first symptoms of Renaissance feeling were exhibited in England before they were visible in France, the later development in England was largely influenced by what had occurred in France during the middle of the seventeenth century. It is therefore more con- venient to treat of the French Renaissance first, and to deal with the English development as a whole afterwards. The French nobles who accompanied Henry IV. to Florence for his wedding in 1600 were witnesses of the first efforts to arrive at dramatic realism in music. The seed thus sown had, however, to lie dormant for nearly half a century before the soil of the French capital became fine enough to enable it to take root and flourish there. But there was no doubt about the identity of the plant when it did show itself. The first opera which was performed in France was one the words of which were written by the Florentine poet Strozzi, who had supplied Monteverde with one book, and this was quickly followed by a performance CAMBEftT AND THE FRENCH. 161 of Peri's Euridice, produced there in 1647, under the influence of Cardinal Mazarin, during the minority of Louis XIV.* The Cardinal also induced Cavalli to come to Paris for the purpose of conducting his Xerxes. These performances not only excited among the French a feeling for this new kind of realistic music, but it also happily excited a patriotic feeling ; and a Frenchman determined to let it be seen that the French opera need not rely on Italian composers. The name of this French composer was Kobert Cambert, a native of Paris, born in 1628. The words for Cambert's operas were written by the Abbe" Perrin, who seems to have taken the leading part in the enterprise. And they appear to have been a development of the older form of pastoral play which was popular in France, as elsewhere. The pastoral form was doubtless selected as being familiar, and, at the same time, as being as capable of successful development into opera as imported Italian compositions or classical fables. The works thus produced were, in the strict- est sense, operas, and not merely plays with * Naumann's History of Music, English edition, vol. i., p. 592. M 162 THE BENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. incidental music, recitative being substituted for mere speech, and the music being continuous throughout. Indeed, there is internal evidence to prove that Cambert must have been familiar with the modern Italian style of musical drama. The enthusiasm for these native works was at first . so great that they outstripped in popularity the Italian musical drama imported by Cardinal Mazarin. Unfortunately, this popularity was so ephemeral that, with the exception of the prologues and first acts of two of Cambert's operas, none of his music appears to have been preserved ; and for these we are obliged, in England, to rely on a quite modern edition by M. Wekerlin, and that is, unfortu- nately, an edition with only a pianoforte score, arranged by the editor. From this edition, however, we learn that the works are certainly French in character. The Prologues, for example, did not differ from similar native works of that date in being very fulsome laudations of Louis XIV., which, except that they were regarded as a matter of course, would have made the subject of them look very ridiculous, and equally bombastic glorifications of the city of Paris ; in which one hardly knows whether to wonder most at the inaccuracy or the extravagance of the author. CAMBERT AND THE FRENCH. 163 We may cite, for example, the Prologue of Pomona, which was the first of the two operas produced, and which was performed in March, 1671. Paris is compared to Rome, but it is added that there never was so great a man as Louis XIV. on the throne of the Caesars. In the same way, in Cambert's next work (Les Peines et les Plaisirs de V Amour), which was. composed in the same year, and probably produced at the end of that year, the River Seine is represented as speaking the Prologue, and she says, among other things, that no doubt one day India will be within the domain of Louis XIV. ; this perhaps with a greater approach to truth than was anticipated, though the dominions of the French in India are probably not quite so extensive as the author of the words which are put into the mouth of the Seine perhaps hoped that they would be. With regard to the music of these two operas, we find many of the same changes of tempo that have been mentioned as existing in Italian music, especially in that of Cavalli. This is interesting, bearing in mind the fact that Cavalli himself had recently been in Paris, and that his opera of Xerxes had been per- formed there. Then we also find some very good examples of choral writing, especially in M 2 164 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Leg Peines et les Plaisirs de I' Amour, in which there is a chorus, in six parts, for three shepherds and three satyrs ; it appears, too, that the composer made use of flutes and oboes, as well as strings. He also makes free use of the dominant seventh, and there is at least one example of the use of a chord of the 6-4 without preparation. It is important to our present subject that the introduction to this opera has been pre- served ; in it Cambert refers to the music of the Greeks, and to what had been done in Italy, thus disclosing distinctly that, although he had ' selected the older and more familiar pastoral form of piece with which to associate his music, it was, in fact, the Renaissance influence under which he was acting. It appears that Perrin who, as has been said, was Cambert's collaborateur, obtained in 1669 a patent from the King, giving him the exclusive privilege of establishing .in Paris and other parts of the kingdom academies of music for singing in public theatrical works, as done in Italy, Germany, and England. The reference to Italy is obvious ; that to Germany has allusion, doubtless, to the steps that had been taken, especially at Munich and at Hanovej ; and the mention of England proves that since CAMBERT AND THE FRENCH. 165 the Restoration practical measures had been taken, as we know was the case, to develop the musical drama, in this country. The words of the decree are important for the use of the word " opera." It runs thus : " Academies dans lesquelles il se fait de representations en musique, qu'on nomme op6ra."* Perrin was induced by this charter to launch out into considerable theatrical business, still associat- ing with himself Cambert, and also a certain nobleman who took particular interest in stage machinery. Not unlike Other entrepreneurs, they lost money, and the result was a difference between them, ending in the separation of Perrin and Cambert. The patent was revoked, and re-granted to a greater musician, as will be explained shortly. Cambert fell into disgrace, quitted France, and came to England. Here he was patronized by the English Court, his operas were performed, and he died in London in 1677. But Cambert's music has not been preserved in England ; and, notwithstanding the efforts of himself and Perrin, it was reserved to one of Italian birth to establish the opera on a more classical basis in France. Jean Baptiste Lully, to adopt the French * Naumann's History of Music, vol. i., p. 595, foot-note. 166 .THE EENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. form of his name, was born in Florence in 1633. When twelve or thirteen years old, he was brought to France by the Chevalier Guise, who intended him for a page ; but his extreme ugliness caused his rejection from that office, and therefore he had to descend to that of a scullion. His ability as a guitar-player, as a violinist, and as a musician generally, gained him the favour of the King himself. Lully was undoubtedly not only a great musician, but a man of considerable general ability. He fre- quently acted in Moliere's plays, and was at one time his friend ; but Lully was a man for whose character one can have no admiration. He was quite prepared to throw over any friend if he thought that he could so advance his own interests. Hence arose a difference between him and Moliere ; and it is probable that the same selfishness helped in the fall of Cambert, which, by driving a rival from the field, materially facilitated the rise of Lully. The charter which Perrin lost was immediately re-granted to Lully on terms so favourable that they amounted to a virtual monopoly. Lully alone was allowed to have more than two singers, and a sufficient number of players to form an orchestra. The patent granted to Lully- is in terms similar to that granted to CAMBERT AND THE FRENCH. 167 Perrin : " Permission d'etablir, en notre bonne ville de Paris, et autres de notre Royaume, des Academies de Musique pour chanter en public des pieces de Theatre, com/me il se pratique en Italie, Allemagne, et en Angleterre." The chief advance made by Lully in connec- tion with the opera is generally admitted to be the development of the overture, in which he undoubtedly went beyond what had been done by the Italians. In variations of tempo he follows the precedent of Cavalli and Cambert ; thus in one air in his Armida, which consists of twenty-four bars, there are eighteen changes of tempo. In the same opera, there is a passage where the hero goes to sleep on an enchanted island, and spirits, disguised as nymphs and shepherds, cover him with garlands. During this, two airs are played, which are written for muted violins — probably the first instance of the use of the mute for theatrical effect. One air is thirty-five bars in length, and the other, thirty-eight bars, showing the complete development of orchestral passages during the progress of the drama, independently of the voice, and very different from anything in the early Italian operas, if we except the passage of the Styx in Monteverde's Orfeo* * Ante, p. 48. 168 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. It is probable that the independent use of the orchestra was as popular in France as Milton's lines in Paradise Lost prove it to have been in England. " And with preamble sweet Of charming symphony they introduce The sacred song." Lully's choral writing appears to have been less ambitious than that of the best masters of the Italian school, and he has nothing to be compared to the choral numbers in Monte- verde's Orfeo. On the other hand, he shows a keen sense of dramatic effect by assigning his Medusa to a tenor voice, which must have made her utterances much more alarming than if the part had been taken by a woman. In 1687 Lully was required to compose a Te Deum for the recovery of Louis XIV., and the result was unfortunate for Lully himself. He was not only ugly, but he was a short man. It is proverbial that short men like long sticks, and Lully's wand for conducting — with which in his outbursts of passion he was a little too free — was so long that he struck his foot. The story is of interest as evidence of the practice of conducting, but it must not be inferred that the method of two hundred years ago was identical with that in use now. The system of CAMBERT AND THE FRENCH. 169 conducting with a stick, if it was general in the seventeenth century, certainly fell into disuse, and the practice of the first violin acting as leader of the orchestra, and using his bow for the double purpose of playing and directing, took its place. Possibly Lully's method of directing the performers may have resembled that of a drum-major rather than that of a modern conductor, and this would account for the accident. The result was gangrene in the toe. The toe was amputated. That failed to save bim. His foot was amputated. That failed to save him. And it was then proposed to amputate the leg. He was very ill, and in this state his confessor required him, as an act of penance, to destroy the opera of Achilles and Pollixenes, on the composition of which he was engaged. He did so and obtained absolution. He got better for a time. We all know the proverb : — "The devil was sick, the devil a saint would be ; The devil was well, the devil a saint was he." One of the princes called on Lully and asked him how it was possible that he could have destroyed so great a work. In reply he said, "I have only destroyed the parts, the score remains." However, he died on March 2nd, 1687. 170 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Lully had many followers, though with the exception of Rameau, who is quite beyond the period that we are considering, they were composers of little note, and his operas held the stage until they were eclipsed by the greater works produced by Gluck. Art in England suffers from the unpractical utilitarianism of the many, who see no incon- gruity in ventilating shafts on the top of the Marble Arch, who place refreshment advertise- ments in the corners of pictures, who tramp in and out of a concert-room during the per- formance, and who convert the public statues to meanest purposes. Art in France suffers from an equally incongruous, though generally less obtrusive, love of frivolity, display, and self-assertion. The way in which these affected dramatic performances in the early part of the eighteenth century may be understood by an article by Addison in the Spectator of 1711. He says, " Signior Baptiste Lully acted like a man of sense. He found the French music extremely defective, and very often barbarous. However, knowing the genius of the people, the humour of their language, and the pre- judiced ears he had to deal with, he did not pretend to extirpate the French music and plant the Italian in its stead, but only to CAMBERT AND THE FRENCH. 171 cultivate it and civilize it with innumerable graces and modulations which he borrowed from the Italians. By this means the French music is now perfect in its kind ; and, when you say it is not so good as the Italian, you only mean that it does not please you so well ; for there is scarce a Frenchman who would not wonder to hear you give the Italian such a preference. The music of the French is indeed very properly adapted to their pronunciation and accent, as their whole opera wonderfully favours the genius of such a gay, airy people. The chorus in which that opera abounds gives the parterre frequent opportunities of joining in concert with the stage. This inclination of the audience to sing along with the actors so prevails with -them that I have sometimes known the performer on the stage do no more in a celebrated song than the clerk of a parish church who serves only to raise the psalm, and is afterwards drowned in the music of the congregation. Every actor that comes on the stage is a beau. The queens and heroines are so painted that they appear as ruddy and chprry-cheeked as milkmaids. The shepherds are all embroidered, and acquit themselves in a ball better than our English dancing-masters. I have seen a couple of rivers appear in red 172 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. stockings, and Alpheus, instead of having his head covered with sedge and bulrushes, making love in a full-bottomed periwig and a plume of feathers, but with a voice so full of shakes and quavers that I should have thought the murmurs of a country brook the much more agreeable music. I remember the last opera I saw in that merry nation was the Rape of Proserpine, where Pluto, to make the more tempting figure, puts himself in a French equipage, and brings Ascalaphus along with him as his valet de chambre. This is what we call folly and impertinence, but what the French look upon as gay and polite." CHAPTEE X. LAWES AND THE ENGLISH. Notwithstanding the oft-repeated charge that this is an unmusical country — a charge, which, like many others, it is perfectly easy to establish, provided you do not look at every side of the question — there is no country in which choral singing has for any length of time been maintained at the high standard which has been preserved in England with but slight interruptions for over four centuries. There may have been intervals of decadence at times when the country was plunged in civil war from the conflicting claims of rival houses like York and Lancaster, or the struggle for power between King and Commons ; from time to time a foreign vocal school like that of Venice under Gabrieli, of Rome under Palestrina, or of Leipzig under Bach, may have risen to a rank of rivalry. Yet— thanks to tradition preserved intact from external influence by our insular position, thanks to choral societies grouped around our cathedral towns, thanks to our local festivals, especially at Leeds and Birmingham, 174 THE BENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. thanks to the practice of admitting the laity to form the choirs of our churches and chapels throughout the land — a love of vocal part- singing has been maintained in' this island, of which we may be justly proud. The earliest known secular part-song is the English " Sumer is icumen in," which probably dates from the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century, foreigners were astonished at the excellence of English part- singing, which may to some extent have re- sulted from the power which was given to the Company of Musicians, not only to promote good minstrelsy, but, which was quite as im- portant, to silence bad. The sixteenth century, which was the golden age of vocal music in Italy, was also the golden age of vocal music in England, and produced such men as Tye, Tallis, Byrd, and finally Gibbons. In the seventeenth century, we know from Pepys' Diary that every gentleman was expected to be able to take a part in vocal music. "Would they could do so now, as well as many of lower rank can ! The eighteenth century is marked by the impetus given to choral singing by the works of Handel, who certainly did not compose Israel in Egypt for an unmusical people. Choral singing in England, in the present century, is in no way I, AWES AND THE ENGLISH. 175 inferior to what it has been in the past, and the presence among us of composers like Mackenzie, Parry, and Stanford, gives promise that musical England will hold her place among the nations in the century which we are rapidly approaching. The musicians from whom we must date the Renaissance in music in this country are the two brothers Lawes, especially Henry Lawes, who was born at Salisbury in 1595, and whose influence was felt in England before the Renaissance had shown itself in Germany or France, though the development was after- wards checked by the civil wars. The two Lawes were pupils of one Giovanni Cooperario — in plain English, Mr. John Cooper. They came to London, where alone, in the early part of the sixteenth century, they could expect to find kindred spirits of the advanced school, to which they belonged. In 1648 there appeared a work called " Choice Psalmes put into Musick for Three Voices. The most of which may properly enough be sung by any three, with a Thorough Base. Compos'd by Henry and William Lawes, Brothers ; and Servants of His Majestie." In the commencement of this volume there is printed a sonnet addressed by Milton, the 176 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. friend of Henry Lawes, the first four lines of which are frequently quoted. The whole is given here in consequence of its important bearing on our subject : — " Harry, whose tunefull and well-measur'd song First taught our English music how to span Words with just note and accent, not to scan With Midas eares, committing short and long, Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, With praise enough for Envy to look wan : To after age thou shalt be writ the man That with smooth Aire couldst humour best our tongue. Thou honour'st Verse, and Verse must lend her wing To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus' Quire, That tun'st their happiest lines in hymne or story. Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing, Met in the milder shades of purgatory." There is a note to this sonnet in the Original Edition of 1648 to the effect that "Lawes had set to music the story of Ariadne." Of that music we know nothing ; but the note itself is distinct evidence that he had set to music a story on a classical subject which was probably a dramatic work, though perhaps not designed for representation on the stage. The words, " That with smooth Aire couldst humour best our tongue," are very similar to the words that were used by Peri in his introduction to Euridice : "I thought this to be the only song that could be given from our music to accommodate it to our LAWES AND THE ENGLISH. 177 language." * It may be but a coincidence, but it appears possible that a copy of the Euridice — perhaps the very copy that we have now in our British Museum — had already found its way to England, that it had been in Lawes' hands, and that Lawes had shown it to Milton, who was himself a musician. The sonnet contains an example of Milton's practice of spelling words according to their quantity. The word " music " was at that date commonly spelt with a final k, and is so spelt in the title of the book ; but Milton wishes the syllable to appear short in the second line, and omits the final h The relation of Heriry Lawes to the English Renaissance corresponds in some respects with the relation of Galileo to the Italian Renais- sance.t Lawes was one of the earliest English composers of airs for a single voice, and there is distinct internal evidence in these airs of know- ledge of, and sympathy with, Italian music, and of the influence of the new style on the composer. But the best years of his life were passed while England was under the domination of the Puritans, and while popular feeling was not * " Cosi ho creduto esser quello, die solo possa donareisi dalla nostra musica per accomodarsi al nostra favella." _t Ante, cap. iv. N 178 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. congenial to the development of dramatic genius. We may fairly conclude that Lawes never alone produced any work which could be fitly described as a musical drama, but, in association with others, and probably as the leading musical spirit among them, he did take an active part in the production of the earliest English opera. The first attempt to establish in England anything in the nature of musical drama based on the principles of the Renaissance appears to have been made by Sir William Davenant in an entertainment given in the Charterhouse in 1656. The work was published the following year under this title : " The first day's enter- tainment at Rutland House by Declamations and Musick after the manner of the Ancients." In the following year the Siege of Rhodes was produced by Sir William Davenant, with music by various authors, including Lawes. This was undoubtedly an opera, with music in stilo rccitativo, but unfortunately none of the music has been preserved, and therefore we cannot say if, in addition to the recitative, there was or was not any spoken dialogue. It appears that the word " opera " was used to describe all these performances, although they at times were confined to the mere drama ; and LA.WES AND THE ENGLISH. 179 it has been surmised that the reason for this was that England was still in the hands of the Puritans, who would not have permitted any performance of a work which was called a stage play.* It may be mentioned, as a curious relic of the retarding influence- of the Puritans on dramatic art, that, until last year, of the many duties falling upon justices of the peace, only one re- quired as many as four for a quorum — and that was the licensing of theatres for the perform- ance of stage plays. Henry Lawes died in 1662, two years after the Restoration, having in many ways, and especially by his airs for single voices based on the Italian style, paved the way for the advance of music in connection with the drama, and having shown that beauty of melody may be as pleasing as contrapuntal ingenuity. Principal among his contemporaries was Matthew Lock, who was one of Sir William Davenant's staff of composers, and whose inci- dental music to Macbeth is well known at the present day. He undoubtedly gave a consider- able impetus to the use of instrumental music. First among the successors of Lawes must be * Mr. Cummings' introduction to Purcell's Dido and N 2 180 THE KENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. named Pelham Humfrey, who was sent by Charles II. to France to study music under Lully, and who seems to have returned with all the infallibility of youth, to judge by the follow- ing entry in Pepys' Diary : — " Nov. 15, 1667.* Home, and there find little Pelham Humfreys, lately returned from France, an absolute monsieur, as full of form, and con- fidence, and vanity, and disparages everything and everybody's skill but his own. But to hear how he laughs at all the King's musick here ; and the Grebus, the Frenchman, the King's master of the musick, how he understands nothing, nor can play on any instrument, and so cannot' compose, and that he will give him a lift out of his place ; and that he and the King are mighty great." We here have a record of the French in- fluence which, with the Restoration, was brought to bear upon English music. The " Grebus " is one Lewis Grabu, who outlived Pelham Humfrey, and who will be mentioned again later. He had already established at the English Court a band similar to " Les Petits Violons du Poi," which Lully had established in * This quotation is given from Mr. Barrett's English Chwtch Composers. It does not appear in Lord Braybrooke's edition of Pepys' Diary, 1828. LAWES AND THE ENGLISH. 181 Paris to rival the old Court orchestra called " Les Grands Violons." Pepys, in his Diary for October 1st, 1667, says, "To White-Hall; and there, in the boarded gallery, did hear the musick with which the King is presented by Monsieur Grebus, the Master of his Musick : both instrumental (I think twenty-four violins) and vocall ; an English song upon Peace. But God forgive me ! I never was so little pleased with a concert of musick in my life. The manner of setting the words and repeating them out of order, and that with a number of voices, makes me sick, the whole design of vocall musick being lost by it. Here was a great press of people ; but I did not see many pleased with it, only the instrumental musick he had brought by practice to play very just." " Little Humfrey " seems to have succeeded in giving the " Grebus " a lift out of his place, as, five years later, he was appointed " Com- poser in Ordinary to His Majesty." Humfrey's art was undoubtedly of the most advanced school, and strongly imbued with the impres- sions which he had received in Paris, but he did not live long enough to be himself a large composer. He died in 1674 at the early age of twenty- seven ; but at that date the great genius of English musical art was old enough 182 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. to receive and retain the record of Humfrey's experience in Paris, and thus to gain at least an indirect insight into the progress of the musical drama in France. Henry Purcell was born in Westminster in 1658, and it may be said that he lived in Westminster, and died in Westminster in 1695. He certainly was never out of England. The oldest complete English opera that has come down to us is Purcell's Dido and JEneas, in which, with the exception of the prologue, which was probably recited, there is not a spoken word from beginning to end. Dido and JEneas was written for a young ladies' school when Purcell was probably twenty- two.* It has sometimes been supposed that it was written at an even earlier age. The classical story, as told in the opera, is briefly this. After the overture, the first act deals with the loves of vEneas and Dido in the palace of Dido. Then the scene changes to the Witches' Cave, and a Sorceress appears, the part being sung by a bass voice. This recalls Lully's use of a tenor voice for the part of Medusa. The effect must have been unearthly, and not unlike the use of men for the witches' parts in Macbeth, giving a weird effect, which * Mr. Cummings' preface to Dido and^Sneas, p. 1. LA WES AND THE ENGLISH. 183 is now lost at the Lyceum. The Sorceress determines to send a messenger, in the shape of Mercury, to iEneas, with a feigned message from Jupiter that he must at once leave Carthage. At the end of this act there is a chorus for witches, in which the conclusion of each phrase is repeated by an echo in harmony. After the chorus, there is a dance for the witches, and the music for the dance contains similar echoes. "We can picture the witches dancing and paus- ing from time to time to listen to the echo. The second act begins with a hunting party of iEneas and Dido, which is interrupted by a storm ; and then the false messenger from Jove appears to ^Eneas and delivers his message. In contrast with the bass voice to represent the Sorceress, the messenger (the false Mercury) is a soprano. The third act begins with the sailors of ^Eneas' fleet getting their ships afloat and under weigh ; there is a chorus for sailors, and a hornpipe is danced by them. The fleet then disappears, with the exception of one ship — that of iEneas. Then Dido, who has heard what has happened, comes down to the shore in grief; iEneas meets her, and declares that he will stay, and disobey Jupiter ; but Dido will not be wooed by an inconstant lover, and dismisses him. iEneas departs in his ship. 184 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Dido gives utterance to a song of grief as touching as any in our language, and dies in the arms of her attendant. The final chorus is sung by Cupids while they cover her body with roses. The whole work is strikingly dramatic. The overture is in Lully's style. The choruses, many of which are accompanied by dancing, are in four parts, and generally simple, The orchestral accompaniments are for strings in four parts ; but there is a far greater use of contrapuntal device than in the Italian operas, though in no way interfering with the dramatic action. Thus there are five movements, one being Dido's lament, in which Purcell has made use of a ground bass — that is, a short passage constantly repeated in the bass. The pathetic descending chromatic scale, with harmonies above the ground bass at the end of the lament, is also very striking. I have only refrained from quoting from this opera because it has been recently published in full score by the Purcell Society, and in octavo form by Messrs. Novello & Co. This was, alas ! the only complete opera with- out any spoken dialogue that Purcell wrote; and it is not to the credit of Englishmen that it was never published in any form till LAWES AND THE ENGLISH. 185 1841, and that so many of Purcell's works still remain in manuscript. The opera itself was performed at Mr. Josias Priest's hoarding school at Chelsea, and seems never to have been advanced to a higher stage, and music from it was pirated five years after the composer's death. Another unsuccessful attempt at opera was made by Lewis Grabu (the Grebus of Pepys' Diary) in 1687. Apparently the plain drama was more popular than the musical drama, for it was not until the days of Handel that the jopera was established at all in England, and then it was in a form which was far removed from dramatic consistency. Half the per- formers were English and half Italian, and each sang in his own language. Afterwards, Italian was adopted throughout, which gave rise to a humorous article in the Spectator charging the fashion of the town with being weary of under- standing half the opera, and having determined to understand none of it. Purcell composed incidental music to a vast number of plays — in all, forty-four — including many by Dryden, the best known being King Arthur. These are often referred to as operas, but they were not strictly so, because they were a mixture of airs with spoken dialogue. 186 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Addison, writing in the Spectator on April 3rd, 1711, was quick enough to see this defect, for he says, "the transition from an air to recitative music is more natural than the passing from a song to plain and ordinary speaking, which was the common method in Purcell's operas." Purcell also did much to advance instrumental music, following the steps of one Jenkins, who wrote a vast amount of instrumental music ; though the only composition of his that is popularly known at the present day is that single little catch, "A boat,, a boat, haste to the ferry." There are several odes written by Purcell for special occasions, and much Church music. Before closing the subject of the English Renaissance, reference must be made to two especially national results of the change from ecclesiastical modes to modern tonality, which was one of the incidental changes that accom- panied the Renaissance.* One of these results was the invention of the Anglican chant — an invention which accom- panied the addition of harmony to plain song. The new kind of chant became the substitute for the older form of psalm singing which we now commonly call Gregorian. *Ante, p. 7. LA WES AND THE ENGLISH. 187 The gains in the new Anglican form of chant were two — the use of harmony and the varia- tion of the reciting note. The introduction of harmony was in certain cases a decided gain, but the variation of the reciting note was a more doubtful advantage. On the other hand, these two gains were accompanied by serious losses. Without entering into technicalities, it may be said that the reciting note in Gregorian tones came in the middle of the inflections, and not at the beginning, and that the inflections were themselves very varied in length ; and thus the monotony of the single reciting note, if objec- tionable, was so well concealed as not to be tedious. On the other hand, the Anglican chant, from the loss of the introductory part, and from the length of the endings having become uniform in all chants, is far more monotonous than its predecessor, notwithstand- ing the variation of the reciting note and the addition of harmony. But what England thus lost in sacred music she more than gained in secular music. With the change from the old style to the new, the madrigal was lost in every country but this, where it became transformed into the glee — a peculiarly national form of composition of which we may be justly proud. 188 THE RENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. Thus, under the all-pervading influence which we call Renaissance, musicians, like other artists, learnt to abandon conventionalism for realism. Like other artists, they drew then- inspirations direct from nature, and, like them, sought to express in their art the varying human passions by which they were sur- rounded ; and finally, like other artists, they allowed their appreciation of the real to be absorbed in their admiration of the beautiful, till love of form, and love of colour, and love of tone took the place in their hearts that had been held by love of truth. Wonderful, indeed, must have been the current of thought which, uniform in its action, bent first literature, then architecture, then sculpture, then painting, and finally music, one and all, in the same direction. Now, let us for a moment strain our eyes, and look as far as we can into the mist which shrouds the future. Hitherto our principles of art study have been based on observation of the manner in which two European peoples applied their familiarity with nature. Dante's epic was avowedly based on the style of Virgil. From the days of Dante and Petrarch, men dimly groped for two hundred years after the treasures of classical literature which lay hidden LA WES AND THE ENGLISH. 189 in their midst, chiefly in the convents where the language had been preserved while the writings had been forgotten. At last the learned Greeks, who, as Hallam says, "were perhaps the first to anticipate, and certainly not the last to avoid, their country's destruction,"* revealed to cul- tured Italy the full beauty of classical literature. Under that revelation we have lived and laboured for four hundred years ; and if its recuperative force is now beginning to fail, may we not hope that a fresh revelation of the truth of nature and the falseness of convention may spring from a knowledge of civilizations of still greater antiquity ? We are but now beginning to know a little about ancient Egypt, her language, her manners, and her arts ; what may not two hundred years of study teach us ? Already a discovery has been made which may lead us to a better know- ledge of the music of the Egyptians than Peri and his associates were able to get of the music of the Greeks and Romans. The discovery, in a mummy case, of Egyptian flutes, made some four or five thousand years ago, which have been absolutely played upon in London,t is the first step towards a real knowledge of the scale, * Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. iii., p. 591. t Musical Times for October, 1890. 190 THE BENAISSANCE OF MUSIC. and therefore of the possibilities of Egyptian music ; and it may be that, with so auspicious a departure, music, which was the last of the arts to be affected by the classical Renaissance, will be the first of the arts to be influenced by the Egyptian Renaissance. And when the power of the Egyptian reve- lation is on the wane, art may be again revived by a revelation of Hittite civilization ; and when, a thousand years hence, that fails — the mist thickens, our eyes are inflamed, and we see no more. THE END. Henderson & Spalding^-i»aters^Jfe5,JVIarylebone Lane, London, W.