Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera

Home , Antonio Sacchini, Baldassare Galuppi, Francesco Durante, Gian Francesco de Majo, Johann Adolph Hasse, Leonardo Vinci

Beverly Jerold (Princeton Research Forum) [email protected]

When the new year of 1777 broke upon Paris, the writer and Académie française member Jean-François Marmontel unexpectedly and repeatedly found himself the target of anonymous ridicule and sarcasm in the new Journal de Paris, the first daily newspaper to be established in France. This incited the quarrel between the Gluckists and the Piccinnists, in which the former used the power of a daily paper with no competitors to bar from the Paris Opéra any challenge to Gluck’s domination — an unusual episode to be treated in a Royal Musical Association Monograph. Its events inspired Marmontel’s epic poem Polymnie1, most of which he declined to publish until after his death because it involved recognizable personalities. The first four cantos, published in 1787, concern only historical personages and aesthetic principles of opera. While modern reference works have labeled Polymnie a ‘satire’, it is instead an accurate rendering of events that can be documented. As the librettist for the Italian composer Niccolò Piccinni’s first Paris opera Roland, Marmontel undoubtedly learned much about Italian opera and its leading figures, conveying it in two cantos of Polymnie. The work is named for one of the nine muses Polyhymnia, goddess of song and inventor of harmony, and relates her efforts on behalf of a natural, unaffected style of song and singing. When Marmontel contrasts Neapolitan composition with music having different traits, it is an oblique reference to Christoph Willibald Gluck’s operas for Paris. In 1773, another well-known figure, Charles Burney, also commented on the difference between the music of Johann Adolph Hasse, who composed in the Neapolitan manner, and that of Gluck’s new style:

1. Reprinted in Kaplan 1984. The English prose translation is my own.

Journal of Music Criticism, Volume 3 (2019), pp. 1-17 © Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini. All rights reserved. Beverly Jerold If the affected French expression of le grand simple can ever mean any thing, it must be when applied to the productions of such a composer as Hasse, who succeeds better perhaps in expressing, with clearness and propriety, whatever is graceful, elegant, and tender, than what is boisterous and violent; whereas Gluck’s genius seems more calculated for exciting terror in painting difficult situations, occasioned by complicated misery, and the tempestuous fury of unbridled passions2.

From many descriptions in Paris sources of the time, it is evident that Gluck’s operas depended upon stupendous effects, using astonishing volume and force for certain scenes. Accounts tell of singers spitting blood from the demands. The ‘harshness’ that Marmontel occasionally mentions refers to an overuse of what was literally screaming. While this was a great crowd attraction, informed connoisseurs reacted much as we would. In portions of the second canto, Polymnie conveys her artistic principles3:

Dès ce moment, elle fit ses délices From this moment, she delighted D’habituer leurs voix encor novices In accustoming their still inexperienced voices A ce beau son, qui de l’âme exhalé, To this beautiful tone, which, sent forth from the soul Egal et pur comme un trait de lumière, Even and pure like a beam of light, Devient un chant dès qu’il est modulé, Becomes a song when varied in pitch, Sans perdre rien de sa clarté première. Without losing any of its original clarity. Jamais de cris, même dans les éclats; Never any screams, even in bursts of passion; Jamais d’effort, la grâce n’en veut pas. Never any exertion, for grace does not permit it. Un naturel toujours simple et facile: A natural song, always simple and facile: L’art nous déplaît dès qu’il est indocile. The art displeases us as soon as it is complex. Peu d’ornements; la naîve beauté Few ornaments; the innocent beauty Disparaîtrait sous un luxe affecté. Would disappear under an affected extravagance. Jamais le chant n’est que l’accent de l’âme; Never is song only the soul’s accent; Si de l’amour il imite la flamme, If it imitates the flame of love, Il en aura la brûlante chaleur. It will have its burning heat. Vif et léger quand la gaieté l’anime, Quick and light when gaiety animates it, Dans la colère éclatant et sublime, In anger magnificent and exalted, En gémissant il peindra la douleur; In lamentation portraying sorrow; Ainsi, toujours, de nuance en nuance, Always so, from nuance to nuance, Du doux au fort passant avec aisance, Passing from soft to loud with ease, Des passions il prendra la couleur. It will take on the hue of the passions.

2. Burney 1959, p. 120. 3. Kaplan 1984, p. 66. The prose translation is my own. 2 Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera Gluck’s reform operas centered around declamation, which is inimical to symmetrical structure and, consequently, to melody. Therefore, they conveyed nearly the impression of a continuous recitative. According to Gluck’s supporters, melody was appropriate in concerts, but not for the Opéra4. Today this element of musical structure is described as

a musical statement terminated by a cadence or built of complementary members, each generally two to eight bars long and respectively called ‘antecedent’ and ‘consequent’. A musical period has been compared with a sentence, or period, in rhetoric. […] Symmetry provides another defining element in period structure. Complementary figures and phrases establish a regular pattern of movement that allows the listener to anticipate the final point of arrival in a self-contained unit5.

Beautiful melody, made possible by period structure, is the object when Polymnie pins her hopes for a new age in opera on the Italian composer Leonardo Vinci (c1696-1730), instructing him that her art can be compared to the workings of nature6:

Il en est un qu’a choisi Polymnie, Polymnie chose one of them Pour l’animer de son feu créateur: To animate it with his creative fire: ‘Viens, lui dit-elle, et m’écoute en silence; ‘Come, she told him, and hear me in silence; ‘Heureux Vinci: tu seras inventeur; ‘Blessed Vinci: you will be an inventor; ‘Et c’est par toi que mon règne commence.’ […] ‘And it is with you that my reign commences.’ […] ‘Lorsqu’à tes yeux, la rose, ou l’anémone ‘When to your eyes the rose or the anemone ‘S’épanouit; quand les dons de Pomone, ‘Opens, when the gifts of Pomona*, ‘Le doux raisin, la pêche au teint vermeil, ‘The sweet grape, the peach of rosy hue, ‘Sont colorés aux rayons du soleil, ‘Are colored by sunbeams, ‘Tu crois jouir de la simple nature? ‘Are you persuaded to delight in simple nature? ‘Apprends, mon fils, que la fleur, que le fruit, ‘Learn, my son, that the flower, the fruit ‘Tient sa beauté d’une lente culture; ‘Obtains its beauty from a slow culture; ‘Que la nature a d’abord tout produit, ‘That nature at first produced everything ‘Négligemment comme le fruit sauvage, ‘As if by chance, like the wild fruit, ‘Comme la fleur des champs et des buissons; ‘Like the flower of the fields and bushes;

*. Goddess of fruit trees.

4. Hence they ridiculed Marmontel’s brief treatment of period structure in his scholarly Essai sur les révolutions de la musique en France. 5. Ratner 2001. 6. Kaplan 1984, p. 67f. 3 Beverly Jerold When addressing Vinci, Polymnie cites the need for a rhythmic pulse, which, from all reports, was scarce at the Paris Opéra7:

‘Imite-moi; sous un orme où l’on danse, ‘Imitate me; under an elm where they dance, ‘Tu vois souvent Philémon et Baucis ‘You often see Philemon and Baucis* ‘Sauter ensemble! Un pas lourd, mais précis, ‘Leap together! A heavy step, but precise, ‘Marque le nombre, et note la cadence. ‘Marks the number and observes the rhythm. ‘Ce mouvement, dans le son de la voix, ‘This movement, in the sound of the voice, ‘A pour l’oreille un attrait qui l’enchante. ‘Has for the ear a charm that enchants it. ‘Dans ses forêts le sauvage qui chante, ‘In his forests, the native who sings ‘Fidèle au rythme, en observe les lois. ‘Rhythmically true observes its laws. ‘Tel est le chant, même dès sa naissance; ‘Such is song, even from its birth; ‘Et garde-toi par l’erreur aveuglé, ‘And beware the blind error ‘De lui donner un moment de licence; ‘Of giving it a moment of license; ‘Comme un pendule, il doit être réglé. ‘Like a pendulum, it should be steady, ‘Et la mesure en est l’âme et l’essence. ‘And regularity is its soul and essence. ‘Ce n’est pas tout: suspendus à-propos, ‘That is not all: suitably interrupted, ‘Ses mouvements sont mêlés de repos. ‘Its movements are mixed with repose. ‘Ainsi les sons, liés en période, ‘Thus the tones, linked together in a period, ‘Auront leur cercle aussi bien que les mots; ‘Will have their circle in the same way as words;

*. After Jupiter and Mercury had been refused hospitality everywhere, Philemon and Baucis entertained them. When the gods asked if they had a request, they replied that they would wish to die at the same time. In old age, Philemon became an oak tree and Baucis a linden. The ‘heavy’ step Marmontel attributes to them indicates great age, which, however, does not interfere with the intrinsic rhythm of the dance.

The desire for rhythmic regularity does not imply modern rhythmic steadiness, for it emanated from a context in which no musical pulse whatever could be detected. In a Lettre à M. Diderot (1767), Pascal Boyer critiques singers who took extra time to insert ornaments and various effects — embellishment that was called goût de chant:

Those who execute vocal music in what has succeeded in being called goût de chant do not need to know how many beats to make in each measure. The number of notes comprising the beats causes them no difficulty, for they proceed from one beat to another only when they have comfortably finished everything they wanted to say in one beat8.

7. Ibidem, p. 68f. 8. Boyer 1767, 55f.: «Ceux qui exécutent la Musique vocale, dans ce qu’on est parvenu à appeller le goût de chant, n’ont besoin que de sçavoir à combien de tems il faut battre chaque mesure: le nombre des notes qui composent les tems ne fait pas une difficulté pour eux, puisqu’ils 4 Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera To the modern musician trained with the metronome from an early age, it is difficult to imagine the rhythmic problems that occurred before this device existed and became widely adopted for training in rhythmic accuracy (toward the twentieth century). Early writers did not want a mechanical execution of the notes, but one in which a pulse can be felt even when bending the line. According to Polymnie, beautiful melody, for which only a few composers have the gift, is the hallmark of the style to be prized9:

‘Et mon enfant, laisse dire les sots: ‘And, my child, let the foolish say: ‘Comme l’esprit, l’oreille a sa méthode. ‘Like the spirit, the ear has its method*. ‘On prétendra qu’un style mutilé, ‘One will claim that a disfigured style, ‘Dur raboteux, dissonant, ampoulé, ‘Harshly rough, dissonant, bombastic, ‘Au naturel est un chant qui ressemble. ‘Is a song resembling the natural. ‘N’en crois jamais que l’oreille et l’instinct, ‘Never believe that the ear and instinct, ‘Qui d’un chant pur, analogue et distinct, ‘For a pure, analogous and clear melody ‘A préféré la rondeur et l’ensemble; ‘Has preferred fullness and mass; ‘Le grand problème et l’écueil de mon art, ‘The great problem and stumbling block of my art, ‘C’est le motif, c’est ce coup de lumière, ‘Is the motif [design or melody], this stroke of light, ‘Ce trait de feu, cette beauté première, ‘This dash of fire, this foremost beauty, ‘Que le génie obtient seul du hasard: ‘That genius obtains only by chance: ‘Un long travail peut donner tout le reste. ‘A long period of work can furnish all the rest. ‘Par des calculs on aura des accords; ‘By calculations one will have some chords; ‘Avec du bruit, on remuera les corps; ‘With loud sounds, one will move the body; ‘Mais la pensée est comme un don céleste, ‘But conception is like a celestial gift, ‘Je la réserve à mes vrais favoris; ‘I reserve it for my true favorites; ‘Je te la donne, à toi que je chéris. ‘I give it to you, to you whom I cherish. ‘Un maladroit quelquefois la rencontre; ‘Sometimes a clumsy person hits upon it; ‘Mais il la gâte ou la laisse échapper; ‘But he spoils it or lets it escape; ‘L’esprit, le goût, l’habileté se montre ‘Spirit, taste, skill appear ‘Dans le talent de la développer. ‘In the talent to develop it. ‘D’un dessin pur l’unité variée, ‘The unity varied by a pure design, ‘Un tour facile, élégant, arrondi, ‘A facile turn, elegant, rounded, ‘Un essor libre et sagement hardi, ‘A free flight and discreetly bold, ‘Et la nature avec l’art mariée: ‘And nature joined in wedlock with art: ‘Voilà le chant par les dieux applaudi.’ ‘There you have the song the gods applaud.’

*. A reference to music that overwhelms the senses; it speaks to the ear, instead of the spirit.

Polymnie wants to avoid effects designed to capture audience attention by their high volume and bombast — characteristics of both traditional French ne passent d’un tems à un autre que quand ils ont commodément fini tout ce qu’ils vouloient dire dans un tems». 9. Kaplan 1984, p. 69. 5 Beverly Jerold opera and Gluck’s operas for Paris. While the Baron Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, a German critic residing in Paris for many years, admired nearly all aspects of French culture, he found the tragédie lyrique disappointing (1764):

Rameau added orchestral accompaniments nearly everywhere in these récits. It is true that they are of poor enough taste, that they nearly always serve to suffocate the voice rather than support it, and that they have forced the singers at the Opéra to thrust out these screams and bellowings that are the torment of refined ears. One leaves a Rameau opera drunk with harmony and stunned by the noise of the voices and instruments10.

In eighteenth-century performances of Rameau’s and Gluck’s music, audiences heard something quite different from today’s refined interpretation, which is made possible by our greatly advanced period instruments and technique. Connoisseurs at the time were aware of improvements that could be made by uniting the best features of both Italian and French opera. In the third canto, Polymnie sees her hopes for a new age brought about by Vinci dashed by a man-made disaster11:

Dans le délire où son âme est ravie, In the frenzy with which his soul is carried away, Vinci compose, et ses brillants essais Vinci composes, and his brilliant endeavors Vont s’élevant de succès en succès. Are going to mount from success to success. C’en fut assez pour désoler l’Envie: That was sufficient to torment Envy: Car elle hait tous les biens de la vie. For she hates all good things of life. Tous les heureux le sont à ses dépens; All the fortunate will have to pay; Elle frémit, irrita ses serpents, She trembles, provokes her serpents, Les fit siffler, parcourut l’Italie, Has them hiss, traverse Italy, De tous côtés souleva des jongleurs, On every side excites some tricksters, Des bateleurs et de vils cabaleurs; Some mountebanks and vile intriguers; Mais en tout lieu rebutée, avilie, But everywhere rebuffed, disgraced, Et se lassant d’un inutile effort, And tired of useless effort, Elle s’adresse à l’ange de la mort. She appeals to the angel of death. Cet ange est sourd d’une oreille; et de l’autre This angel is deaf in one ear; and in the other Il n’entend rien que les voeux des méchants. Hears nothing but the desires of the wicked. Dur à la plainte, il méprise la vôtre, Merciless to plaint, he scorns yours, Tendres époux, bons amis, bonnes gens, Tender spouses, good friends, good people, Qui demandez qu’il épargne une mère, Who ask that he spare a mother, 10 . Grimm 1877-1882, vol. vi, p. 88 (October 1764): «Rameau ajouta presque partout à ces Un fils unique ou son vertueux père. An only son or his virtuous father. récits des accompagements d’orchestre. Il est vrai qu’ils sont d’assez mauvais goût; qu’ils servent Nature, amour, talens, grâces, beauté, Nature, love, talents, graces, beauty, presque toujours à étouffer la voix plutôt qu’à la seconder, et que c’est là ce qui a forcé les acteurs L’oreille sourde est de votre côté. The deaf ear is beside you. de l’Opéra de pousser ces cris et ces hurlements qui font le supplice des oreilles délicates. On sort Mais qu’un jaloux lui demande la perte But let a jealous one ask the ruin d’un opéra de Rameau ivre d’harmonie, et assommé par le bruit des voix et des instruments». De son rival, l’autre oreille est ouverte, Of his rival, the other ear is open, 11. Kaplan 1984, p. 70f. Et l’envieux n’est pas moins écouté. And the envious one is heard. Jugez du zèle et de l’ardeur extrême 6 Judge the zeal and extreme ardour Dont il répond à l’envie elle-même. With which he responds to Envy herself. Dés qu’il la vit arriver sur le seuil As soon as he sees her arrive on the threshold De sa demeure: ‘O fille de l’Orgueil! Of his abode: ‘O daughter of Pride! ‘De la bassesse ô fille encor plus chère! ‘From the vileness, O daughter still more dear! ‘Qui vous amène? Est-ce quelque importun ‘Who brings you? Is it some troublesome person ‘Dont en secret vous voulez vous défaire? ‘Of whom you wish to rid yourself in secret? ‘Expliquez-vous, et sans scrupule aucun: ‘Make it known, and without any scruple: ‘Je suis pour vous toujours prêt à mal faire, ‘I am always ready to do evil for you, ‘Vous le savez. Pour l’Orgueil votre père, ‘You know. For your father Pride, ‘J’ai quelquefois immolé bravement ‘I have sometimes valiantly sacrificed ‘Un peuple entier. Parlez donc librement, ‘A whole people. Thus speak freely, ‘Belle furie, et s’il faut, pour vous plaire, ‘Beautiful Fury, and if necessary to please you, ‘Un petit meurtre, un empoisonnement, ‘A little murder, a poisoning, ‘Rien n’est plus simple, et j’en fais mon affaire.’ ‘Nothing is simpler, and I take it upon myself.’

Le même soir au milieu d’un souper, The same evening, in the middle of a meal, D’un trait subtil le jeune homme est frappé. The young man was struck by a sharp arrow. Un poison lent dans ses veines s’allume; A slow poison flares up in his veins; Pâle et mourant, il languit desséché, Pallid and dying, he languishes wasting away, Comme un pavot sur sa tige penché, Like a poppy on its bent stem Quand du midi la chaleur le consume; When the noonday heat consumes it; Et, de la muse adorateur constant, And, faithful worshipper of the muse, Comme le cygne, il expire en chantant. Like the swan, he dies while singing.

A ce récit, la muse désolée, At this account, the Muse, devastated, Laissant tomber la lyre de sa main, Letting the lyre fall from her hand, Les yeux en pleurs, la tête échevelée, Her eyes in tears, her hair dishevelled, Part, vole, arrive; ô spectacle inhumain! Sets out, flies, arrives; O cruel spectacle! Son jeune amant sans couleur et sans vie! Her young lover without color and without life! ‘Il a péri victime de l’Envie,’ ‘He perished as a victim of Envy,’ S’écria-t-elle, en accusant les dieux; She cried, accusing the gods; Et ce cri même était mélodieux. And even this cry was melodious. Dans le délire où son âme est ravie, In the frenzy with which his soul is carried away, Vinci compose, et ses brillants essais Vinci composes, and his brilliant endeavors Vont s’élevant de succès en succès. Are going to mount from success to success. C’en fut assez pour désoler l’Envie: That was sufficient to torment Envy: Car elle hait tous les biens de la vie. For she hates all good things of life. Tous les heureux le sont à ses dépens; All the fortunate will have to pay; Elle frémit, irrita ses serpents, She trembles, provokes her serpents, Les fit siffler, parcourut l’Italie, Has them hiss, traverse Italy, De tous côtés souleva des jongleurs, On every side excites some tricksters, Des bateleurs et de vils cabaleurs; Some mountebanks and vile intriguers; Mais en tout lieu rebutée, avilie, But everywhere rebuffed, disgraced, Et se lassant d’un inutile effort, And tired of useless effort, Elle s’adresse à l’ange de la mort. She appeals to the angel of death. Cet ange est sourd d’une oreille; et de l’autre This angel is deaf in one ear; and in the other Il n’entend rien que les voeux des méchants. Hears nothing but the desires of the wicked. Dur à la plainte, il méprise la vôtre, Merciless to plaint, he scorns yours, Tendres époux, bons amis, bonnes gens, Tender spouses, good friends, good people, Qui demandez qu’il épargne une mère, Who ask that he spare a mother, Un fils unique ou son vertueux père. An only son or his virtuous father. Nature, amour, talens, grâces, beauté, Nature, love, talents, graces, beauty, L’oreille sourde est de votre côté. The deaf ear is beside you. Mais qu’un jaloux lui demande la perte But let a jealous one ask the ruin De son rival, l’autre oreille est ouverte, Of his rival, the other ear is open, Et l’envieux n’est pas moins écouté. And the envious one is heard. Jugez du zèle et de l’ardeur extrême Judge the zeal and extreme ardour Dont il répond à l’envie elle-même. With which he responds to Envy herself. Dés qu’il la vit arriver sur le seuil As soon as he sees her arrive on the threshold De sa demeure: ‘O fille de l’Orgueil! Of his abode: ‘O daughter of Pride! ‘De la bassesse ô fille encor plus chère! ‘From the vileness, O daughter still more dear! ‘Qui vous amène? Est-ce quelque importun ‘Who brings you? Is it some troublesome person ‘Dont en secret vous voulez vous défaire? ‘Of whom you wish to rid yourself in secret? ‘Expliquez-vous, et sans scrupule aucun: ‘Make it known, and without any scruple: ‘Je suis pour vous toujours prêt à mal faire, ‘I am always ready to do evil for you, ‘Vous le savez. Pour l’Orgueil votre père, ‘You know. For your father Pride, ‘J’ai quelquefois immolé bravement ‘I have sometimes valiantly sacrificed ‘Un peuple entier. Parlez donc librement, ‘A whole people. Thus speak freely, ‘Belle furie, et s’il faut, pour vous plaire, ‘Beautiful Fury, and if necessary to please you, ‘Un petit meurtre, un empoisonnement, ‘A little murder, a poisoning, ‘Rien n’est plus simple, et j’en fais mon affaire.’ ‘Nothing is simpler, and I take it upon myself.’

Something nefarious seems certain. As the Rome artist Pier Leone Ghezzi’s caricature of Vinci (1724) declares: «He died in Naples on 28 May 1730 on Sunday at the 17th hour, from a colic pain in an instant, without even being Beverly Jerold able to confess»12. In his Lettres familières (1739/1740), Charles de Brosses reports hearing gossip during his travels that Vinci was poisoned because of an affair with a woman. Now Polymnie must choose Vinci’s successors13:

Comme la muse, en montant sur sa nue, As the Muse climbed onto her cloud Allait chercher quelque rive inconnue, To search for some unknown shore Où le talent ne fît point de jaloux, Where talent creates no jealousy, Deux écoliers embrassant ses genoux, One of two pupils falling at her feet L’un d’eux lui dit, d’une voix ingénue: Said to her in a guileless voice: ‘Hasse et Léo, vont-ils être orphelins?’ ‘Are Hasse and Leo to be orphans?’ – ‘Ah! mes enfants, dit la muse attendrie, - ‘Ah! my children, said the muse tenderly, ‘Si des talents c’est ici la patrie, ‘If this is the fatherland of the talents, ‘Pour vos pareils je tremble et je vous plains.’ ‘I tremble for your equals and I pity you.’

A native of Hamburg, Hasse (1699-1783) studied composition with Alessandro Scarlatti and worked principally in Naples during the 1720s. Although he was appointed Kapellmeister at the Dresden court in 1731, he continued to return to Italy frequently, except for an extended stay in Dresden from 1740-1744. His operas achieved remarkable success among the Italians and he is frequently called il Sassone (the Saxon). As a teacher at one of the Naples conservatories, Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) excelled in oratorio and opera composition, and his reputation equaled that of Francesco Durante (below). Polymnie compares the gifted Hasse and Leo to nightingales whose rivalry remains friendly and untainted by envy. No cabal was necessary to ensure the success of one or the other, a reference to the events in Paris14:

12. Markstrom 1992. 13. Kaplan 1984, p. 71. 14. Ibidem, p. 71f. 8 Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera

Nobles rivaux, tandis que l’un éclate, Noble [nightingale] rivals, while one shines, L’autre attentif et le coeur palpitant, The other, attentive and with beating heart, D’un plaisir pur tressaille en l’écoutant, Thrills with pure pleasure on hearing it, Et, pour répondre au beau son qui le flatte, To respond to the beautiful sound pleasing it, Médite un son encor plus éclatant; He plans a sound still more magnificent; Tels au milieu d’une foule attentive Similarly, in the middle of an attentive crowd, Hasse et Léo, pleins d’émulation, Hasse and Leo, full of rivalry, Feu qui pénètre une âme jeune et vive Fire penetrating a young and ardent soul, Et qu’on prendrait pour l’inspiration Which would be taken for inspiration, Se disputaient, s’enlevaient la louange, Contended, carried off the praise, Se la rendaient par acclamation; Yielded it by acclamation [of the other]; Et ce rapide et glorieux échange, And this rapid and glorious exchange, De tous les deux comblait l’ambition. By both of them fulfilled ambition. On ne vit point une troupe servile Nowhere was seen a slavish troop De charlatans, barbouilleurs de pamphlets, Of charlatans, pamphlet scribblers, De l’un des deux moins amis que valets, Less friends than servants of one of the two, Livrer à l’autre une guerre incivile. Throwing at the other an uncivil war.

Now Marmontel’s poem introduces a subject that ultimately proved injurious to Italian opera — the desire of singers to win acclaim by vocal showmanship. While the Gluckists portrayed those favoring elements of the Italian style as wishing to import opera seria, they wanted only to apply its best aspects to French opera and considered Italian over-embellishment a defect to be avoided. Particularly in Italy, there were two quite different styles of composition for arias: in one, the composer furnished nearly all of the desirable embellishment, but in the other, the composer provided a bare, skeletal melodic outline to be filled in by the singer. Major composers almost always favored the first type to preserve their work from the disfigurement often inflicted by singers who were ill equipped for this task. In his satire, Il Teatro alla moda (Venice, c1720), the composer Benedetto Marcello tongue-in-cheek writes that the Virtuoso singer should completely change the repeat in the da capo aria any way desired, regardless of whether these changes fit with the accompaniment or completely distort the tempo. But this is really a trifling matter, for «the composer has become resigned to such things». Since there is no need to sing the composer’s notes, the Virtuosa should substitute something with a little more dash, which Marcello then describes in detail15. Shortly after Marcello’s satire appeared, Hasse began work in Naples and later fell in love with the mezzo-soprano Faustina Bordoni (1700-1781), one

15. Marcello 1948, pp. 399ff. 9 Beverly Jerold of the most illustrious singers of her generation. According to Marmontel’s Polymnie, Hasse paid a price for marrying Faustina in 1730. Whether or not his version of events is apocryphal, it is true that Hasse, unlike most other major composers, did write skeletal arias for her. In fact, the Berlin Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt drew a contrast between Hasse’s skeletal composition for Faustina and George Frideric Handel’s fully embellished writing16. In Polymnie, Faustina pursues a fashion that threatens true art — particularly since her high standing encourages other singers to do the same17:

16. Reichardt 1792/1793, Musikalisches Wochenblatt portion, p. 171f. See also Jerold 2008, pp. 95-109, which documents that Handel permitted additions only in an occasional measure left bare for select singers. 17. Kaplan 1984, p. 72f. 10 Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera

Un trouble, hélas! beaucoup plus dangereux Alas, a trouble much more dangerous Que de vains bruits, que d’obscures cabales, Than empty noises, than dark cabals, S’élève au sein de ce repos heureux. Broke out in the midst of this happy tranquillity. De sa Faustine Hasse était amoureux, Hasse was in love with his Faustina, Et sur la scène elle avait des rivales. And on the stage she had some rivals. Elle eût voulu, pour les mieux effacer, To eclipse them better, she wanted Des airs légers, où voltigeant sans cesse, Some nimble arias, where, ceaselessly fluttering, Sa voix brillante égalât en vitesse Her brilliant voice compared in speed L’éclair que l’oeil à peine a vu passer. To lightning the eye scarcely saw. Hasse avait beau vanter la mélodie In vain, Hasse praised the melody D’un chant plus vrai, plus simple, et plus touchant, Of a truer, simpler, and more touching song, ‘Et que me fait, lui disait-elle, un chant ‘And should I have, she said to him, a song ‘Où j’entendrai ma rivale applaudie? ‘Where I shall hear my rival applauded? ‘A m’affliger mon époux s’étudie; ‘My husband makes a point of afflicting me; ‘Il ne fait rien, jamais rien pour ma voix. ‘He writes nothing for my voice. ‘Ecoutez-la cette voix qui défie ‘Listen to this voice that challenges ‘Le violon, la flûte, le hautbois: ‘The violin, the flute, the oboe: ‘Voilà des sons; mais, hélas! je le vois, ‘These now are some sounds; but, alas, I see it, ‘On me néglige et l’on me sacrifie. ‘I shall be neglected and sacrificed. ‘Doux rossignol, ton ramage léger ‘Sweet nightingale, is your airy warbling ‘N’est-il donc plus notre brillant modèle? ‘No longer our brilliant model? ‘Ah! sur un son si je puis voltiger, ‘Ah! on such a sound I can fly, ‘Bien mieux que toi je chanterai, dit-elle.’ ‘I shall sing much better than you, said she.’ Et, comme lui gazouillant sa douleur, And, like it, warbling her sorrow, Faustine alors déplora son malheur. Faustina lamented her unhappiness.

‘Que faites-vous, ô ma chère Faustine? ‘What are you doing, my dear Faustina? ‘Lorsqu’on est triste est-ce ainsi qu’on badine? ‘When one is sad, does one play like this*? ‘Ah dédaignez ce luxe ambitieux; ‘Ah, disdain this ambitious extravagance; ‘Le pur accent de cette voix divine, ‘The pure tone of this divine voice, ‘L’accent de l’âme est bien plus précieux! ‘The accent of the soul is much more precious! ‘– Va, lui dit-elle, ôte-toi de mes yeux: ‘– Go, she told him, out of my sight: ‘Je sais pourquoi ton lâche coeur s’obstine ‘I know why your mean heart insists ‘A me déplaire, à me contrarier. ‘In offending me, in thwarting me. ‘Hélas! aussi pourquoi se marier?’ ‘Alas! and so, why marry?’ Dans le ménage alors guerre intestine; In the household, then, internal war; L’époux céda. Dans un chant brillanté The husband yielded. In a brilliant song Il prodigua les trésors de son style. He squandered the treasures of his style. Encore hélas! sut-il en homme habile Alas again! as a skillful man he knew how A la richesse allier la beauté. To unite beauty to richness. Mais le succès qu’obtint la nouveauté, But the success obtained by the novelty Des faux brillants fut la source fertile; Of the false diamonds was a fertile well-spring; Vice applaudi n’est que trop imité: A vice applauded is only too much imitated:

*. In other words, adding a great deal of embroidery turns a sad song into a playful one.

11 Beverly Jerold This implies that Faustina wanted skeletal melodic lines to embellish with her own creations, and her success increased the taste for ever greater vocal displays that Marmontel depicts as having a harmful effect on Italian opera. While her embellishment seems to have been relatively modest18, abuses became increasingly pronounced during the second half of the eighteenth century. From certain early accounts, we have concluded that heavy embellishment was desirable, but many texts such as Marmontel’s indicate that it was instead a blight on Italian opera. Singers’ wish to outdo their rivals also often forced fine composers to write much more elaborate arias than otherwise. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736), however, remained true to Polymnie’s precepts during his tragically short career, as she observes after lamenting Faustina’s decision19:

De ce malheur la Muse se désole; The Muse grieves over this misfortune; Elle s’en va pleurer à son école, She goes to weep at her school, Elle aperçoit un de ses nourrissons, She finds one of her pupils Sur le clavier méditant ses leçons: At the keyboard, thinking over her lessons: ‘O toi, dit-elle, en qui l’esprit et l’âme ‘O you, she said, in whom the spirit and soul ‘Semblent si purs, aimable adolescent ‘Seem so pure, kind adolescent ‘Qui du génie as respiré la flamme, ‘Who has breathed the flame of genius, ‘Va te montrer comme un astre naissant; ‘Go show yourself as a rising star; ‘Et du faux goût détruisant l’imposture, ‘Destroying the illusion posed by false taste, ‘Ramène l’art auprès de la nature. ‘Restore the art in the service of nature. ‘Elle permet quelques brillants éclats; ‘It permits some brilliant bursts; ‘Mais l’homme chante, et ne gazouille pas. ‘But man sings and does not warble. ‘–Rassurez-vous lui répond Pergolèse. ‘–Set your mind at ease, replies Pergolesi. ‘La vanité, le caprice léger, ‘Vanity, the light-minded caprice, ‘Le goût du temps, ce tyran passager, ‘The taste of the times, this tyrannical passerby, ‘N’obtiendront rien de moi qui vous déplaise.’ ‘Will obtain nothing from me to displease you.’ Il tint parole: et l’ingénuité He kept his word: and ingenuousness Fut l’attribut de son rare génie. Was the emblem of his rare genius. Vrai dans son chant, vrai dans son harmonie, True in his song, true in his harmony, Il fut sublime avec simplicité. He was sublime with simplicity.

Despite his brief life, Pergolesi’s music had a profound effect; perhaps no other composer is cited so often in the literature from this period. The scene now shifts to the master teacher Durante (1684-1755), a foremost composer of the Neapolitan school who taught at two Naples conservatories. After Pergolesi’s untimely death, he brings Polymnie his pupils Niccolò Jommelli [ Jomelli] (1714-

18. See Buelow 1977. 19. Kaplan 1984, p. 73. 12 Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera 1774), Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785), and Gian Francesco de Majo [Maio] (1732-1770)20:

Muse éplorée, à ce nouveau malheur, Weeping Muse, at this new misfortune, Par le Destin tu te crus poursuivie; You believed yourself pursued by Destiny; Tu succombais à ta vive douleur, You succumbed to your keen sorrow, Lorsqu’un vieillard qui, fidèle à ton culte, When an old man who, faithful to your creed, Avait sans cesse accompagné tes pas, Has ceaselessly accompanied your steps, Vint de tes sens apaiser le tumulte. Came to calm the tumult of your senses. Tel qu’on nous peint ou Nestor ou Calchas, In appearance like Nestor or Calchas*, En cheveux blancs, en tunique flottante, With white hair, in flowing tunic, A tes genoux tu vis tomber Durante. At your feet you saw Durante fall. ‘Muse, dit-il, ne vous désolez pas, ‘Muse, he said, do not grieve, ‘D’un Jomelli regardez la jeunesse, ‘See the freshness of Jommelli, ‘L’aigle du chant, Galuppi prend l’essor, ‘The eagle of song, Galuppi takes flight, ‘Maio s’élève, et malgré ma vieillesse, ‘Majo ascends, and, in spite of my great age, ‘J’espère un jour vous donner mieux encor: ‘I hope one day to give you still better: ‘Car le talent ressemble au rameau d’or; ‘For talent resembles a bough of gold; ‘Qu’on le cultive, il renaîtra sans cesse.’ ‘Cultivated, it springs up again endlessly.’

*. Nestor, King of Pylos in Greece, the oldest and most experienced chieftain at the siege of Troy, Calchas, a Greek soothsayer prominent at the same event. Both were highly respected advisers.

From their tentative beginnings, Polymnie’s artistic principles are bearing fruit21:

De celle-ci les regrets sont finis. The sorrows of [Polymnie] are finished. L’espoir renaît, et les larmes tarissent; Hope springs up, and tears cease; De tous côtés ses écoles fleurissent; On all sides her schools flourish; De tous côtés vingt théâtres rivaux, On all sides twenty rival theaters De ses enfants couronnent les travaux. Crown the works of her children. Mais ce n’est pas seulement par tes plaintes, But it is not only by your plaints, Muse du chant, que les coeurs sont émus. Muse of song, that hearts are moved. Tu peins la joie, et Thalie et Momus You represent joy, and Thalia and Momus* have T’ont dû souvent le succès de leurs feintes. Often owed to you the success of their inventions. Combine de fois ton orchestre éloquent How many times has your eloquent orchestra A relevé la bassesse du drame! Relieved the drama’s lowliness!

*. Thalia, the muse of comedy. Momus, the sleepy god, carps at everything.

20. Ibidem, p. 73f. 21. Ibidem, p. 74. 13 Beverly Jerold As Italian opera spread throughout Europe, the composer Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768) and the alto castrato Antonio Bernacchi (1686-1756) trained singers in widely divergent manners — the former in a chaste style with few embellishments and the latter with a great many ornaments. According to a note in the posthumous 1818 Paris edition of Marmontel’s Polymnie: «A famous castrato, born in Bologna, Bernacchi established a school there around 1736. He is regarded as the originator of some abuses that slipped into the art of singing. Pistocchi, his teacher, exclaimed one day on hearing him: ‘I taught you to sing, and you want to play [show off]’»22.

Sous Bernacchi s’élève un jeune essaim Under Bernacchi a young crowd arises D’Atys nouveaux qui partout se répandent. Of new Atys’s who scatter everywhere*. L’Ebre, le Rhin, la Néva, les attendent. The Ebro, the Rhine, the Neva await them. De Porpora le goût sévère et pur The austere and pure taste of Porpora Forme la voix à vingt jeunes canentes, Forms the voice of twenty young singers, Qui, des dortoirs de leur asile obscur, Who, from the dormitories of their humble refuge, Vont, sur un char, s’élancer rayonnantes, Go in a chariot to rush radiantly Dans des palais brillants d’or et d’azur To some brilliant palaces of gold and azure Donner des lois à l’Europe soumise, To give some principles to submissive Europe, Et sur les bords de la fière Tamise, And on the banks of the proud Thames, Attendrir l’âme à l’Anglais le plus dur. To move the soul of the most unfeeling Englishman.

*. In Phrygian and Greek mythology, Atys, a beautiful youth beloved by the goddess Rhea, was transformed into a pine tree and violets sprang from his blood. Since he was a eunuch, the usage here symbolizes the Italian castrati whose voices were in demand in much of Europe.

At the end of his life, Durante brings Polymnie another three stellar pupils: Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779), Antonio Sacchini (1730-1786), and Niccolò Piccinni (1728-1800)23:

22. «Je t’avais appris à chanter, et tu veux jouer». Cited by ibidem, p. 74. 23. Kaplan 1984, p. 75. 14 Marmontel/[Piccinni] on Neapolitan Opera

Enfin Durante, accablé de vieillesse, Finally, Durante, burdened with age, Vient présenter à la chaste déesse Comes to present to the chaste goddess Trois beaux enfants qu’il appelle jumeaux; Three fine children whom he calls triplets; ‘Muse, dit-il, prépare trois rameaux ‘Muse, he says, prepare three boughs ‘De ce laurier qu’au génie on réserve. ‘Of this laurel reserved for genius. ‘De ces enfants je connais bien la verve; ‘I know well the verve of these children; ‘Et de tous ceux que vous avez pressés ‘And, of all those whom you have pressed ‘Dans votre sein, aucun ne les efface. ‘To your breast, none surpasses them. ‘J’hésiterais â leur marquer leur place: ‘I would hesitate to assign to them their place: ‘Ils sont jumeaux, c’est vous en dire assez. ‘They are triplets, it is for you to decide. ‘–Ah! bon vieillard, que j’aime à vous entendre! ‘–Ah! good old man, how I love to hear you! ‘Oui, chers enfants, croissez, embellissez: ‘Yes, dear children, spring up, grow more handsome: ‘Je les connais, dit-elle: en mère tendre, ‘I know them, she said: as a tender mother, ‘Plus d’une fois je les ai caressés. ‘More than once I have caressed them. ‘Dites-leur bien que le don le plus rare, ‘Tell them clearly that the rarest gift ‘C’est un chant pur, qu’il le faut varier, ‘Is a pure melody, that it should be varied ‘Sans que jamais il soit rude ou bizarre; ‘Without ever becoming harsh or bizarre; ‘Et, fussent-ils chez un peuple barbare, ‘And, were they to be among uncivilized people, ‘Que rien jamais ne les force à crier.’ ‘That nothing would ever force them to screaming.’ Ces trois rivaux, devenus si célèbres, ‘These three rivals, who have become so celebrated, Etaient, je crois, Traëtta, Sacchini, Were, I believe, Traetta, Sacchini, Et toi, sensible et riant Piccinni, And you, sensitive and pleasing Piccinni, Cygne odieux à des hiboux funèbres. Swan, odious to mournful owls. Dans ce moment le vieillard s’attendrit, At this moment the old man, moved, Les embrassa, doucement leur sourit. Embraced them and smiled tenderly. ‘Adieu, dit-il, adieu, jeune immortelle; ‘Adieu, he said, adieu, young immortal; ‘J’ai déposé mes aiglons sous votre aile; ‘I have put my eaglets under your wing; ‘Je suis content, je vais mourir en paix. ‘I am happy and shall die in peace. ‘Puisse, après moi, le don que je vous fais, ‘Take, after me, the gift I make you, ‘Me rendre cher à la race nouvelle.’ ‘To endear me to the new generation.’

Thus Marmontel traces the development of the Neapolitan school of composition as follows, citing Durante’s role in molding many strong composers:

Vinci Hasse Leo Pergolesi Jommelli Galuppi Majo Traetta Sacchini Piccinni

In his collaboration with Piccinni for the Paris Opéra, Marmontel sought to combine the best of both French and Italian opera. Each contained excellent 15 Beverly Jerold features, as well as elements needing the various reforms that had been in the air for more than twenty years. Most Italian composers of opera seria used one of the Imperial poet Pietro Metastasio’s librettos, whose format comprised a long series of scenes. In each, the drama’s action is set to simple recitative (which was slighted by singers and largely ignored by the audience), followed by an exit aria that singers used to gain acclaim through displays of virtuosity. While Gluck has today been granted major credit for reforming opera, chiefly on the basis of the reform manifesto accompanying the 1769 edition of Alceste (written by his librettist Ranieri de’ Calzabigi), reform efforts by certain Italian composers predated Gluck’s first reform opera Orfeo (1762). The earliest among these may be Jommelli, whose operas in collaboration with Mattia Verazi for Stuttgart in the 1750s reflect remarkable innovation, and in two instances combine obbligato recitative, aria, ensemble, chorus and programmatic orchestral music in dramatic scene complexes and spectacular, French-inspired finales24. Traetta, too, adopted some of these features from the late 1750s onward25. Majo was another whose work shows creative reforms. A major difference between these composers and Gluck is that the German concentrated on a ‘drama of declamation’ in which melody is subservient to text set in a speech-like manner. In a charming fashion, Marmontel’s Polymnie outlines the primary figures of Italian opera and its strong characteristics, which include the pre-eminence of beautiful melody. Also treated is its chief defect — the emphasis on virtuosity by its prominent singers and the resulting adverse effect on composition.

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