The Sounds of Milan, 1585-1650 (review) Noel O'Regan

Music and Letters, Volume 85, Number 3, August 2004, pp. 434-436 (Review)

Published by Oxford University Press

For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/178697

[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] identify the canzonetta as `an inherently dra- tial Sirens reviewed in Music & Letters,79 1998), matic song' with origins in the theatre p. 182) 273±4). The application of these qualities to a and to associate the explosive rise in popularity broader study of the musical life of the city from of the genre in the 1580s with contemporary 1585 to 1650 set up keen expectations,which events in theatrical history,including the open- have not been disappointed. The present book ing of two public theatres in Venice in 1581. contains an immense amount of information The importance of the canzonetta in theatrical about music in one of Europe's important works is beyond doubt,but the popularity of the centres,which has until recently been compar- genre probably had more to do with its versati- atively neglected. Under Spanish control and lity than with its specifically dramatic functions. with a strong Church influence,Milan did not Canzonettas were simple enough to allow for on the whole attract first-rate composers. performance by amateurs,as well as artful Despite its size and strategic importance,the interpretations by professionals. They were lack of an independent court and a super-rich sung in homes and schools,at social gatherings aristocracy meant that the most interesting and meetings of intellectual academies,and figures looked elsewhere. Milan's best-known with contrafact texts) at meetings of religious composers over this period,Orfeo Vecchi,Vin- confraternities and in churches,as well as in the cenzo Pellegrini,Giovanni Paolo Cima,and theatre. Recognition of their dramatic functions Ignazio Donati,are not household names,and should not obscure their equally important roles Kendrick's challenge has been to make them, in other contexts. and a host of minor figures,interesting,which The design of MacNeil's book as a set of he does remarkably well. The challenge is studies that were originally conceived independ- further heightened by the fact that perhaps the ently results in some duplication of material best Milanese composer of the period,the nun from one chapter to another and in the division Chiara Maria Cozzolani,is comprehensively of some topics into separate discussions in two treated in his earlier book. Indeed,this latest or more chapters. Important issues that are split book is in many respects complementary to the in this way include the nature of the canto alla previous one,with frequent cross-referencing. francese,the role of laments in humanistic educa- Kendrick is emphatically not writing a study tion,and the representation of gender in Isa- of just a few composers: his title indicates that bella Andreini's poetry. Although MacNeil this is a study that seeks to take a holistic view of points out the common themes that unite her all aspects of musical life in Milan. It is divided studies and provides a thorough index to assist into three main sections,each further symme- the reader in locating discussions of particular trically subdivided into three. The first major topics,one might wish that she had taken section deals with urban spaces and their advantage of the book format to present her musics: the city,its two principal churches the material in a way that would place her ideas in duomo and S. Maria presso S. CelsoÐthe main a new perspective,rather than simply enlarging centre for Marian devotion),other churches, and enriching her earlier articles. In the light of monasteries,and palaces where music was per- the wealth of information and interpretative formed and listened to. Then comes a central insights in the book,however,this is a minor section on `Attitudes and Actions' dealing with: consideration. The book is a significant contri- music theory and aesthetics; devotional and bution to the history of Italian music and liturgical rituals; and the people who produced theatre and their relationships to culture and and performed the music. The third and most politics in the period around 1600. By success- extended section,entitled `Musical Express- fully integrating numerous fields of study,it sions',divides the period into three for a enriches our understanding of all of them. detailed survey of published and manuscript Ruth I. DeFord music: from Carlo Borromeo's death 1584) to his canonization 1610); from then to the great plague of 1630; and from that to the deaths in The Sounds of Milan, 1585-1650. By Robert L. 1650 of the archbishop,Cardinal Monti,and the Kendrick. pp. xix + 528. Oxford University duomo's maestro di cappella,Antonio Maria Press,New York and Oxford,£65. ISBN 0- Turati. At the same time,Kendrick includes 19-513537-7.) discussion of some music in every section of the book so that context and music are always Robert L. Kendrick's second book has been closely bound together. eagerly awaited. His huge erudition and know- From the ecclesiastical point of view the ledge of the Milanese scene were obvious from dominant figure for much of Kendrick's period his earlier study of Milanese nuns' music, Celes- was Federigo Borromeo,nephew of Carlo but a

434 more enlightened and liberal archbishop of links the music and its context. Similarly he tries Milan 1595±1631) than his somewhat intransi- to relate printed repertories of composers active gent uncle. More like Filippo Neri than Carlo at particular churches to the feasts,images, Borromeo in his approach,Federigo encouraged patrons,and special celebrations particular to devotion wherever he found it and was keenly these institutions. Again this can sometimes be aware of the importance of music in kindling it. problematic,though perhaps less so for Milan One factor that set Milan apart was the persis- than for other large centres because of the tence of the Ambrosian rite referred to by limited number of composers publishing their Kendrick as a `mysterious other'),allowed to music. Kendrick is particularly sensitive to place continue after the Council of Trent because of and the sonic characteristics of individual its antiquity and encouraged by successive arch- churches and spaces,something that has bishops eager to recognize the city's historical hitherto been given far too little attention. He importance. Associated with Milan's patron gives equal consideration to decorative schemes, saint,Ambrose,it was an object of civic pride, whether frescoes,images,or organ shutters, even if only strictly observed in the duomo and always seeking to approach the music in the S. Maria alla Scala. Most of the other churches, context of the same set of experiences in which it especially those run by non-Milanese religious might originally have been heard. orders,followed the Roman rite. There were Despite its title,Kendrick's book is dom- considerable differences in both Mass and the inated by sacred music. Milan was not a signifi- offices,which meant that liturgical music cant centre for madrigal production,to which its written for the one rite could not easily be religious atmosphere was perhaps not condu- transferred to the other. This led Milan-based cive. Of the book's seventy-three music composers to concentrate more than others on examples only thirteen are non-sacred,and writing motets that could cross the boundary; discussion of madrigal composition is largely certainly motets are at the forefront of confined to a few pages in the section on Kendrick's discussions. The Ambrosian calen- music from 1610 to 1630. The discussion here dar also differed from the Roman one,with is no less rounded,but one does get the feeling more feast-days on which there was a potential that Kendrick is somewhat doing his duty by audience from various social classes for liturgical this repertory before returning to his beloved music and a week-long carnival season. Duomo sacred music. Earlier he provides a useful dis- maestri were required to write specifically for the cussion of a genre that he calls the `canzona- Ambrosian rite and,in an insightful discussion, motet',a term I have not come across before but Kendrick shows how Proper settings by Pelle- which usefully describes a lighter sort of motet grini and Donati,built over a cantus firmus in with a canzona-like opening,associated by Ken- the bass,and written for four choirs accompan- drick with processions on feast-days when vocal ied by the cathedral's two fixed organs and two and instrumental ensembles performed cheek- regals,provided a stunning audible projection of by-jowl. The author pays due attention to music Milanese liturgical tradition to citizens and printing and its role in preserving and dissemin- visitors alike. ating the Milanese repertory. Milan did have an Kendrick enters in medias res with a contem- indigenous music publishing industry,centred porary description of the entry into Milan of mainly on the printers Tini and Lomazzo,with Margaret of Austria,on her journey to meet her Tradate and Rolla also participating; apart from new husband,Philip III of Spain and Lord of a brief period in the early seventeenth century Milan),in 1598. This allows him to introduce when Lomazzo opened up his press to out- the city with its cast of characters and institu- siders,they stuck to printing Milanese music. tions as well as a piece of music specifically Equally,few Milanese pieces were reprinted written for the occasion,Serafino Cantone's north of the Alps,with only Orfeo Vecchi and double-choir Audite me, divini fructus. Kendrick's Giovanni Paolo Cima having any success. In great strength,in this book as elsewhere,is his general Milanese music was remarkably self- ability to contextualize the music,to read both contained,although music by outside com- text and musical setting in a myriad ways while posers did find its way into the city's institu- seeking to relate it to place,time,image,feast- tions,usually from Venetian printers. day,and the various stylistic undercurrents that Because of the sheer breadth of the author's might have shaped it. When discussing an scholarship this book is not always an easy read institution or occasion he always tries to find a or a book to dip into. Virtually every sentence piece in the surviving repertory that might have has a lot of carefully researched information, been performed. This can often be speculative, which makes for dense reading and demands a but by engaging in the process he continually level of sustained concentration. Nor would this

435 be an easy book for a general reader: Kendrick's Quibbles aside,this is a highly significant discussion of the music is peppered with rhet- work of musical scholarship. Robert Kendrick orical and other terms,and it might have has provided the definitive guide to Milanese benefited from the inclusion of a glossary; one music for his chosen period but,much more does sometimes want him to call a spade a than that,he has once again made a hugely spadeÐor a diatessaron a fourth! Even the important contribution to the writing of music general reader,though,should enjoy the history: Milan is the workshop in which he has sexual connotations given to cantus durus and honed a whole new approach to the study of cantus mollis in the singer Fabio Varese's seduc- early modern musical culture in the urban con- tion sonnet,which helps Kendrick illustrate the text,one which will form a model for a long earthier side of the city's musicians' everyday time to come. lives. Occasionally,too,we need to be given the Noel O'Regan full text of a piece under discussion in order to make sense of it,as in the analysis of Gabussi's Sperent in te omnes pp. 195±6). Indeed,given the La Commedia dell'Arte in Naples: A Bilingual importance of the book to a wide variety of Edition of the 176 Casamarciano Scenarios/La readerships,the publishers might have encour- commedia dell'arte a Napoli: edizione bilingue dei aged the author to include not only a glossary of 176 scenari Casamarciano. Ed. by Francesco rhetorical and other terms as applied to music Cotticelli,Anne Goodrich Heck,and but also some information on lesser-known Thomas F. Heck,with a foreword by Nancy religious orders,such as the Somaschi. The d'Antuono. 2 vols.: i,English Edition; ii, reader would also have been assisted by tables Edizione italiana. Scarecrow Press, of institutions with their maestri and singers,a Lanham,Md.,2001. ISBN 0-8108-4116-9.) list of the archbishops,some better maps of the city the map and panorama provided are vir- The number of substantial collections of scen- tually unreadable,and indeed the book's illus- arios for the commedia dell'arte represented in trations are generally of poor quality). printed editions can be counted on the fingers of The book is lavishly illustrated with music one hand; all five fingers will be required only if examples,many of them quite extended. This one includes now scarce transcriptions from the is certainly very welcome,given that the reper- nineteenth century. Francesco Cotticelli cites tory being discussed is not otherwise easily seventeen unedited collections of all periods in accessible. There is,however,a downside in all of Italy. Thus the appearance of a bountiful that textual discussion and musical illustration collection such as this one in a handsome increasingly drift apart in some of the later edition with an informative introduction and chapters: by the end of chapter 8 which has commentary is much to be welcomed. It was no fewer than twenty-seven musical excerpts), supported by an award from the Weiss/Brown text and related example are fourteen pages Publication Subvention Fund of the Newberry apart,which makes for constant page-turning. Library,Chicago. The award is well deserved, Matters are not helped by the fact that,in the for this edition has no equal in the published list of music examples at the beginning of the literature. book,gremlins have ensured that the vast The Casamarciano collection is preserved in majority of page numbers are wrongÐa real the National Library,Naples,with the shelf- shame in a book of this importance. Nor does marks MS. XI.AA.41 vol. 1) and 40 vol. 2). the index seem to be exhaustive. The import- ScenariosÐthe skeletal descriptions of roles, ant singer and publisher of ornamentations, settings,and actions from which plays were Giovanni Battista Bovicelli,gets just one improvisedÐare almost always anonymous, index reference to his Regole, passaggi of although they can sometimes be associated 1594),but there are at least three other pages with a particular troupe or theatre. They never in the book,where he is discussed in his role seem to be clearly dated. In one sense this is as singer at the cathedral and at S. Maria appropriate,for they were used over and over presso S. Celso,which are not indexed. That again. This collection,which was originally said,the book is extensively endnoted and formed by Annibale Cersale,the count of Casa- carries a comprehensive bibliography,as well marciano,and once belonged to Benedetto as useful appendices providing information on Croce,is considered to represent the period the musical items of the Ambrosian liturgy and 1650±1700. a calendar of feste di precetto with information Ignorance about the commedia leaves a re- on processions and the location of the main grettable hiatus in our knowledge of theatres, liturgical celebrations. acting technique,and the personnel who

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