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Developments of the Florentine Camerata in Music and Text

By Robbie Blake

With the advent of the 16th Century, composition, performance and practice in the contemporary music was changing. Many instruments, most of which would lead to our modern day orchestra, were emerging; a move towards tonality had begun with the establishment of major and minor modes; professional performers were heightening the standard of music to be heard and new national styles had their ferment in this period. At the same time, a group of intellectuals were casting their eyes backwards to antiquity in search of refinement and emulation of the ancient Greek musical style; this group was the Florentine Camerata.

The Camerata Chiefly a group of intellectuals and musicians, the Camerata was led by the Florentine noble Giovanni de Bardi, and included composers and virtuoso singers Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini, poet Ottavio Rinucini, and nobleman and musician Vincenzo Galilei amongst others. Their main discussion and occupation as a group was that concerning the music of ancient Greece.1 The music that they thought to be of this ancient style was greatly different to that of renaissance polyphony. The text was of utmost importance; Caccini says that he thought to follow that style so praised by Plato [] who maintained music to be nothing other than rhythmic speech with pitch added (and not the reverse!).2 They condemned and attacked the renaissance style as they concluded the poetry was
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John Walter Hill, Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580 1750 (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 2005), 25. 2 Oliver Strunk (ed.), Source Readings in Music History: The Baroque Era, Vol. 4, Leo Treitler (Rev. ed.) (W. W. Norton & Co., 1950), 100.

2 literally torn to pieces (laceramento della poesia), because the individual voices sang different words simultaneously.3[See Ex. 1] They sought to compose a style for solo voice that reflected the text, which was rhythmically governed by it and expressed the meaning as faithfully and clearly as possible. These were the principles that the Camerata believed to be of ancient Greek music. From these thoughts and ideals, another form of composition was to be added to the musical repertoire. This was monody, which means, fittingly, one song in Greek.4

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Example 1 Palestrina, O crux Ave, Soprano and alto, bar 21-29.

Courtly Musicians By its very nature, the Camerata was tied up with the Florentine court proceeding heavily, and in fact Caccini and Peri were both employed by the Duke Ferdinando de Medici in the early 16th century, if not before.5 It was at court festivities where the theories and beliefs of the Camerata were first exposed. During the wedding celebrations of the Dukes marriage to Chrsitine de Lorraine in 1589, the play La pellegrina was performed with musical interludes based on ancient mythology. These interludes, called intermedi, were composed and sung by members of the Camerata: Caccini, Peri and, the Roman, Emilio de
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Manfred F. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1947), 5. 4 David Schulenberg, Music of the Baroque (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 48. 5 Tim Carter, Jacopo Peri in Music & Letters, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1980), 124.

3 Cavalieri. The intermedi consisted of songs, dances and choruses. Caccini composed the fourth intermedio, which was sung by his wife; Peri composed and performed in the fifth; and Cavalieri composed the sixth, Godi turba mortal.6 In this solo vocal work, Godi turba mortal, the voice and text take full attention. The melody is a mixture of syllabic and melismatic passages. The melismatic passages are placed on words being emphasized, like lieta (happy) or Godi (Rejoice) but also acqueta (labour).7 There is a four part accompaniment played on the chittarone which, other than the top line which doubles the melody, merely outlines the harmony, the other parts giving basic harmonic support. The vocal line is highly embellished and includes examples of the new practice of writing out ornamentation rather than leaving it to the performers discretion.8 Another point is that the text and setting of this intermedio is allegorical. It depicts earthly mortals rejoicing in the gifts from Jupiter. This would be seen as a positive reflection on the ruler of the period from those who composed and produced the scene.9 This foreknowledge might have also led Cavalieri to compose such an embellished work. This composition however is still somewhat in the renaissance style, it is like a polyphonic madrigal that was then embellished in virtuoso style.10 It lacks the severance from the old style which we see in the works of Caccini and Peri at the end and turn of the 16th century.

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Schulenberg, Music of the Baroque, 51. Ibid., 54 8 Ibid., 52. 9 Ibid., 51. 10 Ibid., 54.

4 The New Departure In1592, the Camerata's patron, de Bardi, was transferred to a diplomatic post in Rome, and that most of the members (including Caccini, Peri and Rinuccini) continued meeting together but under the patronage of another Florentine noble, Jacopo Corsi.11 This was an important change as now focus was placed upon the production of musical stage works, and not as strongly on research and discussion of Greek music or philosophy.12 However the style that had emerged from these previous discussions was about to make further developments in the works of Peri and Caccini, that of monody. From this new group emerged the first specimen of opera, La Dafne. This work in fact went through many stages until it was performed. To a libretto of Rinuccinis, the music was first written by Corsi himself, then by Peri and Caccini together and its final version was mostly composed by Peri, with contributions from Caccini.13 Monodies form the basis of the work, although only fragments survive of the original text. It is likened more to the intermedi of La pellegrina, than to the developed monody style which emerges.14 It was privately performed first in 1598, then subsequently several times in the Dukes court. After such a success,15 the more extended work of LEuridice was begun from the impetus of Corsi, again with a libretto by Rinuccini.

LEuridice Two versions of this important work actually survive today, one by Peri and one by Caccini. A third version was performed on the important wedding celebration of
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Hill, Baroque Music, 27. Ibid., 26. 13 Ibid., 26. 14 Schulenberg, Music of the Baroque, 54. 15 Hill, Baroque Music, 26.

5 Maria de Medici to Henry IV, king France, which was composed three quarters by Peri, and one quarter by Caccini. This work is very significant as instead of spoken dialogue between choruses and dances, the drama was completely sung throughout. This was a crucial element in the significance of this work, as from this came forth the true form of recitative as we know it, and was indeed given this name, stile recitativo, in the years to come.16 As well as the recitative, from this monody we also see the aria take shape.17 For the recitative, the text was set in a way which attempted to create a sort of speech-song. The music emulated the text. Syllables which were emphasized in speech were emphasized in the music with longer notes, often meeting with consonant accompaniment. The other unstressed syllables were short as if spoken quickly, sometimes passing through dissonances. The melodic line reflected the emotion of the text and of speech, and it would ascend or descend accordingly. 18 The accompaniment was unobtrusive to the vocal line, providing a steady accompaniment which freed the vocal line of rhythmic and harmonic boundaries, and therefore likening it to declamatory speech.19 [See Ex. 2] In LEuridice we find the early form of aria also. The aria was usually accompanied with a fuller complement of instruments and was played with much more movement. The vocal line included more melisma and fluid motion. The arias were the expressive passages of the work, which had the characters declarations of love or sorrow.

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Hill, Baroque Music., 27. Schulenberg, Music of the Baroque, 54. 18 Claude V. Palisca, Baroque Music, H. Wiley Hitchcock (ed.), 3rd edn (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991), 33. 19 Daniel Shanahan, Lecture Notes, (Oct., 2008)

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Example 2 Peri, LEuridice. Sourced from Baroque Music, Palisca.

Into the 17th Century The new aria and recitative styles which had their formulation in this time period would now be refined and used countless times over throughout musical history. Even as shortly as seven years later, Monteverdis Orfeo was performed for the first time, a work which surely owes a great deal to the developments of men like Peri and Caccini. From the very first experiments of the Camerata, the intermedi, up to Dafne and LEuridice, and concluding with the countless bottles of ink spilled writing theories, and formulae, let alone the numerous collections and performance guides, like that of Caccinis Le nuove musiche; from the extensive contribution they made to this period, it is easy to see they played an immense role in the evolution of opera and the musical art form.

7 Works Cited Bukofzer, Manfred F., Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1947). Carter, Tim, Jacopo Peri in Music & Letters, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1980). Hill, John Walter, Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580 1750 (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 2005). Palisca, Claude V., Baroque Music, H. Wiley Hitchcock (ed.), 3rd edn (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991). Schulenberg, David, Music of the Baroque (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). Shanahan, Daniel, Lecture Notes, (Oct., 2008). Strunk, Oliver(ed.), Source Readings in Music History: The Baroque Era, Vol. 4, Leo Treitler (Rev. ed.) (W. W. Norton & Co., 1950).