A Conductor’s Guide to Selected Concerted Madrigals from Madrigals Book 8 (Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi) by Claudio Monteverdi A document submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in the Ensembles and Conducting Division of the College-Conservatory of Music October 31, 2011 by Glenda Crawford 274 Senator Place #10 Cincinnati, OH 45220 [email protected] B.Mus. Ed. University of Western Ontario, 1981 B.Ed. University of Western Ontario, 1983 M.M. University of Western Ontario, 1992 Committee Chair: Earl Rivers, DMA ABSTRACT The purpose of the document is to present a Conductor’s Guide to performing nine concerted madrigals from Book 8 Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi by Claudio Monteverdi suitable for choral ensemble. The nine madrigals are Altri canti d’Amor, tenero arciero; Cosi sol d’una chiara fonte viva; Altri canti di Marte e di sua schiera; and Due belli occhi fur l’armi onde traffitta; Hor che’l ciel e la terra e’l vento tace; Ardo, avvampo, mi struggo; Vago augelletto che cantando vai; Dolcissimo uscignolo; and Chi vol haver felice e lieto il core. The document is divided into four main chapters: Historical and General Information, General Performance Issues, Examination of Individual Madrigals, and Finishing Touches. Chapter One contains a literature review and biographical information on Monteverdi. Monteverdi’s harmonic language, including seconda prattica and stile concitato is discussed. The nature of Italian Renaissance poetry is presented. Chapter Two discusses performing issues that all nine madrigals share such as size of vocal ensemble, vocal ranges, and vocal tone. Tempo, meter, and tempo relationships are examined. Use of dissonance, chromaticism, homophony and polyphony, cadences and harmonic language are given. Instrumental accompaniment, particularly the role of the basso continuo and obbligato, is discussed. Chapter Three examines the individual madrigals. In each madrigal the poem, musical treatment and specific compositional devices are addressed. ii Chapter Four provides recommendations for performing and programming the madrigals. The Appendix includes vocal ranges, IPA pronunciations and program notes. iii Copyright © 2011 by Glenda Crawford All rights reserved iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Earl Rivers for providing the opportunity to attain a doctoral degree at CCM. Being surrounded by such fine teachers and musicians has been an inspiring period in my career. To my choral conducting colleagues at CCM I am grateful, their camaraderie and friendship has been invaluable, and I look forward to long lasting friendships with them. In completing my document, the final step in securing my doctorate I would like to thank Dr. Brett Scott, for firstly suggesting these beautiful concerted madrigals and his careful and thoughtful remarks. I would also thank Professor David Adams for his patience and guidance in the IPA and Italian translations. I also am indebted to my colleague and friend, Sean Taylor for notating the musical examples. And finally, Dr Rivers, as my primary reader for my document, I thank for his conscientiousness and care. Leaving my home to embark on a doctorate and thus completely change the direction of my life has been one of my greatest challenges and accomplishments. I left behind many friends and colleagues who continued to help and encourage me. Their tremendous support has been invaluable and I am so grateful to have such remarkable people in my life. Finally, I wish to thank my two daughters Anna and Stephanie for their incredible love and support. In my absence they continued to flourish, mature and develop their own incredible independence and maturity. They have been a compelling force of encouragement to bring this goal to its completion. v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION 1 Introduction 1 Review of Literature 1 Monteverdi’s Biography 6 Monteverdi and Italian Culture 9 Poetry of the Italian Renaissance 12 Prima Prattica, Seconda Prattica, and Stile Concitato 15 Monteverdi’s Tonal Language 17 Book 8 Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi 19 CHAPTER 2: GENERAL PERFORMANCE ISSUES 22 Singing and Vocal Ensemble 22 Size of Vocal Ensemble 22 Vocal Ranges 23 Vocal Tone 23 Delivering the Text 24 Musical Considerations 26 Tempo, Meter, Tempo Relationships 26 Dynamics 29 Instruments 30 Basso Continuo 30 Realizing the Continuo Part 31 Obbligato Violins 33 CHAPTER 3: THE NINE MADRIGALS 34 Introduction 34 Canti Guerrieri (Songs of War) 35 1. Altri canti d’Amor 35 2. Hor che’l ciel e la terra 42 3. Così sol d’un chiara fonte viva 48 4. Ardo, avvampo 54 Canti Amorosi (Songs of Love) 60 5. Altri canti di Marte 60 6. Due belli occhi 67 7. Vago augelletto 70 8. Dolcissimo uscignolo 74 9. Chi vol haver felice e lieto il core 77 CHAPTER 4: FINISHING TOUCHES 79 Programming Issues and Ideas 79 vi Spatial arrangements of the performing forces 81 APPENDIX 84 Table 1 Overview of Madrigals 84 Table 2 Voice Ranges of Madrigals 85 IPA Pronunciation Guide to Madrigals 86 PROGRAM NOTES 91 BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 SOUND RECORDINGS 96 vii CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION Introduction Book 8 Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi (Madrigals of War and Love), published in 1638, represents the zenith of Monteverdi’s new style of composition that Monteverdi named seconda prattica, a style that he used in both his sacred and secular vocal music. In addition, Monteverdi’s juxtaposition of the passion of love and the brutality of war provide a subject that is a valuable representation of his quest to seek new intensities of musical expression. The emotional content is equally as vivid: love, passion, suffering, hate, and desolation. Monteverdi’s unending pursuit was to make the listener feel more vividly the pain and pleasure of living. The madrigals contained in this volume are a collection of a variety of styles and for a variety of musical forces. Of the thirty-one madrigals in Book 8, nine employ ensembles of four or more voices. These nine madrigals are suitable for choral ensemble. Review of Literature There are many excellent resources available that assist in scholarly research of Monteverdi. The major contributors to the body of knowledge of Monteverdi’s life and music are Leo Schrade, Denis Arnold, Denis Stevens, Gary Tomlinson, Paolo Fabbri, Massimo Ossi, Eric Chafe and Jeffrey Kurtzman. Schrade sets the historical stage for Monteverdi by giving an account and analysis of the vocal repertory of the sixteenth century leading up to Monteverdi. From this, Schrade discusses the madrigals within the context of Monteverdi’s three historical periods: Cremona, Mantua and Venice. 1 Denis Arnold’s book Monteverdi gives a synopsis of his life and music. Arnold’s The Monteverdi Companion, contains essays by various musicologists discussing specific aspects on the life and music of Monteverdi. Of particular use is the essay by Stevens, Madrigali Guerrieri, et Amorosi, which provides a discussion of Monteverdi’s prefatory introduction as well as an investigation of the overall structural framework of Book 8. Stevens, author of Monteverdi in Venice, shares his personal and professional experiences discovering and performing the music of Monteverdi. His historical account is a diary of his own experiences as one of the first performer-musicologists to investigate Monteverdi. He examined the composer’s scores and documents for his own performances and provides informative details regarding Monteverdi’s life, his music and performances in Venice. Another important book is his translation and commentary The Letters of Claudio Monteverdi. Arranged chronologically with extensive background information, Monteverdi’s correspondences give a clear picture of his personality, reveal details of his professional career, and give a fascinating panorama of the many people he knew and with whom he collaborated. These letters also give insight into performance practice issues, such as vocal ranges of singers as well as his personal life struggles. Fabbri is another important Italian Monteverdi scholar; his bio-bibliography (translated from the Italian by Tim Carter) is an assimilation of contemporary documents that give a broader spectrum of the life and music of Monteverdi. As Monteverdi’s life and work bridges the Renaissance and Baroque periods, an investigation into the transition of these periods including culture, ideology and music practice is required. Erich Cochrane’s The Late Italian Renaissance provides a cultural, economical, political, and religious framework. Tomlinson’s Monteverdi and the End of Renaissance links the effects of this transitory period to Monteverdi’s secular music. As 2 Monteverdi compositional techniques are central to laying the groundwork for functional tonality, Chafe’s Monteverdi’s Tonal Language will be resourced. He concludes that Monteverdi was beginning to assert tonal centers for organizing the musical material. He also contends that he used harmonic patterns to represent expressive content. Chafe’s findings will guide the structural analysis of the madrigals. Other stylistic attributes of the Book 8 Madrigals will be culled from Ossi’s Divining the Oracle: Monteverdi’s Seconda Prattica; Steven’s Monteverdi: Sacred, Secular, and Occasional Music as well as The New Monteverdi Companion (1985), co-edited by Arnold and Nigel Fortune. Another important Monteverdi scholar, Jeffrey Kurtzman, in Monteverdi’s Changing Aesthetics (1995) addresses music-text relationships in the madrigals and Monteverdi’s use of large-scale musical symbolism. All these sources help to clarify Monteverdi’s taxonomies of passions, of the voice, and of music and how they are manifest in his musical depictions. The Cambridge History of Italian Literature provides information about the poets and their respective styles as well as the trends in literature during Monteverdi’s life. James Haar’s collection of essays Italian Poetry and Music in the Renaissance provides essential background information leading up to Monteverdi’s seconda prattica.