Giovanni Paolo Colonna "Psalmi Ad Vesperas" Op. 12: Introduction
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GIOVANNI PAOLO COLONNA Psalmi ad Vesperas OPUS DUODECIMUM, 1694 Edited by Pyrros Bamichas May 2010 WEB LIBRARY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC (www.sscm-wlscm.org), WLSCM No. 18 Contents INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... iii The Composer ........................................................................................................................ iii The Music .............................................................................................................................. vi Liturgical Practice .................................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. xii CRITICAL COMMENTARY ..................................................................................................... xiv The Sources .......................................................................................................................... xiv Other Sources for the Pieces of Op. 12 .............................................................................. xviii Editorial Method ................................................................................................................... xx Critical Notes ....................................................................................................................... xxi [1] Domine ad adjuvandum ............................................................................................. xxi [2] Dixit Dominus ............................................................................................................ xxi [3] Confitebor tibi Domine ............................................................................................. xxii [4] Beatus vir................................................................................................................... xxii [5] Laudate pueri Dominum ........................................................................................... xxiii [6] Laudate Dominum omnes gentes ............................................................................. xxiv [7] Laetatus sum ............................................................................................................. xxiv [8] Nisi Dominus............................................................................................................. xxv [9] Lauda Jerusalem ........................................................................................................ xxv [10] Magnificat anima mea Dominum ............................................................................ xxv TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS ............................................................................................. xxvii [1] Domine ad adjuvandum .............................................................................................. xxvii [2] Dixit Dominus [Psalm 109] ......................................................................................... xxvii [3] Confitebor tibi Domine [Psalm 110] .......................................................................... xxviii [4] Beatus vir [Psalm 111] ............................................................................................... xxviii [5] Laudate pueri Dominum [Psalm 112] .......................................................................... xxix [6] Laudate Dominum omnes gentes [Psalm 116] .............................................................. xxx WEB LIBRARY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC (www.sscm-wlscm.org), WLSCM No. 18 [7] Laetatus sum [Psalm 121] ............................................................................................. xxx [8] Nisi Dominus [Psalm 126]............................................................................................. xxx [9] Lauda Jerusalem Dominum [Psalm 147] ..................................................................... xxxi [10] Magnificat anima mea Dominum .............................................................................. xxxii PLATES ................................................................................................................................... xxxiii WEB LIBRARY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC (www.sscm-wlscm.org), WLSCM No. 18 Giovanni Paolo Colonna, Psalmi ad Vesperas, ed. Pyrros Bamichas, May 2010 p. iii ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Giovanni Paolo Colonna’s Psalmi ad Vesperas for voices and strings, published in Bologna in 1694, was composed primarily (but not exclusively) for performance at the great Bolognese Basilica of S. Petronio. This publication, an important document for the monumental Vespers music of late seventeenth-century Italy, contains ten liturgical settings suitable for Vespers services: the Introit Domine ad adjuvandum, eight Psalms, and a Magnificat. That these works were performed well outside Bologna and continued to attract interest is evidenced by manuscript copies made in Brussels, Cambridge, London, and Vienna. Some of these copies pre- date the original publication; others were made during in the eighteenth and even the first half of the nineteenth century. The editor believes that the splendid music included in this edition, with its elegant grandeur, will not leave the modern performer indifferent. The Composer Giovanni Paolo Colonna, born in Bologna on June 16, 1637, was the son of the well-known Brescian organ builder Antonio Colonna (alias “dal Corno”). His father trained him as a professional organ builder, and he gained considerable reputation in that profession. He helped with removing and encasing the two magnificent organs of S. Petronio when in 1658 they were relocated to the apse of the church. He also built an organ for the Duke of Modena. During his youth, Colonna received organ lessons in Bologna from Don Agostino Fillipucci, organist at the Oratorians’ church of the Madonna di Galliera.1 Subsequently he went to Rome to study composition and counterpoint with Antonio Maria Abbatini, Orazio Benevoli, and Giacomo Carissimi. His first appointment may have been as organist at S. Apollinare under Carissimi.2 In September 1658 Colonna was appointed second organist in S. Petronio, replacing the deceased Lucio Barbieri, but he did not begin at this post until December 1659 for reasons probably associated with the completion of his education in Rome. Two years later, in December 1661, the first organist, Giulio Cesare Arresti was discharged because of a dispute with the maestro di cappella Maurizio Cazzati. Hence, Colonna was temporarily the only organist at the Basilica.3 In 1662 he married Laura Felice Checchi, with whom he had two sons, Giovanni Antonio and Giovanni Domenico.4 After the appointment of Carlo Donato Cossoni––who was Colonna’s senior––as first organist, Colonna returned to his former position.5 Curiously, when in 1670 Cossoni left Bologna, Colonna did not replace him; nor was he appointed maestro di 1 Mary Nicole [Anne] Schnoebelen, “The Concerted Mass at S. Petronio in Bologna: ca. 1660–1730. A Documentary and Analytical Study” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1966), 78–80. 2 Marc Vanscheeuwijck, The Cappella Musicale of San Petronio in Bologna under Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1674–95): History-Organization-Repertoire (Brussels: Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 2003), 134–5. 3 Vanscheeuwijck, The Cappella Musicale of San Petronio, 135. 4 Peter Smith and Marc Vanscheeuwijck, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., s.v. “Colonna, Giovanni Paolo,” 153. 5 Vanscheeuwijck, The Cappella Musicale of San Petronio, 135. WEB LIBRARY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC (www.sscm-wlscm.org), WLSCM No. 18 Giovanni Paolo Colonna, Psalmi ad Vesperas, ed. Pyrros Bamichas, May 2010 p. iv ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ cappella when Cazzati left later in the year. That position remained vacant,6 even though Colonna seems to have assisted vice-maestro Orazio Ceschi during that time.7 The negotiations for the election of the new maestro di cappella began on August 31, 1671, but not until October 7, 1674––after a number of failed attempts––was the “Bolognese” Colonna able to garner the five votes necessary to be elected maestro di cappella. The problem lay with the Fabbriceria, the Vestry Board, which could not come to an agreement on one of the eleven candidates.8 Even so, a comparison of their December stipends shows that Cossoni and Cazzati earned almost twice as much as Colonna.9 The post of maestro di cappella at S. Petronio was not the only position that Colonna held in Bologna. On July 5, 1673, he was chosen unanimously among four other candidates in “il più bel partito, che fu a tutte fave bianche”[the most beautiful contest, with all white beans—that is, unanimously]10 for the post of maestro at the Madonna Della Galliera, the church of the Oratorian Fathers, which, according to Anne Schnoebelen, played an important role in the development of the Bolognese oratorio.11 Colonna held that post until September 30, 1688.12 Earlier, in 1672, he may also have been appointed to a similar post at S. Domenico.13 During the years 1689–90, he served as maestro at S. Giovanni in Monte, the official church of the Accademia Filarmonica. 14 According to the records of the Accademia, Colonna was elected