22. (5/8) VENICE 3 1. Exam

2 2 . ( 5 / 8 ) V E N I C E 3 1. Exam: Similar to midterm. Essay question will ask you to discuss how musical compositions are related to the culture and the (biography of the) person that produced them. 2. Squarely in the Baroque — music, art, and literature a. Literature, mainly German: Grimmelhausen (novels), Martin Opitz (poetry) 3. Other developments in Venice: a. Biagio Marini (Brescia 1594–Venice 1663) and the violin sonata i. Violinist, student of Monteverdi ii. Sonata IV per il violino per sonar con due corde (ca. 1626) iii. Seconda prattica—monody for instruments (different from Gabrielli) iv. Sections of different style and tempo, some arialike, are connected all in a row; later these will be expanded and become separate movements. v. This piece was written when Marini was away from Venice, but it was for Venice, and he first used the special technique of this piece in a composition written in Venice. b. Later Opera Composers [nice to know, not NEED to know] i. Both more enduring in their time than Monteverdi ii. [Pier] Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676) 1. Second Organist at S. Marco 2. The major opera composer after Monteverdi 3. Established an “accademie in musica” at the major theater in Venice, the Teatro S. Cassiano. 4. Tended to write one opera a year in good times. 5. Giasone (Jason) (1649) — with the wonderfully stuttering Hunchback Demo [1.vi–vii] iii. Antonio Cesti (16231669) 1. Name often given as “Marc Antonio Cesti” but is incorrect. 2. As famous as a tenor as a composer in his life. 3. Only in Venice for a short period of his life, but several of his most important operas premiered in the theaters of the Grimani brothers, esp. the theater SS. Giovanni e Paolo. 4. Also recruited singers from Venice to Innsbruck. 5. Orontea (1656) — long thought to have been composed for Venice, but may have been confused with another opera of the same name by a lesser composer Francesco Lucio. Needs to be reexamined. 4. Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677) a. Adopted father was a great poet, Giulio Strozzi, who wrote two opera libretti for Monteverdi (one of which M. never finished, one now lost). Barbara was probably the illegitimate daughter of Giulio Strozzi and Isabella Griega, his servant. Giulio and his friends would financially support Barbara’s early career. b. Famed as a singer and as a composer. 2 c. Student of Francesco Cavalli. d. Eight publications including, a book of madrigals (1644), three collections of canta tas, arias, and duets (1651, 1654, 1659), a collection of solo arias (1664), and collec tions of sacred music, including motets. Most prolific composer of printed secular vocal music of her time.1 e. Her fame never waned: biographies of her from the 18th century, first reprints of her music in 1930. Only the sacred music remains unedited. f. Many supporters in her lifetime, but also many slanderers. Mainly slandering against the idea of a woman composer and implying awful things about her chastity (“It is a fine thing to distribute the flowers after having already surrendered the fruit”) or (the reverse) about why a woman would want to spend so much time hanging around with castrati. g. Such quotations have led to speculation (even among her principal biographers) that she might have had a role as a courtesan—an entertainer similar to a geisha. h. Lagrime mie (1650s), solo cantata i. cantata – something sung (as opposed to sonata, something played). Thus a generic genre(!), but really a type of monodic madrigal which incorporates the styles of sing ing from opera. j. Styles between recitative and aria, such as arioso, prevail. k. Special interval in the opening (a2) as an effect. MSC: Perhaps influenced by Near Eastern music which could have been heard in Venice. l. Tormenting as descending chromatic scale (m. 42) m. Tripletime lament at m. 49: two sorts of lament basses: descending scalar motion, followed by descending chromatic motion; but triple time implies dancing. 5. Heinrich Schütz2 (1585–1682) a. Came to Venice from near Dresden (central/eastern Germany) to study with Gio vanni Gabrieli. Was given a scholarship to study for a years see WT reading) but stayed longer. Parents wanted him to study law. b. The foremost among many German musicians who carried the Venetian style northward. c. During the horrific Thirty Years War (1618–48) returned to Venice to study with Monteverdi. When he returned north in 1629 carried even more Italian music with him and the “fresh devices” which “tickle the ears of today.” 1 Beth L. Glixon, “New Light on the Life and Career of Barbara Strozzi,” Musical Quarterly 81.2 (1997), p. 311. 2 Note: umlauts (the little dots) in German are mandatory. If you can’t write them at any given time, put an “e” in instead: Schuetz, or in email write: Schu:tz. (they affect the meaning of a word. If you tell your S.O. that he or she is “schön” you are saying “beautiful.” Write “schon” and you’re saying he or she is passé. 3 d. Saul, was verfolgst du mich, SWV 415 (= Schützwerkeverzeichnis = #415 in the index of all of Schütz’s works), from Symphoniae sacre III (ca. 1650) e. Sacred concerto (WHAT?): basically just a big motet with some instruments. f. Uses six solo singers and a double chorus (remember the cori spizzati of S. Marco) g. Story from Acts 26, where Saul is blinded on his way to Damascus: paraphrased “Saul, why do you persecute me? It will be hard for you, swimming upstream so.” Saul later becomes Paul h. Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saint Paul 1601 (Rome) i. Dynamics are original. j. verfolgst = persecute; set with extreme dissonance. k. Contrasting recitative “Es wird dir schwer werden,” with some imitation. l. At the end, one tenor (Christ?) calls Saul’s name throughout the complete texture. 6. Course Evaluations 7. Plan until the end of the semester: Exam (5/10), Other early Baroque traditions (Carissimi and the oratorio; Salamone Rossi and music in the synagogue, Baroque music in Mexico, Church music after 1650) (5/15), Music in the 1680s (Elizabeth de la Guerre, Corelli and the Trio Sonata, Opera: Lully, Purcell) (5/17) .

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