CANTAR À LA VENESSIANA VENETIAN-LANGUAGE POLYPHONY IN THE SECONDO CINQUECENTO Daniel K. Donnelly SCHULICH SCHOOL OF MUSIC MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL AUGUST, 2014 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in Musicology © Daniel K. Donnelly, 2014 To my father, Kevin Donnelly, and My grandparents, Sam and Margaret Dierinzo, Who saw this project begun But not complete. Part I: Text Table of Contents Abstract iv Acknowledgements vii List of Tables ix List of Figures x Introduction 1 Overview of the Scholarly Literature 2 Chapter Outline 4 Chapter 1: L’antica materna lingua Language, Dialect, and Genre in Cinquecento Music Prints 9 1.1 The Question of Language 10 1.2 The Courtly Koiné 13 1.3 Languages and Dialects 15 1.4 Acrolect, Mesolect, Basilect 17 1.5 Benedetto Croce and the Letteratura dialettale riflessa 20 1.6 A Note on the Term ‚Dialect‛ 22 1.7 The Special Status of Venetian 24 1.8 Primary Characteristics of Venetian and its Sub-varieties. 26 1.9 A Note on Translating Dialect 31 1.10 Dialect Music 35 1.11 Text, Language, and Genre 40 1.12 Conclusion 46 Chapter 2: El venessian musicào Style and Subgenre in Venetian-language polyphony 48 2.1 Three Kinds of Venetian-language Song 49 2.2 Three-voice Villotte alla veneziana and the Neapolitan Tradition 53 i 2.3 The Villotte alla veneziana and Theatrical Improvisation 55 2.4 The ‚Venetian trill‛ 64 2.5 The Publication of Gabrieli’s Greghesche et Iustiniane 68 2.6 The ‚Madrigali Grechi‛ of the 1564 Primo libro delle greghesche 71 2.7 Willaert’s Dialect Works 73 2.8 Wert’s Tis pyri pir and the 1589 Canzonettas 78 2.9 Improvisatory Arie veneziane by Agostini and Molino 79 2.10 Conclusion 80 Chapter 3: Bizzarrie d’ogni saor Parody and Venetian-language poesia per musica 82 3.1 Literary Parody and Dialect ‚Translation‛ 83 3.2 Making the Magnifico: Andrea Gabrieli’s ‚Ancor che col partire‛ 86 3.3 Calmo’s Bizzarre rime as madrigali ariosi 95 3.4 Calmo, Pseudo-Calmo, and Improvised Emulation 101 3.5 Parodying Poesia per musica 106 3.6 Petrarch on a Barge: Translating ‚Pace non trovo‛ 109 3.7 Boccaccio el magnifico: musical parody on the literary model 122 3.8 Conclusion 129 Chapter 4: Making Private Music Public Antonio Molino’s Greghesche and the Venier Salon 132 4.1 ‚Burlesque‛ Laments for Adrian Willaert 132 4.2 The Greghesche and their Sources 137 4.3 Molino’s Rumeca linga: Venetian, Macaronism, or Patois? 138 4.4 The Life and Works of Antonio Molino 142 4.5 Molino’s Circle, Willaert, and the Venier Family Dog 150 4.6 Molino and the Donne zendile 156 4.7 Conclusion 164 Conclusions 166 Language, Genre and Musical Style 166 Improvisation and Parody 167 ii Civic Identity 169 Broader Possibilities 170 Appendix A Dedication and Texts from Agostini’s 1567 Bizzarre rime 173 Dedication 173 Texts 174 Appendix B Dedication and Texts from the 1564 Di Manoli Blessi il primo libro delle greghesche 179 Dedication 179 Texts 180 Appendix C Dedication and Selected Texts from Molino’s 1568 I dilettevoli madrigali<libro primo 189 Dedication 189 Texts (Greghesche) 190 Appendix D Dedication from Andrea Gabrieli’s 1571 Greghesche et Iustiniane<à tre voci 191 Dedication 191 List of Music Prints Consulted 192 Bibliography 194 iii Abstract This dissertation takes as its subject the complete corpus of Venetian-language polyphony printed in Italy during the 1560s and ‘70s, investigating issues of language and genre, ethnic and transnational identity, musical and literary parody, and the relationship of written music to extemporaneous performance. These collections constitute a natural corpus for research, as they represent the first true body of Venetian-language music ever committed to print, and are temporally partitioned from the later madrigal comedies that employ Venetian by a publication gap of nearly two decades. The four main chapters of this dissertation form an interrelated series of investigations into the major constituent publications of this repertoire, situating each within the broader social, linguistic, and musical context of cinquecento Italy. Chapter 1 examines a number of issues relating to dialect music in Renaissance Italy, and through Charles Ferguson’s concept of linguistic triglossia and Benedetto Croce’s concept of letteratura dialettale riflessa, which provide an overarching theoretical framework. Questions posed and addressed in this chapter include: what is the Venetian language, and how does it relate structurally and sociologically to contemporary linguistic systems? What is the relationship between language, dialect, and musical genre in Italian music prints? Chapter 2 seeks to individuate the key elements that set Venetian-language works apart from those in other dialects. Compositions for four or more voices are shown to occupy a cultural and musical space more closely approximating that of the madrigal than do other dialect works, as befitting the special status of the language in Venice. Questions posed and addressed in this chapter include: How are the giustiniane of the 1570s related to the late fifteenth-century genre of the same name? What are the musically defined subgenres of Venetian-language polyphony, and how do they reflect upon corresponding subgenres of the madrigal? How are Venetian works registrally and technically distinct from other dialect works by the same composers? How is compositional craft used as a signifier of the collocation of Venetian in an intermediate cultural space? Chapter 3 examines the musical legacy of the Venetian poet Andrea Calmo, whose stage performances and verse publications inspired two anthologies of three-voice giustiniane and the first collection of four-voice works published by Lodovico Agostini. Questions posed and addressed in this chapter include: How did poets and composers negotiate the conversion of text and music in the high style into dialect genres? How were such dialect parodies situated within the broader tradition of improvised recitation and performance in both theatrical and informal contexts? Chapter 4 examines the musical legacy of Calmo’s frequent associate Antonio Molino, whose stage performances and verse publications inspired the so-called greghesche: polyphonic songs that employed the Venetian language as spoken by ethnic Greeks. Multiple lines of evidence tie the composition and performance of these works to the salon of the patrician Domenico Venier, iv whose patronage was likely the driving force behind the participation of such a wide variety of composers in the landmark 1564 Primo libro. Questions posed and addressed in this chapter include: why are two of the five surviving polyphonic laments for Adrian Willaert included in a collection of dialect music? Who are the two female singers frequently referenced in the 1564 primo libro? How does Molino’s own first book of madrigals, published four years later, serve to situate the earlier anthology within the tradition of informal improvisation? Finally, the conclusion of this dissertation reflects on the many recurring threads that have a resonance beyond the particular corpus on which it is focused. These are connected to recent developments in the critical framework of multimodality, and may help to provide a way forward in the analysis of other repertoires that present similar questions to the scholarly investigator. Résumé Cette dissertation a pour sujet le corpus complet d’oeuvres polyphoniques en langue vénitienne imprimées en Italie durant les années 1560 et 1570, s’intéressant à des questions de langue et de genre, d’identités ethniques et transnationales, de parodie musicale et littéraire, ainsi qu’aux liens existant entre la musique écrite et la performance improvisée. Ces collections constituent un corpus idéal pour la recherche, puisqu’elles représentent le premier véritable ensemble d’oeuvres musicales en dialecte vénitien jamais imprimées, et sont séparées dans le temps par un intervalle de presque deux décennies des comédies madrigalesques subséquentes, composées en dialecte vénitien. Les quatres chapitres principaux de cette dissertation forment une série interreliée d’études des principales publications de ce répertoire, les situant chacune dans leur contexte social, linguistique et musical de l’Italie du cinquecento. Le chapitre 1 examine un certain nombre d’enjeux en lien avec la musique en dialecte de la Renaissance italienne, et par le biais du concept linguistique triglossia énoncé par Charles Ferguson et du concept de letteratura dialettale riflessa de Benedetto Croce, qui fournissent les fondements théoriques généraux. Les questions posées et abordées dans ce chapitre incluent : quelle est la langue vénitienne, et comment est-elle liée structurellement et sociologiquement aux systèmes linguistiques contemporains? Quelle est la relation entre langage, dialecte, et genre musical dans les éditions musicales italiennes? Le chapitre 2 cherche à différencier les éléments-clés distinguant les oeuvres en langue vénitienne de celles écrites en d’autres dialectes. Il a été établi que les compositions pour quatre voix ou plus occupent un espace culturel et musical plus proche de celui du madrigal que celles écrites en d’autres dialectes, conformément au statut spécial de cette langue à Venise. Les questions posées et abordées dans ce chapitre incluent: en quoi les giustiniane des années 1570 sont-elles reliées au genre du même nom datant de la fin du 15e siècle? Quels sont les sous- genres musicalement définis de la polyphonie en langue vénitienne, et comment reflètent-ils les sous-genres correspondants pour le madrigal? Comment les oeuvres vénitiennes sont-elles, au v plan technique et du registre, distinctes des autres oeuvres en dialecte par les même compositeurs? Comment les habiletés compositionnelles sont-elles employées en tant que signe de la collocation du vénitien dans un espace culturel intermédiaire? Le chapitre 3 examine l’héritage musical du poète vénitien Andrea Calmo, dont les performances scéniques et les publications en vers ont inspirées deux anthologies de giustiniane à trois voix, et le premier recueil d’oeuvres à quatre voix publié par Lodovico Agostini.