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A History of Sonic Experience in the Renaissance
This research project started at the Department of Musicology, University of Pavia (Italy) in 2010, and now continues as an independent research.
GENERAL FRAMEWORK
In the properly musical ambit of sonic esperience, the European Renaissance is characterised by an unparalleled enrichment: the development of instrumental families and their repertoire, the multiplication of genres, the experimentation of new sonic solutions (polychorality, concertato…), the progressive growth of formal architectures – just to mention some of the most striking phenomena – determined a dramatic expansion of opportunities. Around all this (sometimes overlapping, sometimes intertwined), there are the non- (or para-) musical elements of sonic experience, still much too neglected by music historians.
The aim of the present project is to raise, or re-evaluate, some great questions concerning the musical civilisation of the Renaissance focusing on sonic experience and its fundamental elements: non-musical factors, silence, the voice, instrumental sound, sound in space, the perceivable aspects of musical structures, the persistence of genres, repertoires and performance practices, the spatial and temporal accessibility of music, the symbolic apparatus connected to all these topics.
The aim of the present project is to raise, or re-evaluate, some great questions concerning the musical civilisation of the Renaissance focusing on sonic experience and its fundamental elements: non-musical factors, silence, the voice, instrumental sound, sound in space, the perceivable aspects of musical structures, the persistence of genres, repertoires and performance practices, the spatial and temporal accessibility of music, the symbolic apparatus connected to all these topics.
CASE STUDIES
Sonic Styles in the Music of Tomás Luis de Victoria
A paper delivered at the conference «Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). Contextos y practicas musicales» (Avila, Spain, 23-24 September 2011). An expanded version has been published in «Revista de Musicología», XXXV/1, 2012 (but 2013), monographic issue on Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Abstract: «Palestrina was simply a great bureaucrat of counterpoint», according to Igor Stravinsky’s famous boutade of 1960. More than fifty years have passed, but to judge from generic discussions of form in Renaissance music, and particularly in ‘free’ genres like the motet, it seems that this kind of prejudice still exists. And not against Palestrina alone. Sixteenth-century composers are seen like automatic music machines: you feed text into the machine, and beautifully woven segments of counterpoint come out on the other side. End of the text, end of the piece, and that’s it. Adherence to the text, additive form, and varietas seem to be the only working concepts. We tend to underestimate the composers’ interest in the problem of form, and especially of perceivable form, and the creative efforts they made in this direction. But the compositional reality challenges our historical clichés. To speak of variety or kaleidoscopic multiplicity is not enough: deliberate formal strategies are at work in this repertoire, and a phenomenological approach can help to describe and understand them. Even though today analysis seems to be out of fashion, to the advantage of contextual studies, I contend that we need to start again to analyse the works of composers such as Palestrina and Victoria: and if we want to do that, we should give up monofactorial analysis, and examine multifactorial interactions and constellations of parameters, on the different levels of the compositional project. In this paper, I will try to demonstrate how the definition and identification of different ‘sonic styles’ can provide a flexible and efficient tool for the analysis of Victoria’s music, and of late sixteenth-century music in general.
Keywords: T.L. de Victoria (?1548-1611) - Polychorality - Polyphony - Sonic styles
Related publications by the author: Tomás Luis de Victoria (Palermo: L’Epos, 2008); Polychoral Rewritings and Sonic Creativity in Palestrina and Victoria, in «Polifonie»
A paper delivered at the conference «Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). Contextos y practicas musicales» (Avila, Spain, 23-24 September 2011). An expanded version has been published in «Revista de Musicología», XXXV/1, 2012 (but 2013), monographic issue on Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Abstract: «Palestrina was simply a great bureaucrat of counterpoint», according to Igor Stravinsky’s famous boutade of 1960. More than fifty years have passed, but to judge from generic discussions of form in Renaissance music, and particularly in ‘free’ genres like the motet, it seems that this kind of prejudice still exists. And not against Palestrina alone. Sixteenth-century composers are seen like automatic music machines: you feed text into the machine, and beautifully woven segments of counterpoint come out on the other side. End of the text, end of the piece, and that’s it. Adherence to the text, additive form, and varietas seem to be the only working concepts. We tend to underestimate the composers’ interest in the problem of form, and especially of perceivable form, and the creative efforts they made in this direction. But the compositional reality challenges our historical clichés. To speak of variety or kaleidoscopic multiplicity is not enough: deliberate formal strategies are at work in this repertoire, and a phenomenological approach can help to describe and understand them. Even though today analysis seems to be out of fashion, to the advantage of contextual studies, I contend that we need to start again to analyse the works of composers such as Palestrina and Victoria: and if we want to do that, we should give up monofactorial analysis, and examine multifactorial interactions and constellations of parameters, on the different levels of the compositional project. In this paper, I will try to demonstrate how the definition and identification of different ‘sonic styles’ can provide a flexible and efficient tool for the analysis of Victoria’s music, and of late sixteenth-century music in general.
Keywords: T.L. de Victoria (?1548-1611) - Polychorality - Polyphony - Sonic styles
Related publications by the author: Tomás Luis de Victoria (Palermo: L’Epos, 2008); Polychoral Rewritings and Sonic Creativity in Palestrina and Victoria, in «Polifonie»
Formal design and sonic architecture in the motet around 1570. Palestrina and Victoria
A paper delivered at the conference «Tomás Luis de Victoria» (León, Spain, 8-12 November 2011). An expanded version has been published in Javier Suárez-Pajares, Manuel del Sol (eds), Estudios. Tomás Luis de Victoria. Studies (Madrid: Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales, 2013).
Abstract: Less than ten years separate Palestrina’s and Victoria’s editorial debut in the field of motet (Motecta festorum totius anni 1563 and Motecta 1572, respectively). The two collections are quite different: one is the four-voice summa of an already well-known chapelmaster, the other the less unified opera prima of a much younger composer. By comparing them, however, one can gain an insight into Palestrina’s and Victoria’s ‘idea’ of motet, and their strategies concerning the design of form and sonic architecture. The main aim of this paper will be to shed new light on the compositional relationship between the two Rome-based authors. During this exploration, we will be confronted with issues of imitatio and originality, with the problem of form in the motet, and with questions regarding the definition of sonic styles in late-Cinquecento vocal music.
Keywords: G.P. da Palestrina (?1525-1594) - T.L. de Victoria (?1548-1611) - Motet - Form - Sonic styles
Related publications by the author: Tomás Luis de Victoria (Palermo: L’Epos, 2008); Polychoral Rewritings and Sonic Creativity in Palestrina and Victoria, in «Polifonie»
A paper delivered at the conference «Tomás Luis de Victoria» (León, Spain, 8-12 November 2011). An expanded version has been published in Javier Suárez-Pajares, Manuel del Sol (eds), Estudios. Tomás Luis de Victoria. Studies (Madrid: Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales, 2013).
Abstract: Less than ten years separate Palestrina’s and Victoria’s editorial debut in the field of motet (Motecta festorum totius anni 1563 and Motecta 1572, respectively). The two collections are quite different: one is the four-voice summa of an already well-known chapelmaster, the other the less unified opera prima of a much younger composer. By comparing them, however, one can gain an insight into Palestrina’s and Victoria’s ‘idea’ of motet, and their strategies concerning the design of form and sonic architecture. The main aim of this paper will be to shed new light on the compositional relationship between the two Rome-based authors. During this exploration, we will be confronted with issues of imitatio and originality, with the problem of form in the motet, and with questions regarding the definition of sonic styles in late-Cinquecento vocal music.
Keywords: G.P. da Palestrina (?1525-1594) - T.L. de Victoria (?1548-1611) - Motet - Form - Sonic styles
Related publications by the author: Tomás Luis de Victoria (Palermo: L’Epos, 2008); Polychoral Rewritings and Sonic Creativity in Palestrina and Victoria, in «Polifonie»
Towards a Phenomenology of Polychorality
A paper delivered at the conference «Central-Eastern Europe versus the Italian musica moderna – Reception, Adaptation, Integration» (Warsaw, Poland, October 2011).
A related paper, entitled Per una fenomenologia sonora della policoralità, has been read in Italian at the conference «Musicorum et cantorum magna est distantia? La prassi della polifonia vocale all'epoca di Palestrina» (Cremona, 26-28 April 2012).
Abstract: In music historical narratives, polychorality usually deserves no more than a few words, almost invariably in connection with ‘the Gabrielis’, or in the course of some reflections on the emancipation of ‘early Baroque’ music from strict sixteenth-century counterpoint towards more modern and sonic-oriented stylistic options. The literature on the subject remains sparse and scattered, the seminal Cori spezzati by Anthony F. Carver (1988) being an isolated accomplishment. An inadequate perception of longue durée structures in the period 1550-1650 is at least partly responsible for this underestimation: but, surprisingly, even an authoritative book aiming to bridge the gap between the two centuries like European Music 1520-1640 (ed. by James Haar, 2006) omits any detailed account of polychorality.
Recent researches, however, force us to acknowledge, on the one hand, the specificity of polychorality, and on the other its widespread diffusion over time, space and performing circumstances. In this paper I will try to reflect on polychorality in a systematic and phenomenological way, exploring its status as a new field of sonic possibilities, mapping genres and functions, defining its relations with sacred and secular rituals, as well as with the spirituality of the period. Can we identify distinct models of polychorality? Which authors contributed to establish these models? When and where? And how could they be related to geopolitical and cultural spheres of influence? Inevitably, I will have more questions than answers: sciscitantes, Troiam pervenere Graeci…
Keywords: Polychorality - Reception of Italian music in Europe
Related publications by the author: Polychoral Rewritings and Sonic Creativity in Palestrina and Victoria, in «Polifonie»
A paper delivered at the conference «Central-Eastern Europe versus the Italian musica moderna – Reception, Adaptation, Integration» (Warsaw, Poland, October 2011).
A related paper, entitled Per una fenomenologia sonora della policoralità, has been read in Italian at the conference «Musicorum et cantorum magna est distantia? La prassi della polifonia vocale all'epoca di Palestrina» (Cremona, 26-28 April 2012).
Abstract: In music historical narratives, polychorality usually deserves no more than a few words, almost invariably in connection with ‘the Gabrielis’, or in the course of some reflections on the emancipation of ‘early Baroque’ music from strict sixteenth-century counterpoint towards more modern and sonic-oriented stylistic options. The literature on the subject remains sparse and scattered, the seminal Cori spezzati by Anthony F. Carver (1988) being an isolated accomplishment. An inadequate perception of longue durée structures in the period 1550-1650 is at least partly responsible for this underestimation: but, surprisingly, even an authoritative book aiming to bridge the gap between the two centuries like European Music 1520-1640 (ed. by James Haar, 2006) omits any detailed account of polychorality.
Recent researches, however, force us to acknowledge, on the one hand, the specificity of polychorality, and on the other its widespread diffusion over time, space and performing circumstances. In this paper I will try to reflect on polychorality in a systematic and phenomenological way, exploring its status as a new field of sonic possibilities, mapping genres and functions, defining its relations with sacred and secular rituals, as well as with the spirituality of the period. Can we identify distinct models of polychorality? Which authors contributed to establish these models? When and where? And how could they be related to geopolitical and cultural spheres of influence? Inevitably, I will have more questions than answers: sciscitantes, Troiam pervenere Graeci…
Keywords: Polychorality - Reception of Italian music in Europe
Related publications by the author: Polychoral Rewritings and Sonic Creativity in Palestrina and Victoria, in «Polifonie»
Earthly Music, Interior Hearing, and Celestial Harmonies. Philippe de Monte’s First Book of Spiritual Madrigals (1581)
An article published in the «Journal of the Alamire Foundation» 3/2, 2011 (special issue on Philippe de Monte).
Abstract: This article examines Philippe de Monte’s first book of spiritual madrigals, underlining the pioneering character of this collection in the history of the genre and its relationships with Jesuit environment and spirituality. Two new attribution of texts to Vittoria Colonna and Laura Battiferri are discussed within an overall description of the book, its themes, and its structure. Three madrigals dealing with spiritual themes in terms of musical metaphors and imagery are analyzed in the context of sixteenth-century ideas on music and Christian spirituality, and as an open reflection by de Monte on the real value of music beyond the ephemeral appreciation of human judgement.
Keywords: Philippe de Monte (1521-1603) - f. Claudio Acquaviva S.J. (1543-1615) - Laurentius Coteman (fl. 1580 ca) - Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547) - Laura Battiferri degli Ammannati (1523-1589) - Spiritual madrigal - Jesuits & music - Music & spirituality - Musico-mystical metaphors - Spiritual senses
An article published in the «Journal of the Alamire Foundation» 3/2, 2011 (special issue on Philippe de Monte).
Abstract: This article examines Philippe de Monte’s first book of spiritual madrigals, underlining the pioneering character of this collection in the history of the genre and its relationships with Jesuit environment and spirituality. Two new attribution of texts to Vittoria Colonna and Laura Battiferri are discussed within an overall description of the book, its themes, and its structure. Three madrigals dealing with spiritual themes in terms of musical metaphors and imagery are analyzed in the context of sixteenth-century ideas on music and Christian spirituality, and as an open reflection by de Monte on the real value of music beyond the ephemeral appreciation of human judgement.
Keywords: Philippe de Monte (1521-1603) - f. Claudio Acquaviva S.J. (1543-1615) - Laurentius Coteman (fl. 1580 ca) - Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547) - Laura Battiferri degli Ammannati (1523-1589) - Spiritual madrigal - Jesuits & music - Music & spirituality - Musico-mystical metaphors - Spiritual senses
The sonic experience of Prince Władysław Vasa in 1624-1625
A paper delivered at the conference «Esperienze musicali e repertori polifonici: modelli di diffusione e circolazione a cavaliere delle Alpi (sec. XVI-XVIII)», Libera Università di Bolzano, Bressanone, 15 November 2014.
Abstract: Nel maggio del 1624 Ladislao Wasa, principe di Polonia, lascia Varsavia alla volta di Roma. Prima della discesa in Italia, però, il suo itinerario, che è pellegrinaggio giubilare e insieme grand tour avanti lettera, lo conduce a Vienna, Monaco, Bruxelles per visite di cortesia dinastico-diplomatiche. Varcate poi le Alpi, il principe toccherà le principali corti e città, da Genova a Venezia, da Mantova a Firenze, fino a Napoli, vertice meridionale del suo viaggio.
I diari dei gentiluomini suoi accompagnatori ci informano con dovizia di dettagli su un percorso che alterna tappe in incognito e solenni accoglienze ufficiali, ed è scandito da frequenti ed eterogenei eventi sonori: i cannoni dell’assedio di Breda e il canto squisito delle monache di Milano, l’esibizione di virtuose come Settimia Caccini e Adriana Basile, le immancabili danze in onore dell’ospite, le opere teatrali e teatral-musicali (non tutte identificabili), le naumachie e gli spettacoli pirotecnici, la musica d’arte e quella che risuona nelle osterie di posta. Accanto alle impressioni sonore della più alta cerimonialità, fra cui spiccano quelle relative all’apertura dell’Anno Santo 1625, il tono vivido delle annotazioni diaristiche e la varietà delle scene descritte consente di recuperare frammenti, non meno interessanti, del soundscape quotidiano: il fragore dei carri, il mescolarsi spesso equivoco degli idiomi, le orazioni recitate nell’abitacolo della carrozza, i suoni della città e della campagna, i rumori minacciosi della notte, le armi da fuoco, la messa cantata da un parroco di campagna poco intonato…
Se alcuni episodi (come l’incontro del principe con Monteverdi a Venezia, e le profferte che gli fece invano) sono già ben noti alla storiografia musicale, mancava un esame complessivo – e necessariamente multimediale, data la scia di dediche, tracce documentarie e testimonianze iconografiche che la comitiva polacca lasciò dietro di sé – del viaggio di Ladislao. Questo intervento è il primo passo in tale direzione.
Keywords: Władysław IV Vasa (1595-1648) - Soundscape - Opera - Dance - Italy - Poland
A paper delivered at the conference «Esperienze musicali e repertori polifonici: modelli di diffusione e circolazione a cavaliere delle Alpi (sec. XVI-XVIII)», Libera Università di Bolzano, Bressanone, 15 November 2014.
Abstract: Nel maggio del 1624 Ladislao Wasa, principe di Polonia, lascia Varsavia alla volta di Roma. Prima della discesa in Italia, però, il suo itinerario, che è pellegrinaggio giubilare e insieme grand tour avanti lettera, lo conduce a Vienna, Monaco, Bruxelles per visite di cortesia dinastico-diplomatiche. Varcate poi le Alpi, il principe toccherà le principali corti e città, da Genova a Venezia, da Mantova a Firenze, fino a Napoli, vertice meridionale del suo viaggio.
I diari dei gentiluomini suoi accompagnatori ci informano con dovizia di dettagli su un percorso che alterna tappe in incognito e solenni accoglienze ufficiali, ed è scandito da frequenti ed eterogenei eventi sonori: i cannoni dell’assedio di Breda e il canto squisito delle monache di Milano, l’esibizione di virtuose come Settimia Caccini e Adriana Basile, le immancabili danze in onore dell’ospite, le opere teatrali e teatral-musicali (non tutte identificabili), le naumachie e gli spettacoli pirotecnici, la musica d’arte e quella che risuona nelle osterie di posta. Accanto alle impressioni sonore della più alta cerimonialità, fra cui spiccano quelle relative all’apertura dell’Anno Santo 1625, il tono vivido delle annotazioni diaristiche e la varietà delle scene descritte consente di recuperare frammenti, non meno interessanti, del soundscape quotidiano: il fragore dei carri, il mescolarsi spesso equivoco degli idiomi, le orazioni recitate nell’abitacolo della carrozza, i suoni della città e della campagna, i rumori minacciosi della notte, le armi da fuoco, la messa cantata da un parroco di campagna poco intonato…
Se alcuni episodi (come l’incontro del principe con Monteverdi a Venezia, e le profferte che gli fece invano) sono già ben noti alla storiografia musicale, mancava un esame complessivo – e necessariamente multimediale, data la scia di dediche, tracce documentarie e testimonianze iconografiche che la comitiva polacca lasciò dietro di sé – del viaggio di Ladislao. Questo intervento è il primo passo in tale direzione.
Keywords: Władysław IV Vasa (1595-1648) - Soundscape - Opera - Dance - Italy - Poland
