MUHL 3772: seeking drama 3/27/2017. Music as Expressive Force. sculpture: Gian Lorenzo Bernini ( ) Renaissance art symmetry structure

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1 Music as Expressive Force MUHL 3772: Renaissance art symmetry structure later 16 th century Counter Reformation shock intensity seeking drama Caravaggio, Perugino, Entombment, Pietà, sculpture: Gian Lorenzo Bernini ( ) Michelangelo, David, Bernini, David, ca

2 musical comparison: two Psalms Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord Josquin, De Profundis (Psalm 130) 1510s The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit at my right hand, and I shall make of your enemies a footstool for you C. Monteverdi, Dixit Dominus (Psalm 110) 1610 literary arts (from W/T 45) drama W. Shakespeare Jean Racine V. Galilei (music and actors) W/T 45 When musicians go... to the tragedies and comedies played by the actors and clowns in the theaters, let them for a while leave off their immoderate laughing and instead kindly observe in what manner the actors speak, in what range, high or low, how loudly or softly, how rapidly or slowly they enunciate their words.... [From this], one can deduce the way that best suits the expression of whatever meanings or emotion may come to hand. literary arts drama W. Shakespeare Jean Racine V. Galilei on actors, WT 45 poetry sensual Have you seen but a bright lily grow Before rude hands have touched it? Have you marked but the fall of snow Before the soil hath smutched it? Have you felt the wool of beaver, Or swan's down ever? Or have smelt o' the bud o' the brier, Or the nard in the fire? Or have tasted the bag of the bee? O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she! (Ben Johnson) 2

3 Opera Objectives I. intellectual background of opera people, aesthetic goals II. musical innovations III. the first operas The Florentine Camerata, 1570s 80s Count Giovanni de Bardi patron, war hero, amateur musician, soccer enthusiast hosted the Camerata Goal: Revive the power of ancient Greek music Count Bardi 3

4 Girolamo Mei ( ) studied ancient Greek theater/music music was MONOphonic (one voice) drama was sung throughout Vincenzo Galilei ( ) Lutenist/composer Polemicist Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music (1581) attacked counterpoint teacher to the Camerata know his son? Giulio Caccini, Le nuove musiche singer/composer W/T 44 4

5 W/T 44 On the Camerata: I can state that... I learned more from their savant speeches than I had in over 30 years study of counterpoint... (the mangler of poetry). and They further urged me to aspire that it might penetrate the minds of others, working those wonders so admired by the ancient writers, which counterpoint, in modern composition, rendered impossible. Giulio Caccini, Le nuove musiche singer/composer monody Vedró l mio sol, NAWM 67 madrigal: through composed Vedró l mio sol, NAWM 67 I ll see my sun; I ll see before I die that wished for day when your rays return to me. O my light, O my joy, much sweeter is my torment for you than delight in others. But without death I cannot suffer such a long martyrdom. And if I die, will die my hope to see ever again the dawn of such a beautiful day. 5

6 Giulio Caccini, Le nuove musiche singer/composer monody Vedró l mio sol, NAWM 67 madrigal: through composed figured bass dramatic sensuous J. Peri/ O. Rinuccini, l Euridice (the second opera) Opera! The Orpheus myth W/T 1 Prologue: Io, che d alti sospir L Euridice, prologue [sung by Tragedy ] I, who with deep sighs and tears am smitten, my face, covered now with grief, now with menace, once in ample theatres crowded with people, [I] made their faces turn pale with pity. Not of blood spilled from innocent veins, nor of eyes put out by an insane tyrant but of a spectacle unhappy to human sight, do I sing on this sad and tearful stage. Stay far from under this royal roof, dismal images, shadows of anguish. Behold, the gloomy buskins and the dark rags I transform, and awaken in the hearts sweeter affections. 6

7 J. Peri/ O. Rinuccini, L Euridice (the second opera) Opera! The Orpheus myth W/T 1 Prologue: Io, che d alti sospir strophic aria ritornello********** Purpose: address the audience/patron J. Peri, l Euridice (cont.) Aria: Nel pur ardor, NAWM 68a sinfonia (i.e., symphony) pastoral music for shepherds J. Peri/ O. Rinuccini, l Euridice Recitative: Per quel vago boschetto, NAWM 68b charged text heroic style dissonance sharpness flatness 7