Baroque

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The First Opera and the Beginning of the Baroque

August 20, 2009 in Baroque by Peter

Any visitor of the house of Count Giovanni de’ Bardi in 1580 Florence, had considerable chance to encounter a group of learned men. Among these members of the Camerata Bardi were poets, composers and scholars. One could find, for example, the composers Giulio Caccini and Vincenzo Galilei (yes, the father of…), but also the scholar Girolamo Mei, who was a specialist on ancient Greek culture. Mei performed profound research on music that was used during Greek plays. He concluded that all of the tragedies and comedies in ancient Greece were sung monophonically. The players were able to move their public to tears by their singing. The members of the Camerata Bardi were so impressed by this finding that they set themselves to discover musical means to achieve the same in their own time.

In our current thinking it is obvious that music is connected with emotion. Therefore, it is hard to imagine an era in which that connection was not that important. Yet, in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, the primary concern of a composer was the way in which the music was assembled (com-posed), rather than the emotions it evoked in the listener. The polyphonic fabric was primary an aim rather than a means. Of course, the resulting music can move the listener emotionally, but that was of minor importance. Thus, what happened in Florence was quite revolutionary.

Because of their aim, the learned gentlemen in Bardi’s house had profound objections to the polyphonic music of their time. They certainly would have rejected a composition like this: (mp3 – source). In this motet for six voices by Nicolas Gombert (c.1495-c.1560), the listener has to deal with a confusing pell mell of impressions all at the same time. According to the Camerata Bardi there has to be only one main voice at a time. This would allow the music to move the listener. And so they invented monody: only one singing voice accompanied by simple chords: (mp3 – source).

The initial use of this new style was on stage. The composers Jacopo Peri and Jacopo Corsi were the first to write an opera that employs monody. In 1598 they finished Daphne. Unfortunately the score has been lost. The earliest opera that is has been preserved is Euridice by Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini. The audio example in the previous paragraph is from this opera. The publication of this opera in 1600 marks a very important turning point in the history of western music. Therefore, this year is generally considered the year that marks the start of the Baroque era.

Recommended cd’s

Jacopo Peri – Euridice. By: Choruses of Hades, Ensemble Arpeggio & Roberto De Caro (ARTS 47276-2)

Details: Amazon.com or Emusic.com

Cecilia

August 19, 2009 in 20/21th Century, Baroque, Miscellaneous by Peter

An article about Saint Cecilia can not be missing from this site. Maybe you wonder what a catholic saint has to do with classical music, but that will be clear within a few minutes if you read on.

Not much is known about the historical figure of Cecilia. She lived during the first centuries of christianity, but it is not exactly clear when. The story goes that she had to mary someone called Valerianus. She told him that an angel guarded her virginity. If Valerius would deflower her, his final day would have come. Valerius wished to see that angel. That happened, after which Valerius became christian. Because of their faith, both were prosecuted, caught and sentenced to death. After a failed attempt to behead her, Cecilia lived on for three days, lying in her own blood. Then she died. Her last will was to build a church on the place of her house in Rome. Thus happened. Nowadays a church is still there.

The reason for this article is not Cecilia’s martyrdom. In her biography it is told that she sang to God in her hart during the festivities of her wedding, while others were playing all kinds of instruments. The latin word for "voice" is "organum". Probably this sentence was misunderstood in later days when she got the organ as attribute. Since the fourteenth century she has been associated with music. In most cases she is depicted with a small portable organ. When in 1584 at Rome the institute for church music was established, Cecilia became the patroness, and with that the patroness of church music. In the nineteenth century, an important reformation movement within church music was called after her: Cecilianism.

Rafaël - St. Cecilia

One of the most famous paintings of her was made in 1515 by Rafael. Cecilia is depicted in a state of exaltation. She listens to the singing choirs of angels. The instruments that lie around here are broken, and the organ she holds, is falling apart. She leaves earthly music behind and focusses on the heavenly.

Small wonder that much music was written to honor Saint Cecilia. Especially in England a large number of pieces have been composed for her day (22 November). An early example is the Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day by Henry Purcell (1692) (mp3 – source):

Hail, bright Cecilia! fill ev’ry heart
With love of thee and thy celestial art;

An example from the twentieth century is the Hymn to St. Cecilia, composed in 1942 by Benjamin Britten (mp3 – source):

Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.

Recommended cd’s

Henry Purcell – Hail, bright Cecilia!. By: Gabrieli Consort and Players – Paul McCreesh (Archiv 445882-2)

Details: Amazon.com

Purcell: Odes for Saint Cecilia’s Day. By: (Harmonia Mundi France HAR 901643)

Details: Amazon.com or Emusic.com

Benjamin Britten. By: The Sixteen – Harry Christophers (Collins 12862)

Details: Amazon.com

Blest Cecilia: Britten Choral Works I. By: The Sixteen – Harry Christophers (Coro COR16006)

Details: Amazon.com or Emusic.com

More St. Cecilia on Amazon.com

Nicolas De Grigny

August 15, 2009 in Baroque by Peter

Nicolas De Grigny (1672-1703) is not among the most famous composers. Nevertheless, he deserves some attention. Just as his earlier contemporary Henry Purcell (1659-1695), De Grigny died at young age. In contradiction to Purcell, he only left a small amount of music. In 1699 De Grigny published his Premier livre d’orgue. According to the title he had plans to publish more organ books, but unfortunately he never was able to do that. He died in 1703. In later printings of the book, the word “Premier” was omitted from the title.

Nicolas was born in Reims, moved to Paris, where he became organist of the Saint-Denis, and moved back to Reims, where he was appointed organist of the cathedral. Not so many details about his life are known.

This one organ book De Grigny left us, is a valuable source of music, as is shown by the fact that both Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Gottfried Walther copied the entire book by hand. One must have good reasons to do such a laborious job. Apparently they wanted to learn form De Grigny’s music. Both copies have been preserved.

The book contains organ movements for a mass and five hymns. All the pieces were meant to be performed in alternatim style: the choir and the organ alternately performed a verse.

A musical form in which De Grigny showed himself a master was the fugue. His fugues have five voices: two voices for the right hand, two for the left hand in another timbre, and one for the pedal. Listen to the opening of the fugue from the hymn “Pange Lingua”: (mp3 – source). All five voices are present in this fragment. If we number the voices from high to low, the entrance of the voices is in the order: 3-2-4-5-1. The highest voice enters last; this is right before the end of the fragment. To construct such a five-voice contrapuntal fabric, one need quite some compositional skills. No wonder Bach was interested.

Let’s go back to Bach’s copy. We may suppose that De Grigny’s music had some influence on Bach. An example of this is the parallel between De Grigny’s fugue from the Gloria and the Fantasia in c minor (BWV 562) from Bach. Listen to the opening measures of both pieces: De Grigny’s fugue: (mp3 – source) and Bach’s Fantasia: (mp3 – source).