Vivaldi and the Siciliana: Towards a Critical Appraisal
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Nicholas Lockey VIVALDI AND THE SICILIANA: TOWARDS A CRITICAL APPRAISAL When we apply a label such as “ritornello form” or “sarabande” to a piece of music, we rely on the assumption that a certain set of properties is frequently found in pieces that are given such a label and that all readers associate the same characteristics with our particular label of choice. But even if everyone can agree that a particular designation is appropriate for a specific piece of music, this label should not discourage anyone from further exploration of the features of the music, because – to take the example of ritornello form – no two ritornello- form pieces are exactly the same in detail (unless, of course, the music of one piece is literally re-used for another piece); and not every ritornello-form piece exhibits the traits of ritornello form in the same degree and manner as other ritornello-form pieces. Thus a label is really only a starting point, not a destination, on the path towards understanding the many meanings of a piece of music. I believe that in the case of Vivaldi and the siciliana (a term that in eighteenth-century music appears to designate a character type or family of character types rather than a particular formal type) the time has come to travel further down such a path. First, however, there are some uncertainties regarding the starting point (i.e., the application of the label “siciliana” itself) that need to be addressed, which is the main task that the first half of this paper begins to explore. To my knowledge, there is not a single definitely authentic work by Vivaldi that he or one of his most authoritative scribes labelled siciliana, siciliano or alla siciliana in the surviving sources. Nevertheless, there are plenty of pieces that resemble many of the traits associated with the siciliana when compared with theoretical descriptions in treatises of the period and with self-proclaimed sicilianas by other composers (although many composers of the eighteenth century wrote movements that appear to be sicilianas in all but name, perhaps believing that the association was so obvious that a designation was superfluous, or that identification as a siciliana was less important to the 1 appreciation of a piece than the material of the piece itself). The issue becomes problematic when one tries to compile a list of Vivaldi’s sicilianas for the purpose of comparison. What makes a piece a siciliana and not just a piece in a Nicholas Lockey, Dept. of Music, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544-1007, USA. e-mail: [email protected] 1 For example, Bach and Handel rarely used the term “siciliana”, and a cursory glance at the works of Telemann, who tends to be more particular in labelling the character of his individual movements, reveals that even he does not always apply the designation to works that seem to fit the descriptions discussed below. – 141 – – 1 di 20 – NICHOLAS LOCKEY slow or moderate 6/8 metre? There are plenty of writings from the last seventy 2 or so years that identify various works as sicilianas. I want to take a brief moment to look at how we can define the siciliana in the early eighteenth century on the basis of treatise references and musical examples – not necessarily because I think we have mislabelled some of Vivaldi’s pieces, but because I want to point out some of the difficulties in determining what constitutes a siciliana in Vivaldi’s works. Once a point of reference is established, the goal of the second section of this paper is to determine what a siciliana might have meant to Vivaldi and how rigidly or flexibly this conception influenced the 3 characteristics of the pieces that seem to be sicilianas. My hope is that, through future analysis and research, it may also be possible to explore the significance of the siciliana to Vivaldi’s audiences, to his career and to the legacy of the siciliana in the early eighteenth century and beyond. Sébastien de Brossard (Dictionaire de musique, 1703) mentions that the saltarello is a kind of leaping motion (presumably borrowing a dance step to describe a melodic shape), particularly involving a dotted half note or quarter 4 note in a triple-metre piece, as in forlanes de Venise, sicilianas and English gigues. Elsewhere, he describes the siciliana as a type of gigue, specifying that it is in 12/8 or 6/8 and makes regular use of the rhythmic figure of dotted-eighth, sixteenth, eighth. Johann Mattheson, in Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre (1713), notes that the siciliana, like the napolitana and barcarolla, is in a simple, uncomplicated style, the siciliana itself being a kind of slow English gigue used to express a state of 5 “tendresse”. 2 Writings that identify particular Vivaldi pieces as sicilianas are quite numerous and include: MICHAEL TALBOT, The Sacred Vocal Music of Antonio Vivaldi (“Quaderni vivaldiani”, 8), Florence, Olschki, 1995; KARL HELLER, Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice, trans. from the German by David Marinelli, Portland, Oregon, Amadeus Press, 1997; and CESARE FERTONANI, La musica strumentale di Antonio Vivaldi (“Quaderni vivaldiani”, 9), Florence, Olschki, 1998. Perhaps hinting at a certain uneasiness with applying the label, several modern writers like to use expressions such as “in siciliana rhythm” (MICHAEL TALBOT, The Sacred Vocal Music, cit., pp. 275, 290, 292, 344), “siciliana- like aria” (Ibid., p. 434) and “in tempo di siciliana” (CESARE FERTONANI, La musica strumentale, cit., pp. 160, 199, etc.) in addition to saying or implying elsewhere that something “is” a siciliana. 3 It must be emphasized that, without a single siciliana designated as such by Vivaldi, it is not possible to prove that Vivaldi thought of any of his pieces as sicilianas. However, strong resemblances to the theoretical descriptions and designated sicilianas by Vivaldi’s contemporaries make it appear fairly reasonable for modern audiences to associate the pieces listed below with the siciliana, although the mere act of using perceived resemblances to limit what constitutes a siciliana may also result in a view that is narrower than Vivaldi’s conception of the type. How Vivaldi’s audiences would have heard these pieces – or any sicilianas – is a much broader issue (worth investigating) than space here permits us to consider. 4 SÉBASTIEN DE BROSSARD, Dictionaire de musique, contenant une explication des termes grecs, latins, italiens et françois, Paris, 1703/R, 2/1705 as Sébastien de Brossard: Dictionary of Music (Paris, 1703), “Musical Theorists in Translation”, 12, ed. and trans. by Albion Gruber, Stroudsburg, PA, Sun Press, 1982. See “Saltarella” (p. 102) and “Sicilienne” (p. 113). 5 JOHANN MATTHESON, Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre, Hamburg, Benjamin Schillers Witwe, 1713/R, p. 204. – 142 – – 2 di 20 – VIVALDI AND THE SICILIANA: TOWARDS A CRITICAL APPRAISAL Johann Quantz, writing in his Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu 6 spielen (1752), makes four references to the siciliana. He defines the siciliana as a piece in 12/8 metre with dotted notes “interspersed”, accompanied by a halting or alla zoppa pattern of a quarter followed by an eighth, that should be 7 played not too slowly and with very little ornamentation. He also defines four types of movement based on tempo, with the siciliana assigned to the third 8 class, which he calls the Adagio cantabile. Within this category, which includes the tempo and character designations discussed below, Quantz states that while each designation has its own meaning, “it refers more to the expression of the dominant passions in each piece than to the tempo proper”. Table 1. Quantz’s Tempo Categories (an asterisk* designates a heading used by Vivaldi for a siciliana) Allegro assai Allegretto Adagio cantabile Adagio assai Allegro di molto Allegro ma non tanto *Cantabile Adagio pesante Presto Allegro non troppo Arioso Lento Etc. Allegro non presto *Larghetto Largo assai Allegro moderato Soave Mesto Etc. Dolce *Grave Poco Andante Etc. Affettuoso Pomposo Maestoso Alla Siciliana Adagio spiritoso Etc. (Note: Vivaldi also used terms not specifically listed by Quantz; see below) We can compare the composite definition derived from these treatises against some of the pieces labelled siciliana (or a similar term) in eighteenth- century sources. Figure 1 gives the opening measures of the melodies of five pieces labeled siciliana in the surviving sources. Comparison of these and other examples suggests a slow, gigue-like piece in 6/8 or 12/8 metre, using the characteristic rhythmic figure of dotted eighth–sixteenth–eighth with some degree of frequency (especially in the opening measure of the melody), an accompaniment that favors a repeating quarter–eighth rhythm, a relatively slow (but not too slow) tempo, either the 6 JOHANN JOACHIM QUANTZ, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen, Berlin, Voss, 1752/R, 3/1789/R, translated as Johann Joachim Quantz: On Playing the Flute. 2nd edn, trans. with notes and an introduction by Edward R. Reilly, New York, Schirmer Books, 1985. 7 Ibid., Chapter XIV, § 22 (p. 168), Chapter XVII, Section II, § 9 (p. 221) and Chapter XVII, Section II, § 51 (p. 287). 8 Ibid., Chapter XVII, Section VII, § 49 and 50 (pp. 284-285). – 143 – – 3 di 20 – NICHOLAS LOCKEY Figure 1. Incipits of named Sicilianas by Vivaldi’s Contemporaries Handel: Amadigi (1715), aria Gioie, venite in sen Handel: Concerto grosso, Op. 6 no. 8, 5th movement (1739) Leo: Flute Concerto in G major, 2nd movement Telemann: Violin Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G7, 3rd movement Quantz: Sonata in G minor for Flute, Violin and Continuo, QV 2:34, 3rd movement – 144 – – 4 di 20 – VIVALDI AND THE SICILIANA: TOWARDS A CRITICAL APPRAISAL major or the minor mode and a relative simplicity of style that does not invite much ornamentation.