Luca Marenzio: The Career of a Musician Between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation [1 ed.] 0754605167, 9780754605164

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LUCA MARENZIO

Luca Marenzio The Career of a Musician Between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation

MARCO BIZZARINI translated by JAMES CHATER

First published 2003 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2003 Marco Bizzarini and James Chater The authors have asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Bizzarini, Marco Luca Marenzio: the career of a musician between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation 1. Marenzio, Luca 2. Composers - Italy - Biography 3. Madrigals, Italian History and criticism 4. Music - 16th century - History and criticism I. Title 780.9'2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bizzarini, Marco. [Marenzio. English] Luca Marenzio: the career of a musician between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation / James Chater [translator] and Marco Bizzarini. p. cm. Translated from Italian. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7546-0516-7 (alk. paper) 1. Marenzio, Luca, 1553-1599. 2. Composers--Italy--Biography. 3. Music-16th century--History and criticism. I. Chater, James (James Michael) II. Title. ML410.M326 B5813 2002 782.4'3'092–dc21 [B] 2002027917

ISBN 9780754605164 (hbk)

Contents List of Plates

vii

List of Musical Examples

viii

Preface

ix

Acknowledgements

xi

Translator’s Note

xiii

A Note on Transcriptions

xv

A Note on Currencies

xvi

Abbreviations and Sigla

xvii

1

Competition and pre-eminence

1

2

First fruits of genius on the world stage

4

3

Cardinal d’Este

7

4

Maestro di cappella

11

5

Secular music for a prince of the Church

20

6

The ‘buon compagno’ pope

27

7

The Ferrarese interlude

33

8

‘Gentildonne’

47

9

Roman confraternities

57

10

Homeland and compatriots

64

11

‘Musici di Roma’

77

12

‘Stravaganze d’amore’

85

13

The new pope

99

14

A job in Mantua?

107

15

‘His heart in France’

122

16 A ‘new aria’

139

17

165

The grand duke’s wedding v

vi

Contents

18 Orsini and Montalto

187

19

The peak of his career

196

20

From Vatican Palace to Polish court

209

21

Repentance?

230

22

The ‘Wise Fool’

247

23

The Platonic spirit

262

24 A new style

270

25 Order and significance

308

26

317

Seconda prattica and second Renaissance

Bibliography

327

Index of Compositions by Marenzio

351

General Index

357

List of Plates Plates are between pp. 174 and 175

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Coccaglio and territory of Brescia depicted in a sixteenth-century woodcut, reproduced in Elia Capriolo, Chronica de rebus Brixianorum, Brescia: Arundum de Arundinis, 1505. Towards the left, at the foot of the hills, the town of Coccaglio (‘Cogallium’), Marenzio’s birthplace. To the right of the river Mella, the city of Brescia. Fotostudio Rapuzzi, Brescia Letter of Giulio Cesare Brancaccio to Cardinal Luigi d’Este (Ferrara, 26 February 1581). ASMo, Particolari (Brancaccio). Reproduced by permission of the Archivio di Stato, Modena ‘Alloggiamenti di Monte Giordano’ (Rome, 1581), with an indication of Marenzio’s Roman residence at the court of Cardinal Luigi d’Este. ASMo, Camera Ducale Estense, Casa e Stato, 411, fol. 154 I. Reproduced by permission of the Archivio di Stato, Modena Letter of Luca Marenzio to Cardinale Luigi d’Este (Rome, 12 September 1582). ASMo, Archivio per materie, Musica e musicisti, 1. Reproduced by permission of the Archivio di Stato, Modena Polizza d’estimo of Giovanni Francesco Marenzio (1588). Brescia, Archivio di Stato, Archivio Storico Civico, Polizze d’Estimo, Coccaglio, B.386/b. Reproduced by permission of the Archivio di Stato, Brescia Portrait of Luca Marenzio (end of sixteenth century, attributed to a painter in the service of Count Mario Bevilacqua). Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente Printed list of Accademici Olimpici, Vicenza, dated 1596. ‘Luca Marentio Bresciano’ appears in the right-hand column, among the ‘absenti’. Vicenza, Accademia Olimpica, framed print located in the office of the president Avviso di Roma of 21 December 1594: Marenzio is charged by Pope Clement VIII with the task of ‘adapting motets and hymns’ so that listeners can understand the text ‘very easily’, in accordance with the dispositions of the Council of Trent. BAV, Urb. Lat. 1062, fol. 771. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Notes from Warsaw, 28 September 1596, from the Diario of Giovanni Paolo Mucante: Marenzio exercises the role of maestro di cappella at the court of Sigismund III, King of Poland. BAV, Ottob. 2623/I, fol. 158. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

vii

List of Musical Examples 4.1 4.2

Marenzio, Salve Regina, bars 1–9 Giovanni Contino, Salve Regina, bars 1–12

16 17

5.1

Marenzio, Tirsi morir volea, bars 1–12

22

7.1 7.2 7.3

Marenzio, O voi che sospirate, bars 35–41 Marenzio, I’ piango, bars 1–6 Marenzio, Mi fa lasso, bars 1–7

43 44 45

16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 16.9 16.10 16.11

Marenzio, Liquide perle, bars 1–8 Marenzio, Liquide perle, bars 17–24 Marenzio, Liquide perle, bars 31–41 Marenzio, Filli tu sei più bella, bars 1–7 Marenzio, Basciami mille volte, bars 1–10 Andrea Gabrieli, O in primavera, bars 1–3 Annibale Stabile, Fu il lauro, bars 1–9 G.M. Nanino, Da vaghe perle, bars 1–6 Ruggiero Giovannelli, Ut re mi fa sol la, bars 87–92 Marenzio, Fillida mia, bars 19–24 Marenzio, Fuggirò tant’Amore

24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 24.8 24.9 24.10 24.11 24.12 24.13 24.14

Marenzio, Ov’è condotto il mio amoroso stile?, bars 1–12 Marenzio, Com’ogni rio, bars 1–7 Marenzio, Veni sponsa Christi, bars 1–11 Marenzio, Amatemi ben mio (villanella), bars 1–10 Marenzio, Amatemi ben mio (madrigal), bars 1–9 Marenzio, Se quel dolor, bars 1–13 Marenzio, Lucida perla, bars 63–69 Marenzio, Deus venerunt gentes, bars 56–58 Marenzio, Amor se giusto sei, bars 1–9 Marenzio, Quand’io miro le rose, bars 1–14 Marenzio, Vita soave, bars 1–15 (reduction for canto and bass) Claudio Monteverdi, Orfeo, Act I, bars 1–13 Marenzio, Dura legge d’amor, bars 104–14 Marenzio, Dura legge d’amor, bars 127–37

viii

144 145 146 150 151 154 155 157 158 159 164 276 277 281 284 285 287 290 292 295 298–9 301 302 305 306–7

Preface

Luca Marenzio, the most celebrated madrigal composer of the late Cinquecento, appears today to enjoy somewhat less fame than Monteverdi or Gesualdo. Yet it is sufficient to listen to pieces like Dolorosi martir, Zefiro torna or Cruda Amarilli to be aware that we are dealing with a composer of exceptional artistic stature. This excellence has consistently been recognized in musical historiography, and there now exists a remarkable body of critical studies and analytical works on Marenzio, the principal aim of which has been to explore the fascinating relations arising from the coupling of poetry and music characteristic of the Italian madrigal. However, despite this intensive musicological activity – which in recent decades has involved mostly scholars from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States – many areas of research remain hidden in shadow. Written originally to commemorate the fourth centenary of Marenzio’s death in 1599, the present book aims to throw light on at least some of these obscure areas, enigmas and apparent contradictions in a musical career suspended between the glittering worldliness of the late Renaissance and the more introspective spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Reconstruction of courtly circles, investigation of the political background and the dynamics of the relations between the musician, patrons, the cultured classes and other composers; the role of religious confraternities, relations with the popes, Rome and the Sacred College, the Sistine Chapel, humanistic influences, theatrical productions with music, and the evolution of musical taste in the last 20 years of the Cinquecento: these are some of the themes interwoven in this book, supported throughout by documentary sources and previous studies. The life and works of Marenzio are immersed in a dense network of relationships that it is now possible to illuminate for the first time thanks to a comparative analysis of witnesses and documents, many hitherto unknown. The principal subject of the monograph, as the subtitle asserts, is Marenzio’s professional activity. This field implies a special way of organizing the material, one which diverges in some degree from that of traditional biographies. This is why Chapter 1 (‘Competition and pre-eminence’), instead of discussing the composer’s genealogy and his youthful compositions, deals, as a first step, with the concepts of compositional excellence and the composer’s fully established presence on the musical stage. After this brief introductory essay the narrative unfolds in three directions. Chapters 2–15 take Marenzio’s debut as a published composer as their point of departure and study the role played by Cardinal Luigi d’Este, Marenzio’s patron, in setting up a dense web of relations with the courts of Roma, Ferrara, Mantua ix

x

Preface

and Paris, while two retrospective chapters, 4 and 10, provide a ‘flashback’ of the composer’s shadowy past, for which first-hand sources are scarce. The second part of the book (Chapters 17–21) concerns Marenzio’s career directly after the death of Luigi d’Este, concentrating first of all on his Florentine experiences at the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, then on his return to Rome, onto a cultural and political stage dominated by the Orsini, Cardinal Montalto, the Aldobrandini family and Pope Clement VIII. Special attention, supported by new documentary evidence, is paid to his period in the service of Sigismund III, king of Poland. The remaining parts (Chapters 16 and 21–26) are concerned with more specifically musicological problems, albeit with the aim of placing the composer’s activity in a broad historical context. These include Marenzio’s relations with poets (Chapter 21), philosophers (Chapter 22) and musical theorists (Chapters 25–26). Creative artists can be original with respect to others, but also with respect to themselves: for this reason Chapter 16 (‘A new aria’) draws attention to those elements that distinguish Marenzio’s work from those of his contemporaries, whereas the complementary Chapter 24 (‘A new style’) offers points of reflection on the remarkable change of style Marenzio’s music underwent in the last years of the Cinquecento – a change that, in its turn, reflects the anxieties, uncertainties and centrifugal tendencies of this frontier period. M.B. Brescia, Italy

Acknowledgements

The present English-language edition – considerably revised and updated from the first, Italian edition of 1998 – has been published with support from the translation section of the Ministero degli Affari Esteri (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). I would first like to thank the general directorate of the Ministry, then Claudio Donghi (Assessore alla Cultura of the Commune of Coccaglio), Monica Crescenti (editorial director of Promozione Franciacorta, the publishers of the Italian edition) and Rachel Lynch (commissioning editor at Ashgate) who worked together to make the project possible. From Dr James Chater, the translator of the book (and also an acknowledged Marenzio specialist), came abundant, valuable advice and observations, the fruit of his thorough studies in the field of the Cinquecento madrigal. I would like to thank him warmly for the care and skill with which he undertook this difficult and complex task. He is responsible for many of the improvements in the present edition. I would also like to thank Bonnie Blackburn, who copy-edited the book. I am indebted to the greatest Marenzio scholars of the twentieth century: readers will able to observe from the frequency of citations how important I found the works of Alfred Einstein, Hans Engel and Steven Ledbetter. Warm thanks are also due to my father Giorgio, to my friends and colleagues, and to all those who generously encouraged me, or who offered me, in the course of conversations, exchanges of letters or published reviews, valuable points of reflection and bibliographical references: Carla Bino, Renato Borghi, Bruno Brizi, Raffaella Bucci, Paolo Emilio Carapezza, Gabriella Cimaroli, Ruth DeFord, Elio e Anna Durante, Sergio Durante, Dinko Fabris, Giacomo Fornari, Diego Fratelli, Claudio Gallico, Piero Gargiulo, Giuseppe Gerbino, Marco Giuliani, James Haar, Roland Jackson, Agnieszka Ja´zwi´nska-Pudlis, Warren Kirkendale, Steven Ledbetter, Anne MacNeil, Laura Macy, Augusto Mazzoni, Giulio Monaco, Arnaldo Morelli, Anthony Newcomb, Stefano Patuzzi, Massimo Privitera, Barbara Przybyszewska-Jarmi´nska, Elisabetta Selmi, Giovanna Sorbi and Roberto Zapperi. Naturally, the responsibility for errors and omissions is mine alone. I began to be occupied with Marenzio in 1986, when I had the task, together with Giacomo Fornari, to organize a historical and documentary exhibition about the composer in Coccaglio, Marenzio’s birthplace, in 1987. This initiative was encouraged by three people to whom I would like to express my gratitude: Mons. Antonio Fappani, president of the Fondazione Civiltà Bresciana, Prof. Maria Teresa Rosa Barezzani of the University of Pavia, and the previously mentioned Prof. Claudio Donghi, who since that time has been the enlightened promoter of xi

xii

Acknowledgements

the Marenzio renaissance in the composer’s birthplace. Without this initial experience I would not have found the stimulation to write this book. The Fondazione Civiltà Bresciana has provided financial and other forms of support for my initial researches at the end of the 1980s; the Commune of Coccaglio bore the expenses for the publication of the book in Italian as part of the celebrations of the quatercentenary of Marenzio’s death (1999). The Commune of Coccaglio, the Fondazione Civiltà Bresciana, the Associazione Benedetto Marcello and, later, the Centro Studi ‘Luca Marenzio’ enabled me to appreciate the music of Marenzio in excellent live performances with vocal groups directed by Giovanni Acciai, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Claudio Cavina, Marino Moretti and Anthony Rooley. Finally I would like to thank the staff of the Biblioteca della Scuola di Paleografia e Filologia Musicale (Cremona) of the University of Pavia. The illustrations in the book, some of them previously unpublished, are printed by permission of the Archivio di Stato of Brescia, the Archivio di Stato of Modena, Fotostudio Rapuzzi (Brescia), the Accademia Olimpica di Vicenza, the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Albertina (Vienna) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

Translator’s Note

It is with great pleasure that I present this translation of Marco Bizzarini’s book on Marenzio, the first monograph on the composer to be written in Italian by an Italian. On reading the book shortly after it appeared in 1998, I was quickly struck by the profound degree to which its author had immersed himself in Marenzio’s environment: the complicated, turbulent chessboard of papal politics; the powerful patrons and music lovers; the shifting cultural and moral climate of Rome and the other courts where Marenzio resided; and the music, poetry and philosophical writings of his contemporaries. Such total immersion presents certain challenges to the translator. For one thing, Cinquecento Italian is a minefield into which an Anglo-Saxon strays at his or her peril. In particular, there are a few Italian words whose meaning at that period cannot be adequately conveyed in modern English. Two such words occur frequently in this book. The first is virtuoso (and its derivatives), which means something much broader than in English usage: a virtuoso was a talented individual who had gained recognition for his or her prowess in some intellectual or artistic pursuit – which might include but was by no means restricted to mastery of a musical instrument. The second such word is famiglia, which is not a ‘family’ of blood relatives, but rather means the household and/or the most intimate circle of a monarch, prelate or nobleman. Likewise, a familiare denotes a member of such a household or circle. (This ‘false friend’ may even have caught out a seventeenth-century English writer, as the author suggests in Chapter 20.) In both cases I have made no attempt at a translation, preferring to leave the word as it is, printed in italic: ‘A cardinal at that time usually had a number of virtuosi in his famiglia.’ The present book quotes extensively from contemporary documents. Some of these have already appeared in the secondary literature, completely or partially translated into English. I have tended to steer clear of quoting from these translations, even in cases where the literature that contains them is referred to in the footnotes and listed in the bibliography. Inevitably my reading is often at variance with those of other translations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the translations are my own. The idea of translating this book emerged and matured naturally in the course of the preparations for and celebrations of the quatercentenary of Marenzio’s death in 1999. During visits I made to Italy in that year to carry out research and attend conferences, I had several meetings and discussions with Marco, and was also able to enjoy some splendid hospitality in Brescia and nearby Coccaglio, Marenzio’s birthplace. During the process of translation, Marco answered my xiii

xiv

Translator’s Note

queries with commendable patience. At a later stage, the translation benefited immensely from the attentive care of the copy editor Bonnie Blackburn, who ironed away the last vestiges of ‘Italian English’ and was full of helpful suggestions. Finally, my thanks to Leofranc Holford-Strevens for help in the translation of the passage from Plato’s Republic in Chapter 23, and for checking other references. J.C. Deventer, The Netherlands

A Note on Transcriptions

Original orthography has been retained in the transcription of the documents. In some cases, for greater ease of comprehension, accents and punctuation have been standardized to modern usage. Abbreviations have been expanded by placing the supplied text in square brackets. Editorial interventions (with the function of supplementing or explaining the sense of the original) always appear in square brackets. In the transcription of poetic texts, punctuation has been modernized. Madrigal books are sometimes cited in a conventionally abbreviated form: the roman numeral indicates the composer’s progressive numeration of the book, while the arabic numeral refers to the number of voices for which the book is scored. For example, II a 5 corresponds to Il secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. In the musical examples, placed in score with modern clefs and barlines, the note values of the original have been retained. To the left of the staves original clefs are indicated and are represented with the following sigla: G2 (violin clef), C1 (soprano), C2 (mezzo-soprano), C3 (alto), C4 (tenor), F3 (baritone), F4 (bass).

xv

A Note on Currencies

Many of the documents transcribed in this book contain references to monetary units in use in the Papal State. The most frequently used unit of value is the scudo, indicated in account books and in the Avvisi di Roma by an inverted triangle. (In my transcriptions this symbol is rendered by the word scudo or scudi). Unless otherwise specified, the term scudo should be interpreted as meaning the scudo di moneta (also called the scudo d’argento – silver scudo), with a fixed value of 100 baiocchi. In parallel, the scudo d’oro in oro was also in circulation. This was a gold coin whose value floated in accordance with the conversion rate between gold and silver, but it was greater than that of the scudo di moneta. On average, a scudo d’oro in oro was worth between 105 and 110 baiocchi.1 In Chapter 10 I refer to the traditional currency in use at Brescia: the lira (or libra) di planeti, equivalent to one-third of a ducato veneziano (Venetian ducat). The lira was subdivided into 20 soldi, and the soldo into 12 denari.

1

For a careful study of papal currency in the 16th century see J. Delumeau, Vita economica e sociale di Roma, pp. 173–98. For the gold–silver rate, and the scudo d’oro–baiocchi, pp. 178–9; on their purchasing power and, in particular, the costs of grain and oil, see ibid., pp. 185–98. xvi

Abbreviations and Sigla

Library and archive sigla ASM ASMo ASCR ASF ASR ASV BAV BNF

Archivio di Stato, Mantua Archivio di Stato, Modena Archivio Storico Capitolino, Rome Archivio di Stato, Florence Archivio di Stato, Rome Archivio Segreto Vaticano Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris

Other Abbreviations CMM DBI NG NG II NV

RISM

Corpus mensurabilis musicae Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Rome: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, 1960– The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan, 1980 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, London: Macmillan, 2001 E. Vogel, A. Einstein, F. Lesure and C. Sartori, Bibliografia della musica italiana vocale profana pubblicata dal 1500 al 1700 [Nuovo Vogel], Pomezia: Staderini, 1977 Répertoire international des sources musicales, B. I, 1: Recueils imprimés XVI–XVII siècles, i: Liste chronologique, ed. F. Lesure, Munich-Duisburg: Henle Verlag, 1960

xvii

Chapter 1

Competition and pre-eminence At the beginning of 1588 a Brescian soldier, Count Marc’Antonio Martinengo, conceived a remarkable idea. He sent the most celebrated composers of Italy a poem he had written, with the request that they should set it to music ‘with the same words and in the same mode’ (‘con l’istesse parole e nel medesimo tuono’). Seventeen composers took part in this competition (it would be safe to call it such), each of them bringing to bear his portfolio of professional experiences gained at the various courts and musical establishments of Italy. The count, an amateur musician, set a good example by himself composing the first madrigal of the series. Once the commissioned pieces had arrived in Brescia, they were collected in a musical print titled L’amorosa Ero, one of the most fascinating madrigal collections of the entire Cinquecento, an authentic ‘group exhibition’ of the period’s most acknowledged masters. In this publication composers whose fame has endured rub shoulders with minor figures or ones whose glory has since faded into oblivion. Their names are Bertani, Cavaccio, Gastoldi, Giovannelli, Ingegneri, Nanino, Zoilo, Marenzio, Barera, Luzzaschi, Virchi, Striggio, Merulo, Porta, Fiorino, Morsolino and Ferrabosco.1 We do not know who the winner of the competition was. Nor do we know if an actual prize was put up, perhaps a sum of money, or a red damask cloak, as was the custom with wrestling contests. However, a moral victor among those numerous masters was in fact proclaimed. In the last years of the century, Adriano Banchieri, a knowledgeable musician and a shrewd observer of the society of his time, indicated Luca Marenzio (who was still living) as the most representative composer of the contemporary madrigal, the one who had brought to a peak the art of writing secular music for four, five and more voices.2 Nor did Banchieri’s testimony remain isolated. 1

L’amorosa Ero rappresentata da’ più celebri musici d’Italia con l’istesse parole et nel medesimo tuono (RISM 158817). Modern edition in Lincoln (ed.), The Madrigal Collection ‘L’Amorosa Ero’. 2 Banchieri, La nobilissima, anzi asinissima compagnia delli briganti della Bastina ... (Vicenza, 1597). The book contains a bizarria in versi sdruccioli written by a fictitious ‘signor Zizoletto Cocolini’, in which the protagonist boasts to his mistress of his expertise in all the arts and sciences. In the field of music he compares his merits to those of the ‘great Zarlino’ as regards ‘theory’, to Claudio Merulo in the playing of chromatic keyboard works and to Luca Marenzio in the field of the madrigal: ‘Ne i 1

2

Luca Marenzio

Normally, the great masters of the sixteenth century came to be counted among the group of outstanding musicians during the course of their own lifetime. Their ‘classical’ status passed into historiographical tradition as a matter of course, reaching us without drastic reversals. (However, allowance should be made for adjustment and supplementation resulting from a clearer overall vision of unfolding history, which is why Monteverdi, Marenzio’s junior by ten years, does not yet figure in the canons of the late sixteenth century, even though he certainly qualifies; only later was the ‘divino Claudio’ counted as one of the greatest madrigal composers – if not the very greatest.) The case of L’amorosa Ero bears obvious witness to the colourful individualists who crowded the madrigalian arena in the period when Marenzio was most active as a composer, in other words in the two decades between the late 1570s and the late 1590s. This was an extremely fertile period for vocal music, both sacred and secular, and especially the latter, at least where Italy is concerned. More madrigals were composed and published than at any time before or since, by more authors, whether professional or amateur, from Italy or elsewhere. Not everything that was produced in that period has come down to us, but what remains is so abundant that it has (up to now at least) overwhelmed the best efforts of individual scholars to gain a satisfactory perspective. Even after drastically sifting the amount of music to be examined, one risks being faced with a volume of composers and music that is difficult to encompass. When discussing the period in question in his unsurpassed and classic study of the Italian madrigal as a whole, Alfred Einstein chooses only Marenzio’s music for close examination;3 only briefly does he refer to that of Luzzaschi, Gastoldi, Ingegneri, Striggio and Merulo. Among the ‘celebri autori’ of L’amorosa Ero, Einstein avoids in-depth consideration of Giovannelli, Nanino, Bertani and Virchi, even though, historically speaking, they count for something. We rely on the judgement of early authors because this seems the wisest course given the perplexing impossibility of knowing the repertory in its entirety. Why, among several hundred madrigalists, did late sixteenth-century writers on music decide to award the palm to Marenzio? Part of the answer certainly lies within the musical texts, but another part lies in the historical and social context. A key concept in this period is esemplarità – the function of a composition or musical style as a paragon or exemplum – a necessary precondition of which is public recognition. In its turn this recognition had to be capable of propagating itself on a large scale and of maintaining its capacity to persuade. In such cases the market

3

Madrigai da camera / Son un Luca Marentio / ... Mi sono può ne l’Organo / Francese stringatissime / E nel toccar Cromatico / Avanzo Claudio Merulo ... / E quando entro in Teorica ... al gran Zerlin me aprossimo’. See Bizzarini, ‘Musica, maschere e “Theatro del mondo”’. Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 608–88.

Competition and pre-eminence

3

for music publishing benefited, while the composer was constantly being asked for new music. By its very nature, this mechanism presupposed that compositional fertility could be considered a clear sign of excellence and ‘classical’ status, at least in this period. Palestrina composed over 100 masses, Marenzio published more than 20 books of secular music, and Philippe de Monte was even more prolific. It is true that Marenzio’s fame as a madrigalist is commonly held to exceed Monte’s, but the latter was also numbered among the better composers of his time.4 Prolificity depends on an ability to work at speed, and we know that a fast composer was highly regarded. In 1593 Sebastián Raval, a Spanish ex-soldier with strong musical ambitions, issued a public challenge to the best contrapuntists in Rome. Two of them, Giovanni Maria Nanino and Francesco Soriano, agreed to take part in the composition contest. A poetic text was handed to the three competitors for musical setting: it is recorded that when Soriano had finished the work, Raval had not yet reached the end of the first line. The ability to be at ease with technical difficulties, the fruit of long practice (and also of a certain natural predisposition), is a quality that immediately distinguishes the acknowledged professional from the pretentious dilettante. But despite his humiliating defeat Raval did not lose heart, issuing a further musical challenge a few years later, this time in Sicily. In the end Raval had the better of his competitor, Achille Falcone, but not without the support of a jury that clearly leaned in the direction of Spain.5 Once again the anecdote is instructive as it shows that judgement at that time could be corrected (if not corrupted) by private interests, diplomatic relations or political forces. In the last analysis, rivalry between composers could reflect that between their respective patrons and their opposing factions. In fact a decisive element in determining the fortunes of a musician was patronage. Without sufficient forms of patronage – whether private or institutional – the musician lacked means of support. Without patrons, his compositions never reached the printing press and could not therefore be disseminated. Whoever published had to be in a position to claim the support of influential protection. Stylistic esemplarità, compositional fecundity, adequate support through patronage: the harmonious confluence of these disparate factors was needed to establish the reputation of a musician of the late Renaissance, one eventually crowned with universally recognized pre-eminence. 4

See for example Vincenzo Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, in id., Discorsi, ed. Banti, p. 20: ‘le composizioni dell’Archadelt, di Orlando Lassus, dello Strigio, Cipriano de Rores e di Filippo di Monte [erano] stimate per le migliori di quei tempi, come in effetto erano’ (‘The compositions of Arcadelt, Orlando Lassos, Striggio, Cipriano de Rore and Philippe de Monte [were] regarded as the best of their period, which in fact they were’). 5 Casimiri, ‘Sebastian Raval’; Bianconi, ‘Sussidi bibliografici’, pp. 8 ff.

Chapter 2

First fruits of genius on the world stage As with other musicians of this period, we have no record of the date of Luca Marenzio’s birth, since it was only after the Council of Trent that Italian parishes began to keep regular baptismal records. By contrast, we know the precise moment when he consigned to print his first collection of compositions. A native of Coccaglio, a small town located in the countryside west of Brescia (see Pl. 1), Marenzio had recently completed his twenty-sixth year when his first book a 5, a work destined to enjoy an extraordinary success (with at least eight reprints), appeared with a dedication to Cardinal Luigi d’Este.1 The dedication was signed in Rome on 8 August 1580;2 for all practical purposes, this is the real ‘birth date’ of the prince of madrigalists. Thus we can place Marenzio, as a protégé of Cardinal Luigi d’Este, in Rome in the year 1580. For some years Marenzio had enjoyed the protection of this exceptional prince of the Church, one of the most powerful figures of the papal city. It is therefore not surprising that he chose to pay homage to his own patron with his first music collection. What is less clear is the cardinal’s objective in promoting the publication. One way of viewing any madrigal book is to see it as the outcome of the play of numerous forces dictated by the complex political strategies of patrons or the private aspirations of the author himself. It is the role of the historian to untangle this knot, to reveal the underlying relationship of the work to its context, as far as the fragmentary documentation and the eternal game of dissimulation typical of the Cinquecento allows. With the deference customary of the period, in the dedication of his first book a 5 Marenzio calls his madrigals ‘first fruits’ (‘primizie’) and imperfect efforts: he trusts that the cardinal’s greatness will impart to them that spirit which the author’s ‘small intellect’ (‘poco intelletto’) was unable to give them. The musician has turned to his patron ‘not only because of the obligation of service, but also of [my own] will, and to reciprocate countless undeserved favours’.3 Every music print, especially ones containing madrigals, was normally prefaced by a dedicatory letter addressed to a chosen protector. Hence it is natural 1 2 3

Modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, pp. 1–37. The letters of dedication of all Marenzio’s single-author publications are reproduced in Mischiati, Bibliografia delle opere dei musicisti bresciani, vol. 2, pp. 425–606. ‘non solamente per obligo di servitù, ma per elettione di volontà, e per debito di infiniti favori ricevuti senz’alcun merito’. 4

First fruits of genius on the world stage

5

for the music historian to wish to understand how the cultural milieu of the dedicatee, and perhaps also his poetico-musical tastes, may have influenced the composition of the print itself. It is open to discussion, even to some doubt, whether we can show exact or profound correlations between patrons’ supposed musical tastes and the works associated with them; it is all the more difficult to uncover some of the mechanisms behind a musician’s career, the diffusion of his works, or his eventual inclusion among the number of ‘autori eccellenti’. Nevertheless, the patron stands at the centre of a web of crucial relationships between other musicians and figures from the world of culture and literature. The relationship between an author and a dedicatee is not always clear, and the series of individual cases can be complex. We can usefully distinguish between the role of the patrono (‘patron’ or ‘employer’ who exacts continual service in exchange for a salary), and that of the committente (client) who commissions occasional work. We may further observe that a patron can become a patrocinatore (‘protector’, ‘defender’) of a work dedicated to him, not by remunerating the composer, but solely by virtue of his own social status and superior rank. Sometimes the dedications show that the dedicatee (whether patrono, committente or patrocinatore) had already heard and sampled the printed compositions. In other cases, however, the musician admits he is not personally acquainted with the publication’s dedicatee.4 Thorough research has been carried out on artistic patronage at the close of the Cinquecento,5 but drawing parallels between the visual arts and music is problematical in that a visual work of art remains a unique exemplar, not subject to the mechanisms of diffusion through print. A closer parallel can be found between musical patronage and that extended to the publication of poetic works. As long as one bears in mind certain fundamental differences, the relations between poet and dedicatee can throw light on our investigation. Antonio Ongaro, a man of letters who frequented Roman academies in Marenzio’s time, presents an interesting theory concerning dedications in the preface to his favola pescatoria (piscatory fable) Alceo.6 Ongaro writes that there are three reasons for dedicating a work: for the hope of ‘obtaining something useful’ (‘conseguir qualch’utile’), probably in an economic sense; as a way of thanking someone for favours received; or to procure a ‘defender’ (‘tutore’) for the work. This last reason is explained thus: ‘Foreseeing that there would be many who would say that it was unsuitable for a young man like me, a lawyer by 4

DeFord, ‘Ruggiero Giovannelli’, vol. 1, p. 25, cites as examples Giovannelli’s second book a 4, Dragoni’s second book a 5 and Soriano’s first book a 5. 5 For example in Haskell, Patrons and Painters. 6 Ongaro, Alceo (Venice, 1582). The work is dedicated to the brothers Girolamo and Michele Ruis. Girolamo was the addressee of the dedication of Marenzio’s fourth book a 5 (1584): see Chapter 12.

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Luca Marenzio

profession, to be involved with poetry, and to dare send the first fruits of his genius onto the world stage, I realized it would be necessary to find someone to defend me from such malicious sayings.’7 Thus the dedicatee assumes here the function of a patrocinatore, a protection or refuge for the work as it emerges into print, a means of defending the author from criticism or malicious comment. The threefold function expounded by Ongaro can also be applied to the dedications of musical prints. Marenzio’s first book a 5, for example, falls explicitly into the second category, that of ‘reciprocating favours received’ (‘render ricompensa de’ benefici ricevuti’), whereby the author presumably seeks to maintain if not increase the favours obtained from his benefactor. However, the work of a composer making his debut in print would fall equally into the third category, in which a protector is sought who by means of his undisputed authority would act as guardian to those delicate ‘first fruits’, protecting them from the numerous perils of the ‘world stage’. And Cardinal d’Este, a leading member of the Sacred College, played precisely this role for the young Marenzio.

7

‘prevedendo io che molti sarebbono stati coloro che haverebbono detto esser poco dicevole à un giovinetto par mio che faccia professione di leggi attendere alla Poesia, e haver’ ardire di mandar le primitie del suo ingegno nel Teatro del mondo, conobbi essermi necessario ritrovar qualche difensore contra simili dicerie’.

Chapter 3

Cardinal d’Este ‘There can be no doubt that there are three leading lights in the curia: Farnese, Este and Medici’.1 Thus observed the chronicler in the 1584 Avvisi di Roma, a series of manuscript news dispatches sent from Rome to the court of Urbino. This source, still not exhaustively utilized by music historians, provides a taste of the more worldly side of life in the papal city during the late Renaissance, a daily chronicle recounting its most notable events. Luca Marenzio’s name is rarely encountered; nevertheless, it is here that we find mentioned many figures to whom the composer dedicated works, along with the day-to-day events that formed the backdrop of musical performances. Cardinale Luigi d’Este, by virtue of his authority at the heart of the papal court, is one of the figures most frequently cited in the Avvisi. His departures from the city to Tivoli, his visits with the Pope, his extraordinary banquets and his legendary hospitality all caused a constant stir in Rome. This is why his name serves as an indispensable guide as we explore the environments with which Marenzio came into contact. At the time of Marenzio’s first book a 5 the cardinal was 41 years old, but he was worn out and in poor physical health. Officially he filled the role of protector of the interests of the French crown at the papal court, authorized to exert strong control over diplomatic relations with an international dimension. He was born in Ferrara in 1538, the last child of Duke Ercole II and Renée of France. His uncle, Cardinal Ippolito II, had built the splendid villa at Tivoli, famous throughout Europe for its fountains, cypresses and hydraulic devices. From his birth it was obvious that this scion of the Estense house was destined for the Sacred College, as was customary for younger brothers of reigning families. Luigi had a well-rounded education, including literature, rhetoric, moral philosophy and astronomy. A huntsman, man-at-arms and horseman, he displayed the same genuine interest in music as his brother and both his sisters, Lucrezia 1

‘Non è dubbio che tre sono, i quali dant lumen in curia: Farnese, Este et Medici’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1052, fol. 488 (Rome, 12 December 1584). The three cardinals are Alessandro Farnese, Luigi d’Este and Ferdinando de’ Medici. This avviso is quoted in von Pastor, The History of the Popes, vol. 19, p. 221. 7

8

Luca Marenzio

and Leonora.2 In other words, he was game for anything except the priesthood. It cost a great deal of effort to push the boy in this direction, one of the obstacles being the opposition of his mother Renée, who espoused Calvinist doctrines. The future cardinal’s biography is therefore flecked with episodes worthy of a romantic historical novel: schemes to marry into the Gonzaga (the ruling family of Mantua), Spanish intrigues with Cardinal Madruzzo, a flight to France, then a second plan to marry, this time into the Bourbon family. All in vain: in the end Luigi acceded to his father’s wishes and was raised to the purple at the age of 23. As Bishop of Ferrara, Archbishop of Auch and cardinal protector of France, Luigi d’Este enjoyed an enormous income, amounting to 96 000 scudi d’oro (golden scudi) a year;3 even so, it fell short of the princely luxury to which he was accustomed. His court numbered 80 people, his standard of living was stratospheric, and his generosity plain for all to see. Historians of the last three centuries have been divided about the cardinal’s personality: some, like Muratori, extol his splendour and generosity, while others, among them Campori and Solerti, attest to his improvident and extravagant nature.4 Some praise his gentle manner and refined affability, while others decry his harsh, eccentric personality, his excessive love of luxury, his dissipated way of life, and his egotistical, ostentatious aspirations to personal greatness. It all depends on the political and moral value we attribute to the concept of ‘magnificenza’. In Italy in the late Cinquecento, and especially in the encomiastic courtly literature, ‘magnificenza’ was understood in an entirely positive sense, as a visible sign of that greatness of spirit (‘magnanimità’) that formed the basis of Aristotle’s Ethics.5 It is not unusual to come across panegyrics of the kind addressed in 1609 to Ferdinando de’ Medici, who before ascending the throne of Tuscany had been a colleague of Luigi d’Este in the Sacred College: ‘the splendour of [your] life, the magnificence of [your] buildings, [your] generosity towards virtuous men, [your] beneficence towards everyone’.6 In special cases, the procession from cardinal to reigning prince was not impossible, provided the pope granted a special dispensation. Ferdinando de’ Medici, after the death of his

2

In a letter of 1550 the young Luigi shows an interest in paired horses, packs of hounds, trained falcons and leopards, suits of armour, precious books and musical instruments. See Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1929–30), p. 47. 3 Portone, ‘Este, Luigi d’, in DBI, vol. 43, p. 388. 4 Muratori, Delle antichità estensi, vol. 2, p. 40; Campori, ‘G.B. Della Porta e il cardinale Luigi d’Este’; Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este; Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso. For an up-to-date bibliography see Portone, ‘Este, Luigi d’, in DBI, vol. 43, p. 390. 5 See Burke, The Historical Anthropology, p. 134; Firpo, ‘Il cardinale’, pp. 92–98. 6 ‘la splendidezza della vita, la magnificenza degli edifizi, la liberalità verso i virtuosi, la beneficenza verso tutti’. Ibid., quoted from Soldani, Delle lodi di Ferdinando Medici, fol. iiiv.

Cardinal d’Este

9

brother Francesco, grand duke of Tuscany, accomplished this considerable step in 1588 without major problems. Luigi d’Este, too, would probably have been glad to renounce the cardinal’s purple in exchange for the throne of Ferrara. At a certain point a tempting opportunity seemed to present itself when his brother Duke Alfonso d’Este, having reached his third marriage without producing an heir, asked him to marry in order to ensure dynastic continuity: without direct descendants the city of Ferrara would have to return to papal rule. But Luigi did not obtain papal dispensation; moreover, he was constantly afflicted by health problems. He was to die in 1586 at the age of 48. Luigi d’Este and Ferdinando de’ Medici had many points in common. Both came from illustrious Italian princely families, both loved sumptuousness and grand palaces, both were highly skilled in diplomacy and both shared the fortune of employing Marenzio. With their worldly temperament they were far closer to the model of the Renaissance prince, dedicated to luxury and the arts, than to the ecclesiastic intent on promoting the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. It is difficult to understand what, in an age dominated by dissimulation, the communis opinio was with regard to Cardinal d’Este. He was likened to ‘a jumbled book collection’ (‘l’archivio dei libri squinternati’),7 but despite his rather capricious life, adulators thronged to take advantage of him. According to the French jurisprudent Marc-Antoine Muret, a member of his court, the cardinal treated everyone kindly and was continually besieged by people seeking favours. It is not difficult to imagine a typical day in his life, ceaselessly occupied (health permitting) with writing letters: not just political messages addressed to Ferrara and Paris, but also hundreds of recommendations, without much discrimination in favour of any particular sort of person.8 After all, the crowds admired him, dazzled by his magnificence. For the gentlemen of the French nation who poured into the city in great numbers, Luigi d’Este became an indispensable point of reference. Thousands of transalpini, nobles and the servants in their train, could avail themselves of his generous hospitality in the villa at Tivoli, which achieved a status equivalent to an embassy.9 The cardinal encouraged scholars and protected literary figures and artists, not only because he wished to help them, but also as an effective means of augmenting his personal splendour. In 1565 he welcomed Torquato Tasso as one of his gentiluomini, and the poet dedicated his Rinaldo to him.10 In 1579 he took 7 8 9

Chiappini, Gli Estensi, p. 277. Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 258. Ibid; see also this study, Chapter 15. On the villa at Tivoli in particular, see Coffin, The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome. 10 Perhaps it was in order to please the cardinal that Marenzio, in his first book a 4 (1585), set to music a text beginning ‘Lasso, dicea, perché venisti amore’, from Rinaldo (book V, stanza 16), a work that found little favour in musical circles.

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Luca Marenzio

into his service the learned Giambattista della Porta, a brilliant polygraph who was occupied with alchemy, magia naturale (‘natural magic’), astrology, optics, cryptography, hydraulics and pharmacy. It seems that Luigi saved him from the clutches of the Inquisition by accepting the dedication of the treatise De humana physiognomonia (1586). Equally brilliant was the political thinker Girolamo Frachetta, who enjoyed the cardinal’s hospitality during the same period. Marenzio too obtained notable favours, in comparison with which it is perhaps of secondary importance to ascertain whether the cardinal was a true connoisseur of music or not.11 Even though the salary he paid was far from exceptional (five scudi per month plus vitto (food and drink), alloggio (residence) and ‘qualche donativo’ (gifts),12 Luigi d’Este made a decisive contribution towards establishing Marenzio as a professional musician. An early example of his ‘infiniti favori’ can be seen in his letter of recommendation (1579) in which he tried to secure Marenzio a position as a singer in the Sistine Chapel choir.

11 On the musical books and instruments in the cardinal’s possession see Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, pp. 521–25. 12 For a detailed discussion of the cardinal’s account books see Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, passim.

Chapter 4

Maestro di cappella As always, Cardinal d’Este had laid a careful plan. Wishing to support the young Marenzio’s entry into the Sistine Chapel, he wrote to Antonio Boccapadule, the last of the permanent directors of that prestigious institution.1 With his usual prudence the cardinal had wanted, as a precaution, to consult Pope Gregory XIII beforehand. In his letter to Boccapadule, he asked to be informed about Marenzio’s qualities so that he could tell the pope; he had no doubts as to the musician’s ‘merit’ (‘valore’) or ‘good conduct’ (‘bontà della vita’). The cardinal’s manoeuvrings seemed destined for success, but there was an unexpected sequel. In a move that no one could have foreseen, two singers had just been admitted to the Papal Chapel, so there was no vacancy for other voices. A long letter by the agent Giovanni Battista Nobili (Rome, 25 December 1579) informed the cardinal of what had happened.2 This document is extremely interesting in that it reveals an open conflict between the requests of an influential protector and the firm opposition of the Sistine singers. On the one side stood Cardinal d’Este, recommending Marenzio; on the other was the pope’s natural son, Giacomo Boncompagni, who favoured the cause of another singer. Thus the maestro di cappella Boccapadule was caught between the hammer and the anvil: if earlier he had done Boncompagni wrong by denying admission to his protegé (and he had been sharply reprimanded for this), now he was also compelled to betray Cardinal d’Este’s agent, as, if he had not done so, there would have been a scandal. The letter reveals a sense of serious embarrassment about the affair: the clash between Nobili and Boccapadule must have been somewhat bitter and unpleasant. Nobili maintained that compared with the other two singers ‘Messer Luca was by no means inferior’ (‘messer Luca in niuna parte era inferiore’). And Boccapadule replied that Giacomo Boncompagni in person ‘had wished to place singers in the Chapel, and had not been able to unless they had first been tested and accepted as good voices and good singers’ (‘havea voluto metter cantori in Cappella, et che non havea potuto, se prima non s’erano provati, et ricevuti per

1

With his bull In suprema of 1 September 1586, Pope Sixtus V laid down that the office of maestro della Cappella Sistina should be held pro tempore by one of the singing chaplains, elected by the whole college. 2 ASMo, Ambasciatori (Roma), 122 [olim 78] (Rome, 25 December 1579). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 148 ff. 11

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Luca Marenzio

buone voci et buon cantori’); in sum, if even the pope’s son lacked the power to cause his musicians to be admitted, neither could Cardinal d’Este aspire to do so. At the time of this episode Marenzio must have been better known as a singer than as a composer; however, the two activities were considered complementary. To enter the Sistine Chapel, apart from leading a sufficiently well-conducted life, it was necessary to have not only a good and well-trained voice, but also to have attained a high level of knowledge of the discipline of music. What professional curriculum vitae could Marenzio boast by the year 1579? In the cardinal’s account books he is styled alternatively as ‘musico’ and ‘cantore’ (‘singer’),3 while Nobili’s letter informs us that the musician, before entering d’Este’s service, had been ‘m[aest]ro di Cap[pe]lla di Mons[ignor] Ill[ustrissi]mo di Trento fe[lice] me[moria]’ (‘maestro di cappella of the Most Illustrious Mons. [cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, Cardinal] of Trent, deceased’ – the cardinal died in Rome in 1578).4 A position of great responsibility such as that of maestro di cappella, which implied the capacities of both performing musician and composer, appears to suggest that Marenzio at the age of 20 was already a complete musician, suitably qualified. Unfortunately we do not possess any direct testimony about the period Marenzio spent in Rome with Madruzzo, but Noel O’Regan has recently drawn attention to a document according to which, in June of the jubilee year 1575, the ‘mag[ist]ro cappellae Ill[ustrissi]mi Card[ina]lis Trid[entin]i’, perhaps identifiable as Marenzio, received a payment of 4 scudi and 60 baiocchi for the music for the procession at Corpus Christi.5 Up to now the interest of scholars has been focused primarily on the formation of Marenzio as a madrigal composer, but this last testimony suggests it would be just as useful to concentrate on his precocious activity as a maestro di cappella, not necessarily restricted to secular repertory. 3

ASMo, Amministrazione principi, 1214–1222 (Luigi d’Este, Libri dei salariati 1578–86; the year 1585 is missing), passim. Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 144–46. In these documents the term most frequently found is ‘m[e]s[ser] Luca Marentio Musico’. 4 Two other letters of subsequent years attest to Marenzio’s service with the Cardinal of Trent: see the letter quoted in n. 24; also ASMo, Particolari (Marenzio), letter of Marenzio to Luigi d’Este (Rome, 18 June 1584): ‘dopo la morte della felice mem[ori]a dell’Ill[ustrissi]mo di Trento già mio sig[no]re et padrone’ (‘after the death of the Most Illustrious [Cardinal of] Trent of blessed memory, my former lord and patron’). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 176. There were two Cardinals Madruzzo: Cristoforo and his nephew Ludovico. The problem of correct identification is easily resolved as the documents of the period (including the Avvisi di Roma) distinguish clearly between the ‘cardinale di Trento’ (Cristoforo) and ‘cardinale Madruccio’ (Ludovico). 5 Roma, archive of the church of S. Maria dell’Anima, E.I.10, fol. 55. The document is quoted in O’Regan, ‘Marenzio’s sacred music: the Roman context’, p. 609. S. Maria dell’Anima was the church of the German nation.

Maestro di cappella

13

Cristoforo Madruzzo’s musical patronage has been the object of numerous studies.6 We possess various writings about the cardinal’s period in Trent and Milan, but there is little documentation of his last years in Rome, between about 1574 and 1578, the period when Marenzio was in his service. What is certain is that in the Holy City the cardinal led a life of ease and luxury.7 Madruzzo had always displayed a lively interest in music. In 1548, during the entry into Milan of the future King Philip of Spain, a secretary of the duke of Tuscany had noted that the vocal music promoted by the Cardinal of Trent was the ‘most excellent’ (‘più eccellente’) of the whole court.8 And the following year Madruzzo had confided to the duke of Ferrara that he took great delight in music, finding that as a medicine it was much more pleasant than syrups and that it was an excellent remedy for ‘melancolia’.9 The cardinal was referring specifically to the music of Antonio del Cornetto and his companions, who formed a respected instrumental group of cornetts and trombones. A letter of 1552 shows that Madruzzo was particularly interested in the ‘messe rare’ (‘rare masses’) composed by the maestro di cappella of the duke of Ferrara,10 a sign of evident attention to sacred repertory. However, secular music reigned supreme at banquets and festivities. When on 3 May 1547 the city of Trent celebrated the Imperial victory over the Protestant Schmalkaldic League at Mühlberg, French ‘canzone di gorga’ were probably performed.11

6 7

8

9

10

11

See among others Lunelli, ‘Contributi trentini’; Vettori, ‘Note storiche sul patronato musicale di Cristoforo Madruzzo’. An avviso informs us that on his death ‘nella sua cassa si sono trovati 18.000 scudi cont[an]ti et gioie, argenti, con altri mobilij et stabili per 200.000 scudi havendone da 40.000 di debiti’ (‘in his cash desk were found 18 000 scudi in cash and jewels, silver objects, with other furnishings and goods worth 200 000 scudi, and he had debts of 40 000 scudi’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1046, fol. 272 (Rome, 12 July 1578). Cf. the relationship between Lorenzo Pagni and Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (9 December 1548), discussed in Saltini, ‘Una visita’, p. 31. Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 11. Trent, Biblioteca Comunale, MS Giuliani 2901, part II, fol. 21v, letter of C. Madruzzo to the duke of Ferrara, Bressanone, 19 August 1549, and fol. 22v, letter of C. Madruzzo to the duke of Ferrara, Riva del Garda, 18 April 1550. Quoted in Vettori, ‘Note storiche’, p. 36. Trent, Biblioteca Comunale, MS Giuliani 2912, fol. 450, letter of Antonio Maria di Savoia di Collegno to the duke of Ferrara (Trent, 24 April 1552): ‘Il Cardinale di Trento ... che ha inteso il suo Maestro di capella havere composto infinite messe rare [prega] che Vostra Eccellenza per sua cortesia si degni mandargliene una’ (‘The Cardinal of Trent ..., who understands that your maestro di cappella has composed innumerable rare masses, [asks] that Your Excellency be pleased to send him one’). Quoted in Vettori, ‘Note storiche sul patronato musicale di Cristoforo Madruzzo’, p. 34. Ibid., p. 24.

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Luca Marenzio

Pieces belonging to this secular repertory, together with madrigals by Verdelot and Arcadelt, appear in a contemporary tablature by the lutenist Simon Gintzler, who is styled as ‘musico del Reverendissimo Cardinale di Trento’.12 It is perhaps indicative that no madrigal print was ever dedicated to Madruzzo, while his former maestro di cappella Giovanni Contino (traditionally claimed to be Marenzio’s teacher) addressed to him a book of motets in 1560 and one of masses in the following year.13 One could deduce – albeit with the necessary caution – that the cardinal’s musical preferences, publicly at least, lay mostly with the sacred repertory. Let us imagine Madruzzo as an old man, spending his last years in Rome. Protector of the Imperial crown, a great friend of Cardinal Luigi d’Este and a frequent guest at his villa in Tivoli, the cardinal could have admitted Marenzio into his famiglia around 1574, probably on the advice of Giovanni Contino, formerly his trusted musician and now active in Mantua alongside the young Luca.14 Various documents attest to frequent relations between Madruzzo and the Gonzaga court; this helps to explain how Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga could have ceded Marenzio to the Cardinal of Trent. Transferring from Mantua to Rome, the 20-year-old Marenzio most probably benefited from career advancement in addition to full professional emancipation. In Mantua – so far as one can hypothesize (and unfortunately no specific documents survive that can indicate this) – Marenzio exercised the duties of an ordinary singer subject to the authority of the maestro di cappella, Giaches de Wert. In Rome, on the other hand, in Cardinal Madruzzo’s private musical establishment, our musician was styled ‘maestro’ for the first time, and as such was certainly expected to write his own music. In the meanwhile Giovanni Contino, his presumed teacher, had died in 1574. Among Marenzio’s surviving compositions, the posthumous print of the Sacrae cantiones (1616) includes a series of early motets.15 The editor of the 12

Ibid., pp. 24 and 26. L’Intabolatura de Lauto di Simon Gintzler ... Libro Primo (RISM 154722) contains the following reworkings of secular pieces: Madonna s’il morire, Donna sì fiera stella (Verdelot), Occhi miei lassi, Lasciar il velo, Il ciel che rado (Arcadelt), O s’io potessi donna (Berchem), Iay veu que iestois, Ce qui est plus, Mais pour quoy, Dames d’honeur (Sandrin), Veu le grief mal (Villiers). 13 Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber primus (Venice: Girolamo Scotto, 1560); id., Missarum quatuor vocum liber primus (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), 1561. 14 Ledbetter, ‘Marenzio’s early career’. The relations between Marenzio, Contino and Mantuan circles will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 10. 15 Marenzio, Sacrae cantiones (Venice: Riccardo Amadino, 1616). Modern edition by Jackson in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 1. The separate parts of the original print are preserved in the Archivio Capitolare of Brescia. The alto part is missing, but Jackson’s edition relies on an earlier edition by Hans Engel, complete in all the parts. Perhaps the alto part was lost in the course of the last few decades.

Maestro di cappella

15

publication, a certain Giovanni Maria Piccioni, asserts that the volume was composed ‘in the flower of his youth, when he was a young man’ (‘in ipso juventutis flore adhuc ephebus’); thus it must originate in the period 1570–75, as in classical Latin the word ‘ephebus’ connotes a young man aged from 16 to 20. Piccioni adds that the pieces were written ‘in patria’, namely in Coccaglio, Marenzio’s birth place. Given that we cannot establish an exact chronology, we should not exclude the possibility that some of these motets were composed in Rome, at the time when Marenzio was in Madruzzo’s service: in fact, as Roland Jackson has observed, out of a total of nine pieces two are dedicated to St Cecilia and one to Pope Martin, both Roman martyrs.16 One is immediately struck by the astonishingly high quality of these Sacrae cantiones. In the Salve regina for five voices Marenzio displays a magisterial command of imitative counterpoint and musical flow (Ex. 4.1). It is useful to compare this piece with the earlier Salve Regina by Giovanni Contino, published in his Modulationum sex vocum liber primus dated 1560 and dedicated to Madruzzo (Ex. 4.2).17 The two pieces share the same choice of mode and even the same initial subject (‘Salve’), derived from plainchant. But we should not overestimate the importance of this, since innumerable sixteenth-century composers – from Palestrina to Victoria, from Soriano to Quagliati – set this Marian antiphon with the same traditional incipit. The comparison between Contino and Marenzio shows that the latter had greater contrapuntal suppleness and above all a more developed ‘tonal sense’, a richer harmonic varietas characterized by frequent accidentals (musica ficta) on the notes F (bar 3), B (bar 5) and E (bar 6). Thus, instead of a presumed stylistic continuity between master

C (G2)

w &b C Sal

Q (G2)

&b C

w

w -

„

˙ ve,

∑

w

Sal

œ œ œ œ #œ ˙

˙ re

-

gi

-

-

w -

-

-

A (C2)

&b C

„

„

„

T (C3)

Vb C

„

„

„

?b C

„

„

„

B (F3)

w

œ -

-

16 Jackson, preface to Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 1, p. ix. 17 Modern edition of Contino’s Salve Regina in Crosatti (ed.), Magnificat, pp. 10–27.

16

Luca Marenzio

&b

˙.

œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙. -

&b ˙

-

ve,

-

œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙.

˙ re

-

gi

-

Sal

-

-

-

-

-

-

œ ˙

na,

w

-

na,

œ œ ˙.

nœ œ ˙

w -

w

-

-

&b W

bw

œ w

5

˙

-

w

˙

ve,

re - gi

Vb

„

„

„

?

„

„

„

b

&b

w

Ó

˙

˙

sal

-

Vb ?b

Sal

-

˙. œ ˙

-

W

w

-

& b ˙ œ œ ˙ n˙ & b ˙ œ œ ˙.

˙

-

-

-

-

-

„

ve,

re

-

gi

#œ œ ˙

˙.

œ w

-

na,

-

˙ -

„

ve,

W

Sal

Ex. 4.1

œ œ œ œm œ w

w

w

˙

˙.

œ w ˙.

˙

-

m m

œ œ œ œm

˙ re

-

-

gi

-

m -

Marenzio, Salve Regina, bars 1–9

and pupil, the two Salve Regina settings manifest a considerable divergence, both artistic and generational. Roland Jackson maintains that the textural density characteristic of Marenzio’s Sacrae cantiones approaches a style that had already been superseded, one typical of mid-century composers like Gombert and Morales. It is probable that the young musician was guided by the ideal of aemulatio, but the comparison with Contino’s motet evinces an author whose harmonic sensibility is unmistakably modern. The Sacrae cantiones, if indeed they originate from the 1570s, betray a

Maestro di cappella

17

5

C (G2)

&b C

„

„

„

„

S (G2)

&b C

„

„

„

∑ w Sal

A (C2)

&b C

„

„

T (C3)

Vb C

„

„

B (F3)

Vb C ?b C

„

-

W

„

Sal

Ów

„

ve

Sal

˙˙w Vb -

w -

„

ve,

w w ˙ ˙ w Vb w w ˙ ˙ w ?b -

-

˙ ˙ w ˙ ˙. œ ˙ W

„

-

ve, sal

ve, sal

ve,

sal

-

10

w

Ó ˙ w

ve

Re - gi

˙ w

w

-

ve,

˙. œ w -

w

w

sal

-

W W-

sal

&b ∑ w w

„

Sal

-

&b w ∑

-

˙ ˙. œ ˙ ˙ w œ œ w ∑ w

w

-

„

-

„

w w

Sal

&b

-

„

W

-

w w

W

„

w w W

„

„

Sal Q (C3)

„

w

-

-

w m na,

w m ve,

˙. œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ œœ˙w m ve, sal - ve Re - gi na, w ˙ w w „ Ó „ m sal

˙˙ w -

w ve,

ve,

Ó

-

ve,

„ ˙ w sal

w -

w

„ w -

Ex. 4.2 Giovanni Contino, Salve Regina, bars 1–12

sal

w

w -

ve,

w m w m

18

Luca Marenzio

composer who was still evolving, yet was technically mature and indisputably talented.18 The elaborately refined counterpoint of the two most famous madrigals of the first book a 5 (1580), Liquide perle and Dolorosi martir, are worthily and fully anticipated in these motets. Nevertheless, in the 1770s the time was not yet ripe for Marenzio to publish a print of his own. Like other composers of the time, he made his publishing debut in a multi-author collection of madrigals, Il primo fiore della ghirlanda musicale a cinque voci (RISM 15777).19 The collection includes the madrigal Donna bella e crudel, which unfortunately has survived incomplete; only the canto and alto parts are preserved.20 It is the first composition by Marenzio that we can date with certainty, and points unequivocally to the period the composer spent with Cardinal Madruzzo. As I have already pointed out, Cristoforo Madruzzo and Luigi d’Este were long-standing friends. In a letter dated 1570 the Cardinal of Trent is remembered along with Ippolito II d’Este, Luigi’s uncle, as having in his entourage some ‘good men’ (‘buoni huomini’) in the musical profession.21 In 1578 the Avvisi di Roma announced Madruzzo’s death, which occurred on the evening of 5 July at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli: the prelate had named as his heir his nephew Ludovico, who had only just left for Trent.22 Probably it was the temporary absence of the

18

19

20 21

22

On the Sacrae cantiones see Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 203; Jackson, ‘I primi mottetti di Marenzio’. According to Engel ‘alcuni di questi pezzi costituiscono non solo la parte più preziosa della musica sacra di quei tempi, ma quanto di più prezioso sia mai stato scritto. Sono la testimonianza di una pura e profonda religiosità, tutt’altro che freddamente obiettiva, ma, anzi, sommamente personale’ (‘some of these pieces represent not only the finest sacred repertory of the period, but also the finest ever written. They bear witness to a pure and deep religious sense, far from coldly objective, but on the contrary personal to the highest degree’). Among the numerous authors who made their debut as madrigalists in collections the following are the most distinguished: Striggio, Merulo, Andrea Gabrieli, Maddalena Casulana, Macque, Nanino, Soriano, Vecchi, Mosto, Bertani and Giovannelli. See Piperno, Gli ‘eccellentissimi musici della città di Bologna’, pp. 28 ff. A reconstruction of the missing parts has been undertaken by James Chater in ‘Marenzio’s “first flower” restored’. ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, Corrispondenza estera, 904, letter of Francesco Fellonica (a cleric at the cathedral in Mantua) to the duke of Mantua (Rome, 12 August 1570). The document is quoted in Vettori, ‘Note storiche’, p. 43. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. lat. 1046, fols. 253, 261v, 272, 284. On 25 June Madruzzo was already at Tivoli ‘à diporto’ (‘for recreation’) with his nephew Ludovico and Cardinal Rusticucci. On 2 July he felt ill, and on Saturday 5 July he received ‘l’olio santo con poca speranza di vita’ (‘Extreme Unction, with little hope of life’). He died that evening, still conversing ‘facetamente’ (‘with jocular humour’). The avviso of 12 July (cf. n. 7) states that he left ‘suo Herede il Card[ina]le Madruccio suo Nipote’ (‘his nephew Cardinal Madruccio as his heir’). Cardinal Ludovico had left for Trent

Maestro di cappella

19

legitimate heir that allowed d’Este to draw Marenzio (and possibly other servants of the deceased cardinal) into his famiglia. Marenzio officially entered Cardinal Luigi’s service on 1 August. On that date the libro dei salariati records: ‘Magnifico Messer Luca Marenzio newly arrived in the household of our Illustrious Monsignor with a provision of five scudi di moneta.’23 Under his new employer too his qualification as ‘maestro di cappella’ was ratified,24 and in fact the title was not merely symbolic: as Ledbetter has shown, Cardinal d’Este maintained a substantial group of musicians on his salary role.25 Although he had the published only one madrigal, Marenzio cannot have been completely unknown in Roman circles. A musician’s fame, especially in the case of a singer gifted with a fine voice, did not necessarily depend on the fortunes of his compositions at the printing press. Perhaps his candidature as a singer in the Sistine Chapel as early as 1579 was not as premature as we may be tempted to think. If Marenzio had entered the papal chapel, this would have predisposed him to specialize in sacred music; instead, events, and perhaps also his own personal vocation, sped him along that secular path in which he was soon to attain excellence.

at the end of June, because ‘da S[ua] B[eatitudine] [aveva] havuta licenza di stare alla Residenza sino a Primavera’ (‘he had obtained permission from His Holiness to stay in residence until spring’). 23 ‘Magnifico m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio Musico novamente venuto a stare con Mons[ignor] Ill[ustrissi]mo Nostro con provigione di scudi cinque il mese di moneta’. ASMo, Amministrazione principi, 1214 (Luigi d’Este: Libri dei salariati, 1579), fol. 159. Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 144. 24 ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1511, letter of Annibale Capello to Aurelio Zibramonte (Venice, 17 September 1580): ‘[Marenzio] è stato maestro di capella del Cardinale di Trento di stravagante memoria. Fu acetato col medesimo carico dal Cardinale mio signore [Luigi d’Este]’ (‘[Marenzio] was maestro di cappella of the deceased Cardinal of Trent. He was accepted in the same capacity by My Lord the Cardinal [Luigi d’Este]’. The letter is transcribed in Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 216 and Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 154. The only publication in which Marenzio describes himself as ‘Maestro di cappella del cardinale Luigi d’Este’ is his first book a 6 (1581). 25 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 19–25: ‘the Cardinal must have had a musical establishment during these years which, if it could not rival that of his brother in Ferrara, was nonetheless an active enterprise’. Cf. also Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’.

Chapter 5

Secular music for a prince of the Church Luigi d’Este, so far as we can judge from the documents, had a markedly different personality from Cristoforo Madruzzo. Though inclined towards worldly pomp, Madruzzo was also seriously engaged with the process of reform begun by the Council of Trent, whereas d’Este was bound by the shackles of an ecclesiastical office imposed on him by reasons of state and for which he had no sincere vocation. It is significant that he remained a deacon his whole life, without ever aspiring to the priesthood. By way of compensation he concentrated with profound dedication on those more strictly political and temporal duties that his status as a cardinal also implied: in this way he succeeded in becoming a shrewd diplomat, with a correspondingly wide range of highly placed acquaintances. At that time being a cardinal meant being a prince of the church and also, often, a prince of the world: it was towards this last aspect that Luigi d’Este was essentially inclined. A young musician like Marenzio could either delight the cardinal with music of a refined taste, or else enhance his patron’s aura of splendour and ‘reputation’ vis-à-vis the eminent guests, whether laymen or clergy, who were continually in and out of the villa at Tivoli or his equally noble urban residences at Montegiordano and Montecavallo (today the Palazzo Quirinale). If in the last chapter I cautiously advanced the hypothesis that Cristoforo Madruzzo was more inclined towards sacred music (perhaps the better to conform to his ecclesiastical condition), with d’Este the opposite was the case, above all by reason of his political relationships. In fact the cardinal formed frequent ties not only with members of the Sacred College, but also with various ladies and gentlemen who, we may easily infer, did not despise the repertory of secular music. In the dedicatory letter of his first book a 5 Marenzio was above all concerned to offer Luigi d’Este compositions that were ‘not unworthy’ (‘non indegne’) of him. That Marenzio considered his patron more a prince of the world than of the church is shown by the inclusion of a particularly sensual text, Tirsi morir volea, which comes from the unabashed pen of Battista Guarini. In this amorous dialogue between the shepherd Thyrsis and the nymph the verb ‘morire’ (‘to die’) is to be interpreted as a metaphor of the sexual act. Without doubt the cardinal, like every person with a cultivated literary 20

Secular music for a prince of the Church

21

taste, would have been aware of the true meaning of these verses, but he did not prevent his maestro di cappella either from setting them to music or publishing them. Tirsi morir volea Gli occhi mirando di colei ch’adora, Ond’ella che di lui non meno ardea Gli disse: – Ohimè ben mio, Deh non morir ancora, Che teco bramo di morir anch’io. – Frenò Tirsi il desio Ch’avea di pur sua vita all’or finire E sentia morte e non potea morire, E mentre fisso il guardo pur tenea Ne’ begli occhi divini E nettare amoroso indi bevea La bella Ninfa sua che già vicini Sentia i messi d’Amore Disse con occhi languidi e tremanti: – Mori cor mio ch’io moro. – Le rispose il Pastore: – Ed io, mia vita, moro. – Così moriro i fortunati amanti Di morte sì soave e sì gradita Che per anco morir tornaro in vita. Thyrsis desired to die, looking into the eyes of the one he adored, so she, who also burned for him said to him: – Oh, my love, ah, do not die yet, as I too long to die with you. – Thyrsis restrained the desire he had to end his life that very moment, he felt death but could not die, and while he fixed his gaze on those beautiful, divine eyes from which he drank nectar, his lovely nymph, already feeling the messengers of Love draw near, said, her eyes languid and trembling: – Die, my love, as I am dying. – The shepherd replied: – And I, my life, am also dying. – Thus the blissful lovers died, of a death so sweet and so delightful, that in order to die once more they returned to life.

22

Luca Marenzio

The musical means by which Marenzio highlights this particular ‘dying’, which can be interpreted in a literal and a figurative sense, consists of an unexpected attenuation of the texture. In the process the composer creates an antiphonal opposition between different vocal subgroups (Ex. 5.1),1 with an allusive sotto voce effect, as if he wanted to whisper with discretion the

C (C1)

&c w

w

Tir

-

si

w

w

Tir

-

#w

w

w

Tir

-

si,

w

w

Tir

-

w

w

Tir

-

&c

A (C3)

Vc

Q (C4)

Vc

T (C4)

?c

B (F4)

& ˙.

œ

Tir

&w Tir

Vw

?

∑ ∑ w

w

-

si

w

w

-

si

-

œ

w

Tir

-

w

w

Tir

-

Ex. 5.1 1

∑

w

Tir

V ˙.

∑

w

5

Œ

˙

œ œ œ ˙

mo - rir

Œ

#˙

si

w w

a,

-

a,

w

∑

∑

∑

∑

∑

∑

si, 10

∑

Œ œ œ œ ˙ mo - rir vo - le

w

˙ m -

a

Œ

#œ œ œ ˙ mo - rir vo - le ˙ Ó

˙ -

∑

m

a

m

mo - rir vo - le - a

˙

Ó

∑

m

Ó

∑

m

mo - rir vo - le - a

˙ Œ œ œ #œ ˙

si

vo - le

w -

si,

#˙ Œ œ œ œ ˙ si

œ œ œ ˙

mo - rir

˙ Œ œ œ œ ˙

si

vo - le

˙

mo - rir vo - le - a

Marenzio, Tirsi morir volea, bars 1–12

The first line, stated twice, is rendered as follows: ‘Tirsi’ (a 5) ‘morir volea’ (2 highest voices); ‘Tirsi’ (a 5) ‘morir volea’ (3 lowest), ‘morir volea’ (2 highest). See the modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, pp. 12–15. Cf. Macy, ‘Speaking of Sex’.

Secular music for a prince of the Church

23

ambiguous parola-chiave in the ear of the listener (and perhaps of Cardinal Luigi). Marenzio’s solution is original, and in fact he could have limited himself to varying the vocal texture according to the dialogue passages, in order to mark the transition from narrative to direct speech and, within the direct speech itself, to distinguish between nymph’s and the shepherd’s words. Giaches de Wert was to adopt this last procedure in his setting of 1581 (VII a 5), but the effective semantic underscoring found in Marenzio’s madrigal eluded him. The text of Tirsi morir volea was set for the first time in 1578 by the Flemish composer Leonardo Meldert, who was active at the court of Urbino. It seems that Marenzio knew this setting.2 Most probably Guarini’s poem was first circulated in manuscript form in Ferrara,3 and it is known that there were close contacts between Ferrara and Urbino. Meldert also dedicated his first madrigal book a 5 to an unchurchly churchman, Giulio Feltrio della Rovere, Cardinal of Urbino. It may seem astonishing that in the second half of the sixteenth century poetic texts of a lascivious nature were dedicated to cardinals and, moreover, set by composers living in the Holy City. However, in the reign of Pope Gregory XIII Rome was undergoing a particularly secular period, a significant interlude between the severe pontificates of Pius V (1566–72) and Sixtus V (1585–90). The Counter-Reformation may have been the process that marked sixteenth-century church history like no other, but it was not a homogeneous or a monolithic phenomenon. At the beginning of the century, as is well known, the moral corruption of the Church had been denounced by many ecclesiastics in Italy and throughout Europe, but the popes seemed to ignore the seriousness of the crisis and continued to direct their thoughts to politics, military campaigns or enriching their families. Until the Sack of Rome (1527) the cult of Classical Antiquity flourished and the behaviour of prelates assumed an overtly licentious character even in public. It is 2

3

Chater, Luca Marenzio and the Italian Madrigal, vol. 1, p. 34: ‘Marenzio’s reading [of the poetic text] follows Meldert’s closely if not exactly, and at one point quotes his setting.’ Meldert was to appear alongside Marenzio in the Ferrarese collection Il lauro verde (RISM 158310). Contemporaneous with Marenzio’s Tirsi was the setting by Giulio Cesare Gabussi (1580); a little after came those of Benedetto Pallavicino and Wert (both 1581). All these composers were in contact with the court of Ferrara or Mantua. The musical fortune of Tirsi morir volea enjoyed a fertile sequel with the settings by Malvezzi, Milleville, Caimo, Monte, Andrea Gabrieli, Castro, Croce and Gesualdo. Many of these could not help but reflect Marenzio’s felicitous model. The poem was first published in an edition of Torquato Tasso’s Rime (Venice: A. Manuzio, 1581), but the attribution to Tasso was quickly denied: see the poet’s Rime (Ferrara: Baldini, 1582), vol. 1, p. 95. It was not until almost two decades later that the poem was definitively attributed to Guarini in a printed edition (B. Guarini, Rime, Venice: G.B. Ciotti, 1598). See Di Benedetto, Tasso, minori e minimi a Ferrara, pp. 77– 80; Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’, p. 63.

24

Luca Marenzio

customary to trace the start of the Counter-Reformation to the pontificate of Paul III (1534–49). Though in many ways a typical Renaissance pope, Paul III organized the Council of Trent and instituted the first commission for reform. Before that, in order to combat Protestantism in Italy, he had founded the Congregation of the Inquisition along the lines of the Spanish Inquisition (1542). Further impetus was given to the Counter-Reformation process by Paul IV (1555–59) with the publication of the Index librorum prohibitorum, while Pius V instituted the Holy Congregation of the Index. At all events, the degree to which Counter-Reformation precepts were applied varied from one pope to another. A vivid description of Rome at the time of Gregory XIII (and of Marenzio) is found in Michel de Montaigne’s travel journal. It was above all the richness, the grandeur, that impressed the alert French scholar when he arrived in the city on 20 November 1580: ‘New to him was the sight of so great a court, so thronged with prelates and churchmen, and it seemed to him more populous in rich men, and coaches, and horses by far than any other that he had seen. He said that the appearance of the streets, in many respects, and especially in the multitude of people, reminded him more of Paris than any other city that he had ever been in.’4 Montaigne continues by noting other curiosities, depicting a cosmopolitan city comparable to the capital of an absolute monarchy, with a vigilant censorship and rigorous control of foreigners, but lacking protection from thieves and brigands. It was a city with evident signs of moral corruption, where aristocrats and highstanding prelates, despite the Counter-Reformation, the Inquisition and the Index of Prohibited Books, could continue to live in worldly luxury, with little attention to religious devotions. We can read in Montaigne’s travel journal: ‘It seemed novel to him [Montaigne], both at this Mass and others [the Mass at Saint Peter’s on Christmas Day], that the Pope and cardinals and other prelates are seated, and, almost all through the Mass, covered, chatting and talking together. Their ceremonies seem to be more magnificent than devout.’5 Two incurable ills created a great deal of trouble for the popes: brigandage in the countryside and prostitution in the city. Prostitutes thronged to Rome in great numbers, despite the severe measures taken from time to time. At the time of Paul III they occupied splendid residences, rode around on magnificent mules and were escorted by cardinals’ retainers and clerics.6 Prostitution, like brigandage, could not be wiped out because of the persistent complicity and protection of powerful persons, often from within the Sacred College. The Venetian ambassador Luigi Mocenigo had explained the phenomenon with lucid cynicism: Rome was the European capital of prostitution because the presence of clergymen forced to be celibate kept the demand for it continually high. Thus it could even happen that the young daughters of the best families prostituted themselves with 4 5 6

Montaigne, Montaigne’s Travel Journal, p. 72. Ibid., p. 74. Ibid., p. 93.

Secular music for a prince of the Church

25

prelates and cardinals with the consent of ‘padre, madre e fratelli’ (‘father, mother and brothers’).7 Montaigne observed that the ordinary pastime of Romans consisted in going for walks through the streets: To tell the truth, the greatest profit that is derived from this is to see the ladies at the windows, and notably the courtesans … They know how to present themselves by their most agreeable feature; they will show you only the upper part of the face, or the lower, or the side, and cover themselves or show themselves in such a way that not one single ugly one is seen at the window. All the men are there taking off their hats and making deep bows, and receiving an ogling glance or two as they pass. The gain from having spent the night there for a crown, or for four, is to pay court to them the next day in public. Some ladies of quality are also seen at the windows, but of different style, and with a bearing very easy to discern. On horseback you see better … The people of rank go only in coaches; and the more licentious, in order to have more of a view upward, have the top of the coach open with skylights.8

This was the situation in Rome during the papacy of Gregory XIII. Naturally, in these same years, there was no lack of clergymen severely bent upon the task of raising moral standards. Cardinale Silvio Antoniano, for example, had advised Tasso to eliminate any erotic themes from his Gerusalemme liberata, so that the poem could be read without danger even by nuns.9 Likewise, in his Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (1582), Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti tried to extend the Index’s extremes of censure to the visual arts, waging a hard-fought crusade against nudity.10 In the field of music too (and in the particular case of the madrigal), zealous moralizers were active, albeit at a later period.11 Neither Cardinal Antoniano nor Paleotti, as one would expect, had books of madrigals dedicated to them. Musicians turned to patrons more inclined to secular delights, ecclesiastics included. The blossoming of the Roman secular (and sometimes lascivious) madrigal can also be understood in the light of the picture drawn above. The case of Marenzio was certainly not isolated: another renowned composer active in Rome in these years, Ruggero Giovannelli, was to write musical settings of texts that were just as licentious as Tirsi morir volea, and moreover he found a way of having them published during the severe reigns of Sixtus V and Clement VIII. It was almost as if what could not be said in words became innocent once it was set to music. No scandal therefore was caused by the erotic madrigals directed to Cardinale 7

Alberi, Le relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al Senato, ser. ii, vol. 4, pp. 35 ff.; quoted in Zapperi, Eros e Controriforma, pp. 48 ff. 8 Montaigne, Montaigne’s Travel Journal, p. 93. 9 Zapperi, Eros e Controriforma, p. 125. 10 Ibid., p. 54. 11 See Chapter 21.

26

Luca Marenzio

d’Este. After all, this was the same cardinal who in the same year of 1580 had received the dedication of the Lettere familiari a diversi by Veronica Franco, one of Venice’s most celebrated ‘cortigiane onorate’.12 His conflicts with the Holy See were of a different nature altogether.

12

In her dedication to the cardinal the poetess writes: ‘nel concorso di molt’uomini famosi di dottrina, che del continuo indirizzano a Lei opere maravigliose di scienza e di elegantissimi studi ..., non ho dubitato, donna inesperta delle discipline e povera d’invenzione e di lingua, di dedicarvi il presente volume di lettere giovenili’ (‘given the concurrence of so many famous men of learning who continually address to you wonderful works of knowledge and refined erudition ..., I, a woman lacking expertise in any subject and deficient in invention and language, did not hesitate to dedicate to you the present volume of youthful letters’.) See Franco, Lettere, p. 4. The dedication to Cardinal d’Este was probably suggested by King Henri III of France, who was staying in Venice with Franco in July 1574.

Chapter 6

The ‘buon compagno’ pope The ill-starred attempt to admit Marenzio to the papal singers invites a thorough investigation of the relations between Cardinal d’Este and Pope Gregory XIII, whose secular name was Ugo Boncompagni. On these relations depend two important events in Marenzio’s career: the journey to Ferrara in 1580–81 and the composition of the Madrigali spirituali (1584). Pope Boncompagni was born in Bologna in 1502 and took a law degree at the age of 28. Around that time, before becoming a priest, he fathered a natural son, Giacomo, the future duke of Sora. After participating in the Council of Trent he was elected pope on 14 May 1572. Though inclined to worldliness, he attuned himself to the austere ambience created in the Curia by the Counter-Reformation. However, he appointed his son governor of Castel Sant’Angelo and raised his nephews to the purple. In the field of foreign policy he was the main instigator of the Anti-Huguenot League, which he persuaded Philip II of Spain to join. He celebrated the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day as ‘a most fortunate day for Christianity’ (‘una giornata molto lieta per la cristianità’). Montaigne, who met him in 1581, describes him as a ‘a very handsome old man’ with a long white beard, healthy and energetic, untroubled by gout or colic. He was a mild-mannered person who appeared to care little about worldly affairs: ‘He gives as many audiences as one wants. His replies are short and decided, and you waste your time if you combat his reply with new arguments. In what he judges to be just, he trusts himself; and even for his son, whom he loves with a frenzy, he will not stir a bit against this justice of his.’1 Relations between Luigi d’Este and Pope Gregory were characterized by formal cordiality. In 1579, when a quarrel broke out between the cardinal and his brother Alfonso regarding the will of their uncle Ippolito, who had died seven years earlier, the pope worked to achieve a mutual reconciliation.2 Again, two years later, Gregory XIII intervened in the affairs of the Este household to prevent Cardinal Luigi from agreeing to Duke Alfonso’s suggestion of marriage (despite his condition as an ecclesiastic) in order to secure the Estense succession in Ferrara. But the most serious conflict occurred in 1580, just before the appearance of Marenzio’s first book a 5. At the beginning of June some braves in the cardinal’s 1 2

Montaigne’s Travel Journal, pp. 75–6. Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 43. 27

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entourage had a violent clash with the papal police, some of whom were wounded. The cause of this affray was the arrest of a man under the cardinal’s protection. The Avvisi to the Savoy court relate the event as follows: ‘the other day the papal guards apprehended a gentleman who had been granted immunity by Cardinal d’Este and was protected by His Most Illustrious Lordship’.3 The cardinal’s men were always spoiling for a fight: it is recorded that on the same day Cardinal de’ Medici’s majordomo was ‘badly treated’ (‘mal trattato’) for trying to enter with four armed men ‘a house belonging to Cardinal d’Este’s property, which was protected by a special immunity’.4 From another avviso we learn further details about the episode. The man wanted by the police was nothing but a quarrelsome ‘junk dealer’ (‘ragattiere’) who had refused to obey the instructions given to him by a maestro di strada for decorating the streets. Pursued by the police, the man ‘began shouting “Este, Este” and ran towards the Este residence’, where the clash took place.5 Opposing the papal officials was considered a grave insult to the pope. Luigi d’Este, naturally, saw things differently: he was the one who had been insulted, since no one could be allowed to enter his property armed. First the auditore di camera asked to speak to the cardinal in order to ‘complain about the insult paid by his courtiers to the policemen of his Tribunal’ (‘dolersi dell’insulto fatto da suoi Corteggiani alli sbirri del suo Tribunale’), but the prelate disdainfully refused him an audience. The next day there was a conversation between the pope and the cardinal. ‘“Monsignore”, said Gregory XIII, “your retainers are too insolent, so either you will hand over to us those who have insulted the court, or you will no longer stay in Rome”.’ The cardinal offered some excuses, but ‘the pope, without granting him leave to speak, rose from his chair, turned his back and entered another room, saying: “You heard what I said”’. To which the cardinal replied: ‘I will obey Your Holiness’. Luigi d’Este then returned home, talked a few hours with the duke of Sora and climbed into a carriage in order to go to Ancona, having decided to leave Rome for Venice.6 This tough stand-off between pope and cardinal resulted in victory for the 3

Beltrami, La Roma di Gregorio XIII, p. 32: ‘L’altro giorno li birri dello Auditore della Camera presero un gentil’huomo nella franchizia del Card[ina]le de Este assicurato da S[ua] S[ignoria] Illustrissima et lo condussero prigione con tutto se gli opponessero molti della sua famiglia, che ferirono alcuni birri ...’. Avviso of 3 June 1580. This collection of avvisi is today in the possession of the Biblioteca Trivulziana, Milan: Fondo Belgiojoso, 222, fascicolo 1 (corrispondenza da Roma, 1549–1740). 4 ‘in una casa nella franchigia del Cardinale d’Este’. Ibid., p. 33. 5 ‘cominzò a gridare Este, Este, et a fugire verso la corte di Este’. Ibid., p. 34. 6 ‘Monsignore – disse Gregorio XIII – voi havete una famiglia troppo insolente, o voi ci darete nelle mani quelli ch’han fatto l’insulto alla corte, o voi non starete in Roma ... il Papa senza darli udienza si levò di sedia e voltatoli le spalle se n’entrò in altra Camera dicendo: – Voi avete inteso. ... Io obedirò alla santità vostra.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1048, fol. 178v (Rome, 18 June 1580).

The ‘buon compagno’ pope

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latter. In fact the unexpected departure of Luigi created something of an uproar in Roman diplomatic circles, above all because of the delicate relations with the French crown. An agitated French ambassador rushed to Pope Gregory to speak of the ‘great indignation that the cardinal felt because of the words spoken by His Holiness, and moreover the great resentment for the offence that was seen to be done to his king, to whom the cardinal is a relative and of whom he is such a great protector in Italy’.7 The same avviso informs us that the exiled cardinal was waiting ‘for his famiglia, all of whom are to leave this court in batches’8. So the incident in June had important repercussions for all the men in the cardinal’s service, including his maestro di cappella, Luca Marenzio. French diplomacy caused the papal interdict against Luigi d’Este and his court to be lifted almost immediately,9 but the cardinal did not return to the Holy City, instead proceeding undaunted across northern Italy, a journey we shall refer to in the next chapter. Rome suffered from Luigi d’Este’s absence.10 The chroniclers of the avvisi follow his movements almost on a daily basis, awaiting his definitive return, which happened after a whole year, on the evening of 22 June 1581: On Thursday evening, about four hours after sundown, My Lord Cardinal d’Este arrived in Rome, and he was met about two miles outside the city by My Lord the duke of Sora, by Cardinal Rusticucci, and in the Prati district by the Cardinal nephews by order of His Holiness. The next day, the Duke collected him from his house and he went to kiss the feet of His Holiness, accompanied by 63 carriages, and he was made very welcome and treated very affectionately by His Holiness and by this whole court, and people also say that he and the pope were seen weeping with tenderness, and His Holiness got down from his throne and walked three paces to give an affectionate embrace to His Most Illustrious Lordship whom, if he had entered [the city] during the day, the whole of Rome would have come to greet. His Most Illustrious Lordship was also visited by the Cardinal Deacons and the nephews, which is unusual.11 7

8 9 10 11

‘sdegno grande che il Car[dina]le haveva preso per le parole dette da S[ua] S[anti]tà facendone appresso gran resentimento per offesa che mostrava esser fatta al suo Rè, di cui esso Car[dina]le è parente, et tanto gran protettore in Italia’. Ibid., fol. 182v (Rome, 18 June 1580). ‘la sua fameglia, che tutta uscirà di questa Corte in diverse truppe’. Ibid., fol. 182v. von Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 20, p. 528. According to an avviso of 22 June (BAV, Urb. Lat. 1048, fol. 184v), the cardinal’s departure aroused ‘dispiacere universale’ (‘universal displeasure’). ‘Giovedì sera verso la 4 hore di notte entrò in Roma il S[igno]r Card[ina]le d’Este, incontrato una posta e mezzo lontano dal S[igno]r Duca di Sora, et dal Card[ina]le Rusticucci, et fin a i Prati dalli Card[ina]li nepoti d’ord[in]e di S[ua] S[antità] ed alla quale il giorno seguente levato di casa, da esso S[igno]r Duca andò a baciare i piedi, accompagnato da 63 cocchi, et da Sua S[anti]tà è stato sopramodo ben visto, et accarezzato, et di tutta questa Corte, soggiongendosi che fù visto lui, et il Papa lacrimare di tenerezza, et sua S[anti]tà scendendo dalla sedia, caminò tre passi, per abbracciare come fece teneriss[imamen]te sua S[ignoria] Ill.ma la cui entrata se fusse

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It is certainly significant that Giacomo Boncompagni, the duke of Sora and the pope’s son, should have personally come to meet the cardinal a few miles outside Rome on the Via Flaminia. With him was Cardinal Rusticucci, the pope’s official messenger. Luigi’s own letter to his brother Alfonso informs him of the excellent reception the pope had granted him at that time. And before that Gregory XIII had already sung the cardinal’s praises to the French ambassador.12 The rapprochement and the cordial relations between d’Este and the pope were also meant for public consumption: above all the pope wished to be seen to be apologizing to France. In fact in these same months he had been effecting a rapprochement with the French crown following a series of clashes with the Spanish bishops and with the Republic of Venice. In addition Cardinal d’Este occupied a decisive position in the political balance of power: as protector of France, he sided with those who opposed absolute papal authority and therefore supported both the powerful faction of cardinals headed by Medici and Farnese, and the group of barons headed by Paolo Giordano Orsini.13 In sum, the pope could not possibly afford to ignore a such an authoritative and recognized figure. After 1581 relations between Gregory XIII and Luigi d’Este became ever closer, and not only in regard to diplomatic questions. Throughout the year, but especially in summer, the pope liked to stay at the cardinal’s Montecavallo villa,14 stata di giorno tutta Roma gl’andava incontro. E’ anco stata visitata sua S[ignoria] Ill.ma dalli Card[ina]li Decano, et nepoti cosa insolita.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1049, fol. 248v (Rome, 24 June 1581). This report is confirmed and complemented by a dispatch of 24 June by the ambassador in Rome of the duke of Ferrara: (ASMo, Ambasciatori (Roma), b. 91, 24 June, quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 58–61): ‘Hiermattina S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma stette in letto a ricevere le visite dei Sig[no]ri Cardinali, i quali in grandissimo concorso vi venivano, ed alli 20 hore andò all’audienza. ... Mi ha S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma detto questa mattina che le carezze di S[ua] S[anti]tà furono assai grande’ (‘Yesterday morning His Most Illustrious Lordship remained in bed to receive the visits of the cardinals, who came there in a very great rush, and at the 20th hour [2 p.m.] he went to attend the audience. ... His Most Illustrious Lordship has told me this morning that His Holiness showed great affection’). 12 Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 215. 13 Ibid. 14 See, among other witnesses, BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1052, fol. 19 (Rome, 14 January 1584): ‘Martedì sera il Papa se retirò a Monte Cavallo nel Palazzo del Car[dina]le d’Este di dove non ritornerà fin lunedì per il concistoro’ (‘On Tuesday evening the pope retired to the Cardinal d’Este’s palace and will not return from there until Monday, for the Concistory’). For some years the pope’s son, too, treated that residence as his home, as can be seen from the avviso of 1581 (Urb. Lat. 1049, fol. 248, Rome, 24 June): ‘Il S[ign]or Duca di Sora hà banchetato nel Giardino del Car[dina]le d’Este à Monte Cavallo gli Amb[asciator]i vin[izian]i’ (‘My Lord the duke of Sora gave a banquet at Cardinal d’Este’s villa at Montecavallo for the Venetian ambassadors’).

The ‘buon compagno’ pope

31

and in the spring of 1583, this ‘great builder’15 decided to invest 20 000 scudi to build on this same piece of ground a new, grand edifice, the palace now known as the Quirinale.16 The works proceeded at great speed and the new building gradually absorbed d’Este’s pre-existing rooms. Confronted with this fait accompli the cardinal expressed some anxiety about the future of the property, but the pope comforted him: he had wanted to construct the palace for both of them, and he planned to bequeath him the whole building with all the improvements that had been carried out. In the face of such generosity, the avviso notes: ‘the cardinal was completely bowled over by the solicitude of this “good companion”’.17 This idyllic relaxation in relations between cardinal and pope had direct repercussions on Marenzio’s output. It was certainly no coincidence that the Madrigali spirituali18 (the dedication of which is dated Rome, 24 April 1584) was dedicated to Lodovico Bianchetti, the pope’s faithful maestro di camera. Bianchetti is vividly described by Paolo Tiepolo in his report to the Venetian senate (1576): Apart from his relatives there are the members of the pope’s household and his most intimate circle; among these the most favoured are his maestro di camera and his steward, both Bolognese; of these two, the maestro di camera, Lodovico Bianchetti by name, is by far the favourite; it can be said that he alone takes care of the pope’s person, undresses him, dresses him, sleeps in the ante-chamber, serves him as his cup-bearer, recites the Office with him and keeps and reads memorials for him. In short, he does him an incredible service, hardly ever leaving him or his ante-chamber, depriving himself of necessary comforts, and of sleep and food too ... up to now he has provided him with an income of about 2000 ducats, and for his sake he has made one of his brothers auditore di rota, even though he is very young, and it is believed he will do him other great favours.19

15 Montaigne’s Travel Journal, p. 75. 16 Wasserman, ‘The Quirinale Palace in Rome’. 17 ‘il Cardinale fu intieramente stordito dalla premura di questo “Buoncompagno”’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1052, fol. 222 (Rome, 6 June 1584); Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), pp. 220–22. 18 Critical edition by Ledbetter in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 17. 19 ‘Oltre i parenti vi sono i familiari e più intrinseci del Papa, e tra questi principalmente favoriti il maestro di camera e lo scalco suo, l’uno e l’altro bolognesi, ma molto più il maestro di camera, nominato il signor Lodovico Bianchetti, il qual si può dire che solo tien la cura della persona del Papa, lo dispoglia, lo veste, dorme nell’anticamera, lo serve di coppiero, dice con lui l’officio, e tiene e gli legge i memoriali con fargli una incredibil servitù, senza quasi mai partirsi da lui o dall’anticamera sua, privandosi in gran parte delle commodità necessarie e del sonno e vitto ancora ... lo ha ben finora provvisto di circa 2.000 ducati d’entrata, e per causa sua ha fatto auditore di Rota un suo fratello, ancorché giovinetto assai, ed è per far ancora, come si crede,

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In his dedication Marenzio states that Bianchetti highly enjoyed ‘the noble science of music’; he was also the addressee of Andrea Rota’s first book a 5 (1579).20 Marenzio’s dedication to the pope’s maestro di camera takes on an even greater strategic importance if we remember that it was contemporaneous with Palestrina’s Motectorum liber quartus ex Canticis Canticorum, addressed directly to Gregory XIII himself. It is hard to believe this was fortuitous. A papal breve discovered by Casimiri but until now ignored by musicologists grants the Roman booksellers Tornieri and Bereccia [Bericchia] the privilege of printing Marenzio’s Madrigali spirituali and the Mottetti by Palestrina mentioned earlier. In this document (13 April 1584), Pope Gregory calls both composers ‘dilecti filij’, but reserves the expression ‘musicus insignis’ for Palestrina,21 who, in the dedication of these very Mottetti, professes to a feeling of shame (‘erubesco et doleo’) for having transgressed as a composer of secular music, in particular madrigals. After all, the pope was the pope, so would be inclined to favour an act of public contrition even on the part of an ‘insigne’ composer such as Palestrina. As for monsignor Bianchetti, he was not the pope, but Marenzio nevertheless was still careful not to address him with impure compositions. It is certainly stands to reason that the epicurean Cardinal d’Este would have put on madrigalian entertainments while the pope was staying at his Montecavallo residence – not madrigals with lascivious texts, however, but with a spiritual subject. This would have formed an appropriate aesthetic compromise with which to greet the Holy Father and his entourage in an atmosphere of affectionate intimacy, but without giving rise to scandal.

dimostrazioni maggiori verso di lui.’ Alberi, Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti, ser. ii, vol. 4, p. 222. 20 Bianchetti was also the patron of the castrato Onofrio Gualfreducci from about 1573 to 1585: see Chater, ‘Bianca Cappello and music’, p. 574. 21 Casimiri, ‘Il Palestrina e il Marenzio in un privilegio di stampa del 1584’. In 1583 the pope issued a similar provision for Il primo libro delle laude spirituali a tre voci and Il secondo libro delle laude spirituali a tre et a quattro voci (RISM 15833 and 15839), published ‘ad instanza delli Reverendi padri della Congregazione dello Oratorio con Privilegio del Sommo Pontifice’ (‘at the instance of the Most Reverend Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory under a privilege of the Supreme Pontiff’). These two collections, like Marenzio’s Madrigali spirituali, were printed in Rome by Alessandro Gardano. On music publishing and booksellers in Rome see Franchi, ‘Stampatori ed editori musicali a Roma’.

Chapter 7

The Ferrarese interlude Cardinal d’Este’s expulsion from the Papal State afforded Marenzio an opportunity to come into direct contact with the court of Ferrara, one of the most brilliant cultural centres in the whole of Italy. During the reign of Duke Alfonso II the city’s musical activities were both flourishing and sophisticated. At court the ‘concerto delle donne’ stood out as a celebrated institution, epitomizing the ‘musica secreta’, strictly reserved for the enjoyment of the sovereign, his relations and his guests.1 Without doubt the Estense court exerted a strong attraction on composers of secular music. But before examining the influence that Marenzio’s Ferrarese experiences had on his career, it is worthwhile to present a documented chronology of Luigi d’Este’s movements in northern Italy. The cardinal’s journey lasted from June 1580 until June of the following year, and it can be reconstructed in detail from letters in the Archivio di Stato of Modena (Camera ducale estense),2 complemented by the information contained in the Avvisi di Roma. On the evening of 14 June 1580,3 after his dramatic conversation with the pope, Luigi d’Este decided to leave Rome at once, and he set out by coach with some of his gentlemen for Ancona and Loreto, where he was to take a boat to Venice. Two avvisi inform us of the fate of his courtiers: all the members of the cardinal’s household were to leave Rome ‘in batches’ (‘in diverse truppe’), then some of them would be granted a leave (‘licenza’).4 The journey lacked an exact plan because the cardinal changed his mind about what to do almost every day. He reached Ancona on 22 June; after ten days a rumour was spread that he had taken ‘the road to Venice without waiting for other ships, having been invited by his brother the duke to pass through Ferrara, where the duke of Mantua will also be’.5 In reality the cardinal had landed at Chioggia on the evening of 25 June and had reached the town of Monteortone, near Abano 1 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara; Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria. 2 The most important documents are transcribed and summarized in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 44 ff. 3 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1048, fol. 178v (Rome, 18 June 1580). 4 Ibid., fol. 182v (18 June 1580) and fol. 193v (Rome, 26 June 1580). 5 ‘la via di Venetia per terra senz’aspettare altre Galere, invitato dal s[igno]r Duca suo fratello à passar prima a Ferrara, ove si trovarà anco il Duca di Mantova’. Ibid., fol. 201 (Rome, 2 June 1580). 33

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(Padua), where he would have stayed until early August to take the thermal waters. On 13 August he was in Ferrara to visit his sister Leonora, who was gravely ill,6 but the following week he was already in Venice. On 13 September he made a second visit to the Padovano to take the baths. From 7 October to 20 November he stayed at the wonderfully frescoed castle at Catajo, near the modern Battaglia Terme; finally, on 26 November, he stopped in Ferrara and stayed there for several weeks, until Carnival of 1581. Pressed by the French ambassador and the Roman curia, the cardinal thought of returning to Rome as soon as possible, but he was forced postpone his journey until June. He was detained for health reasons – his gout gave him no respite – and also by various political affairs and his duties as a representative. Meanwhile the Mantuan court was preparing for the wedding of Vincenzo Gonzaga and Margherita Farnese, and so on 14 January Luigi d’Este paid personal tribute to the future husband in Mantua. In February the cardinal was firmly resolved to depart: he sent part of his court to Florence and was excused from attending the Gonzaga wedding, but on 19 February his sister Leonora died. Added to this were a few diplomatic missions in the city of Venice. Here d’Este stayed from 24 February to 5 March, accompanied by an impressive suite of ‘signori franzesi’ – between 200 and 300 ‘mouths’ (‘bocche’), according to the Avvisi. Then he returned once more to Ferrara, where he ‘stayed in bed continuously’ (‘stava a letto continuamente’), suffering from his chronic ailments.7 At that moment he decided to take part in the Gonzaga wedding celebrations in Mantua, which took place between the end of April and early May.8 At last, in June he began his slow return journey to the Papal State. The itinerary took him through Fiorenzuola, Scarperia and Pratolino to Florence; there he and his household of 300 (among whom was Marenzio) were honoured by grand duke Francesco de’ Medici.9 Marenzio did not follow his patron at every stage of his travels. In the summer of 1580 the various members of the cardinal’s famiglia had left Rome in small groups, one after the other so as not to cause too much confusion. We know that d’Este gave his major-domo specific instructions for Marenzio to join him in northern Italy.10 In all probability the cardinal wished to present his maestro di

6 7

Ibid., fol. 252 (Rome, 13 August 1580). For a reconstruction of these events and references to the archival sources see Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), pp. 212–14. 8 It was for this occasion that Giaches de Wert composed his madrigal Sorgi e rischiara (‘nelle nozze del Serenissimo Prencipe di Mantova’), which opens his seventh book a 5 (1581). 9 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 57. On Marenzio’s presence among the cardinal’s famiglia see below, n. 22. 10 Giovanni Pietro Tolomeo, the major-domo, wrote to the cardinal (Rome, 23 June 1580): ‘non mancarò ispedire m[esser] Luca Marencio conforme l’ordine suo’ (‘I will not fail to send Messer Luca Marenzio in accordance with your order’). The

The Ferrarese interlude

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cappella to Duke Alfonso and to the Ferrarese court. According to Ledbetter he left Rome on 26 July with a group of pages and other members of the famiglia, but, if we want to give credence to the dedication of the first book a 5, signed in Rome on 8 August, we must postpone the departure date to mid-August at the earliest.11 Unfortunately the surviving documents do not help us to resolve this issue. What is certain, however, is that Marenzio was in Padua with the rest of the cardinal’s famiglia on 10 September.12 From Padua, having obtained one month’s leave from his patron, he went to Mantua and then to his native Brescia.13 At the end of November Marenzio must have returned to the cardinal, who meanwhile had transferred to Ferrara. At the court of Alfonso II music was valued very highly: not only the duke but also his sister Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, and his third wife Margherita Gonzaga had an outstanding passion for musical entertainments and could judge a composition or performance with a secure aesthetic sense. The art of the madrigal enjoyed incomparable benefits through the simultaneous presence at court of famous literary figures, musicians and singers. It was in these years that the ‘concerto delle dame’ was gaining an uncontested prestige among the more sophisticated connoisseurs of Italy and from beyond the Alps. A wealth of archival documentation, replete with correspondence, chronicles and dispatches, provides an unusual abundance of detailed information on the various musical activities in the city. In Ferrara Marenzio had the opportunity of contact not only with authoritative composers such as Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Ippolito Fiorino and Alessandro Milleville,14 but also with the whole courtly circle who exerted such an attraction document, ASMo, Ambasciatori (Roma), 121 [olim 77], is transcribed in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 152. 11 Ibid., p. 47. 12 Annibale Capello, Cardinal d’Este’s agent, letter to Aurelio Zibramonte, secretary of the duke of Mantua (Venice, 10 September 1580): ‘Mando ancho a S[ua] Altezza il primo libro de Madrigali usciti novamente in luce del nostro m[esser] Luca Marentio maestro di Capella del S[igno]r Cardinale mio Patrone intitolati a S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma. L’autore è a Padova con l’altra famiglia ...’ (‘I will also send Your Highness the first book of madrigals recently published by our Messer Luca Marenzio, maestro di cappella of the cardinal, my patron, addressed to His Most Illustrious Lordship [Cardinal d’Este]. The author is in Padua with the rest of the famiglia’). The document is transcribed in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 154. 13 The relevant documents are discussed in Chapter 14. 14 Ledbetter has noted a letter of Alessandro Milleville (Ferrara) to Girolamo Galeazzi (Florence), dated 4 May 1589, which states: ‘Mando incluso una mia litera al S[igno]r Marentio, M[aest]ro di Capella’ (‘I enclose a letter to Signor Luca Marenzio, maestro di cappella’). See ASMo, Archivio per materie: musica e musicisti, 1 (Milleville), quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 219.

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Luca Marenzio

on the madrigalists of northern Italy. Marenzio’s presence in the city is documented from the end of 1580 to the spring of 1581.15 What did musical life at the Ferrarese court have to offer during this period? The most significant novelty, on which the most amount of common attention was focused, was probably the arrival at court of a young Mantuan lady, Laura Peperara, gifted with an extraordinary musical talent. While he was in Rome Cardinal Luigi d’Este was always kept informed of everything that happened at the court of Ferrara, including musical events. A note of 1580 had told him of Peperara’s arrival: ‘A young lady has arrived from Mantua who sings and plays extremely well, and is beautiful.’16 A further testimony of November 1580 informs us that Peperara used to sing with Anna Guarini, daughter of the famous poet, in the presence of the Duchesses Margherita Gonzaga and Lucrezia d’Este.17 The period relevant to our subject was not the most auspicious in the life of the court: the grave illness of Leonora d’Este, the sister of Duke Alfonso and Cardinal Luigi, cast a dark shadow of anxiety on the various entertainments. But it was Carnival, and people celebrated. An informer of the grand duke of Tuscany noted on 13 February: The cardinal [Luigi] and Don Alfonso have not yet gone to Venice, but it has been confirmed that they will go there very soon, and that in the meantime they will take part in some of the rest of Carnival ... In addition there have been a few private entertainments, most of them with the musica secreta, which consists of some ladies of the court, chiefly the Mantuan [Laura Peperara] and Giulio Cesare Brancaccio.18 15

The first report of Marenzio’s presence in Ferrara (December 1580) is provided by the ‘Ruolo della famiglia del s[igno]r Card[ina]le che si trova seco a Ferrara all’ult[im]o dell’anno 1580’ (‘Role of the members of the cardinal’s famiglia who were with him in Ferrara at the end of 1580’), ASMo, Amministrazione principi, 1404b, quoted in Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, p. 531. The composer stayed in the city for some months more, as can be seen from a list of accounts of Cardinal Luigi bearing on the first folio the heading ‘Al Nome di Dio 1581 in Ferrara’: the name of ‘mag[nifi]co m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio Musico’ appears no fewer than nine times, from 10 January to 27 April 1581: see ASMo, Amministrazione principi, 1259, Luigi d’Este, Registro dei mandati, 1581, fols. 1, 9, 10, 11v and 12v (quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 156 ff.). But we should note that on 10 April 1581 Marenzio was in Venice to sign the dedication of his first book a 6. 16 ‘È venuta da Mantoa una Damisella che canta, et suona eccellentissimamente et è bella.’ ASMo, Particolari (Conosciuti), note attached to a letter from Ferrara, 4 May 1580. Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 137 ff. 17 Letter of Federico Miroglio to Duke Alfonso at Comacchio (Ferrara, 20 November 1580). Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 139. 18 ‘Li Signori Cardinale e Don Alfonso non sono ancora andati a Venetia, confermandosi tuttavia che vi anderanno molto presto, e qua intanto participiamo

The Ferrarese interlude

37

This testimony is valuable because it refers to the period when the cardinal and Marenzio were in Ferrara. One can therefore conclude with reasonable certainty that Marenzio was able to witness in person the famous musica secreta of the Ferrarese ladies. We also know that the standard make-up of this ensemble included the ‘voci angeliche’ of Laura Peperara and Anna Guarini alongside Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, who sang bass and played the lute. Brancaccio is the author of the following letter – unknown until recently – sent to Cardinal Luigi d’Este on 26 February (see Pl. 2): I would like it if Your Most Illustrious Lordship would give me a present, and another to the duke [of Ferrara]. I will speak of mine first, since it is of lesser importance, which would be a book on languages called the Liber sex linguarum ... The other is that if one could find an eight-course lute, like those that are made to perfection by a German master who is in Padua called Maestro Venere Alberti it would please His Highness [the duke of Ferrara] if you were to present it to him. Since the lute is then to be for my use, I would wish it to be of the usual sort as regards size, and that those bass courses beyond the usual six should be fixed diapasons sounding with one string each, not two, and, in sum, that the lute should be harmonious and silvery, that is, with a clear and sonorous sound, and that the bass strings should resonate as much as possible. Marenzio, or others who understand these things, will know how to deal with it. And in this manner, Your Most Illustrious Lordship will find himself having made two fine presents at a total cost of just 10 or 12 scudi.19

19

ancora di qualche residuo carnovalesco ... inoltre si è fatto sempre qualche trattenimento ritirato, et il più delle volte con la musica secreta che è d’alcune Dame di Corte, massime della Mantovana [la Peperara], e del Sig. Giulio Cesare Brancaccio’. Letter of Urbani to the grand duke of Tuscany (Ferrara, 13 February 1581). Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 140. ‘Haveria caro che V[ostra] S[ignoria] Il[lustrissi]ma facesse un presente à me, et un altro al S[ign]or Duca. Dico il mio prima per esser di minor importanza, che sarà un libretto delle lingue intitulato liber sex linguarum. ... L’altro è che potendosi trovare un leuto à otto ordini, come li suol fare perfettissimi un Maestro Tedesco ch’è in Padova nomato Mastro Venere Alberti faria piacere à S[ua] Alt[e]zza [il Duca di Ferrara] di presentarglielo: il qual leuto havendo poi à servir per me, desidero che sia degli ordinarij, in quanto alla grandezza, et que’ dui ordini bassi più delli sei costumati siano li bordoni fermi, et sonori d’una corda per ciascuno, et non di due, et infine che ’l leuto sia armonioso, et argentino, cioè con suono chiaro et sonoro, et che i bassi rimbombino il più che si può; il che saprà fare il Marentio, ò altri che se n’intendono; et à questo modo V[ostra] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma si trovarà haver fatto due bellissimi presenti con dieci, ò dodici scudi in tutto di spesa.’ ASMo, Particolari (Brancaccio), letter of Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, Count of Sant’Andrea (Ferrara) to Cardinal Luigi d’Este (Venice), 26 February 1581; noted in Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, p. 521. The identification of the German lute maker cited in the document, a certain Venere Alberti, seems problematical; in any case, we know of lutes in that period bearing the label: ‘In Padova Vendelio Venere

38

Luca Marenzio

Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, Count of Sant’Andrea, was a somewhat colourful character, interested in the military arts as well as music. Born around 1520 of a noble but poor Neapolitan family, he was in Alfonso d’Este’s service from the end of 1577 to the beginning of 1579.20 Before returning to Ferrara in October 1580, he was a guest of Cardinal Luigi d’Este in Rome. Some newly discovered documents prove that he stayed in the Montegiordano palace, just a few paces from the room occupied by Marenzio (see Pl. 3).21 We can therefore consider Brancaccio a crucial link between Cardinal d’Este, Marenzio and the Ferrarese musica secreta. The above letter contains the valuable information that Marenzio was a connoisseur of the lute; he probably knew its technique, and he especially preferred harmonious, silvery lutes with a clear, sonorous sound and a resonant de Leonardo Tiefenbrucker’: cf. Cervelli, ‘Brevi note sui liutai tedeschi’, pp. 332 ff. A lute maker with the name of Pietro Alberto (=Alberti?) is known from a letter of the same year: ‘Il Cavalliero del leuto del sig. cardinale Farnese ha esseguita la commissione che le diede a nome di V.A. Fiorino, et mi ha portato qui tre leuti di quel mastro Pietro Alberto tanto eccellenti, et mi dice che sono rarissimi; gli ho pagati scudi otto l’uno et s’invieranno lunedì prossimo’ (‘The Cavaliero del Liuto in the service of Cardinal Farnese has executed the commission that you give him in the name of V.A. Fiorino, and has brought here three excellent lutes by that master Pietro Alberto, and he tells me that they are most fine; I paid him 8 scudi each for them, and they will be sent next Monday’). Letter of Giulio Masetti to the duke of Ferrara, Rome, 15 June 1581, quoted in Valdrighi, Nomocheliurgografia, p. 269. 20 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 2, p. 185. 21 ASMo, Casa e stato, 411, fol. 154.III: ‘[Alloggiamenti di Monte Giordano] Nel Palazzo del sig[no]r Paolo Giordano [Orsino] ... Da basso ... Secondo Coritore ... a man manca ... Quarta et Quinta Camera — Allogiava il s[igno]r Brancaccio’ (‘[Guests at Monte Giordano] In the palace of Paolo Giordano [Orsini] at Montegiordano ... On the ground floor ... Second corridor ... on the left side ... fourth and fifth rooms — Signor Brancaccio was staying’). This unknown document bears no date, but most probably it originates from the summer of 1581, the period when Cardinal d’Este had returned to Rome. This hypothesis is confirmed by a document probably written in the same hand and found in the same group of documents, which reads: ‘Lista delle persone che andarono à Roma con S[ua] S[igno]ria Ill[ustrissi]ma’ (‘List of the people who went to Rome with His Illustrious Lordship’, ibid., fol. 152: in the list of the 70 expressly named famigli appears also the name ‘M[es]s[er] Luca Marentio’, but not Brancaccio, who was staying in Ferrara). Marenzio too, at least on his return to Rome after his stay in Ferrara, stayed in the Montegiordano palace: ibid., fol. 154.I: ‘Alloggiamenti di Monte Giordano. Nel Primo Pallazzo dove Alloggia S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma. Da basso ... Primo coritore. Appartamento di Mons. Tolomeo ... Terza Camera — m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio’ (‘Guests in Montegiordano. In the first palace where [Cardinal d’Este] is staying. On the ground floor ... First corridor. Apartment of Mons. Tolomeo ... Third room — Messer Luca Marentio’).

The Ferrarese interlude

39

bass. It is also interesting to note the reference to an eight-course lute (as opposed to the usual six-course one), an excellent product of the German art of lutemaking as found in Padua. At the Estense court the music of the ‘dame’ took place ‘every day without fail’ (‘ogni giorno senza mancare mai’), and it seems not only to have provided the duke himself with all his pleasure, but to have occupied half his thoughts.22 Many of the court’s guests marvelled at the sound of these voices: among the most famous men who attended a concert, in the first six months of 1581, were Cardinals Alessandro Farnese and Ludovico Madruzzo.23 And the brightest star in these vocal entertainments was always Laura Peperara, who at the end of 1582 was joined by another equally famous voice, that of Livia d’Arco. Marenzio’s Ferrarese experience, which we can imagine to have been very stimulating for a young, ambitious musician, produced two madrigal publications in a short space of time, the first dedicated to Duke Alfonso d’Este, the second to his sister Lucrezia. The first book a 6,24 dedicated to the duke of Ferrara, opens with a dedication signed in Venice on 10 April 1581. Its frontispiece, uniquely among Marenzio’s publications, names Marenzio as ‘Maestro di capella dell’Illustrissimo et Reverendissimo Signor Cardinal d’Este’. What lies behind this declaration is not, I believe, a wish to boast on the composer’s part, but rather the cardinal’s desire, as a point of honour, to parade before his brother, the famous music lover, his exclusive patronage of a musician whose stock was rapidly rising. Between the two brothers envy and misunderstandings were the order of the day, but in this period, before Leonora’s will gave rise to their umpteenth quarrel, it seems that relations were comparatively peaceful. Anguished by the thought of not having heirs, Duke Alfonso was harbouring the idea of suggesting that his brother make a political marriage; the plan would not altogether have been a strange one if the pope had given his blessing, but this did not come about. Thus the cardinal’s act of homage, in inducing his own maestro di cappella to dedicate a book of madrigals to Alfonso, can be read as a gesture of temporary détente between two brothers who did not care for each other. In his dedication Marenzio considers it an extraordinary honour to have his madrigals printed in the duke of Ferrara’s name, and was very proud that the compositions had not ‘displeased’ His Highness. In April 1581 the composer was in Venice (perhaps to supervise the printing of the work in person) and he was about to return to Rome with his patron; at that point his stay in Ferrara must have been near its end. It remains to be explained whether the first book a 6 was composed in Ferrara, or whether it collects together pre-existing pieces, 22

Letter of Urbani to the grand duke of Tuscany (Ferrara, 26 June 1581). Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 143. 23 See letter of Urbani quoted in the previous note. Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 142 ff. 24 Modern edition by Meier in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 4.

40

Luca Marenzio

conceived in the ambience of Rome. I believe the second possibility to be likelier, because the opening madrigal pays homage to a Roman noblewoman, Cleria Cesarini, of whom more will be said in the next chapter. The second ‘Ferrarese’ dedication is a slightly different case. The dedication of the second book a 5,25 addressed to Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, was signed in Rome on 25 October 1581. Returning to his habitual residence, the composer’s experiences at the Estense court were still impressed into his memory, and the words of his dedicatory letter sound less stereotyped than usual: These my new compositions were so imperfect in their first birth, Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Lady, that, recognizing in themselves only the raw inexperience of their maker, they did not dare in any way to aspire to the public light of life; but since Your Most Illustrious Excellency did not disdain to hear them graciously, and commend them, ... they took on so much of perfection and spirit, that now, without any suspicion of temerity, they burn with courage to return to you.26

This passage gives rise to various reflections. Above all the expression ‘new compositions’, if we are to take it literally, suggests that for this book the composer excluded pieces that had been lying around too long. Instead, it is probable that we are dealing with an assemblage of his earliest Ferrarese madrigals, created during his personal experience of the concerto delle dame. One also has the impression that the dedication of this book came from the composer’s heart, without any especial interference on the part of Cardinal Luigi. The book includes the following madrigals:27 1 2 25 26

Deggio dunque partire (canzone)28 Perché di pioggia ’l ciel (madrigal)

Modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, pp. 43–88. ‘Erano così imperfette queste nuove mie compositioni, che scoprendosi in esse la roza inesperienza del loro artefice, non osavano per alcun modo aspirare alla luce publica della vita; ma poi che V[ostra] Ecc[ellenza] Illustrissima non si sdegnò d’udirle gratiosamente, e di commendarle ..., presero tanto di perfettione e di spirito, che ora senza sospetto alcuno di temerità ardiscono animosamente di ritornarsene a lei.’ 27 For the poetic sources I rely on Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, p. 173. 28 The fact that the collection opens with a madrigal descended from the partenza tradition has prompted an autobiographical interpretation, whereby the piece is thought to refer to Marenzio’s personal regret at leaving Ferrara and the stimulating atmosphere of its court: see Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 56. I think it more prudent to interpret this partenza as a generic homage to the book’s dedicatee. ‘Deggio dunque partire / Lasso dal mio bel sol che mi dà vita’ (‘I must therefore depart, / alas, from my bright sun, which gives me life’): this ‘sun’ could coincide with the ‘bright light’ (‘chiaro lume’) of the duchess’s judgement, which ‘animates’ (‘vivifica’) Marenzio’s compositions, as he writes in his letter of dedication.

The Ferrarese interlude

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

41

Amor io non potrei (Ludovico Ariosto, madrigal) Amor poi che non vuole (Girolamo Parabosco, madrigal) Quando sorge l’aurora (madrigal) Fillida mia (Jacopo Sannazaro, stanza: Arcadia, II, 101–8) Al vago del mio sole (madrigal) Itene all’ombra (Sannazaro, terza rima: Arcadia, II, 1–9) La bella Ninfa mia (Francesco Maria Molza, ottava rima: La ninfa tiberina, lines 1–8) O voi che sospirate (Petrarch, sestina stanza: Canzoniere, CCCII, 67–72) Strider faceva la zampogna (ottava rima) I’ piango ed ella il volto (Petrarch, canzone: Canzoniere, CCCLIX, 67–71) Già Febo il tuo splendor (sonnet) Mi fa lasso languire (fragment of a canzone) Già torna a rallegrar (ottava rima) Se ’l pensier che mi strugge (for eight voices; Petrarch, canzone: Canzoniere CXXV, 1–13)

Some of the poetic texts, thanks to the explicit topographical references they contain, allow us to formulate a hypothesis about their place of origin: thus nos 2 and 13 seem to be of Roman origin because of the mention of the river Tiber or its tributary, the Paglia; no. 7, with its allusion to the Mincio, calls to mind Mantua and, indirectly, Ferrara (in fact, as Newcomb has conjectured, this text has all the characteristics of a homage to Laura Peperara).29 Ambiguously poised between Rome and the northern courts is no. 9: its text is taken from a poem called La ninfa tiberina, but the author, the Modenese Francesco Maria Molza, must have been well known at the Ferrarese court because of the presence of his niece Tarquinia, who was much admired in Ferrarese circles from 1582. The literary choices favour poets whom we would now consider ‘classics’: Ariosto (no. 3), Girolamo Parabosco from Piacenza (no. 4), Sannazaro (nos 6 and 8), the already mentioned Molza (no. 9) and above all Petrarch (nos 10, 12 and 16). The biggest surprise is the exclusion of the ‘Ferrarese’ Tasso and Guarini, unless their authorship is concealed behind the numerous anonymous texts. From the point of view of musical style attempting to identify the cultural points of reference is even more tricky. In many madrigals (for example no. 9), one is struck by the massive number of diminutions and melismas that require a remarkable degree of vocal virtuosity. The brilliant stylus luxurians was certainly 29 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 87. In favour of this interpretation we may cite the final couplet (italics added): ‘E l’aurea chioma ornando siate attenti / Ch’udirete dolcissimi concenti’ (‘Attend, and you will hear sweet harmonies adorning your golden tresses’). This seems a clear allusion to the singing of Laura and the other Ferrarese ladies.

42

Luca Marenzio

at its height in Ferrara, but probably also in Rome, even though we possess little information on the singing style used by virtuosi in the Roman ridotti, chapels and oratories to which Marenzio, as a singer, was a frequently invited.30 The acclaimed falsetto Giovan Luca Conforti and the bass Giulio Cesare Brancaccio had been heard both in Rome and in Ferrara.31 The hypothesis that doublesoprano scoring with high clefs is typically Ferrarese is not convincing, because madrigals written in this tessitura could have been destined not only for female voices (the famous Ferrarese ladies?), but also for skilled falsettos or even simply for pages: this is confirmed by the fact that some madrigals written before Marenzio’s Ferrarese trip – for example the famous Liquide perle in the first book a 5 – are already scored for two sopranos.32 All this means that it is difficult to recognize in the second book a 5 any single or exact source of inspiration. Once again the Ferrarese elements do not seem to prevail over the Roman ones; this is entirely natural if we remember that Marenzio, after a youthful apprenticeship in northern Italy, had above all lived in and been formed by Rome. Perhaps some madrigals from this book had been composed there around the period 1579–80, but even if they were not conceived with a specific audience in mind, it was nevertheless in Ferrara that they met with gratifying success, and where all the ideal preconditions for a favourable reception existed. This especially applies to the three most artful and reservati settings: nos 10, 12 and 14. Scholarly attention has focused on the conspicuously bold harmonies of O voi che sospirate (no. 10), where, at the line ‘Muti una volta quel suo antico stile’ the bass delineates the circle of descending fifths (C, F, B, E, A, D, G [=F], B, C). This singular enharmonic modulation presupposes equal temperament, which in 30 31

See Chapter 9. The Roman Conforti was one of the most celebrated singers specializing in vocal ornamentation. He was admitted to the papal chapel in about 1580. After his expulsion in 1585 he was in the service of the duke of Sessa (Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 170). According to Vincenzo Giustiniani he served also in Ferrara, but this is not corroborated by any precise documentary evidence. 32 For a discussion of these aspects see Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, p. 526; see also Chapter 8, n. 25. Due account should also be taken of the striking difference in pitch that could normally occur between Rome and the centres of northern Italy, or even between church and chamber tunings within the same city. A late but revealing testimony is found in Marinelli, Via retta della voce corale (Bologna, 1671), p. 205: ‘gli organi di Roma ... sono stati per maggior commodità de’ Cantori di Canto Figurato modernamente abbassati quasi, o senza quasi una Terza minore sotto la comune Voce de gli altri Organi’ (‘the organs of Rome ..., for the greater convenience of the singers of canto figurato, have in modern times been lowered by about as much as a minor third under the notes commonly used on other organs’). Quoted in Gastoldi, Magnificat, p. xiv.

The Ferrarese interlude

43

fact was already in use in the tuning of the lute (Ex. 7.1).33 This madrigal could be regarded as confirming the hypothesis that Marenzio may have composed on the lute. At any rate it is clear that he held the instrument in high regard, as the letter of Brancaccio cited earlier proves. Ferrara could boast a 35

&C m

C (C1)

Ó

˙

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A (C3)

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VC m

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VC m

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suo an

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ti

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n

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40

-

quel

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vol

ti u - na

w

bw

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ta

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sti

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Ex. 7.1

-

w

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suo an

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˙.

& #w

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ti u - na

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ti u - na

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b˙.

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˙

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m m

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m

w

m

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le

Marenzio, O voi che sospirate, bars 35–41

33 As early as 1519, 60 years before Marenzio, Adrian Willaert had composed a fourvoice piece, Quid non ebrietas, in which the tenor runs through the whole circle of fifths: see Lowinsky, ‘Adrian Willaert’s Chromatic “Duo” Re-Examined’. The article by Lowinsky contains a discussion of the use of equal temperament in fretted

44

Luca Marenzio

notable tradition of harmonic experimentation: it is enough to mention the theoretical works and compositions first of Vicentino, then of Luzzaschi and Bottrigari. Also in a serious (or, more exactly, intermediate) tone is I’ piango, ed ella il volto (no. 12), based on a passage in Petrarch describing how the deceased Laura appears to the poet in a dream. It skilfully recreates the dimensions of a dream with its opening in long note values (a breve and two semibreves on the words ‘I’ piango’ – ‘I weep’) underscored by ascending chromaticism in the canto (Ex. 7.2).

C (C1)

&cw

#w

w

I’ A (C3)

pian

&cw I’

T (C4)

Vc

Q (C4)

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B (F4)

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Ex. 7.2

go

ed el - la il

Œ œ œ œ

w

pian

∑

∑

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w

5

Œ œ œ œ

#w

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vol - to

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vol - to

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œ

ed el - la il

œ œ œ

vol - to

ed el - la il

vol - to

˙

m

˙ m

Marenzio, I’ piango, bars 1–6

The third of this trilogy of ‘reservati’ madrigals, Mi fa lasso languire (no. 14), seems almost to paraphrase O voi che sospirate in its choice of certain stylistic elements to convey a sense of suffering: the misura di breve, the transposed plagal Phrygian mode, the dissonant clashes on the words ‘fiero caso e impia sorte’ (‘cruel chance and pitiless fate’). But the most astonishing element is the extremely literal imitazione delle parole obtained through the artifice of solmization: each syllable in the first line is assigned a corresponding note in the initial statement of the soggetto in each of the voices (allowing for the mutations and small adjustments dictated by the harmony). Thus ‘Mi fa lasso languire’ instruments (n. 29). The whole passage in Marenzio’s madrigal has a very special expressive colour, to which the use of the tactus alla breve (¢) and the authentic Phrygian mode both contribute. For a detailed analysis of the piece see Janz, Die Petrarca-Vertonungen, pp. 69–74.

The Ferrarese interlude

45

translates into the sequence mi fa la sol[] la mi re (Ex. 7.3). It is a true rebus in music.34 The second book a 5 was reprinted in Italy seven times by 1608. Its fortune at the printing press was thus considerable, even if it did not equal that of the first book a 5. Among the individual madrigals most often included in the anthologies we may cite, in descending order, Deggio dunque partire (no. 1), Amor poi che C (C1)

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˙

Mi

fa

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A (C3)

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las

-

„

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w

so

w

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Mi

fa

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lan

w

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w

w

mi

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-

so

lan

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˙

Mi

fa

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las

„

gui

-

las

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so

w Mi

re,

-

mi

fa

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las

las

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w

so

lan

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w

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lan

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gui

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lan

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∑

Ó œ œ œ œ ˙ w gui re, mi ˙ w w V b #˙ w

34

gui

„

&b w

Ex. 7.3

-

Vb C

&b w

?b

œ œ œ œ

w

lan

m w m -

re

Marenzio, Mi fa lasso, bars 1–7

A similar procedure, also in Ferrarese circles, had been used a century before by Josquin des Prez in his famous mass Hercules dux Ferrariae.

46

The Ferrarese interlude

non vuole (no. 4), Se ’l pensier che mi strugge (no. 16), Itene a l’ombra (no. 8) and Già torna a rallegrar (no. 15). Five pieces – nos 2, 10, 12, 13 and 14 – are not to be found in the miscellaneous collections, and this small group includes the madrigals that could be described as ‘reservati’. It seems that the melancholy and experimental as opposed to the sparkling and bucolic Marenzio was rarely encountered outside the restricted circle of connoisseurs, except for the popular Dolorosi martir and a few other pieces. But it must be admitted that all the madrigals selected for anthologies, beginning with the highly admired Deggio dunque partire, pulsate with lyrical tone and a vocal brilliance that is much more immediate and persuasive than the audacious O voi che sospirate: greater diffusion of a piece is not always inversely proportional to its quality. The second book a 5 is an artistically balanced book, fully reflecting the expressive range of a two-sided composer: the renowned master of graceful elegance, but also the solitary explorer of more sombre and personal musical regions.

Chapter 8

‘Gentildonne’ I am not pleased with ye Courtier, if he be not also a Musition. ... For if wee weigh it well, ther is no ease of the labors, and medicines of feeble mindes to be found more honest and more praise worthie in time of leisure than it. And principally in Courtes, where (beside the refreshing of vexations that musicke bringeth unto eche man) many things are taken in hand to please women withall, whose tender and soft breastes are soone pierced with melodie, and filled with sweetnesse.

In the secular repertory of the sixteenth century women played a decisive role in musical patronage and reception, as borne out by the above quotation from an early seventeenth-century translation of Baldassare Castiglione’s Il libro del cortegiano.1 In his history of the Italian madrigal Alfred Einstein drew attention to a decisive change that occurred around the middle of Cinquecento. Early on, the madrigal seemed destined for an exclusively male clientele. This was definitely the case with texts that were obscene or heavily imbued with misogynist sentiment: they were not intended for women, whether as singers or listeners.2 Later, poesia per musica underwent a trend towards Petrarchism and the theme of idealized love against a pastoral backdrop: the madrigal became populated with madonne ready to receive homage from their innamorati, who varied only in their degree of gallantry or ardour. At the same time the fame of female singers grew,3 while female audiences took on an ever more consistent profile. The number of women who listened to madrigals and canzonettas increased; at the same time there was an increase in the number of women to whom music pieces were expressly addressed. In Marenzio’s time this process reached its culmination; all the more reason, therefore, to examine carefully the role played by women as recipients or 1

2 3

Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, p. 75 ‘Io non mi contento del cortegiano s’egli non è ancor musico ... perché, se ben pensiamo, niuno riposo di fatiche e medicina d’animi infermi ritrovar si po più onesta e laudevole nell’ocio che questa; e massimamente nelle corti, dove, oltre al refrigerio de’ fastidi che ad ognuno la musica presta, molte cose si fanno per satisfare alle donne, gli animi delle quali, teneri e molli, facilmente sono dall’armonia penetrati e di dolcezza ripieni.’ Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, p. 79. The passage quoted is from Book 1. Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 1, pp. 174 ff. On the development of musical ‘professionalism’ among women see Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 106 ff.; Newcomb, ‘Courtesans, muses or musicians?’ 47

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Luca Marenzio

consumers of secular musical production. Various interesting points relevant to this topic emerge from an exchange of letters between Marenzio and Luigi d’Este. On 9 September 1582 the cardinal wrote to his maestro di cappella: Messer Luca, since certain gentle ladies desire that you set to music the enclosed madrigal, they have asked me to give you the task of doing it; therefore it would please me greatly if you would make some effort to satisfy them well, as I am sure that you will do, especially since you know what sort of composition usually pleases them, since they profess to be your disciples. Take care, however, that no one sees either the madrigal or the music’.4

Marenzio’s reply was very prompt (12 September 1582; see Pl. 4): Here is the present madrigal set to music, as Your Lordship, by your grace, has deigned to command me to set it; I do not know if it will conform to the wishes of those ladies, but I am sure that the excellence of their singing will make up for any defect or lack in the composition.5

This exceptional exchange, the only one between Marenzio and his employer that survives complete, provides incontestable proof that at least one madrigal was composed to fulfil a commission from ‘gentle ladies’, one, moreover, for a performance they were to give themselves. Unfortunately the surviving documents do not give precise information either about the ensemble in question or about the identity of these ladies. Anthony Newcomb was the first to suggest that these may have been the famous ladies who attended Lucrezia d’Este and Margherita Gonzaga at the Ferrarese court, Laura Peperara and Anna Guarini.6 4

‘M[esser] Luca, desiderando alcune gentildonne che voi mettiate in musica l’incluso madrigale, m’hanno pregato à volervene dar carico, però mi sarà molto caro che vi pigliate fattica di satisfarle bene, come m’assicuro che farete, mass[ime] che voi sapete di che sorte di compositione sogliono compiacersi, facendo loro professione di vostre discipole. Avertirete però che nissuno veda né il madrigale né la musica.’ ASMo, Particolari (Marenzio) (Tivoli, 9 September 1582). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 162. Translation quoted from ibid., p. 64. 5 ‘Ecco il presente Madrigale posto in Musica, si come V[ostra] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma per sua gratia si è degnato comandarmi ch’io lo ponghia, non so se sarà conforme al volere di quelle signore, ben m’assicuro, che l’eccelentia del lor cantare, suplirà a ogni diffetto et mancamento della compositione.’ ASMo, Archivio per materie. Musica e musicisti, 1 (Marenzio) (Rome, 12 September 1582). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 162. Translation quoted from ibid., p. 65. 6 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 206: ‘It seems likely from the mention made of “the excellence of their singing” that the gentildonne are the singing ladies of Ferrara. The content of both letters seems to make it almost certain that, by this time at least, Marenzio had had some direct experience of their singing, and they of his compositions.’

‘Gentildonne’

49

This conjecture is not without foundation, given that Marenzio had visited Ferrara in 1581 and addressed his second book a 5 to Lucrezia d’Este. Moreover, as we saw in the last chapter, the bass Giulio Cesare Brancaccio could have acted as a pivot linking Marenzio, the Ferrarese ladies and the entourage of Cardinal Luigi d’Este. It is possible that while he was in Ferrara our composer contributed in some way to the musical education or refinement of the above-mentioned ladies. However, the expression ‘professing to be your disciples’ in the 1582 letter appears to imply a sense of contemporaneity at odds with events that happened at least one year previously. A second possibility therefore presents itself: that the ‘gentle ladies’ in question were not Ferrarese, but Roman. Already in his first book a 6 (a book, what is more, dedicated to the duke of Ferrara) Marenzio had inserted a cryptic but unequivocal homage to Cleria Cesarini, Cardinal Farnese’s comely daughter. This bipartite madrigal, placed strategically at the opening of the book, is a setting of an acrostic on the name of this lady: Come inanti de l’alba rugiadosa La bella luce sua n’apporta Clori E de’ più bei colori Raccende il ciel con ogni parte ascosa; Indi scoprendo il suo leggiadro viso Apre quanto di bel ha ’l Paradiso. Così questa di cui canto gl’honori Esce, et uscendo il cielo Scintillar fa de’ primi almi splendori A Vener’e agl’Amori Rinforza forza et amoroso zelo. Indi ogn’oscuro velo Ne sgombr’intorno a l’alm’e al suo apparire Iacinti, gigli e rose fa fiorire. As Chloris, just before the break of russet dawn, heralds its fair radiance, splashing the heavens and all the hidden places with gleaming colours, then, unveiling her lovely face, reveals all the beauty of Paradise; so the one whose honours I sing comes forth, setting the heavens ablaze with her pristine life-giving splendour, and invigorates the strength and the amorous zeal of Venus and the Cupids. Then she relieves each soul of its dark veil, and when she appears, hyacinths, lilies and roses bloom.

50

Luca Marenzio

This almost secret homage could be considered as an act of disrespect towards Duke Alfonso, the print’s true dedicatee. But the contradiction is only apparent, as Marenzio was accountable for his madrigals not to the duke of Ferrara, the dedicatee on this occasion only, but to Cardinal Luigi, his permanent employer. And the cardinal had compelling reasons to render homage to Cleria Cesarini.7 Cleria was the only child of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and the niece of Pope Paul III. Born around 1556, she was married to Giorgio Cesarini, a nobleman of ancient lineage (he claimed to be descended from the Caesars), but hamstrung by debts. The dowry that Cleria received from her rich father, the cardinal with more prebends than any other in the Sacred College, was enough to refill her husband’s empty coffers. On 18 April 1581 Montaigne visited Giorgio Cesarini’s palace, richly decorated with antique works of art, Greek busts and modern paintings. He observes: ‘He [Giorgio Cesarini] has also the portraits of the most beautiful living Roman ladies and of the Signora Clelia-Fascia Farnese, his wife, who is, if not the most comely, beyond comparison the most lovable woman then in Rome, or, as far as I know, anywhere else.’8 Her praises were sung in verse by many poets, including Tasso. Universally admired, Cleria did not spurn the attentions of a powerful prelate, Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, and it was rumoured that they became lovers.9 We have already mentioned the high prestige enjoyed within the Sacred College by that trio of cardinals Farnese, Medici and d’Este. As the daughter of Farnese and the presumed lover of Medici, it is obvious that d’Este and his famiglia must often have been in contact with Cleria. This is confirmed in various documentary sources in the period 1579–82. We know that Cardinals Luigi d’Este and Ferdinando de’ Medici exchanged visits in their homes in Rome and Tivoli.10 In addition the duke of Brunswick, an Este relation, was a guest at Tivoli 7 8 9

10

We should not neglect to mention the fact Cardinal Farnese visited Ferrara and paid homage to Duke Alfonso in 1581: cf. Chapter 7. Montaigne, Montaigne’s Travel Journal, p. 102. On Cleria Farnese see Zapperi, ‘Farnese, Clelia’, in DBI, vol. 45, pp. 79–81. The rumour of a liaison between Cleria and the cardinal de’ Medici can be traced back to Ameyden, ‘Elogia’, fol. 240v. Cleria Cesarini’s Roman period has a curious sequel: ‘Si dice che la s[igno]ra Cleria Cesarini sia passata a Parma, et entrata in un monastero dopo havere ucciso una Damigella sua trovata da lei in adulterio co ’l marito, di pugnalate’ (‘It is said that Cleria Cesarini has moved to Parma, and entered a monastery after killing one of her ladies-in-waiting whom she caught committing adultery with her [second] husband [Marco Pio, Lord of Sassuolo]; she stabbed her’): BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1057, fol. 137 (Rome, 11 March 1589). Cesare Strozzi, in a letter from Rome, 7 October 1581, writes: ‘Il Sig[no]r Card[ina]le da Este come V[ostra] S[ignoria] havrà inteso in questi giorni fu a desinare al Giardino de’ Medici con molta domestichezza; hora detto S[igno]r Card[inal]e si ritrova a Tivoli con il S[igno]r C[ardina]le di Medici, Santa Croce, et Collona in grandissima dolcezza, havendo preceduto l’andata di questi S[igno]ri una provvisione

‘Gentildonne’

51

between 1581 and 1582: during a party held in the Roman palace of Latino Orsini, Brunswick complained ‘of the disfavour done to him by Cleria Cesarini in not wishing to dance with him’.11 Finally, an avviso di Roma of a slightly later period (5 June 1586) leaves no doubt as to the cordial relations between Cardinal d’Este and Cleria, who had just become a widow: she was granted free use of Luigi’s carriages whenever she travelled.12 What was the nature of Cleria’s involvement with music? We know that she and other Roman noblewomen frequently participated in sumptuous banquets followed by theatrical presentations with music (see Chapter 12). The report about her refusal to dance with the duke of Brunswick confirms that Cleria, along with every lady of her rank, was brought up to dance. Whether she was a singer is neither denied nor confirmed by the documents. At all events, she was the dedicatee of an interesting musical print of the Sienese composer Pompilio Venturi: Il secondo libro delle villanelle a tre voci ... fatte in lode di molte signore, come s’havesse dovuto andare il Papa’ (‘Cardinal d’Este, as Your Lordship will have heard, in the last few days went for a very intimate dinner at the Villa de’ Medici; now the cardinal is at Tivoli with Cardinals de’ Medici, Santa Croce and Colonna, where they are having a delightful time, and they were preceded by provisions of a kind that one would expect only if the pope himself were present’). This document, preserved in ASM, is quoted in Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 216. For the early visit to Tivoli of Cleria and his husband in June 1579 see Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, p. 28. 11 The duke of Brunswick was a guest at Tivoli for the Christmas festivities of 1581 and during Carnival of 1582: see BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1050 (Rome, 3 February 1582): ‘[Mercoledì ritornò a Tivoli il duca di Brunswick] per starvi tutto questo carnevale con piena auttorità dal Sig[nor] Card[ina]le d’Este di far in quella città tutto quello che torna commodo et piacerà a Sua Ecc[ellenza] et particolarmente di far maschere poi che qui non si tratta finora di permettere i soliti passatempi. Detto principe s’è doluto con molti del disfavore che gli fece la Sig[no]ra Cleria Cesarini di non haver voluto ballar seco in un festino fatto in casa del Signor Latino Orsino, iscusandosi quella Sig[no]ra c’havesse commissione dal marito di non ballar quel giorno’ (‘[On Wednesday the duke of Brunswick returned] to remain for the whole of Carnival with the full permission of Cardinal d’Este to do whatever he wishes in the city, and His Excellency would especially have liked to wear a mask, but there has so far been no talk of allowing the usual pastimes. This prince complained to several people of the disfavour done to him by Cleria Cesarini in not wishing to dance with him during a party held in Signor Latino Orsino’s house, the lady excusing herself by saying she had been instructed by her husband not to dance that day’). Quoted in Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 216. 12 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 294v (5 July 1586): ‘Hieri di notte partì Farnese à passare q[ues]ta estate à Caprarola, et poche hore dopo su le carrozze d’Este partì la s[igno]ra Clelia Cesarini di volere del p[ad]re verso Genzano’ (‘Last night Farnese left to spend the summer at Caprarola, and a few hours later Cleria Cesarini left for Genzano in d’Este’s carriages, as her father wished’).

52

Luca Marenzio

et gentildonne romane (1571).13 The book opens with a nuptial encomium, Hoggi trionfa amor lieto e giocondo, dedicated to Giovanni Giorgio and Cleria Farnese Cesarini, who had been married in 1570. A further five compositions are dedicated to Cleria. Among other ‘gentildonne’ to whom homage is paid we may mention Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, Francesca Orsini, Giulia Aragona, Isabella Capranica, Elena Olgiati, Chiara Quirini and Giulia Ruffini. In Rome the villanella (also called the canzonetta alla napolitana or canzonetta alla romana) was very current and much favoured as a musical genre,14 as is attested by numerous publications in the last three decades of the Cinquecento. In 1588, 16 years after Venturi’s publication, the Roman printer Alessandro Gardano published ‘other canzonettas by Paolo Quagliati that he composed at the behest of various Roman ladies to be played and sung with the harpsichord’ (‘altre canzonette del signor Paolo Quagliati ch’egli ha composte à richiesta di varie gentildonne Romane per sonare et cantare su ’l cembalo’).15 So we can take it as confirmed that the canzonetta was also (if not primarily) intended for a female audience. Paolo Quagliati’s publication proves moreover that these ladies not only received the dedication of such works, but also commissioned them and probably performed them. It is known that the canzonetta and villanella repertory was often performed by a solo voice to instrumental accompaniment. Contemporary sensibilities were not offended if a lady sang this sort of music as a solo, accompanying herself on the harpsichord, spinet or lute. The polyphonic madrigal of four or more voices was another matter entirely: the combination of a mixed ensemble of voices could cause considerable embarrassment and offend people’s sense of decency.16 13 14

‘made in praise of many Roman gentlemen and ladies’. See NV 2858. ‘Per cantare con una voce sola sopra alcuno stromento [prevaleva] il gusto delle Villanelle Napoletane, ad imitazione delle quali se ne componevano anche in Roma’: Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, ed. Banti, p. 20. (‘And for a solo voice singing with some instrument the taste for the Villanella napoletana prevailed; in imitation of which many were composed in Rome’): quoted from Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, trans. MacClintock, pp. 67–80. The topic is discussed thoroughly in DeFord, ‘Marenzio and the villanella alla romana’. 15 RISM 158826; NV 2292. Quagliati had also dedicated to Giovanna Caetani Orsini (Rome, 31 March 1585) the Canzonette spirituali de’ diversi a tre voci (RISM 15857). Marenzio is represented in this collection with two pieces: Servirò il grande Iddio and Primo che per Giesù spargesti. 16 See for example Zacconi, Prattica di musica, fol. 54r: ‘non si deve già comportare che le donne imparino, et faccino questa professione; se non hanno a essere nel servitio di Dio collocate, overo se quelli che l’hanno non si compiacciano così d’haverle per udirle a cantar sole: poiché essendo questa professione di non poterla fare senza compagnia, per doversi accompagnare et mescolar tra giovani et huomini fatti (non trovando gran numero et copia di donne che sappiano cantare) fariano che in cambio di cantare le se stariano con essi a sollazzare. ... Fuori de canti dedicati a

‘Gentildonne’

53

Mixed vocal groups could not have been rare, but surviving documents, with sporadic exceptions, offer us little information in this regard, perhaps because of a certain cautious reserve: it should not be forgotten that ‘chamber’ music belonged to the private sphere. An interesting description is afforded by the philosopher Francesco Patrizi (1577), who writes that one day the celebrated Modenese lady Tarquinia Molza sang in the presence of Alfonso d’Este some four-voice madrigals by Pietro Vinci, accompanied by the foremost (masculine) singers of the duke’s cappella: [Tarquinia Molza] sang without any difficulty and most elegantly. ... And so, on the occasion that her sovereign Duke Alfonso II went to Modena with Her Highness his wife, he wanted to hear her in company with the foremost musicians of his cappella in some difficult madrigals by Vinci. And in this trial none of those musicians could carry off certain passages, but she always stood firm and managed them, making it easy for some of the others to recover. ... And therefore in singing in four parts, not only security is required, but, in order to do it excellently, principally a good voice, disposition, discretion and judgement and grace and intelligence. ... Her voice then is a soprano that is not muddy, not faint, not forced, but very clear, open, very delicate, quiet, even and very sweet.17 Dio ... altro mai non si canta che le doglie, le passioni, le pene, gli affanni, et gli martirij che per amor di donna patiscono gli amanti: per il che i Cantori cantandole, si sforzeriano di dirle et mostrarli ch’essi le cantano in suo favore, quantunque anco non ci havessero pensiero; et così le direbbono sì affettuose, et con sospiri sì caldi, che le farebbono di se stesse invaghire, et invaghite cadder dentro alla rete di chi fosse tra cantori più aventurato et più ardito’ (‘it should not be permitted that ladies learn or practise this profession, unless they are employed in the service of God, or unless those who have ladies are content to hear them sung as solos: because, since this profession cannot be practised without companions and in order to do that they would have to mingle with youths and full-grown men (there are not a great deal of women who know how to sing), they would be thinking only of amusing themselves with them instead of confining themselves to the song. ... Apart from songs dedicated to God ... they sing only of the sorrow, passion, pain, affliction and torment that lovers suffer for love of a woman: and so the singers in singing to them would force themselves to say and show that they are singing for their sake, even if this was not what they were thinking; and so they would say such tender things and, with such ardent sighing, that they would cause them to become infatuated with those women, thus falling into the snare of whoever among the singers was the most venturesome and bold’). Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 114. 17 ‘[Tarquinia Molza] cantava a note, senza fatica veruna e con leggiadria molta. ... Di che ad occasione che il principe suo il duca Alfonso II andò a Modona con l’altezza sua consorte, volle sentirla in compagnia de’ primi musici della sua capella sopra alcuni difficili madrigali del Vincio. Nella qual pruova non fu alcuno di quelli che certi passi non uscissero, et essa sempre stette ferma et sostennela, sì che diede agio a tutti di rimettersi. ... Et perciò che nel ben cantare quattro parti oltre alla sicurtà principalmente si richieggono a farlo eccellentemente ben voce, dispositione,

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Luca Marenzio

Other indications of performances for mixed voices, albeit less circumstantiated than this last, can be found in the ample documentation for the 1580s of the Ferrarese concerto delle dame. As we have seen, these documents often mention the bass Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, who served as a musician only in ‘secreta compagnia di Dame’.18 In 1583 the composer Costanzo Porta, who was visiting Ferrara, was also heard singing ‘in lor compagnia’;19 we also know that a certain singer called Antonio da Lugo ‘always took part in the private concerts’ (‘sempre interveniva nel concerto secreto’).20 A more difficult task is to identify the repertory performed by the ladies, in other words to establish a clear relation between the archival documents and the rich harvest of musical prints that have come down to us. The most obvious proof that the Ferrarese ladies sang madrigals of the same type as those by Marenzio can be found in Paolo Virchi’s dedication to Duke Alfonso d’Este of his first book a 5 (1584): ‘I truly give no credit to my own skills, but rather to the sweet voices of those illustrious ladies who sang them with marvellous aptitude, in the new, as yet unknown style of passaggi and accenti, because the fame of their excellence enhances the enjoyment of this music.’21 In these words he seems to capture an echo of Marenzio’s words in his reply to Cardinal d’Este’s letter ‘the excellence

18 19

20 21

discretione et giudicio e gratia e intelligenza. ... La voce adunque sua è un soprano non fosco, non soppresso, non sforzato, ma chiarissimo, aperto, delicatissimo, piano, eguale, soavissimo.’ From F. Patrizi’s incomplete dialogue L’amorosa filosofia. The passage is reproduced in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 135 ff. From a letter of the ambassador Orazio Urbani to the grand duke of Tuscany (Ferrara, 13 February 1581): see Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 140. From a letter of Urbani to the Grand Duke (Ferrara, 25 April 1583): see Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 158. A madrigal by Costanzo Porta expressly designated ‘con dui soprani’ exists in his fourth book a 5 (1586) and was also published that same year in a miscellaneous collection with strong Ferrarese associations, I lieti amanti: see M. Giuliani (ed.), I lieti amanti, pp. 29–31. From a lettere of Cozzi to Cardinal Luigi d’Este (Ferrara, 23 April 1583): see Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 157. ‘Ben è vero ch’io non attribuisco tanto al mio artificio quanto alla soavità della voce di quelle Illustri Signore che li cantarno ... con maravigliosa dispositione et col nuovo non più inteso modo di passaggi et accenti, che accrescano assai facilmente il diletto di questa Musica’ (Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, p. 166). Similar expressions recur in Wert’s dedication, also to Duke Alfonso, of his eighth book a 5 (1586): ‘Percioché lasciando stare di tanti altri eccellenti et Musici, et Cantori che sono nella sua numerosissima e perfettissima Capella, a cui non sono hoggimai note ... la voce, la gratia ... et l’altre ... qualità delle tre nobilissime giovani Dame della Serenissima Signora Duchessa di Ferrara?’ (‘For, not to speak of many other excellent musicians and singers in your extensive and outstanding cappella, who has not heard of ... the voices, the grace ... and the other ... qualities of those three most noble young ladies of Her Most Serene Highness the Duchess of Ferrara?’). Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 173 ff.

‘Gentildonne’

55

of their singing will make up for any defect or lack in the composition’. In his discussion of the Este–Marenzio correspondence, Anthony Newcomb has proposed that the madrigal commissioned by Cardinal d’Este may be identified as Bianchi cigni e canori, a brilliant composition for six voices that opens Il lauro verde (1583), the Ferrarese collection in honour of Laura Peperara’s wedding.22 The hypothesis is ingenious, though Patricia Myers believes it is unlikely that the ladies would have played an active role in compiling a volume officially edited by the members of the Accademia dei Rinnovati.23 Given the present state of knowledge, it is impossible to solve the riddle anyway.24 We must moreover consider the possibility that the Marenzio piece, because of the secrecy imposed by the Estense family, was never published. And, as already noted, the Ferrarese trail, though plausible, is by no means the only one. Rome, a very active centre for Italian secular music, should not be excluded as a place where madrigals were performed with the help of female voices, even if falsettos or boys’ voices (we know, for example, that numerous pages lived in Cardinal d’Este’s household) were more usual.25 22 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 207: ‘Marenzio’s Bianchi cigni [is] one of his most festive, sonorous, and florid virtuoso madrigals. (Could this have been the madrigal that Luigi sent to Marenzio, and that Marenzio returned, set to music, in only three days? The date, September 1582, is right).’ 23 P. Myers, introduction to Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6, p. xxiii. 24 Possible identifications of this madrigal have been made by Steven Ledbetter, who proposes Scherzando con diletto (III a 5, 1582) (‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 66) and Patricia Myers, who suggests Là dove sono i pargoletti Amori (VI a 6, 1595!): see Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6, p. xxiii. 25 On the possible use of pages in the performance of madrigals at the court of Luigi d’Este see Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, pp. 525 ff. For falsettos, see Pietro Della Valle’s memoirs, written in 1635–40 but referring to the Roman musical scene in the years 1585–90: Della musica dell’età nostra, in Doni, De’ trattati di musica, vol. 2. Della Valle remembers (p. 255): ‘Gio[vanni] Luca Falsetto [Conforti], gran Cantore di gorge, e di passaggi, che andava alto alle stelle’ (‘Giovanni Luca [Conforti], a great singer of gorge and passaggi, whose voice seemed to climb to the stars’) and ‘Orazietto [Michi], buonissimo cantante, o di falsetto o di tenore’ (‘Orazietto [Michi], a very good singer, whether falsetto or tenor’). With regard to women (p. 256): ‘Noi oggi ne abbiamo piene tutte le Corti [di sopranisti], tutte le Cappelle, e oltre de’ Castrati, dove erano ne’ tempi addietro quelle tante Donne cantatrici, che oggi abbiamo in singolare eccellenza? Una Giulia, o Lulla, come chiamano, che io pure arrivai a conoscere, ma non negli anni suoi più fioriti, perché era bella, e cantava un poco ad aria qualche Villanella sul Cembalo, o che so io?’ (‘Nowadays the courts are full [of sopranos], all the cappelle, and, apart from castratos, where were all these singing ladies in the past, whom we now have in such singular excellence? A Giulia, or Lulla, as they call her, whom I came to know, but not in her prime, because she was beautiful, and sang a little in the manner of an aria some villanellas accompanied by the harpsichord, or whatever’).

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Unfortunately the reticence of Roman musical circles, only exceptionally and laconically penetrated by the occasional Avvisi di Roma, allows us only the slightest chance of knowing more. On the other hand, the Roman and Ferrarese threads of Marenzio’s artistic experience are almost inextricably interwoven, as is confirmed by an interesting document of 1588, which recounts the composer’s transfer into the service of Ferdinando de’ Medici after the death of Luigi d’Este: His Highness [Ferdinando de’ Medici] has taken into his service Luca Marenzio, who was a musician of the late Cardinal d’Este; and His Highness has told me that [Marenzio] was in Ferrara and provided good music for Your Highness [Alfonso d’Este], but that he told him that the girl in the service of His Highness [Medici] in Rome will sing better than any of the others whom we have heard.26

These lines are addressed to the duke of Ferrara by the Ferrarese ambassador in Florence, Ercole Cortile, whose writings often incline towards malicious tittletattle. Cardinal de’ Medici, freshly ascended to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, was then organizing the grandiose spectacles for his wedding, and certainly wished to compete with the ladies of Ferrara. Marenzio told him that the young singer in his service in Rome could withstand comparison with the ladies in attendance on Alfonso d’Este. Doubtless this assertion could be clouded by a desire to flatter the duke, but, leaving aside the purely subjective (and perhaps not entirely truthful) nature of his assessment, it seems undeniable that singers of a good standard were active in Rome at that time. And a tradition that appeared to be mature by 1588 must have put down at least some roots in the preceding years.

26

‘Ha pigliato l’A[ltezza] S[ua] al suo serv[izi]o Luca Mere[n]tio che era Musico del S[igno]r Car[dina]le d’Este di fel[ice] m[emori]a et m’ha detto l’A[ltezza Sua] che è stato a Ferrara et che gli ha referto della buona musica de V[ostra] A[ltezza] ma che gli ha detto però che q[ue]lla fanciulla che ha S[ua] A[ltezza] à Roma canterà meglio di tutte le altre che habbia sentito.’ ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 28, dispatch in cipher by Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II (Florence, 27 February 1588). The document is transcribed in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 202.

Chapter 9

Roman confraternities On Christmas Eve of 1582 the Apostolic Prothonotary Anselmo Dandini wrote from Rome to Cardinal d’Este: I come to pay my humble respects to Your Lordship and to pray that God may grant you a happy feast ... and to ask you, since so much time is necessary to forestall the diligence of others, that you might deign to command Messer Luca Marenzio to come this next Lent to serve for the music at the Company of the Most Holy Trinity, and I beg you to believe that you would be doing me a remarkable favour.1

The cardinal immediately replied: Since I am not in the habit of ordering Marenzio to sing in one place or another, in the present instance as well I would not do this, preferring to leave him at liberty to decide for himself, as I have done in the past; if he promises to come to the Oratorio of the Trinity, any satisfaction that he may give you in this will be pleasing to me.2

In sixteenth-century Rome great importance was given to practical devotions, especially in the time of Lent and in Holy Week. The task of organizing the processions fell to the city’s numerous confraternities – associations of lay people for spiritual and charitable purposes. ‘They have a hundred brotherhoods and more’, observes Montaigne, ‘and there is hardly a man of quality who is not attached to some one of these; there are some for foreigners. Our kings belong to

1

‘Vengo à fare à V[ostra] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma humilissima riverenza, et à pregarle dal S[igno]r Dio le buone feste ... et à supplicarla, poiché di tanto tempo è necessario di prevenire la diligenza de gli altri, che si degni far comandare à m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio che venghi questa Quaresima à servire per la musica alla Compagnia della S[antissi]ma Trinità pregandola di credere che à me farà segnalatiss[im]a gratia.’ ASMo, Particolari (Dandino), letter from Anselmo Dandini to Luigi d’Este (Rome, 24 December 1582). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 165. 2 ‘Non essend’io mai stato solito di commandar’ al Marentio che vadi à cantar più in un luogo che in un altro, non mi rissolverei ne anche adesso di farlo, et però lasciandolo in libertà sua, come ho fatto per il passato, s’egli ricercato da V[ostra] S[ignoria] prometterà di venire all’Oratorio della Trinità mi sarà cara ogni satisfattione che le darà in questo.’ ASMo, Minute di Luigi d’Este (Dandino), 2 (Tivoli, 25 December 1582). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 166. 57

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that of the Gonfalon.’ The confraternities celebrated many acts of religious fellowship, and on Maundy Thursday evening, to worship the Most Holy Sacrament and to view the ‘Veronica’ (the cloth with which it is said St Veronica wiped the face of Jesus on the Cross, and which retained his image), they filed in procession, dressed in cloth, each company dressed in its fashion, ‘white, red, blue, green, or black; most of them have their faces covered’. Montaigne was deeply impressed by the celebrations for Holy Week in 1581: The noblest and most magnificent thing I have seen here or elsewhere is the incredible number of people scattered throughout the city on this day at their devotions, and especially in these companies. For beside a large number of others that we had seen by day and who had come to Saint Peter’s, as night began this city seemed to be all on fire: these companies marching in order toward Saint Peter’s, each man carrying a torch, and almost all these of white wax.

At least 12 000 torches filed past before the eyes of the astonished writer: from evening until midnight the street was filled with a perfectly organized procession. The music too had its ritual function: ‘Each body has a large choir of music, always singing as they went, and in the center of the ranks a file of Penitents, who scourge themselves with ropes; there were five hundred of them at least, their backs all flayed and bleeding in a piteous fashion.’3 Montaigne’s description of the Maundy Thursday procession is complemented, for the year 1583, by the Avvisi di Roma: The confraternities took part in the usual processions in St Peter’s to visit the most Sacred Sacrament, and to see the sacred ‘Veronica’, with more confusion than devotion because of the rain. ... In the Compagnia del Gonfalone there were several French noblemen dressed in sackcloth, just like the others. In the [Archconfraternity] of the Crucifix there was the brother of the Spanish ambassador with many Spanish and Portuguese gentlemen; in the confraternity of the Neapolitans the Marquis del Vasto with a retinue of many knights; in the [Archconfraternity] of the Most Holy Trinity several leading prelates and Monsignors of the court; the Roman nobility and barons were scattered between this and that company, and everyone in these days was intent on devotion.4 3 4

Montaigne, Montaigne’s Travel Journal, pp. 94–5. ‘Le confraternite fecero a Palazzo le solite processioni per visitare il sanct[issi]mo sacramento, et per vedere il volto santo, con più confusione che devotione per la pioggia. ... Eranvi nella compagnia del confalone parecchi franzesi nobili vestiti di sacco come gli altri. In quella del crucifisso il fratello dell’Amb[ascia]tor di Spagna con molti s[igno]ri compatriotti et Portughesi. In quella de Napoletani il Marchese del Vasto co ’l seguito di molti Cavalieri. In quella della Trinità parecchi principali Prelati, et Mons[igno]ri di questa corte, essendo sparsa la S[ua] S[igno]ria, et Baronia Romana fra queste, et altre compagnie, trovandosi in questi giorni ognuno intento alla divotione.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1051, fol. 166 (Rome, Holy Saturday [9 April] 1583). The musician charged with directing the music of this procession was

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The avviso allows us to deduce that it was the SS. Trinità, the same company on whose behalf Marenzio’s professional collaboration had been requested, that was in a position of pre-eminence among the confraternities, supported as it was by prelates and Roman noblemen. A brief summary of its history is therefore in order. The Arciconfraternita della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti (Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents) – to give the institution its full name – was founded in 1548 by St Philip Neri with the help of his confessor Persiano Rosa. The association’s aim was to provide shelter for the poor pilgrims who were to flock to Rome in 1550 for the celebrations of the Holy Year. Until the pilgrims’ arrival, the members of the confraternity, lay people from all social classes, were engaged in works of charity and gathered to pray. After the end of the Holy Year, Neri was persuaded by Rosa to become a priest and in 1551 took his vows and transferred to S. Girolamo della Carità. Because the institution had developed strong roots, it suffered no adverse effects from Filippo’s departure. Housed in two buildings, the oratory and the hospice, it was to continue its spiritual and charitable works for a further three centuries. It was recognized as a confraternity in 1560, and as an archconfraternity in 1562.5 The oratory, to which Cardinal d’Este’s letter refers, was built in 1570 in the street now known as the Via delle Zoccolette, but was demolished in the nineteenth century together with the hospice.6 It had considerable capacity and the Dominicans chose it for the sermons to the Jews. Here Montaigne admired the eloquence of Andrea de’ Monti, ‘that renegade rabbi who preaches to the Jews on Saturday after dinner in the Church of the Trinity’.7 Noel O’Regan has shown that this archconfraternity was one of the major sponsors of sacred music in Rome at the end of the sixteenth century and acted as an employer of the city’s leading musicians. Beginning with the jubilee year of 1575 the institution regularly employed its own maestro di cappella, even though it did not have its own permanent choir before 1590.8 On the basis of 12 manuscript volumes conserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Rome, O’Regan has attempted to establish the musical repertoire in use during Lent and Holy Week:

5

6 7 8

Giacomo Ferratelli: see ASR, Ospedale della SS. Trinità, 627, fol. 322, quoted in O’Regan, ‘Marenzio’s sacred music: the Roman context’, p. 619. For a history of the institution, see C. Morichini, Degli istituti di carità, pp. 169–79; Garofalo, L’Ospedale della Santissima Trinità; and S. Vasco Rocca, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini. For the institution’s involvement with music see especially O’Regan, Institutional Patronage. Maroni Lumbroso and Martini, Le confraternite romane, p. 428. Montaigne, Montaigne’s Travel Journal, p. 92. O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, p. 79, reproduces the complete list of maestri di cappella from 1575 until the end of the century. In the 1580s these were Annibale Zoilo, Boezio Civitello, Giacomo Ferratelli, Giovanni Bernardino Nanino and Giacomo Ricordi.

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lamentations, responsories, falsobordone settings of the Miserere and Benedictus, psalm motets of penitential character and Marian antiphons (Ave Regina, Salve Regina and Regina caeli). Among the best-known composers are Palestrina, Zoilo, Macque, Lasso and Giovanni and Paolo Animuccia. Most of these pieces are polychoral, for between two and five choirs, with the frequent participation of musical instruments such as violins, cornetts and lutes.9 It would be interesting to know exactly when Marenzio had his first contacts with SS. Trinità. His name appears in the confraternity’s accounts only from 1584, when the Lenten music was paid for with the huge sum of 90 scudi (the money paid to Marenzio, probably, was not for himself alone, but might have covered other musicians).10 But, even if we lack definite proof, we could not exclude the possibility that he began his collaborative relationship the preceding year, participating as a singer in the Lenten performances.11 If this occurred, it is Monsignor Dandini, author of the letter to Cardinal d’Este as well as primicerius (governor) of the institution for the years 1582 and 1583,12 who can claim merit for having introduced the young musician into an organization of such importance for the purposes of musical patronage. Dandini was a leading figure in diplomatic circles, with a close relationship to Luigi d’Este and the French crown. Born in Cesena around 1546, he graduated in utroque iure (in civil and canon law), then was appointed apostolic prothonotary in the reign of Pius V. In 1578, under Gregory XIII, he was appointed to the prestigious post of Ordinary Nuncio in France. He had close ties to the proFrench faction in the Curia and, although he was only a prothonotary and almost totally lacked diplomatic experience, his candidacy was favoured by Cardinals Farnese, Orsini, Commendone and above all Luigi d’Este. He remained in Paris for three years, until he fell into disgrace with the French crown: it was said that he led ‘a most nefarious and indecent life, paying attention to nothing but games and whores’.13 He was suddenly recalled to Rome, as an avviso dated 15 June drily states: ‘Monsignor Dandino has returned from France, where he gave little satisfaction to His Holiness and the Most Christian King [of France]’.14 9 10 11

12 13 14

O’Regan, ‘Roman confraternities and their oratories, 1550–1600’, p. 896; id., ‘Palestrina and the Oratory of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini’, pp. 118 ff. ASR, Ospedale della SS. Trinità, 627, fol. 34 and 1215, fol. 285; quoted in O’Regan, ‘Marenzio’s sacred music’, pp. 611 and 619, n. 10. Unfortunately no records of payment survive for the Lenten music for the SS. Trinità in 1583. But the nihil obstat granted by Cardinale d’Este to Monsignor Dandino makes it probable that Marenzio participated. See the list of primicerii of SS. Trinità in O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, p. 78. ‘una vita sceleratissima e scorrettissima non attendendo ad altro che à giuochi et à puttane’. Foa, ‘Dandini, Anselmo’, in DBI, vol. 32, p. 408. ‘Ritornò di Francia Mons[igno]r Dandino, ov’hà sodisfatto poco et a N[ostro] S[igno]re, et al Rè christianissimo.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1049, fol. 260 (Rome, 15 July 1581).

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This prelate, whose conduct gave rise to such gossip, had at least three madrigal books dedicated to him,15 a sign that the musicians of the time recognized his position of authority. He must have understood the human voice well if, as well as engaging Marenzio, he received the dedication of a book from such a prized soprano as Giovan Luca Conforti. Dandini, however, has left no further traces in Marenzio’s biography. Other figures known to the composer who were members of SS. Trinità were to prove far more important. In the unpublished Registro del Segretario of 1583 appear the following names: Ottavio Bandini (primicerius), Camillo Gualtieri, Camillo Caetani and Paolo Giordano Orsini. All these, directly or indirectly, had relations with our composer.16 Monsignor Bandini had received the dedication of the madrigal collection Dolci affetti (Venice, 1582), which contains a piece by Marenzio, Hor pien d’altro desio.17 Camillo Gualtieri was most probably related to (perhaps the brother of) the Attilio Gualtieri who collected and had published Marenzio’s second, fourth and fifth books of villanellas (1585, 1587 and 1587 respectively).18 Camillo Caetani, another member of the confraternity and the future patriarch of Alexandria, received from Attilio Gualtieri the dedication of Marenzio’s Secondo libro delle villanelle (1585), in which he is called a ‘scholar’ (‘studioso’) and ‘a connoisseur of this most noble profession of music’ (‘intendente di questa nobilissima professione della Musica’).19 As for Paolo Giordano Orsini, duke of Bracciano, notorious for his scandalous relationship with Vittoria Accoramboni, we know that he was a close friend of Cardinale d’Este and that his son Virginio, who had an intense love of music, was to become Marenzio’s employer at the beginning of the 1590s. Among all the members of SS. Trinità, the closest to Marenzio must have been Girolamo Ruis, protector of the poet Antonio Ongaro. In the Registro del segretario of 1584 ‘Hieronymus Ruiz’ appears as the guardian (‘custos’) of the confraternity,20 and it was in this year that Marenzio dedicated to him his fourth book a 5.21 The text of the dedication letter (Rome, 5 May 1584) emphasizes the 15 16 17 18 19

20 21

Conforti (1567, NV 605), Domenico Micheli (1564, NV 1842) and Alessandro Merlo (1565, NV 1816). All these composers had relations of some kind with SS. Trinità. ASR, Ospedale della SS. Trinità, 8, fol. 2. On 6 June 1583 a ‘congregatio particularis ordinaria’ was held. On this collection see Chapter 11. NV 1689, 1699 and 1704. The musical interests of Camillo Caetani, brother of Cardinal Enrico Caetani, are confirmed by the dedications of Macque’s Madrigaletti e napolitane a sei voci (1582) and Monte’s XV a 5 (1595). ASR, Ospedale della SS. Trinità, 8, fol. 91. Published in Venice by the firm of Vincenzi e Amadino (not Angelo Gardano, like his preceding books); modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2, pp. 1–42. The composer’s dedication is signed, unusually, in Venice, on 5 May 1584. We have no information about a possible journey that Marenzio may have made to northern

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generosity of this patron: ‘To the most illustrious and generous lord, my most respected patron, Signor Girolamo Ruis: ... since your infinite kindness has already for a long time transferred me into your domain, I do not have, nor could I have, anything to offer you that is not already yours’.22 The dedication to Ruis is worth reflecting on since it seems, rather exceptionally, to burst the confines of Cardinal d’Este’s entourage. As the cardinal’s letter to Monsignor Dandino shows, Marenzio was free to attend those confraternities and artistic gatherings that best remunerated him. However, this freedom concerned his activities as a singer more than as a composer. ‘Take care, however, that no one sees the music’, the cardinal had earlier written to his maestro di cappella (see the previous chapter): a manuscript composition was something altogether private, reservata, at the discretion of the prince. The madrigal book addressed to Ruis, on the other hand, shows that Marenzio, surely with the cardinal’s authority, could also compose for other gentlemen. The dedication signed in Venice (and not from Rome) seems to confirm the anomalous genesis of the book.23 Ruis, perhaps, was more a connoisseur of poetry than of music, because no other composer dedicated a book of villanellas or madrigals to him. It is possible that the bold decision to open the collection with four octaves from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata was dictated by the desire to please a refined literary patron.24 We might have expected to encounter texts by Antonio Ongaro, or by the brothers Girolamo and Michele Ruis, who occasionally wrote sonnets;25

22

23

24

25

Italy in that year. Perhaps Cardinal d’Este gave his musician special leave. From the dedications of the Madrigali spirituali and the fifth book a 5 we know that the composer was in Rome on 24 April and 15 December. However, Ferrante Franchi’s preface to Marenzio’s Primo libro delle villanelle a tre voci is again signed in Venice on 1 September 1584. ‘Al molto illustre et generoso signor, patron mio osservandissimo, il signor Girolamo Ruis: ... havendomi gia molto tempo la sua infinita amorevolezza trasferito nel suo dominio, non hò, né posso havere cosa da offerirle che non sia sua.’ On the Ruiz (or Ruis) brothers, probably of Spanish origin, see Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 3. In a deposition of 1595 Girolamo Ruiz declared himself to be 68 years old, to have been born in Venice, and to have been living in Rome for more than 50 years: see Incisa della Rocchetta, Vian and Gasbarri, Il primo processo per San Filippo Neri, vol. 1, pp. 232 ff. See also Lefèvre, ‘Don Ferrante Ruiz e la compagnia di Gesù’, p. 154. The octaves in question are nos. 96–99 from Canto XII. The same text, Giunto a la tomba, had been set by Wert in his seventh book a 5 (1581). On Marenzio’s madrigal see Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, pp. 557–71. For a comparison with Wert, see Owens, ‘Marenzio and Wert read Tasso’. In the preface of Ongaro’s Alceo stands a series of sonnets exchanged between the Ruis brothers and Ongaro himself. However, Marenzio’s settings of texts by Ongaro begin no earlier than the sixth book a 5 (1594).

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however, such texts are absent, unless their authorship is concealed behind the unattributed texts. It is certainly a significant coincidence that the book dedicated to Girolamo Ruis came out immediately after Marenzio’s first documented collaboration with SS. Trinità (Lent, 1584). The fabric of institutional patronage represented by the confraternity is seamlessly interwoven with that of the private patronage of the Ruis brothers or Camillo Caetani. This situation shows that the two kinds of patronage are in fact related and are reflected in two opposite types of musical repertory, the sacred and the secular. All this happened simultaneously, one might say in complementary fashion, so that one vein feeds into the other: a spiritual congregation such as SS. Trinità could, in spite of itself, indirectly promote artistic activities of a secular nature. In this way the city of the Holy See could become a European capital of secular music, one that also favoured Marenzio’s exceptional career as a madrigal composer. The composer’s relationship with SS. Trinità continued until the mid-1590s, when from within the association there emerged the figure of Diego de Campo, a Spaniard and an intimate servant of Pope Clement VIII. However, Marenzio was not limited to this network of associations: other cross-links enabled him to form relationships alternative to the ones offered him almost daily by Cardinal d’Este, numerous and important though these may have been.

Chapter 10

Homeland and compatriots Marenzio was Roman by adoption but not by birth. During the years of his full artistic maturity his ties with Brescia, his home town, seem to lead a subterranean existence, only to burst forth proudly from time to time like an underground stream welling up into the light of day. In a cosmopolitan city like Rome no one forgot his homeland: there existed confraternities which acted as gathering points for the adherents of a particular nazione, whether this was a large state like France or Spain, or a famous city such as Naples or Florence. Among the various communities present in Rome, that of the Brescian citizens was by no means the least important with respect to either numbers or economic well-being. In the middle of the Cinquecento some arms vendors, on the advice of their compatriot Cardinal Gambara, had organized themselves into a religious body. In 1569, at the cardinal’s house, they had brought into being a confraternity dedicated to the martyrs Faustinus and Iovita, the patron saints of Brescia. The statutes were recognized by Pius V and then approved by Gregory XIII, who in 1576 granted special indulgences to the association. Unfortunately we do not possess documents that prove if Marenzio belonged to the confraternity, but it is fairly probable that he was a member: by statute he would have been entitled free access, along with all the men and women born in Brescia or its territory and their descendants who had settled in Rome. Apart from the customary spiritual objectives, the association aimed to assist nationals who had fallen sick and to provide hospitality to pilgrims. The church of SS. Faustino e Giovita, which has not survived, stood on the Lungotevere, near the Via Giulia. Thanks to continual bequests from Brescians, the confraternity had healthy finances and for three centuries brought comfort to poor and sick compatriots.1 Some relationships between Marenzio and the musicians (or patrons) of Brescian provenance could have been cultivated or privileged by the institute’s Roman visitors. The birth and origins of our composer have been carefully studied by the Brescian historian and priest Paolo Guerrini.2 Unfortunately the sources that 1 2

Maroni Lumbroso and Martini, Le confraternite romane, pp. 147 ff.; Fè D’Ostiani, ‘L’Arciconfraternita dei bresciani in Roma’, pp. 22–36 and 62–79. Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’. Another contribution to local history is Bignami, ‘L’anno di nascita di Luca Marenzio’. The results of these researches are combined in the monograph by Engel, Luca Marenzio. To these studies should be added Partegiani, ‘La 64

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throw light on Marenzio’s childhood and youth are rather scarce and not always reliable. In the following pages we offer a complete rereading of the available documents. We start with the most crucial of these, a polizza d’estimo (statement of assets for taxation purposes) of 1588 made out by Luca’s father, Giovanni Francesco Marenzio (see Pl. 5). In the Italian states of the middle of the sixteenth century no systematic record was kept of births; however, in the Republic of Venice, to which Brescia and its provincia belonged, a census had for some time existed locally, known as an estimo.3 The head of every resident family was periodically obliged to compile a statement (polizza) with an exact series of data, including: the age of all the male members of the immediate family (this was not necessary for the female members, though it was normal to declare their civil status); their habitual place of residence; their property in Brescia and in the rest of the region; their value according to their actual or nominal yield, or, the case of estates, the size of the holding and type and quantity of the products; and finally the property rented by family members, or acquired for a period by means of a special emphyteutal contract (a kind of mortgage) called a livello.4 Each amount was usually expressed in the traditional coinage in use in Brescia: the lira di planeti, equivalent to one-third of a Venetian ducat. The lira was subdivided into 20 soldi, and the soldo into 12 denari. Here is the text of the polizza by Giovan Francesco Marenzio: Polizza d[e] beni debiti crediti et teste de mi Gio[vanni] Fran[cesc]o q[uondam] d[omi]no Giuliano di Marenti, habit[ante] in bressa et coadiutore nel studio del feramondo proc[urato]re Io Gio. Franc[esc]o capo de Familia d’anni Luca mio fig[lio]lo, musico et serve al Ser[enissi]mo Ducha di fiorezze d’anni no Marentio mio fig[lio]lo, musico et serve al detto Serenissimo Ducha d’anni Giuliano mio fig[lio]lo senza virtù d’anni ...5

70 35 27 21

famiglia dei Marenzio a Coccaglio’, which presents notarial documents from the Archivio di Stato, Brescia, for the period 1512–62. 3 On the censuses carried out in Italy in earlier times see Burke, The Historical Anthropology, chapter entitled ‘Classifying the People’. 4 Since usury was prohibited, the payment of interest due from a livello had to be executed in the form of an evasion: the livellario sold the property to the livellatore, who then sold it back at a higher price, receiving payment of annual instalments. The livelli could be for an indefinite period of time, fixed-term or lasting the life of the livellatore. 5 Archivio di Stato, Brescia (olim Civica Biblioteca Queriniana di Brescia), Archivio Storico Civico, Polizze d’Estimo, Coccaglio, B.386/b; two copies of the document exist. Transcriptions in: Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 20; Engel, Luca Marenzio,

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Luca Marenzio A statement of the property, debts, credits and family members testified to by me Giovanni Francesco, son of the late Giuliano di Marenti, living in Brescia and coadjutor in the office of the attorney Feramondo. I, Giovanni Francesco, head of the family, age 70 years Luca, my son, a musician, who serves the most serene duke of Florence, 35 years Marentio, my son, a musician, who serves the said most serene Duke, 27 years Giuliano, my son, unskilled, 21 years ...

From this document we learn that Luca’s father was called Giovanni Francesco and that he was the son of Giuliano. He lived in Brescia (we do not know exactly where), and exercised the profession of ‘coadiutor nel studio del Feramondo procuratore’; in other words, he was a sort of notarial clerk.6 He states himself to be 70 years old and therefore must have been born around 1518–19. He names three male children: Luca (born in 1553 or 1554), Marenzio (born in 1561 or 1562) and Giuliano (born in 1567 and baptized on 8 June),7 the first two ‘musici’ in the service of the grand duke of Florence (Ferdinando de’ Medici), the third ‘unskilled’. He does not name his wife, who probably was already dead. He omits his three daughters, of whom two were married (Lelia in 1566, Ortensia in 1571) and one probably dead (Barbara Olimpia).8 His house was located not in Brescia, but in Coccaglio, where where he and his father had settled,9 ‘a house ... with a courtyard and garden located in the village of Coccaglio facing the square, for my use and that of my family’ (‘una casa ... con corte et orto, posta nella terra di Cocalio in contrata della piazza, per mio uso et della mia famiglia’). He p. 213; Bignami, Enciclopedia dei musicisti bresciani, p. 149. The document transcribed by Guerrini is slightly different and refers to a third copy, whose present whereabouts are unknown. Steven Ledbetter, during his visit to the Biblioteca Queriniana di Brescia in 1974, lamented the possible disappearance of the document among the polizze d’estimo of 1588: ‘Marenzio’s Early Career’, p. 305; in reality, at least two documents can be located with certainty. 6 This at least is Guerrini’s interpretation (‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 20). It would be useful to have more information about Feramondo, but his name does not figure in the polizze d’estimo of 1588. The profession of procuratore is described in Tommaso Garzoni, La piazza universale, p. 131. 7 Coccaglio, Archivio parrocchiale, fol. 16, no. 222: ‘Julianus Merencius. Julianus sive Alfonsus Francisci et Mariane de Marentiis B. fuit die VIII junij 1567 compater Ds. Vincentius Personellus’. Quoted in Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 32 and Bignami, Enciclopedia, p. 149. For Personellus see Archivio di Stato di Brescia, Archivio Storico Civico, Polizze d’Estimo, Coccaglio, B.386/b. 8 Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 32; Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 6 ff. 9 In his will of 1537 Giuliano Marenzio, Luca’s grandfather, states he was living in Coccaglio: Brescia, Archivio di Stato, Notarile, notaio Almici Bartolomeo q. Agostino, fol. 246 (8 September 1537). Cited in Partegiani, ‘La famiglia dei Marenzio a Coccaglio’, p. 5.

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declares livelli outstanding from Andrea Bertoncello, Nicolò Beretta and Antonio de Monendi, all from Coccaglio, who respectively owe him 200, 400 and 40 lire planete (a total of 640). He declares debts of a total of 46 lire planete. The interesting phrase ‘Each year I pay a rent of 16 lire planete to Cavaliere Guarisco for a house’ (‘pago d’affitto ogni anno de casa lire sedese planete videlicet a Cavaliere Guarisco’) probably refers to the rent of a lodging in Brescia.10 That Luca’s family was ‘of humble and poor circumstances’, as the seventeenth-century scholar Leonardo Cozzando wrote,11 seems certain, even if this ‘poverty’ level was higher than what was needed for a decent standard of living: let us not forget that most of the population was exposed to the sort of poverty that resulted from economic fluctuations: in other words it depended on plague or famine, conditions to be distinguished from chronic misery. Above all, in order to exercise the admittedly humble profession of clerk, Luca’s father cannot have been illiterate; also, at least in the year of the polizza, his credits by far exceeded his debts. Moreover, Guerrini’s studies have shown that several people with the surname ‘Marenzi’ had been ennobled as late as the fifteenth century; however, our composer’s family appears to be extraneous to this line.12 The polizza and other archival documents show that Luca’s father lived in Coccaglio. Luca himself was also born in the town, as is confirmed by a rich local

10

The name of Cavalier Guarisco can be found only in the transcription by Guerrini reproduced in Engel’s monograph, whereas it is absent from the two copies of the polizza d’estimo that I have been able to check personally (cf. n. 5). 11 ‘di bassa e povera condizione’. Cozzando, Libraria bresciana, p. 163. 12 In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Marenzi family was scattered in Bergamo, Brescia, Lovere, Tagliuno, Telgate, Valcamonica, Coccaglio, Manerbio and Trieste. On the branch of the family in Coccaglio in the first half of the sixteenth century see Partegiani, ‘La famiglia dei Marenzio’. On 1 April 1411 a certain Ariginus Marentii of Tagliuno had been a noble at the court of Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Brescia and Bergamo until 1420; Ariginus Marenti’s descendants lived in Brescia in a palace on the Via Larga (Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 4). Among Luca Marenzio’s contemporaries we may mention the nobleman Francesco Marenzi, born 1518, died 1595 in Rome. An old funeral inscription in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo reads: FRANC. MARENTIO BERGOMENS. ET BRIXIEN. CIVI – EQUITI SANCTI PETRI ROMAE PER MULTOS ANNOS – LAUDABILITER COMMORATO MORTEM – COGITANTI HOC LOCO AD SEPOLTURAM SIBI – DEFUNCTO DIE 25 IUNII ANN. 1595 – AETATIS VERO SUAE LXXVII – CAMILLUS MARENTIUS NOBILIS BERGOMEN. – HAERES AFFINI OPTIMO M. PON. CUR.

(‘For Franc[esco] Marenzi, a citizen of Bergamo and Brescia, for many years a knight of St Peter in Rome, who, having waited for his death commendably, and pondering this place for his burial, died on 25 June 1595 at the age of 77, the Brescian nobleman Camillus Marenzi, his heir, had this made for his excellent relative.’) The epitaph is reproduced in Fè d’Ostiani, ‘L’Arciconfraternita dei bresciani in Roma’, pp. 76 ff.

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historiographical tradition starting in the early seventeenth century.13 Greater doubts have arisen about the year of birth that can be deduced from the polizza d’estimo: in fact it has been shown that in these kinds of documents the age can sometimes be out by as much as four years or more. In this case, however, such doubts are considerably diminished because the baptismal act of Giuliano Marenzio, the only one of the three brothers correctly registered by the parish of Coccaglio, does not contradict but on the contrary corroborates the age declared on the polizza.14 Since the name Luca does not appear among the ascendants, Guerrini has advanced the hypothesis that the composer, though the first-born, received his name through having been born on St Luke’s day, 18 October 1553.15 Even more obscure are the circumstances surrounding Marenzio’s education and musical training. According to Cozzando, writing in the seventeenth century, our young boy of humble origins ‘started his studies of literature and acquired 13 See Marenzio, Sacrae cantiones (Venice, 1616), p. 3: ‘Lucas Marentius Cocaliensis’; O. Rossi, Elogi historici di bresciani illustri (Brescia, 1620), p. 490: ‘Nacque Luca Marenzio in Coccaglio’; I. Calzavacca, Universitas heroum urbis Brixiae (Brescia, 1654), p. 48: ‘Lucas Marentius de Cocalio’ (not consulted; quoted by Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 4); L. Cozzando, Vago e curioso ristretto profano e sagro dell’historia bresciana (Brescia, 1694), p. 243: ‘Luca Marenzo nato in Cocaglio’; id., Libraria bresciana, p. 163: ‘Luca Marenzio nato in Coccaglio’. There is no basis for the opinions of Severo Bonini (Discorsi et regole, c. 1640) and Donato Calvi (Scena letteraria degli scrittori bergamaschi, Bergamo, 1664) that Marenzio was born in Bergamo, even though some collateral branches of the family were present in the province (see preceding note). An important testimony, earlier than any of the ones already mentioned, is that of Bastiano de Rossi, Descrizione dell’apparato e degl’intermedi fatti per la commedia rappresentata in Firenze (Florence,1589), p. 39, where Marenzio is described as ‘della nobil Città di Brescia’. Similarly, among the members of the Accademia Olimpica di Vicenza in 1596 is entered the name ‘Luca Marentio Bresciano’ (cf. Chapter 19, n. 9). 14 I believe this to be the most convincing argument for the document’s reliability. Recently, in the account books of the Archivio Capitolare, Brescia (the chapter archive of the cathedral in Brescia), a singer with the name Luca has been identified among the pueri of cathedral choir (faldone 59c, 1553–54, fol. 48v, 7 January 1554: cf. Del Silenzio, ‘Giovanni Contino da Brescia’, part 5). Could this be Marenzio? If so, we would have to push back his date of birth by a few years. However, given the lack of new and incontestable documents, the polizza of Giovan Francesco Marenzi retains its authority as a primary source. Further confirmations of the polizza’s reliability, albeit rather weak, can be found in Ottavio Rossi’s succinct biographical sketch: according to this Brescian historian Lelio Bertani was also a pupil of Contino; in fact, the respective polizze d’estimo of Bertani and Marenzio are contemporaneous. The polizza pertaining to Bertani is transcribed in Bignami, Enciclopedia, p. 36; finally, Rossi states that Marenzio died young, so it is probable that in 1599 he was 45 or 46 years old. 15 Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 32.

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his first knowledge thanks to the courteous and charitable nature of Andrea Masetto, archpriest of Coccaglio and a man of piety who showed incomparable kindness and charity towards the poor’.16 However, Cozzando’s testimony is suspect because of his overt hagiographical intentions and because he draws on a previous source, the posthumous edition of the Sacrae cantiones (1616), dedicated by the editor Piccioni to the same Archpriest Masetto, who is supposed to have shown extraordinary benevolence towards Marenzio (‘benivolentia non vulgari complexus fuerit’).17 It appears therefore that Cozzando amplified this latter phrase to attain a literary effect, in the process perhaps deviating from the historical truth. There also seems to be a problem with the chronology, as, according to Guerrini’s researches, Masetto was several years younger than Marenzio.18 Therefore, either Cozzando’s information is unfounded or – as Guerrini suggests – it may refer to another, older Andrea Masetto, not the archpriest, but a chaplain and choirmaster in the collegiate parish church of Coccaglio. It has been impossible to verify if there were indeed two men of this name; if this is the case, perhaps they were uncle and nephew. In any case, it is highly probable that in a family apparently lacking in musical tradition, living moreover in a village of average proportions, it was a local priest who first spotted the child’s musical gifts and acted as his protector.19 Perhaps a decisive role was also played by a pastoral visit paid in 1562 by the bishop of Brescia Domenico Bollani, one of the more active and enlightened of the prelates who promoted the Counter-Reformation. The baptism of the last-born, Giuliano Marenzio, confirms that Luca’s parents were still living in Coccaglio in 1567, when the future composer was around 13 or 14 years old. At this point we may discuss the nebulous question of Marenzio’s musical education, which traditional historiography attributes to the Brescian Giovanni Contino: ‘Giovan[ni] Contino merits very great praise both for his own abilities and for having been Marenzio’s and Bertani’s teacher’, Ottavio Rossi writes in 1620.20 16 Cozzando, Libraria, p. 163. 17 Marenzio, Sacrae cantiones, p. 2, dedicatory epigraph. 18 Andrea Masetto (or Massetti) was born in Coccaglio on 2 December 1562, became archpriest of the town in February 1595 and died in 1625: see Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 22. 19 It should be pointed out that even in a small community like Coccaglio, badly afflicted by famine and plagues throughout the Cinquecento, we may discern signs of activity in the field of liturgical music. The most significant reference is to the construction in 1562 of a new organ, entrusted to the celebrated magister organorum Graziadio Antegnati. See Partegiani, ‘La famiglia dei Marenzio’, p. 11. 20 ‘Merita lode grandissima Giovan Contino così per la sua propria virtù, come perché fu maestro del Marenzo e del Bertani’: Rossi, Elogi, p. 493. It is important to point out that this information is provided not in the entries on Marenzio or Bertani, but

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In his short biographical sketch of Marenzio, Rossi proves to be a reliable historian.21 Moreover he lived for some years in Rome, where he knew Cardinals Baronio and Bellarmino.22 He probably visited the Brescian confraternity in Rome, and perhaps knew Marenzio in person. Also, he cannot have been ignorant of the art of music, as he dedicated to the Brescian madrigalist Ottavio Bargnani a poetic composition praising his music.23 We may also note that Bargnani had included two canzonettas by Marenzio in his first publication, so that Rossi may have acted as an intermediary between the two compatriot musicians.24 It is clear that Ottavio Rossi, as a local historian with some sense of civic pride, may have yielded to the temptation to unite three Brescian musical stars, Marenzio, Bertani and Contino, into one common apprenticeship, perhaps without historic foundation. In the absence of other documents our only course is to examine critically the three composers’ chronologies. Contino was born in Brescia around 1513. He was probably a pupil of the theorist Giovanni Maria Lanfranco. He became maestro di cappella of Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo (1541–1551/2) and therefore had occasion to take charge of the musical performances during the ceremonies of the Council of Trent. After this he returned to Brescia and was maestro at the cathedral for two five-year terms, ending in 1562. In 1560 he had published three prints of sacred music dedicated respectively to Bishop Bollani, Madruzzo and Otto von Truchsess, Cardinal of Augsburg. (In these books appear pieces composed for the Council of Trent.) In 1562 he entered the employment of Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga in Mantua, but failed to obtain the post of maestro at the basilica of Santa Barbara, awarded instead to Wert (1564). Disappointed, he returned to Brescia and resumed the function of maestro di cappella at the cathedral (1 November 1565). Two years later, however, the cathedral chapter decided to remove him, but waited until 1568/9 before acting on this resolution. Once again Contino retreated to Mantua and published a book of Magnificats (1571) dedicated to Guglielmo Gonzaga. In April 1573 his name appears in the account books of Santa Barbara, even though he made sporadic trips back to Brescia, where he died in 1574.25

21 22 23 24

25

only in that on Contino: in other words Rossi gives greater importance to the fact that Contino taught Marenzio than vice versa. The same conclusion is reached in Ledbetter, ‘Marenzio’s Early Career’, pp. 308 ff. Peroni, Biblioteca bresciana, vol. 3, p. 165. Bargnani, Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice, 1601), p. 3. Bargnani, Canzonette, arie, e madrigali a tre e a quattro voci (Venice, 1599). The print, which unfortunately survives incomplete, only the Canto and Alto remaining, includes Provate la mia fiamma and La mia Clori è brunetta, designated ‘Arie a 4 del Marenzio’; these had already been published, in a different version, in Marenzio’s eighth book a 5 (1598). On Contino’s biography see Guerrini, ‘Giovanni Contino di Brescia’, pp. 130–42; Tagmann, ‘La cappella dei maestri cantori’; Beretta, ‘Giovanni Contino’.

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Contino’s biographical vicissitudes, as we shall see, are not incompatible with his having trained Marenzio as a musician. However, at this point we should correct a historiographical error that has persisted to this day. In his biographical essay Paolo Guerrini writes: Ottavio Rossi adds that Marenzio, on attaining greater maturity, attended the cappella musicale of the cathedral in Brescia as a choirboy, there completing his musical education in the classes of the maestro Giovanni Contini, together with Lelio Bertani, Gregorio Turini, Giuliano Paratico and other Brescian musicians of the highest fame in Italy and abroad.26

However, in Rossi’s Elogi historici, in the entries on Marenzio, Contino, Bertani and Paratico, there is no mention of Marenzio’s activities as a choirboy at the cathedral in Brescia. So this is simply a hypothesis of Guerrini’s, absolutely extraneous to all the seventeenth-century sources.27 This does not mean that Marenzio could not have belonged to the cathedral’s musical establishment – according to Guerrini the only school of music and letters at that time in Brescia that was free of charge28 – only that the possibility is purely conjectural. If it is true that Marenzio’s father still lived in Coccaglio in 1567, it is possible that the young Luca remained in the town with his family without filling the position of a puer cantor at Brescia Cathedral. Alternatively he could have followed Contino to Mantua beginning in the period between 1561 and 1564, when he was aged 8 and 11 respectively. We know that in pre-Napoleonic Italy a gifted child could complete an apprenticeship under the exclusive discipline of a teacher who in effect assumed the role of parent. In a private document of 1591 a mother is recorded as entrusting her own son for six years to a maestro di cappella (‘with an agreement and under condition that ... he shall teach him to sing and also to compose ... and 26

‘Ottavio Rossi aggiunge che il Marenzio, fatto più adulto, frequentò in Brescia la Cappella musicale del Duomo quale putto cantore, compiendovi la sua educazione musicale alle lezioni del maestro Giovanni Contini, insieme con Lelio Bertani, Gregorio Turini, Giuliano Paratico, ed altri musicisti bresciani di ottima fama in Italia ed all’estero.’ Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 22. 27 The same error of attribution is reflected in Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 8. And, pace Hans Engel, Calvi, Scena letteraria, also does not mention the Brescian musical establishment, limiting himself to observing that Marenzio ‘in his adolescence knew how to imitate the Sirens with his singing’ (‘nell’adolescenza sua seppe col cantar immitar le Sirene’); but Calvi does not specify the place or institution. Another error of Guerrini, absorbed by Ledbetter, concerns the entry on Contino in Ottavio Rossi’s book. It is not true that Rossi indicates 1560 as the year of Contino’s death: the date placed in the margin of the individual biographical entries is only an indication of the period in which that person lived. 28 ‘l’unica scuola gratuita di musica e di lettere’. Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 22.

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... if the son shall earn anything by singing, he shall share half of his gains [with the maestro]’).29 In other words, the maestro taught the boy without charge and gave him board and lodging, remaining in loco parentis; in return he received a portion of his pupil’s earnings. Perhaps Luca Marenzio’s father, on the advice of a local priest, struck a similar contract with Giovanni Contino; this did not necessarily mean Marenzio was trained at the musical establishment of Brescia Cathedral. The links with the Gonzaga of Mantua and with Cardinal Madruzzo are another factor that brings the biographies of Contino and Marenzio close together. In his penetrating study of Marenzio’s early years, Steven Ledbetter discusses a probable sojourn in Mantua prior to 1574, the year of Contino’s death. The hypothesis is firmly supported by the evidence of letters: when in 1586 Scipione Gonzaga handled the negotiations to take Marenzio to the court of Mantua, the composer himself remembered ‘having already spent several years in the same service’.30 We have seen that Marenzio entered Cardinal d’Este’s service in 1578 and that in the preceding period he was in the service of Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo in Rome: the years spent in Mantua must therefore have preceded his move to Rome. His transferral into Madruzzo’s service, which according to Ledbetter happened around 1574, most probably came about as a result of the advocacy of Contino himself, who had served the cardinal for so many years and had won his confidence. It would be highly plausible if Contino had written to his old patron indicating the musical qualities of his young and promising pupil. Unfortunately there are no other factors to support the thesis that Contino was Marenzio’s teacher. Had the young musician from Coccaglio succeeded in publishing a book earlier than he did, almost certainly he would have declared the name of his teacher on the title page (as for example happened with Claudio Monteverdi with his output from his early years in Cremona, when he declared himself a pupil of Marc’Antonio Ingegneri).31 Marenzio, however, did not publish his first book of madrigals until he was of mature age, when Contino had been dead for six years. In any case the question is of purely biographical interest,

29

‘con patto e conditione che ... li impari cantare et anco componere ... e ... se il figliolo guadagnarà cosa alcuna per andare a cantare si debba repartire per mettà’. ASR, Notai del Tribunale dell’Auditor Camerae (notaio Antonio Mainardi), 3941, fol. 165 (contract stipulated between Dimitilla delli Arminii da Jesi and Giovanni Bernardino Nanino, maestro di cappella of S. Maria de’ Monti), quoted in Rosselli, ‘L’apprendistato del cantante italiano’, pp. 158–60. 30 ‘di haver già speso qualche anno nella med[esi]ma servitù’. ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 941, letter of Scipione Gonzaga to Federigo Cattaneo (Rome, 31 May 1586), quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 189 and id., ‘Marenzio’s early years’, p. 311. 31 This occurred in the following: Sacrae cantiunculae (1582); Madrigali spirituali, (1583); I a 5 (1587) and II a 5 (1590).

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as no affinity is discernible between Contino’s and Marenzio’s musical styles.32 Contino’s teaching must therefore have been limited to the foundations of musical theory, polyphonic composition (‘canto figurato’), one or more instruments, and perhaps also grammar and Latin.33 If Marenzio’s style, however original, came from anywhere, it is composers other than Contino who served as his models. Careful study of the works of Lassos, Wert, possibly the ‘classical’ Rore and, in particular, of Andrea Gabrieli, all composers well known in northern Italy at that time, would have exercised a profound influence on the young musician. Nor can one exclude the possibility that he had personal contact with Wert during his Mantuan period, one which would have served to train him specifically as a court musician. At the beginning of this chapter I mentioned Marenzio’s relations with his compatriots, relations that remained alive even during his long periods of residence in Rome, perhaps through the agency of the Confraternita dei Bresciani. But the only Brescian patron with whom the composer is certain to have had contacts (at least indirectly) is Count Marc’Antonio Martinengo (see Chapter 1). Of Martinengo we have a vivid portrait sketched (once again) by Ottavio Rossi, who praises him thus: ‘He excelled in the military arts, was a fine 32

The only madrigal text set by both composers is Se voi sete cor mio. (The setting by Contino is found in the collection Corona de diversi ... libro primo, 1569; the one by Marenzio in his fifth book a 5, 1585.) Because of the enormous stylistic differences the two settings cannot be meaningfully compared. In the sphere of sacred music Contino and Marenzio have at least nine texts in common: Hodie Christus natus est (Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber primus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta festorum totius anni, 1585), Hodie completi sunt dies (Contino, Modulationum sex vocum liber primus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585), Innocentes pro Christo (Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber secundus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585), Magnum haereditatis mysterium (Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber primus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585), O beatum Pontificem (Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber primus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585), O quam gloriosum (Contino, Modulationum sex vocum liber primus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585), O rex gloriae Deus virtutum (Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber secundus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585), Salve Regina (Contino, Modulationum sex vocum liber primus, 1560; Marenzio, Sacrae cantiones, 1616) and Tribus miraculis (Contino, Modulationum quinque vocum liber secundus, 1560; Marenzio, Motecta ..., 1585). For a comparison of the settings of Salve Regina see Chapter 4. 33 This kind of apprenticeship typically lasted six years. For information on the musical curriculum of pre-Napoleonic Italy see Rosselli, ‘L’apprendistato’, pp. 167–72 and Bianchi, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, pp. 16 ff. Contino was accused by the cathedral chapter of failing to instruct the boys. These alleged failings give us further cause to suspect that his influence on Marenzio could have been at best minimal, a point made by Richard Sherr in the introduction to his edition of Contino’s Modulationum quinque vocum liber primus.

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designer of fortifications and wonderfully gifted in poetry and music.’34 His military prowess need not detain us, except to emphasize his absolute fidelity to the French crown in the defence of the Catholics against the Huguenots. He showed such a ‘connatural aversione da gli Spagnoli’35 that Pope Gregory XIII sent him to the south of France as governor of the province of Avignon, where he was knighted by the French king. His achievements in these lands caused many to envy him, to the point that malicious elements at the papal court accused him of conducting an illicit affair with Queen Marguérite de Valois, famous as La Reine Margot, the wife of the King of Navarre (the future Henry IV). Martinengo was recalled to the Holy See, then returned to France, and he was finally given various tasks in the Republic of Venice. As a protector of musicians he was publicly acknowledged by Claudio Merulo and Lelio Bertani.36 This close connection between Martinengo, Merulo and Bertani seems highly significant, involving Marenzio directly and Contino at one remove. We should not forget that it was Claudio Merulo, together with his pupil Giovan Battista Mosto, who was the compiler of the madrigal collection Il primo fiore della ghirlanda musicale (RISM 15777), in which Marenzio’s first musical work was published. Merulo could have met Luca in person or could have heard of him through Contino. Before passing to St Mark’s in Venice, Merulo had been organist at Brescia Cathedral from October 1556 to June 1557, exactly the period when Contino was its maestro di cappella. In this constellation of musicians we should not forget that, according to Ottavio Rossi, Bertani and Marenzio received their musical training together under Contino’s tutelage. And it was Bertani, still maestro di cappella at Brescia Cathedral in 1588, whom Martinengo first commissioned to write a musical setting of L’amorosa Ero.37 34

‘Fu eccellente nell’armi, raro nel dissegno delle fortificationi, e maraviglioso nella poesia e nella musica.’ Rossi, Elogi historici, p. 405. 35 Ibid., p. 403. 36 In 1567 Merulo dedicated his collection Ricercari d’intavolatura d’organo to Martinengo with these words: ‘vien dedicato a V[ostra] S[ignoria] molto illustre, ch’è la prima di quanti Signori io abbia conosciuto verso me magnanimi, e cortesissimi’ (‘they are dedicated to Your Lordship, who is the first of many gentlemen I have known to be generous and most courteous towards me’). Bertani too, in the dedication of his first book a 5 (signed in Brescia, 5 January 1584), thanked the count for the ‘cortesie e i favori’ he had received, and stated publicly that he had set to music a poetic text by the count (‘mi ha concesso ch’io abbia ornato de’ suoi versi il primo Madrigale’ (‘you granted me the favour of allowing me to adorn my first madrigal with your verses [sic]’). 37 The Cremonese Antonio Morsolino, the official compiler of L’amorosa Ero, wrote in his dedication to Count Martinengo (Brescia, 4 May 1588): ‘Né haverei preso ardire di offerirlo [questo libro] a V[ostra] S[ignoria] Illustrissima se da lei non mi fosse stato dato, col vedere con quanto suo gusto, ella questi mesi passati vestisse di Musica

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Our picture of the Brescian musicians Marenzio may be presumed to have known can be completed by mentioning Paolo Virchi, madrigal composer and virtuoso of the cittern, also represented in L’amorosa Ero and in many other collections, and ‘Illuminato Aiguino’, a musical theorist from Orzinuovi and the author of a treatise, Il tesoro illuminato di tutti i tuoni di canto figurato (Venice, 1581), dedicated to Cardinal Luigi d’Este. According to James Chater, Marenzio adheres to Aiguino’s rules in the use of the modes and above all in the procedures of commixtio tonorum.38 Was there a biographical link between him and Marenzio? By way of conclusion, let us summarize what we have said concerning Marenzio’s birth, origins and professional training, even though our synthesis is necessarily based more on probability than certainty: 1 2 3 4

5

6

7

Marenzio was born in Coccaglio. Unless new documents come to light, the authority of the polizza d’estimo that dates his birth to 1553 or 1554 seems incontestable. There is no valid reason to doubt the reliability of the seventeenth-century historian Ottavio Rossi. Andrea Masetto and Giovanni Contino could possibly have helped the young Luca in his education and career. Although Contino did not have an influence on Marenzio’s style, he most probably introduced him to the court of Mantua and into Cardinal Madruzzo’s service. Marenzio’s activity as a putto cantore in the choir of Brescia Cathedral, though plausible, is purely conjectural and not supported by any historical source of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. We can conclude that Marenzio as a madrigalist would have gained much more stimulation from his stay at the Mantuan court during his adolescence (indirectly proved by a letter from 1586) than if he had stayed in Brescia, which proved to be more important as a centre of instrumental music. Even in Rome, thanks to the presence of the Confraternita dei Bresciani, Marenzio could have maintained close links with musicians and patrons of his homeland such as Martinengo, Bertani, Bargnani and Virchi, as well as

un suo leggiadrissimo Madrigale, e lo facesse vestire al virtuosissimo, e tanto suo, il sig. Lelio Bertani, dalla cui felice riuscita, ella poi prese animo, e risolutione, che i più celebri musici d’Italia ne facessero il simile’ (‘Nor I would have been emboldened to offer [this book] to Your Lordship if I had not been given it by you, and seen with what taste you set to music a pretty little madrigal of yours a few months ago, and had it set to music by the virtuosissimo Signor Lelio Bertani, who is well known to you; and his happy success gave you the courage and resolution to let the celebrated musicians of Italy set it too’). 38 Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, pp. 40 and 91.

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Rossi.39 This would explain why, on official occasions like the Medici wedding of 1589, contemporaries described Marenzio as a composer ‘della nobil Città di Brescia’. 8 We should not neglect the role played by Count Marc’Antonio Martinengo in reinforcing and revitalizing a network of musicians of Brescian origins. Nevertheless Marenzio worked in the papal city and on more than one occasion was completely assimilated into the group of ‘Roman’ composers.40

39

An interesting Brescian connection between the composers Marenzio and Paratico on the one hand and the poets Girolamo Troiano and Angelo Grillo on the other is suggested in Freedman, ‘Marenzio’s Madrigali a quattro, cinque et sei voci’, pp. 344–45. 40 Adriano Banchieri inserted the madrigal Hoggi nacqui ben mio, composed in the ‘stile del Marenzio romano’, in the second edition of his Barca di Venezia per Padova (1623): see NV 212. The madrigal had already appeared in the first edition of Banchieri’s Barca (1605, NV 211), without the rubric.

Chapter 11

‘Musici di Roma’ In Rome, Marenzio could obtain work from the Confraternita della SS. Trinità and perhaps at the same time visit the Confraternita dei Bresciani. We also know that he had ties with a third association, no less important: the ‘Compagnia dei Signori Musici di Roma’, which was first founded as an informal association, then achieved the status of a congregazione. This prestigious institution, later to become the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, has been the subject a great deal of literature, some recent.1 It appears that in 1583 a breve of Gregory XIII first accorded recognition to the association. However, this resolution displeased the Sistine singers, who feared they would lose their privileges. Their jealousy reached such a pitch that in 1584 they forbade members to enter ‘in quadam sodalitate musicorum noviter erecta’.2 Sixtus V restored calm by reinforcing his predecessor’s document with the bull Rationi congruit (1 May 1585), which definitively recognized the congregazione.3 As early as 1582 the nascent compagnia had emerged into the light of day with the publication of an important collection of madrigals: Dolci affetti. Madrigali a cinque voci de diversi eccellenti musici di Roma.4 The book contained works by 13 composers: Giovanni Maria Nanino (4 works), Moscaglia (2), Marenzio (2), Macque (2), Soriano, Zoilo (3), Palestrina, Stabile, Dragoni, Bellasio, Roy, Pervue, Crivelli, Tartaglino and Locatello.5 A similar publishing venture had been achieved eight years before, in 1574, with Il quarto libro delle muse a cinque 1

2

3

4 5

Among the numerous writings devoted to the Compagnia see Casimiri, ‘L’antica congregazione’; R. Giazotto, Quattro secoli di storia; id., ‘Da congregazione ad accademia’; Pagano, ‘La congregazione di S. Cecilia e i Barnabiti’; Summers, ‘The Compagnia dei Musici di Roma’. Giazotto, ‘Da congregazione’, p. 5. However, this ban must soon have been relaxed, for the Compagnia contained papal singers such as Giovanni Maria Nanino and Arcangelo Crivelli: cf. Pirrotta, ‘Dolci affetti: i musici di Roma e il madrigale’. Giazotto, Quattro secoli, pp. 9–11, transcribes the apostolic decree entitled ‘Confirmatario erectionis Confraternitatis musicorum de Urbe’. The manuscript is found in the Vatican (Giazotto does not specificy whether it is in BAV or ASV), Bullarium Sixtus V, Book I, no. 161, fols. 361–363v. Venice, herede di G. Scotto, RISM 15824. Among the Roman musicians two are conspicuous for their absence: Ruggiero Giovannelli, who as a madrigalist was soon to become a keen ‘rival’ to Marenzio, and Felice Anerio, who in 1589 was to edit Le gioie, the Compagnia’s second collection. 77

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voci, containing more or less the same names: Dragoni, Macque, G.M. Nanino, Palestrina and his son Ridolfo, Roy, Soriano, Troiano, Zoilo, Animuccia, Pervue and Rossello.6 Thus it is impossible to date exactly the official birth of the association. But we know that Marenzio, at the time of Dolci affetti’s publication, was a fully-fledged member of the Compagnia, and moreover occupied a prestigious position in that he is represented in the collection by two pieces. Only Nanino and the senior figure of Zoilo, with four and three pieces respectively, occupied positions of greater responsibility. Like all congregazioni, the Musici di Roma had to have its own administrative and hierarchical structure. In the seventeenth century the rules of the association provided for a cardinal protector, a monsignore primicerio, a secretary, and four guardians, each of whom was placed at the head of one of the following categories of members: (1) maestri di cappella, (2) organists, (3) instrumentalists and (4) musici and singers.7 The association had spiritual and charitable aims, above all promoting the assistance of those of its members who were old or sick, or who had fallen on hard times. Born under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Gregory the Great and St Cecilia, the institution had its headquarters at the Pantheon, which in its early days it shared with a compagnia of painters and sculptors, the ‘Virtuosi del Pantheon’.8 Examining the first Roman collection to which Marenzio contributed, Dolci affetti (1582), we can obtain information about his relations with his colleagues and fellow members of the association. Unusually, the collection opens with the setting of a ‘sestina’ (thus designated in the print’s dedicatory letter, but actually a translation of a six-stanza ode by Horace) by the poet Luigi Alamanni, set to music by six composers. This is followed by 16 madrigals not directly connected with each other. It is obvious that the opening ‘sestina’ occupies a place of honour; the composers represented must have enjoyed a prestige somewhat higher than the others. Let us examine this élite group of six composers. In order of appearance, they are: Giovanni Maria Nanino, Giovanni Battista Moscaglia, Luca Marenzio, Giovanni de Macque, Francesco Soriano and Annibale Zoilo. Various considerations confirm the hypothesis that these were the compagnia’s most respected masters. To Nanino befell the honour of opening and closing the collection as a whole.9

6

Modern edition in Pirrotta (ed.), I musici di Roma e il madrigale, with introductory essays by Pirrotta and Giuliana Gialdroni. On these and other Roman madrigal collections see DeFord, Ruggiero Giovannelli. 7 Giazotto, ‘Da congregazione’, pp. 6 ff. 8 On this compagnia see Orbaan, ‘Virtuosi al Pantheon’, pp. 34 ff. 9 Piperno, Gli ‘eccellentissimi musici della città di Bologna’, p. 33, also demonstrates the custom ‘di far aprire e chiudere la serie di madrigali di un’antologia dagli autori più rappresentativi del lotto’ (‘of opening and closing a madrigal anthology with the most representative composers of the batch’).

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With four compositions his is the strongest presence of all the composers in Dolci affetti; for this reason he is the likeliest candidate for the attribution of the dedicatory letter signed by the mysterious ‘Accademico Anomato’. Moreover, his membership of the papal choir, together with that of Arcangelo Crivelli (who on this occasion signed himself simply ‘Angelo Bergamasco’), indicates his relative importance. In second place we find Zoilo, who together with Palestrina is the senior doyen of this group of composers. His presence in the collection is second in importance only to Nanino’s, and his setting concludes the ‘sestina’. Another, two-movement madrigal by Zoilo, Vaghe luci, can be found in third-to-last position and confirms his important role. The third figure in this hypothetical hierarchy is Giovanni (Jean) de Macque, the author of the penultimate madrigal, La mia leggiadra Clori, and also of the fourth strophe of the ‘sestina’. A native of Valenciennes, Macque had studied with Philippe de Monte and had moved to Rome around 1574, where he became very famous. After Jean de Macque we encounter the subgroup comprising Marenzio, Moscaglia and Soriano, apparently a step below the preceding triad, but certainly occupying a position of superiority compared with other musicians in the collection. Surprising is the somewhat low profile of Palestrina (‘Gianetto Palestino’ as he is called in the print). He is excluded from the ‘sestina’, but nevertheless stands at the head of the series of remaining madrigals. This fact seems to imply an attitude of reserve on the part of the princeps musicae, as if taking part in this secular collection was secondary in his thoughts. The hierarchy described above is not necessarily based on artistic criteria. Symptomatic is the case of Giovanni Battista Moscaglia, a dilettante poet and composer, and favoured, it is thought, by comfortable financial circumstances. Moscaglia must have occupied an organizational role of some importance given that in 1585 he promoted a personal collection, Di Gio. Battista Moscaglia, il secondo libro de madrigali a quattro voci, containing several contributions by ‘alcuni de diversi eccellenti musici di Roma’: apart from the already encountered G.M. Nanino, Macque, Stabile, Roy, Zoilo, Pervue, Crivelli, Marenzio, Locatello and Bellasio, we find Ruggiero Giovannelli, Iosquino della Sala and Giovanni Pellio.10 Francesco Soriano, the only composer in the ‘sestina’ not present

10

In his preface to the collection Moscaglia states he is the author of the poetic texts. The madrigal Dissi a l’amata recurs in Marenzio’s first and only book of four-voiced madrigals, also published in 1585. Though published in that year, Moscaglia’s collection has a dedication signed in Rome on 10 September 1582, in which one reads: ‘subito mi risolsi à far le parole de presenti Madrigali; né potendo io per la brevità del tempo metterli tutti in Musica, ne diedi parte à questi Eccellenti Musici di Roma, per far à questo modo l’opera più bella’ (‘I immediately decided to write the words of the present madrigals; but because time was short I could not set them all to music, so I gave some of them to those Excellent Musicians of Rome, in order to produce a finer work’).

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elsewhere in the collection, was a rising star of the Roman school. We shall encounter him again, in 1583, when he competed with Marenzio to keep his position as maestro di cappella at the court of Mantua. By now it will be clear that Marenzio was among the most eminent figures of the compagnia, though not its leading light. At this point we should try to understand how his collaboration with the other composers functioned. In the absence of direct testimony we can look at the collection itself for clues. The six madrigals that form the ‘sestina’ all share the same mode (first mode transposed with a B flat in the key signature) and the same high clef or chiavette combination (G2, G2, C2, C3, F3). This fact alone, as Nino Pirrotta has pointed out, seems to indicate a co-ordinated strategy between the six composers, perhaps under Nanino’s direction. Moreover, motivic similarities between Marenzio’s madrigal and the successive one by Macque (the two final lines are almost identical: ‘S’a lei/S’a lui cresce di vita’) allows one to suppose that the musicians exchanged settings.11 It is more difficult to gain information about the other important Roman collection of madrigals: Le gioie: madrigali a cinque voci di diversi ecc.mi musici della Compagnia di Roma (1589).12 In this case the collaborative element between the composers involved is lacking: instead of conforming to a pre-established plan, the book is organized like an anthology, or a selection of the most splendid ‘jewels’ created by the ‘musici di Roma’ in those years.13 Felice Anerio, recently elected as the compagnia’s maestro di cappella, had the task of collecting the individual pieces. This time he signed the dedicatory letter without using a pseudonym, choosing madrigals by G.M. Nanino, Palestrina, Marenzio, Stabile, Griffi, Giovannelli, Macque, Crivelli, Quagliati, Zoilo, Troiano, Dragoni, Bellasio, Malvezzi, Roy, Bernardino Nanino, Locatello and Soriano. Once again the honour of opening position fell to Nanino, but only the editor Anerio was present with more than one piece. Of the composers who took part in Dolci affetti, Moscaglia, Pervue and Tartaglino were absent, having died in the meantime.14 In their place come 11 Pirrotta (ed.), I musici di Roma e il madrigale, p. xvi. 12 Venice: R. Amadino, RISM 15897. 13 Giuliana Gialdroni, in her otherwise careful essay prefacing the edition of the collection (p. xix), omits to explain that the title Le gioie, rather than referring to a happy state of mind, is simply a synonym for ‘gemme’ (jewels) or precious stones: as the dedication says, ‘una Scelta di Madrigali di alcuni sceltissimi ingegni di questa honorata Compagnia, compositioni ... che per lo splendore di esse, altro nome non meritano che di Gioie’ (‘a collection of madrigals by some select geniuses of this honourable compagnia, compositions ... which for their splendour merit no other name than that of ‘jewels’). 14 Tartaglino died around 1582, Pervue in 1586 and Moscaglia on 18 April 1589 (Rome, ASV, San Lorenzo in Damaso, Matrimoni [sic], I (1572–92), fol. 151v. (My thanks to James Chater for this information.) With regard to Nicolò Pervue (or Nicolas Peruet,

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Giovannelli, Quagliati, Troiano, Malvezzi and Anerio. It is not necessary to believe that these musicians had been admitted later into the compagnia: Giovanni Troiano had contributed to the Il quarto libro delle muse in 1574 (RISM 15744), Paolo Quagliati had published a book of canzonettas by himself and by fellow members of the compagnia (1586 and 1588), while Ruggiero Giovannelli and Felice Anerio, though still young, were by now fully established figures on the Roman musical scene. The only unexpected presence is that of Cristofano Malvezzi, a native of Lucca who had relations with the musicians of Rome through Emilio de’ Cavalieri and Grand Duke (formerly Cardinal) Ferdinando de’ Medici. At the time of Le gioie Marenzio too was absent from Rome, having just entered the service of the grand duke of Tuscany to prepare the famous intermedi for La pellegrina alongside Malvezzi and Cavalieri. His presence in Rome was not strictly necessary for the publication of the anthology; perhaps Anerio was careful to collect the various contributions well in advance. Marenzio’s position within the Roman Compagnia appears to have changed little in the period between 1582 and 1589. He participated in all the published collections promoted, whether directly or indirectly, by the association. We encounter him alongside Dragoni, Giovannelli and Nanino in the Canzonette spirituali de’ diversi a tre voci compiled by Paolo Quagliati (RISM 15857), and again, alongside Soriano and Rinaldo del Mel, in Diletto spirituale: canzonette a tre e quattro voci, compiled and published by Simone Verovio (RISM 15861). Behind the insistent vogue of spiritual canzonettas it is not difficult to sense the impulse of some zealous churchman, a follower of St Philip Neri’s teaching. After all, at least formally, the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma remained an association with a religious character. Who then were the congregation’s spiritual guides? In 1582 Dolci affetti had been dedicated to the apostolic referendary Monsignor Ottavio Bandini with the following words: ‘Having been forced, by the pleading of many good friends of mine, to have published this sestina and these madrigals composed by the Most Excellent Musicians of Rome, I have decided to publish them under the most honourable name of Your Most Illustrious

Perué, etc.), it is interesting to note that he appears alongside Marenzio in the salary rolls of Cardinale d’Este: see ASMo, Amministrazione principi, 1253, fol. 12v (‘Donationi 1577’), 16 November 1577: ‘un m[anda]to che paghi scudi Vintecinque di m[one]ta à m[es]s[er] Nic[ol]o pervue Musico ... per havere cantato u[n] canto’ (‘an order for you to pay 25 scudi di moneta to Messer Nicolo Pervue the musician ... for having sung a song’). See Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, pp. 525 and 531. It is perhaps for this reason that Marenzio’s and Pervue’s pieces stand next each other in Dolci affetti: Marenzio’s In quel ben nato, avventuroso giorno and Pervue’s Amor, s’in lei ch’è un ghiaccio appear in tenth and eleventh position respectively.

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Lordship.’15 Bandini was a rapidly up-and-coming prelate: between 1583 and 1585 he was to fill the office of primicerius at the Confraternita della SS. Trinità, and this connection with the Compagnia dei Musici does not seem mere coincidence. Le gioie too came into being under the aegis of an influential prelate, Pietro Orsini, bishop of Spoleto. Anerio in his dedication mentions that he was appointed maestro di cappella of the compagnia ‘under the happy protection’ (‘sotto la felice protettione’) of the bishop. It seems that in that year Orsini was the congregation’s primicerius, or perhaps its protector. Eight years later Pietro Orsini was to be made primicerius of SS. Trinità.16 Another member of the Orsini family, but from another of its many branches, was Giovanna Caetani Orsini, to whom Quagliati dedicated a collection of Canzonette (1588); while Verovio’s Canzonette were directed to Antonio Boccapadule, already the permanent director of the Cappella Sistina. Perhaps this last dedication (dated 10 November 1586) signalled a moment of détente in the difficult relations between the Sistine singers and the Compagnia dei musici di Roma. There is evidence of a second congregation dedicated to St Cecilia, probably intended for musicians of a more modest rank (singers and ‘pifferi’ [wind] players). This too was recognized at about this time by Sixtus V. Here is a hitherto unknown testimony taken from the Avvisi di Roma, 9 August 1586: Our Lord [the Pope] has finally given the congregation of Roman singers permission to build a hospice with a church dedicated to St Cecilia, as almost all the other professions and trades have done, dedicated to different saints, for various charitable causes, and he has given them Cardinal Albano as their protector, and Patriarch [Scipione] Gonzaga as their prelate, who is now engaged in such good works, that His Lordship [Scipione Gonzaga] cannot imagine anything bad will come of it. This association of pifferi will provide hospitality to the foreigners of their profession for a certain time and will perform tasks for them and [do] other works of piety and charity.17

15 ‘Essendo io da prieghi di molti vertuosi amici miei stato astretto di mandar in stampa la presente Sestina, e Madrigali composti da questi Eccellenti Musici di Roma, hò deliberato di pubblicarli sotto l’honoratissimo nome di Vostra S[ignoria] Illustre.’ 16 See O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, pp. 41 and 79. 17 ‘Ha finalm[en]te N[ostro] S[igno]re concesso alla congreg[atio]ne de Cantori di Roma che possino erigere un hospitio con la Chiesa sotto il titolo di santa Cecilia, come hanno quasi tutte l’altre professioni, et arti sotto diversi titoli, et con diversi buoni fini, et dato loro il Car[dina]le Albano per Protettore, et il Patriarca [Scipione] Gonzaga per Prelato, impiegato homai in serv[iti]o di tante cose buone, che a S[ua]S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma non rimane intervallo d’imaginarsene per una cattiva. Q[ues]ta sodalità de Pifferi spesarà i forastieri della loro Professione per tanto tempo, et procacciarà recapiti per loro con fare altre opere di pietà, et di carità.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. lat. 1054, fol. 373v (9 August 1586). On this association, properly

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The brief mention of one of Marenzio’s many protectors, Scipione Gonzaga, Patriarch of Jerusalem (of whom we shall have more to say later), reminds us that the lives of musicians and churchmen were ineluctably woven together. Let us now return to the principal association of musicians, to examine its relations with musical circles outside Rome. Without a doubt, in the 1580s the most frequent exchanges were with Ferrara, Mantua and Florence. In 1588 a company of ‘eccellentissimi musici mantovani nativi’, perhaps constituted upon the Roman model, dedicated its own collection, L’amorosa caccia (RISM 158814), to the ‘ecc[ellentissi]mi Signori Musici di Roma’.18 It was above all in the published anthologies that adherence to an association of musicians offered a good guarantee of a composition being accepted for publication. The two main Ferrarese collections of the Cinquecento, Il lauro secco (RISM 15825) and Il lauro verde (RISM 158310) were heavily packed with ‘Roman’ musicians: Giovannelli, Macque, Marenzio (2), Pervue, Stabile and Zoilo in the first; Bellasio, Giovannelli, Locatello, Macque, Marenzio, Moscaglia, Nanino, Pervue, Roy, Soriano and Stabile in the second. Less frequent is their presence in the two Tuscan collections of 1586, addressed to Count Giovanni Bardi and Grand Duchess Bianca Capello respectively: Armonia di scelti authori a sei voci sopra altra perfettissima armonia di bellezze d’una Gentil donna Senese in ogni parte bella (RISM 15867: Malvezzi, Nanino, Stabile and Zoilo) and Corona di dodici sonetti di Gio. Battista Zuccarini alla gran duchessa di Toscana (RISM 158611: Marenzio, Nanino and Palestrina). The madrigal collections mentioned so far were compilations of fresh compositions expressly commissioned for specific occasions such as the weddings of princesses or noblewomen.19 But the publishing market gave especial prominence to another kind of miscellaneous publication: anthologies of madrigals that had already appeared in single prints and had given the greatest pleasure – ‘the best madrigals currently being sung’ (‘i migliori madrigali che hoggidì si cantino’), as the phrase went. To this second type belonged above all the numerous publications from north of the Alps, which in the 1580s emanated mostly from Antwerp, Nuremberg and London. It is still not clear what mechanisms determined the publishers’ musical selections. Could the associations of composers have exerted pressure or influenced the choice? An called the ‘Compagnia e Università de’ Suonatori di Roma’, see Pirrotta, ‘Un’altra congregazione di Santa Cecilia’, pp. 221–38. 18 The dedication (Mantua, 10 April 1588) is signed by Alfonso Preti, one of the 24 composers represented. Among many lesser known composers, the names of Alessandro Striggio, Annibale Coma and Ippolito Baccusi stand out. See Fenlon, Music and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Mantua, vol. 1, p. 39; Piperno, Gli ‘eccellentissimi musici’, p. 35 and passim. 19 On musical anthologies’ primary requirement of novelty and on the function as a gift see Piperno, Gli ‘eccellentissimi musici’.

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anthology of 1584 published in Venice by the heirs of Girolamo Scotto, Spoglia amorosa: madrigali a cinque voci (RISM 15845), collected together favourite hits by Giovannelli, Marenzio, Nanino and Palestrina alongside Lasso, Merulo, Monte, Rore, Striggio and Wert. It may be significant that a copy of the print is preserved in Rome, in the music library of Santa Cecilia. For Marenzio’s professional career adherence to prestigious musical associations afforded undoubted advantages. In my opinion this was the only effective way of creating an alternative to the restricted, even oppressive, fetters of private patronage. As we have seen earlier (and I shall discuss the point further in Chapter 15) Cardinale Luigi d’Este gave very specific instructions as to the people to whom Marenzio should address his musical publications. The leading Marenzio scholars, beginning with Hans Engel, have always accepted the assumption that it was the composer who chose his dedicatees, but I consider it inconceivable that the composer should have acted on his free initiative, without first obtaining his patron’s assent or opinion. Cardinale d’Este was first and foremost a skilled politician who knew full well what weight would be attached to his every public action, including the appearance of a book of madrigals. The dedication to any prince or gentleman was a very delicate question for a cardinal in his position, and as such had to be carefully pondered. Nevertheless, there are significant exceptions. I have already discussed the dedication to Girolamo Ruis, the only person apparently extraneous to the cardinal’s circle. Another important exception concerns the tributes Marenzio paid to particular musical gatherings and intellectuals. It is hard to imagine that Cardinal d’Este also had a say in the strictly professional sphere of relations between his maestro di cappella and other musicians. Assuming that he did not, no political conditions must have been attached to Marenzio’s dedication of his third book a 5 to the ‘Signori Academici Filarmonici di Verona’ (Rome, 1 December 1582), in which the composer aimed expressly for recognition of his own worth among madrigal connoisseurs: ‘In accordance with the kind severity of your judgements I await either approval or censure of these works of mine.’20 This book, following on a few months after Dolci affetti, confirms that the 29-year-old musician aspired to a prestigious position among the composers of Italy. After winning the favours of the Estense court, Marenzio also desired the approval of connoisseurs and colleagues.

20

‘Dalla cortese severità dei vostri giudicij attendo ò l’approbatione ò il biasimo delle presenti fatiche mie.’ Cf. the similar dedication of Marenzio’s first book a 4, 5, 6 to Mario Bevilacqua, discussed in Chapter 24. It is interesting to note that by dedicating a work to an academic institution a composer could receive, apart from honours, also a pecuniary award. On 7 November 1580 Marc’Antonio Pordenon received payment of 10 ducats for the dedication of his Primo libro de madrigali to the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza. See Ranzolin (ed.), L’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Olimpica, p. 26.

Chapter 12

‘Stravaganze d’amore’ We possess countless prints by musicians from the late Cinquecento, but a great many contemporary manuscripts have probably been lost. Undoubtedly, much has survived of the feverish compositional activity of the time, but not all. Some works gained a niche in the market of published music with difficulty, while others were conceived for purely private consumption. In the sacred sphere music was still circulated frequently in manuscripts, as the liturgical output of Marenzio himself shows. Giovanni Maria Piccioni, the compiler of the posthumous Sacrae cantiones (1616), states that he received the pieces from a certain Don Lorenzo Foschetti, a priest and singer, who had been authorized to transcribe them.1 According to this testimony Marenzio did not compose them for publication, but simply to while away the time (‘eas non ut in lucem ederentur, sed ... ad fallendas horas cecinerit’).2 Even if we do not give too much credit to this statement, it seems that many sacred works could remain in the drawer for a long time before eventually finding their way to the printing press. The same happened, though to a more limited extent, to certain secular pieces, forgotten by their own composers and in some cased ‘saved’ by provident publishers.3 Here I would like to discuss a particular category of secular music: the celebratory madrigal performed on festive occasions, in plays or other sorts of spectacle. This type of repertory is characterized by the increased number of voices, usually grouped in a polychoral disposition. The traditional madrigal was by definition a ‘chamber’ composition (the expression ‘da camera’ was already in use in the sixteenth century): normally (though, of course, many other possibilities existed) four, five or six singers sat round a table to sing the composition, with no obligatory instrumental support. The celebratory madrigal, however, was a ‘spectacular’ kind of music, meant for wider spaces, and requiring a more massive complement of voices and sufficient support by musical instruments. The performance of a ‘madrigale da camera’ was private and therefore directed to a restricted circle of people; the performance of a celebratory 1

Marenzio, Sacrae cantiones (Venice, 1616), p. 18, preface ‘ad lectorem’ by Giovanni Maria Piccioni: ‘[Marentius] easque [cantiones] describendi R.D. Laurentio Foschetto praesbytero, & cantori, à quo nos habuimus, potestatem fieri.’ 2 Ibid. 3 Piperno, Gli ‘eccellentissimi musici’, pp. 27 ff. 85

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madrigal, if not actually public, was nevertheless addressed to a more extended number of guests. In terms of access to the publishing market we encounter a seemingly paradoxical phenomenon: though in essence élite, the ‘madrigale da camera’ enjoyed a flourishing market, while the celebratory madrigal had greater difficulty in getting into print. We must therefore consider as lost a considerable portion of the ‘festive’ madrigal repertory of the end of the Cinquecento. Nevertheless, within Marenzio’s surviving output, we can still find significant vestiges of this kind of music. In Rome the art of polychoral writing, so frequent in the sacred repertory of around 1600, extended also to the secular field. Far from being a tradition restricted to cities like Venice or Florence, the polychoral celebratory madrigal took root and prospered in Rome as well. This is confirmed in an avviso of 2 August 1578: Latino Orsino borrowed some silverware from six cardinals and yesterday evening gave a most solemn banquet at the house of the castellan [commander of the Castel S. Angelo, Giacomo Boncompagni]; it was also attended by the ambassador of Venice ... and innumerable other gentlemen on a barge on the Tiber, on whose surface stood eight columns supporting a pavilion of crimson damask with paintings and other ornaments. It set sail from Ponte Milvio, nowadays known as Il Molle, where [the passengers] embarked and began to eat dinner, and they rowed with the current, and the banquet finished as they arrived at the palace of Latino at the Orso, and at that point was heard an almost heavenly harmony, all the Palatine musicians with viols, cornetts, trombones and voices singing a madrigal in 40 voices, in two sections; after this had finished His Excellency, with the ambassador and other gentlemen, left at an hour and a half after sundown. The whole of Rome turned out, and the [entertainment] cost more than 700 scudi.4

As usual, the chronicler does not mention the author or title of the madrigal, 4

‘Il sig[no]r Latino Orsino ha presa in presto l’argent[eri]a da sei Card[ina]li et hiersera fece un solenniss[i]mo Banchetto al S[igno]r Castellano, dove fu anco l’Amb[asciat]or di Venetia ..., et infiniti altri S[igno]ri sopra un Barcone sul Tevere nella Piazza del quale erano otto Colonne reggenti un Padiglione di Damasco Cremisi con Pitture, et altri ornamenti, il quale fu mandato di Ponte Milvio, hoggi detto Molle, dove montati sopra cominciata la Cena remaro giù per la corrente à segonda, et finì a punto il Banchetto quando arrivaro dirimpetto al Palazzo di d[ett]o s[igno]r Latino presso all’Orso, et in quel punto se intese un’Armonia quasi celeste, di tutti li Musici Palatini che con suoni di Viole, Cornetti et Tromboni et Voci cantaro un Madrigale à 40 p[rim]a et 2a parte, il qual finito S[ua] E[ccellenza] con l’Amb[asciato]re et altri s[igno]ri si partì sendo un’hora et mezo di notte col concorso di tutta Roma, et la spesa passa 700 scudi.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1046, fol. 301 (Rome, 2 August 1578). As is well known, the alternation between the viole da braccio/viole da gamba and the piffari (cornetts and trombones) constituted the typical instrumental framework in the later sixteenth century.

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making it very difficult to identify.5 The large number of voices may seem striking, but Alessandro Striggio, in a letter of 21 August 1561, states that he had written ‘a piece for 40 voices’ (‘una musica a quaranta voci’) for the wedding of Guglielmo Gonzaga to Leonora d’Austria.6 An equally imposing madrigal can be found among the Florentine Intermedi of 1589: in the sixth intermedio Cristofano Malvezzi’s famous O fortunato giorno is scored for seven choirs consisting of 5, 5, 3, 3, 4, 4 and 6 voices respectively, making a total of 39, with the possibility of adding reinforcements.7 The Roman performance of 1578 also aimed at the colossal and had to overcome the acoustical problems of open-air performance on a hot summer evening. Just as Orsini had borrowed silverware from six cardinals, so would he also have requested the collaboration of several musicians normally in the service of other gentlemen or other institutions. Apart from occasions of particular political or diplomatic importance, theatrical presentations provided celebratory madrigals with an ideal niche, especially during carnival. In Rome too it was the fashion to insert musical intermedi between the acts of a comedy. From an avviso of 1578 we learn that on the last day of carnival, in the home of Giorgio Cesarini, Cleria’s husband, a comedy was performed that was ‘very fine … it was attended by many cardinals and lasted almost till dawn’.8 It is hard to believe that this production would have been without music, especially as it took place at Cesarini’s house, in the presence of many guests from the Sacred College (including, probably, Cardinal d’Este).9 Unfortunately Marenzio’s involvement in such theatrical presentations remains obscure, but there is ample reason to believe it was not infrequent. An important performance during carnival in 1585 was the subject of an article by James Chater.10 In the Avviso of 9 March we read: On Sunday, as part of the carnival, an excellent comedy was performed in the house of the duke of Sora [Giacomo Boncompagni]; its name is La stravagante [sic] d’amore, newly composed by Cristoforo Castelletti. It was performed with a wonderful 5 6

It is unlikely this piece was published. Fenlon, Music and Patronage, vol. 1, p. 87. A 40-voice motet by Striggio, Ecce beatam lucem (possibly a contrafactum?) has survived in a Zwickau manuscript dated 1587. 7 Modern edition of the Intermedi in Walker (ed.), Musique des intermèdes, pp. 122–39. Cf. Brown, Sixteenth-Century Instrumentation. 8 ‘bellissima ... dove furono molti Card[ina]li et durò quasi fino al chiaro giorno’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1046, fol. 74 (Rome, first day of Lent, 1578). 9 For more details on the role music of music in theatrical and public presentations, see F. Clementi, Il carnevale di Roma; Chater, ‘Love, music and spectacle in CounterReformation Rome’: Il carro dell’universo (1587)’. The Carro dell’universo was an allegorical carro depicting Amor in the Piazza Navona, where an outdoor madrigal for four voices was sung. 10 Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’.

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Luca Marenzio proscenium showing Rome and Piazza Navona, with various splendid musical interludes for several instruments. It was attended by Cardinals San Sisto [Filippo Boncompagni], Dezza and Guastavillano, the Spanish ambassador, the Marquis of Riano, Signor Federico Cesis and many other gentlemen, including most of the private servants of His Holiness. There were also 25 Roman ladies, both young and and matrons with their husbands, and after the comedy was finished there was a sumptuous banquet, in which at one table sat the above-mentioned cardinals, the Spanish ambassador, the duke of Sora and all the ladies, and at the other the attendants and servants of His Holiness, and the husbands of those ladies. The evening before the dress rehearsal was attended by most of the auditori di rota, and other gentlemen, together with the His Excellency’s whole famiglia.11

11 ‘Dom[eni]ca di Carnevale fu fatta una beliss[i]ma Comedia in Casa del S[igno]r Duca di Suora la quale si chiama le Stravaganze d’amore composta da Cristofano Castelletti con un superbissimo proscenio che rappresentava Roma, et Piazza Navona, con varij belissimi intermedij di musiche di diversi strom[en]ti, alla quale intervennero li Car[dina]li Sansisto, Dezza, et Guastavillano, l’Amba[sciato]re di Spagna, il Marchese di Riano, il s[igno]r Federico Cesis et molt’altri s[igno]ri con la maggior parte di Camerieri secreti di s[ua santi]tà. Vi furono similmente 25 s[igno]re Romane, fra giovane et matrone con i loro mariti, la qual finita fu fatto un suntuosiss[i]mo Banchetto, a dui tavole in uno mangiavano li Car[dina]li nominati, l’Ambas[ciato]re di Spagna, il s[igno]r Duca di Sora et tutte le donne, et all’altra mangiorono li Camerieri, et servitori di S[ua] B[eatitudi]ne, et li mariti di dette s[igno]re essendosi provata la sera innanzi alla presenza della mag[gi]or parte delli Aud[ito]ri di Rota, et altri S[igno]ri particolari con tutta la famiglia di S[ua] E[ccellenza].’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1053, fol. 116. (Rome, 9 March 1585). Partially quoted in Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, pp. 92–93. In the avviso of 6 March (BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1053, fol. 110) we find a more critical report, almost resembling a modern theatre review: ‘Domenica sera, dopo un ballo di due hore nel palazzo del duca di Sora incominciò la commedia fatta preparare da S[ua] E[ccellenza] nell’istesso luogo, conforme e d’apparato e di pompa alla brevità del tempo, ma non alla generosità di lei, et durò fino alle 4 hore, d’arte e di favola alquanto difettosa, intitolata Le stravaganze d’Amore dell’autore Castelletti Cristofaro notaro. L’eccellenza, anzi singolarità di cinque histrioni la sostentaro dilettosissimamente, cioè di un franzese italianato, d’un norschino, d’un pedante, d’una serva romanesca, et d’un napoletano. Et in essa gentilmente furono toccati, o per dir meglio feriti nel vivo, gli alchimisti, i mariti, che fanno volontari divortij, i mesi et gli anni con le lor mogli, gli innamorati, che con i vanti soverchi et con la loro curiosità presentiale infamano a torto le dame et i favori, che da esse ricevono et i fuorusciti, che hanno fatto il mondo inpratticabile per non essere castigati come si deve. Dopo detta commedia si cenò et si ballò un’altra volta fin’a x hore, et il banchettone fu copiosissimo, et lautissimo di vivande.... Stavano alla prima mensa i Car[dina]li Sansisto, Deza, et Guastavillano, l’Amb[asciator] Cat[toli]co, et il Duca di Sora con 40 gentildonne, et all’altro tavolone pur servito sconciam[en]te nell’istesso tempo del primo, i s[igno]ri Sforza, il Nobili, Honorato Gaetano, Marchese di Riano, et altri Caval[ie]ri in molto numero, ma non già il Cesarini, né il

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This time the chronicler indicates the exact title and author of the comedy: Le stravaganze d’Amore by Cristoforo Castelletti – but as usual his reference to the musical intermedi is vague. James Chater has succeeded in identifying one of Marenzio’s madrigals as having most probably been written for this very performance. It is a piece for nine voices, Donne, il celeste lume, placed at the close of his fourth book a 6, published at the beginning of 1587. The madrigal is written for double chorus (two four-voice groups), to which can be added an optional soprano (‘canto terzo se piace’ – ‘third Canto ad libitum’). Throughout the piece this ninth voice, which in reality is of structural importance, merely repeats the parole-chiave ‘stravaganze d’Amore’, the title of Castelletti’s play.12

marchese d’Altemps, né Federico de Cesis, né molti altri Baroni per loro diversi humori, et per varij impedimenti delle lor mogli. Farnese, Este, Medici, et Sforza, ch’erano sù la lista degli invitati non vi andaro per non essere in Arnese verun di loro da tollerare una vigilia così lunga’ (‘On Sunday evening, after two hours of dancing in the palace of the duke of Sora, began the comedy ordered by His Highness in the same place, corresponding, with regard to both apparatus and lavishness, to the little time available, but not to his generosity; this lasted until the fourth hour [about 10 p.m.], and it was somewhat deficient in art and in its plot. It was called Le stravaganze d’Amore, and its author was Castelletti Cristofaro, a notary. It was sustained and made enjoyable by the excellence, indeed the singularity, of five actors, that is an Italian Frenchman, a man from Norcia, a pedant, a romanesca serving woman and a Neapolitan. It gently lampooned, or rather touched to the quick, alchemists, husbands who want to leave their wives for months and years on end, lovers who with their exaggerated boasts and their continual curiosity slander ladies, the favours that these lovers receive from these ladies, and exiles, who make life difficult because they are not punished as they deserve. After this comedy there was a supper and there was more dancing, until the tenth hour [about 4 a.m.]. The banquet was very lavish, with sumptuous dishes. ... At the first table sat Cardinals San Sisto, Deza and Guastavillano, the Catholic Ambassador [of Spain] and the duke of Sora, with 40 noblewomen; and at the other long table, which, through a mix-up, was served at the same time as the first table, sat the Lords Sforza, Nobili, Honorato Gaetano, the Marquis of Riano and other noblemen in great numbers, but not Cesarini, the Marquis of Altemps, Federico de Cesis, or many other barons who were absent for one reason or another, or because their wives did not want to come. Farnese, Este, Medici and Sforza, who were invited, did not go because none of them was in a condition to tolerate such a long vigil.’ Partially quoted in J.A.F. Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 10. 12 As Chater (‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, p. 148) has noted, in the editio princeps of the fourth book a 6 (Venice: Giacomo Vincenzi, 1587), in the Canto terzo one finds ‘Stravaganze d’amore’, while in Ricciardo Amadino’s reprint, also from 1587, the text is emended to ‘Stravaganza’. Despite Amadino’s claim, (‘Libro ... novamente ristampato, e da molti errori diligentissimamente emendato’ – ‘newly reprinted, and diligently purged of many errors’) the earlier reading is certainly preferable.

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That Marenzio’s composition could have acted as a musical intermedio in the 1585 performance is confirmed by the poetic text, which agrees with that printed in the official edition of the play, which is dedicated to Giacomo Boncompagni: Madrigale, che si cantò nel fine dell’Atto [IV] Donne, il celeste lume De gli occhi vostri, che sì dolce splende, I nostri petti accende, Ma l’alma dentro a le gran fiamme vive Non sface; anzi di lor si nutre e vive. STRAVAGANZE d’Amore, Ch’arda in eterno e mai non strugga un core.13 Madrigal sung at the end of the act [Act IV] Ladies, the heavenly light of your eyes, which shines so sweetly, kindles our breasts, but the soul is not consumed by the vigorous flames; on the contrary, it lives and is nourished. Strange vagaries of Love, that a heart should burn continually without being consumed!

The intermedi of Le stravaganze d’Amore amount to five in all, performed at the opening of the performance – ‘before the curtain was lowered’ (‘avanti che si abbassassero le cortine’ – and at the end of each of the four acts.14 To Marenzio fell the honour of setting to music the fifth and last madrigal of the series. The music for the first interlude has also survived: the eight-voice Donne, la pura luce by Ruggiero Giovannelli.15 This piece provides evidence that the composition of theatre music was often entrusted to several composers. Giovannelli and Marenzio were at that time two of the most firmly established composers on the Roman scene. A little younger than Marenzio, Giovannelli had 13

Castelletti, Le stravaganze d’Amore, comedia (Venice: G.B. Sessa, 1587), p. 74 (modern edition edited by Pasquale Stoppelli, Florence, 1981). According to Chater (‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, p. 86) this must have been the editio princeps of the comedy, even though L. Allacci (Drammaturgia, col. 742) refers to an edition of 1584, of which there is no mention in any other source. Donne, il celeste lume was also set by B. Melfio in his first book a 5 (Venice, 1587; NV 1793). 14 The respective texts are reproduced in Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, pp. 119–21. 15 Ibid., with a full transcription on pp. 122–32. The music for the three other intermedi seems to have been lost. Giovannelli’s piece can be found in his first book a 5 (Venice, 1586) and in Angelo Gardano’s anthology of polychoral pieces, Dialoghi musicali (RISM 159011), which also contains a reprint of Marenzio’s madrigal Donne, il celeste lume.

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made his debut as a madrigal composer in the Ferrarese anthology Il lauro secco (1582), while his first single print, Gli sdruccioli ... primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci, was published in 1585 (the same year in which Le stravaganze d’Amore was performed) by Alessandro Gardano in Rome. Born in Velletri, near Rome, Giovannelli was maestro di cappella at S. Luigi dei Francesi from 1586, worked for the Confraternity of SS. Trinità16 and in 1589 was represented in the madrigal collection of the ‘Musici di Roma’, Le gioie. It is interesting to investigate what may have been the relationship between Marenzio, Giovannelli and the man of letters Cristoforo Castelletti. Le stravaganze d’Amore was presented in the palace of Giacomo Boncompagni, who, besides being a leading figure in the secular life of the city at that time, was a skilled organizer of carnival spectacles.17 His special status as the pope’s natural son meant that he was one of the richest and most powerful men in the city, qualities sufficient to assure him various literary and musical homages. Castelletti dedicated his comedy (signed in Rome, 1 August 1585) to him in these words: ‘I consecrate to the glorious name of Your Illustrious Excellency my comedy LE STRAVAGANZE D’AMORE, as befits your infinite liberality and generosity.’18 He goes on to say that the play was performed ‘with the richest apparatus, and before the most noble guests, including many princes, gentlemen, ladies and very prominent, very beautiful noblewomen; and with a sumptuous banquet’.19 Even more than Boncompagni, another generous patron may have facilitated the encounter between Castelletti and Marenzio: Girolamo Ruis.20 Castelletti had dedicated to him his collection of Rime spirituali (Rome, 20 November 1582) and, two years later, his comedy Il furbo (‘Di Roma e di casa di Vostra Signoria à XV di Genaro, 1584’ – ‘Rome, in Your Lordship’s house, 15 January 1584’). In the dedication of the Rime spirituali, the author had described the Ruis house as a ‘a veritable home for the Muses and a permanent refuge, where all virtuosi can escape and as it were shelter in a safe port from the tempests of these times, so inimicable towards virtù’.21 It is certainly significant that Marenzio set to music 16 O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, pp. 64 ff. and 105 ff. 17 See Montaigne, Montaigne’s Travel Journal, p. 83: ‘On Thursday before Lent he went to the feast of the Castellano. A good deal of preparation had been made, notably an amphitheater very artfully and richly disposed for combat in the lists.’ 18 ‘Consacro al glorioso nome di V[ostra] Eccell[enza] Illustriss[ima] la mia Comedia delle STRAVAGANZE D’AMORE, come dovuta alla infinita liberalità, e magnanimità sua.’ 19 ‘con ricchissimo apparato; con nobilissimo invito di tanti Principi, Signori, signore, e gentildonne principalissime, e bellissime; e con regal convito’. Quoted in Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, p. 93. 20 On Ruis, see Chapters 2 and 9. 21 ‘vera stanza delle Muse, & albergo perpetuo, dove tutti i virtuosi dalle tempeste di questa età nemica del tutto della virtù, in quasi sicuro porto fuggono e si ricovrano’. Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, p. 88.

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one of Castelletti’s poems, Il dì che di pallor la faccia tinse, in his Madrigali spirituali, published at the same time as his fourth book a 5, dedicated to Girolamo Ruis (1584).22 Most probably Marenzio and Castelletti became acquainted in that very circle of ‘virtuosi’ that gathered the home of this rich Spanish gentleman. This same circle is referred by the poet Antonio Ongaro, who, like the notary Castelletti, was a member of the legal profession and also dedicated to literature. Interestingly, all these persons are connected with Cleria Cesarini, to whom Castelletti had earlier dedicated his pastoral drama Amarilli (1580) and his comedy I torti amorosi (1581). The first edition of Amarilli is prefaced with a sequence of laudatory poems, with contributions by Ongaro and Tasso. In this work too, the acts were interspersed with sung madrigals; whereas in Le stravaganze the madrigals appear before Act I and at the ends of Acts II, III and IV (with no madrigal at the end of Act V), here a different madrigal is sung at the end of each of the five acts.23 As for I torti amorosi, in the prologue its author called the comedy ‘decent’ (‘honesta’), useful, and delightful ‘because of its pleasing action, the variety and beauty of the characters and of their clothes and manners, for the decorations and for the music’.24 Music was thus a constant in Castelletti’s theatrical output. It is difficult to establish whether the participation of Marenzio and Giovannelli in the intermedi of Le stravaganze d’Amore was favoured by Boncompagni or rather by the association of the ‘Musici di Roma’, or perhaps by the company of SS. Trinità, of which Girolamo Ruis was the custos. In a scene of such diversity and complexity it is easy to confuse cause and effect, so a prudent historian should not jump to conclusions but be content to bring to light relations that are significant or have been little investigated. Castelletti’s comedy has attracted the attention of several scholars for its salty realism, sometimes intensified by the use of romanesco dialect; it thus has a certain interest for social history. Normally a comedy and its musical interludes 22 Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’, p. 88. 23 Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’Amore’, pp. 89–90. The texts of the Amarilli interludes are reproduced in ibid., pp. 117–19. Chater also lists the settings that have survived. Since most of these derive from prints dating from 1597 or after, it is possible that the music for the first performance has been lost. An exception is the first book a 5 (Venice, 1585) composed jointly by Giovan Battista Pace and Giovan Donato Vopa, both pupils of a musician from Bari, Stefano Felis. Giovanni de Macque would seem to have been the only composer active in Rome at that time who could have put Castelletti and Felis in contact with each other. Not only Macque, but also Felis and his pupil Pace set to music the final madrigal from Amarilli: Corran d’argento i fiumi. 24 ‘per li piacevoli avenimenti, per la diversità, et bellezza dei personaggi, de gli habiti, et de’ costumi loro, per la pittura, et per la musica’ [emphasis added]. Quoted in J.F.A. Orbaan, Documenti sul Barocco in Roma, p. cv; Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze’, does not consider the musical contribution to this comedy.

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had no clear thematic link, but in this case there exists a concetto-chiave, the word ‘stravaganza’ (English ‘vagary’ or ‘eccentricity’ rather than ‘extravagance’). In the prologue Castelletti explains that among all the possible ‘stravaganze’ none exceeds that of a man in love: You know only too well, beautiful and excellent ladies, who, seeing these vagaries that men undertake for your sakes, instead of pitying them for their naivety, gang together to ridicule and make a laughing stock of them…. Therefore it should not appear strange to you if this evening, among the vagaries of our comedy, you will see a gentleman, for love, transformed from life into death, and from sanity into ridicule.25

Also directed to the ladies of the audience are the five intermedi, written in the Petrarchist manner: they each begin with the vocative ‘Donne’ and extol the ladies’ eyes, hands and faces. The final couplet of each madrigal, which contains the paradoxical point, begins with the words ‘stravaganze d’Amore’, thus providing a solid framework for the whole comedy. The distance between the prosaic tone of the comedy and the courtliness of the intermedi is bridged, despite the abrupt contrast of register, by the leitmotiv of the ‘stravaganza’. However, in this play of oppositions the music of the madrigals remains the exclusive property of the aristocracy, not deigning to enter into dialogue with the picturesque representation of the common people, but rather observing the scenes of everyday life from the lofty viewpoint of the celestial, philosophical sphere. This at least is true of the play produced in Boncompagni’s house, with Roman high society in attendance. But among madrigal composers the temptation to treat more humble or even comic subjects often lay just round the corner – even in the case of a composer above all suspicion, like Marenzio. This perhaps explains the surprising presence in Marenzio’s output of a polytextual madrigal, ‘a diversi linguaggi’, directly influenced by the commedia dell’arte tradition. Probably the piece would never have been published had it not, in the late 1580s, fallen into hands of that brilliant author of convivial and comic madrigals Orazio Vecchi, who included it in his Selva di varia ricreatione (1590). Vecchi reworked Marenzio’s composition – a true madrigalian mini-comedy – augmenting the number of voices from five to nine.26

25

‘Il sapete bene voi, bellissime e gentilissime signore; che vedendo queste Stravaganze, che gli huomini fanno per vostra cagione, in vece di compiangere la loro innocenza, ne fate i capannelli, e le più grasse risate del mondo. ... E però non vi dovrà parer novo se oltre l’altre Stravaganze della nostra Comedia, vedrete sta sera un gentil’huomo diventar per amore di vivo morto, e di savio buffone.’ Quoted in Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze’, p. 95. 26 See Kirkendale, ‘Franceschina’, pp. 181–235. For transcriptions see Kirkendale (ed.), Madrigali a diversi linguaggi.

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In the original the voices, each of which is consigned to a specific ‘mask’, with its own linguaggio (dialect), are cast as follows: Canto primo Canto secondo Alto Tenor Bass

La Franceschina La Girometta Zanni Magnifico Tedesco

Orazio Vecchi added four intermediate voices, which, although they enrich the composition, can be omitted without problems: Quinto Sesto Settimo Ottavo

Lo Scolare Il Fate ben per voi Il Graziano Il Pedante

Zanni, Magnifico and the German drunkard (Tedesco) were typical characters of improvised comedy. Dialogues between Zanni and Magnifico are frequently found in the broadsheets of popular Cinquecento literature. Here, for example, is the prima parte of the text set by Marenzio, in which the gluttonous, lazy porter Zanni speaks in Bergamask dialect, while his master Magnifico speaks Venetian; hence the ‘diversi linguaggi’ of the title: Z. O Messir. M. Che distu? Z. O Patru. M. Che fastu? Z. O Messir. M. Che vostu? Z. O Patru, à no poss plu canta, perch’à crep de la fam. M. Ah bestion, fio d’un laro, non t’hastu ben sfondrao? Z. Mo con que, s’a no g’havì mai pa quat à vorèf? M. Poltron, che tutto ’l dì ti è stao à tola. Tirr’in mal’hora. Z. Andev’à fa impica. M. Trist’anegao. ... Z. O sir. M. What are you saying? Z. O Master. M. What are you doing? Z. O sir. M. What do you want? Z. O master, I can no longer sing because I am dying of hunger. M. Ah, beast, son of a thief, haven’t you satiated yourself?

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Z. But with what, if I never have as much bread as I would like? M. Idler, who has spent all day at the table. Go to hell. Z. Go and be hanged. M. Miserable one!27

We may draw attention to the analogous dialogue at the opening of Vecchi’s Amfiparnaso (1597). Just as typical are the words assigned to Tedesco, the drunken mercenary who speaks a curious idiom all of his own: Mi star bon compagnon Mi trinchere co ’l fiascon Mi piasere moscatelle Mi far garaus di bon. ... Me be good fellow Me drink with the big bottle Me like muscatel Me kill [it] good.28 ...

If Zanni, Magnifico and Tedesco are masked figures from the theatrical world of commedia dell’arte, Franceschina and Girometta are the protagonists of two popular folk songs that were very current in the Cinquecento. Here is the prima parte of the texts set by Marenzio: FRANCESCHINA

E la bella Franceschina ninina buffina La filibustachina, E che la vorria marì ninì La filibustachì. E la bella Nicoletta ninetta buffetta La filibustacchetta, E che la và tropp’in frè ninè La filibustachè. ... GIROMETTA

Chi t’hà fatto quelle scarpette Che ti stan sì ben Che ti stan sì ben Girometta Che ti stan sì ben?

27 28

The text and translation quoted from Kirkendale, ‘Franceschina’, p. 184. The text and translation quoted ibid., p. 187.

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Luca Marenzio Me l’ha fatte lo mio Amore Che mi vol gran ben Che mi vol gran ben Girometta Che mi vol gran ben.29 FRANCESCHINA

The beautiful Franceschina ninina buffina La filibustachina, would like a husband ninì La filibustachì. And the beautiful Nicoletta ninetta buffetta La filibustacchetta, is in too much of a hurry ninè La filibustachè. ... GIROMETTA

Who made those little shoes that look so good on you that look so good on you Girometta that look so good on you? My lover made them who loves me very much who loves me very much Girometta who loves me very much.

It is no doubt surprising that Marenzio, used to setting the most sophisticated Italian poetry, should have set lines of this kind: but in fact, as we know from Cardinal Luigi d’Este’s account books, clowns and comedians sometimes enlivened court entertainments with their singing.30 One might hesitate to believe the attribution of the piece to Marenzio but, as Warren Kirkendale rightly points out, Vecchi would not have abused the name of so eminent a colleague, 29 Text quoted ibid., p. 192. 30 ASMo, Camera ducale estense, Amministrazione principi, 1186 (‘Spesa de donationi’): ‘Adi 7 Gennaro [1583] a Cipriano buffone per haver cantato inante a S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma scudi 4. / Adi 10 detto a Trulla Buffone per tanti che S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma gli dona scudi 6. / ... / Adi 23 d[et]to [maggio] al cap[itan]o Cipriano et cap[itan]o pigna Buffoni per tanti che S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma gli dona per haver cantati nanti a quella scudi 6’ (‘On 7 January [1583] to Cipriano, comedian, for singing before His Lordship, scudi 4. / On the 10th inst. to Trulla, comedian, for so much money that His Lordship gives her, scudi 6. / ... / On 23 inst. [May] to Captains Cipriano and Pigna, comedians, for so much money that His Lordship gives them for singing before him, scudi 6’). Quoted in Bizzarini, ‘Marenzio and Cardinal Luigi d’Este’, pp. 527–28 and p. 532, n. 27.

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who was still living.31 We should also consider that, during the period of Marenzio’s maturity, the tradition of madrigals a diversi linguaggi included some famous examples: Orlando di Lasso, for example, had included in his Libro de villanelle, moresche ed altre canzoni (Paris, 1581) a dialogue between Zanni and Magnifico. The composition had probably been inspired by the commedia dell’arte performed in 1568 for the marriage of Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria with Renée de Lorraine, in which Lasso had played the part of Pantalone.32 In addition, Lasso’s pupil Johann Eccard published a Zanni et Magnifico for five voices in his Newe Lieder mif fünff und vier Stimmen (Königsberg, 1589). This piece, significantly, has the same words and the same roles as Marenzio’s piece, with the exception that La Girometta is absent. While Lasso set each character polyphonically, Eccard and Marenzio assigned each role to a single voice.33 Whether Marenzio knew these compositions directly has not been established. It seems that Lasso in general was one of his models, or at least one of the composers whose works he knew. The Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale in Bologna preserves the Canto part of the 1573 reprint of Lasso’s first book a 5 (Venice: Girolamo Scotto), bearing the signature ‘Luca Marenzo’ on the title page.34 As in the case of Lasso, Marenzio may have obtained the idea of setting such a witty text from a theatrical performance. Although Pope Pius V had banished ‘scenici’ from Rome,35 nevertheless – or perhaps because of this fact – the passion for the commedia dell’arte remained alive: its influence can be seen in the colourful characters of Castelletti’s play, from the old serving woman Perna with her romanesco speech to the protagonist Alessandro, who, announcing the news of his own death, appears disguised as ‘Dottor Graziano’, the typical pedant of improvised comedy. An avviso of 9 February 1585 reported that ‘the city has obtained some hope that it can see [public performances of] the comedies of Zanni, which were banned several years ago’.36 Theatrical performances flourished, albeit within certain limits and not in public, in the aristocratic palaces of Rome, at least until the end of the reign of

31 Kirkendale, ‘Franceschina’, p. 235. 32 Ibid., pp. 186 ff. Cf. Troiano, Discorsi delli trionfi (1568), p. 184. 33 Kirkendale, ‘Franceschina’, p. 186. 34 For a photograph of the title page see Guerrini, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 16, right; also reproduced in Early Music, 27, 584. According to Guerrini the signature is an autograph; the first name and surname are separated by the publisher’s device. 35 As maintained by his biographer Girolamo Catena in his Lettere, p. 490. Quoted in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 9. 36 ‘questa città è entrata in qualche speranza di poter havere le commedie publiche Zannesche bandite di qua tanti anni or sono’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1053, fol. 72v (Rome, 5 February 1585). Quoted in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 9.

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Gregory XIII, whose son, Giacomo Boncompagni, so much loved carnivals, festivities and theatrical productions. As soon as the old pope had departed this world, only a few days after the performance of Le stravaganze d’Amore, the secular life of the Holy City also took a new turning.

Chapter 13

The new pope Pope Gregory died on 10 April 1585. After a conclave lasting 13 days Felice Peretti (Cardinal Montalto) was elected; he took the name of Sixtus V. The succession was far from predictable because, as always, cardinals of aristocratic lineage, like Farnese and Medici, were competing for the papal crown. It is said that in Rome, during Gregory’s reign, there circulated the motto: ‘Né frati, né Farnese, né papa bolognese’ (‘No friars, no Farnese, no Bolognese pope’) – a transparent allusion to Boncompagni’s place of birth.1 The popular mood regarding the deceased pope was not always benevolent: indeed, it was during the conclave that people could give vent to the frustration that had built up during the years of the previous reign. But the people counted for less than the ruling class. In the complicated chessboard of late sixteenth-century politics the French and Spanish parties competed fiercely for the favours of the Holy See and wielded heavy influence during the conclave. Madrid supported Cardinal Sirleto, a man trusted by the Catholic King. Farnese was powerful, but was immediately opposed by Luigi d’Este, mindful that Farnese had opposed his late uncle Ippolito in the last conclave. Surprisingly, Cardinal de’ Medici did not receive the support of Spain, whose protector he was, and so decided to favour the non-partisan candidacy of Cardinal Montalto, who was eventually elected. The support of the young Madruzzo, who adhered to the Spanish faction, and the consent of Cardinal d’Este, the protector of France, were decisive factors in the ascent of Felice Peretti. The temporal power exercised by a pope was fully comparable to that of an absolute monarch, with one fundamental difference: kings are born, while popes are made. The election of Cardinal Montalto showed that even a cleric of humble origins could reach the top of the Catholic hierarchy. Sixtus V did not conceal the fact of having been born ‘in paupertate’. Thus we read in an avviso of 27 April 1587: ‘The pope in all mildness recounts to those whom he had not told it before his humble and poor origins: how he was born in a cave, tended pigs in the countryside, cut wood and collected chicory in the forest, hoed the garden, cleaned the churches, rung bells and such like.’2 The extraordinary career of this 1 2

These words were found on a poster attached to the pope’s litter. See BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1049 (Rome, 25 March 1581). ‘Il Papa con molta dolcezza racconta tuttavia a chi prima non lo disse le sue bassezze et infimità, cioè d’esser nato in una grotta, d’essere stato alla campagna a pascere i 99

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Franciscan friar, first raised to the purple and then elected to the supreme office of pope, reveals an exceptional personality and a character of steel. On the day of his election Sixtus V received tribute from all quarters. French diplomats lost no time in trying to ingratiate themselves with the new pope, who made no attempt to conceal his feelings of gratitude towards Cardinal d’Este: ‘The French ambassador has gone to kiss the feet [of His Holiness], and he was told he had achieved the rank [of pope], first by the will of God, then through the agency of Cardinal d’Este, who quickly cast his vote when it was requested by Cardinals Medici, San Sisto, Altemps and Alessandrino.’3 But the Peretti pope was his own man, and was not about to reciprocate this favour lightly. Thus, when Luigi d’Este personally recommended to him the interests of the French king, Henri III, the pope responded that he would only do ‘what the Holy Spirit illuminates him to do’.4 The upheaval attendant on the change at the top of the papal government would also have affected musical patronage and led to considerable changes in the lives of its protagonists. Luca Marenzio, thanks to the decisive role played by Cardinal d’Este, had been able to obtain the benevolence of Gregory XIII and of his faithful maestro di camera Ludovico Bianchetti. However, the new pope was, for both him and his patron, an unknown quantity. Between April 1584 and April of the following year – the last 12 months of Gregory’s reign – Marenzio had published no fewer than six single collections,5 an astonishing amount. This was partly the result of a burst of creative energy to be sure, but also of an especially favourable confluence of circumstances. During the first year of the new reign, however, Marenzio’s output consisted only of a single book of madrigals for four voices, which was most probably also conceived in the months before.6 A mere coincidence? As we are unable to establish what kind of relationship Marenzio had with the new pope we will concentrate once more on our only litmus test, the situation of Cardinal d’Este. We have already mentioned the building work carried out at Montecavallo (now the Quirinale) by Gregory XIII in joint ownership with the cardinal. It was this new building that cemented the new understanding between

3

4 5

6

porci, d’haver tagliate le legna al bosco, raccolta la cicoria alla foresta, zappato l’horto, spazzato le chiese, sonate le campane et cose simili.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1053, fol. 202 (Rome, 27 April 1585). Quoted in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 10. ‘L’Amb[asciato]r di Francia è stato a baciar i piedi, gli fu detto, ch’era in q[ue]l grado dopo la volontà di Dio per il Car[dina]l d’Este, il cui voto quando fu ricercato dalli Car[dina]li Medici, Sansisto, Altemps et Aless[andri]no, l’hebbero pronto.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1053, fol. 134 (Rome, 23 April 1585). ‘quello che lo Spirito Santo la illuminerà di fare’. Ibid. The complete chronology of dedications is as follows: second book a 6 (Rome, 15 April 1584); Madrigali spirituali (Rome, 24 Aprile 1584); fourth book a 5 (Venice, 5 May 1584), fifth book a 5 (Rome, 15 December 1584), Motecta festorum totius anni (Rome, 24 January 1585), third book a 6 (Rome, 12 February 1585). This was the first book a 4 (Rome, 1585).

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the two men. Interestingly enough, however, it was this same building that was to cause friction between the cardinal and Sixtus V. When the pope, on the eve of his coronation, decided to pay a visit to Montecavallo he prepared his entry by sending for sumptuous furnishings worthy of his rank. Stung by pride, Luigi d’Este sent the packages back to the pope. ‘Tell the pope’, he is reputed to have exclaimed, ‘that Cardinal d’Este knows full well how to receive a sovereign.’ Then he sent servants to Naples to fetch silk cloth.7 More skirmishes followed in October: On the roof of the Montecavallo building Pope Gregory had ordered a gilt dragon to be placed, whose dimensions were large enough for it to be easily noticed; the present pope has removed it, planning to replace it with a cross, which has greatly upset the successors, relations and protégés of Pope Gregory. … Even though the pope has not added a single stone to the Montecavallo building and Cardinal d’Este has spent 2000 scudi to finish Gregory’s building, which had remained unfinished, nevertheless he ordered the dragon to be removed … and replaced it with his own device, a mountain and a star in gilt copper, with a cross rising from them.8

The replacement of the Boncompagni device with that of the Peretti-Montalto family was certainly an insult to Gregory’s descendants, but Luigi d’Este, who had spent 2000 scudi to complete the work, must have harboured some resentment at this high-handed behaviour. Sixtus V was, moreover, a decisive and determined man. During his reign he was to transform the entire layout and architecture of Rome. In a mere five years he carried out a programme that normally would have required a whole century. Under the supervision of the architect Domenico Fontana, previously the master mason of Como, the Eternal City was transformed into an immense building yard, inaugurated by the spectacular erection of the Vatican obelisk. In architecture as in politics, the pope’s will was unyielding and unstoppable. There must have been times when Luigi d’Este regretted having abetted the election of such a formidable personality. In 1586 relations between the Holy See and the French crown flared up into an unprecedented crisis that, as we shall see, greatly preoccupied the Estense. In comparison with the incidents involving the 7 8

The episode is recounted in Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 233. ‘Nella sommità della fabrica di Monte Cavallo papa Gregorio haveva fatto porvi un drago dorato di statura assai grande, perché fusse più apparente et il presente pontefice l’ha fatto levare dissegnando metterci una croce, che ha dato gran disgusto alli successori, parenti e creature del soddetto papa Gregorio. … Ancorché il Papa non habbia messa pur una pietra nella fabrica di Montecavallo et che Este habbia speso 2 milia scudi per finir quella di Gregorio che restò imperfetta, non di meno fece levare il drago ... et mettervi in quel cambio li monti et la stella di rame dorato della sua impresa con una croce, che da essi sorge.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1053, fol. 460r (Rome, 2 October 1585). Quoted in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V negli Avvisi, p. 12.

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papal police in Gregory XIII’s time it was a small matter. The cardinal’s famiglia may not have provided refuge to common criminals any more, but it nevertheless included some very controversial people. A Veronese friar called Giovanni Maria Peverelli, Luigi d’Este’s theologian, was incarcerated by the Holy Office (the Inquisition) because two astrological forecasts were found in his room, in defiance of a papal bull forbidding astrology. The first predicted ‘the worst harm that could befall Christendom in these times, that is the untimely death of His Holiness’, the second ‘the succession of Cardinal San Marcello to the pontificate’.9 Strange to relate, both forecasts were to come true in the space of four years. Another possible motive for conflict between the pope and Luigi d’Este could have been the murky affair of Vittoria Accoramboni. This lady, renowned for her extraordinary beauty, had married Francesco Peretti, the son of Camilla Peretti, who was the sister of the Cardinal Montalto who then became pope. One evening in 1581 the young Peretti fell victim to an ambush on the narrow lane that ascends to Montecavallo. Some thugs wounded him with an arquebus, then set upon him, wounding him many times. Right from the start, suspicion fell on Paolo Giordano Orsini, duke of Bracciano, a nobleman with close ties of friendship to Cardinals d’Este and Medici.10 In his second book a 6 (1584) Marenzio sets a sonnet praising the beauty of a lady named Vittoria: Cedan l’antiche tue chiare vittorie Regina ancor del mondo, altiera Roma E i grand’archi che ’l tempo anco non doma S’inchinin con le lor alte memorie. Cantin novi poemi e nov’historie De’ tuoi nuovi trofei la nobil soma E cinga quella venerabil chioma Nove ghirlande di perpetue glorie. Mentre novella alma Vittoria intorno Di numero infinito il carro cinto Di cori e d’alme in bel trionfo mena Gli occhi son l’armi e più d’una catena Son le sue treccie, o fortunato giorno Ch’io venni e vidi e restai preso e vinto. 9

‘‘il peggior danno che potesse in questi tempi ricevere tutta la christianità, et la vita breve, cioè di N[ostro] S[igno]re … la successione al Ponteficato del Car[dina]le San Marcello’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 501r (Rome, 11 October 1586). 10 The history of Vittoria Accoramboni’s relations with Paolo Giordano Orsini has been immortalized in Stendhal’s famous Cronache italiane. Leaving aside numerous literary re-elaborations, such as those of Tieck and Guerrazzi, D. Gnoli’s Vita di Vittoria Accoramboni is still a useful source.

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May your ancient, brilliant victories yield, proud Rome, still queen of the world, and may your great arches, still untamed by time, stoop with their memories of grandeur. May new poems and new histories sing of your noble trophies, newly hoarded, and may that venerable brow deck garlands of eternal glory, while new, immortal Victory [Victoria] is borne in high triumph, her chariot surrounded by infinite numbers of choirs and souls. Her eyes are weapons, and her locks more than one chain. O fortunate day on which I came, I saw and I was captured and conquered.

According to Bernhard Meier this madrigal may be a homage to the singer Vittoria Archilei.11 In my opinion, however, the absence from the text of any but the vaguest reference to choral music raises considerable doubts concerning Meier’s hypothesis. Even the supposed reference in line 3 (‘Archi’ = ‘Archilei’?) cannot be deemed sufficient to identify the singer; rather, the solemn, courtly character provided by the historic background allows us to believe that the poem is addressed to some Roman lady of imperious beauty.12 According to Nino Pirrotta, this lady could have been Vittoria Accoramboni. There are valid historical reasons for believing this to be the case, since Luigi d’Este, as early as September 1583, the time of the secret wedding, had accepted Mario Accoramboni, Vittoria’s brother, into his entourage.13 In Chapter 15 we shall see that the dedication of Marenzio’s second book a 6 was undoubtedly decided by Luigi d’Este: it is therefore probable that the cardinal, a close friend of Paolo Giordano Orsini, specifically commissioned Marenzio to set this encomiastic sonnet. The extremely tense relations between Pope Sixtus and the Orsini house were eventually resolved only with the marriage in 1589 between the pope’s great niece Flavia Peretti and Paolo Giordano Orsini’s son Duke Virginio, who shortly afterwards was to act as Marenzio’s patron. Although the papal throne could not be inherited, the popes of the sixteenth century made great efforts to favour family members, raising nephews to the 11 See the edition by Meier, in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 4, p. 125. 12 In the encomiastic poetry of the late Cinquecento the image of the arches is fairly frequent: for example, in a poem in praise of Flavia Peretti Orsini attributed to Matteo Chieli in Tempio fabricato da diversi ... in lode di Donna Flavia Peretti, ed. Uranio Felice [= Torquato Tasso], Rome, 1591, p. 12: ‘D’Archi, mete, trofei, colossi, e marmi …’ (‘of arches, metas [a kind of column], trophies, colossi and marbles’). 13 Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, pp. 562–63, n. 5.

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purple and arranging advantageous marriages. The Peretti family was nothing if not parvenu, but was able to ascend to the top of the social ladder in an exceptionally short space of time. At Gregory XIII’s death the Boncompagni house declined, and Giacomo, who had been famed for his banquets and feasts, appears to have been relegated to the margins of secular life, even though he retained important military posts. Sixtus V had no natural sons, but had a sister who was very dear to him, Camilla Peretti, and various nephews who were to benefit from the purple and from strategic marriages. Marenzio too was to come into contact with all these relatives. Sixtus V made his mark in both the political and musical spheres.14 A few days after his election, he ratified the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma, as we have seen. In addition, with the bull In suprema of 1 September 1586, he reformed the Sistine Chapel and established that the office of director should be held pro tempore by one of the singing chaplains, to be elected by the entire college. The last of the permanent directors was Monsignor Antonio Boccapadule (1574–86), and the first of the maestri pro tempore was Giovanni Antonio Merlo (1587). With regard to theatrical productions, we may note a gradual opening in the direction of commedia dell’arte, which, despite previous bans, was very popular among the Romans. Cardinal Alessandrini became the promoter of some acclaimed entertainments: in January 1586 he ‘held a banquet for the friars of the Minerva and put on a Zannesca comedy in the monastery’15 and in the first few days of May organized festivities with ‘very fine music and other intermedi’ (‘musiche rare et altri intermedij’).16 Perhaps it was for this type of occasion that Marenzio composed his madrigal ‘a diversi linguaggi’. After careful reflection, Sixtus V too decided to grant greater freedom for theatrical productions, at least during carnival. As the avviso of 31 January 1587 records: Permission is granted to the Desiosi company, which has come to Rome, to put on comedies, but not on Fridays or on holidays of obligation, or at night; however, they are not to be attended by women or people wearing masks or disguises, or people armed with weapons of attack or defence; it is forbidden to make commotion, and buffoonery [?] is not allowed in the theatre on pain of the penalties contained in the decrees concerning masked entertainments.17 14

See Madonna (ed.), Roma di Sisto V, especially Morelli, ‘La vita musicale a Roma al tempo di Sisto V’, ibid., pp. 511–13. 15 ‘fece un banchettone alli frati della Minerva co ’l trattenimento d’una commedia Zannesca nel monistero’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 42r (Rome, 29 January 1586). Cited in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 14. 16 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 176r (Rome, 3 May 1586). Cited in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 15. 17 ‘S’è concesso alla compagnia venuta a Roma “delli Desiosi” di far commedie eccetto che nelli venerdì, et nelle feste comandate, nè meno di notte, alle quali però non

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Despite this apparently liberal climate we do not know if musicians active in Rome in fact prospered under the reign of Sixtus V. In a letter of the composer Jean de Macque, who had just moved from the city to Naples, to Camillo Norimberghi (Naples, 10 October 1587), we encounter a statement that is disconcerting to say the least: ‘That music has been virtually banned from Rome is no surprise to me, as when I was there it was already in decline.’18 Unfortunately we do not know all the factors to place this statement in context, as Norimberghi’s letters have been lost. For what reason was music ‘virtually banned from Rome’? To what specific repertoire were Macque and Norimberghi referring? These questions, for the moment, must remain open. If we limit ourselves to examining Marenzio’s output, we may note that the apparent curtailment of activity in the field of the madrigal is balanced by conspicuous expansion in the field of the minor musical forms. It was during Sixtus V’s reign that four out of the five books of villanellas for three voices appeared. In particular, the last two were addressed to persons who were very close to the pope. The villanella is a strophic composition that is a great deal less ambitious than the madrigal: usually composers of villanellas did not personally publish their own music, but entrusted them to people who could be relied on to accept responsibility for publishing them. The compilers of Marenzio’s five books of villanellas were: Ferrante Franchi (Primo libro), Cristoforo Ferrari (Terzo libro) and Attilio Gualtieri (Secondo, Quarto and Quinto libro). With the single exception of the Terzo libro (to be discussed in Chapter 15), all these publications were dedicated to prominent figures of the Holy See. Tiberio Cerasi, to whom the first book is dedicated (Venice, 1 September 1584), was at that time a lawyer in the Curia; later he was to become rector of the university (1593) and treasurer of the Apostolic Chamber (1596); he was also a patron of Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci.19 Camillo Caetani, to whom the second book is dedicated (Rome, 15 June 1585), was the brother of Enrico Caetani, who was created cardinal by Sixtus V in the same year. We have already discussed his connection with the Confraternita della SS. Trinità. Annibale de Paulis, the

andaranno donne, nè mascare, nè travestiti, con armi offensive nè difensive, con prohibitioni di fare strepiti, nè tirare zaganelle nel proscenio sotto le pene contenute nel bando publicato nelle maschere.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1055, fol. 37r (Rome, 31 January 1587). Cited in Orbaan, La Roma di Sisto V, p. 20. The expression ‘tirare zaganelle’ could also mean ‘rope-pulling’. 18 ‘Che la musica sia come bandita di Roma non mi è cosa nova poi che da ch’io ci era andava tuttavia declinando’. Macque’s letters to Norimberghi are all preserved in the Archivio Caetani in Rome. They have been studied in F. Lippmann, ‘Giovanni de Macque fra Roma e Napoli’. The whole correspondence is published in DeFord, Ruggiero Giovannelli, vol. 1, pp. 277–94. (The letter in question is in vol. 1, pp. 288–89.) 19 Petrucci, ‘Cerasi, Tiberio’, in DBI, vol. 23, pp. 655–57.

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dedicatee of the fourth book (Rome, 6 March 1587), was Sixtus V’s maestro di camera. Finally, Pomponio de Magistris, the dedicatee of the fifth book (Rome, 20 January 1587), was secretary to Camilla Peretti, the pope’s sister. Let us briefly discuss the last two publications. The compiler Attilio Gualtieri says more or less the same things in both his dedicatory letters, namely that these villanellas were ‘composed by Signor Luca Marenzio as a pastime, for his own amusement, at the request of various friends of his’ (‘composte dal Signor Luca Marentio per suo diporto, e come per ischerzo, à requisitione de diversi amici suoi’), that the dedicatee shows courtesy and kindness, and finally that these pieces can provide relaxation from ‘more onerous tasks’ (‘le più gravi occupationi’).20 Obviously, these generic expressions tell us next to nothing about the actual musical tastes of Sixtus V’s entourage. Nevertheless it is significant that these publications of Marenzio’s villanellas should have been directed towards this entourage rather than somewhere else. Finally, we should remember that in the early years of Sixtus’s pontificate our composer was in line to leave the Eternal City for other courts: Mantua, or perhaps Paris.

20 Cf. Il quarto libro delle villanelle a tre voci di Luca Marentio raccolte per Attilio Gualtieri (Venice: Giacomo Vincenzi, 1587) and Di Luca Marentio il quinto libro delle villanelle a tre voci con una a quattro raccolto da Attilio Gualtieri (Venice: erede di Girolamo Scotto, 1587). Strangely, Gualtieri had recourse to two different publishers and signed the dedication of Book 5 before that of Book 4.

Chapter 14

A job in Mantua? Marenzio’s frequent contacts with the Gonzaga family in Mantua occurred over a considerable space of time. As already noted, we have been able to find out little about the years he spent at Mantua in his youth, before transferring into the service of Cardinal Madruzzo. But we may suppose that in this period, approximately dated 1570–74, the musician from Coccaglio had attained a degree of professional experience that was to prove decisive. At Mantua the maestro di cappella at the basilica of Santa Barbara was Giaches de Wert, one of the century’s greatest composers.1 It was in refined courts such as Mantua that Marenzio’s art is rooted, and where a musical culture could flower that was at once elegant and passionate, intellectual and sensitive. In the rich documentation of the Gonzaga archives (the object of numerous studies)2 Marenzio’s name appears with unusual frequency over a period of many years. An early occurrence is a letter of Annibale Capello, an agent of Cardinal Luigi d’Este, to Aurelio Zibramonte, secretary of the duke of Mantova (10 September 1580): I am also sending to His Highness the newly published first book of madrigals by our Messer Luca Marenzio maestro di cappella of My Lord the cardinal, my patron, addressed to His Most Illustrious Lordship [Cardinal d’Este]. The composer is in Padua with the other famiglia. As soon as I see him I will perform that task with him [Marenzio] that Messer Antonio the singer told me about on behalf of His Highness [the duke of Mantua], to whom I have nothing new to say at the moment.3

1

Wert’s name is recorded with the title maestro di cappella of Santa Barbara from February 1565. In 1566 and 1567 respectively he published his Motectorum liber primus and fourth book a 5, both dedicated to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga. Wert remained in his post until 1592. In that year he was replaced by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, who had already stood in for Wert in 1582 and 1585 when he fell ill with malaria. See Fenlon, ‘Wert’, in NG II, vol. 27, p. 297; Tagmann, ‘La cappella dei maestri cantori’, pp. 376 ff. 2 Among others Canal, Della musica in Mantova; Bertolotti, Musici alla corte dei Gonzaga; Fenlon, Music and Patronage. For the letters concerning Marenzio see Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’. Many of these, albeit with somewhat inaccurate transcriptions, are reprinted in Engel, Luca Marenzio. 3 ‘Mando ancho a S[ua] Altezza il p[rim]o libro de Madrigali usciti novam[en]te in luce del n[ost]ro m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio maestro di Capella del S[igno]r Car[dina]le mio 107

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In other words, Duke Gugliemo Gonzaga had already charged a musician by the name of Antonio4 to make contact with Marenzio via Capello, a man who enjoyed Cardinale d’Este’s confidence, but was also known to the duke for having earlier served at the Mantuan court.5 A second letter (17 September) yields more information: I will report on Marenzio as soon as I come across him, and I won’t discuss anything without the good graces of His Most Illustrious Lordship [Cardinal d’Este]. He has been maestro di cappella of the late Cardinal of Trent [Cristoforo Madruzzo], he was accepted with the same responsibility by my Lord the Cardinal. Although not as a servant, I think that there would be no difficulty in getting him to come to sing at [the ducal chapel of] S. Barbara, but to take him [on permanently] as a singer is a more doubtful matter.6

The purpose of the negotiations was perhaps Marenzio’s participation in an unspecified musical event in the ducal chapel of Santa Barbara. Unfortunately the letter does not lend itself to an unambiguous interpretation: even the punctuation is doubtful. Probably Capello meant that Marenzio would have willingly accepted Gonzaga’s offer, but only on condition that he was not treated as a mere singer: by now he had a madrigalian publication under his belt and was therefore in a position to field offers that were prestigious in economic and other ways.

4

5

6

Patrone intitolati a S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma. L’autore è a Padova con l’altra famiglia, subito ch’io lo vegga farò quel uff[ici]o seco che m’ha detto m[es]s[er] Ant[oni]o Cantore per parte di S[ua] A[ltezza] alla q[ua]le per hora non ho che dirli altro.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1511 (Venice, 10 September 1580). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 154. Zibramonte, a learned jurisprudent, was secretary, then counsellor to Duke Guglielmo. Probably the singer Antonio Rizzi, who, in Rome on 9 September 1581, tried to attract to the Mantuan court Giovanni Battista Jacomelli, a Brescian musician who was gifted on several instruments: see Fabbri, ‘La vicenda umana e artistica di Giovanni Battista Jacomelli’, p. 409. Annibale Capello had already served as intermediary between Palestrina and the duke of Mantua. See Strunk, ‘Guglielmo Gonzaga and Palestrina’s Missa Dominicalis’. Fenlon, Music and Patronage, vol. 1, p. 134, writes that Capello had been chaplain to Duke Guglielmo before entering the service of Cardinal Luigi d’Este. ‘Del Marentio darò aviso sub[it]o che me sia abbocato seco, né tratarò cosa che non sia con buona gra[tia] di S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma. Egli è stato m[aest]ro di capella del Car[dina]le di Trento di stravagante memoria, fù acetato col medesimo carico dal Car[dina]le mio sig[no]re. Seben non come servo, credo che pigliandolo per serv[it]io del Principe non farebbe alc[un]a difficultà venir in S[an]ta Barbara a cantare, ma pigliarlo per cantore non so ciò che farà.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1511 (Venice, 17 September 1580). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 154. My transcription diverges from Ledbetter’s in the interpretation of the punctuation.

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A week later, on 24 September, Capello again wrote to Zibramonte: ‘By now Marenzio must have paid his respects to His Highness [the duke of Mantua] while passing through [Mantua], and he has left to go home for a month with the permission of our master; I think that he [Marenzio] will have received the message that I would have given him if he had been here, in accordance with the order given to me by Your Lordship [Zibramonte].’7 The same day Capello also wrote to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga: ‘I have not been able [owing to a bad attack of gout afflicting the cardinal] to discover exactly how the Cardinal intends to avail himself of Marenzio’s services; Marenzio left with His Most Illustrious Lordship’s permission to go to Brescia and by now he will have paid his respects to Your Most Serene Highness on his way through Mantua with the post.’ But he only has permission to remain away for a month.’8 We may infer from these words that the occasion for which the Duke requested the loan of Marenzio was to take place in the coming months. Naturally it was necessary not only to reach agreement with the musician, but also to obtain the prior consent of Cardinal d’Este. In my opinion the exceptional event that the duke and his subordinates were preparing with such care can be identified as the celebrations for the wedding of Prince Vincenzo Gonzaga (Guglielmo’s first-born) with Margherita Farnese, which had been scheduled for the spring of 1581. This thesis is confirmed by a detail that has so far eluded Marenzio scholars: in his second letter of 17 September Capello mentions a ‘servant of the prince’ (‘servitio del Principe’), perhaps referring to Vincenzo Gonzaga himself, since, if he had wanted to indicate his father Guglielmo, it would have been more correct to use the expression ‘Sua Altezza’ (‘His Highness’). Musically speaking, Vincenzo’s marriage benefited from the prestigious participation of Wert,9 and it is interesting to suppose that it was the maestro di cappella of S. Barbara who advised the Gonzagas to engage Marenzio for the occasion. Unfortunately no documents are available to reveal the outcome of these negotiations. However, given the historical premises a positive outcome seems plausible: as we have seen in Chapter 7, Cardinal d’Este was thinking of returning to Rome in the first few

7

8

9

‘Il Marentio deve a quest’hora haver basciata la mano a S[ua] Alt[ezz]a per transito, andando per un mese a casa sua con licenza del Padrone; credo che lui haverà havuta l’ambasciata che io l’haverei fatto se fosse stato qui, conforme all’ordine dattomi da V[ostra] S[ignoria].’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1511 (Venice, 24 September 1580). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 155. ‘Non ho per q[ues]to impedim[en]to potuto anchora scoprire la voluntà del Car[dina]le se ha in animo di valersi del serv[iti]o del Marentio il q[ua]le con licenza di S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma si partì per andare a Bresia, et a quest’hora havera basciata la mano a V[ostra] A[ltezza] S[erenissi]ma dovendo passare per Mant[ov]a a posta. Non ha però licenza di poter stare fuori più che per un mese.’ Ibid. See Chapter 7, n. 8.

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months of 1581, but stayed in northern Italy until the wedding had been celebrated.10 A second correspondence with important implications for Marenzio took place in the spring of 1583. On this occasion the ducal secretary Zibramonte was in Rome and wrote directly to his employer. Duke Guglielmo was in search of a maestro di cappella, and entrusted to his emissary the task of exploring the situation in Rome in order to verify if any musician in the city was available. At that time the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma was already a recognized and authoritative association, and so Zibramonte turned directly to the Compagnia’s most influential figure, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, who for some time had already been acting as the duke’s authoritative adviser in musical matters. The first letter is dated 26 March: Messer Giovanni da Palestrina has told me that a Messer Annibale Zoilo would be suitable as maestro di cappella to Your Highness. [Palestrina] has promised to sound him [Zoilo] out. Messer Annibale Capello, however, has told me that Palestrina himself would come and serve Your Highness, and he is also backing his son [Angelo Pierluigi], who is a good musician, [to go and serve] His Most Serene Lordship the Prince [Vincenzo Gonzaga], but [Capello] does not know how much Palestrina is stipulating as a salary.11

10

Unfortunately the official descriptions of the wedding are not extant. But we know that musical and theatrical entertainments, especially comedies with intermedi, were organized beginning with the carnival of 1581, and perhaps even earlier. Fenlon, Music and Patronage, vol. 1, pp. 133 ff., rightly observes that from 1580 Duke Guglielmo was seriously engaged in recruiting new musicians for the wedding celebrations, entrusting the negotiations to two prominent ducal agents, Zibramonte and Antonio Rizzi. However, Fenlon does not include the episode concerning Marenzio within this framework. The wedding was first celebrated in Parma, the bride’s home town, on 30 April 1581, but the festivities continued in Mantua in the days that followed. The whole Ferrarese court was present. See the testimony of Scipione Gonzaga (Autobiografia, pp. 156–57): ‘Nuptiae celebratae sunt splendidissime; easque una cum iis, quos ante nominavimus, praesentia sua cohonestarunt Aloisius Estensis Cardinalis, Alfonsus Ferrariae, et Octavius Parmae Duces’ (‘The wedding was celebrated in splendid style, and was graced with the presence of the three cardinals mentioned earlier [Farnese and Gambara], and also of Cardinal Luigi d’Este, Alfonso, duke of Ferrara and Ottavio, duke of Parma’). Interesting for the Parma celebrations are the dispatches sent to the duke of Mantua by Cesare Cavriani, who accompanied the bridal pair on the journey in the Bucintoro (state barge) to Ferrara and Mantua; see Sherr, ‘Mecenatismo musicale a Mantova’. 11 ‘M[es]s[er] Giovanni da Palestina hà discorso meco che sarebbe à proposito per M[aest]ro di Capella di V[ostra] A[ltezza] un m[es]s[er] Annibale Zoilo, l’animo del quale m’hà promesso di tentare et m[es]s[er] Don Annibale Capello m’hà detto ch’esso Palestina verrebbe à servir à V[ostra] A[ltezza], appoggiando il figlio ch’è

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This document reveals that the search for the right musician was proceeding on two levels: Zibramonte was availing himself of Palestrina’s advice, while at the same time heeding the information provided by Annibale Capello. The situation was rather complicated because Palestrina, the presumed impartial adviser, had used the channel of another agent to declare an interest in filling the position himself, and moreover had sought to favour his own son with Prince Vincenzo. From 9 April Zoilo’s candidature was withdrawn: Palestina has discovered that Zoilo is unwilling to leave Rome, since he has a wife and children. This leaves only Luca Marenzio, who serves the Lord Cardinal d’Este, and His Most Illustrious Lordship is thinking of sending him to the King of France, and yet last year he did not want to cede him to his brother the Lord duke of Ferrara. Palestrina himself does not consider the said Marenzio to be a better man than Soriano either in knowledge or in aptitude for directing musicians, and therefore he advises His Highness to seek elsewhere.12

This famous letter has been the subject of contrasting opinions, because at first sight Palestrina’s opinion of Marenzio is scarcely flattering and even seems to be corrupted by a certain dishonesty. Hans Engel claims that Palestrina was motivated only by personal interest: Francesco Soriano was his pupil and therefore much more trustworthy than Marenzio, even if he was less gifted with true musical originality.13 More recently Anthony Newcomb has rebutted this view, claiming that Palestrina did not harbour envy or prejudice, but on the contrary was being lucidly objective: Marenzio, according to Newcomb, was essentially a madrigalist, working with small ensembles of virtuoso singers, and therefore did not have much experience in ‘directing musicians’ in groups whose function was to perform the liturgical repertoire; for these reasons Soriano offered

buon musico al Ser[enissi]mo S[igno]r Pren[cip]e, mà non sà le conditioni particolari ch’esso Palestina pretende.’ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, b. 934 (Rome, 26 March 1583). 12 ‘Il Palestina hà ritrovato che il Zoilo hà moglie et figli, però nol partirebbe di q[ua], onde si ferma solamente in m[es]s[er] Lucca Merentio, quale serve il S[igno]r Car[dina]le d’Este, et S[ua] S[igno]ria Ill[ustrissi]ma hà pensiero di mandarlo al Re di Francia, et però l’anno passato ella non lo volse concedere al S[igno]r Duca de Ferrara suo fra[te]llo. Reputa l’istesso Palestina che il detto Merentio nol sia maggiore huomo del Soriano, né in scienza né in attitudine di governar musicj, et però egli loda che S[ua]A[ltezza] faccia far prattica altrove.’ Ibid. (Rome, 9 April 1583). The letter continues: ‘Di sé et del figliuolo per hora di servir à S[ua]A[ltezz]a egli nol mi hà fatto motto alc[un]o con tutto che gl[i]e n’habbia dato occasione, però farò che m[es]s[er] D[on] Annibale Capello s’informi’ (‘He [Palestrina] has not said a word about he and his son coming to serve Your Highness, even though he has had occasion to, but I will tell Don Annibale Capello to find out more’). 13 Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 27 ff.

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better guarantees.14 Newcomb’s interpretation, accepted also by Ledbetter in his biographical study, is subject to some doubt: even though the traditional image of Marenzio is of an essentially secular composer, nevertheless we have seen that his musical training was complete, as demonstrated on the one hand by the superb contrapuntal qualities of the youthful Sacrae cantiones, and on the other by the recurrent designation of ‘maestro di cappella’, which I do not believe can always be reduced to a purely honorific or symbolic title. In order to arrive at a correct interpretation of this exchange we should be careful to assess its context, which is clear from another letter of Zibramonte (13 April): ‘This morning Messer Giovanni da Palestrina come to tell me that, for the love he bears his pupil Soriano, he would be unhappy that he should lose his position he holds with Your Highness, but being so devoted as he is to Your Highness, he does not wish to fail to state his willingness to serve you along with his 22-year-old son, who has a wife and a young son ...’.15 Contrary to a widely held view, it is not certain that on this occasion Duke Guglielmo was seeking a maestro di cappella for the ducal chapel of Santa Barbara. This post was permanently occupied by Wert, who was replaced by Gastoldi only a few times owing to serious illness, in 1582 and 1585. Instead the letter of 26 March seems to refer to the post of maestro di cappella to the duke, something completely different: the phrase should be understood as referring to the director of the private court music. Between 1581 and 1586 this post was occupied by Francesco Soriano,16 the musician whom Palestrina did not consider inferior to Marenzio. It is not clear why Duke Guglielmo wished to replace him in 1583. Perhaps Soriano had in some way fallen short of his patron’s expectations.17 14 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 87. 15 ‘M[esser] Giovanni da Palestrina è venuto a dirmi q[ue]sta matt[in]a che gli spiacerebbe per l’amore qual egli porta al Soriano suo allievo che egli perdesse per sua causa il luogo che tiene presso V[ostra] A[ltezza], ma che essendo tanto devoto quant’è all’A[ltezza] V[ostra]; non vuole mancar d’offerirsele pronto a venir a servirla insieme con un suo figl[iuo]lo giovane di 22 anni, quale ha moglie et un figliuolino ...’. ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 934 (Rome, 13 April 1583). Quoted in Bertolotti, Musici alla corte dei Gonzaga, p. 175. 16 O’Regan, ‘Soriano’, in NG II, vol. 23, p. 745. In the dedication to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga of his first book a 5 (1581) Soriano states that he has not yet met his future patron personally: ‘huomo che non la servij mai, e non conosciuto da lei’ (‘a man who has never served you and is not known to you’). 17 Strunk, ‘Guglielmo Gonzaga and Palestrina’s Missa Dominicalis’, p. 229, summarizes the affair as follows: ‘Musicians were seldom appointed to the ducal service until Palestrina had been consulted. For a time Francesco Soriano held such an appointment, but this pupil of Palestrina’s evidently failed to come up to expectations, for by 1583 the Duke was taking steps to replace him. Overtures were made to Annibale Zoilo and at one time Luca Marenzio was under consideration, but in the end it was to Palestrina himself that Soriano’s post was offered. Nothing came

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If we re-examine the facts in the light of these points, we see that, in answer to the ducal secretary’s requests, Palestrina drew up a sort of classification. In first position he placed Annibale Zoilo, probably because he was a somewhat senior maestro with proven experience. After Zoilo had declined for family reasons, Palestrina thought for a moment of Marenzio, a musician who was younger but whose stock was rapidly rising, and who was already much esteemed within the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma. Unfortunately Marenzio too was not free: his patron, in fact, had just refused him to the duke of Ferrara and had the firm intention of sending him to the French king. This news was no ill-founded rumour, given that Palestrina would almost certainly have heard it from Annibale Capello, who enjoyed the confidence of Cardinal d’Este. Never mind, Palestrina must have thought: after all, Marenzio was not considered a ‘better man’ than the one whom he would have had to replace: Soriano, Palestrina’s pupil. Interpreted in its proper context, Palestrina’s judgement can be interpreted as a means of consoling the duke of Mantua: since Marenzio was no longer available (he was destined for France), there was all the more reason not to trouble looking for another musician. It is hard to say if Palestrina, who a few days later proposed himself as a candidate, was particularly interested in the Mantuan post, or whether Guglielmo Gonzaga insisted on acquiring such a prestigious musician; for whatever reason, the negotiations with Palestrina petered out, and Soriano remained in his post for three more years. Thus Palestrina’s opinion about Marenzio was certainly influenced by private interests, but not necessarily by resentment or envy, as Alfred Einstein maintained.18 Above all we must remember that Francesco Soriano was in fact reputed to be one of the finest musicians of Rome in the art of counterpoint.19 Passing now to the rich Mantuan documentation of the years 1586–87, which have also been known to scholars for a long time, we note that the identity of the correspondents changes once again: Scipione Gonzaga, patriarch of Jerusalem and a future cardinal, was charged with contacting Marenzio in Rome and sent dispatches to Federico Cattaneo, another secretary to Duke Guglielmo. This new attempt to engage the Brescian musician did not come out of thin air. It was in 1586 that Soriano left the Gonzaga court in order to return to Rome, where he was appointed maestro di cappella of S. Maria Maggiore. A void was thus created in the musical life of Mantua that had to be filled. This fact, which scholars have so far failed to disclose, seems to confirm that, three years before, the duke of of these negotiations ...’. Strunk’s reconstruction convinces me more than the traditional one, accepted among others by Ledbetter (‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 75) and Fenlon (Music and Patronage, vol. 1, p. 89), who contend that Marenzio was to have replaced Wert in the position of maestro di cappella of S. Barbara. 18 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 623 ff. 19 See Chapters 1 and 11.

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Mantua had been thinking of Marenzio as a possible replacement of Soriano, not Wert. In all probability Scipione Gonzaga met Marenzio through Cardinale d’Este.20 In January 1585 the composer had dedicated his Motecta festorum totius anni to Gonzaga. Scipione was a very cultivated man, ‘musices amantissimo atque intelligentissimo’, as we read in Marenzio’s dedication. Born in San Martino dell’Argine (Mantua) in 1542, he cultivated poetry during his youth. When he met Tasso in Padua in 1564 he invited him to join the Accademia degli Eterei, which Gonzaga had founded in his residence in Padua. We can say that Scipione was Tasso’s principal literary adviser and also one of his closest friends. After his years of confinement in S. Anna the poet was a guest in the prelate’s Roman palace several times. Scipione Gonzaga has also left us a fascinating autobiography written in Latin, modelled on Caesar’s Commentarii. However, only a few pages of this work are dedicated to the 1580s and almost nothing is written about his musical and literary tastes.21 Scipione, who was used to the company of the outstanding intellects of his day, was given the delicate task of attracting Marenzio into the orbit of the Mantuan court. The search for an agreement was long and complicated: as always, it was a question of convincing the composer on the one hand and Cardinal d’Este on the other. Scipione’s first report is dated 3 May 1586: ‘Messer Luca Marentio still serves Cardinal d’Este, but as he does not have any fixed remuneration, so also he does not have a proper title. But the cardinal demonstrates affection and great esteem for him and often gives him a good gift.’22 I do not believe this 20

21

22

Gonzaga and Cardinal d’Este had excellent relations. See S. Gonzaga, Autobiografia, p. 146: ‘Secundum Pontificem a Scipione maxime colebatur Aloisius Cardinalis Estensis, tum ob eam, quam aliquot annos erga Hippolytum patruum navarat operam, tum vel maxime ob diuturnam quandam, et perquam familiarem cum illo consuetudinem’ (‘After the pope, the prelate for whom Scipione had the most respect was Cardinal Luigi d’Este, both because of the support he had lent for many years to the work of his uncle Ippolito and for the intimate ties brought about by his daily visits’.) This passage refers to the 1570s. See also BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1052, fol. 116 (Rome, 10 October 1584): ‘Erano fuori in un istesso tempo à Tivoli hieri il car[dina]l Rusticucci, l’Amb[asciato]r di Venetia ..., et il s[igno]r Scipion Gonzaga dal car[dina]l d’Este convalescente’ (‘Yesterday Cardinal Rusticucci, the Venetian Ambassador ... and Scipione Gonzaga were away in Tivoli at the same time to visit Cardinal d’Este, who was convalescing’). Gonzaga, Autobiografia. On Scipione Gonzaga, and in particular the role he may have played in facilitating Marenzio’s access to Tasso’s poetry, see Fenlon, ‘Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga’, pp. 223–49. ‘M[es]ser Luca Marentio serve tuttavia Mons[igno]r Ill[ustrissi]mo d’Este, ma come non ha provision ferma, cosÏ non ha titolo proprio. Il S[igno]r Car[dina]le però mostra d’amarlo et di stimarlo assai, et spesso gli fà qualche buon donativo.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 941 (Rome, 3 May 1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 187.

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information reached Gonzaga from Cardinal d’Este; it is more likely that Marenzio himself would have described his personal situation in these terms. An astute strategist, Marenzio allowed certain causes of dissatisfaction to filter through, for example the fact that he was not regularly paid, but was also careful to underline his patron’s benevolence and generosity. Scipione’s letter continues by reporting the rumours about Marenzio’s well-aired move to France, which will be discussed in the next chapter. Scipione further writes: As for [Marenzio’s] inclination, I think I have learnt two things: first, he would allow himself to be persuaded to leave Rome; secondly, he would not be induced to do so without a position both honourable and advantageous. I was able to infer this first point very easily in the course of a conversation with him, but this was many weeks ago, on the occasion of a rumour that Filippo de Monte was retiring from service to His Majesty the Emperor. As for the second point, besides having discussed it and received a very clear indication, it is the common judgement of all those who know him.23

Gonzaga’s first impressions were accurately confirmed some days later. In his letter to Cattaneo dated 10 May he writes: As for the position that he [Marenzio] aspires to – this was the last thing His Highness commanded me to learn – I have been unable to discover it from anyone close to him, and he says he cannot specify it until he knows in what place and which prince he would serve, and also what conditions would be required of him. In general I find it good that he would not accept any kind of position, and that, much desirous of honour, he would not serve under a superior in the same profession; he also insists on stability, and wherever he agrees to serve, there, insofar as it concerns him, he would expect to live and die. To sum up, he shows nobility of spirit, and does not find it easy to abase himself for anything; and yet he never fails to be modest and courteous towards whomever he is dealing with. And this week there were several occasions to doubt if it would be necessary to obtain Cardinal d’Este’s consent to this new service, since this poor gentleman is near to death.24

23

‘Quanto all’inclinazione a me pare d’haver conosciuto due cose; l’una, che egli si lasciarebbe persuadere ad uscir di Roma; l’altra, che non vi s’indurrebbe se non con partito et molto utile et molto honorevole. Il primo io lo compresi assai facilm[en]te da un ragionamento ch’egli ebbe meco, ma sono ancora molte sett[ima]ne per occ[asio]ne d’una voce che s’era sentita, che Filippo di Monte si ritirava dal ser[vi]tio della M[aes]tà dell’Imp[erato]re. Del secondo, oltre ch’io n’habbia qualche argomento, o inditio assai chiaro, è comune giuditio di tutti coloro, che lo conoscono.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 941 (Rome, 3 May1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 187. 24 ‘Hora il partito ch’egli pretenderia, che era l’ultima cosa che S[ua] A[ltezza] commandava ch’io procurassi d’intendere, io non ho potuto per via d’alcun suo più domestico penetrarlo, dicendo egli non potere specificar q[ue]llo se p[ri]ma non sà non sol[amen]te il luogo e il Principe ch’egli dovesse servire, ma anco le conditioni,

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The days passed by, but nothing was resolved. On 24 May Gonzaga was pessimistic: ‘Up to now I have received little no reason to hope he will accept the position, since he claims that he spends more than the amount proposed in Rome for himself alone and that upon other occasions other princes have offered him better terms.’25 The identity of these generous princes is easy to guess: Alfonso d’Este the duke of Ferrara, Duke Anne de Joyeuse, the cousin of the French king, perhaps Bianca Capello, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici.26 In Scipione Gonzaga’s letter to Cattaneo of 31 May Marenzio’s economic demands are finally disclosed: Messer Luca Marenzio’s reply has become firmer, but is still very far from what Your Lordship told me His Highness had in mind: he could not consider the position if he were offered less than 200 scudi [per year] as salary, with expenses for himself, his servant, and a horse, and 100 scudi on account drawn in advance to provide for the expenses of the move.27

There follows a very interesting passage, already partially quoted in Chapter 4, that supports the hypothesis that Marenzio as a young man spent a long period in service at the Mantuan court: It is true that, having formed the opinion, through various conjectures, that we were che si ricercassero da lui. In generale trovo bene, ch’egli non accetterebbe ogni sorte di partito, come quegli, che mira molto all’honorevole, né servirebbe dove avesse superiore nella sua p[ro]fess[io]ne all’incontro, poi egli preme molto nella stabilità, e dove accettasse di servire, ivi farebbe conto per q[ua]nto fosse in sé di vivere et morire. In somma egli mostra spiriti molto nobili, et non facilm[en]te s’abassa ad ogni sorte di cosa; né però lascia d’essere modesto et cortese con chi tratta. E q[ue]sta sett[ima]na siamo più volte stati à termine, che si dubitò non dover lui haver più bisogno del consenso dell’Ill[ustrissi]mo d’Este per accettar nuova servitù, tanto quel povero Sig[no]re è stato vicino al morire.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, b. 941 (Rome, 10 May 1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 188. 25 ‘Fin hora mi è data pochiss[im]a o niuna speranza ch’egli sia per accettare il partito proposto, facendo egli profess[io]ne di spender molto più per se stesso in Roma, e che per altro tempo da altri Principi gli siano state offerte più larghe conditioni.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, b. 941 (Rome, 24 May 1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 189. 26 See Chapters 15 and 16. 27 ‘La risposta di m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio è stata assai più risoluta, ma lontano molto da quello, che V[ostr]a S[ignori]a m’avvisò esser di mente di S[ua] A[ltezza] et questa è che per meno di duecento scudi di provisione, spesa per sé, per ser[vito]re e per cavalcatura, cento scudi innanzi tutto, ma però à conto, per potersi fornire, et la spesa del viaggio, egli non partirebbe di quà.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 941 (Rome, 31 May 1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 190.

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talking about Our Most Serene Lord the Duke, he told me that he would serve His Highness more willingly than perhaps any other prince whatsoever, since he remembers having already spent some years in the same service, bur he will not, for that reason, reduce the conditions already proposed, saying that he knows that if he accepted a smaller salary he would neither give nor receive that satisfaction which he desires, since wherever he might agree to work, there he would like to live and to serve faithfully and with diligence.28

In the meantime Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga, whose letters of reply have unfortunately been lost, persisted in wanting to engage the musician on cheap terms. Two weeks later, on 14 June, Scipione involved another intermediary in the negotiations, a certain Don Annibale, probably the same Don Annibale Capello who had acted as an agent for Cardinal d’Este: I tried to speak again with Marenzio, but without success, since he also has a foot ailment and has to remain at home. I promise to see him as soon as possible and I will see that he receives both the information and the advice of Don Annibale, since if he is not moved by these two things, I personally don’t see much hope, for it seems to me that he has been very resolute [in his demands] in our last talk.29

Scipione Gonzaga’s last letter (21 June) shows that, not for the first time, the two sides had reached an impasse: As for Messer Luca Marenzio, I succeeded in getting him to talk with Don Annibale; then I tried a new assault, to persuade him to be content with the conditions Your Lordship wrote down for me. But to sum up, after a lot of effort and disagreement, all I managed to do was persuade him to reduce his salary demand by 50 scudi, so that for the sum of 150 scudi, but in gold, along with expenses for himself, his servant, and a

28

29

‘Vero è, che per diverse congetture essendo egli entrato in opinione, che si parli per il S[ign]or Duca nostro Ser[enissi]mo ha havuto a dire, che più volontieri servirebbe a S[ua] A[ltezz]a che forse à qual si voglia altro Principe, ricordandosi di haver già speso qualche anno nella med[esim]a servitù, ma non perciò egli si ritira dalla conditione già proposta, dicendo conoscere, che accettando minor partito egli né riceverebbe né darebbe quella soddisfatt[io]ne, che disidera poi che dove una volta gli occorrerà d’impiegarsi, ivi disegna di fornir la vita sua, e di servire con ogni fedeltà e diligentia.’ Ibid. ‘Ho procurato di riparlar à m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio, ma non mi è riuscito per essersi anch’egli fatto male à un piede, che lo ritiene in casa. Vedrò di farlo q[uan]to prima, et procurerò ancora, ch’egli riceva e l’informat[io]ne e ’l consiglio di m[es]s[er] Don Annibale, poi che se da queste due cose egli non è mosso, io per me ne spero molto poco, parendomi dall’ult[im]o ragionam[ent]o havuto meco, ch’egli parlasse molto risoluto.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 941 (Rome, 14 June 1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 190.

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horse, he would enter the service of Your Highness. And he said that for anything less he knew he could not give or receive satisfaction, nor did he want to make any lastminute demands, in order to show the particular inclination he has to serve His Serene Highness more than any other prince.30

However, the duke of Mantua was once again unwilling to accept these conditions. Six months passed, and Cardinal d’Este died after a long illness. Without a patron, Marenzio was now considered easier prey for the musical appetites of the Gonzaga family. So in January 1587 a new initiative was launched: this time it was not Scipione Gonzaga who conducted negotiations, but another Roman agent, Attilio Malegnani, who always reported back to the ducal secretary, Federico Cattaneo. On 17 January Malegnani wrote: ‘I will not fail to talk to Messer Luca Marenzio as soon as possible, and beseech him to come and serve our Most Serene Lord.’31 A few days later Malegnani finally succeeded in meeting the composer. On 24 January he wrote: I talked to Messer Luca Marenzio about coming to serve His Highness in the way Your Lordship wrote me in your letter of the 9th of this month, and he answered that, being still under the jurisdiction of his father, he cannot decide on his own account without his father’s agreement; he has already written to him about the death of Cardinal d’Este, his patron, and by the next post he will write with the request and proposal that His Highness has had made him, but he remains most obliged to him, as is fitting for such a prince and gentleman, and he says that after he receives an answer from his father he will reply with a clear answer. Then he made a speech about how he is accustomed, here in Rome, to spend more than 200 scudi a year apart from expenses, and so he doubts that with such a low remuneration [as that offered by Gonzaga] he could serve the Most Serene Duke with befitting honour, and he [Marenzio] seeks his [the duke’s] obligation and favour, accompanied

30

‘Quanto à m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio, io procurai, ch’egli parlasse con m[es]s[er] Don Annibale; e dopo questo io gli ho dato nuovo assalto, affinche egli si contentasse delle condit[io]ni che V[ostra] S[ignoria] mi scrisse. Ma in somma dopo molta fatica et molto contrasto io non l’ho potuto tirar ad altro, che à rimetter soli cinquanta scudi della domanda già fatta, di modo che per 150 scudi ma d’oro in oro egli accetterebbe di venir à servir S[ua] A[ltezza] aggiunte l’altre condit[io]ni della spesa per se, servitore e cavalcatura, che con meno egli conosce non potere né dare né ricevere sodisfatione, né più vuol richiedere per ult[im]a parola, per mostrar la part[icola]re inclinat[io]ne che tiene alla servitù dell’A[ltezza] S[ua] sopra q[uel]la d’ogni altro Principe.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 941 (Rome, 21 June 1586). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 191. 31 ‘non mancherò parlare come mi ordina à m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio, quanto prima, et essortarlo che venga a servire il n[ost]ro Ser[enissi]mo S[igno]re’. ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 947 (Rome, 17 January 1587). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 193.

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by the generous spirit the duke has always had, so I suspect he [Marenzio] aspires to much more.32

Thus Marenzio reverted to asking for an annual salary of 200 scudi (in addition to expenses), just as he had done seven months earlier with Scipione Gonzaga. Being without a patron did not alter the terms of the negotiations, except that now the musician, before accepting his new conditions of work, was obliged to obtain the agreement of his father. The demand for 200 scudi has appeared exorbitant to some, above all because Cardinal d’Este gave Marenzio only 60 a year (in addition to board, lodging and various ‘presents’ befitting the cardinal’s muchpraised generosity).33 But Rome certainly offered many work opportunities to an up-to-date musician. If Marenzio was able to dedicate himself to private teaching (and let us not forget the ladies who were his ‘discipole’) and to professional engagements as a singer and composer, a yearly income of at least 200 scudi does not seem implausible: it is enough to remember that during Lent of 1584 the Confraternita della SS. Trinità paid him a fee of 90 scudi, the equivalent of 150 per cent of the salary he received from Cardinal d’Este!34 Malegnani’s letter concludes with a veritable paean of generosity to the duke of Mantua: ‘I pointed out to him what it means to serve His Highness and what a 32

‘Ho parlato à m[es]s[er] Luca Merentio del venir à servir Sua Altezza nel modo che V[ostra] S[ignoria] mi scrisse per la sua del 9. del presente, et ch’egli m’ha risposto, che ritrovandosi ancor sotto la podestà paterna, non può disporre di lui senza il consenso di suo padre, al quale ha di già scritto la morte del S[igno]r Cardinale d’Este suo padrone, et che per questo ordinario gli scriverà anco la richiesta et proposta che gli fà fare S[ua] A[ltezza], alla quale perciò resta obligatissimo nel modo che si conviene a un tanto prencipe et S[igno]re, et che havuta che havrà risposta dal padre mi risponderà assolutamente. Poi m’ha fatto un discorso con dire che lui è solito a spendere qua in Roma più di 200 scudi l’anno oltre le spese di modo tale ch’egli dubita che con si puoca provisione non potrebbe far l’honore al Ser[enissi]mo S[igno]r Duca, come si conviene, et ricerca il dovere, et il grado suo, accompagnato dall’animo grande ch’egli ha sempre havuto, perloche dubito ch’egli pretenda assai più ...’. ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 947 (Rome, 24 January 1587). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 194–95. 33 On all the financial aspects, see the detailed analysis in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’. For the purchasing power of coins circulating in the Papal State see Delumeau, Vita economica e sociale di Roma nel Cinquecento, pp. 173–98. 34 See Chapter 9. Curiously, it is in 1584, apparently one of the more fortunate years in Marenzio’s career, that the composer addressed Cardinal d’Este in these terms: ‘essendo io privo de beni fortuna, et non potendo ottenere quello che già lei mi fece assegnare, non sò Il[lustrissi]mo sig[no]re in qual modo debbia, e possia governarmi’ (‘being without material fortune and being unable to obtain that which you formerly had assigned to me, I do not know, Most Illustrious Lord, in what way I should or could behave’). The letter (ASMo, Particolari [Marenzio], 18 June 1584) has been completely transcribed in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 176–77.

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difference it is to serve a prince rather than someone else, and to the presents His Highness is accustomed to give to those who serve him well, such as Signor Giaches [Wert] and many other singers of lesser or equal importance to him, factors which seem to me to be of worthy of great consideration.’35 The ducal secretary Cattaneo was now more than ever resolved to conclude the affair and sent a friar by the name of Cesare – perhaps to be identified with the composer of instrumental canzonas Cesario Gussago – to seek out Luca’s father in order to obtain the necessary permission. On 10 February the friar sent the following report: As soon as I arrived [in Brescia] from Milan, I spoke with Luca Marenzio’s father outside his front door; he is a polite old man. The upshot of the conversation was that he has received no letter from his son for six months, and does not expect to receive one on this occasion. But if he should be asked his opinion on this occasion, he would advise his son to remain in Rome, since he could stay there comfortably. And if he should decide to leave, he should not postpone his departure and service with His Most Serene Highness or any other [prince]. In this way our good Luca is well set to accept whichever position is best.36

Three months passed before the problem of paternal consent was finally resolved. Malegnani wrote to Cattaneo on 13 May: Last Sunday Messer Luca Marenzio came and told me that his father had written to him agreeing that he should come and serve our Most Serene Lord, in whose service I spoke with him a few days ago, provided His Highness wanted to offer him the remuneration that he ordered me to offer him, as Your Lordship knows full well. In return Messer Luca would be obliged to serve His Serene Lordship for the rest of his life, namely as long as he lives, and he [Luca’s father] asked me to let His Highness know, as I am now 35

‘gli ho messo in consideratione che cosa sia il servir l’A[ltezza] S[ua] et che differenza vi sia à servir un Principe, con un altro, et gli Donativi che usa di fare l’A[ltezza] S[ua] a tutti quelli che lo servono bene, dicendoli quella che S[ua] A[ltezza] ha donato al S[igno]r Giaches [Wert], et à tanti altri Cantori minimi, nonché pari suoi, le quali cose a me parevano di gran consideratione.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 947 (Rome, 24 January 1587). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 194–95. 36 ‘Subito che fui gionto da Milano, hebbi al uscio il p[ad]re di Luca Marenzo il q[ua]le è un garbato vecchione. La conclusione del ragionamento fu, che sono passati più di sei mesi, da che egli non ha havuto l[ette]ra da suo figlio et che non crede doverne havere in q[ue]sta occasione. Et che se pur egli sarà dimandato del suo parere, consigliarà il fig[liuo]lo a star in Roma potendoci star commodam[ente]. Et dovendo partire non pospona il partito, et la servitù di S[ua]A[ltezza] Ser[enissi]ma a qual si voglia altra. Talché si vede il bon Luca star sull’ale per dar di piglio a q[ue]l partito, che sarà migliore.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1519 (Brescia, 10 February 1587). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 195–96.

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doing by writing to Your Lordship. I gave no reply except to say I would do as he asked, and I ask you to pass on the message, and I will expect from you a reply on this matter so that I may know how to reply to Messer Luca.37

This document concludes the fruitless and wearing negotiations between the Mantuan court and Marenzio, which bore no significant result. Perhaps in the spring of 1587 a positive solution was close at hand, but Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga, who had commanded the campaign to lay siege to the composer over a period of several years, died on 14 August of the same year. In his place came Prince Vincenzo, who was to initiate another glorious musical period with Gastoldi, Pallavicino and above all Claudio Monteverdi. As for Marenzio, shortly before his death he was once again to be drawn towards the Mantuan court, where the art of music was accorded an unusually high place of honour.

37 ‘Domenica prossima passata M[es]s[er] Lucca Merentio mi venne à ritrovar dicendomi, che suo padre gli scriveva che si contentava, ch’egli venesse à servire il Ser[enissi]mo S[igno]r N[ost]ro, nel servitio di che io gli parlai alli giorni passati, ogni volta però che S[ua] A[ltezza] volesse assegnarli quella provigione, che me gli fece offerire, come ben sà V[ostra] S[ignoria]. In vita sua, cioè, mentre che detto m[es]s[er] Lucca viverà, con questo ch’egli sia obligato à servire il detto Ser[enissi]mo Sig[no]re et Ser[enissi]ma sua Casa, pregandomi farlo sapere all’A[ltezza] S[ua], si come faccio per mezzo di V[ostra] S[ignoria]. Non gli ho risposto cosa alcuna se non di far quanto egli mi richiede, che sarà per aviso di Lei, dalla quale starò aspettando risposta sopra ciò per saper che risponder ad esso Messer Lucca.’ ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1519 (Rome, 13 May 1587). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 197–98.

Chapter 15

‘His heart in France’* Between 1583 and 1586 discussions took place about the possibility of Marenzio’s transferring to France, to serve either King Henri III or the duke of Joyeuse. This plan was never brought to fruition, and for this reason the leading authorities on the composer have always limited themselves to a cursory examination of the ‘French’ episode without coming to grips with the numerous historiographical problems it poses.1 Nevertheless, merely by investigating the historical background of this period, we can obtain valuable information about Cardinal d’Este’s musical patronage. Luigi d’Este, in his capacity as protector of France’s interests in Rome, was intensely engaged in correspondence with Henri III and with the secretary of state Villeroy.2 The cardinal had family ties with the French crown, being the son of Renée of France and the nephew of the late King Louis XII. Moreover he was also related to the powerful Guise family through his sister Anna d’Este, who was married to Duke François of Lorraine.3 None of these ties was without repercussions for Marenzio’s musical activities. The first reference to a possible move to France on the part of Marenzio is found in letter of Aurelio Zibramonte to the duke of Mantua cited earlier (Rome, 9 April 1583): ‘Cardinal ... d’Este ... is thinking of sending him to the King of France, and yet last year he did not want to cede him to his brother the duke of Ferrara.’4 In a letter of the same year sent to the agent Fulvio Teofili (Tivoli, 10 June), the cardinal also confirmed the rumours that the composer was bound for * A preliminary version of this chapter was presented to the Quarto Convegno della Società Italiana di Musicologia (Florence and Fiesole, 28 November 1997) in the session ‘Committenza e mecenatismo’, chaired by Warren Kirkendale; this paper was subsequently published as Bizzarini, ‘Luca Marenzio e la Francia’. 1 Engel, Luca Marenzio; Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 75–77, 96; Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, p. 559. 2 Some of the correspondence between Cardinal Luigi d’Este, King Henri III and secretary Villeroy in the period between 10 July 1581 and 30 December 1586 can be found in BNF, f. fr. 16041 and 16042. 3 The genealogy of the ducal branch of the Estense family for the sixteenth century is reproduced in Chiappini, Gli Estensi, tables IX–XII; and Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 284. 4 ‘il S[igno]r Car[dina]le di Este ... hà pensiero di mandarlo [Marenzio] al Re di Francia, et però l’anno passato ... non lo volle concedere al S[igno]r Duca di Ferrara suo 122

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Paris: ‘Since I have taken Marenzio on in order to send him to the King [of France], I would be unwilling to see him entangled in the service of others beyond what I am accustomed to command him to do.’5 Various indications lead us to suppose that Marenzio, rather than cross the Alps, would have preferred to enter the service of the duke of Ferrara,6 but the cardinal did not view with favour a rapprochement of his maestro di cappella with his brother’s court. Instead he harboured completely different plans, thinking only of France. How can we explain this tenacity? A historical event so far overlooked by Marenzio scholars can shed light on this problem. In the same summer of 1583 a French grand seigneur was travelling in Italy: Duke Anne of Joyeuse, a cousin and favourite of Henri III. Born in 1560, the ‘duca di Gioiosa’, as the Italians called him, was First Gentleman of the Chamber, a Knight of the Holy Spirit, an admiral and a peer of France. In 1581 he had married Marguerite Lorraine de Vaudemont, the queen’s sister, and it was in their honour that the French court had put on the epochmaking Balet comique de la Royne, a spectacle of unprecedented splendour and expense.7 Cardinal d’Este could not remain indifferent to a figure of such authority and gave him the best possible welcome in his fabled villa at Tivoli. Preparations began at the end of June: ‘Cardinal d’Este has sent Bosio, a gentleman of his, to the gates of Loreto to invite the duke of Joyeuse, cousin of the Most Christian King and a prince of France with greater authority than all the others, to come to Rome to stay in His Most Illustrious Lordship’s home.’8 Four days later we read: ‘In two days the duke of Joyeuse is expected at the home of

5

6

7 8

fratello’. ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 934. Transcribed in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 169. ‘Havendo pigliato il Marenzo, per mandarlo al Re, lo vedrei malvolentieri intrigato in serv[iti]o d’altri, oltre che non soglio commandarle più che tanto.’ ASMo, Ambasciatori (Roma), 133 [olim 89] (Tivoli, 10 June 1583). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 170. As we know, Marenzio had dedicated to Duke Alfonso II and to the duke’s sister Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, his first book a 6 (1581) and second book a 5 (1581) respectively. Thanks to a letter uncovered by Ledbetter (‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 171) we know that Lucrezia d’Este was still showing interest in Marenzio’s madrigals in June 1583. It was probably for this reason that Marenzio reproduced in the second edition of his second book a 5 his dedicatory letter to Lucrezia from the editio princeps, which he updated to 25 June 1583. Yates, ‘Poésie et musique’, pp. 241–64. ‘Ha il s[igno]r Car[dina]l d’Este inviato su le porte verso Loreto il Bosio suo gentilh[om]o ad invitare il Duca di Gioiosa cognato del Re chr[istianissi]mo et Princ[ip]e in Francia di mag[gio]re autorità de tutti gli altri, acciò venghi à Roma in casa di S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1051, fol. 266 (Rome, 25 June 1583).

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Cardinal d’Este, who is preparing to lavish the most generous hospitality on him.’9 Finally, on the evening of 1 July, without attracting much attention, the French nobleman made his entry into the city: Yesterday evening the duke of Joyeuse entered the city without being solemnly received by the court, and without the customary artillery salvos, though everything was arranged to do him this honour. But the evening before, this gentleman sent a messenger to say that he wished to enter in a private capacity, without this pomp. However, he was met by Cardinals Sans and Este and by the French ambassador in a carriage some distance outside Rome. Cardinal d’Este had lent him 20 carriages for the journey to his Most Illustrious Lordship’s home, where he was put up in fine style. Waiting for him were Cardinals Santacroce, Rusticucci and Gonzaga. As soon as he had alighted from his horse, the duke of Sora [Giacomo Boncompagni], accompanied by the leading barons of Rome, was there to visit him, honouring him greatly, with much respect and humility.10

This visit bore repercussions of a secular and festive nature, with plenty to gratify all the senses: The duke of Joyeuse visited all these noblemen, and in turn is receiving visits from them ... because of the great delight everyone takes in conversing with somebody so courteous, noble and humane, whom Cardinal d’Este is hosting and honouring at such generous expense. On Monday His Excellency dined with Cardinal Santacroce together with those of his nation who wished to be present and also with Cardinals d’Este and Gonzaga and the ambassador of France, and yesterday morning with Cardinal Sans, yesterday evening with the Bandini bankers, and today with Signor Horatio Rucellai, a most generous feast with several of Rome’s most beautiful and 9

‘Fra due dì si aspetta il Duca di Gioiosa in casa del s[igno]r Car[dina]l d’Este per l’arrivo del quale S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma fa fare regaliss[im]e provisioni per riceverlo.’ Ibid., fol. 272v (Rome, 29 June 1583). 10 ‘Il Duca di Gioiosa entrò hiersera in q[ues]ta città senza incontro solenne della corte, et senza la solita salva di artigl[ieri]a, se bene il tutto era preparato per fargli q[ues]to honore. Ma la sera innanzi q[ues]to s[igno]re per corr[ie]re avisò, che egli voleva entrare privatam[en]te, et senza q[ueste] pompe. Fù però incontrato dalli car[dina]li Sans, et Este, et dall’Amb[asciato]r di Francia un pezzo lontano fuori Roma in carrozza, havendo havuto la mattina à buon’hora da detto Este la comodità di 20 carrozze per venirsene in casa di S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma dove egli alloggiò regalissim[amen]te. Erano ad aspettarlo li car[dina]li Santacroce, Rusticucci, et Gonzaga. Né a pena fu smontato che il Duca di Sora accompagnato dalli prin[cipa]li Baroni di Roma fu a visitarlo, honorandolo molto con ogni rispetto, et humiltà.’ Ibid., fol. 275v (Rome, 2 June 1583). The visit of the duke of Sora, the natural son of Pope Gregory XIII, was motivated by the duke of Joyeuse’s hope of obtaining a cardinal’s hat for his brother (cf. Aurelio Zibramonte’s letter to the duke of Mantua, 2 June 1583, ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 934).

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noble ladies, where there was dancing until late at night, with plenty of everything necessary to gratify the senses. ... He has with him 60 people, not to mention the people here who belong to his party.11

But soon the moment came to say farewell: ‘Today [9 July] the duke of Joyeuse left for Tivoli ... and tomorrow he will return for supper ... and on Monday [11 June], after taking leave of the pope, His Excellency will leave for Tuscany.’12 Even though Joyeuse’s Roman visit lasted a total of only ten days, it was a very intense period for the city’s aristocrats and for the papal court. There is reason to believe that Luca Marenzio, as a musician of Cardinal d’Este, played an active role in the entertainments and that the duke valued him highly.13 The duke was also able to satisfy his love of music in the course of his journey. Having stopped at Florence, Anne de Joyeuse travelled north to Ferrara, where he listened to Livia d’Arco and was insulted by Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, who refused to take part in the famous concerto delle dame.14 11 ‘Il Duca di Gioiosa ha visitato tutti q[ues]ti Ill[ustrissi]mi da quali hora riceve il contracambio ... per la dolcezza grande, che hanno tutti di trattare con q[ues]to tanto cortese, gentile, et humano, il quale dal s[igno]r car[dina]l d’Este è prodigalissim[en]te spesato, et honorato. Lunedì s[ua] ecc[ellen]za pranzò co ’l car[dina]le Santacroce con quanti volsero essere seco della sua natione oltre li car[dina]li d’Este, et Gonzaga, et l’amb[asciato]r di Francia, et hiermattina dal car[dina]l di Sans, hiersera dalli Bandini banchieri, et hoggi dal s[igno]r Horatio Rucellai con un festone Regal[issi]mo di parecchie signore Romane prin[cipa]li di bellezza, et di nobiltà, dove si è danzato fino al tardi con copia di qual si voglia cosa necessaria per sodisfare alli sensi. ... Ha seco 60 persone, et della partita sua di qua non se ne parla.’ Ibid., fol. 284 (Rome, 6 June 1583). 12 ‘Hoggi il Ducca di Gioiosa è partito per Tivoli ... et diman sarà di ritorno per la cena ... et lunedì dopo la licenza dal Papa s[ua] ecc[ellen]za partirà verso Toscana.’ Ibid., fol. 299 (Rome, 9 June 1583). The same avviso describes in detail the visits the duke of Joyeuse paid to Rome in these days: to Castel S. Angelo, the Vatican Palace, the Campidoglio and the Villa Medici. 13 This is confirmed, albeit indirectly, by a letter of Scipione Gonzaga to Federico Cattaneo, dated 3 May 1586 (see Chapter 14, n. 22): ‘Di mandarlo in Francia non pare che vi sia più pensiero. Più tosto il Cardinale ha dato segno alcuna volta di destinarlo alla servitù del Signor Duca suo Fratello. Certo è, che havendo altri Signori, come in particolare il Duca di Gioiosa, havuto pensiero sopra la persona di esso Merentio, il Cardinale non se n’è voluto privare’ (‘It seems he [Cardinal Luigi d’Este] has no more thought of sending him [Marenzio] to France. Rather the cardinal has made occasional hints of transferring him into the service of his brother the Duke [of Ferrara]. What is certain is that, while other gentlemen, especially the duke of Joyeuse, have had designs on Marenzio, the cardinal has not wanted to do without him’). 14 Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, pp. 40, 183 and 186; Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 159–61.

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In 1584, one of Marenzio’s most productive years, Luigi d’Este hosted another influential person from beyond the Alps, his nephew Cardinal Louis II of Guise. ‘The Cardinal of Guise’, reports the avviso of 18 January, ‘is preparing to come to Rome, which he would have done sooner had he not been detained for love of a maid-of-honour of his mother’s called “La Sirena”, with whom he is in love; but she has just left for Normandy to be married, much to the cardinal’s regret.’15 Leaving aside the inquisitive and romantic aspect of this tittle-tattle, apt to exaggerate the worldly proclivities of princes of the Church, we are left with a precious documentation of Guise’s visit to Rome, in the same year that Marenzio dedicated to him his second book a 616 (dedication signed Rome, 15 April 1584). The explicit reference in the dedication to Cardinal d’Este, Guise’s uncle, places this madrigalian tribute in a typically familiar light.17 Evidently, Marenzio did not himself decide to whom he should dedicate his music, but allowed himself to be guided by his patron. Thanks to his close family ties with the Este, the cardinal of Guise frequently visited the Ferrarese court. Lover of music or no, his chief claim to distinction in secular history is less his cultural accomplishments than the fact that his brother was Duke Henri of Guise, principal thorn in the Valois dynasty’s flesh. The duke of Guise had led the Catholic party in the wars of religion and overseen the murder of Admiral Coligny during the tragic night of St Bartholomew. It was his idea, in 1576, to form the Holy League, or League of Catholics, to stem the advance of Protestantism. These were particularly difficult times for the French crown: Caterina de’ Medici and her sons observed with resigned suspicion the rise of the Guise family, and when Henri III became king the conflict came out in the open. Having become aware of the duke of Guise’s ambition (he had proposed to Pope Gregory XIII 15

‘Il car[dina]le di Guisa si prepara di passare à Roma, il che haverebbe fatto prima se non fosse stato ritenuto dall’amore di una Damigella di sua madre, chiamata la sirena, nella quale è innamorato, partita hora alla volta di Normandia per essersi maritata, con dispiacere di esso car[dina]le.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1052, fol. 22v (Rome, 18 January 1584). The sobriquet ‘Sirena’ would have been particularly suitable for a singer. 16 Modern edition by Meier in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 4. 17 Marenzio writes: ‘Degnisi V[ostra] S[ignoria] Illustriss[ima] di gradirle [queste mie poche note], & quando per altro non le giudichi capaci di tanto favore riguardile almeno con occhio di benignità considerando che i servitori del Sig. Cardinale d’Este suo Zio seguendo in ciò l’affetto del loro signore procurano come possono di scoprirle quella divotione d’animo con che vivamente la osservano’ (‘May Your Most Illustrious Lordship deign to favour [these my few notes], and if you do not judge them capable of such favour for any other reason, at least regard them with a benign eye in consideration of the fact that the servants of Cardinal d’Este your uncle, following the affection of their master, do their utmost to show that spirit of devotion with which they warmly respect you’).

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an anti-Huguenot alliance with Philip II of Spain), the king banished him in November 1584. In fact the French Catholics were split into two factions: on one side the Ligueurs, followers of Guise and in favour of an alliance with Spain, on the other the supporters of the crown, faithful to the ‘Most Christian King’ and implacable enemies of the ‘Catholic King’ (the King of Spain). This division had grave repercussions on policy within the Holy See, which was undecided whom to support. In Rome, in the eye of the cyclone, things were especially difficult for Cardinal d’Este, torn as he was between his loyalty to the King of France and his close family ties with the Guise family – not to speak of certain vestigial Huguenot sympathies derived from his Calvinist mother Renée. An avviso dated 22 August 1584 informs us that Luigi wished to go to France as soon as possible: ‘Este, heedless of health or life ... has gone to Tivoli and will return for the feast of St Louis, which is on Saturday, and His Illustrious Highness says he is resolved to go with all speed to France, but it is not known when he will be both fit and willing to undertake the journey.’18 Unfortunately for the cardinal, his wishes and his physical health failed to reach the wished-for alignment, and so the journey to France remained an unrealizable proposal. It is this omission that, I believe, lies behind Marenzio’s failure to gain employment at the Parisian court. If Este had undertaken the journey to Paris, in all probability he would have taken his own maestro di cappella with him in order to cede him to the French king. However, the cardinal did not move from Rome. This must be why Scipione Gonzaga, who surely knew of Luigi d’Este’s illhealth and other problems, wrote in the spring of 1586 that ‘there was no more thought’ of sending Marenzio to France.19 Another reason was that in these months Cardinal d’Este and Henri III were faced with a very difficult and dangerous situation. The French crisis had in fact become more acute after the coronation of the ‘iron pope’ Sixtus V, and the foreign policy of the Holy See left plenty of room for uncertainty about its supposed equidistance between Paris and Madrid. The new pope had already taken the reins of power when on 1 November 1585 Cristoforo Ferrari dedicated Marenzio’s third book a 3 to Florimonte d’Alvin.20 Among the five books of Marenzio’s villanellas, none of which was published on his direct initiative, the third book a 3 has the distinction of being the only book 18

‘Este, che non cura né sanità né vita ... è andato a Tivoli per ritornare alla festa di San Ludovico de’ Francesi, che sarà sabbato, dicendosi risolutam[en]te che S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma andarà presto in Francia, ma non si sa se a quell’hora la forza, et la volontà saranno insiem d’accordo.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1052, fol. 346 (Rome, 22 August 1584). 19 See n. 13. 20 Modern edition in Marenzio, I cinque libri di canzonette, ed. M. Giuliani, vol. 2, pp. 1–22.

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published in Rome, by Alessandro Gardano,21 and the only one compiled by Cristoforo Ferrari, a famiglio of Luigi d’Este’s in close contact with Marenzio.22 But let us focus our attention on the book’s dedicatee. Until now, nothing has been known in musicological circles about Florimonte d’Alvin, ‘Marchese di Pienna’, to whom the poetic madrigaletto on the third page of the editio princeps is also dedicated: Note felici e care Che gli amorosi detti di bei fiori Vestite, discoprendo i miei dolori, Se v’ode il signor mio Calliope con voi sia, Euterpe e Clio, Ch’ogn’hor cantando vui Dolce salutin lui E vaghe, unite e pronte Spirino al Cielo hor viva FLORIMONTE. Joyful sweet notes, which clothe these amorous lines with lovely flowers, disclosing my sorrow, if my master hears you, may Calliope, Euterpe and Clio be with you, so that, through your singing, they may greet him, and, graceful, united and willing, may shout to the heavens: ‘Long live FLORIMONTE!’

The meaning of this madrigaletto is made clear by the letter of dedication: the ‘joyful sweet notes’ refer to the music that clothes the ‘amorous lines’, and the ‘lovely flowers’ are none other than the villanellas, chosen to make up a beautiful bunch to render homage to a true gentleman such as Florimonte, who takes such delight in the Muses. The title page refers to the collection’s specifically Roman character (‘nel modo che hoggidì si usa cantare in Roma’ – ‘in the manner currently in use in Rome’). The recurrence of texts with female names – Lavinia, Leonora and Filli 21

As Giuliani has pointed out, this Roman print has the peculiar characteristic of presenting in each villanella the complete text of all the poetic strophes, whereas normally the first strophe is omitted since it already appears underlaid to the music: ibid., vol. 3, introduction, p. ix. 22 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 93. Unless we are dealing with someone of the same name, this Cristoforo Ferrari is possibly to be identified with the poet and jurist Cristoforo Ferrari who in 1585 took part in the performance of Sophocles’ Edipo tiranno at the inauguration of the Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza: S. Mazzoni, L’Olimpico di Vicenza, p. 141. He is also listed as one of the non-Vicentines of the Accademia Olimpica: see Chapter 19 and Plate 7.

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– once again confirms the typically female destination of the villanelle alla romana. Marchese Florimonte, too, was living in Rome, at least during this period: in the course of my researches I came across the following reference in a curious avviso of 28 May 1586: ‘The Marquis of Pienna has stayed away from the court in order to escape the disdain of the pope, who was offended with him after this gentleman had become involved with a young unmarried actress – but with her mother’s consent – a corker if ever there was one.’23 The marquis’s sensual temperament, directly at odds with the pope’s austerity, chimes perfectly with the villanellas’ amorous tone. The most interesting detail, however, is that this marquis was not Italian, but one of the franzesi then residing in Rome. In the dedication of the villanellas (and also in the avviso quoted above) his name appears in an Italianized form, as was the custom at that time, ‘Florimonte d’Alvin marchese di Pienna’, whereas in the original language it is spelt: ‘Florimont de Hallwin, marquis de Piennes’, as indicated in French heraldic sources.24 Once the marquis’s identity is revealed, it is easy to imagine that he was a frequent visitor of Cardinal d’Este, belonging to that group of French gentlemen lavishly hosted at the villa in Tivoli, against a probable backdrop of hydraulic devices and musical entertainment. The Marquis of Piennes, however, did not have that international political weight that we can recognize in the Marquis of Pisany, the dedicatee of the fourth book a 6, published in early 1587.25 To understand the profound political significance of this dedication we must make a historical digression into areas remote from our composer. Jean de Vivonne, lord of Saint-Gouard and Marquis of Pisany, was appointed the French king’s ambassador to the Holy See in March 1585.26 To this experienced and astute diplomat, who had cut his teeth at the court of Philip II of Spain, Henri III had entrusted the delicate task of watching over 23

‘Il Marchese di Pienna si è assentato da q[ue]sta corte per fuggire lo sdegno del Papa, che mostra contra di lui, per havere q[ues]to Messer havuto commertio con una zittella artista, co ’l consenso però della madre, boccone in vero da desiderare.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 226 (Rome, 28 May 1586). Could the girl in question have been called Lavinia? Among the texts of the third book a 3 the name Lavinia appears in capital letters no fewer than 11 times (see nos. 1, 2, 3 and 21). Certainly the lady in question was well-versed in music, since no. 21 reads: ‘Amanti voi, che Amore in preggio avete / Venite tutti in piazza Nicosia / A veder e udir la Donna mia. // Cosa udirete non più udita ancora / Move ella il Plettro e spira poi parole / Che ferman per udirla, in ciel il Sole. ...’ (‘You lovers, who hold Love in high regard, / come all of you to Piazza Nicosia, / to see and hear my lady. // There you will hear something unheard of, / her playing the lyre and singing words / that cause the sun, on hearing her, to stand still in the heavens’). 24 Some letters of Louis de Hallwin, Marquis of Piennes, are preserved in the BNF, f. fr. 4157. Piennes is a town in Lorraine. 25 Modern edition by Meier in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 5. 26 For Jean de Vivonne, see de Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet.

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the foreign policy of the newly elected Sixtus V. Preoccupied by the plots of the Guise family and of the Ligueurs, the French king was more than ever in need of papal support. In this situation an enormous responsibility weighed on the shoulders of Cardinal d’Este. Faithfully adhering to his task of acting as protector of the French crown, Luigi remained unswervingly faithful to the king, even though the duke of Guise, the moving force behind the Holy League, was his nephew. Thus the combined action of Ambassador Vivonne and the Cardinal Protector developed in perfect harmony, unyielding and undivided, in the exclusive service of Henri III’s policies. When Sixtus was elected, Cardinal d’Este felt cautiously optimistic. In a letter to Duke Alfonso he wrote that he had been ‘reliably informed of his promotion along with that of other of the king’s servants’, and then, in code, he expressed the hope of obtaining ‘some favour’ for his house and for the French king.27 Unfortunately this proved to be an illusion. At first Henri III asked Sixtus V for tangible support, promising to take on the Huguenots. Henri indicated that, were the pope to support the League, he (the king) would be obliged to form an alliance with Henri de Navarre in order to defend his crown and country from Spanish interference. The Ligueurs too attempted to win the pope over to their side. They sent to Rome a delegation of 50 gentlemen headed by Ludovico Gonzaga, duke of Nevers, and once again it fell to Cardinal d’Este to provide accommodation at Tivoli for this veritable throng, with 150 ‘mouths’ in tow.28 Although Luigi acted as host, he was careful not to espouse their cause.29 It was not by chance that Ambassador Vivonne placed the greatest trust in Cardinal d’Este: ‘Your Majesty’, he wrote to the king, ‘owes to Monsignor Cardinal d’Este all that is possible to a good relative and servant.’ The prelate was truly ‘a singular and excellent instrument for negotiating’.30 27

‘honesta parte nella sua essaltazione insieme con gli altri servitori del Re’ ... qualche favore’. Quoted in Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 232. 28 Ibid., p. 234. 29 On the mission of the duke of Nevers and Cardinal d’Este see the sharp observation of Scipione Gonzaga (Autobiografia, p. 163): ‘Quod in Aloisio eo mirabilius videbatur, quo arctior illi cum Henrico Guisio Duce, ac foederis ejus Principe tum familiaritas, tum sanguinis conjuncto intercedebat: erat enim Dux Aloisii sorore genitus. Itaque sub eodem tecto inter paucos, alioqui amicos ac necessarios, diversa maximis in rebus, immo contraria vigebant animorum studia’ (‘The most surprising thing was that the Ferrarese cardinal was tied by intimate friendship and family relationship with the head of the league, Henri de Guise, the son of a sister of his. Thus, under the same roof, showing little agreement one with another, but in other respects friends and relatives, they debated different and even opposed points of view’). 30 ‘Votre Majesté doit à Monseigneur le cardinal d’Este tout ce qui se peult à un bon parent et serviteur de ceste qualité ... C’est un très grand et singulier instrument pour

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Divided between pressure from the ambassador and from the Ligueurs, Sixtus listened to the arguments of each party, fully aware of the risks and delicacy whatever decision he took. Not every French Catholic had sided with the League, but on the other hand the Christian King had a tacit and embarrassing understanding with the Huguenot Henri de Navarre. All in all, an ugly situation. Very soon the pope put the king’s nerves to a severe test by suddenly replacing the papal nuncio in Paris, Monsignor Ragazzoni, Bishop of Bergamo, to whom the French government was well disposed. After relieving him from this post, the pope sent the Archbishop of Nazareth, Fabio Mirto Frangipani, well known for his Spanish sympathies and considered by the Louvre to be a pain in the neck. After being told of the plan, Cardinal d’Este and Ambassador Vivonne remarked politely to the Holy Father that it would have been better to select another candidate, but the pope replied that he really needed an impartial observer, to monitor Henri III’s policy in order to check if he was indeed considering whether to ally himself with the Huguenots and with Queen Elizabeth of England.31 Only the new nuncio could provide a reliable and accurate report. For this reason, at the beginning of summer the Archbishop of Nazareth had already begun his journey to France. Vivonne hurriedly warned the king, advising him to receive Monsignor Frangipani cordially, but without entering too much into his confidence. However, the Henri III was unwilling to accept the pope’s decision, and gave the order to halt the prelate’s progress at Lyons. On 7 July, at Nemours, peace had just been signed with the League, and Vivonne, emboldened by this good news, was under the illusion that he could once again tackle the pope with the question of the nuncio. But when Sixtus was told of the insult that the king had paid him, highly injurious to his power and authority, he gradually became enraged. If

31

négocier.’ BNF, f. fr. 16045 (22 April 1585). Transcribed in Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet, p. 160. Letter of Jean de Vivonne to Henri III (BNF, f. fr. 16045, 8 May 1585, quoted in Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet, p. 181): ‘On me dit, réplique le Saint-Père, que votre roi sert des huguenots et qu’il a fait alliance avec Elisabeth; vous m’assurez qu’il n’en est rien, que Sa Majesté se prépare à tirer justice éclatante des hérétiques, et que c’est précisément afin de ménager ses forces pour cette entreprise, qu’elle a jusqu’ici négligé de chatier les révoltés catholiques. Tout le monde à l’air de bonne foi, je ne sais qui croire. Je vais donc envoyer en France M. de Nazareth, qui me dira de quel côté se trouve la vérité’ (‘“They tell me”, replied the Holy Father, “that your king serves the Huguenots and that he has allied himself with Elizabeth; you assure me this is not true, that His Majesty is preparing terrible retribution for the heretics, and it is precisely to gather his forces to this task that he has until now neglected to punish the Catholic rebels. Everyone appears to be in good faith, I don’t know whom to believe. I am therefore sending to France Mons. de Nazareth, who will tell me where the truth lies”’).

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Henri did not immediately release the nuncio, the Holy Father would banish the French ambassador from the court of Rome, and even refuse to hold discussions with Cardinal d’Este. Vivonne tried to mediate with the king, but before obtaining a reply the papal fury struck: on 25 July, Sixtus V through a messenger ordered him to leave Rome that very day, and the Papal State within five days. The distraught ambassador ordered his horse saddled and galloped to Cardinal d’Este at Tivoli. ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes’, wrote an astonished Luigi to the king.32 The court of Rome was in uproar: the pope’s decision had dismayed not only the French gentlemen resident in the city, but also the Venetian ambassadors and all those who sided with the French king. The disconsolate Vivonne abandoned the villa at Tivoli and spent the rest of the summer curing his gout at the waters of Lucca. Meanwhile relations between the pope and Cardinal d’Este became even more tense. It was during the French ambassador’s expulsion that Sixtus V made a decisive move in the direction of the League’s wishes: he promulgated a bull against Henri de Navarre and the prince of Condé, declaring them to be unrepentant heretics and apostates. D’Este controversially refused to subscribe to the document, thus making evident his opposition to the fanaticism of the Ligueurs.33 In the attempt to remedy a highly dangerous situation, Henri III sent to Rome Pietro Gondi, Bishop of Paris, on an extraordinary mission. Having obtained an audience with the pope, the bishop started out by putting the Vivonne affair on the negotiation table: the ambassador was to return to Rome as soon as possible and be allowed the full exercise of his functions. So far Sixtus V did not oppose the bishop: he would have welcomed Vivonne as if nothing had happened, on condition that Frangipani could at last discharge his function as papal nuncio in Paris. ‘But His Majesty cannot place his confidence in this nuncio’, objected Gondi.34 ‘Enough!’ cried the pope, cutting him short. It was 15 January 1586, and the discussions were definitively concluded. During his stay in Rome, Gondi became aware that few French gentlemen had remained faithful to the Valois cause. Even within the Sacred College Cardinal d’Este had to struggle against many enemies, among whom was the indomitable Cardinale of Sans, a fervent supporter of the League. The following summer Jean de Vivonne, who meanwhile had been invested as 32 ‘Je ne pouvois croire ce que je voyois’. BNF, f. fr. 16042 (3 August 1585). Quoted in Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet, p. 186. 33 Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), p. 235. 34 ‘Ma Sua Maestà non può aver fiducia in questo nunzio.’ Letter of Pietro Gondi to Henri III in BNF, f. fr. 16045 (15 January 1586). Quoted in Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet, p. 195.

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Marquis of Pisany, returned to Italy, arriving at Tivoli on 10 August. Wishing to prevent the ambassador’s return from being too solemn, Sixtus V required that the French king send an extraordinary ambassador, the duke of Luxembourg. Despite his terrible health, Cardinal d’Este, aided by Cardinal Rambouillet, did his best to pay the greatest possible honours to Vivonne, ensuring that the latter could precede the duke in his entry into Rome.35 It was an important success for Luigi d’Este, perhaps the last triumph of his short life, which was to be cut short after a number of tragic events: the death of the duke of Joyeuse in the battle at Coutras (10 October 1587), the murder of both the Duke and the Cardinal of Guise at Blois (16 October 1588) and, finally, the assassination of Henri III himself (1 August 1589). In the summer of 1586 the cardinal had received many gentlemen at Tivoli. From June he hosted Prince Granville, the son of Henri of Guise, accompanied by 60 people on horseback.36 An avviso of 13 August relates: ‘The duke of Luxembourg too arrived in Tivoli yesterday morning, from where the prince of Guise set out to visit the two French ambassadors, and such was the joy Cardinal d’Este felt in finding 1200 Frenchmen at his home that he opened all the entrances of the rooms, so that everyone could come in and see how His Illustrious Lordship had recovered from his fever at that moment.’37 On 15 August the brother of the French Queen also arrived, incognito so as to sow a few wild oats.38 In this tightly packed company, where the two ambassadors rubbed shoulders with the son of the duke of Guise, and members of the French royal family abandoned themselves to all kinds of pleasure, the pope’s next move was awaited. ‘The Marquis of Pisany is in Tivoli, in bed with a sore foot, and Este has a fever, and [his recovery] is slow and uncertain. And the pope never ceases to express his willingness to grant these French ambassadors [access to] the general public consistory whenever they please and to bestow his most special grace and favour on them.’39 Not only was Jean de Vivonne received in the Vatican ‘with open arms’ (‘à bras ouverts’), the pope also seems to have regretted having lent 35 Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet, p. 199. 36 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 260 (Rome, 21 June 1586). 37 ‘Giunse anco hiermat[tin]a il Duca di Luccemburgh à Tivoli, dove di quà il Princ[ip]e di Ghisa andò per visitare l’uno et l’altro di questi Amb[asciato]ri franzesi, et tanta fu l’allegrezza che sentì il Car[dina]l d’Este di trovarsi in casa 1200 franzesi che fece aprire tutti gli aditi et gli ingressi delle sue stanze, acciò ognun potesse entrare à vedere S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma abandonata in quel punto dalla febre.’ Ibid., fol. 384v (Rome, 13 August 1586). 38 ‘alcuni suoi ardori giovenili’. Ibid., fol. 388 (Rome, 16 August 1586). 39 Ibid., fol. 390 (Rome, 16 August 1586). ‘Il Marchese de Pisani si trova a Tivoli in letto con un piede aggravato, et Este con la febbre, et se ben lenta, però dubiosa, né il Papa cessa di dire d’esser pronto per dare à questi Amb[asciato]ri franzesi il Conc[isto]ro pubblico generale quando piacerà à loro et di fargli gratie, et favori singolar[issi]mi.’

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credence to the Ligueurs and decided to renew his trust in the Most Christian King.40 In the light of the above, the political significance of Marenzio’s dedication to Vivonne of his fourth book a 6 is all the greater. Cardinal Luigi could have directed his maestro di cappella towards any of the other French gentlemen, for example his great-nephew the Prince of Guise. Instead, he gave Guise ‘2000 scudi ... to spend as he jolly well pleases’,41 while to the king’s faithful servant he paid public – and therefore more significant – homage in the form of a madrigal print. A passage from this dedication to Jean de Vivonne, ‘Marquis of Pisany, Knight of the Orders of the Most Christian King, Counsellor of State and Ambassador to His Majesty’ (‘Marchese di Pisani, Cavalliere de gli Ordini del Re Christianissimo, Consegliere de stati, et Ambasciatore di sua Maestà’), reads: ‘The return of Your Excellency has delighted everyone in general, and has caused each person in particular to feel such happiness, that if I (who as your devoted servant has felt great joy) did not give some sign to you, and also to the world, it would seem to me to be a grave omission, both to myself and to the debt of service I owe to you ...’.42 If the composer never entered Henri III’s service, at least he was able to pay the French sovereign this indirect homage. So far as we can know, Marenzio had no further contact with the France, always excepting his participation in the famous Florentine intermedi of 1589 in honour of Christine de Lorraine, the favourite niece of the queen mother Caterina de’ Medici. After this historical excursus we should ask if Marenzio’s French allegiance exercised any discernible influence on his music. The answer would seem to be negative. If Marenzio had been to France, he would certainly have been able to assimilate some elements of that country’s musical tradition, as happened with Monteverdi during his journey to Flanders in 1599, where he learnt about the ‘canto alla francese’.43 But in Marenzio’s case such an opportunity did not arise. 40 Bremond d’Ars, Le Père de Madame de Rambouillet, p. 203. Cf. the detailed account by Jean de Vivonne sent to the king, BNF, f. fr. 16045 (26 August 1586). 41 ‘2.000 scudi contanti ... da spenderli a suo gusto allegram[en]te’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 457 (Rome, 17 September 1586). 42 ‘Il ritorno di vostra Eccellenza è stato universalmente à tutti così grato, et hà dimostrato ogn’uno in particolare di sentirne tanto contento, che s’io (che come devotissimo servitore suo ne hò sentita somma allegrezza) non ne dessi qualche segno à lei, et al mondo insieme, mi parrebbe di mancar molto, et à me stesso, et al debito della servitù mia ...’. For the entire text of the dedication see O. Mischiati, Bibliografia, p. 582. 43 In the Dichiarazione placed as an appendix to the Scherzi musicali (1607), the brother of Claudio Monteverdi writes: ‘Chi fu il primo di lui che [riportò quel tipo di canto] in Italia di quando venne da li bagni di Spa, l’anno 1599?’ (‘Who preceded him [in bringing this sort of singing] to Italy, when he returned from the baths at Spa in the year 1599?’). See Prunières, ‘Monteverdi and French Music’.

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Among the French gentlemen whom Marenzio could have met or known in Italy, the duke of Joyeuse, whose name is closely bound with the Balet comique de la Royne, was probably the most competent in musical matters. During his journey to Ferrara in 1583, the duke was present at other choreographic spectacles, such as the ‘gran balletti’ of Duchess Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, in which the leading Ferrarese noblewomen took part.44 However, we do not know if Joyeuse had taken with him from France to Italy musicians versed in the French tradition. It is therefore doubtful if Marenzio had any direct contact with French music, whether in Rome or Tivoli. Moreover, the two madrigal books dedicated to the Cardinal of Guise and Vivonne betray no details that would indicate a French orientation, not even with regard to their choice of poetry.45 On the contrary, it can be shown that these two collections are simply compilations of pieces written earlier for various different occasions. In the second book a 6, for example, we find a sumptuous madrigal, Cedan l’antiche tue chiare vittorie, which – as we saw in Chapter 13 – probably celebrates the wedding of Vittoria Accoramboni. Likewise, the fourth bok a 6 concludes with the nine-voice Donne, il celeste lume from the cycle of intermedi for Castelletti’s comedy Le stravaganze d’amore, produced in the palace of Giacomo Boncompagni during the carnival of 1585, two years before its actual publication.46 On the other hand, the text of the third madrigal in this collection appears to lend itself naturally to a celebration of the ambassador’s return to Rome, despite its generic conventionality: La dipartita è amara, Ma perché è dolc’e cara La giunta del ritorno, Da l’infelice giorno De la partenza ria Nasce la gioia mia. – G.B. Pigna The departure is bitter, but because the time of the return has arrived, 44

45

46

See Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 57 and 160. These balletti di dame, normally accompanied by both instruments and voices, were performed during carnival or on the occasion of visits by eminent people. Duchess Margherita had a good musical education and was very devoted to dancing, as was the duke of Joyeuse. The second book a 6 contains, among others, two texts by Petrarch and three by Tasso. In the fourth book a 6, alongside Tasso we find Pigna, Gottifredi, Guarini, Tansillo, Pocaterra and G.B. Strozzi the Elder. See Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’; id., Luca Marenzio and the Italian Madrigal. Chater, ‘Castelletti’s Stravaganze d’amore’.

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Luca Marenzio this unhappy day of woeful parting gives rise to my joy.47

If Cardinal Luigi d’Este’s frequent visitations from France had no repercussions for Marenzio’s style, they nevertheless had an important historical function. The cardinal’s Roman residences were equipped to provide hospitality to rulers and diplomats: this intense international coming and going, especially on the road to and from France, gave rise to solemn receptions, lavish banquets, entertainments delightful to all the senses, including that of hearing. This provided Marenzio with a strong stimulus to increase his output. By dint of prudent dedications, Cardinale d’Este too was able to use the fruits of his musician’s creative freedom as a political tool; for this reason, probably, he must have made a decisive contribution to the cost of a great many of the madrigal books. Without these diplomatic motives, Marenzio’s works would perhaps have enjoyed less easy passage to the printing presses. Alfred Einstein, commenting on the dedication to the Marquis of Pisany of the fourth book a 6, wrote that ‘Marenzio foresaw the death of his patron – Cardinal Luigi d’Este died within twenty days after the date of this dedication – and seems to have gathered together a number of miscellaneous pieces with a view to securing another patron; it is also possible that the dedication is dated in advance, for the print did not actually appear until 1587.’48 In the light of the documentation I have presented above, I believe this argument no longer has any foundation. Marenzio dedicated his madrigals to Vivonne not to find a new patron, but because Cardinal d’Este wished it so. However, Einstein’s remark about the composite nature of the book, with its occasional and pre-existent pieces, is still valid and perceptive. A few days after the Vivonne dedication was signed, both Marenzio and the whole city of Rome were plunged into mourning: on 31 December 1586, the Avvisi di Roma bore the following solemn eulogy: Yesterday at 16 hours, much to the sadness of the whole court, [Cardinal d’]Este passed away at Montecavallo. To the last he preserved, or rather increased, that magnanimity which seemed to belong uniquely to this prince, to the wonder of those who saw and heard him attend with incredible contrition and spiritual fortitude the Holy Eucharist, console his servants, discuss important matters, and finally, like a new Vespasian, rise from his bed to surrender his spirit to his Creator. One can say that the loss of this great cardinal has caused no less grief than that of Titus, who was called delitia generis humani, and everyone thinks that, although the court has always lit many beacons of splendour and greatness, nevertheless a great many of these have been extinguished 47

As James Chater has suggested to me, the dramatic effect of the madrigal is enhanced by the fact that the first statement of the last line quotes Striggio’s Nasce la pena mia while the repeat uses completely contrasting music. 48 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 660.

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with the death of a gentleman who in courtesy, hospitality, willingness to grant favours and all the other qualities that form a truly magnanimous person, was surpassed by no one.49

Until the last the cardinal held discussions with Vivonne ‘in the service of the king’ (‘in servitio del suo Re’).50 Before dying he confirmed the arrangements for his own burial: he wished his body to be buried at Tivoli and his organs in the church of S. Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. His heart, however, was to be buried in France.51 The passing of this gentleman so inclined towards ‘grandezza’ and ‘hospitalità’ also cast a shadow of uncertainty on Marenzio’s artistic career. From an average of five musical publications a year – achieved in the period 1584–85 – the composer’s output dropped to much lower levels (only two single-composer collections between 1590 and 1594, for example). Such a sharp drop no doubt was caused by personal and economic factors, but also, I believe, by the absence of a patron like Luigi d’Este, for whom lavish ‘cortesia’ and diplomatic relations had become a personal raison d’être. In conclusion, the documents prove unequivocally that Marenzio’s French orientation was determined by Cardinal Luigi d’Este, not by the musician himself. For a sixteenth-century musician, dependency on an important patron often meant being subject to the tightest of bonds: a gentleman’s servants formed his famiglia, to use the contemporary term; hence derived a prince’s faculty to exercise his rights in a manner comparable in certain aspects to patriarchal authority.52 As a father could decide his sons’ matrimonial fate, so a patron could guide the professional destinies of his protégés, all in accordance with a certain 49

‘Hieri alle 16 hore con dolore universale di q[ues]ta corte spirò Este a Montecavallo, h[ave]ndo in q[ue]sto ponto non solam[en]te conservata sin al fine q[ue]lla magnanimità, che fu quasi propria, et singulare di q[ue]sto Princ[ip]e, ma accresciuta con maraviglia di chi lo vidde, et sentì, con incredibil contritione, et fortezza d’animo ricevere la S[antissi]ma eucarestia, consolar i servi[to]ri, trattare di cose important[issi]me, et finalm[en]te quasi nuovo Vespasiano sollevato dal letto render lo spirito al suo creatore. Si può dire che la perdita di q[ues]to gran Car[dina]le quanto al dispiacere delle genti non habbia havuto compagnia di manco afflittione, che havesse q[ue]lla di Tito, del quale fù detto che erat delitia generis humani, parendo ad ognuno che se bene q[ues]ta corte ha sempre accesi molti lumi di splendore, et di grandezza, nond[imen]o se ne sia oscurata una gran parte con la morte di un s[igno]re, che nelle cortesie, nell’hospitalità, nella prontezza de gli officij, et in tutte l’altre qualità che formano un vero magnanimo, non hebbe mai nessuno, che l’avanzasse.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1054, fol. 606v (Rome, ‘a dì ultimo dell’Anno’ [‘on the last day of the year’] 1586). 50 Ibid. 51 Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), pp. 250 ff. 52 On this subject see Annibaldi, La musica e il mondo, pp. 30 ff.

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political design. By analogy, it seems certain that the dedicatees of the second book a 6 and fourth book a 6 were once again chosen by Luigi d’Este rather than by Marenzio himself, since dedications of this sort have a clearly political significance: their essential aim was to promote the cardinal’s diplomatic interests. These two madrigal collections may be regarded as forming a pattern of homage to influential and prominent Frenchmen. It is scarcely probable that the dedicatees were themselves responsible for paying the publication costs; on the contrary, we know that Luigi d’Este was famous for his splendid generosity.53 The two prints do not reflect the French taste, nor do they betray particular literary preferences, but simply collect together pre-existing compositions and also occasional pieces, probably commissioned by people belonging to the entourage of Cardinal d’Este himself. Our conclusion must be that if Marenzio published so many musical collections while in the service of Cardinal d’Este, this was due among other reasons to diplomatic relations and this patron’s generosity. After the cardinal’s death, in fact, Marenzio’s published output dropped considerably.

53

This conclusion allows us to correct, or at least to mitigate, the prevalent view according to which a dedication was paid for by the dedicatee. In reality the dedicatee could indeed have received a homage, if not from the musician himself, at least on the part of the rich gentleman who protected and paid him.

Chapter 16

A ‘new aria’ Between August 1580 and the first few months of 1587 Marenzio published an enormous amount of music, almost two-thirds of his surviving output. In these eight years there appeared five books of music for three voices (i.e. his entire corpus of villanellas), a book of madrigals and one of motets for four voices, six books of madrigals for five voices (including the spirituali) and four of madrigals for six voices, not to mention the various pieces scattered in anthologies.1 Each of these books underwent a varied number of reprints; in parallel, there flourished the practice of instrumental reworking and lute intabulation.2 In order to understand the reasons for this success it is useful to re-examine the opinions on Marenzio’s music expressed by contemporaries and by early seventeenth-century writers on music. Around 1628, in his retrospective sketch of the madrigal, Vincenzo Giustiniani clearly outlined his view of the evolution of musical taste in Italy and especially in Rome. As a boy – i.e. around the 1570s – Giustiniani had noted the renown of such composers as Arcadelt, Cipriano de Rore, Lasso, Monte and Striggio. At a certain point, however, this landscape underwent a striking transformation: In a short space of time musical tastes changed and the compositions of Luca Marenzio and Ruggiero Giovannelli appeared, with invention of new delights, whether in their music to be sung by several voices or by one voice alone accompanied by some instrument. The excellence of their music consisted in a new aria pleasing to the ear, with some easy points of imitation without extraordinary artifice. And at the same time Palestrina, Soriano and Giovanni Maria Nanino composed things to be sung in church, showing an aptitude for good, solid counterpoint, good melody and due decorum.3 1

A list of the anthologies containing the first appearances in print of Marenzio’s madrigals is found in Chater, Luca Marenzio vol. 1, pp. 218–22. 2 Mischiati, Bibliografia delle opere dei musicisti bresciani, 1st edn, pp. 72–138. Unless otherwise stated I rely on this bibliography (and, for the single-author prints, on the revised enlarged edition by Sala and Meli of 1992, pp. 425–606) for information on early prints of Marenzio’s music. 3 ‘In poco progresso di tempo s’alterò il gusto della musica e comparver le composizioni di Luca Marenzio e di Ruggero Giovannelli, con invenzione di nuovo diletto, tanto quelle da cantarsi a più voci, quanto ad una sola sopra alcuno stromento, l’eccellenza delle quali consisteva in una nuova aria et grata all’orecchie, con alcune fughe facili e senza straordinario artificio. E nell’istesso tempo il Pellestrina, il Soriano e Gio. Maria 139

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This ‘new aria pleasing to the ear’,4 perhaps the secret to Marenzio’s success, was also the object of admiration by English composers and by Italian treatise writers of the early seventeenyh century. Thomas Morley praised Marenzio’s madrigals ‘for good air and fine invention’, while Giovanni Battista Doni wrote that Marenzio was ‘the first in the madrigal style to lead the voices with good aria, since before him, as long as the harmonies were sonorous and pleasant, scant heed was paid to anything else’.5 In this framework we may consider the critical contribution of Adriano Banchieri, who, in his treatise Cartella musicale (1614), divides the history of music into in ‘six schools of music’. The first five of these schools correspond to those of the Greeks, of Guido d’Arezzo, of Johannes de Muris, of Josquin des Prez and of Cipriano de Rore; the sixth school was of Marenzio who, ‘inventing graceful touches, and placing the words under the notes with care, surpassed the five preceding schools’.6 With regard to the ‘buona Scola Romana’, the same theorist, in a letter of thanks to Canon Artusi (who had gained notoriety for his polemic against Monteverdi), draws attention to Palestrina for the ‘church style’ (‘stile da Chiesa’) and to Marenzio for the ‘chamber style’ (‘stile da Camera)’: ‘the one most devout, the other most agreeable, and both celebrated composers, exemplars of perfect harmony, selecting fine words, skilled in double counterpoint, grave in modulations, rich in invention ..., zealous in obeying good rules’.7 Let us now try to identify some examples of these qualities in Marenzio’s output before 1587. The obvious starting point in our quest is the first book a 5, Marenzio’s debut publication and the one that enjoyed the greatest success in the course of the composer’s career.8 Often in the Cinquecento the fortune of a

4 5

6

7

8

Nanino composero cose da cantarsi in chiesa con facilità di buon contraponto e sodo, con buon’aria e con decoro condecente.’ Original text quoted from Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, in id., Discorsi sulle arti e sui mestieri, pp. 20 ff. Carter, ‘“An air new and grateful to the ear”’. ‘il primo nello stile madrigalesco a fare camminare le parti con bell’aria; poiché avanti a lui, purché il concento fosse sonoro e soave, di poco altro si curavano’. Thomas Morley, A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, London 1597 (ed. Harman, London, 1952, p. 294); Doni, Trattato della musica scenica (c. 1635) in id., De’ trattati di musica ... tomo secondo, ed. A.F. Gori, Florence, 1763, p. 24. ‘sesta schola fu del Marenzio ... inventando nuove vaghezze, di portar bene le parole sotto le note, ne lasciò la memoria delle cinque schole antecessori’. A. Banchieri, Cartella musicale, sig. A3. ‘l’uno devotissimo, e l’altro soavissimo, et ambiduo celebri compositori, si come esemplari di perfetta Armonia: elettori di vaghe parole; studiosi ne’ contrappunti doppi, gravi nelle modulazioni, copiosi nelle invenzioni ... zelanti delle buone regole’. Banchieri, Lettere armoniche, Bologna, 1628, p. 94. After the editio princeps of Angelo Gardano (1580), no fewer than eight Venetian prints have survived: Gardano, 1582, 1587, 1602; Vincenzi and Amadino, 1586;

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madrigalist was founded on the universal fame of a single composition: Arcadelt made a hit with Il bianco e dolce cigno, Cipriano de Rore with Ancor che col partire, Palestrina with Vestiva i colli, Wert with Cara la vita mia. Marenzio’s warhorse was Liquide perle, the opening composition of his Primo libro, the text of which is attributed to the Roman versifier Lelio Pasqualino, a canon at S. Maria Maggiore.9 In the middle of the seventeenth century Pietro Della Valle, reminiscing about this youthful passion for music, wrote: When I was a young man I very much liked those [madrigals] of Marenzio, and particularly, for certain graceful touches, that much sung piece Liquide perle. For sweetness I liked I tuoi capelli Filli in una cistula by Ruggiero Giovannelli, and for deep feeling and compassion, Resta di darmi noia, the famous madrigal by [Gesualdo], Prince of Venosa.10

The words of Della Valle are of especial interest because they echo the wellknown aesthetic polarity of ‘piacevole’ (‘pleasant’) and ‘grave’ already postulated by Pietro Bembo:11 the madrigals mentioned by Marenzio and Giovannelli are covered by the terms ‘grazia’ and ‘dolcezza’ (or under the category ‘piacevole’), to which belong also the ‘invention of new delights’ and the ‘new aria pleasing to the ear’ attributed to the same composers Vincenzi, 1588; erede di Girolamo Scotto, 1600, 1608; Alessandro Raverij, 1608. NV 1600 is a lost copy (Venice: erede di Scotto, 1585), formerly located in the Biblioteka Polskiej Akademii Nauk in Gda´nsk, Poland. 9 On the reasons for this attribution see Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’, p. 61. 10 ‘Quando io ero giovanetto mi piacevano assai quei [madrigali] di Marenzio, e particolarmente per certe sue grazie quel tanto cantato Liquide perle. Per la dolcezza mi piaceva I tuoi capelli Filli in una cistula, di Ruggier Giovannelli, e per affetto pietoso, e compassionevole Resta di darmi noia, del Principe di Venosa famoso Madrigale.’ Reproduced in Doni, De’ trattati di musica, p. 259. The madrigal I tuoi capelli, Filli, in una cistula appears in Giovannelli’s four-voice Sdruccioli (1585); Resta di darmi noia was published in Gesualdo’s sixth book a 5 (1611). Pietro Della Valle’s essay Della musica dell’età nostra can be dated around 1640, when the polyphonic madrigal was already declining as a genre. As Della Valle himself notes: ‘Oggi non se ne compongono tanti perché si usa poco di cantare madrigali, né ci è occasione in cui si abbiano da cantare, amando più le genti di sentir cantare a mente con gli strumenti in mano con franchezza, che di vedere quattro o cinque compagni che cantino ad un tavolino col libro in mano, che ha troppo del scolaresco e dello studio’ (‘Nowadays not so many [madrigals] are composed, nor are there occasions on which they are sung, because people prefer to hear singers singing by heart, openly, with an instrument in their hands, rather than see four or five companions singing at a small table with a book in their hands, which seems far too scholarly and bookish’). 11 Pietro Bembo, Prose, p. 51. See also Mace, ‘Pietro Bembo’.

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by Vincenzo Giustiniani,12 while the Gesualdo piece falls under the term gravitas. Liquide perle enjoyed an extraordinarily wide circulation. James Chater has identified five lute reworkings and a dozen free quotations scattered in madrigals by various composers from 1581 until the early years of the Seicento.13 A notable example is the three-voice parody by Adriano Banchieri in his Metamorfosi musicale (1601), in which the poetic text is comically transformed: Marenzio:

Banchieri:

Liquide perle Amor da gl’occhi sparse In premio del mio ardore; Ma lass’ohimè che ’l core Di maggior foco m’arse. Ahi, che bastava solo A darmi morte il primo ardente duolo.

Liquide ferl’Amor, ranochi e sparzi, In primis col savore Ma un lazz, oimè oimè! te dia ’l mal anno: Di maggio il foco m’arse. Ahi! che bastava un sorgo a dargli morte Col primo dente solo.

Love caused liquid pearls to fall from my eyes as a reward for my ardour; But, alas, my heart burnt with a fiercer flame. Ah, see how my first searing pain was enough to cause my death.

Liquid rods Love, frogs and brooms,14 the best tasting of all. But may a jest, alas, bring disgrace on you: in May the fire burnt me. Ah, see how a sorghum was enough to kill him with the very first tooth.15

12

It is interesting to observe that the opinions on music expressed by Pietro Della Valle and Vincenzo Giustiniani are very similar in several passages of their writings. 13 Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, pp. 171 ff. The series begins with a madrigal by Pesciolini on the same text, published in his III a 6 (1581). Among the most notable quotations and paraphrases are: Se le lagrime tue by Vopa, in Pace–Vopa, first book a 5 (1585); Liquide perle in sì nuova maniera by Locatello, in Cancineo, first book a 4, 5, 6, 8 (1590); Donna se quel ohimè, in Giulio Belli, first book a 4, 5, 6 (1589), Scaletta, second book a 5 (1590) and Pallavicino, fifth book a 5 (1593); and Candide perle, in Del Mel, second book a 6 (1593). Sweelinck’s setting of the text in 1612 also reveals a fascination for Marenzio’s madrigal. 14 A ‘sparzio’ is a botanical plant similar to a ‘ginestra’ (broom). 15 Banchieri, Il metamorfosi musicale (Venice, 1601), in id., Opera omnia, vol. 12. The Marenzio parody appears in the ‘Divisione seconda, Discorso quinto’. Liquide perle is designated a ‘madrigale antico’. In fact the performance is marked by the appearance on the scene of two of the oldest characters in the madrigal comedy, Stefanello Bottarga ‘mercante chiozzotto’ (‘merchant of Chioggia’) and Michelino Partigiana ‘dottore francolinese’ (‘doctor of Francolino’), accompanied by the servant Pedrolino ‘da Berghem’ (‘from Bergamo’). The rubric reads: ‘Qui con vago cantar asinissimo / Canta il Dottor un dolce Metamorfosi, / E il vecchio Stefanell ci sta attentissimo’ (‘Here, with a most asinine singing, the doctor sings a sweet metamorphosis, and old Stefanell stands most attentively’). The musical reworking

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A similar mangling of the texts had taken place in Orazio Vecchi’s Amfiparnaso, where Rore’s famous Ancor che col partire (‘Though in parting ...’) was transformed into Ancor ch’al parturire (‘Though in giving birth ...’). The vicissitudes of Liquide perle continue into the seventeenth century, with two quodlibets included in Biffi’s Ricreatione di Posillipo (Naples, 1606) and in the second part of Zacconi’s Prattica di musica (Venice, 1622).16 The artistic importance of Marenzio’s first completely surviving madrigal necessitates a close examination.17 From a literary point of view the madrigaletto presents the metric structure AbbacC (upper case signifies lines of eleven syllables, lower case, of seven syllables). The six lines are clearly subdivisible into three distinct logical units of two lines each, placed in a reciprocal dialectical relationship in accordance with the tripartite rhetorical division exordium, confirmatio and finis. This tripartite structure is scrupulously respected by Marenzio in that the musical discourse falls into three contrasting sections (bars 1–16, 17–30 and 31–57). In the central section we find a change of mode from 7 (Mixolydian, with finalis on G) to 2 (Hypodorian, with finalis on D). The third and last section, again in mode 7, opens with a dramatic exclamatio (a long-held note on the word ‘Ahi’) that introduces an expansive treatment of the last two lines of text. Each line is matched by a musical period concluded by a cadence easily perceptible to the listener; only the central section (bars 17–30) does not observe the line division, creating a musical enjambement. The cadence on the parole-chiave ‘ardore’ (bars 16–17) stands out in the formal articulation because of its expressive importance: it concludes on an A triad, irregular in the scheme of mode 7.18 The outer sections of Marenzio’s madrigal offer an example of Marenzio’s extraordinary skill in voice-leading. In the first 12 bars one can admire the contrapuntal inlay based almost entirely on two melodic shapes (‘Liquide perle Amor’: ascending, dactylic rhythm; ‘da gl’occhi sparse’: descending). The imitations follow on at a distance of a semibreve (Ex. 16.1). For the third line (‘Ma lass’ohimè’, bar 18 ff.) the imitations follow on at twice the distance, a for three voices is scored for two tenors (C4) and bass (F4). This use of low timbres reinforces the distance from Marenzio’s original, which deploys a high, brilliant tessitura with two sopranos: canto (G2), quinto (G2), alto (C2), tenore (C3), bass (F3). 16 Biffi’s centone concludes his collection; Zacconi’s quodlibet is on pp. 113 ff. 17 Liquide perle is edited in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, pp. 1–4. 18 On modality in sixteenth-century polyphony see Meier, The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony; Powers, ‘Tonal types and modal categories’. On the use of cadences in the madrigal see Cecchi, ‘Cadenze e modalità’; La Via, ‘“Natura delle cadenze”’. For the application of modal theory to Marenzio’s music see (among others) Chater, Luca Marenzio, pp. 37–48 (chapter ‘Texture, mensuration, and mode’) and 91–102 (chapter ‘Commixtio tonorum’); Meier, ‘Zum Gebrauch der Modi bei Marenzio’; Janz, Die Petrarca-Vertonungen.

144

Luca Marenzio

Li - qui - de per

&c

Q (G2)

&c

A (C2)

Vc

T (C3)

?c

B (F3)

∑

& Ó

spar

˙ -

le A

-

? Ex. 16.1

da - gl’oc- chi

∑

mor

œ œ ˙

da - gl’oc-chi

œ œ œ ˙ JJ

#˙

Li - qui-de per -

le A

-

∑

per - le A

Ó

Œ

œ

-

da

Ó ˙

˙

-

Œ œ

-

le A

-

œ œ œ œ ˙ -

Œ

spar - se,

∑

œ

-

da

∑

m

se,

˙

˙

Ó

mor

li-qui-de

gl’oc-chi spar

le A

-

œ œ œm JJ

Ó

œ œ ˙

-

œ œ

j j œ œ œ ˙ Li - qui-de per ˙ #˙

mor,

per

se,

∑

Ó

j j œ œ œ ˙ li - qui-de

spar

∑ ˙

˙

˙

da - gl’oc-chi

œ œ œ ˙ JJ Li - qui-de per

∑

˙

mor

∑

∑

mor,

œ œ œ V Œ

-

Œ œ

∑

se,

˙

& #˙

le A

∑

li - qui-de

& ˙

-

∑

j j œ œ œ ˙

5

˙

#˙

œ œ œ ˙ J J

&c

C (G2)

mor

œ

Œ œ m œ

˙

gl’oc - chi

spar

∑

da

m -

m

Marenzio, Liquide perle, bars 1–8

breve, since the text takes a serious turn, prompting a less lively musical motion based on white rather than black notes (Ex. 16.2). In the concluding section, of especial complexity, the subject ‘Ahi che bastava solo’ is sung in turns by the five voices on different steps of the musical scale. At bar 38 a new subject is grafted onto the existing texture, ‘A darmi morte’, sung by the bass accompanied by a countersubject on the same words in the quinto, then repeated by tenor and canto. In this way a highly polished, refined episode in multiple counterpoint is created. The prevailing euphony of parallel thirds and sixths is occasionally ruffled by expressive suspensions (Ex. 16.3). If in this madrigal the imitative style prevails, homophony is also used for the end of the second line and at the end of the piece. Homorhythmic block

A ‘new aria’

& cm #w

C (G2)

Ó

re.

& cm w

Q (G2)

145

˙

˙

Ma

las

w

˙ -

s’ohi

˙. 20

-

œ œ

mè,

˙

Ó

w

re.

Ma

& cm w

A (C2)

Ó

˙

re.

Ma

V cm w

T (C3)

?c

B (F3)

re.

˙

m Ó

Ó

& w ˙ las

& Ó V

˙ -

s’ohi

˙

˙ -

las

s’ohi

#˙

-

w -

mè,

w -

m

mè

Ó

Œ

œ m ohi

˙

ma

˙

mè,

mè,

-

las

s’ohi

œ œ ˙

las

˙

-

w mè, ˙

#˙

-

˙

ma

w

s’ohi

˙

˙

ma

-

Ex. 16.2

-

˙ s’ohi ˙ Ma

las

˙

#˙

? Ó

˙.

-

Ó

˙

˙

˙

las

w

Ma

&

˙

˙

las - s’ohi

˙ -

Ó w

-

mè,

#˙ s’ohi ˙ ma

-

˙

˙ mè, ˙ las

Ó

-

m

˙

-

s’ohi

-

ohi

m

˙ ohi

-

m -

Marenzio, Liquide perle, bars 17–24

harmonies achieve their perfect form in bars 27–29, with a double leading-note (G and C at the beginning of bar 27) characteristic of the fourteenth and early fifteenth century.19 If observation of single details in the composition can compel deep admiration on the part of the modern analyst, it is above all the aural impression in its totality that must fascinate listeners both past and present. In Liquide perle one can 19

This apparent archaism has been interpreted as a ‘dissimulata’ (‘concealed’) form of chromaticism: see Privitera, ‘Malinconia e acedia’, pp. 37 ff.

146

Luca Marenzio

w &cm

C (G2)

˙

Ahi!

&cmÓ

Q (G2)

œœœœ œ ˙ JJ ahi, che ba-sta-va so œ œœœ œ w ˙ JJ

Ahi!

& cm w

A (C2)

˙ V cm Ó ? cm w

B (F3)

35

che ba-sta- va

w

(Ahi!)

T (C3)

˙

Ó

che ba-sta- va

&

w

so

-

so

ahi,

che ba-sta-va so

w

-

∑ ˙

lo,

Ó

w -

˙

lo

A

∑ ∑

? bw so

Ex. 16.3

40

Ó

lo,

˙

˙

œ œ

dar

Ó

-

mi

˙ -

lo

œ œœœ œ JJ

˙

˙

˙.

A

dar

ahi,

-

˙

œ œœœ œ m JJ

ahi,

che ba-sta- va

˙ mor

w -

che ba-sta - va

˙

Ó

che ba-sta - va

m

te

œ œj œj œ œ w

ahi,

∑

-

˙

∑

lo,

V

che ba-sta - va

ahi,

˙

& w

ahi,

Ó

∑

œ œœœ œ w JJ - che ba-sta - va

ahi,

j œ œ œj œ œ w

(Ahi!)

&

œ œœœ œ JJ

˙

-

so

lo,

lo,

so

œ œœœ œ w JJ

Ahi,

-

˙

Ó

˙

so

œ œœœ œ w JJ œ

w

mi

mor

che ba-sta - va

so

w -

m -

m -

m

te

Marenzio, Liquide perle, bars 31–41

perceive a musical coherence allied to a perfect decorum in the relationship between words and music. Lelio Pasqualino’s text is no literary masterpiece, but is nonetheless well crafted. Like much poetry of the late Cinquecento – and this tendency was to be reinforced even more during the Marino vogue – the text of Liquide perle astonishes and delights the reader with its ingenuity. Tears are transformed into ‘liquide perle’, which are then contrasted with the ‘ardente duolo’ of love’s pains: the paradox of a liquid element nourishing a flame. Even though the text speaks of ‘morte’ (‘death’) and ‘duolo’ (‘pain’), Pasqualino’s madrigaletto avoids authentic pathos and is content with epigrammatic acuity.

A ‘new aria’

147

Marenzio is aware of this: although he is fully capable of turning the melancholy accents of a Petrarch or a Tasso into music, here his poetic lyre vibrates to a different pattern. He undertakes to write a composition that is ingenious and at the same time delightful. It is this prodigious marriage of compositional mastery and refined hedonism that ensures Liquide perle a privileged place in Marenzio’s output. Contrapuntal ingenuity, of a kind that had already emerged so triumphantly in the Sacrae cantiones in the 1570s, here appears alongside the ‘bell’aria’ so praised by contemporaries (see below). All these elements are harmonized with the ideal of imitazione delle parole, respect for the poetic text, the cardinal premise of madrigalian aesthetics at the end of the Cinquecento. Marenzio’s excellence, then, rests on three foundations: skilled counterpoint, the ‘nuova aria’ and imitazione delle parole (which can be concentrated not only on single details but also on the totality, as happens in Liquide perle). We do not possess precise or strictly applicable definitions of the term ‘aria’, crucial also for the birth of opera. Intuitively, there springs to mind a musical composition in which the upper voice stands out for its melodic bearing.20 The rhythmic element, however, can also form part of the arioso character.21 Despite the use of the term ‘madrigale arioso’ to describe a certain type of polyphonic madrigal in the middle of the sixteenth century, the terms ‘aria’ and ‘arioso’ would appear to lend themselves more naturally to monody than to the polyphonic madrigal, and also to the villanella/canzonetta repertory for three to four voices, adapted to solo performance with instrumental accompaniment. Fortunately Marenzio’s printed output offers a few concrete, explicit examples of the use of the term ‘aria’. Examining the corpus of three-voice villanellas, we note that in the reprints from 1595 and later the traditional designation of ‘villanelle’ appears alongside the more modern ‘arie alla napolitana’. Moreover, in the editio princeps of the Terzo libro (1585) it is specified that the villanellas had been composed ‘in the manner in which one sings them in Rome today’ (‘nel modo che hoggidì si usa cantare in Roma’). In order to find out what this manner 20

Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, pp. 247 ff. For a convincing attempt to pin down the elusive term ‘aria’, see ibid., p. 248: ‘As “countenance” can be taken to indicate features that give a visage its individual physiognomy, thus, “aria” may be used to indicate the features that characterize a particular melody, and may be, therefore, the equivalent of “tune”. But “countenance” also means the behaviour of a person, determined by his intrinsic nature and acquired habits: and similarly “aria”, applied to any musical entity (although preferably to a melodic one), indicates the quality it appears to possess as being, as it were, precisely determined and inflected on an unavoidable course – no matter whether such unavoidability stems from tradition, repetition, and habit or an inner sense of coherence and finality.’ 21 This is especially true for the madrigal of the middle of the Cinquecento: see Haar, ‘The “madrigale arioso”’, p. 215: ‘The most immediately evident trait of the madrigal arioso is not melodic but rhythmic.’

148

Luca Marenzio

of cantare alla romana (which then spread to the whole of Italy) consisted of, let us turn once again to a passage from Giustiniani: In the Holy Year of 1575, or shortly thereafter, there began a style of singing that was very different from the earlier one. It continued for some years, especially in the form of one voice singing alone with an instrument, and was exemplified by the Neapolitan Giovanni Andrea, Signor Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and the Roman Alessandro Merlo. These all sang bass with a range of 22 notes and with a variety of passage-work new and pleasing to everybody’s ears. They stimulated the composers to write their works in such a way that they could be sung by several voices or by a single one accompanied by an instrument in imitation of the above-mentioned [singers] and of a certain woman called Femia. But they achieved greater invention and artifice, which resulted in some villanellas that mingled [elements of] polyphonic madrigals and villanellas. Many books of these by the aforesaid composers and by Orazio Vecchi and others are seen today. But, since the villanellas acquired greater perfection through more artful composition, each composer, in order that his compositions should satisfy the general taste, also took care to advance in the style of composition for several voices, particularly Giaches Wert in Mantua and Luzzasco in Ferrara.22

This passage insists on the osmosis between the styles of the villanella and of the polyphonic madrigal (‘di canto figurato’).23 For this the reason we can speak of ‘good aria’ in Marenzio’s madrigals without committing a lexicographical solecism. A definitive confirmation comes from Marenzio’s fifth book a 5 (1585)

22

‘L’anno santo del 1575 o poco dopo si cominciò un modo di cantare molto diverso da quello di prima, e così per alcuni anni seguenti, massime nel modo di cantare con una voce sola sopra un istrumento, con l’esempio di un Gio. Andrea napoletano, e del sig. Giulio Cesare Brancacci e d’Alessandro Merlo romano, che cantavano un basso nella larghezza dello spazio di 22 voci, con varietà di passaggi nuovi e grati all’orecchio di tutti. I quali svegliarono i compositori a far operare tanto da cantare a più voci come ad una sola sopra un istrumento, ad imitazione delli sodetti e d’una tal femina chiamata Femia, ma con procurare maggiore invenzione et artificio, e ne vennero a risultare alcune Villanelle miste fra Madrigali di canto figurato e di Villanelle, delle quali se ne vedono oggi di molti libri de gl’autori suddetti e di Orazio Vecchi e altri. Ma sì come le Villanelle acquistarono maggior perfezzione per lo più artificioso componimento, così anche ciascun autore, a fine che le sue composizioni riuscissero di gusto in generale, procurò d’avanzarsi nel modo di componere a più voci, e particolarmente Giachet Wert in Mantova, il Luzzasco in Ferrara.’ Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, in id., Discorsi sulle arti e sui mestieri, pp. 21 ff. 23 See DeFord, ‘The evolution of rhythmic style’; ead., ‘Musical relationships’; C. Assenza, La canzonetta. Evidence of a rapprochement between aria, madrigal and villanella is found in numerous sources, including a collection of D.A. Spano, a pupil of Giovanni de Macque, with the title Primo libro de madrigaletti ariosi, et villanelle a quattro voci (1607).

A ‘new aria’

149

dedicated to the Genoese music lover Nicola Pallavicino.24 Madrigal no. 11, Filli tu sei più bella, is expressly designated ‘aria’.25 In fact this composition’s style has something special: homophony predominates, but above all we find an implicit strophic recurrence. Marenzio writes out the music in a throughcomposed fashion, without the repeat signs usual in the villanella, but still with strophic repeats lightly embellished with small variants. We are therefore dealing with a hybrid form: the homorhythms, partial strophic form and absolute predominance of the upper voice belong to the villanella, while the five-voice scoring, division into prima and seconda parte, and the use of the archaic mensuration sign ¢ are more characteristic of the madrigal style (Ex. 16.4).26 In other madrigals, even when the designation ‘aria’ does not appear, the ‘arioso’ character is still recognizable. As an example we may cite the delightful Basciami mille volte, also from the fifth book a 5, whose musical texture would allow an effective performance for solo voice – naturally of the higher voice – with instrumental accompaniment for the four lower voices (viol consort, or lute or harpsichord: see Ex. 16.5). Summarizing, one may conclude that the contemporary use of the word ‘aria’ as applied to Marenzio’s works can allude to the following genres or styles:

• • •

24

25 26 27 28

madrigale arioso: understood as a work in which the voices move homorhythmically, in block chords, in accordance with the tradition of the madrigali ariosi published by Antonio Barré in Rome in 155527 aria alla napolitana: synonymous with the three-voice villanella or canzonetta the ‘arioso’ style (cf. Giustiniani, Morley, Doni), understood as meaning that the musical motifs have an agreeable musical quality (‘pleasing to the ear’), whether in polyphonic pieces or those performed by a solo voice. This quality can consist chiefly of a prominent melodic style, but can also include rhythmic, harmonic and contrapuntal aspects. Sometimes it appears to suggest a cheerful and vivacious character.28 Even a

On this little-known figure see Chapter 22, n. 38. In 1584 this same Pallavicino received the dedication of a madrigal book by Antonio Dueto, canon of Genoa Cathedral. Edited in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2, pp. 78–80. For a detailed discussion of Filli tu sei più bella and of the madrigale arioso see Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 644 ff. See n. 20; also: Brown, ‘Verso una definizione dell’armonia’. Tomlinson, ‘Preliminary thoughts’, p. 133: ‘The association of Ficino’s music-spirit theories with traditions of musical arie found pictorial representation at the beginning of the seventeenth century. This occurred in Cesare Ripa’s oft-reprinted emblem book Iconologia. Here Ripa’s rendering of one of the four temperaments or complexions of Galenic humoral medicine, the sanguine complexion resulting from an abundance

150

Luca Marenzio Aria

w

&b C

C (G2)

Fil

-

&b C w

A (C2)

Fil

-

&b C w

Q (C3)

Fil

&b C

T (C3)

B (F3)

Œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ

œ. œ œ œ n˙ ˙ J

li,

tu sei più bel - la Di

w

Œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ

quel - la va - ga stel - la

li,

tu sei più bel - la Di

quel - la va - ga stel - la

Œ

w -

w Fil

w

li,

-

Fil

-

œ œ œ ˙ œ œ

j œ. œ œ œ ˙ ˙

tu sei più bel - la Di

quel - la va - ga stel - la

„

w

? C w b

œ . Jœ œ œ ˙ ˙

li,

w li,

˙

nœ œ ˙ œ œ

œ. œ œ œ ˙ ˙ J

tu

sei più bel - la Di

quel - la va - ga stel - la

œ ˙ &b œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ Œ œ œ 5

Ch’ac-com- pa- gnar il so - le

œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙

Quan-d’ei si sten - de al-l’oc - ci-den-te suo

& b œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ Œœ œ œ ˙ Ch’ac-com-pa- gnar il so - le

„

œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙

Quan-d’ei si sten - de al- l’oc-ci-den-te suo

˙ -

˙ -

˙ m le

˙ m

le

&b œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ Œœ œ œ ˙ &b

Ch’ac-com- pa- gnar il so - le

„

œ ˙ œ ˙ m œ œ ˙ ˙ Quan-d’ei si sten - de al-l’oc-ci-den-te suo le „ „ „ m

?b œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙

œ œ ˙

˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ

Ch’ac-com- pa- gnar il so - le Quan - d’ei si sten - de al- l’oc-ci-den-te suo

Ex. 16.4

˙ -

˙ m le

Marenzio, Filli tu sei più bella, bars 1–7

of blood, carries the title Sanguine on account of Air. ... What is remarkable about this woodcut is the matter-of-factness with which it plays upon the equivalence of aria as “air” and aria as “song”. The prose commentary underneath the picture justifies the equation with the commonplaces of the Ficinian legacy: “A happy and smiling youth [is represented] who, playing the lute, signals by turning his eyes towards Heaven that sound and song please him”.’

A ‘new aria’

03

3 & b 2 ˙.

C (C1)

œ ˙

Ba - scia- mi,

3 & b 2 ˙.

Q (C1)

œ ˙

Ba - scia- mi,

3 & b 2 ˙.

A (C3)

œ ˙

Ba - scia- mi,

V b 23 ˙ .

T (C4)

? 3 b 2

B (F4)

&b

5

w. te,

& b #w. &b Vb ?b

œ ˙

Ba - scia- mi,

#˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia-mi,

˙.

œ ˙

œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

∑ ˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia-mi,

ba - scia - mi

w.

˙.

˙.

te,

ba - scia-mi,

ba - scia - mi

˙.

˙.

w.

te,

∑

œ ˙ œ ˙

ba - scia-mi,

˙.

œ ˙

˙. mil -

˙.

mil -

˙. mil -

˙.

mil -

∑

te,

Ba - scia-mi,

Ex. 16.5

˙.

151

œ ˙ œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

˙.

œ ˙

ba - scia - mi

˙

w

le mil - le

vol

œ ˙ œ ˙

˙

w

le mil - le

vol

˙

œ ˙

vol

˙

w

le mil - le

vol

∑ ˙. œ ˙

˙ w

10

œ ˙

te,

˙ m -

te,

w #˙ ˙ m vol - te,

˙ w

mil - le mil - le vol

˙. œ ˙

-

˙ w

mil - le mil - le

˙.

-

˙ m

mil - le mil - le vol

˙. œ ˙

-

∑

mil - le mil - le vol

˙. œ ˙

-

w

le mil - le

œ ˙

-

˙ m -

˙ w

mil - le mil - le vol

te,

˙ m -

te,

Marenzio, Basciami mille volte, bars 1–10

contrapuntally elaborate polyphonic madrigal can be worked in the ‘arioso’ style, with ‘invention of new delights’ (Giustiniani) and with an abundance of ‘grazie’ (Della Valle): Marenzio’s Liquide perle, as we have seen, presents these characteristics.29

29

The term aria, as is well known, can also indicate a strophic composition used for specific poetic forms such as stanze, sonnets and terze rime (Haar, ‘Arie per cantar stanze ariostesche’) or it can be synonymous with an ostinato bass, as in the Aria del

152

Luca Marenzio

The enlivening contribution made by the ‘light’ musical forms to the courtly madrigal is now a well-established musicological assumption, and finds full confirmation in Marenzio’s youthful output. The first book a 5 (1580) has been discussed by many scholars, starting with Alfred Einstein.30 But it was above all Denis Arnold who demonstrated its merits and its important position within Marenzio’s entire output: ‘Its fourteen madrigals shows [sic] a sheer musicality and skill which hardly another opus 1 of the time achieved, and a synthesis of old and new which is judicious enough to provide pleasure for practically every taste’.31 Arnold identifies the traditional elements as diatonicism, shortness of phrase and gentleness of rhythm, while signs of modernity can be identified in certain unheard-of means of emotional intensity (most effectively used, for example, in Dolorosi martir), and especially the innovative and almost systematic madrigalian treatment of individual parole-chiave.32 In this connection it is worth studying carefully, especially from the point of view of performance, the precise dialectic of fast and slow configurations, constantly alternated in accordance with the meaning of the text, as has seen in the central section of Liquide perle. Denis Arnold has called attention to the refined variations in texture in Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben (no. 2), the fluid counterpoint at the beginning of Liquide perle (no. 1), the diligent pictorialisms of Madonna mia gentil (no. 10), the erotically charged narrative tone of Tirsi morir volea (no. 5) and the use of dissonances coupled with an analytical imitazione delle parole in Dolorosi martir (no. 6). But other madrigals from Marenzio’s Book 1 are distinguished by their effective use of certain stylistic devices. Spuntavan già (no. 3) depicts a gracious bucolic scene, interwoven with lively motifs, with frequent diminutions and melismas of unusual length (for example, 23 notes on the word ‘sparse’ – ‘scattered’ in the canto, bars 103–9). In the madrigal of the early 1580s, the new brilliant style gained ground, with its vocal virtuosity and copious melismatic fioritura, whose use was encouraged not only by the famed Concerto delle donne at the Ferrarese court, but also by the musical activities of Roman oratories and academies. In this connection Anthony Newcomb has shown how Marenzio, in his early madrigal books, was more up to date than the masters of the preceding generation.33 Characteristic of the madrigal’s change of direction is

30 31 32

33

Ruggiero (an example of a Marenzio madrigal whose bass part quotes the Aria del Ruggiero is presented below, Ex. 24.9). I discussed these ideas on the various meanings of aria in the study session ‘The Italian Madrigal, 1570–1600’ (Toronto, 4 November 2000; Anthony Newcomb, Chair) in the conference on ‘Musical Intersections’ organized by the American Musicological Society. Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 614–18. Arnold, Marenzio, pp. 6 ff. Marenzio’s use of ‘madrigalisms’ has been discussed at length in Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 98–102 (chapter ‘Madrigalismi’); and Chater, Luca Marenzio vol. 1, pp. 49–64 (chapter ‘The treatment of individual word’). Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, pp. 80 and 87.

A ‘new aria’

153

the preference for higher voices, often with paired sopranos (with the quinto occupying the same ambitus as the canto), these two voices being preferred for the opening line of the piece. In the Primo libro homorhythmic writing derived from the canzonetta and other light vocal forms is frequent (see no. 12, Questa di verd’erbette, with its prolonged conclusion in ternary rhythm); by contrast, a more austere form of imitative counterpoint also persists, as in the opening phrase of no. 8, Lasso ch’io ardo, constructed on Phrygian descending tetrachord. The vocal scoring offers many refined and original solutions. In Tirsi morir volea, as already mentioned, the role of counterpoint is minimal, while great importance is given to the shifting sonorities, enlivened by the alternation of ‘half-choirs’ for two, three or four voices. However, it should be noted that this widely admired madrigal only partially realizes the quasi-theatrical quality of Guarini’s poetic text. Compared with Wert’s setting of the same poem (VII a 5, 1581), Marenzio’s presents a more intimately descriptive rather than authentically dramatic aspect. Though undoubtedly original, Marenzio’s madrigal style has its roots in the work of his predecessors and contemporaries. It would be of great interest to know which composers served as models for the young composer. Unfortunately however, the historical sources are not much help in resolving this issue: for example Giovanni Contino, Marenzio’s teacher according tradition, does not seem to have exerted any influence on the composer. From the musical sources one can gain more information, even if this should be used with great caution. Quotations of musical fragments taken from a pre-existing madrigal on the same text would seem to provide convincing proof of actual derivation from a model. For example, Marenzio cites Leonardo Meldert’s setting of Tirsi morir volea (dating from a few years before) in his own setting of the poem; in the same way he approaches Monte in Satiati amor, the opening piece of his second book a 6 (1584), and he copies an earlier setting by Stabile in his Qual per ombrose e verdeggianti valli, from his third book a 6 (1585).34 However, it is difficult if not impossible to identify the exact derivation of a specific stylistic trait. As has been observed several times, around 1580 a ‘new manner’ of writing madrigals began, one that involves not only the young Marenzio, but also the older Ingegneri, Andrea Gabrieli, Lasso, Wert, Striggio and the above-mentioned Monte. In these composers’ works one can find a generally more florid style characterized by lively motion (frequent use of quavers on different syllables) and a tessitura inclining towards the higher register, combined with the use of two sopranos.35 34 35

Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, pp. 115, 183 and 193. Ibid., p. 115. It is significant that in the anthology containing Marenzio’s first published madrigal, Il primo fiore della ghirlanda musicale (RISM 15777), only the madrigals by Marenzio and Andrea Gabrieli use quavers for different syllables, but

154

Luca Marenzio

In this regard the Ferrarese collection Il lauro secco (1582) contains numerous interesting examples, attesting to the diffusion of the newer stylistic currents in Ferrara, Rome, Mantua and Venice. Andrea Gabrieli’s O in primavera eterna36 irradiates a euphony markedly close in character to that found in Marenzio’s most famous compositions. This piece shares with Liquide perle not only the tonal scheme (mode 7) and high tessitura (quinto in G2 clef), but also a characteristic motivic design with the presence of dactylic rhythms (Ex. 16.6). Also Marenzian is the felicitous musical representation of the interrogative line ‘Chi è che t’ha svelta? il vento?’, with its relentless reiterations of ‘chi è’ and its lively coloratura to depict the wind. Among the ‘Musici di Roma’ present in Il lauro secco we find Annibale Stabile. His Fu il lauro sempre verde37 reflects little of the stylistic changes then taking place, but it too represents an example of ‘bell’aria’. The exordium, which sets the first settenario, may be contrapuntal, but it unfolds a delightful melodic idea that is presented three times, without variation, by different voices (canto, tenor and quinto). It seems as if the composer privileges the beauty of this melodic line at the expense of prosody. In fact the declamation is not an especially good fit (‘Fu il lauro semPRE verDE’) and in all probability Marenzio would have contrived things very differently. This opening’s sweet quality recalls Palestrinian models (one notes especially the characteristic coupling together of C (G2)

&C

w

j œ. œ œ œ ˙ ˙

Ó

O in pri- ma-ve-ra e- ter-na

&C

A (C2)

j & C Ó ˙ œ. œ œ œ œ ˙ #œ

Già nel mio a-mor pian-ta

T (C3)

B (C4)

m

Già nel mio a - mor pian-ta - ta,

Ó œ Jœ Jœ œ œ ˙

Q (G2)

„

œœ œ œ œ ˙ w J J

-

˙

˙ œ. œ œ œ m J

ta,

O in pri-ma-ve-ra e -

j j m œœ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ O in pri-ma-ve-ra e - ter na Già nel mio a-mor pian-ta - ta, œ ˙ Ó Ó ˙ „ Ó œ Jœ Jœ œ ˙ m VC Già nel mio a-mor pian-ta ta ˙ œOœin œ œ. J ?C „ Ó „ m ˙

O in pri-ma-ve-ra e

Ex. 16.6

Andrea Gabrieli, O in primavera, bars 1–3

this trait was soon to become very widespread among Roman composers, as can be seen in the anthology Le gioie (RISM 15897). 36 Ed. Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 2, pp. 40–47. 37 Ibid., pp. 48–53.

A ‘new aria’

155

the voices), which, though having roots very different from Marenzio’s madrigals, nevertheless share in the complex phenomenon of the new ariosità (Ex. 16.7). Comparisons of two madrigal composers’ styles are always rather risky and should never allow us to arrive at generic conclusions. Every composer – especially one of historical importance – needed to possess a broad stylistic palette with strong oscillations between the two aesthetic categories of ‘piacevole’ and ‘grave’. It is certainly not correct to bridle such varietas under the yoke of categorical, hasty definitions. One should always proceed with extreme

œ œ ˙

˙

&c ˙

C (G2)

Fu il

lau

Q (G2)

&c

∑

A (C2)

&c Ó

˙

-

Vc

˙.

-

pre

ver

lau

-

-

ro

∑

de,

∑

œ œ ˙ sem - pre

w

ver

-

˙

Ó

∑

de,

œ ˙ ˙

Fu il

∑

Ó

∑ œ

∑

?c

B (F3)

sem

˙

∑

Fu il T (C3)

ro

˙

˙

∑

lau

Fu il 5

&

∑

&

∑

& V

∑

˙

˙

œ ? œ œ œ sem - pre

ro sem - pre

Ó

˙

˙

fu il

Fu il

lau

lau

˙ fu il

˙

˙ ˙

-

ver

-

˙

de

de,

-

œ œ ˙

˙

Ó

ver

˙.

-

ro sem

˙. lau

œ

œ œ ˙

ro

sem - pre ver

-

œ -

ro

∑ œ œ Œ œ fu il lau - ro

Ex. 16.7 Annibale Stabile, Fu il lauro, bars 1–9

˙

˙

pre

ver

œ

œ

w -

-

˙

sem - pre ver

˙

-

ro

lau

-

m

de

˙

m

de

w -

œ

m

de

∑

Ó

m

œ œ ˙

w

m

sem - pre ver

-

de

156

Luca Marenzio

caution, given that our investigations, for the moment at least, are necessarily incomplete. Bearing in mind these premises it is nevertheless instructive to compare Marenzio’s Liquide perle with Giovanni Maria Nanino’s five-voice Da vaghe perle e da vermiglie rose, whose text presents surprising parallels. This piece stands at the conclusion of the Roman anthology Dolci affetti, published in 1582.38 Here are the two poetic texts in question: Marenzio:

Nanino:

Liquide perle Amor da gl’occhi sparse In premio del mio ardore; Ma lass’ohimè che ’l core Di maggior foco m’arse. Ahi, che bastava solo A darmi morte il primo ardente duolo.

Da vaghe perle e da vermiglie rose Dolce nettare Amore Trasse ridendo e alle mie labbra il pose. Ahi, che m’uccise il core E mi convenne dire: – Per il nettar gustar debbo morire.

Love caused liquid pearls to fall from my eyes as a reward for my ardour; But, alas, my heart burnt with a fiercer flame. Ah, see how my first searing pain was enough to cause my death.

From beautiful pearls and vermilion

roses Love, smiling, drew sweet nectar and placed it on my lips. Ah, how my heart slew me, and I was moved to say: I must die from tasting the nectar.

The same number of lines, the common presence of exclamatio (‘Ahi!’), and many lexical corrispondences (‘perle’, ‘Amore’, ‘core’, ‘morte’) are all elements that leave no doubt that the two texts are closely linked. The supposition that one of these poems was written in imitation of the other must remain conjecture, but what interests us most is to compare the two composers’ procedure for overcoming the analogous problems posed by the two texts. Nanino opts for mode 11 transposed (finalis F). The articulation of the cadences, in contrast to Marenzio, offers no great surprises: each line cadences usually on the finalis and only the penultimate line, to underline the direct speech, moves to the repercussa, C. In other words, Nanino avoids embarking on the adventure of commixtio tonorum. Traits shared by the two pieces are: the contrapuntal exordium with imitative points of entry in dactylic rhythm, a clear formal articulation that respects the 38

Modern edition in Pirrotta (ed.) I Musici di Roma e il madrigale, pp. 86–88. On Nanino the madrigalist see Boenicke, ‘Giovanni Maria Nanino’. It is worth noting that the year before the publication of Dolci affetti Nanino collaborated with Stabile on a volume Madrigali a cinque voci di Gio. Maria Nanino et di Annibal Stabile (Venice: Angelo Gardano, 1581), dedicated to the same Pasqualino who wrote the text of Liquide perle. So Nanino’s Da vaghe perle may perhaps be seen as a sort of tribute to the Marenzio–Pasqualino collaboration.)

A ‘new aria’

157

unity of the single lines (without using cadenze fuggite) and the presence of exclamatio on long note values. But it is clear that all these elements form part of the more prevalent conventions of the madrigal in this period. In terms of artistic creation Marenzio’s madrigal is altogether superior to Nanino’s. This supremacy is due not so much to technical mastery – which in both cases is indisputable – as to what Morley calls ‘good air and fine invention’ and Giustiniani calls ‘invention of new delights’. The contrapuntal inlay in the opening bars of Liquide perle exceeds that of Da vaghe perle in terms of inventio. Nanino too is skilled in the writing of imitation, but his opening motif is somewhat conventional (Ex. 16.8).39 In Nanino’s madrigal a climax of inventio is reached in the third line (‘Trasse ridendo e alle mie labbra pose’), where the contrapuntal interweaving, to use Giustiniani’s term, shows ‘good, solid counterpoint’ together with a liveliness of figuration typical of the 1580s madrigal. This liveliness is the most immediately striking stylistic trait in the secular output of Ruggiero Giovannelli, often placed alongside Marenzio among the more successful Roman composers. Giovannelli made his debut as a madrigalist in Il lauro secco, five years after Marenzio made his; the same chronological interval separates the publication of the first single publications of the two composers (1585 and 1580 respectively). Doubtless Giovannelli had time to C (G2)

&b c˙ œ œ ˙ ˙ Da va-ghe per - le e

A (C2)

&b c

∑

∑

j œ. œ œ œ n˙ ˙ da ver-mi-glie

˙ Da

T (C3)

Vb c

∑

∑

∑

Q (C3)

Vb c

∑

∑

∑

B (F3)

?b c

∑

Œ

m

ro - se

œ œ ˙ ˙

va- ghe

5

per - le e

∑

j m œ. œ œ œ ˙ œ

da ver- mi-glie ro - se

∑

Œ œ œ . œj œ œ n ˙

Ó

m

œ

m

e da ver - mi-glie ro - se

∑

∑

∑

Ó ˙

Da

œ œ ˙

˙

m

va-ghe per - le

Ex. 16.8 G.M. Nanino, Da vaghe perle, bars 1–6 39

A similar conclusion is drawn by Chater (Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, pp. 37 ff.) in comparing the exordium of Nanino’s Là, dove par (in Le gioie, 1589) with that of Marenzio’s Perché adoprar catene (in Li amorosi ardori, RISM 158312). Cf. ibid., p. 115: ‘Nanino’s skilful assimilation of Marenzio’s use of double counterpoint lacks the younger composer’s textural finesse’.

158

Luca Marenzio

assimilate and rework some of the techniques introduced by Marenzio, for example the handling of elegant themes and lively motifs with syllables underlaid to quavers. We have already seen that the two composers worked together on the intermedi for Le stravaganze d’amore of 1585. The conclusion of a relatively late madrigal of Giovannelli, Ut re mi fa sol la (1599; Ex. 16.9), quotes almost exactly a passage from Marenzio’s Fillida mia of 1581(Ex. 16.10).40

&cm w

C (G2)

w

(Ut)

Vcm

A (C2)

œ

∑

œ œ œ œ Vcm J Quel ch’a lei si œ œ œ œ c m V J

Q (C3)

T (C3)

?cm

B (C4)

Quel ch’a lei si

∑

w œ

Quel ch’a

j œ ˙

so - mi

-

& w œ

œ

œ œ J J

ch’a

lei

si

mi

so

-

-

-

glia,

œ

œ

quel ch’a

œ œ J Jœ

lei

si

œ

Quel ch’a

w

so - mi

œ œ J J

œ lei

si

so -

-

w ˙

mi

-

-

so - mi

Ó

˙

œ œ œ

˙

w glia.

œ -

w

glia.

w

w

-

? w

40

si

˙

w

œ œ. V œ Jœ J lei si so - mi œ ˙ œ. J V

Ex. 16.9

lei

˙

˙

glia,

Quel ch’a

quel

œ J Jœ

œ Ó œ J œ so - mi - glia, œ œ œ

90

V œ

œ

glia.

w

-

w -

glia.

Ruggiero Giovannelli, Ut re mi fa sol la, bars 87–92

Giovannelli’s piece, from his III a 5 (1599), is transcribed by DeFord, Ruggiero Giovannelli, vol. 2, pp. 305–12. The Marenzio piece, from his second book a 5 (1581), is published in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, pp. 59–61.

A ‘new aria’

C (G2)

&cm w

20

le,

œ

&cm

Q (G2)

A (C2)

˙

Ó

le,

Più

& cm w

w

159

œ œ œ œ J Jœ

∑ œ

œ

Più

œ J Jœ

Vcm

fu - ga - ce che

cer

?c

B (C4)

& œ cer

&

œ

œ -

più

va,

œ

fu

œ

œ

più

fu

œ

-

& Ó

cer

Ex. 16.10

-

ga

œ -

ga

-

ce

œ

œ

Più

fu

-

œ.

che

cer

va,

più

-

ga

œ J Jœ ˙ ce che cer j œ ˙

-

ce

che

-

∑

w -

cer

-

∑

m

va

w

-

w -

fu - ga - ce che

∑

m

va

j œ œj ˙

œ

V w ?

cer

∑

œ J Jœ

va,

œ œ œ œ j J œ

˙

∑

m

-

w

œ œ œ œ J Jœ ˙

Più fu - ga - ce che

˙

˙

le, T (C3)

fu - ga - ce che

m

w -

va

w

m

va

∑

m

Marenzio, Fillida mia, bars 19–24

A close harmonic relation can be seen between the conclusion of Giovannelli’s Donna, la bella mano (1589)41 and the last section of Liquide perle (1580). Both pieces are in mode 7 and end with a long ‘pedal’ on the repercussa, D. Only in the penultimate bar is the minor third F changed to a major third (F). Similar procedures formed part of a technical vocabulary that was common and widely diffused, but whose establishment is owed in part to Marenzio’s early

41 No. 8 of Le gioie; modern edition in Pirrotta (ed.) I Musici di Roma e il madrigale, pp. 129–34.

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Luca Marenzio

collections. Einstein has rightly pointed out that many madrigalists of the period embarked on the same hedonistic trail followed by Marenzio in the 1580s, but his example remained unsurpassed.42 Whatever the similarities, the main stylistic difference between Marenzio and the other Roman madrigalists resides in the imitazione delle parole, an area in which our composer proves himself to be much more attentive and sensitive, as can be seen if we compare his setting of Dolorosi martir with those of Soriano and Nanino.43 In order to understand the arioso character that contemporaries attributed to Marenzio’s music it is essential to say a few words about the conspicuous production of villanellas for three voices. It is commonly accepted that in the late Cinquecento terms such as villanella, canzonetta alla napolitana and aria alla napolitana tend to become equivalent, as is proved by the interchangeable titles 42

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 855 ff.; Arnold, Marenzio, p. 6. Among the epigones we should also include Felice Anerio, whose style presents many points of contact with Giovannelli. In the collection L’amorosa Ero (RISM 158817) Marenzio’s colorature also find reflection in the pieces by Bertani and Giovannelli: Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, p. 135. 43 The second of Nanino’s two settings of Dolorosi martir (III a 5, 1586) is transcribed in Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 2, pp. 192–200; that of Francesco Soriano (II a 5, 1592) in DeFord, Ruggiero Giovannelli, vol. 2, pp. 132–40 (the canto part is missing). The following passage by Pietro Della Valle is interesting for the music of Soriano and Nanino (Della musica dell’età nostra, pp. 250 ff.): ‘son belle musiche, ma musiche solo per note, non per parole; che è quanto dire belli corpi, ma corpi senza anima, che se non saranno cadaveri puzzolenti, saranno almeno corpi di figure dipinte, ma non di uomini vivi. I Maestri dell’età passata hanno saputo benissimo l’arte della Musica, ma pochi hanno saputo con giudizio adoperarla: le composizioni loro son piene di sottilissimi artifizi, come si vede del Soriano, d’uno de’ Nanini, e di molti altri, che potrei nominare; ma però con queste imperfezioni, che io dico, alle quali essi non avevano punto di mira; anzi badavano tanto poco, che le loro note accompagnassero bene le parole, che di alcuni di loro, e de’ migliori si conta, che bene spesso facevano composizioni di semplici note; alle quali, quando erano finite, adattavano poi quelle parole, che meglio venivano loro alla mano’ (‘the music is beautiful, but it is written for the sake of the notes only, not the words; that is to say, beautiful bodies, but bodies without soul, which, if they are not stinking corpses, could be called bodies of painted figures, not of living men. The masters of the last period [the end of the sixteenth century] knew the art of music very well, but did not know how to use it with judgement: their compositions are full of the most subtle artifices, as we see in Soriano, one of the Naninos [Giovanni Maria Nanino] and many others I could name; but with these shortcomings I have mentioned, whereby these artifices served no end; on the contrary, they paid little heed if the notes accompanied the words well, to such an extent that some of them (and some of those considered the best), very often wrote compositions just for notes and, when they were finished, adapted those words that best came to hand’).

A ‘new aria’

161

of contemporary music prints.44 The ‘light’ or pseudo-popular genre had reached fixed codification around the 1560s through the work of a few specialists like Ferretti, Conversi, Caimo, Primavera and Gasparo Fiorino.45 In the last two decades of the Cinquecento this production assumed conspicuous proportions, with a widespread diffusion in the main centres of the peninsula. Rome was no exception – indeed, it is almost true to say it was the capital of this repertory during these years. Among the city’s musicians, not only Marenzio, but also Giovannelli, Felice Anerio, Giovanni Maria Nanino, Palestrina, Moscaglia, Crivelli, Soriano, Quagliati, Stabile, Del Mel and many other composers of the next generation composed canzonette alla napolitana. Marenzio favours the genre of the villanella for three voices, and he composed more than 300 pieces in this genre, including the subgenre of the canzonetta spirituale.46 That this output was important not only for its quantity but also from a historical point of view is once again confirmed by its astonishing fortune at the printing press, which was especially notable beyond the Alps.47 Apart from the numerous reprints, instrumental tabulations (for lute or keyboard) and translations into German, which by themselves attest to a very wide diffusion, we should bear in mind that several texts set for the first time as villanellas by Marenzio were then repeatedly used by various composers active between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.48 One of these – and it is surely no coincidence – was the Englishman Thomas Morley, who was to praise Marenzio’s madrigals for their ‘good air’.49 44 45

46

47 48

49

For the different terms used at various times in the second half of the Cinquecento, see Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, p. 250, n. 56. For an overall view see Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 585–91. For the canzonetta at the end of the Cinquecento see Assenza, La canzonetta. Notable progess in the bibliography of this genre has been achieved by Marco Giuliani’s ‘Archivio della canzonetta’. On the project to create this repertory catalogue see Giuliani’s introduction to his edition of Marenzio, I cinque libri di canzonette, vol. 3, pp. xii–xviii. Ibid., table 2 (catalogue of Marenzio’s villanellas). To the five villanella books should be added the pieces scattered in various anthologies, among which the small group of canzonette spirituali stands out. On these pieces see Cafiero, ‘Canzonette spirituali e profane’. Rosa Barezzani, ‘Le villanelle’, pp. 115–63. Marenzio, I cinque libri di canzonette, vol. 3, pp. xxii ff. (table of textual concordances). Giuliani lists 43 pieces. Among the most favoured texts were Le rose, frond’e fiori, Al primo vostro sguardo and Vorria parlare e dire quant’è grave (Primo libro); O tu che mi dai pene (Secondo libro); Mi parto ahi sorte ria (Quarto libro). Morley, in his Il primo libro delle ballette a cinque voci (London, 1595), resets the texts of the following villanellas by Marenzio: A la strada a la strada and Al primo vostro sguardo (Secondo libro); Le rose, frond’e fiori (Primo libro). Morley’s musical preferences, apart from Marenzio, inclined towards Alfonso Ferrabosco ‘for deep

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As we have already pointed out, it was customary for composers in and around Rome not to publish villanella collections under their own name. They preferred to have their music published through the mediation of a compiler who signed the dedication, in order to feign superior detachment from a genre that was humilis, albeit undoubtedly popular. Marenzio’s villanellas borrow their main characteristics from contemporary models. They are strophic compositions, usually articulated as four or more strophes that all share the same music. The poetic texts, the work of anonymous versifiers,50 are cast in metrical forms of varying types. Endecasillabi (lines of eleven syllables) and settenari (of seven syllables) prevail, but, in contrast to the madrigal, ottonari (eight syllables), quinari (five syllables) and other line lengths may occur. There are no dialect texts or napolitani; the discourse, though some remove from the highest register, has many points of contact with the prevalent conventions of courtly poetry; the subjects are mostly amorous (especially love’s torments) and the similes are occasionally enriched by salty details drawn from everyday life: Il ladro ch’a la strada v’a rubare Per forza vuol danari, panni e poi Ti lascia andare per li fatti tuoi ... Ma voi Donna crudel di mezzo giorno Rubate i cori e con gli occhi uccidete, Quante persone per ora vedete.51 The thief who goes robbing in the street wants to take your money and clothes by force, and then leaves you free to go about your business. ... But you, cruel lady, in broad daylight rob hearts and slay with your eyes as many people as you come across.

skill’, Orazio Vecchi, Stefano Venturi, Ruggiero Giovannelli and Giovanni Croce. In the specific field of the canzoni alla napoletana he recognized Marenzio and Ferretti as models. 50 The hypothesis has been advanced, not I think without reason, that in some cases the authors of the texts can be identified as the compilers: see Giuliani’s edition of Marenzio, I cinque libri di canzonette, vol. 3, introduction, p. xix. For Marenzio’s Terzo libro it is probable that the editor, Cristoforo Ferrari, who was also active in the field of literature, composed at least some of the texts. See above, Chapter 15. 51 Primo libro delle villanelle a tre voci, no. 5.

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Or: A la strada o Dio o Dio Aiuto ohimè ch’io son tradito O poverino me ch’io son ferito. ... Amazzate il tristarello Ohimè ch’io sento un gran dolore Guardate questo stral ch’ho dentro al core.52 Murder! o God, o God, help, ah, I am betrayed, o poor me, I’m wounded. ... Kill the wretch! Alas, I feel great pain, look at this arrow that has struck my heart.

From a musical point of view each strophe presents two or more repeats. The most frequent structure is tripartite with two repeats: AABCC.53 This can bring to mind the rhetorical dispositio of the madrigal articulated as exordium, corpus ipsum carminis and conclusio.54 The rhetorical analogies between the noble genre of the madrigal and the humilis genre of the villanella extend to the treatment of single words through tone painting. The almost systematic use of quaver diminutions on words like ‘fiamma’ (flame), ‘accende’ (burn), ‘gioire’ (joy), ‘volo’ (fly), ‘vivo’ (live) and ‘allegrezza’ (happiness)55 are exactly equivalent to those encountered in Marenzio’s madrigals in the same years. Also the dialectical opposition between slow and fast (semibreves and minims versus crochets and quavers) is systematically applied in the villanella repertory.56 The conclusion of Fuggirò tanto Amore from the Primo libro (1584) may serve as an example; here one notes the dissonant appoggiatura effect of the diminished fourth on the words ‘tante pene’ (‘so much pain’) (Ex. 16.11). Even though Marenzio’s hand is clearly recognizable in this light genre, it is clear that the differences between the genres holds fast. For example, the modal behaviour of the villanellas is noticeably different from that of the madrigals. In the villanellas, the exordium can have a triad constructed on a note other than the finalis: this happens, for instance, in the opening piece of the Primo libro, Donna 52 Secondo libro delle villanelle a tre voci, no. 10. 53 Less common is the bipartite form AABB: see Rosa Barezzani, ‘Le villanelle’, p. 120. 54 On this articulation, borrowed from H. Unger (Die Beziehungen zwischen Musik und Rhetorik); see also Janz, Die Petrarca-Vertonungen, p. 328 and passim. 55 These examples are limited to the Quinto libro (1587). 56 On the relationship with the madrigalian genre see Rosa Barezzani, ‘Le villanelle’, pp. 129–34.

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œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ ˙ œ &c Œ œ œ œœœ œœ œœ 10

(C1)

Le fiam

m’e

le ca - te

-

œœœœœ œ œœ ˙ &c Œ œ œ œœœ m’e le ca - te ˙ Le fiam ˙ ˙ œ œ œ. œ œ. ?c J

(C2)

(F4)

Le

&

-

w ne

& #w ne

? w ne

Ex. 16.11

fiam

-

m’e

Œ œ œ . œj œ œ ˙

w

w

Che ten-go - no que-st’al - ma in

j œ. œ œ œ ˙ Che ten-go - no que- st’al œ. œ œ œ ˙ J ˙

Œœ

Che

ten-go - no que - st’al

w

˙ ˙ -

ma in

tan

-

ma in

œ J ˙

-

w

w

te

pe

w -

ne.

˙ #˙ #˙ ˙

˙ #˙

w

tan - te

-

ne.

˙ ˙ #˙ ˙ -

-

œ œ. J

le ca - te

15

#œ

tan - te

pe

w

w

pe

-

w ne.

Marenzio, Fuggirò tant’Amore

da vostri sguardi, which begins on an E major chord and ends on G. Among other characteristics peculiar to the villanella are:

• • •

an exordium predominantly chordal and in long note values the characteristic frequency of parallel fifths (an isolated vestige of a now completely stylized genre) the concluding cadence on the unison of the two upper voices, with the bass an octave beneath.

For the rest, between Marenzio’s villanellas and madrigals one may even observe similar harmonic progressions, which serve to indicate that the two genres are in fact interrelated, even though each has its own peculiar characteristics.57 Even a madrigal as refined as Liquide perle leaves subtle traces of the structural and rhetorical articulation of a villanella, in accordance with the historiographical view put forward by Vincenzo Giustiniani.

57

In this regard, we may compare the endings of Liquide perle and the villanella Donna da vostri sguardi (Primo libro, no. 1), both in mode 7. The similar harmonies are all the more striking if we consider the three-voice ‘reduction’ of Liquide perle in Banchieri’s Il metamorfosi musicale.

Chapter 17

The grand duke’s wedding When Cristoforo Madruzzo died in the summer of 1578, Marenzio had the opportunity of entering the service of Cardinal d’Este without delay. However, when the latter died, the composer was apparently bereft of a patron and thus free to accept other work. In 1587 Marenzio was very well known and could boast several supporters among the Roman aristocracy. It was true that he could no longer count on the decisive support of Cardinal d’Este, who had unlocked so many doors for him, whether directly or indirectly. The prospect of a career in France had subsided once and for all; even the duke of Joyeuse, who had earlier shown interest in Marenzio, was occupied with other thoughts at that time and was destined for untimely death on the battlefield. The negotiations with Mantua remained open, but Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga, that great cultivator of music, also died that August. It was necessary for Marenzio to retrench on his Roman home ground, to see what openings might present themselves in the courts of the aristocrats and cardinals. Within the Sacred College, the person most able to appreciate Marenzio was without doubt Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, who had once been a frequent guest of Luigi d’Este. Relations had not always been good between the Este and Medici families. In 1558 Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara had taken as his first wife Lucrezia de’ Medici, the daughter of the duke of Tuscany, after the latter had mediated to reconcile the Estensi with the Spanish. Despite the marriage, the rivalry between the two families flared up vigorously as a result of the age-old question of precedence, the hierarchical relationship between the two dukes. In 1547 Emperor Charles V had temporarily resolved the dispute in favour of the Medici. Thirteen years later Ferdinand I Habsburg shared the same opinion, but Duke Alfonso, undaunted, tried to regain the emperor’s favour. For this reason, in 1565 he took Barbara of Austria as his second wife and supported the disastrous imperial expedition against the Turks. This obsession with supremacy also led the two Italian princes to compete for the Polish throne, albeit with little likelihood of success. Meanwhile, however, Cosimo de’ Medici made real progress by obtaining the title of ‘Grand Duke’, recognized by both the pope and the emperor (1576). Even if relations between Ferrara and Florence were not the most cordial, in Rome the cardinals of the two families could more easily find a way of agreeing on common aims. A splendid opportunity for reconciliation was suggested by the duke of Bracciano, Paolo Giordano Orsini, the most powerful of the Roman 165

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barons, a friend of both Cardinal d’Este and Cardinal de’ Medici. In 1582 Orsini had cherished the idea of an Italic league based on an alliance between the dukes of Ferrara and Tuscany; it would have allowed the Italian princes to increase their authority with Spain and France. Luigi d’Este approved the project, but Duke Alfonso, perhaps not without reason, saw it only as bid for hegemony on the part of the grand duke. The chance slipped by.1 The time was nevertheless ripe for the two princely houses to make concrete progress towards reconciliation. Under the auspices of Orsini and the two cardinals, a marriage of great strategic significance was soon arranged between Cesare d’Este and Virginia de’ Medici. After negotiations lasting several years, the marriage was celebrated in Florence in February 1586.2 It is at this point that a Marenzio dedication comes into play, one whose real political significance is often poorly understood: his homage to Bianca Cappello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in his third book a 6. In his letter of dedication (Rome, 12 February 1585), Marenzio writes: ‘emboldened by your protection I can, thanks to the tranquil leisure granted me by the benevolence of my lord the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Cardinal d’Este, apply my spirit to more worthy works in order to make me even more worthy and capable of receiving your favour’.3 Like all the preceding books for six voices, this one bears the name of Luigi d’Este loud and clear, as if to suggest that behind the musician’s dedication lay concealed the prelate’s mind and sagacity. For this reason we cannot give credence to the traditional interpretation offered by the major biographers of Marenzio. Engel and Ledbetter maintain that, because of the administrative chaos that prevailed in Luigi d’Este’s household and the precarious state of his health, the composer wished to find a new patron who could offer him greater security.4 This may have been Marenzio’s secret aspiration, but in reality it was the delicate relations between the Este and the 1 2

Pacifici, ‘Luigi d’Este’ (1954), pp. 224–27. Ibid., p. 227. Cesare d’Este, descended from an illegitimate son of Alfonso I, was the heir presumptive to the throne of Ferrara, as Alfonso II had not yet produced a son. Virginia de’ Medici was the natural daughter of Grand Duke Cosimo. 3 ‘fatto ardito dalla detta protettione sua potrò con l’ocio tranquillo concessome dalla benignità dell’Illustrissimo et Reverendissimo Cardinale d’Este mio Signore applicar l’animo ad opre più degne per farmi ancor più degno, e capace del favor suo.’ 4 Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 35 ff.: ‘Per un maestro già noto come lui, una tale dedica doveva significare, più che un atto di cortesia, il desiderio di essere assunto al servizio della persona alla quale la dedica era indirizzata’ (‘For a master of his renown, such a dedication was not an act of courtesy, but rather an expression of his desire to be accepted into the service of the person to whom the dedication was addressed’). The same opinion is expressed by Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 91. Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, p. 560, without developing the point, pertinently draws a parallel between the Medici–Estensi rapprochement in the period 1582–5 and Marenzio’s dedication to Bianca Cappello.

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Medici that were at stake; Cardinal Luigi and Grand Duchess Bianca Cappello made a decisive contribution to their success.5 The lovely Bianca Cappello, consort of Francesco de’ Medici, had a picaresque past. Born of a noble Venetian family, she abandoned the family home at the age of 15 in order to elope with Pietro Bonaventuri, a Florentine with neither wealth nor title. Once they reached Tuscany, she married Bonaventuri and bore him a son, but soon after she became the mistress of Prince Francesco de’ Medici, the eldest son of Cosimo and the future grand duke. In 1569 Bianca’s husband was brutally clubbed and knifed to death. A tale, which could be pure fantasy, has it that Cappello, after becoming a widow, sought to bind her lover to him and silence the murmerings at court by staging a fake pregnancy and birth. This piece of gossip, deposited in the Medici archives after Bianca’s death, aimed to delegitimize any claim to the right of succession on the part of Don Antonio de’ Medici, who is presumed to have been born of the extramarital relationship between Francesco and Cappello. Bianca nevertheless succeeded in winning her lover’s hand after the death of his first wife Giovanna d’Austria. The marriage took place first in secret (5 June 1578) and was then celebrated with great festivities (October 1579), in which Giulio Caccini participated as a singer. On this occasion the Republic of Venice proclaimed Bianca ‘her true and special daughter’ (‘vera e particolare figliola’). As can easily be imagined, such fortune earned her much hostility and provoked mordant witticisms. Among her most implacable enemies, as tradition would have it, was her brother-in-law Cardinal de’ Medici, who some say instigated her death, which occurred in October 1587 in mysterious circumstances, shortly after that of her husband.6 After a great deal of friction between the two brothers, Cardinal Ferdinando managed to arrange a meeting of reconciliation in the villa at 5

Chater, ‘Bianca Cappello and Music’, pp. 571 ff.: ‘In her efforts to improve relations with the court of Ferrara, Bianca found an ally in Cardinal Luigi d’Este, the brother of the duke of Ferrara. ... Viewed in this light, the dedication to Bianca of a madrigal book by the cardinal’s maestro di cappella, Marenzio, can be seen as an act of diplomacy, a public sign of good will.’ 6 After the death of Grand Duke Francesco and his wife within a few hours of each other (19 and 20 October 1587) there were insistent rumours that the couple were poisoned on the orders of Ferdinando. Accordingly, the Florentine informant Ercole Cortile wrote to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara (12 February 1588): ‘In camera del re [di Spagna] s’è detto che la casa de’ Medici horamai si può chiamar la casa Ottomana picciola, poiche si ammazzano l’uno l’altro come fanno i Turchi ... et il Gran Duca d’hoggi hà ammazzato il fr[at]ello, et la cognata’ (‘In the chambers of the King [of Spain] it has been said that the house of Medici can now be called the little house of Ottoman, because they murder one another like the Turks ... and the present grand duke [Ferdinando de’ Medici] has murdered his brother and sister-in-law’). ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 28; quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 201.

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Poggio a Caiano (25 September). The pope made every effort to re-establish peace between the members of the Medici family. But a few days later, beginning on 8 October, the grand duke was taken ill with ‘violent vomiting’ (‘vomito gagliardo’) and ‘severe cramps’ (‘fieri crampi’). Bianca became ill at the same time. The Italian courts, particularly those of Mantua, Ferrara and Rome, all sent agents and ambassadors seeking news on the grand-ducal couple’s state of health. Cardinal Ferdinando was clever to control and manipulate the information: for example he gave out that Bianca’s illness was essentially due to her preoccupation with her husband’s fate. The death of Francesco and Bianca occurred almost simultaneously, on 19 and 20 October. The most malicious tongues spread the suspicion that Ferdinando had administered poison to the couple: in this way he could have inherited the throne and at the same time freed himself of the inconvenient grand duchess. A man of the world, the cardinal sought to prevent malicious allegations by arranging an autopsy of the two bodies, in order to show that the deaths were from natural causes. But the episode has given rise to a rich thread of literature and a series of conjectures that are still the subject of discussion. While the official historiography, perhaps ingenuously, tends to be based on the official post-mortem report, some biographers do not exclude the possibility of a sophisticated plot. One can harbour various doubts as to the honesty of the court doctors who prepared the report; on the other hand no document exists that could prove the cardinal’s guilt. Whatever the truth, one thing is certain: Ferdinando knew how to extract cynical advantage from the situation and viewed with relief the death of one he had called ‘that evil Bianca’ (‘la pessima Bianca’).7 If Cardinal de’ Medici, as seems certain, loathed Cappello, Cardinale d’Este showed her signs of respect and found in her an excellent ally for his political 7

A recent biography of Bianca Cappello, Mariotti Masi, Bianca Cappello, though not professing to be academic (it is lacking notes), is nevertheless perceptive and well documented. Concerning the grand duchess’s demise she writes (p. 306): ‘I documenti esistenti non permettono in alcun modo di sostenere la tesi della morte naturale ma, d’altronde, essi non permettono neppure di avvalorare con la massima certezza quella dell’assassinio. Se Ferdinando provocò la malattia e la morte dei granduchi, o se sfruttò abilmente l’opportunità di portare alle estreme conseguenze un loro disturbo accidentale, approfittando della fortunata occasione di quel suo medico personale trovatosi ad offrire le prime cure al granduca ammalato, lo fece indubbiamente con servitori così fidati da crearsi intorno un’omertà impenetrabile’ (‘The existing documents do not sustain the thesis of death by natural causes; but on the other hand, they do not allow us to give very much credence to that of assassination. If Ferdinando provoked the illness and death of the couple, or if he cleverly took the opportunity offered by his personal doctor’s being first to treat the grand duke after he fell ill, he certainly did it with servants so trusted that he could erect around him a wall of omertà that has never been breached’).

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designs.8 A letter of Aurelio Zibramonte to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga (Rome, 1 July 1583) indicates that the marriage between Cesare d’Este and Virginia de’ Medici rested once again on the interests of the French crown (and on Caterina de’ Medici in particular): Cardinal d’Este has told the Cardinal of Aragon that, when Don Alfonso arrives here His Lordship ... will fully embrace the match between Don Cesare, the said gentleman’s son, and a daughter of the grand duke of Tuscany, having been persuaded to do so by the queen mother of the Most Christian King, who has requested it because the Florentine and French gentry now have very close ties.9

For Bianca Cappello the dedication of Marenzio’s madrigals came as a surprise. We can confirm this on the basis of two letters sent to her in May 1585 by Pietro Strozzi and by Marenzio. This brief correspondence serves to clarify a few details about the mechanisms governing the dedications of music prints. Interestingly, Marenzio did not dare write directly to a person of such high rank without the support of a trusted intermediary. Pietro Strozzi was certainly the most qualified person: a Florentine noble, a musical dilettante, friend of Vincenzo Galilei and Count Giovanni Bardi,10 he had himself composed the madrigal for the Carro della Notte for the grand duchess’s wedding in 1579.11 Strozzi presented Marenzio’s madrigal book and the latter’s accompanying 8 On the other hand, one of Luigi d’Este’s friends, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Scipione Gonzaga, perhaps influenced by Cardinal Ferdinando, did not have a high opinion of the grand duchess: ‘Nec Franciscus aut ex Joanna, aut ex Blanca Capella, quam deinde, impotenti amore victus, neque Principem genere ortam, neque integra fama, uxorem ducit, liberum praeterea sustulit quemquam’ (‘[Grand Duke] Francesco did not succeed in having a son either by Giovanna or by Bianca Cappello, a woman whose birth was far from exalted and whose reputation was far from impeccable, and whom, conquered by overwhelming passion, he took in legal marriage’). Gonzaga, Autobiografia, p. 70. 9 ‘Il s[igno]r Car[dina]le d’Este hà detto al s[igno]r Car[dina]le d’Aragona ch’all’arrivo del s[igno]r Don Alfonso quà S[ua] S[igno]ria Ill[ustrissi]ma ... stringerà totalmente il parentado frà il s[igno]r Don Cesare fig[liuo]lo dell’istesso s[igno]re et una fig[liuo]la del Gran Duca di Toscana, movendosi a ciò assai ad instanza della Reina M[ad]re del Re Chr[istianissi]mo che gli ne fà instanzia perché li s[igno]ri fiorentini si stringono molto hora colli s[igno]ri francesi.’ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 934 (Rome, 1 July 1583). The same letter continues by recording the scepticism at the Ferrarese court over the true possibilities of such a match: ‘il qual parentado il Masetto agente del ser[enissi]mo s[igno]r Duca di Ferrara mostra di non credere’ (‘Masetto, agent of His Serene [Highness] the duke of Ferrara, professes not to believe in this match’). 10 With Bardi he is one of the interlocutors of Vincenzo Galilei’s Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna (1582). 11 The piece was sung by Giulio Caccini. For a transcription and detailed discussion of the piece, see Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, pp. 204–5.

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letter to Bianca Cappello on 31 May 1585. In doing so he wrote as follows: From Rome I have received from Luca Marenzio a letter and these madrigals composed by him, which he has dedicated to Your Most Serene Highness as you can see from the front, which bears your name, and he has asked me to present both to you. But since I am still unable to travel far from my house because of the medication I must take, and wishing to serve my friend, I first ask Your Most Serene Highness to excuse me if I do not present it to you in person. Then I would like, through the offices of my Costanza, your lady-in-waiting and my sister, to present you with the letter and these books, which I believe will turn out very well because I know that this man exceeds all others in the art of music, in Rome and perhaps elsewhere. Hence, because he is such a virtuoso, and for his desire to serve Your Highness, I ask you to grant him the favour of receiving this gift, and let him partake of your grace.... I beg you that, granting him the favour of a reply, you would do me the favour of allowing me to give him the letter; so that since he has asked me to present you with his compositions, I may convey to him that assent which would allow him to call himself favoured by you, and served by me.12

And here is Marenzio’s private letter dated 24 May, much more interesting than the dedicatory letter that prefaces the third book a 6: I consider it a sure fact that there is no man in the world of the roughest manners who does not revere you, or covet the time and place to serve Your Highness because, both for your noble blood and the sublime genius in which it runs, and even more because of your rare and incomparable gifts and qualities, you are admirable and worthy of everyone’s regard. But among the others I have a heartfelt desire to serve you, and I revere you with great devotion; because, having heard you being celebrated and praised 12

‘Mi sono stati mandati di Roma da m[es]s[er] Luca Marentio una lettera et questi madrigali composti da lui, i quali egli hà dedicati a V[ostra] A[ltezz]a S[erenissi]ma siccome ella vedrà dalla fronte loro, ove portano scritto il nome di lei, e commessomi ch’io le presenti l’uno e l’altro. Hora poiché io non sono per ancora in termine ch’io possa molto allontanarmi da casa per i medicam[en]ti ne quali io sono intrigato, volendo servire questo amico mio: prima priego l’A[ltezz]a V[ostra] S[erenissi]ma havermi per scusato se non fò questo in presenza. Poi per il mezo della Gostanza sua Dama, e mia sorella Le presento la lettera, e i libri, i quali per mio credere, riesciranno bellissimi perché io sò, che questo huomo nell’arte della musica và innanzi à tutti gli altri di Roma, e forse degli altri luoghi. Onde, e per esser così virtuoso, e per la volontà che tiene di servir V[ostra] A[ltezz]a la prego, che si contenti gradir questo suo dono, e farli parti della sua gratia. ... Io la supplico che contentandosi favorirlo di risposta, mi voglia far gratia di farmi dar la l[ette]ra; affinche, havendomi egli fatto presentatore a V[ostra] A[ltezz]a di queste sue fatiche, io sia anche apportator à lui di questo concento, onde egli possa chiamarsi favorito da lei, e servito da me.’ ASF, Archivio Medici, 5939, fol. 344 (Florence, 31 May 1585). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 181–82.

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to the skies many many times by the Most Illustrious Prince my Lord Cardinal d’Este, under whose shadow (goodness and kindness) I take shelter and live, I have been moved to do this. But because my humility does not suffer me to be worthy to serve you with nothing, I have decided at least to make known to you my reverent and affectionate devotion, by dedicating these my madrigals to you, which I have done. May Your Highness not disdain from condescending to receive this modest sign of my sincere devotion to you, and deign to count me, who offer them to you so readily, among the number of your most humble and devoted servants.13

This letter confirms that Cardinal d’Este was the true instigator of the contact between Marenzio and Bianca Cappello, who obviously did not know each other personally. It was Luigi who praised the grand duchess ‘to the skies’, in order that the composer might dedicate a madrigal print to her. Marenzio, for his part, could have forged a friendship with the Florentine Pietro Strozzi, because during this period the brothers of his fiancée lived in the home of Cardinale d’Este.14 Moreover, documents exist proving a close relationship between Cleria Farnese Cesarini and the Tuscan court through the mediation of Emilio de’ Cavalieri. The latter, before entering Ferdinando de’ Medici’s service, had been a ‘servitore’ in

13

‘Io tengo per fermo, che non ci sia huomo nel mondo di così rozzi costumi, che non riverisca, et non desideri di haver luogo et tempo da poter servire l’A[ltezza] V[ostra] imperoché, et per la chiarezza del sangue, et per la sublimità del genio in che ella si trova, et molto più per le rare, et incomparabili doti, et qualità sue, è ammirabile, et ragguardevole appresso ogn’uno. Ma trà gl’altri io con affetto grandissimo desidero di servirla, et divotissimam[en]te La riverisco; percioché sentendola molte, et molte volte celebrare, et essaltar fino al cielo dall’Ill[ustrissi]mo Prencipe, et Car[dina]le d’Este mio Signore, sotto la cui ombra (bontà, e gentilezza sua) io ricovero, et vivo; sono stato incitato a ciò. Ma perché la bassezza mia non soffre ch’io vaglia à servirla in cosa niuna, hò deliberato meco medesimo di voler almeno farli conoscere la mia riverente, et affettuosa divot[io]ne. Et ciò con intitolarle questi miei Madrigali di Musica; sì come ho fatto. Non isdegni l’A[ltezza] V[ostra] d’humiliarsi à ricevere il picciol segno dell’interna affett[io]ne dell’animo mio verso lei, et me che con prontezza d’animo glie li porgo, degni di porre nel numero de suoi più bassi, ma più devoti servitori.’ASF, Archivio Medici, 5939, fol. 345 (Rome, 24 May 1585). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 182–3. 14 Chater, ‘Bianca Cappello and music’, pp. 572 and 577–78, n. 15. At the beginning of 1585, Pietro Strozzi had asked to live under Luigi d’Este’s protection (he probably succeeded in his aim), as is shown by the following letter: ‘Con questa occasione del parentado, fatto con m[es]s[er] Gino Capponi il quale hà datomi una sua figlia per moglie, ho deliberato per viver ancor io sotto la protezion della sua magnanimità, per vile ch’io mi sia’ (‘On the occasion of my becoming a relative of Messer Gino Capponi, who has given me the hand of one of his daughters in marriage, I too have decided to live under your magnanimous protection, unworthy though I am’). Letter of Pietro Strozzi to Luigi d’Este, Florence, 25 January 1585, in ASMo, Particolari, Strozzi.

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the Cesarini household and, in 1582, had sent Bianca Cappello a portrait of the beautiful Cleria.15 (As we have seen in Chapter 8, Ferdinando was also Cleria’s lover until her second marriage.) Evidently, during the 1580s, there were many musical exchanges between Rome and Florence. As we have already seen (Chapter 11) some members of the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma – Nanino, Stabile, Zoilo, Marenzio and Palestrina – took part in the two Tuscan madrigal collections of 1586 dedicated respectively to Count Bardi and Bianca Cappello.16 Inversely, a composer with clear Tuscan connections like Cristofano Malvezzi could be invited to take part in the Roman collection Le gioie. Most probably, it was Cardinal Ferdinand de’ Medici who acted as the primary link between the two cities. A crucial fact, one not yet taken sufficiently into account in assessing Ferdinando as a music patron, is that he was ‘cardinal protettore’ of the Roman Confraternity of SS. Trinità. He filled this post for no less than 15 years, between 1573 and 1588; during this long period he would surely have come into contact with the city’s leading musicians.17 Noel O’Regan has indicated that in 1578 Cardinal Medici assigned 50 scudi to the musical activity of the confraternity, half of which was used to pay Palestrina.18 15

ASF, Archivio Medici, 5931, fol. 16, and 5958, fol. 593 (letters by Emilio de’ Cavalieri to Bianca Cappello: Rome, 1 October 1582; Rome, 4 February 1586). See Chater, ‘Musical patronage in Rome’, p. 190. On the copious correspondence of Emilio de’ Cavalieri – comprising over 400 letters – see Palisca, ‘Musical asides’, pp. 339–55, and especially Kirkendale, Emilio de’ Cavalieri. 16 Marenzio contributed only to Corona di dodici sonetti di Gio. Battista Zuccarini alla Gran Duchessa di Toscana (RISM 158611). The text of this collection consists of a cycle of 12 sonnets in honour of the wedding of the Grand Duchess (1579); the 1586 collection is a musical setting of these poems by ‘12 excellent composers’. Marenzio’s piece, Real natura, had already appeared two years earlier in his fourth book a 5 (1584). Leo Schrade (‘Les Fêtes du mariage’, p. 110) does not exclude the possibility that Marenzio composed the piece in a still earlier period, perhaps for the wedding itself. However, I believe this to be rather improbable: cf. Chater, ‘Bianca Cappello and Music’, p. 571. 17 O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, pp. 18–20. 18 ASR, Ospedale della SS. Trinità, 1214, fol. 233: ‘Magnifico M[esser] Hieronimo Roccio Nostro Camerlengo piaceravi ponere a entrata scudi cinquanta di moneta hauti dal Illustrissimo et Reverendissimo Cardinale de Medici nostro prottettore e questi per elemosina fatta per la musica fatta la quadragesima nel nostro oratorio. E a peso ponerete a uscita essi scudi cinquanta pagati a M. Giovanni da Palestrina maestro di Cappella di San Pietro a conto della musica fatta come di sopra del qual ne a auti scudi 25 et altri scudi 25 sono servati per far sachi di tela’ (‘Magnifico Messer Hieronimo Roccio our chamberlain will be pleased to enter 50 scudi di moneta received from the Most Illustrious and Reverend Cardinal de’ Medici our protector as a gift to pay for the music performed in our oratory during Lent. And will you please enter in the debit column these 50 scudi di moneta paid to Messer

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Here it is worth recalling an illuminating passage from Vincenzo Giustiniani’s Discorso sopra la musica (c. 1628): Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, who was later to become grand duke of Tuscany, stimulated both by his own taste and by the example of the aforesaid princes [of Mantua and Ferrara], strove to acquire excellent musicians, especially the famous Vittoria [Archilei], who, one could almost say, originated the true manner of female singing, since she was the wife of Antonio di Santa Fiore, thus named because, since boyhood, he had been a prized musician of Cardinal Santa Fiore. And with this example many others practised this style of singing in Rome, so that they prevailed over all the other musicians of the aforesaid places and princes.19

Giustiniani adds the names of famous singers of the time: Giulio Romano [Caccini] and Francesco Rasi, who ‘sang bass and tenor’ over a large vocal range, then Giovanni Luca [Conforti] and Ottavio Durante, who ‘sang in falsetto’ (‘cantavano in voce da falsetto’), and finally castrati, among whom Onofrio Gualfreducci of Pistoia takes pride of place. In October 1587, after the death of the grand duke and grand duchess, Ferdinando, as Francesco’s brother and only legitimate heir, was due to ascend the Tuscan throne. He therefore left Rome, arranging that his office as cardinal protector of SS. Trinità should be handed over to the young Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto, nephew of Sixtus V and later to become a great music patron. In fact, to quote Giustiniani again, ‘Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici was succeeded by Cardinal Montalto, who took no less pleasure in music than he.’20 I have introduced two figures, Cardinal Medici and Montalto, who were to play a fundamental role in Marenzio’s career from 1587. It is therefore necessary to clear up a still controversial problem in Marenzio’s biography: what happened to him in the months following the death of Luigi d’Este? We know that, on 10 December 1587, in Venice, Marenzio signed the dedication to Count Mario

Giovanni da Palestrina maestro di cappella of San Pietro to pay for the music made as described above, of which he has had 25 scudi, the other 25 scudi having been used to make canvas sacks’). Cited ibid., p. 92. 19 ‘Il Cardinale Ferdinando de’ Medici, che fu poi Gran Duca di Toscana, stimolato e dal proprio gusto e dall’esempio degli altri suddetti Prencipi [di Mantova e di Ferrara], ha premuto in aver musici eccellenti, e specialmente la famosa Vittoria [Archilei], dalla quale ha quasi avuto origine il vero modo di cantare nelle donne, perciocché ella fu moglie di Antonio di Santa Fiore, così cognominato perché era stato fin da fanciullo musico per eccellenza del Cardinal di Santa Fiore. E con quest’esempio molt’altri s’esercitarono in questo modo di cantare in Roma, in guisa tale che prevalsero a tutti gli altri musici dei luoghi e Prencipi suddetti’. Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, in id., Discorsi sulle arti e sui mestieri, p. 24. 20 ‘successe poi al Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici il Cardinal Montalto, che niente di meno di lui si dilettò della musica’. Ibid., p. 24.

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Bevilacqua of his first book a 4, 5, 6. (Marenzio explicitly states that a short time before he had been passing through Verona.) We know that from February 1588 at the earliest he was formally employed in Florence as one of Ferdinando de’ Medici’s musicians. Recently James Chater has suggested that, before moving to Florence, Marenzio entered the service of Cardinal Montalto. In fact the latter had recommended Marenzio to Florentine circles, as is shown by the following letter of 1588 to Monsignor Francesco Maria Del Monte in Florence: M[esser] Luca Marenzio, who, as you know, is a person of such virtuoso qualities, is capable of pleasing anyone of his own accord and needs no recommendation; nevertheless, since I love him very much for his own merits, I wanted to let you know with this letter that any demonstrations of kindness or favour that you will be pleased to show him will not only be gratefully received by him, but will also cause me particular happiness and make me feel grateful to you, to whom I recommend myself.21

In the early months of 1587 the last two volumes of villanellas had appeared with dedications to officials within the papal circle. According to Chater, this fact could be explained by the hypothesis that Marenzio had found employment with Montalto,22 but it is likely that the villanella dedications were simply a cause, not a consequence, of Montalto’s interest in Marenzio. In fact we know that from 13 May 1587 the musician remained in Rome ‘without a patron’ (‘senza patrono’), since he had to ask his father’s leave to accept Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga’s offers.23 The origin of these ‘papal’ dedications can perhaps be traced once again to the Confraternity of SS. Trinità, as the compiler of the two volumes, Attilio Gualtieri, was probably a member of the sodality.24 We may suppose that in this period Marenzio would not have spurned a formal post in one of the pope’s musical establishments, but at the time there were no significant developments in this direction. However, the composer did manage to ingratiate himself with the pope’s closest relatives, among whom was Cardinal Montalto, who prized his ‘virtuoso qualities’. Another document recently discussed by Warren Kirkendale can shed light on 21

‘M[esser] Luca Marenzio, essendo persona di quelle vertuose qualità che V[ostra S[ignoria] deve sapere, si rende da se stesso grato a ciascuno, et non ha bisogno d’alcuna raccomandatione, con tutto ciò amandolo io molto per i meriti suoi ho voluto farle sapere con questa mia che tutte le grate dimostrat[io]ni et tutti i favori che si compiacerà di fargli oltre che saranno ben collocati, io ne riceverò particolar contento, et ne sentirò molto grato a V[ostra] S[ignoria] alla quale mi racc[omando].’ ASV, Confalonieri, 50, fol. 207 (Rome, 28 June 1588). Quoted in Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 4. 22 Ibid., p. 5. 23 See Chapter 14. 24 See Chapters 9 and 13.

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the question. On 10 September 1595 Grand Duke Ferdinando wrote a lettera di benservito attesting that Marenzio, who was then about to enter the service of the king of Poland, had been in his service ‘for the duration of three years’ (‘per lo spatio di tre anni’).25 As Marenzio was ‘dismissed on the last day of November 1589’ from the grand duke’s service,26 we should conclude that he entered the Medici famiglia in 1587, probably when the cardinal/grand duke was still in Rome. Ferdinando was a close member of the Peretti family circle, a fact that also explains Marenzio’s link with Cardinal Montalto. When Ferdinando de’ Medici left Rome for Florence, he invited several Roman musicians to join him: the composer Emilio de’ Cavalieri, the instrumentalist Giovanni Battista Jacomelli [Giacomelli], the singer Vittoria Archilei and her husband Antonio.27 Jacomelli, nicknamed ‘del violino’, was a contemporary of Marenzio and could have known him through the Confraternita dei Bresciani in Rome. The Roman activity of Vittoria Archilei in the early 1580s is not precisely documented: a letter of the duke of Urbino to his agent Simone Fortuna (Florence, 21 April 1584) mentions a certain ‘Vittoria, who has come from Rome’ (‘Vittoria venuta di Roma’) in connection with the musical entertainments for the wedding of Vincenzo Gonzaga and Eleonora de’ Medici.28 In the autumn of 1587 Cardinal Ferdinando, having just been named grand duke, was in Florence. From the Tuscan capital Ercole Cortile, the Ferrarese agent, kept Duke Alfonso II closely informed of what was happening at court. His dispatch of 2 January 1588 immediately reveals the grand duke’s interest in music: [Ferdinando de’ Medici] told me of his many pastimes while in Rome ..., and he also told me that Princess Maria [de’ Medici] and Leonora, the sister of Virginio [Orsini], had begun to set up a ladies’ music in their rooms, and on the same occasion he [Medici] also told me that in Rome he had an 11-year-old girl who lived with that other lady who also sang very well [Vittoria Archilei], who had a very good voice and already reads music very securely.29

25 26 27

28 29

ASF, Archivio Medici, 289, fol. 106 (Florence, 10 September 1595). Quoted in Kirkendale, The Court Musicians, p. 245. ‘casso a dì ultimo di novembre 89’. ASF, Archivio Medici, Depositeria generale, 389, fol. 17. Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 204. On this aspect see Kirkendale, ‘Rapporti musicali tra Roma e Firenze’, pp. 393–98. On Jacomelli see M. Fabbri, ‘La vicenda umana e artistica di Giovanni Battista Jacomelli’, pp. 397–438. Jacomelli had already been hired by Grand Duke Francesco in 1586, through Bianca Cappello’s offices: see Chater, ‘Bianca Cappello’, pp. 575–76. Quoted in Kirkendale, The Court Musicians, p. 263. ‘[Ferdinando de’ Medici] mi raccontò de’ suoi molti passatempi che havea in Roma ..., mi disse anco che la Sig[no]ra Principessa Maria, et la S[igno]ra Lionora sorella del S[igno]r Virginio [Orsini] havevano incominciato a metter sù una Musica di

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This interest in the female voice can be explained by the project to arrange nuptial festivities that would be without precedent. On 12 February Cortile wrote: ‘It is said the grand duke is thinking of marrying soon, and the order has already been given to organize a comedy’, enriched with splendid musical interludes. Count Giovanni Bardi was given the task of supervising the spectacle to ensure it was ‘the most spectacular’ of all time.30 The scenery, theatrical apparatus and costumes were, as was customary, designed by the architect Bernardo Buontalenti.31 Earlier a performance of Guarini’s Il pastor fido was contemplated, but the choice eventually fell on Girolamo Bargagli’s comedy La pellegrina. In Cortile’s diplomatic correspondence the name of Marenzio appears for the first time on 27 February: His Highness [Ferdinando de’ Medici] has taken into his service Luca Marenzio, who was a musician of the late Cardinal d’Este; and His Highness has told me that [Marenzio] was in Ferrara and provided good music for Your Highness [Alfonso d’Este], but that he told him that the girl in the service of His Highness [Medici] in Rome will sing better than any of the others whom we have heard.32

Although I cited and discussed this document at the end of Chapter 8, I need to make a further point here. The date of 27 February 1588 is the first date we can be sure that Marenzio was in Florence. This does not exclude the possibility that in the previous months the musician had entered Ferdinando de’ Medici’s service in Rome, as seems confirmed by Marenzio’s mention of the young Roman girl whom he claims to have known. In open rivalry with the Ferrarese concerto delle dame, Grand Duke Ferdinando sought to obtain the best female voices in Italy. In August he had

donne nelle lor stanze, et con q[ue]sta occ[asio]ne mi disse anche che lui havea una Fanciulla d’undici anni a Roma, che stava appresso a q[ue]ll’altra donna che cantava ancor lei molto bene, che havea una voce buoniss[im]a et canta già a libro molto sicuramente.’ ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 28 (coded dispatch of Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II, Florence, 2 January 1588). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 199. The identity of the ‘fanciulla’ is not clear: according to Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, pp. 92 ff., it could be Ippolita Recupito, who later became a famous singer in Cardinal Montalto’s service. Ercole Cortile’s correspondence has recently been re-examined in Fenlon, ‘Preparations for a princess’, pp. 259–81. 30 ‘Si dice che il G[ran] Duca pensa à maritarsi presto et si è già data commiss[io]ne di metter all’ordine una Comedia ... il più superbo.’ ASMo, Ambasciatori (Florence), 28 (dispatch in cipher of Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II, Florence, 12 February 1588). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 200–201 ff. 31 On Buontalenti see C. Bino, ‘L’ordine meccanico’. 32 Original Italiam quoted in Chapter 8, n. 26.

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already made a great deal of progress towards his aim. ‘His Highness’, writes Cortile, will here have several ladies who sing very well. La Lucchesina, the daughter of Antonio Bernardi who was the wife of Bellati, Bovia and Vittoria [Archilei] whom His Highness brought from Rome and the wife of Giulio Romano [Lucia Caccini] and a girl whom His Highness also brought from Rome who has a very good and most delicate voice, and the grand duke is having her taught with great diligence.33

From 1 September the complement of musicians in the grand duke’s service is established in the well-known ‘Role of the household and famigliari of the Most Serene Cardinal and grand duke of Tuscany ... with the provision and other benefits that His Most Serene Highness grants them’.34 Marenzio’s name appears with a salary of 15 scudi a month. It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to understand the fundamental reasons behind the disparity in the musicians’ salaries; for whatever reason, Marenzio is among the best paid of the musicians. A certain Bernardo Franciosino della Cornetta, a virtuoso cornettist, receives 20 scudi, Antonio Archilei 18 (however, he is also responsible for the ‘putta Margherita’ – the girl who was to marry Caccini – and a nurse), Giovanni Battista Jacomelli and Giulio Caccini 16 each, and Onofrio Gualfreducci 15. The composer Cristofano Malvezzi, whom the Ruolo designates as the teacher of the ‘signore principesse’, receives only 9 scudi a month. This throng of musicians was, so far as we can tell, intended for employment exclusively in the laborious preparations for the grand duke’s wedding. The rumour was already spreading that Ferdinando had married Christine of Lorraine, the grand-daughter of Caterina de’ Medici, the Queen Mother of France. According to Ercole Cortile the Tuscan people sided more with the French than 33

‘S[ua] A[ltezza] havrà qui parecchie donne che cantano assai bene. La Lucchesina, la fig[liuo]la d’Ant[onio] Bernardi che fu moglie del Bellati, la Bovia et la Vittoria che ha condotto l’A[ltezza] S[ua] da Roma et la moglie di Giulio Romano et una fanciulla che ha pur anco condotto S[ua] A[ltezza] da Roma che ha buon[issi]ma et delicat[issi]ma voce alla q[ua]le il G[ran] D[uca] fa insegnare con molta diligenza.’ ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 28 (dispatch in cipher of Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II, Florence, 13 August 1588). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 202–3 ff. 34 ‘Ruolo della Casa et familiari del ser[enissi]mo Car[dina]le Gran Duca di Toscana ... con la provisione et ogn’altra Comodità che da S[ua] A[ltezza] Ser[enissi]ma ad essi si concede’. ASF, Archivio Medici, Depositeria generale, 389. The list of musicians is reproduced on fol. 17 with a supplement by Emilio de’ Cavalieri on fol. 29. The document was first mentioned by Aby Warburg in 1895; see ‘I costumi teatrali per gli intermezzi del 1589’, pp. 61–107; Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 203–5.

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with the Spanish party.35 After all, as a cardinal Ferdinando had shown a similar hostility towards Spain during the conclave leading to Sixtus V’s election. The wedding was planned for the spring of 1589; meanwhile, in November 1588, Ferdinando had already renounced the cardinalate without any problems. In that very month the rehearsals for the nuptial spectacle were already in full swing. Cortile writes that ‘the apparatus for the comedy is being attended to with great diligence, and the music is being rehearsed twice a day’.36 On 15 December, in order to exalt the Medici house, Ferdinando had arranged the solemn funeral rites of Grand Duke Francesco, with rich and splendid scenery by Buontalenti. We should not forget that the obscure death of Francesco and Bianca had prompted more insinuations in the Italian courts than one would have wished for. The solemn ceremonies of both funeral and wedding, with their magic power of seduction for the powerful at that time, was designed to help clear away any doubts and create a unanimous consensus around the new ruler. Behind the magnificence of court spectacle there probably lay concealed a propagandistic intent, and such ‘maraviglia’ provided more effective persuasion. As Nino Pirrotta has shown,37 the production of the intermedi of La pellegrina caused not a little friction among the leading organizers. At first, as we have seen, the responsibility for organizing the spectacle was Giovanni Bardi’s. Bardi could claim to have considerable experience in this field, having already participated – as a man of letters and as a musician – in the 1586 performances for the wedding of Virginia de’ Medici. In 1588 he concentrated strictly on the conception of the intermedi, choosing their mythological and allegorical content, inspired in each case by humanism and Platonism. His presiding role, however, was seriously undermined by the appointment of Emilio de’ Cavalieri as the new superintendent of all the artistic activities of the Florentine court. ‘[The grand duke] is nevertheless again giving salaries to musicians and he has given the responsibility for them to Signor Emilio Cavalieri, a Roman gentleman and a great favourite of his’, writes Ercole Cortile in the dispatch of 13 August 1588 cited earlier.38 Thus Cavalieri’s musical competence was somewhat in dispute, but Grand Duke Ferdinando favoured him ‘very highly’ (‘sommamente’),39 having known him 35

ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 28 (coded dispatch of Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II, Florence, 13 April 1588). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 211. 36 ‘Si sollecita con grand[issi]ma dilig[enz]a l’apparato della comed[i]a et si prova la Musica due volte il giorno.’ ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 29 (dispatch in cipher of Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II, Florence, 13 April 1588). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 206. 37 Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, pp. 212 ff. and 238–41. 38 ‘Va poi tuttavia stipendiando Musichi di nuovo et ha data la cura d’essi al S[ign]or Emilio Cav[alie]ri Gentil[huom]o Romano molto suo favorito.’ See n. 30. 39 ASMo, Ambasciatori (Firenze), 29 (dispatch in cipher of Ercole Cortile to Duke Alfonso II, Florence, 28 January 1589): ‘Emilio del Cavaliero Romano [è] favorito assai dal Grand[uc]a, il quale S[ua] A[ltezza] crede che sia unico nella musica, se

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very well during his years of living in Rome. Count Bardi, by contrast, represented the past: he had been Grand Duke Francesco’s trusted man, and was therefore someone to keep an eye on (or to replace). It is possible that the Bardi–Cavalieri clash reflected on the one hand the transition from the rule of Francesco to that of Ferdinando, and on the other a possible antagonism between the musical environments of Rome and Florence. Grand Duke Ferdinando was Florentine by birth, but Roman by adoption: his artistic and musical taste was formed in the Eternal City. When he inherited the Tuscan throne, he engaged Roman composers, instrumentalists and singers, even if he might have selected those who had occasionally worked at the Medici court. This decision was probably not regarded favourably by those musicians in Florence who worked there permanently: one thinks especially of the irritable, surly Giulio Caccini, who had been in Medici service for many years. An interesting dispatch by Cortile informs us that in 1589 Caccini and Cavalieri ‘literally came to blows’ (‘hebbero a venir’ alle mani da dovero’) after a heated argument. Cavalieri claimed that the famous Ferrarese ladies were not so ‘rare’, as they did not know how to ‘usare il forte et il piano nella musica’ and therefore were unable, in his words, to ‘capture the soul’ (‘cacciare l’anima’).40 It seems that Caccini, on hearing this, flew into a rage: the issue was not so much the honour of the Ferrarese ladies as the increased interference of the Roman female singers favoured by the grand duke, by Cavalieri and – as we have seen – by Marenzio himself. Under Ferdinando’s protection the Roman faction easily had the better of it. Giovanni Bardi remained in charge of the literary conception of the intermedi, but in the matter of musical conception he had to give way to Cavalieri. In this way a collaborative work was born, in which it is fascinating to reconstruct the dynamics of the roles played by each musician. For the reader’s convenience, I reproduce an outline of the six intermedi of La pellegrina with the attributions of each piece according to the Descrizione prepared by Bastiano de Rossi and the musical print edited by Cristofano Malvezzi.41 bene non è tenuto tale da chi se n’intende’ (‘The Roman Emilio del Cavaliere is a great favourite of the grand duke, and His Highness believes him to be unique in music, although he is not so considered by those who know something about it’). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 207. 40 Ibid. 41 B. de Rossi, Descrizione dell’apparato e degl’intermedi ... (Florence, 1589). The musical print had as title: Intermedii et Concerti, fatti per la Commedia rappresentata in Firenze nelle nozze del Serenissimo Don Ferdinando Medici, e Madama Christiana di Lorena, Gran Duchi di Toscana (RISM 15917). The ‘Nono’ (‘ninth’) partbook contains instructions for the instruments used to accompany the voices. According to Pirrotta (Music and Theatre, pp. 212–13) Rossi’s description was ‘inspired by Bardi, accurately reflects his intentions, but fails to mention the changes

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1: Harmony of the Spheres The first piece, Dalle più alte sfere, has a text by Giovanni Bardi with music variously attributed to Emilio de’ Cavalieri and Antonio Archilei.42 The rest of the intermedio is the work of Ottavio Rinuccini (text) and Cristofano Malvezzi (music). 2: Singing contest between the Muses and the Pierides Text by Rinuccini, music by Marenzio. 3: Apollo slays the serpent Text by Rinuccini, music by Marenzio. There are doubts about the authorship of an instrumental sinfonia that has not survived.43 4: Heavenly and infernal demons Io che dal Ciel cader: poet unknown, music by Giulio Caccini. Sinfonia: music by Malvezzi Or che le due grand’alme: text by Giovan Battista Strozzi the Younger, music by Malvezzi. Miseri abitator: text by G.B. Strozzi, music by Giovanni Bardi.

introduced in the last stages of the preparations’, while the musical print, ‘whose printing the grand duke commissioned through Cavalieri, more faithfully reflects the changes which the latter had made in the spectacle; quite naturally, it is also more precise about the composers of the music, the instruments employed and the performers’. Pirrotta concludes ‘Both descriptions show their bias through intentional omissions made at the expense of minor figures of the opposite faction.’ The major omissions concern Peri’s musical composition (intermedio 5) in the De Rossi print and Caccini’s aria (intermedio 4) in the musical print. On the discrepancies between the two sources see A. Solerti’s classic Gli albori del melodramma, vol. 2, pp. 15 ff.; Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 37–60. For a modern edition of the intermedi see Walker (ed.), Musique des intermèdes. On problems of instrumentation see Brown, SixteenthCentury Instrumentation. So far two complete recordings have been made: Una ‘Stravaganza’ dei Medici: intermedi (1589) per ‘La pellegrina’, directed by Andrew Parrott, liner notes by Hugh Keyte, CD EMI, 1988 (CDC 7 47998 2); La Pellegrina: Music for the Wedding of Ferdinando de Medici and Christine de Lorraine, Princess of France, Florence 1589, directed by Paul van Nevel, 2 CD Sony/Columbia, 1998 (63362). 42 De Rossi attributes the piece to Cavalieri, the musical print to Archilei. Cavalieri, the Roman nobleman, may have wished to renounce authorship of a composition probably written together with Archilei. It was the famous Vittoria, Antonio Archilei’s wife, who sang this elaborate ‘monody’ atop a cloud forming part of the backdrop to a scene depicting Rome. 43 Pirrotta, Music and Theatre, p. 228. For further discussion, see below.

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5: Arion and the dolphin Text by Rinuccini, music by Malvezzi, except for the last piece, Dunque fra torbide onde, by an unknown poet, with music by Jacopo Peri. 6: The gift to humanity of Harmony and Rhythm Del vago e bel sereno: poet unknown, music by Malvezzi. O quale, o qual risplende: text by Rinuccini, music by Malvezzi. Godi, turba mortal: text by Rinuccini, music by Emilio de’ Cavalieri. O fortunato giorno: text by Rinuccini, music by Malvezzi. O che nuovo miracolo: text by Laura Lucchesini, music by Cavalieri. This scheme allows us to draw various conclusions. The musical leadership of this joint project can surely be attributed to the grand duke’s superintendent and favourite Emilio de’ Cavalieri, the author of the extensive concluding ballo, O che nuovo miracolo, and also, probably, of the opening monody, Dalle più alte sfere. Nonetheless it is Cristofano Malvezzi who has the distinction of having contributed the lion’s share of the pieces. For this reason, it was Malvezzi who was to sign the dedication of the musical print. Next in descending order of importance is Luca Marenzio, the author of two complete intermedi, the second and the third. No other composer was accorded the honour of setting to music an entire intermedio, but on the other hand the two entrusted to Marenzio, because of their central position, do not seem to be the most important in the cycle (though the third is without doubt the most dramatic). Thus Marenzio occupied a prominent, but not supreme, position. The triad of Cavalieri, Malvezzi and Marenzio signals an element of novelty, almost of discontinuity, in the time-honoured tradition of Florentine intermedi. Surprisingly, Alessandro Striggio, the most seasoned composer of this kind of music, was relegated to the background, his participation being limited to an appearance as virtuoso of the ‘arciviolata lira’.44 Probably Striggio had not found favour with the new grand duke. And yet it was Striggio who was one of the first to compose madrigals for three voices following the example Luzzasco Luzzaschi was setting at the Ferrarese court. ‘This morning’, Striggio wrote to Grand Duke Francesco in 1584, I received a letter from Sig. Cavalier Vinta in which, by order of Your Most Serene Highness, you commissioned me to set to music as soon as possible some madrigals for three sopranos in the diminished style; thus, as soon as I had seen your letter, I wrote one as a trial, which I am sending with this letter to Your Most Serene Highness, in order to know if this style is pleasing to you. I believe they can be used in a concerto, but since I do not know either which instruments will accompany them or which voices

44 The musical print records instrumental performances ‘del famoso Alessandro Striggio’ in the first and fifth intermedi.

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will sing, I have composed them at random. ... A few days ago the duke of Ferrara invited me, my wife and son to stay in Ferrara for a fortnight to hear his concerto di donne.45

In the 1589 intermedi, it seems that the compositional role once played by Striggio was now assumed by Marenzio. In the second intermedio, after the sinfonia, we find a madrigal for three sopranos, Belle ne fe’ natura, perhaps sung by the three prime donne of the Florentine intermedi: Vittoria Archilei, Lucia Caccini and the young girl Margherita. The same combination of high voices, with an added bass part, can be found in the third intermedio in the four-voice O valoroso Dio, which seems to perpetuate all the characteristics of the pieces commissioned from Striggio in 1584.46 The Intermedi were performed on at least four occasions. The première occurred on Tuesday 2 May in the Salone de’ magistrati (the Uffizi), between the acts of La pellegrina, which was played by the ‘Intronati senesi’ company. On Saturday 6 May, in the large hall of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Intermedi were again performed, but with another comedy, La zingara, played by the ‘Gelosi’ company (whose lead actress was Vittoria Piissimi). A further performance of the music occurred on Saturday the 13th, for the benefit of the Venetian ambassadors; on this occasion the comedy performed by the ‘Gelosi’ was La pazzia by Isabella Andreini, who also played the lead role. Finally, on Monday the 15th, once again 45

‘Questa mattina ricevei una lettera dal Sig. Cavalier Vinta, nella quale, per hordine di V[ostra] A[ltezza] Ser[enissi]ma mi comette ch’io metta in musica quanto prima alcuni madrigali con tre soprani diminuiti; così, subito vista la presente, io ne feci uno per saggio, il quale mando di presente a V[ostra] A[ltezza] S[erenissima] a ciò io sappi se a questo modo gli piaciano. Credo abino a servire per concerto, ma per c[h]’io non sò né con quali instrumenti si accompagnarano, né con che voci, io ho composto à ventura. ... Il sig. Duca di Ferrara a questi giorni mi ha fatto invitare me, mia moglie e figlio, andar a star a Ferrara per quindeci giorni per sentire il suo concerto di donne.’ ASF, Archivio Medici, fol. 768 (Mantua, 13 July 1584). From a letter of Striggio, ibid. (Mantua, 29 July 1584), we learn that the madrigal in question was for four voices. These letters are transcribed by Kirkendale, ‘Alessandro Striggio und die Medici’. In the same article Kirkendale also uncovers a series of letters written by Striggio to Bianca Cappello (for further comments see Chater, ‘Bianca Cappello’, especially p. 577, nn. 9, 10, 11). Striggio’s association with Bianca no doubt provided a motive for Ferdinando to relegate Striggio to the sidelines in the 1589 Intermedi. For further discussion of Striggio’s role (and possibly that of his son) in the Intermedi see Pirrotta, Music and Theatre, p. 213 and n. 122. 46 The Marenzio piece is scored as follows: canto (C1), quinto (C1), sesto (C1), bass (F4). The tempo is alla breve (¢). In no other madrigal by Marenzio published in the ordinary collections does one find the three upper voices all scored for the soprano clef. According to the musical print of the Intermedi, this madrigal was sung ‘al suono d’un’arpa, e d’una lira’. De Rossi writes that the piece was sung by two pairs of men. Is he to be believed? Perhaps the singers were boys.

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at the Uffizi, La pellegrina was repeated with the Intermedi. We know that Marenzio took part in the performances in the role of Saturn in the first intermedio and as a Delphic woman in the third.47 The nuptial festivities of these intense days included other spectacular events: the Calcio a livrea (football in livery) in Piazza S. Croce, a Caccia di leoni, et orsi, et ogni sorte d’animali (hunt for lions, bears and all sorts of animals) and finally the Sbarra (joust), the banquet in Palazzo Vecchio and the astonishing Naumachia (sea battle) in the courtyard of the Pitti Palace, transformed for the occasion into a vast pond.48 It is estimated that thousands of guests, from various European countries, arrived in Florence to be present at these marvels. Grand Duke Ferdinando, highly skilled in diplomatic relations, wished to leave an indelible record of the festivities by commissioning an unusual number of Descrizioni.49 Doubtless it was his personal intervention that caused the publication of the intermedi music, which otherwise would have perished. The political intent was clear: with this sumptuousness Ferdinando distracted general attention away from the none-toocrystalline circumstances surrounding his succession to the throne; moreover, by marrying a French princess, he made official a crucial change of political direction away from previous pro-Spanish leaning. At the same time, the grand 47 48

Kirkendale, The Court Musicians, p. 50. Warburg, ‘I costumi teatrali’, pp. 61 ff. and Pirrotta, Li due Orfei, pp. 212–13, 234 and 270. Some of these events were accompanied by music: Cavallino (Raccolta di tutte le feste, p. 41) recounts that during the Sbarra Giulio Caccini entered the arena dressed as a wizard and performing music in the form of a prologue; the music was by Alessandro Striggio and Piero Strozzi. On the performance of La pazzia see especially MacNeil, ‘Music in the life and work of Isabella Andreini’; ead., ‘The divine madness of Isabella Andreini’. 49 The festivities enjoyed great renown, to judge from the numerous descriptions dating from the period. Warburg (‘I costumi teatrali’, pp. 103 ff.) was the first to list the most important printed sources: apart from De Rossi’s seminal Descrizione, we may mention Giuseppe Pavoni’s Diario (Bologna, 1589), the already mentioned Raccolta of Simone Cavallino (Rome, 1589), the Diari published by Alessandro Benacci (Bologna, 1589), and finally two French descriptions: Discours de la magnifique réception (1589) and Discours véritable du mariage (n.d.) To these sixteenth-century sources we may add several Roman printed avvisi: for a bibliography, see Bulgarelli, Gli avvisi a stampa in Roma nel Cinquecento. In addition there are various manuscript sources, the most notable being Settimani’s Diario (partially reproduced in Solerti, Gli albori del melodramma) and the German description by Barthold von Gadenstedt (see Kümmel, ‘Ein deutscher Bericht’). Finally there are the dispatches sent by ambassadors from Florence to various courts: for example, the account by Girolamo Giliolo to Duke Alfonso II d’Este (ASMo, Ambasciatori in Firenze, 31, Florence, 4 May 1589, partially transcribed in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 201–18). Recently Girolamo Seriacopi’s manuscript Memoriale has been studied in detail in A. Testaverde Matteini, L’officina delle nuvole. Unfortunately these many sources yield scant information about musical performances.

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duke wished to consolidate his pre-eminence among Italian princes: his marriage had therefore to shine with greater splendour than those involving the Estense, Farnese, Gonzaga and Savoy families.50 For Marenzio’s career his participation in the wedding of the century constituted an important, though not decisive, episode. In fact the particular characteristics of Marenzio’s style could only partially be adapted to the demands of the theatrical context. From a technical point of view he certainly had no problem in devising works for large polychoral ensembles: in his madrigal books (not to speak of the motets) appear various pieces for double chorus, for eight, nine or more voices, for which it is possible to envisage instrumental doubling, as happens in the Intermedi for La pellegrina; moreover, as we have seen, Marenzio had already contributed to the intermedio genre while in Rome. This time, however, his task was rendered especially arduous by Count Bardi’s cumbersome intellectual baggage, which clearly bore the stamp of Florentine humanism.51 To Marenzio were assigned the second and third intermedi, whose subjects are drawn from two passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Book V, lines 310–677 (the singing contest between the Pierides or nine daughters of Pieros of Macedonia, and the nine Muses) and Book I, lines 438–51 (Apollo and the serpent). In the second intermedio the musical contest takes place in a luxuriant garden where 16 sylvan nymphs, the Hamadryads, are summoned to judge the singing of the Pierides and of the Muses. Marenzio opens the intermedio with a brief instrumental sinfonia in two parts, following the usual scheme of the pavane–galliard dance coupling.52 There follows a madrigaletto for three sopranos, Belle ne fe’ Natura, sung by the Hamadryads. The number of voices doubles in the following song of the Pierides, Chi dal delfino aita. The scoring of these madrigalian compositions does not attempt any correspondence of a realistic type: the Hamadryads are 16 in number, but are represented by only three singers; the Pierides are nine in number, but are represented by only six singers; most importantly, the vocal sextet includes low voices, as happens in ordinary six-voice madrigals. After the Pierides it is the turn of the nine Muses to appear in the singing contest: their piece, Se nelle voci nostre, is scored for 12 voices

50

For a careful interdisciplinary study of the socio-political processes see Saslow, The Medici Wedding of 1589. 51 This subject and its associated iconological problems are also discussed in Morel, ‘Sirènes et démons célestes’, pp. 291–303; La Via, ‘Concentus Iovis adversus Saturni voces’; B. Marignetti, ‘Gli Intermedi della Pellegrina’. 52 This is Marenzio’s only surviving piece for an ensemble of several instruments. From the musical print we learn that it was scored for two harps, two lire da braccio, a bass viol, two lutes, a violin, a viola bastarda and a chitarrone. The presence of the violin suggests a possible collaboration between the composer and his compatriot Giovanni Battista Jacomelli, who excelled on that instrument.

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because echos from rocks are included (or perhaps the three Graces, as Buontalenti’s costume designs would lead us to suppose). The intermedio concludes with the foregone judgement in favour of the Muses (O figlie di Piero); the three Hamadryads become six, and the Muses join them in a triumphal song for 18 voices with echoes. Meanwhile, the vanquished Pierides transform themselves into cawing magpies and cavort their way off the stage. The musical effect of this intermedio rests exclusively on the progressive increase in the vocal forces from three to 18 voices. It would be futile to seek a qualitative difference between the Pierides’ singing and that of the Muses. For each Marenzio adopts a ‘neutral’ style, without paying particular heed to the text’s semantic aspects, since the musical expression is almost entirely assigned to the climax in sonority and the technique of echo. This music, as Pirrotta has pointed out, ‘lacks a poetic afflatus and can only succeed in concealing the emptiness of the plot behind a display of decorative devices’,53 a theme, it could be said, not especially congenial to our composer’s sensibilities. This impression is reinforced all the more if we examine briefly the third intermedio, representing the fight between Apollo and the serpent. This is a subject full of drama, which in Bardi’s concept should have culminated in the god’s victorious struggle. The intermedio opens with a piece for 12 voices, Qui di carne si sfama, depicting the horror of the Delphic people, terrified by the monster. After this a lost instrumental sinfonia accompanies Apollo’s arrival and the slaying of the serpent. The other two pieces, whose theme is joy at having escaped the peril, introduce another vocal climax: the already mentioned O valoroso dio for four voices and O mille volte mille for eight voices. The only time that Marenzio’s muse encounters congenial accents, with a discernible deviation from his ‘neutral’ style, is in the seconda parte of the first piece, at the moment when Jove is invoked: the musical treatment of the line ‘A te dimanda aita, e piange, e plora’ (‘asks you for help, weeps and laments’) is directly assimilable to that of his best expressive madrigals. At this point we should ask why the sinfonia, the climax of the spectacle, was not included in the musical print of the Intermedi (the original edition reads: ‘qui manca una Sinfonia’ – ‘here a sinfonia is missing’). And yet Bastiano de Rossi’s Descrizione had dwelt on this particular moment: the poet of the intermedio had wanted to depict the Pythian battle, as represented by Julius Pollux. He tells us that the fight, when it was represented in the music of the ancients, was divided into five parts: in the first Apollo explored the ground, to see whether it was convenient for the battle; in the second he challenged the serpent, and in the third, he fought it in iambic verse. ... In the fourth that god’s victorious slaying of the serpent was represented in spondaic verse; and in the fifth [the god] leapt and danced a joyous dance, signifying his victory. Although the cruel passage of time

53

Pirrotta, Music and Theatre, p. 222.

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prevents us from depicting such things with those ancient musical modes, nevertheless, the poet, judging that such a battle, performed on the stage, would give, as it actually gave, great pleasure to the audience, had it represented with our modern music, doing the best he could, as a man of great experience in the art, to imitate and revive the ancient one.54

One should conclude from these words that the sinfonia was the work of Bardi, a poet who also had ‘great experience’ in music, even though the musical print attributes all the vocal pieces of the third intermedio to Marenzio. In fact the issue of ‘antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica’ (‘ancient music adapted to modern practice’), to cite Nicola Vicentino’s celebrated title, formed part of that lively debate in which Galilei, Bottrigari, Bardi himself, then Caccini and Peri contributed, but certainly not Marenzio (or at least, not directly). If the sinfonia was omitted from the print, the reason may lie in its limited success in fulfilling an ambitious goal. To find instrumental writing that does adequate justice to the symbolism of Greek prosody one has to wait until Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. In conclusion, the allegories of musica humana inherent in both the singing contest and Apollo’s Pythian battle are part of an erudite mythological baggage that seems extraneous to Marenzio’s culture. The neutral quality of the music for the second and third intermedi, though revealing the hand of a master, makes a less effective overall impression than the pieces contributed by Malvezzi and Cavalieri. These two composers, though demonstrating greater pragmatism than the ideological Bardi, nevertheless show a singular aptitude for this type of musical theatre, certainly more pronounced than Marenzio’s.

54

‘volle il poeta in questo intermedio rappresentar la battaglia Pitica nella guisa che c’insegna Giulio Polluce, il quale dice che in rappresentandosi con l’antica musica questa pugna, si dividea in cinque parti. Nella prima rimirava Apollo se il luogo era alla battaglia conveniente; nella seconda sfidava il serpe, e nella terza col verso iambico combatteva. ... Nella quarta col verso spondeo, con la morte di quel serpente si rappresentava la vittoria di quello iddio; e nella quinta, saltando, ballava un allegro ballo significante vittoria. Essendo a noi dalla malvagità e dalla lunghezza del tempo tolto di poter così fatte cose rappresentar con quei modi musici antichi, e stimando il poeta che tal battaglia, rappresentata in iscena, dovesse arrecare, sì come face [sic], sommo diletto agli spettatori, la ci rappresentò con la nostra moderna musica, a tutto suo potere sforzandosi, come intendentissimo di quest’arte, e d’imitare e di rassomigliare quell’antica.’ Quoted in Pirrotta, Li due Orfei, p. 249. Translation quoted from Pirrotta, Music and Theatre, p. 228.

Chapter 18

Orsini and Montalto The Florentine interlude in Marenzio’s career did not last long: at the end of November 1589 the musician’s name was deleted from the grand duke’s ruolo. The reason behind this parting of the ways is not clear, but it is obvious that Ferdinando de’ Medici did not really need to retain in his service all the musicians engaged specifically for the nuptial festivities.1 Some of these had to find employment elsewhere, and the moment had come for Marenzio to return to Rome, his adoptive home town. The year 1590 is shadowy so far as Marenzio’s biography is concerned (but see below, n. 8). The first noteworthy documentation of the composer’s activities after his Florentine sojourn is dated Rome, 1 January 1591. This is the dedication of his fifth book a 6, to Virginio Orsini, the young duke of Bracciano. The letter of dedication has two interesting passages. First the composer declares that he has ‘no refuge as certain, … as sweet or as welcome’ (‘protettion più certa ... né più dolce, et grato rifugio’) as Orsini, a sign that the duke must have taken him into his service. Then Marenzio writes that these new compositions (‘my shy Muses’ – ‘queste mie timide Muse’) were ‘born and nourished’ (‘nate, et nudrite’) in the duke’s home. In fact the book opens with Leggiadrissima, eterna primavera, an epithalamium in honour of the wedding of Virginio Orsini and Flavia Peretti, great niece of Pope Sixtus V. The marriage occurred by proxy on 20 March 1589, when the husband was still in Florence, and again on 8 April, with a solemn entry into Rome:2 Leggiadrissima eterna Primavera Vive scherzand’a questi colli intorno E senza mai temer nuvole o sera Ride più lieto e più sereno il giorno.

1

Kirkendale (The Court Musicians, p. 244) observes: ‘at no other time during the granduchy were so many musicians on the payroll’. 2 For this event Torquato Tasso wrote his canzone Delle più fresche rose omai la chioma. Using the nom de plume Uranio Felice, he also compiled a rich anthology in praise of the bride: Tempio fabricato da diversi ... in lode dell’Illust.ma et Ecc.ma Donna Flavia Peretti Orsini (Rome, 1591). A copy of the print is preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice (shelfmark: 55.d.78). It bears the signature ‘Luca Marentio’, perhaps an autograph, on the recto of the first flyleaf: see Cecchi, ‘Modalità, 187

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Luca Marenzio Già le Muse e le Gratie in bella schiera Cantand’al suon de’ liquidi cristalli Fan dolcemente risonar le valli E gareggiand’i pargoletti Amori Chiaman Ninfe e Pastori A novelle dolcezze, a nuovi balli Fiammeggia ’l ciel di più pregiati ardori Che ’l tutt’adorna, il tutt’informa e accende L’honor ch’in Flavia e ch’in Virginio splende. Sweet eternal spring dwells smiling among these hills and, fearless of cloud or dusk, the laughing daylight grows brighter and more joyous. Now the Muses and Graces, in fine array, are singing to the sound of liquid crystals, the valleys softly echoing; and the chattering Cupids are summoned by nymphs and shepherds to new delights, new dances. The heavens blaze with a most precious fire that adorns and shapes everything, and kindles the glory that radiates in Flavia and Virginio.

Marenzio concludes his collection with a setting in six movements of Guarini’s famous canzone Baci soavi e cari. This fifth book can thus be interpreted as a homage to the joys of conjugal love.3 The marriage of Flavia and Virginio, a favourite of Sixtus V, had a specific political purpose: to reconcile the Peretti and the Orsini after the rancour provoked by the Vittoria Accoramboni affair. The married couple took up residence in the Palazzo Montegiordano in Rome, whose modern address is Via di Parione 7; it was thus a stone’s throw from the rooms in which Marenzio lived at the court of Cardinal d’Este.4 Flavia died in Rome on 14 September 1606, having given birth to no fewer than 11 children.5 The duke of Bracciano was related to the Tuscan rulers. Born in 1572 (and therefore only 19 at the time of Marenzio’s dedication), Virginio was the only son of Isabella de’ Medici, the ill-fated first wife of Paolo Giordano Orsini. The sister grande forma e rapporto tra testo e musica’, p. 33; a reproduction may be found in Early Music, 27 (1999), p. 516. 3 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, pp. 667–69. 4 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 129. On Cardinal d’Este’s property at Montegiordano see Chapter 7, n. 21. 5 Litta, Famiglie celebri italiane, vol. 6, table XXIX. The first-born, Paolo Giordano II, born in Rome in 1591, was also to cultivate literature and music, to the point of inventing a bizarre musical instrument, the rosidra.

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of Francesco and of Cardinal Ferdinando, Isabella was a music lover and a singer. According to the most widely believed historical account, she was a victim of one of the many crimes of honour that were the scourge of Italy at that time. On the night of 16 June 1576, her husband is supposed to have strangled her, prompted by jealousy and emboldened by the support of the whole Medici family, and of his close friend Cardinal Ferdinando in particular.6 According to an insistent rumour, Isabella had become Troilo Orsini’s lover; it was necessary to put an end to the scandal. On the morrow of the grim deed, carefully concealed from the court (of course it was given out that the death had been of natural causes), the young Virginio was placed in the care of Grand Duke Francesco in Florence, while the widowed Orsini soon fell for the charms of Vittoria Accoramboni; further crimes and horrors ensued (see Chapter 13). Virginio inherited from his mother Isabella a sincere and deep love of music. His teacher had been Emilio de’ Cavalieri, a key personality in the musical relations between Florence and Rome. The young duke also knew Laura Guidiccioni, became a friend of Giulio Caccini, was an admirer of Vittoria Archilei and was her host in his Roman palace, and even held her daughter Margherita at her baptism. He cultivated poetry and in 1595 wrote lines set to music by Scipione Dentice for the duke of Ferrara.7 It is therefore possible that some at least of the unattributed texts of Marenzio’s fifth book a 6 were written by Orsini. The fame of this music-loving prince reached Shakespeare, who opens his Twelfth Night with a celebrated quip spoken by Orsino, duke of Illyria: ‘If music be the food of love, play on.’ In the light of these facts, Marenzio’s transition from the Medici court to the duke of Bracciano seems entirely consistent, even if there remains a certain chronological gap between the Orsini wedding (20 March/8 April 1589) and the day Marenzio received the lettera di benservito from the grand duke of Tuscany (30 November 1589). We should also note the inclusion in the fifth book a 6 of a madrigal, Candide perle, by ‘sig. Antonio Bicci’, a Florentine composer – perhaps a friend of Virginio Orsini’s – who was to reappear in Marenzio’s seventh book a 5 (1595).8 6

Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 6; Winspeare, Isabella Orsini, pp. 193–95; Boyer, ‘Virginio Orsini e i poeti del Seicento’, pp. 315–19. 7 For Orsini see Zapperi (ed.), Virginio Orsini; on his activity as a poeta per musica see Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 129 and 224–27. 8 For Antonio Bicci see Gargiulo, ‘“An aristocratic dilettante”’. Steven Ledbetter, in a personal communication, has kindly offered me the following unpublished information, which confirms the relations between Marenzio and Ferdinando de’ Medici: ‘A guardaroba register itemizing loans of furnishings to members and friends of Virginio Orsini’s household is found in ASCR, Archivio Orsini, 1214 (seconda numerazione); it contains entries for the furniture and linen issued to Marenzio from 21 July 1590 to 29 September 1590, the last entry being a summation of the earlier ones, including one that did not appear elsewhere in this book and that therefore

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When he entered Orsini’s service, Marenzio not only remained in contact with Florentine circles, but, more importantly, strengthened his good relations with the pope’s nephews. Flavia Peretti was the sister of Alessandro Peretti (1571–1623), the same Cardinal Montalto who in 1588 wrote a letter in praise of Marenzio (see Chapter 17). The figure of Cardinal Montalto has recently been the focus of musicological studies: James Chater has investigated his contribution to musical patronage in Rome at the turn of the century, while John Walter Hill’s extensive study places him in direct relation with the genesis of monody and cantata in Rome.9 Raised to the purple at the age of only 14, Virginio Orsini’s brother-in-law had assumed the office of Vice-Chancellor in 1589 and had moved to the Palazzo della Cancelleria. A man of outstanding generosity, he corresponded with numerous musicians. According to Marquis Giustiniani, Montalto played the harpsichord excellently and sang in a sweet and sensitive manner, and kept in his home many professional musicians of above ordinary standard, among whom were the ‘Cavaliere del Leuto’ and the harpsichordist Scipione Dentice, excellent players and composers, and also that rare player of the double harp Orazio [Michi], and for singing he had the eunuch Onofrio Gualfreducci, the Neapolitan Ippolita [Recupito], the bass Melchior [Palentrotti], and many others, to whom he gave generous remuneration.10

For these reasons many musical publications, both sacred and secular, were dedicated to him, including Felice Anerio’s first book a 6 (Venice, 1590), Sebastian Raval’s Motectorum liber primus (Rome, 1593) and Scipione Dentice’s Motectorum quinque vocibus liber primus (Rome, 1594).11 Marenzio visited the Montalto palace on various occasions, for which he received adequate provision. This is confirmed by a terse postscript to a letter of

probably predates the earliest entry (17 February 1590). The same register lists the transfer of household furnishings to the giardino del Granduca from June to September 1590, suggesting that Virginio and Flavia spent their summer at Villa Medici on the Pincio (where Marenzio died in 1599). One of the objects moved was Flavia’s harpsichord. Clearly music formed part of her summer activities.’ 9 Chater, ‘Musical patronage in Rome’, pp. 179–227; Hill, Roman Monody, Cantata, and Opera. 10 ‘sonava il Cimbalo per eccellenza, e cantava con maniera soave et affettuosa e teneva in casa molti della professione che eccedeva la mediocrità, e tra gli altri il Cavaliere del Leuto e Scipione Dentici del Cimbalo, sonatori e compositori eccellenti, e poi Orazio [Michi] sonatore raro d’Arpa Doppia, e per cantare aveva Onofrio Gualfreducci eunuco, Ippolita [Recupito] napoletana, Melchior [Palentrotti] Basso, e molt’altri a’ quali dava grosse provigioni.’ Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, in id., Discorsi sulle arti e sui mestieri, p. 24. 11 For a complete list see Chater, ‘Musical patronage’, p. 225.

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5 June 1592 sent by Pietro Aldobrandini to Virginio Orsini: ‘I spoke to Cardinal Montalto for Marenzio, and His Lordship is content to give him the same salary, and he receives him entirely as a favour [from you].’12 Although first mentioned by Orbaan as early as 1928, this document has not yet been adequately explained. It may be interpreted as an attempt to bring Marenzio into Montalto service, or as a simple discussion aimed at occasional loans of the musician, implying that Orsini was granting Marenzio leave. John Walter Hill, in his study of the vocal repertory of the circle round Cardinal Montalto, has drawn attention to MS Q140 of the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Bologna, which contains a monody sharing seven melodic subjects with a madrigal by Marenzio on the same text, Anima cruda sì, ma però bella (VI a 5, 1594).13 Giovanni Battista Guarini’s lines are taken from his tragicommedia pastorale Il pastor fido, which was to have been performed in Rome in 1596 (in reality the project fell through) for the wedding of Michele Peretti, Montalto’s brother.14 Hill maintains that the monody probably served as a model for Marenzio,15 but – given the lack of available evidence – the reverse relationship cannot be ruled out. It could even be that the Marenzio madrigal was reworked in some intermediate source that has since been lost. Perhaps it is useful to point out that the melodic correspondences are found only in the monody’s vocal part and in the canto voice of the 12

‘Parlai a monsignor Ill[ustrissi]mo Montalto per il Marenzio et S[ua] S[igno]ria Ill[ustrissi]ma si contenta di darli la med[es]ima provis[io]ne et lui tutto riceve per favore.’ ASCR, Carteggio Orsini, 111, fol. 41v. Quoted in Orbaan, ‘Notizie inedite su Luca Marenzio’, p. 11. Also quoted by Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 227, from which the English translation is taken, with adapted spelling. For a discussion of this document see also Chapter 20. 13 The monody in question, Ecco Silvio colei che ’n odio tanto, is transcribed and discussed in Hill, Roman Monody, vol. 1, pp. 248–51. The poetic text of the final section of the monody (bars 63–96) is the same as in the Marenzio madrigal. 14 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1064, fol. 122 (Rome, 28 February 1596): ‘Il signore Don Michele Peretti il quale haveva disegnato per le sue Nozze di far cose belle, non hà poi voluto per causa della morte del Contestabile Colonna far cosa alcuna, benche si dica che dopo Pasqua voglia nella sala della Cancelleria fare recitare la Tragicomedia del Cavaliere Guarini detta il Pastor Fido, resolvendosi di spendere nelli intermedj et altri 2 o 3 m[ila] scudi’ (‘Signor Don Michele Peretti, who had planned to do some splendid things for his wedding, has decided he no longer wants to do anything because of the death of Constable Colonna. But it is said that after Easter he wants to arrange a performance in the hall of the Cancelleria of Cavaliere Guarini’s tragicomedy called Il pastor fido, and has decided to spend two or three thousand scudi on the intermedi.’ Quoted in Chater, ‘Musical patronage’, p. 207. For a full discussion, see Hill, Roman Monody, vol. 1, pp. 237–57. 15 Hill argues (ibid., p. 251): ‘To the extent ... that the polyphonic madrigal was the more prestigious, important genre and monody the lesser one, we may weigh this factor in favour of a conclusion that Marenzio meant to improve upon the monody.’

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madrigal, while the harmonic progressions of the two pieces are frequently at variance. One could interpret this as indicating a monodic performance with reference to a polyphonic source, or as evidence of a harmonic reinterpretation of an ariosa melodic line.16 Whatever the truth, the points of contact between the two pieces studied by Hill add an important piece to the jigsaw puzzle of Marenzio’s relations with the Peretti-Orsini family, offering new elements of reflection concerning the musical fortune of Il pastor fido in Rome at this period. Noel O’Regan has uncovered a document that reveals that Marenzio’s relationship with Montalto also involved the Confraternity of SS. Trinità, whose protector the cardinal was: Reverend Messer Agustino dell’Huomo maestro di casa of our Ospedale di SS. Trinità, you will pay to Messer Luca Marenzio 100 scudi di moneta for the music performed in our oratorio this Lent and you will pay it out of the 100 scudi received for this purpose from Cardinal Montalto our protector, from home, 17 April 1592.

On the reverse of the folio appears Marenzio’s receipt: ‘I Luca Marenzio acknowledge receiving the aforementioned money’.17 The payment is generous enough to allow us to think that Marenzio, who in this period was publishing fewer madrigal books, was mostly engaged in composing sacred music for This is the tradition from which Ludovico Balbi’s Musicale essercitio (RISM 158912) is derived. This collection consists of five-voice re-elaborations of pre-existing madrigals for four voices, in which the upper voice remains unaltered. 17 ‘Reverendo M. Agustino dell’Homo maestro di casa del nostro hospedale della Santissima Trinità pagarete a M. Luca Merensio scudi cento di moneta quali sono in conto della musica fatta nel nostro oratorio questa presente quaresima et li pagarete delli medesimi cento scudi havuti dall’Ill[ustrissi]mo S[igno]re Cardinale Montalto nostro protettore per questo effetto, di casa adi 17 di Aprile 1592 … Io Luca Marentio confesso haver ricevuto gli retroscritti denari.’ ASR, Ospedale della SS. Trinità, 705 (unpaginated). Quoted in O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, p. 96. Another receipt in the same register refers to the same payment: ‘Magnifico M[esser] Attilio Pacetto esattore della nostra compagnia della Santissima Trinità pagarete a M[esser] Agostino dell’Homo nostro maestro di casa scudi doicento di moneta sono per tanti lui ne ha pagati per la musica di questa quaresima prossima passata delli scudi cento havuti per elemosina dall’Ill[ustrissi]mo S[igno]re Car[dina]le Montalto et delli scudi 20 havuti dal Signore Don Michele Peretto a questo effetto et il resto delle cassette delle limosine et pigliate ricevuta di congregatione adi 21 di maggio 1592’ (‘Magnifico Messer Attilio Pacetto exactor of our Compagnia di SS. Trinità, you will pay to Messer Agostino dell’Huomo our maestro di casa 200 scudi di moneta for the money he has paid for the music for this past Lent out of the 100 scudi received as a gift from Cardinal Montalto and the 20 scudi received for this purpose from Don Michele Peretti and the remainder from the alms-box, and you will get a receipt during the meeting on 21 May 1592.’

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confraternities and other religious institutions. We know that many of these sacred pieces, which were presumably polychoral, were circulated in manuscript.18 In the early 1590s there is a strong link in Rome connecting Virginio Orsini, his wife Flavia, his brother-in-law Montalto, Monsignor Francesco Maria Del Monte, Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Vittoria Archilei and, in the final analysis, Marenzio himself. In their turn, all these figures are in continual contact, professionally or by letter, with Grand Duke Ferdinando. Here we may cite a few passages concerning Vittoria Archilei drawn from the Cavalieri correspondence investigated by Warren Kirkendale. In the winter of 1593–94 the famous singer had obtained leave of absence from her patron Ferdinando de’ Medici and had arrived in Rome. On 8 October 1593 Cavalieri writes that Cardinal Gesualdo ‘eagerly awaits Vittoria and is looking forward to hearing her’.19 On 19 November Orsini and Cardinal Montalto appear on the scene: ‘This evening Montalto came to me; and he has implored me that I go with him to make music with his ladies; and I could not get out of it; Vittoria arrived at the home of Don Virginio; and she is well.’20 And on the 26th of the same month: ‘Montalto cannot tear himself away from Vittoria; and I was with him, having suddenly been invited to dine, until the fourth hour of the night.’21 Later letters reveal that the real instigator of these musical parties was Virginio’s wife Flavia. On 18 December Cavalieri again writes: ‘Yesterday evening I was with Montalto until the third hour at the home the duchess [Flavia Peretti], and Vittoria sang for a bit.’22 Further confirmation appears in a letter of 11 February 1594: Tomorrow Oratio Rucellai is offering an evening meal to Signor Giovanni Francesco [Aldobrandini] and his wife [Olimpia], and I believe that [Cardinal Pietro] Aldobrandini will come just to hear Vittoria, who will also be there, having been 18

19

20

21 22

Marenzio’s renewed interest in sacred music is discussed in Chapter 24. On the Counter-Reformation influences that favoured its development during the Clement VIII’s papacy, see Chapter 20. ‘aspetta con molto desiderio Vittoria per sentirla’. ASF, Archivio Medici, 3622, fos. 33v–34 (Rome, 8 October 1593). This and the following letters of Emilio de’ Cavalieri to Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici are quoted in Kirkendale, The Court Musicians, p. 263. ‘Questa sera Montalto viene da me; et per forza vuole che vadi seco a far musica alle sue dame; et non ho potuto schifarlo; Vittoria arrivò in casa del s[igno]r Don Verginio; et sta bene.’ Ibid., fols. 65v–66 (Rome, 19 November 1593). ‘Montalto sta perso dietro a Vittoria; et io fui seco ieri da subito desinato sino a 4 hore di notte.’ Ibid., fol. 71 (Rome, 26 November 1593). ‘Fui ieri sera con Montalto sino alle 3 hore dalla Duchessa [Flavia Peretti], et Vittoria cantò un poco.’ Ibid., fol. 86v (Rome, 18 December 1593).

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granted permission by Signora Flavia [Peretti], since she will never go anywhere except at the command of Signora Flavia or Don Virginio [Orsini].23

Another guest at the Orsini’s musical entertainments was Monsignor Del Monte: ‘Yesterday evening [7 March] a lottery took place at Don Virginio’s; I was not there, and stayed at home; Montalto was there, and Monte; Vittoria staked her jewels.’24 On 11 March, Emilio de’ Cavalieri observes that ‘Vittoria is still with the duchess.’25 A few days later the singer returned to Florence. Very little is known of Marenzio’s activities in these months. One of the few testimonies of this period reveals that the composer was no longer living in the Orsini palace. Thus a certain Venturi writes to Duke Virginio on 22 July 1593: ‘Or Your Excellency might give me the rooms of Messer Luca Marenzio, who is not living in them, and, since I have been here, they have been and are locked up and vacant, and so the cramped situation of your famiglia can be alleviated.’26 The composer was probably a guest of Montalto, as may be inferred from the dedicatory letter of Sebastián Raval’s first book a 5 (Rome, 10 May 1593) to the cardinal’s brother Michele Montalto: With all my heart I ask you to accept these madrigals, which I unthinkingly brought to Rome from Urbino, and being at present in the service of my lord His Serene Highness the Duke [of Urbino], Your Excellency deigned in your palace to hear some counterpoint and other learned music that I improvised before the universally renowned Signor Cavaliere del Liuto, that rare harpsichordist Signor Scipione Dentice, that divine composer Signor Luca Marenzio, and my Signor Stella, who excels in various skills, with whom and other gentleman of your brother the Most Illustrious [Cardinal Montalto] we sang some of these little pieces on various occasions.27 23

‘Oratio Rucellai dà poi domani a sera a cena, al s[igno]re Gio[vanni] Francesco e la moglie, et credo che vi serà Aldobrandino solo per farli sentir Vittoria, la quale vi anderà, havendo havuta licenza dalla signora Flavia, poiché mai andria in loco veruno, se la S[igno]ra Flavia overo Don Verginio non le ne comandasse.’ Ibid., fol. 118 (Rome, 11 February 1594). 24 ‘Ieri sera si cavò un lotto da Don Verginio, io non vi fui, per stare a casa; vi fu Montalto, et Monte, Vittoria vi haveva messo le sue gioie.’ Ibid., fol. 135 (Rome, 8 March 1594). 25 ‘Vittoria sta sempre dalla Duchessa.’ Ibid., 854, fol. 965 (Rome, 11 March 1594). 26 ‘overo V[ostra] E[ccellenza] mi dia le stantie di messer Luca Marentio, il quale non le habita, e da che sono qua, sono state et stanno serrate e vacanti, e così si allargaria la strettezza della sua famiglia’. ASCR, Carteggio Orsini, 111, fol. 183v (Rome, 22 July 1593). Partially quoted in Orbaan, ‘Notizie inedite su Luca Marenzio’, p. 11; and Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 227. 27 ‘Con tutto il core la pregho accetti questi Madrigali, quali certissimo impensatamente portai a Roma, venendo da Urbino, et trovandomi al presente in servizio dell’Altezza Sereniss[ima] del Duca mio Signore, si degnò V[ostra] Ecc[ellenza] nel Palazzo udirmi alcuni Contraponti, et altre habilità che all’improviso fece innanzi del Sig[nor]

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These sources would tend to confirm both that Marenzio had removed himself from the Orsini famiglia and that he had entered the service of Cardinal Montalto. But we must not forget that Montalto was Flavia’s brother and the musicians proudly listed in Raval’s dedication were also in contact with the Orsini: Scipione Dentice, for example, later set Virginio’s poetry to music. In conclusion, it is possible that Marenzio remained faithful to the Orsini and, indirectly, to Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici. The mobility the composer seems to have enjoyed at this period once again proves to be linked to political relations between Rome and Florence, a presage of the rapid and brilliant political rise of a Florentine family of obscure origins: the Aldobrandini.

Cavaliere del Liuto universal nel Mondo, del Sig[nor] Scipion Dentici rarissimo nel Cimbalo, il Sig[nor] Luca Marentio divino Compositore, et il mio Sig[nor] Stella virtuosissimo in differenti Virtù, co i quali et altri Gentilhuomini dell’Illustriss[imo] Suo fratello, e di V[ostra] Ecc[ellenza] in differenti volte cantassimo di queste operine.’ Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 227 ff. Until some time ago the prevailing hypothesis was that ‘Cavaliere del Liuto’ was to be identified with the famous Roman lutenist Lorenzino (see e.g. Fabris, ‘Vita e opere di Fabrizio Dentice’, p. 75). Hill, Roman Monody, vol. 1, p. 23, makes the same assumption. However, recent archival researches have cast serious doubt on this identification: see Pesci, ‘Lorenzo Tracetti’. Whatever the truth, ten lute reworkings of villanellas by Marenzio can be found in the collection Thesaurus harmonicus divini Laurencini Romani ... (RISM 160315), edited by Jean Baptiste Besard, a pupil of Lorenzino.

Chapter 19

The peak of his career Sixtus V died on 27 August 1590 after an energetic and memorable reign of only five years. The Holy See then underwent a period of severe instability: in the course of a few months three popes were elected in succession: Urban VII, Gregory XIV and Innocent IX. Finally, on 30 January 1592, Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini was elected; as Clement VIII, he was to reign for 13 years. The reign of the Aldobrandini pope is usually remembered for two episodes notorious in the history of the Church: the trial of Beatrice Cenci and the death sentence imposed on Giordano Bruno. The same reign saw the devolution through military force of the state of Ferrara to the Holy See (1598) after the death of Duke Alfonso II. It would, however, be incorrect to judge Clement VIII’s reign on the basis of these events alone. A more detailed examination shows that Pope Clement was the true heir to Sixtus V, despite notable differences in taste and temperament. On the eve of the papal election, the Aldobrandini were absolute parvenus among the Roman aristocracy. Just as had happened seven years before with the Peretti, an obscure family of humble origins was rapidly elevated to a position of great honour and riches. Clement VIII had three nephews to favour: Cinzio (the future patron of Marenzio), Pietro and Giovanni Francesco. The first two were both raised to the purple on 17 September 1593, while the last, a layman, was appointed governor of the Borgo and then general of the Church. Giovanni Francesco belonged to a cadet branch of the Aldobrandini family, but had previously married Donna Olimpia, niece of the future pope, thus laying the foundations for an extraordinary rise in his social position and financial fortunes. The election of Clement VIII had been the result of some extremely dextrous diplomatic manoeuvring, once again on the part of the former cardinal Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici. Officially Cardinal Aldobrandini was supported by Spain, at least after Philip II’s other candidates had failed election. The Spanish, however, were unaware of a private entente between the prelate and the Tuscan government. Grand Duke Ferdinando, supreme practitioner of the art of dissimulation that he was, knew that if he openly declared himself in favour of Aldobrandini the Spanish diplomats would suspect something; he therefore put it abroad that he did not favour Aldobrandini’s candidacy. In reality, since 1590, he had been instructing 196

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his delegates in Rome to support him as soon as the opportunity presented itself.1 Cardinale Ippolito Aldobrandini was, moreover, a creature of Sixtus V: he had received the purple on 18 December 1585 together with Alessandro Peretti di Montalto, in Sixtus V’s first promotion of cardinals. Before this date, the future pope had been a mere auditor of the Rota.2 Though concealed by diplomatic dissimulation, the entente between Medici, Peretti, Orsini and Aldobrandini played a crucial, decisive role in Marenzio’s career in the 1590s. This historical pattern has not yet been fully understood by the composer’s biographers. The first documentary evidence of contact between Marenzio and a member of the Aldobrandini family is dated 5 June 1592: it is the letter of Pietro Aldobrandini to Virginio Orsini cited earlier (see Chapter 18). The identity of this Pietro Aldobrandini was uncovered only a few years ago. He is not, as Engel believed, the powerful cardinal nephew of Clement VIII (he had not yet been created a cardinal), but another Pietro, a member of a collateral branch of the papal family.3 Apart from allowing us to clarify the true identity of this Pietro Aldobrandini, the document also offers us important confirmation of relations between the Aldobrandini, Duke Virginio Orsini, Duchess Flavia and Cardinal Montalto.4 As we have already seen, in the summer of 1593 Marenzio was no longer living in his rooms in the Orsini palace. His new residence (with the possible exception of a transitional period spent in Montalto’s Cancelleria), was to be the Vatican palace. This is confirmed by the well-known ruolo of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini Passeri’s famiglia, which dates from around 1594: ‘Signor Luca Marenzio has a room with a small chamber accessible from a small hall from which one goes to Signor Statilio’s apartment; he also has another small chamber outside, between one hall and another.’5 In this period at least 18 people (not 1 Borromeo, ‘Clemente VIII’, in DBI, vol. 26, p. 263. 2 Ibid., p. 259. 3 See Myers’s introduction to Marenzio’s seventh book a 5 in Marenzio The Secular Works, vol. 14, p. xvi; Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 6; Annibaldi, ‘Il mecenate “politico”’ (II), p. 101. 4 On this aspect see also Cavalieri’s interesting letter to the grand duke of Tuscany dated 11 February 1594, cited in the preceding chapter. In a single document we find side by side the names of Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Vittoria Archilei, Olimpia Aldobrandini, Giovanni Francesco Aldobrandini, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, Duke Virginio Orsini and his wife Flavia Peretti. 5 ‘Il s[igno]r Luca Merentio tiene una stantia con un Camerino, s’entra da una sala per dove si va all’Apartamento del S[igno]r Statilio; e più tiene un altro Camerino fuori tra una sala e l’altra.’ ASV, Fondo Confalonieri, 64 [olim 74], fol. 14. The entire ruolo of Cinzio Aldobrandini is transcribed in Prinzivalli, Torquato Tasso a Roma, pp. 79–81.

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including servants) resided at Cinzio’s court. Among the gentlemen residing in these rooms was Torquato Tasso.6 Marenzio dedicated his sixth book a 5 to his new patron.7 In his dedicatory letter (dated Rome, 1 January 1594) he paid formal homage to ‘Cintio Aldobrandino Cardinale di San Giorgio’ in gratitude for ‘continual favours’ he had received. One phrase in particular – ‘and so I knew that my service was not displeasing to you’ (‘da che io conobbi che non l’era discara la servitù mia’) – seems to confirm that Marenzio’s relationship with the cardinal was one of professional dependency. In general, the dedication’s tone harks back to that of Marenzio’s first book a 5, dedicated to Cardinal Luigi d’Este. Once he had found his new protector, Marenzio did not break off relations with the Peretti, Orsini or Medici. However, his new professional situation stimulated a strong revival in his creative activities in the secular field, which reached levels similar to those achieved in his most prolific years. Between 1590 and 1593 only one madrigal collection was published, while the period 1594–95 saw the appearance of three important publications. Let us now consider whether Cinzio Aldobrandini’s patronage may have had a beneficial influence on this revival. Cinzio’s life underwent remarkable reversals in fortune. Born in 1551 the son of Aurelio Passeri and Elisabetta Aldobrandini, the future pope’s sister, he was the only male nephew of the Aldobrandini family until the birth of Pietro. For this reason, he inherited his mother’s surname (Aldobrandini) as well as that of his father (Passeri). In his youth he had accompanied his uncle Ippolito on a delicate peace mission to Poland (1588–89). After Clement VIII’s election (1592), Cinzio became his favourite nephew, and he was created cardinal and appointed secretary of state. However, with the swift rise of his cousin Pietro, who had also been recently made a cardinal, Cinzio was soon relegated to the background where international diplomacy was concerned; this caused him much bitterness and disappointment. Finding himself on the margins of political life (even though formally he retained responsibility for German, Italian and Polish affairs), Cinzio achieved moral compensation by becoming a patron of the arts: he took Tasso under his wing, shouldered the expenses for the publication of La Gerusalemme conquistata, was heir to all Tasso’s manuscripts, provided the poet Guarini with generous hospitality, fêted Count Giovanni Bardi, the leading light of the famous Camerata of Florence, and invited to his academy the philosopher Francesco Patrizi, the authoritative interpreter of hermetic and Platonic thought.8 As for politics, Cinzio Aldobrandini, it was believed, was openly pro-Spanish – at least in the early years of his uncle’s papacy – and as such he was supported 6

Ibid., p. 96. Prinzivalli identifies as Tasso an unnamed ‘gentilhuomo’ listed in this ruolo. 7 Modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2. 8 Fasano Guarini, ‘Aldobrandini (Passeri), Cinzio’, in DBI, vol. 2, pp. 102–4.

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by Cardinals Lodovico Madruzzo and Enrico Caetani. This aspect has important implications for Marenzio’s career. In the time of Cardinal Luigi d’Este the composer had privileged contacts within pro-French circles; only once did he dedicate a madrigal book to an Iberian gentleman, Girolamo Ruiz. In the 1590s the situation changed radically. Most of the musicians who figured in the entertainments organized by Cardinal Montalto were from the Kingdom of Naples. The composer Sebastián Raval, a passionate admirer of Marenzio, was Spanish, as was Diego de Campo, to whom Marenzio dedicated his seventh book a 5 (1595). The pattern is confirmed by a document of 1595, which shows that Marenzio received a gift valued at 35 gold scudi for having participated – we do not know in which capacity – in the Lenten music for the Archconfraternity of SS. Crocefisso, a meeting place for Iberian gentlemen and an institution whose protector was Cardinal Montalto.9 Before continuing our historical examination let us digress to consider the only original portrait of Marenzio that has survived (see Pl. 6). This anonymous painting, measuring 72 ⫻ 60cm, today hangs in the collection of early music instruments in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, but until a few years ago it belonged to the art gallery of Schloss Ambras near Innsbruck.10 Marenzio is portrayed in half-length, his face slightly turned to the right, his gaze directed towards the viewer; at the top, in capital letters, is written: ‘LVCA MARENTIO’. The subject appears to be between about 35 and 40 years of age. It may be useful to read the portrait according to the criteria of historical anthropology suggested by Peter Burke, who believes that portraits are not simple reflections of reality, but rather are a sophisticated form of communication, an authentic ‘theatre of status’.11 It is especially important to note that Marenzio is portrayed with a beard. According to Bonifacio, a treatise writer of the early Seicento, ‘the beard is a sign 9 ASV, SS. Crocefisso, A. XI. 54, fol. 53: ‘A di d[etto] scudi 42 pagati à me Camerlengo per tanti pagati à m[esser] Arigo Cugino per prezzo d’una catena di peso di scudi 35 d’oro in o[ro] per donare al sig[no]r Luca Marentio per haver servito sop[r]a la musica nella passata quadragesima’ (‘On the same day [6 May 1595] scudi 42 paid to me, the chamberlain, for the same amount paid to Messer Arigo Cugino as the price of a gold chain weighing [the equivalent of] 35 gold scudi in gold to give to Signor Marenzio for his muisical services during the last Lent’). In the same register, among the musicians paid appear the names of Ruggiero Giovannelli, Giovanni Andrea Dragoni, Bernardino Nanino, Paolo Quagliati and Giovanni Troiano. Attention was first called to this document in Alaleona, Storia dell’oratorio musicale in Italia, p. 334. 10 I am grateful to Veronika Sandbichler of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Sammlungen Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck, for having informed me of the present whereabouts of the portrait. 11 Burke, ‘The Presentation of Self in the Renaissance Portrait’, in The Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy, pp. 150–67.

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of manliness ... beardlessness is for children, eunuchs, for women’.12 It is as if our singer/composer was taking care to emphasize his virility in an age when the vogue for emasculated singers was taking hold. Moreover, the sheet of music Marenzio holds is notated in the tenor clef. In every painting a number of accessories and attributes serve to identify the subject from a social point of view. In this respect two elements of the portrait immediately stand out: the broad ruff around the composer’s neck and the sheet of music in his right hand. The ruff, like the sombre clothing, suggests a status symbol of remarkable dignity and social prestige: whoever wore the ruff, which had to be creased and starched each day, had no need to bow or turn his head, and needed a servant to assist him in putting it on. The same gravitas is reflected in the sheet of music (a typical attribute for a composer), in which the vocal part is notated in tempus imperfectum diminutum (¢), guaranteeing a serious musical ethos. Unfortunately the musical fragment cannot be identified. In the manuscript only the first letters, ‘Amor l’...’, can be clearly read, while the rest is illegible. Hans Engel observed that no surviving madrigal by Marenzio begins with the words ‘Amor l’...’.13 The composer’s physical appearance, as painted by the anonymous artist, is confirmed in the Englishman Henry Peacham’s brief description in The Compleat Gentleman (1622): ‘of stature and complexion ... a little and black man’.14 How and when the Marenzio portrait arrived at the large art gallery of Innsbruck Castle cannot easily be established. In all probability Marenzio passed through the town 12

‘la barba è segno di mascolinità ... non avere la barba è cosa da bambini, da donne, da eunuchi’. Bonifacio, L’arte de’ cenni, p. 78. Quoted in Burke, The Historical Anthropology, p. 154, from which the translation is taken. 13 Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 78. We may note in passing that the word ‘Amor’ could also, in theory, belong to a Latin sacred text. The misura di breve (¢) could be used in the more serious madrigals as in motets. For a transcription and comment on this musical fragment see Chapter 24. As James Chater has suggested to me, ‘Amor l’’ is also very close to ‘Amor i’ ho’, the Petrarch stanza from the ninth book a 5 (1599), but the musical fragment in the portrait is completely different. 14 Quoted in Strunk (ed.), Source Readings, p. 335. Engel (Luca Marenzio, p. 78) has also put forward a psychological reading of the portrait. He believes it depicts ‘un uomo serio e simpatico con grandi occhi buoni, un po’ stanchi, dai tratti che esprimono dolore e dolcezza’ (‘a serious, sympathetic man with large, slightly tired eyes, whose features express suffering and mildness’). The ‘asthenic’ structure of the figure, according to the theories of Ernst Kretschmer, reveals a ‘schizothymic’ temperament. Engel concludes: ‘Artisti di questo temperamento sono i patetici, i romantici, gli artisti dalla forma stilistica perfetta, con tendenza verso l’idealismo in forma e contenuto, come Schiller, Hölderlin, Novalis, Tasso’ (‘Artists of this temperament are prone to pathos, are romantic, creators of stylistically perfect forms, with a tendency towards idealism in form and content, such as Schiller, Hölderlin, Novalis, Tasso’).

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– an obligatory staging post for travellers from Italy to the German regions, Bohemia or Poland – in late 1595 on his way to Warsaw. Perhaps the portrait belonged to a member of the Aldobrandini family. In fact the Ambras Castle collection contains other portraits of Italian composers – Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Girolamo Frescobaldi and Giovanni Bernardino Nanino – who were active in Roman–Ferrarese circles and shared Aldobrandini’s patronage in common during the period of Ferrara’s devolution. However, there exists an alternative line of inquiry that, in the light of recently assembled evidence, can explain several facts. This line leads to the city of Verona, where the famous musical ridotto of count Mario Bevilacqua was active in the 1580s. Marenzio passed through the city in 1587 in order to dedicate to the count his madrigal book for four, five and six voices.15 From a dedication by Giovanni Battista Moscaglia (1585) we learn that Mario Bevilacqua collected musical instruments ‘together with the famous portraits of all the excellent musicians’.16 Nor was Moscaglia’s an isolated testimony, since in 1588 the Bolognese musician Bartolomeo Spontoni dedicated to Bevilacqua his Libro primo delle messe a cinque, sei e otto voci, writing: ‘I unite these my sacred compositions to my portrait which you spontaneously wanted to include among [those of] the many illustrious men in your splendid museum.’17 Thus the most distinguished musicians who visited the count were accorded the honour of having their own portrait hanging in the ridotto.18 The hypothesis that it was Bevilacqua who commissioned Marenzio’s portrait in 1587 is reinforced by the fact that a number of paintings from his collection 15

The dedication to Count Bevilacqua of the first book a 4, 5, 6 (1588) is discussed in Chapter 24. The letter contains the phrase: ‘mi è paruto con l’occasione del mio passaggio per Verona presentarle questi Madrigali da me ultimamente composti’ (‘I had the idea, on the occasion of my journey through Verona, to present you with these madrigals recently composed by me’). 16 ‘insieme con li famosi ritratti de tutti li più Eccellenti Musici’. For a fuller citation of Moscaglia’s dedication see Chapter 24. 17 ‘Imagini meae, quam tu sponte tua in omnium ornatissimo tuo Musaeo tot Clarissimorum virorum imaginibus inserere dignatus es, has meas ad sacras pertinentes modulationes appendo ...’. Spontone’s dedication is cited in Paganuzzi, ‘Mario Bevilacqua’, p. 148. 18 Paganuzzi (‘Mario Bevilacqua’, p. 155) writes that in Canobbio’s Tavola of 1587 may be found the following heading: ‘Ritratti di diversi Compositori di Musica, posti nella sala della Musica di detto sig. Conte’ (‘Portraits of various composers found in the music room of the said count [Mario Bevilacqua]’). Unfortunately no copy of this old catalogue has been located. The inventory of the ridotto (Archivio di Stato di Verona, Archivio Bevilacqua, 16, quoted in Paganuzzi, ‘Mario Bevilacqua’, pp. 145 ff.), drawn up five days after the count’s death on 6 August 1593, lists among other things 77 musical instruments and ‘cinquanta due ritratti diversi cornisati’ (‘52 various portraits, framed’).

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passed to Schloss Ambras on the initiative of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol (1529–95), who wished to add to his collection the portraits of eminent Veronese figures.19 The presence of the mensuration sign for tempus imperfectum diminutum (¢) in the music sheet held by Marenzio could constitute a further element of contact with Count Bevilacqua, given that the madrigals of the first book a 4, 5, 6 were written in that mensuration. The evidence so far presented is historical, extraneous to the language of painting, but we cannot ignore the similarities between Marenzio’s portrait and the Veronese ones that reached Ambras: the half-length format with a dark background, the indication of the person’s name in the upper area of the portrait, the expressive character of the faces. Two of the most highly regarded portrait painters of the second half of the Veronese Cinquecento were Orlando Flacco (c. 1529–c. 1591), Count Bevilacqua’s adviser in matters of painting from the 1560s, and Felice Brusasorci (c. 1539–1605), a member of the Accademia Filarmonica.20 It is possible that the Marenzio portrait is the work of one of these two painters: of the two, Brusasorci seems to me the most likely candidate, on the basis of a preliminary historical and stylistic study; however, the matter needs further research.21 The Veronese gatherings may be the factor behind Marenzio’s admission to the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza, for which Andrea Gabrieli had set to music the choruses of Edipo tiranno, Orsatto Giustiniani’s version of the Sophocles tragedy (1585). A printed list of 1596 contains in the left column the names of 49 ‘Academici Olimpici presenti’ and in the right column the 31 ‘Absenti’, among whom appears ‘Luca Marentio Bresciano’ (see Pl. 7).22 The right column also 19

The portraits of Veronese provenance in the Ambras collection, among which appears that of Mario Bevilacqua himself, were first studied in Kenner, ‘Die Porträtsammlung des Erzherzogs Ferdinand von Tyrol’. The paintings are reproduced in Franzoni, Nobiltà e collezionismo, passim; and Marini (ed.), Palladio e Verona, pp. 129 and 152. 20 On these two painters, in addition to the studies cited in the previous note, see Magagnato (ed.), Cinquant’anni di pittura veronese, pp. 51–55 (Brusasorci) and p. 270 (Flacco). 21 Flacco, to whom many of the Veronese portraits at Ambras are attributed, seems to have been far less active as a portrait painter in the 1580s than before, while Felice Brusasorci, who survived him by at least 14 years, continued working into the early Seicento. Two paintings attributed to Brusasorci that merit attention are the portrait of Count Alessandro Pompei (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; reproduced in Marini (ed.), Palladio e Verona, p. 156) and the portrait by Alfonso Morando (c. 1600, Verona, private collection; reproduced in Magagnato, Cinquant’anni di pittura veronese, fig. 68). The physiognomy of the faces and the goldsmith’s attention to detail in the painting of the buttons are elements also found in the Marenzio portrait. 22 The list is a printed sheet headed ‘Anno MDXCVI’. It is currently framed and

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features the names of Guarini, Prince Ferrante Gonzaga (to whom Marenzio was to dedicate his seventh book a 5), Orsatto Giustiniani, Angelo Ingegneri, Cristoforo Ferrari and Muzio Manfredi (who wrote the text of Marenzio’s madrigal Perché adoprar catene, published in Li amorosi ardori (RISM 158312). It is worth remembering that Count Mario Bevilacqua, who died in 1593, had been an Accademico Olimpico at the time of the performance of Edipo tiranno.23 Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini too was a member of the Accademia Olimpica, but only from 6 November 1598.24 The period Marenzio spent in Aldobrandini’s service constitutes the peak of his career. It was then, or in the years immediately before, that his fame reached its height and spread to various European nations. John Dowland, in the preface ‘to the courteous reader’ of his First Book of Songes (1597), declared himself highly honoured to have received numerous friendly letters from ‘the most famous’ Luca Marenzio, one of which, dated Rome, 13 July 1595, he reproduced in its entirety: Thus having spent some moneths in Germany, to my great admiration of that worthy country, I past over the Alpes into Jtaly, where I found the Citties furnisht with all good Artes, but especially Musicke. What favour and estimation I had in Venice, Padua, Genoa, Ferrara, Florence, and divers other places, I willingly suppresse, least I should any way seeme partiall in mine owne indevours. Yet can I not dissemble the great content I found in the proferd amity of the most famous Luca Marenzio, whose sundry letters I received from Rome, and one of them, because it is but short, I have thought good to set downe, not thinking it any disgrace to be proud of the judgment of so excellent a man. Multo Magnifico Signior mio osservandissimo. Per una lettera del Signior Alberigo Malvezi ho inteso quanto con cortese affetto si mostri desideroso di essermi congionto d’amicitia, dove infinitamente la ringratio di questo suo buon’animo, offerendomegli all’incontro se in alcuna cosa la posso servire, poi che gli meriti delle sue infinite virtù, et qualità meritano che ogni uno et me l’ammirino et osservino, et per fine di questo le bascio le mani. Di Roma a’ 13. di Luglio. 1595. Di V. S. Affettionatissimo servitore, hanging in the office of the president of the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza. I am grateful to James Chater for personally bringing this document to my notice. On the basis of two later manuscript annotations (Vicenza, Biblioteca Bertoliana, Archivio storico dell’Accademia Olimpica, fasc. 10, fol. 73; fasc. 11, fol. 95), Marenzio’s admission to the Olimpici had already been recorded in Bolcato, ‘L’ambiente musicale’, p. 26. Unfortunately no other document contains more specific information. The complete list of Accademici Olimpici of 1596 is transcribed and discussed in Bizzarini, ‘L’ultimo Marenzio’. 23 The hypothesis that Marenzio was elected as an Accademico Olimpico some time between 1587 and 1592, at the intercession of Count Bevilacqua, is presented in Bizzarini, ‘L’ultimo Marenzio’. 24 Ranzolin (ed.), L’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Olimpica, p. 42.

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LUCA MARENZIO Not to stand too long upon my travels, I will only name that worthy master Giovanni Crochio [Croce], Vicemaster of the chappel of S. Marks in Venice, with whome I had familiar conference.25

This evidence shows that Dowland and Marenzio carried out a cordial exchange of letters through the agency of Alberigo Malvezzi (the brother of Cristofano), then organist of Florence Cathedral and thus in the service of Grand Duke Ferdinando.26 Dowland recalls having visited Venice, Padua, Genoa, Ferrara, Florence and other cities in the course of his journey of 1595, but, surprisingly, says nothing about Rome, where he had planned to meet Marenzio. Diana Poulton, in her biography of Dowland, places this incident within the context of an international plot by King Philip II of Spain, whose aim was nothing less than the assassination of Queen Elizabeth of England. A group of British Catholic exiles, scattered throughout various Italian courts, had, Dowland claimed, tried to inveigle him into the plot, but the terrified musician had left Italy and taken refuge in Nuremberg. There, on 10 November 1595 he wrote to Sir Robert Cecil, Elizabeth’s secretary of state, a long letter of explanation in order to exculpate himself from any possible accusation of connivance.27 This document, Diana Poulton believes, can throw light on the hidden reasons for which Dowland undertook his journey to Italy: probably on the instructions of Cecil himself, he was given the task of spying on the movements of the Catholic exiles, whose confidence he could easily gain because he had converted to Catholicism. Thus his desire to meet Luca Marenzio could simply have been a camouflage, perhaps even a decoy. We know that a certain priest, John Scudamore, an exile in Florence, recommended Dowland to another priest who resided in Rome, Nicholas Fitherbert, with a kind of safe-conduct dated Florence, 7 July 1595. Scudamore assured his correspondent by writing that ‘though his coming from England might be some occasion of hynderaunce I do assure in verbo sacerdotis that he is no meddler but rather inclined to the good and onli for the fame of Lucca Emerenziana [Marenzio] and love of Musicke hath undertake

25

Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 230. The letter of Marenzio translates as: ‘Most magnifico and esteemed Sir: From a letter of Signor Alberigo Malvezzi I have learnt that you wish, with courteous affection, to be joined with me in friendship; I therefore thank you infinitely for your kind intention, and in return I would like to offer to serve you in any way you wish, since the merits of your boundless virtù and qualities merit that everyone including myself admire and respect them, and so I pay my respects. From Rome, 13 July 1595. From your affectionate servant, Luca Marenzio.’ 26 On Alberigo Malvezzi see D’Accone, ‘Malvezzi, Alberigo’, in NG II, vol. 15, p. 715. 27 Dowland’s letter, preserved in the archive at Hatfield House, is transcribed in Poulton, John Dowland, pp. 37–40. See also Petrobelli, ‘John Dowland’, pp. 542 ff.

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this voyage ...’.28 As it was Dowland, rather than Fitherbert, who presented this safe-conduct to Robert Cecil in his letter of November, it seems improbable that Dowland could have reached Rome. If a composer from across the English Channel could consider Marenzio so ‘famous’ and ‘excellent’, it was undoubtedly as a result of a series of publishing initiatives outside Italy, especially frequent in the 1590s. In London, Thomas East and William Byrd published two famous collections of Italian madrigals translated into English, Musica transalpina (RISM 158829) and The First Sett of Italian Madrigalls Englished (RISM 159029); in the latter Marenzio is represented by no fewer than 21 compositions.29 No less important was the enterprise of the Antwerp-based printers Pierre Phalèse and Jean Bellère, who in 1593 brought out a singular and extraordinary publication: Di Luca Marenzio musico eccellentissimo madrigali a cinque voci ridotti in un corpo. All the composer’s five-voice madrigals up to that point (that is, those contained in books I–V a 5) are here ‘gathered in one set’ and ‘corrected very carefully’ (‘con ogni diligentia corretti’). Few other living musicians could boast such an honour. This monumental reprint was dedicated to Gherardo di Hornes, ‘Baron of Bassigny, Boxtel, governor for His Catholic Majesty [the King of Spain] of the province and city of Malines [now Mechelen]’ (‘barone di Bassigny, di Boxtel, governatore per sua maestà catholica del paese et città di Malines’). It is worth quoting at length from Phalèse’s dedication (Antwerp, 8 August 1593):30 Knowing Your Lordship’s very great affection towards the divine art of music, and especially towards the excellent musical compositions of LUCA MARENZIO, which Your Lordship does not neglect to enjoy frequently along with your friends, notwithstanding your obligations and the troubles of the country, and being about to bring out his madrigals for five voices in one set under my imprint, it seemed good to make the work praiseworthy, to dedicate [Marenzio’s] work and labour to the

28

Attention was first drawn to this letter, also preserved in the archive at Hatfield House, in Grattan Flood, ‘Luca Marenzio e John Dowland di Dublino’, pp. 284–86. See also Poulton, John Dowland, pp. 36–37. 29 Mischiati, Bibliografia delle opere dei musicisti bresciani, 1st edn, pp. 109–12. See also Kerman, The Elizabethan Madrigal, pp. 40–72. 30 ‘Conoscendo la grandissima affettione di V[ostra] S[ignoria] verso l’arte divina della Musica, et singolarmente verso l’eccellenti compositioni Musicali di LUCA MARENZIO, delle quali V[ostra] S[ignoria] non intermette di goderne spesse volte insieme con li amici, non obstante li suoi negotij, et tanti travagli del Paese, et havendo da fare uscire dalla mia Stamparia in un Corpo li suoi Madrigali à cinque voci, m’è parso di fare opera degno di pregio, di dedicare questa sua Opera et faticha, al nome Illustre di vostra Signoria, come al mio singolar Signore et Padrone, il quale son sicuro, che non solo l’haverà grato, ma la difenderà dalle calonnie invidiose, et lingue mordaci d’altri ...’.

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illustrious name of Your Lordship, as my special lord and patron; and I am sure that you will not only enjoy these works but also defend them from the invidious calumny and caustic tongues of others ...

This publishing project had a sequel the following year in the form of another collected edition from the same publishers, Madrigali a sei voci, in un corpo ridotto (in other words, all five of the books a 6 that had appeared up to that date), with the addition of a madrigal a 10 ‘by the same author’. The publication was dedicated to Edoardo, Ferdinando and Consalvo Ximenez, ‘merchants of Antwerp’. In the dedication (Antwerp, 26 January 1594) we read: The works of S. LUCA MARENZIO, one of the foremost musicians of our times, are so agreeable, and so respected by the virtuosi of this divine art of music, that they are collected and greatly prized not only in Italy but also in Flanders and in all other parts of the world. And so, after being urged by the virtuosi in this art to bring out his madrigals for six voices (as I did last year for his five-voice madrigals), it seemed good to dedicate them to Your Lordships. ...31

These words provide definitive confirmation of Marenzio’s stature as a madrigalist: his supremacy in musical composition was universally recognized. Phalèse’s two publications,32 which owe their origin to the shrewd initiative of a diligent publisher, can also be placed entirely within a Spanish context, since Gherardo di Hornes, the dedicatee of the first set, was governor of Malines on behalf of the King of Spain, while the three merchants Ximenez, to whom the second set is dedicated, were obviously of Iberian origin. Before examining the dedication of Marenzio’s seventh book a 5 to another Spaniard, Don Diego de Campo, it is worth discussing a publication that for once seems wholly extraneous to the Roman circles to which the composer was tied during this period, the sixth book a 6, dedicated to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, duchess of Ferrara.33 Almost ten years after the death of Cardinal Luigi, Marenzio once again chose to honour the family that had played such an important role in his early career. The dedicatory letter (Rome, 30 March 1595) contains expressions of extreme gratitude: ‘Moved by my long-standing devotion and service towards the most serene house of Your Highness and by the infinite 31 ‘Le opere del S. LUCA MARENZIO, Musico de primi di nostro tempo, sono così agradevoli, e stimate da virtuosi da questa divina arte della Musica, che non solo in Italia, ma nella Fiandra, e in tutte le altre parti del Mondo sono raccolte, et tenute in gran preggio. Peronde, essendo io stato astretto da prieghi di virtuosi di quell’arte, à mandar in luce li suoi Madrigali à Sei Voci (come pur feci l’Anno passato di quelli a Cinque) mi è parso dedicarli a VV.SS. ...’. 32 On the Transalpine madrigal anthologies see Piperno, ‘Il madrigale italiano in Europa’, pp. 19–48. 33 Critical edition by Myers in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6.

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favours I have received from it; and assured by Your Highness’s greatness of spirit, I humbly dedicate to you these madrigals of mine ...’.34 This rapprochement with the Ferrarese court could have been facilitated by Virginio Orsini, who in 1594, just one year before the book’s appearance, had paid a few visits to the Estense city.35 The sixth book a 6 includes the two longest and most expressive of all Marenzio’s madrigal cycles: the seven-movement sestina Giovane donna and the ten-movement capitolo Se quel dolor. Here perhaps the request to extend ‘humanissima protettione’ to the publication sounds less formal than usual. Indeed, so audacious and experimental a madrigal collection required the exalted protection only a discerning musical connoisseur like the Ferrarese duchess could provide. It is hard to imagine Cinzio Aldobrandini’s reaction to this Ferrarese dedication. Let us briefly consider the historical situation. The duke of Ferrara, now old and lacking a direct descendant, urgently needed to resolve the succession problem in order to prevent Ferrara from devolving to the Papal State after his death. Under the reign of Gregory XIV, a friend of the Estensi, Alfonso had personally come to Rome (26 July 1591) to negotiate the investiture of his relative Marquis Filippo d’Este, but unfortunately the pope died unexpectedly soon. Clement VIII proved less amenable than his predecessor. The duke appealed to Emperor Rudolf to defend him, but this monarch could do very little against the firm resolve of the Aldobrandini pope, who adamantly supported the devolution of Ferrara to the Holy See.36 Cinzio Aldobrandini, at least formally, was secretary of state with responsibility for Italian affairs; however, he does not seem to have assumed towards Ferrara a position any less hostile than that of his uncle the pope. In the present state of research, then, it is difficult to hypothesize that there was a specific political motive behind this dedication to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este; on the contrary, there is reason to suspect a certain coolness on Cinzio’s part. However, a possible link between Aldobrandini’s entourage and the Ferrarese court could be inferred from the presence in Marenzio’s sixth book a 6 of texts by Tasso and Guarini.37 This factor tends to confirm the essentially

34

‘Mosso da quell’antica mia divotione, et servitù verso la Serenissima Casa di V[ostra] A[ltezza] et dalle gratie infinite, ch’io n’ho sempre ricevute; et assicurato dalla grandezza dell’animo di V[ostra] A[ltezza] le dedico humilissimamente li presenti miei Madrigali ...’). 35 See Myers’s introduction to Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6, p. xxvii; Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, p. 152. 36 Quazza, ‘Alfonso II d’Este’, in DBI, vol. 2, pp. 337–41. 37 Guarini, or perhaps Tasso, is the author of the text of Lucida perla, taken from a manuscript eclogue Dimmi gentil pastore, written to celebrate the wedding of Margherita Gonzaga and the duke of Ferrara in 1579. The two texts by Tasso are: Là dove sono i pargoletti Amori, in honour of the duchess’s dwarf, and the echo poem O

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reservato, almost ‘academic’ character of this collection, in which occasional pieces appear alongside highly expressive ones. Equally ambitious from a compositional point of view is the seventh book a 5,38 which appeared towards the end of 1595; this time the choice of dedicatee is less surprising. In fact Diego de Campo was ‘intimo Cameriere partecipante e assistente’ to Clement VIII, a man with very close ties to the Aldobrandini pope. We know that in 1595 he banqueted frequently with Cardinals Montalto, Del Monte and Pietro Aldobrandini; thanks to these friendships, he was to become primicerius of SS. Trinità for the period 1596–97.39 De Campo was in contact with various musicians: in 1593 he had received the dedication of Monte’s sixteenth book a 5, while the next year he expressed himself in favour of Ruggiero Giovannelli before the chapter of the basilica of S. Pietro, allowing this musician to take up the position of magister cantorum in the Cappella Giulia on Palestrina’s death.40 Marenzio’s dedication (Rome, 20 October 1595) also points to genuine musical knowledge on the part of this patron: The very great obligation in which I am placed by the affection that Your Reverence has shown in always favouring my works both with the courtesy of listening to them willingly and with your kindness in praising them beyond their merit, obliges me, since I am leaving Rome and am therefore losing the opportunity to serve you with my presence, to leave you some token of my devotion which I shall bear you wherever I may be. ...41

With this explicit allusion to his imminent departure from Rome, Marenzio introduces us to one of the most mysterious and surprising episodes of his life: his service with the king of Poland.

38 39 40 41

verdi selv’o dolci fonti o rivi. The latter survives in two distinct versions: the longer (not set by Marenzio) presents in its echo replies the words ESTE and MANTO (meaning respectively ‘east’ and ‘mantle’, as well as referring to the two dukedoms) – an obvious allusion to Margherita’s marriage. Tasso was a favourite of the duchess. See Myers’s introduction to the sixth book a 6 in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6, pp. xiii–xxvii. Critical edition by Myers in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 14. O’Regan, Institutional Patronage, p. 41. Annibaldi, ‘Il mecenate “politico”’ (I), p. 51. For a facsimile of this dedication see Myers’s introduction to her edition of Marenzio’s seventh book a 5 in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 14, p. xix.

Chapter 20

From Vatican Palace to Polish court For delicious air and sweet invention in madrigals, Luca Marenzio excelleth all other whosoever, having published more sets than any author else whosoever, and to say truth hath not an ill song, though sometime an oversight (which might be the printer’s fault) of two eights or fifths escaped him, as between the tenor and bass in the last close of I must depart all hapless, ending according to the nature of the ditty most artificially with a minim rest. His first, second, and third parts of Tirsi, Veggo dolce mio bene, Che fa hogg’il mio sole, Cantava, or Sweet singing Amaryllis, are songs the muses themselves might not have been ashamed to have had composed.1

With these words Henry Peacham introduces his well-known passage on Marenzio in his treatise The Compleat Gentleman (1622). His words confirm the fame of Marenzio’s music in England in the early seventeenth century. While the Brescian Ottavio Rossi, in 1616, assigns the composer only a brief biographical entry, lacking in any musical insights, Peacham undertakes a critical discourse with arguments that go beyond conventional rhetoric and are supported by specific examples. His statements clearly cannot entirely be taken on trust: for example, it is not true that Marenzio was the most prolific of the madrigalists, since Philippe de Monte’s output was over twice as great. Nevertheless, in the English context, even this statement was based on an important truth: no other composer had so frequently been represented in the Transalpine collections of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries.2 Marenzio’s leading position was based, at least in part, on the speed with which he wrote and on his enormous success at the printing press. Henry Peacham was already aware of this, but he also wished to dwell on the music’s quality, and so he listed the titles of five madrigals that 1 2

Peacham, The Compleat Gentleman (London, 1622). Reproduced in Strunk, Source Readings, p. 335; Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’ p. 239. Franco Piperno has presented statistics illustrating the presence of madrigal composers in the 27 Transalpine collections between 1575 and 1634. A total of 191 musicians is represented. Out of a total of 1197 pieces (including reprints), as many as 144 are by Marenzio. In second place, but lagging a good way behind, is Orazio Vecchi (43 madrigals), followed by Andrea Gabrieli and Pallavicino (42), Ferretti, Monte and G.M. Nanino (35), Wert (32), A. Ferrabosco (27), Felis (26) and Palestrina (25). Among the others we may mention Macque (22), Croce (18), Anerio (17), Monteverdi (14), Bertani (13), Giovannelli (12) and Lasso (11). Gesualdo appears with only three pieces. See Piperno, ‘Il madrigale italiano in Europa’, pp. 45 ff. 209

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form a miniature ‘canon’ of Marenzio’s best compositions (or rather, those that were so regarded in England): 1 2 3 4 5

I must depart all hapless = Io partirò, ma il core [= second part of Deggio dunque partire] (II a 5) Tirsi = Tirsi morir volea (I a 5) Veggo dolce mio bene (I a 4) Che fa hoggi il mio sole (I a 5) Cantava, or Sweet singing Amaryllis = Cantava la più vaga pastorella (I a 5)

It is all too easy to point out that all five madrigals appeared in the two anthologies published in London by Thomas East and William Byrd: nos. 1, 2 and 4 in Musica Transalpina (RISM 158829) and nos 3 and 5 in The First Sett of Italian Madrigalls Englished ... (RISM 159029).3 Equally obvious is the fact that in Peacham’s list we find only pieces from Marenzio’s early years, the first two books a 5 having appeared in 1580–81, and the first book a 4 in 1585. There is no mention of Marenzio’s music from the 1590s. Though limited to Marenzio’s earlier works, Peacham’s knowledge of the composer reveals a valuable critical approach, as can be seen in his pertinent and subtle remarks on the final pause of Io partirò ma il core (I must depart all hapless) corresponding to the Italian words ‘ch’io penserò restar di vita spento’ (‘So that I think will be deprived of life’), in which the music ‘extinguishes’ itself, as in a sort of ‘Farewell’ Symphony. He is also right to point out the two parallel fifths between bass and tenor, even though they are masked by syncopation.4 It is not possible to establish with certainty whether these comments emanate from Peacham himself (he was himself an amateur composer), or whether they were derived from a professional musician.5 But it is a fact that this seventeenthcentury source can be shown to possess, if only in part, a certain degree of reliability. It is necessary to establish this premise before proceeding with our reading of the passage, which continues with some astonishing biographical information: Of stature and complexion he was a little and black man; he was organist in the Pope’s chapel at Rome a good while; afterward he went into Poland, being in displeasure with the Pope for overmuch familiarity with a kinswoman of his (whom the Queen of Poland sent for by Luca Marenzio afterward, she being one of the rarest women in 3

For these anthologies see Kerman, ‘Elizabethan anthologies of Italian madrigals’, pp. 122–38 and id., The Elizabethan Madrigal, pp. 39–72. 4 See the modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, p. 46. 5 A probable source would seem to be Thomas Morley, A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music (1597) (ed. R. Alec Harman, 1952). As we have seen, Morley had praised Marenzio’s madrigals ‘for good air and fine invention’ (p. 294); Peacham turned this phrase into ‘for delicious air and sweet invention’.

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Europe for her voice and the lute). But returning, he found the affection of the Pope so estranged from his that hereupon he took a conceit and died.6

In the eighteenth century this anecdote was given credence by the music historian John Hawkins, while his colleague Charles Burney was quick to dismiss it as implausible.7 From then, all the biographical writings on Marenzio reproduce Peacham’s words and comment on them in various ways. No one could disagree that this tale has the character of romantic fiction;8 however, no conscientious historian can sidestep Peacham’s information; at the very least, there is a duty, through careful analysis, to distinguish between plausible facts and hypotheses that are at odds with the most objective, documented data. Hans Engel, in my opinion correctly, points out that Peacham could have encountered this news during his travels in Italy (1614), or in his own country, through John Dowland.9 Since we are dealing with mere rumours, bound to undergo distortions and amplifications in the course of oral transmission, we must clearly pass every single word of this source through a filter. The first highly dubious statement concerns the position of ‘organist in the Pope’s chapel’ which, Peacham maintains, Marenzio held ‘for a good while’ before embarking on the journey to Poland, therefore in the first half of the 1590s. Strictly speaking, the expression ‘the Pope’s chapel’ could refer to the Sistine Chapel; however, as is well known, this institution had no position of organist. In this case, therefore, the oral tradition gathered by Peacham appears to have become corrupted. Marenzio, as a musician in the service of the cardinal nephew Cinzio Aldobrandini, resided in the Vatican, regularly visited the papal court and had close ties with Diego de Campo, the pope’s private valet. The expression ‘the Pope’s chapel’ should probably not be interpreted in its strict sense as referring to the Sistine Chapel or (as has also been suggested) the Cappella Giulia in St Peter’s, but as referring simply to the private musical cappella of Clement VIII’s nephew. If we accept this interpretative filter, Peacham’s words are plausible. Are we therefore to infer that Marenzio played the organ and exercised the function 6 Strunk, Source Readings, p. 335. 7 Hawkins, A General History, vol. 2, p. 431; Burney, A General History of Music, vol. 2, p. 166: ‘[Peacham] loses all credence with me: as there never yet was an Organ in the Pope’s Chapel; nor is it likely ... that the niece of any reigning Pope could have been sent for to Poland ...’. 8 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 138: ‘nor does there seem to be any truth to Peacham’s story’. Equally sceptical is Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 7: ‘Peacham is usually thought to have attempted to romanticize the biography of a composer beloved of English madrigal composers.’ He adds that Peacham’s words could have been the result of English anti-Catholic propaganda, as it places the pope in an unfavourable light. 9 Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 75 ff.

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of organist? Unfortunately no other source can confirm Peacham’s claim. Nevertheless, an ability to play keyboard instruments was part of the common professional baggage of several madrigal composers of the day: Merulo, Luzzaschi, Andrea Gabrieli and Macque spring readily to mind. Born in the same district as those famous organ builders, the Antegnati, Marenzio could easily have succumbed to the charms of these reed instruments. At least one madrigal in his vast output, Ecco l’aurora con l’aurata fronte (IV a 5) shows strong points of contact with the repertory of organ canzonas in the French style.10 A much thornier issue is the supposed liaison of Marenzio with a relative of the pope.11 Clement VIII had only one direct niece, the wealthy Olimpia Aldobrandini, married to Giovan Francesco Aldobrandini, General of the Holy Church and governor of the Borgo. The couple had no fewer than 11 children, born between 1590 and the early years of the next century.12 We know that Olimpia received the singer Vittoria Archilei in February 1594,13 but otherwise there is no evidence of true musical interest on her part. It is highly unlikely that such a senior and high-ranking lady, perhaps the richest and most prominent in Rome, would have had ‘overmuch familiarity’ with our composer. The same would apply to her daughters, still at a tender age in 1595. Thus all the pope’s relatives (unless one were to consider more remote degrees of relationship) appear to rule themselves out as likely candidates for the role of Peacham’s ‘kinswoman’. A second possibility is that Peacham could have confused the niece of a reigning pope with that of a previous one. The wife of Virginio Orsini, Flavia Peretti, was Sixtus V’s great-niece. Flavia loved music and knew Marenzio personally, but, so far we can ascertain from the present state of research, no document – it goes without saying – allows us to infer even the remotest possibility of a romantic relationship between the two. On the contrary, if the Duchess of Bracciano had travelled to Poland, the extensive Orsini papers of these years would have left us with some traces of her journey. However, before dismissing Peacham’s tale as absurd, we should discuss some new documents relating to the period before Marenzio was sent to

10 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 641. 11 Recently Claudio Annibaldi (in ‘“Cantore”, “musico”, “maestro di cappella”, “divino compositore”’) has suggested that Peacham’s grammatically ambiguous phrase ‘being in displeasure with the Pope for overmuch familiarity with a kinswoman of his’ refers to a ‘kinswoman’ of Marenzio, not of the pope. But John Hawkins, in the next century, paraphrases the passage as follows: ‘[Marenzio] entertained a criminal passion for a lady, a relation of the Pope’ (my italics) and Burney interpreted the text in the same way (see n. 7). 12 Litta, Famiglie celebri d’Italia, vol. 1, ‘Aldobrandini’. 13 See Chapter 18.

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the King of Poland. The biographical researches of Engel and Ledbetter offer a few glimpses, but the documents studied below offer a far clearer picture. Marenzio’s Polish venture had an important antecedent at the end of 1594. We start with a passage from the Avvisi di Roma, dated 14 December: ‘The day before yesterday Kochanowski arrived, a Polish gentleman sent by the King [of Poland]; his only business up to now has been to thank His Holiness for the valet he sent him to hold his daughter at her baptism, and for the 20 000 scudi he is sending him as a present for his naval trip to Sweden. It is understood that this gentleman is arranging to bring to his king some of the finest musicians that can be procured in this city.’14 Up to now the Roman mission of Kochanowski, Sigismund III’s private secretary, has remained unknown to musicological research, but it provides unequivocal evidence the well-known interest on the part of the King of Poland and Sweden in Italian music.15 We are informed of the result of this mission in the avviso dated 15 February 1595: ‘On Monday morning Kochanowski, a Polish gentleman, left, taking with him 16 musicians and organists for his king’s cappella; they are having their travelling and clothing expenses paid, and they will each be paid 300 scudi a year; but Annibale Stabile, the maestro di cappella, who was at S. Maria Maggiore to conclude some business, has requested 1000 scudi.’16 This evidence, which establishes a terminus ante quem for Stabile’s departure from Rome, is followed three months later by unexpected news (6 May): ‘Also, there arrived from Poland ... a gentleman to bring to the King [of Poland] another maestro di cappella, since Annibale Stalla [recte: Stabile], who went there for that purpose, has passed away.’17 So it was Stabile’s premature death of unknown causes that created the 14

‘Arrivò l’alter’hieri il Cocanovschi gentilhuo[mo] Pollacco mandato da quel Rè né s’intende fin hora per altri affari, che per ringratiar S[ua] B[eatitudi]ne del Cam[erie]re mandatole à tener la figlia al sacro fonte, et delli 20.000 scudi che le manda a p[rese]ntare nella navigation di Svetia. Si è ben inteso, che d[ett]o sig[nor]e procura di condurre al suo Rè alc[un]i Musici delli più rari, che potrà accapparare in q[uest]a Città.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1062, fol. 744v (Rome, 14 December 1594). 15 Perhaps this interest was acquired in emulation of Emperor Rudolph II, who summoned famous musicians to the court at Prague. 16 ‘Partì lunedì matt[in]a il Cocanoschi gentil’huomo Polacco, e conduce seco per la Cappe[ll]a del suo Rè 16 tra musici, et organisti franchi di spesa nel viaggio, et di vestiti con 300 scudi di provisione l’anno per ciascuno mà Anibale Stabile m[aest]ro di capp[ell]a che stava à s[an]ta Maria Mag[gio]re per far cosa tonda hà voluto gionger al migliaro.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1063, fol. 99 (Rome, 15 February 1595). 17 ‘Di più di Polonia ... veniva un Gentilhuo[mo] per condurre à quel Re un altro M[aest]ro di Cappella poiché Annibale Stalla [sic], andatoci per tale effetto, era passato all’altra vita.’ Ibid., fol. 287 (Rome, 6 May 1595).

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conditions that led to Marenzio’s being sent to Poland. As the avviso of 12 August states: The King of Poland, who takes great delight in music, following the death of Annibale Stabile who went there as maestro di cappella, and having heard of the prowess of Signor Luca Marenzio, the leading musician of this city, has sent for him in order to take him into his service, and said Signor Luca, who does not have a very good constitution, would perhaps have refused this offer, had he not been expressly commanded by His Holiness and his patron the Cardinal of San Giorgio [Cinzio Aldobrandini] to set out for Poland to serve the King [of Poland]; he has decided to do this, and will leave in a month, and will be paid 1500 scudi a year. His departure will be a setback to oratories here, as the finest concerti and most pleasant music performed there were his work.18

This document, unknown to both Engel and Ledbetter, is worthy of some reflection. It is somewhat exceptional to find an avviso so focused on one musician. The writer probably assigned the news such importance because it formed part of the wider context of international relations between the Holy See and the kingdom of Poland. Even so, it is highly significant that Marenzio should be described as the ‘leading musician’ of Rome. We may surmise that in penning this flattering description the writer may have been directly inspired by Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini. In fact the whole avviso seems to have derived from sources very close to the circle of the pope and the Aldobrandini. For this reason the information offered, though of great interest, should be assessed with a certain caution. The writer appears to believe that the King of Poland had expressly asked for Marenzio to be sent as a replacement for the maestro di cappella, Annibale Stabile, who had just died. Let us try to reconstruct the whole affair on the basis of other testimony. The avviso of 6 May, quoted above, says that another Polish gentleman had come to Rome soon after Kochanowski, to bring to King Sigismund III ‘another maestro di cappella’, whose name is not specified. This gentleman was in fact a priest and theologian, Canon Bartholomaeus Koss from

18

‘Il Re di Polonia il quale della musica prende estremo diletto doppo la morte d’Annibale Stabile che vi andò di qua per m[aest]ro di capella h[ave]ndo inteso il valore del s[igno]r Luca Marentio p[re]nc[i]pale musico di questa città ha mand[a]to qua per ha[ve]rlo al suo servitio onde detto s[igno]r Lucca per non esser di molto bona complessione haveria forse reputato [rifiutato] tale partito, se da S[ua] B[eatitudi]ne et dal Cardinale San Giorgio suo sig[no]re non gli fusse stato espressamente commandato, che si metta in viaggio alla volta di Polonia per s[er]vire il detto Re, il che si è resoluto di fare, e partirà fra un mese con provigione di mille e cinquecento scudi l’anno, dalla cui partita q[ue]sti oratorij recever[an]no q[u]alche incommodo poiché li più belli concerti e più vaghe musiche che si facessero uscivano dalle sue mani.’ Ibid., fol. 522v (Rome, 12 August 1595).

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the city of Luck. This we learn from a previous unknown letter of King Sigismund to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (Kraków, 15 April 1595): We [the King of Poland] have sent to Rome the Reverend Bartholomaeus Koss of the city of Luck, a doctor in sacred theology, to handle some affairs of ours; because of our constant and perpetual deference towards Your Reverence [Pietro Aldobrandini], which we owe to the good offices of this man, we have thought of charging him [Koss] to go to Your Reverence to pay our affectionate respects in our name, which we do also with this letter. And if in order to prosecute our affairs Bartholomaeus Koss, whom we have sent there [to Rome] asks for Your Reverence’s authorization, we affectionately ask that for the sake of our cause you will not deny it, something we will number among the other signal favours Your Reverence has granted us.19

Pietro Aldobrandini received a similar communication from the Nuncio in Poland, Monsignor Germanico Malaspina, Bishop of San Severo (Kraków, 17 April): The Most Serene King [of Poland], having sent a canon from Luck to undertake some business for him in Rome, has commanded me that I recommend him in the name of His Majesty to Your Most Illustrious Lordship and that I ask you to favour him with your highest authority, so that he can fulfil the command and desire of His Majesty as soon as possible. [He asks that] Your Most Illustrious Lordship will deign to hear this command and desire from this canon, who will come and pay his respects to you, and give you this letter.20

Neither of these two letters reveals that the object of this ‘business in Rome’ was none other than the negotiations to bring to Kraków a new maestro di

19

‘Cum v[e]n[era]bilem Bartholomaeum Koss Leucorens[em], et Sac[rae] Theologiae Doctorem Romam mitteremus, quorumdam nostrorum negotiorum causa, constans et perpetua nostra in Pat[e]r[nitatem] V[est]ram voluntas, quam ipsius officijs debemus, id nobis suo iure requirere, visa est ut illi committaremus, quò Pat[e]r[nitatem] V[est]ram adiret, et illam nostro nomine amanter salutaret. Quod etiam per l[itte]ras hasce nostras facimus. Si autem nostris in rebus Bartholomaeus Koss à nobis isthic missus, Pat[ernitatis] V[est]r[a]e authoritatem desiderabit, amanter rogamus, ut eam ipsi nostra causa ne deneget quod in reliquis Pat[ernitatis] V[est]r[a]e erga nos insignibus beneficijs numerabimus.’ ASV, Fondo Borghese, III 89b, fol. 80 (Kraków, 15 April 1595). 20 ‘Questo Ser[enissi]mo Re mandando per alcuni suoi negocij in Roma un can[oni]co di Luceoria mi hà commandato, ch’io lo raccomandi in nome della M[aes]tà Sua à V[ostra] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma et la preghi à favorirlo con la sua somma aut[ori]tà, acciò possa quanto prima adempir l’ordine, et desiderio di S[ua] M[aes]tà, il qual ordine, et desiderio si dignarà V[ostra] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]ma d’intendere da esso can[oni]co, che verrà à farle humiliss[i]ma riverenza, et à renderle la p[rese]nte.’ Ibid., fol. 89 (Kraków, 17 April 1595).

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cappella. However, we learn from other documents that it was Canon Koss whom the king had charged with this specific task. Sigismund’s letter, which is deliberately vague, does not clarify if the king expressly wanted Marenzio in his service, as the avviso of 12 August gives us to understand. I believe that Bartholomaeus Koss simply asked the Aldobrandini who were the best musicians in Rome willing to move to Poland to substitute Stabile. Here are some passages from Cardinal Cinzio’s reply of 5 October to King Sigismund from his villa in Frascati: Your Sacred Majesty, it is owing to the virtue and magnanimity with which His Sacred Royal Majesty shines among Christian princes that others voluntarily deprive themselves of their own ornaments ... and certainly I would not easily tolerate that Luca Marenzio, who is second to none in the whole of Italy in the musical arts, and dear to me ..., should desert my house for just anybody. While I entrust this man to Your Royal Majesty, though deprived of pleasure I believe I will gain just as much pleasure knowing that he will render you excellent service, as is guaranteed not only by his knowledge of music, in which he excels, but also by his good character and his years of service spent among princes, by whom he was always cherished.... Bartolomeo Koss, who is now returning to Your Sacred Majesty, will tell you everything else in person....21

This letter, already known to scholars, gives the impression that Cinzio Aldobrandini wanted to describe Marenzio’s qualities for the king: he was willing to deprive himself of such an excellent musician, ‘second to none in the whole of Italy’, to satisfy the desire of an illustrious sovereign. It is not stated if Sigismund 21 ASV, Fondo Borghese, III 9b ter, fol. 15 (copy of letter of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini to King Sigismund III of Poland, ‘Tusculi, V octobris 1595’): ‘Sacra Regia Ma[i]estas, debetur hoc pietatis ac vertutis magnitudini qua S[acr]a R[egi]a M[aie]stas V[est]ra inter Christianos P[ri]nc[i]pes fulget, ut libenter spolient se alii ornam[en]tis proprijs, quò ipsius desideriis satisfiat, nec ego quidem alterius cuiuscumq[ue] ca[usa] eram facile passurus, ut Lucas Marentius musicis artibus nemini in tota Italia secundus, aliisq[ue] et[iam] nominibus mihi gratus e mea discederet domo, ac dum Illum R[egia]e M[aiesta]ti Vestrae trado, videor in ipsa voluptatis privatione, magnam percipere voluptatem, quae tantum est susceptura incrementum, quantum ipsum intellexero eidem M[aiesta]ti Vestrae inneunda obsequia praestiturum, quod mihi non musica solum scientia, qua excellit, sed modesti etiam mores, vitaq[ue] apud P[ri]nc[i]pes viros, quibus carus semper fuit diutissime acta pollicetur, dum vero illum S[acrae] R[egiae] M[aiesta]ti V[est]rae trado non possu[m] etiam non honesto testimonio, et merita commendatione prosequi. Caetera de studiis servitiisq[ue] meis referret coram ipse Bartholom[eu]s Cossius qui ad S[acram] R[egiam] M[aiestate]m Vestram revertitur, cui voluntatis meae singularem propensionem verbis patefeci, quam re ipsa quotidie contestari etiam atque etiam cupio.’ The document is transcribed, with some small inaccuracies, by Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, pp. 232–33.

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had asked for Marenzio; rather, the implication is that he was searching for musicians of outstanding reputation. Even before Cinzio Aldobrandini, Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici had written a reference concerning the composer to the King of Poland (Pratolino, 10 September): Luca Marenzio, citizen of Brescia and an excellent musician, as one who holds a place among the foremost and most remarkable [people] of his profession, served us for the duration of three years to our complete taste and satisfaction, and to his great credit; and being now called to the service of His Majesty the King of Poland, it is only right that we should accompany him with this letter testifying to his aforementioned skill, and to his good and prized qualities in every other respect, and we recommend him dearly, both to His Majesty and to any other prince, whose every grace and favour will be excellently bestowed on this person.22

We must imagine that Marenzio, after Koss had arrived in Rome by early August, must have been immediately informed of the plans concerning him. In fact, on 11 August (in other words the day before the avviso was written announcing his imminent departure) the composer wrote his letter to Flavia Peretti Orsini, Duchess of Bracciano, who was then living in Florence: It has pleased His Holiness [the Pope] and the Cardinal of San Giorgio to command me to go to serve the King of Poland, since I have been requested by him via letters, with an order to this effect, and since the Most Excellent Signor Don Virginio is absent, I am telling you this, as I am obliged to do, requesting humbly that I may go to serve His Majesty in your good grace, and I will undertake to be always most ready to obey my lords and patrons in his smallest commandments, if I should be deemed worthy of such; and how, and in what manner I shall go, Your Excellency will be fully advised by Signor Emilio de’ Cavalieri.23

22

23

‘Havendoci Luca Marentio cittadino bresciano eccellente nella musica, tanto che tiene luogo tra i primi, et i più singulari di detta professione, servito per lo spatio di tre anni con intero nostro gusto, et sodisfattione, et con somma sua lode; Et essendo hora chiamato al servitio della Maestà del Re di Pollonia, è ben giusto, che lo accompagniamo con lettera nostra in testificatione della sudetta sua virtù, et delle buone et honorate qualità sue in ogni altro conto, con raccomandarlo ancora caramente, et alla suddetta Maestà, et ad ogni altro principe, ogni gratia, et favore de’ quali sarà benissimo collocato in questo soggetto.’ ASF, Archivio Medici, 289, fol. 106 (Pratolino, 10 September 1595). Quoted in Kirkendale, The Court Musicians in Florence, p. 245. ‘E’ piacciuto a N[ostro] S[ignore] et all’Ill[ustrissi]mo Card[ina]le S[an] Giorgio, di contentarsi, e comandarmi, ch’io vadi à servire il Re di Pollonia, essendo io così da lui richiesto con l[ette]re, per un suo mandato a questo effetto, e non essendo costì l’Ecc[ellentissi]mo sig[no]r Don Virginio [Orsini], come è mio obligo, ne do conto a V[ostra] E[ccellenza] chiedendoli humil[men]te che in sua bona gratia possa ire a

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Virginio Orsini was in Hungary waging war with the Turks, and so it was Flavia to whom Marenzio addressed his letter. Evidently relations between the composer and the Orsini family had been uninterrupted despite his regular employment in the service of Cinzio Aldobrandini. Marenzio wrote that he had been ‘requested’ by the King of Poland, and Grand Duke Ferdinand too, in his lettera di benservito (written perhaps at the request of Flavia Orsini) was to state that our composer had been ‘called to the service’ of the king. However, Marenzio reveals a still more important detail: it was the pope and Cardinal Aldobrandini who had ‘commanded’ him to go to Poland. The avviso of 12 August leaves no room for doubt about the matter: the composer, for health reasons, would perhaps have refused Sigismund’s excellent offer, if the pope and the Cardinal of San Giorgio had not ‘expressly’ ordered him to set out. And so the avviso of 19 August records his imminent departure: Here the most excellent musician Signor Marenzio is preparing to go to Poland serve the King of that country as maestro di cappella, having been requested by His Majesty, who has offered to pay him 1500 scudi a year, and promised that if he brings other musicians with him, he would not fail to honour them according to their talents; and [Marenzio] is preparing to take with him some of the most famous musicians of Italy, so that this nation will bring glory to those parts.24

In the diplomatic correspondence between the Aldobrandini, King Sigismund and the nuncio Malaspina, we can find a further trace of matters concerning Marenzio. On 14 October Cardinal Cinzio wrote to the king: ‘In private His Holiness thinks no ill of Your Majesty, on the contrary he praises your great intelligence and virtues; neither does he grieve that the city has been deprived of musicians, but rather he wishes to grieve in sympathy with the maestri di cappella.’25 The pope, therefore, rather than grieving at the departure of the servire quella Maestà, obligandomi che sempre a suoi minimi comand[amen]ti se di tanto sarò fatto degno, sarò prontiss[im]o a obedirli come semp[r]e miei signori e patroni. E come, e in che modo vadi, dal Sig[no]r Emilio de’ Cavaglieri, ne sarà à pieno raguagliata V[ostra] E[ccellenza].’ ASCR, Carteggio Orsini, 106, fol. 720 (Rome, 11 August 1595). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 231. 24 ‘Si prepara qua per Polonia il s[ignor] Luca Marenzo musico ecc[ellentissi]mo per esser’ al servitio di quel Rè per capellano, richiesto da d[ett]a maestà con offerta volerli assegnar provvisione di 1500 scudi l’anno, con promessa che conducendo seco altri musici non mancherà trattenergli secondo la loro sufficienza honorata[men]te di che il sod[ett]o è in prattica per condurvene de più celebri d’Italia, acciò q[ues]ta natione riporti gloria in quelle parti.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1063, fol. 547 (Rome, 19 August 1595). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 232. 25 ‘S[ancti]tas Sua ... de v[est]ra D[ignitate] privatim nihil sentit sinistre, immo laudat ingenium, et virtutem, musicis autem spoliari urbem non conqueritur sed potiusq[ue]

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Roman musicians, wanted to grieve in sympathy with them (‘vellet conqueri’), perhaps referring to the premature death of Annibale Stabile as a consequence of the journey, or to the difficult situation confronting these remote regions, directly threatened as they were by the Turks. In the same day Cinzio also informed the Papal Nuncio in Poland: Some musicians are leaving Rome with Canon Coss, who was sent from there, and with whom His Holiness held serious conversations ... having said that in these times the most suitable music was that of trumpets and drums, and that it was these that ought to attend on the king. Certainly this was said out of the love and desire that the Holy Father has to see the glory and power of His Majesty grow ...26

The pope, then, was mainly preoccupied by the war against the Turks and, between the lines, it is not difficult to detect a veiled reproach against Sigismund, who should have been thinking more about military instruments (trumpets and drums) than about Italian high musical culture. The intensive correspondence between the nuncio Malaspina and the Aldobrandini cardinals, in which unfortunately there is no trace of information about music, talks repeatedly about ‘turbulent times’ (‘turbolenti tempj’). In the early months of 1596 Sigismund III transferred his court from Kraków to Warsaw, where the Papal Nuncio complained that ‘the houses are not the best in the world’.27 At the end of October Malaspina confided to the pope that ‘Kraków together with its region is clearly in danger, since in the future it will be bordering lands recently acquired by the Turks’.28 In sum, Marenzio and fellow musicos ca[pella]neos vellet conqueri.’ ASV, Fondo Borghese, III 9b ter, fol. 21v, copy of a letter of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini to King Sigismund III of Poland (‘Tusculi, xiiij octo[bris] 1595’). Quoted in Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 73. 26 ‘Partono di Roma alcuni musici col canonico Coss, che fu mandato di costà, col quale Nostro Signore tenne certo proposito grave ... havendo detto che la musica conveniente à questi tempi era quella delle trombe e de tambani e che quelle dovesse attendere il Re. Al certo il raggionamento fu dettato dall’amore, et dal desiderio che S[ant]o Padre tiene di vedere cresciuta la gloria et la potenza di sua Majestà ...’. Quoted in Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 73. Steven Ledbetter discovered that this document (ASV, Fondo Borghese, III 18, fol. 255) is dated 14 October 1595, not 14 December, the date assigned it by Engel: see Myers’s introduction to Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 15, p. xiii, n. 2. Marenzio’s departure for Poland should be backdated two months compared with what has previously been believed. 27 ‘le case non sono le migliori del mondo’. ASV, Fondo Borghese, III 89c, fol. 85, letter of the nuncio, Germanico Malaspina, to the Chancellor of the Papal Guard (Kraków, 1 March 1596). 28 ‘Cracovia insieme con la minor Polonia è sottoposta à manifesto pericolo; essendo che havrà nell’avvenire confinante il Turco per l’acquisto che egli hora hà fatto.’ Ibid., fol. 167, letter of the nuncio Germanico Malaspina to Pope Clement VIII (Warsaw, 30 October 1596).

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adventurers could not have encountered a very tranquil situation in these far-off lands. After their autumn journey the Italian musicians escorted by Canon Koss arrived in Kraków. Their exact date of arrival is unknown, but it must have been before the end of 1595. The usual itinerary would have led them through Ala, Trent, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Passau and, after sailing down the Danube, to Vienna: in the spring of 1596 the legate Enrico Caetani was to complete this part of the voyage in 27 days.29 Having arrived in Kraków, therefore, the musicians had to travel to the royal court, which had transferred to Warsaw in precisely this period. In this additional journey, which lasted about ten days, they were accompanied by the royal secretary Kochanowski (who had previously been involved with the arrangements concerning Annibale Stabile) and finally reached Sigismund in the month of March, as an entry in the account books of the royal archive indicates: In the hand of Signor Kochanowski for the transportation of the Italian musicians and their sustenance during the journey of his His Royal Majesty from Kraków to Warsaw, the following sums of money paid: 12 florins to the maestro di cappella, 132 florins (6 per head) to other persons, 22 in number; and separately 46 florins to Signor Kochanowski from all the provisions and for the horses; a total of 190 florins.30

It is clear that the maestro di cappella in question must be Marenzio. One of the 22 musicians who accompanied him was in all probability a singer from Arezzo, Francesco Rasi, a pupil of Giulio Caccini and the future protagonist of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Rasi – who like Marenzio was in frequent contact with

29

Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 74. The Cardinal Legate in Poland was not Camillo Caetani, as Engel states, but his brother Enrico. For his journey see G.P. Mucante’s ‘Itinerario’, preserved in BAV, Ottob. 2623, Barb. LVI 103 and LVII 26; manuscript copies mentioned in Pastor, A History of the Popes, vol. 24, p. 112. From now on I shall cite directly from Ottob. 2623. The part of the diary concerning Caetani’s stay in Kraków has been published in Wo´s, Itinerario in Polonia. This publication contains a thorough commentary on the numerous sources preserved in Italian and Polish libraries. 30 ‘[March 1596] Ad manus d[omi]ni Kochanowski in deductionem musicorum italorum et sustentacionem eorundem in itinere profectionis M[aiesta]t[is] R[egi]ae Crac[ovia] Warssaviam pecunia data videlicet in personam Capelmag[ist]ri fl. 12 in personas n° 22 per fl. 6 – fl. 132. Seorsim in personam d[omi]ni Kochanowski ratione omnium victualium et super equos fl. 46 totius fl. 190.’ The document, preserved in the Central Archive of Warsaw (Archiwum Skarbu Koronnego Oddz. 1, Rachunki . królewskie, 295, fol. 183v), is quoted in A. Szweykowska, ‘Przeobraz enia , p. 11; Ledbetter, Luca Marenzio, pp. 137 and 235; Szweykowska and Szweykowski, Wlosi w kapeli królewskiej, p. 28.

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Virginio Orsini, Cardinal Montalto, Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici and Emilio de’ Cavalieri in the 1590s – stayed in Poland for a few years, where he contracted various debts.31 Despite the detailed researches carried out by Anna Szweykowska into Sigismund III’s musical cappella, no documents from the Polish archives appear to name Marenzio explicitly. In the accounts of the late sixteenth century that have survived, the payments to musicians were entrusted to the maestro di cappella, who in turn shared the money among all the others. No lists of musicians have been found before 1599, by which time Marenzio had already returned to Italy.32 All the more precious therefore is the documentation contained in Enrico Caetani’s diario di viaggio, drawn up by the master of ceremonies Giovanni Paolo Mucante. Strangely, this manuscript has eluded the attention of Marenzio biographers. Hans Engel, while aware of its existence thanks to Pastor’s History of the Popes, did not take the trouble to consult the copies preserved in the Biblioteca Vaticana and the Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Anna Szweykowska can be credited with drawing attention to a valuable testimony concerning Marenzio taken from a Polish translation of Mucante’s diary edited by Julian Niemcewicz and published in 1822.33 Unfortunately the text compiled by Niemcewicz has for a long time been thought to contain everything that Mucante wrote about the journey to Poland; in fact it is only a modest compendium of the whole account. Not even Ledbetter in his biographical dissertation was able to solve the riddle: following up on Szweykowska’s reference, he correctly cites Niemcewicz’s book but omitted to return to the primary source, believing that the document referring to Marenzio was now lost.34 Here, however, is the original, complete passage, as it appears in Mucante’s diary (see Pl. 9): [Warsaw, Saturday, 28 September 1596] Te Deum which the king ordered to be sung in 31

Kirkendale, The Court Musicians in Florence, pp. 556–67. For Rasi too, the grand duke of Tuscany prepared a lettera di benservito addressed to the King of Poland (ibid., p. 563; ASF, Archivio Medici, 209, fol. 107 [10 September 1595]), but in the left margin is written the words: ‘non si mandò’ (‘this was not sent’). . 32 Szweykowska, ‘Przeobraz enia’, pp. 3–21; Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 137. 33 Niemcewicz, Zbiór pamietników, vol. 2, pp. 133–216. This source was mentioned by . in Szweykowska, ‘Przeobraz enia’, p. 13. Here is the text concerning Marenzio: ‘Nasta pilo Te Deum przez najwyborniejszych s´ piewaków i muzykantów. Król bowiem bardzo sie kocha w muzyce, trzyma slawnych majstrów wloskich, miedzy innemi Mistrza Kapelli signor Luca Murantio i wielu innych’ (‘Then some excellent musicians and singers performed the Te Deum, because the king adores music and retains in his service famous Italian masters, among them the maestro di cappella Luca Marenzio, and many others’). 34 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 137. c

c

c

c

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church for the arrival of the cardinal [Caetani], with a most fine music which His Majesty enjoyed very much. After the benediction was sung the Te Deum laudamus, with the finest music for voices and various instruments, which His Majesty enjoys very much, and for this purpose he retains many excellent Italian musicians, among whom is Signor Luca Marenzio, who directs his cappella, with many others, to whom he gives excellent remuneration, and they say he spends more than 12 000 scudi on music. I have been told that His Majesty had this Te Deum sung for the arrival of the cardinal, since he [the king] was not in church on the day of his entry [into the city]. After the Te Deum the cardinal and the king left for the altar of the most Holy Sacrament, the cardinal on the right, and His Majesty on the left. Both revered the most Holy Sacrament with genuflexion, and then left ... and every one returned home.35

Equally interesting is a second testimonial dating from the following week: [Warsaw, Sunday, 6 October 1596] Mass sung with very fine music in echo in the presence of the king and legate. On Sunday at the 13th hour Mass was sung at the said church of S. Giovanni Battista, at which the same ceremonies were observed as last Sunday, without incense. Signor Luca Marenzio Maestro di cappella had sung a new mass composed by him in 35

‘Te Deum fatto Cantare dal Re per la venuta del Cardinale [Caetani] in Chiesa con una bellissima musica della quale S[ua] M[aes]tà si diletta. Data la benedittione fù Cantato il Te Deum Laudamus con bellissima musica de’ voci e varij Instromenti, della quale Sua Maestà si diletta assai, e tiene per questo molti musici eccellenti italiani, e trà gli altri il Sig[no]r Luca Merentio mastro della sua cappella con molti altri à quali dà buonissime provisioni, e dicono che vi spende più di dodicimila scudi. Fece per quanto mi fu detto Sua Maestà cantare quel Te Deum per la venuta del Sig[no]r Cardinale, poiche non si trovò in Chiesa il giorno della sua entrata. Finito il Te Deum il Cardinale et il Re si partirno et andorno insieme fino all’altare del santissimo sacramento il Cardinal à man dritta, e sua Maestà à man manca in fatta da tutti due riverenza con genuflessione al santissimo sacramento, si licentiorno ... et se ne ritornorno ciascheduno à casa sua.’ BAV, G.P. Mucante, ‘Itinerario’, vol. 1, fols 157v–158r. Szweykowska, ‘I musici italiani nel secolo XVII’, p. 139, gives the wrong context for the partial citation of this passage: the performance of the Te Deum did not occur during the baptism of King Sigismund’s daughter Catherine but at the end of another liturgical celebration. Unfortunately Mucante does not explicitly state whether this Te Deum is the work of Marenzio. His surviving output includes a Te Deum laudamus for nine voices, preserved in a manuscript in the Nationalbibliothek of Vienna. However, the title of the codex specifies ‘a 13’ and it is possible that the original version (the one performed in Warsaw?) was for three choirs. For a modern edition and a commentary on the source see Jackson’s edition in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 3, pp. 134–49. See also Jackson, ‘Marenzio, Poland and the late polychoral sacred style’, pp. 623–24.

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the form of an echo, and it was wonderful to hear because it was sung by two choirs and all the words were sung by one, then the other choir in the form of an echo.36

Unfortunately none of the polychoral masses that survive with an attribution to Marenzio would appear to correspond to this description.37 Mucante’s diary also mentions at some points the ‘bellissima musica del Re’, which can easily be understood as referring to the music performed by Marenzio’s cappella.38 Unfortunately Cardinal Caetani had unexpectedly to go to 36

‘Messa cantata con musica bellissima di Ecco con la presenza del Re e Legato. Domenica alle 13 si cantò la messa nella predetta Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista alla quale furono osservate le mede[si]me cerimonie, come la domenica passata senza incenso il sig[no]r Luca Marentio Maestro di cappella fece cantare una messa nuova composta da lui in forma di Ecco, e fù bellissimo sentire perche fù cantata a due Cori e tutte le parole erano replicate dall’uno, et dall’altro choro in forma di Ecco.’ G.P. Mucante, ‘Itinerario’, vol. 1, fol. 166r–v. 37 Jackson (‘Marenzio, Poland and the late polychoral sacred style’, p. 625) lists, along with the relevant sources, five masses for double and triple choir attributed to Marenzio: (1) Missa Jubilate Deo ... servite for eight voices (edited in Marenzio, Messa e mottetto ‘Jubilate Deo’, ed. Mischiati); (2) Missa super ‘Ego sum panis vivus’ for eight voices (ed. Jackson, in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 97–107); (3) Missa super ‘Iniquos odio habui’ for eight voices (ed. ibid., pp. 108–22); (4) Missa super Jubilate Deo ... servite for eight voices (ed. Opera omnia, vol. 7, pp. 66–73); (5) Missa super ‘Laudate Dominum de coelis’ for 12 voices (ed. ibid., pp. 74–140). Only the first and the fifth masses set all the parts of the Ordinary, while the remaining scores consist only of a Kyrie and Gloria. Scholars are in disagreement about the correctness of the attributions to Marenzio. The Missa Jubilate Deo (no. 1), which Mischiati holds to be authentic, is considered doubtful by Jackson because of contrapuntal asperities not found elsewhere in the composer’s sacred output: see Jackson, ‘The masses of Marenzio’. Conversely, the Missa super ‘Laudate Dominum de coelis’, spurious according to Engel (Luca Marenzio, p. 252), was later held to be authentic by Francesco Luisi (‘La scuola policorale romana del Sei-Settecento’, pp. 14–15) and by Jackson (Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 7, p. xvii), who relegates it to the Polish period. 38 Mucante, ‘Itinerario’, vol. 1, fols 159v ff.: ‘Venerdì 4 il giorno di San Francesco il Legato andò alla messa cantata nella chiesa di Sant’Anna dove stanno li frati zoccolanti di san Francesco ... ci fù la musica del Re’ (‘Friday 4 [October], St Francis’s Day, the legate went to the sung mass at the church of St Anne, where the zoccolanti of St Francis are … there the king’s musicians performed’); fol. 167v: ‘Messa cantata in presenza del Legato e del Re. Domenica di 20 andò à sentir messa cantata nella Chiesa di San Giovan Battista con il Re secondo che si era fatto le Dom[eni]che passate con le solite Cerimonie senza incenso e vi fu bellissima musica’ (‘Mass performed in the presence of the legate and of the king. Sunday the 20 [October] he [the legate] went to hear mass sung in the church of St John the Baptist with the king, as has been done on previous Sundays, with the usual ceremonies, without incense, and the music was very fine’; fol. 170: ‘Lunedì adi 21. Finalmente

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Kraków for the solemn exequies of the Queen Mother, Anna Jagellona. Only the following February did he return to Warsaw. On 26 March 1597, the fourth Sunday of Lent, we have one final testimony, albeit laconic and implicit, of Marenzio’s Polish sojourn: ‘Then the mass was sung by His Majesty’s fine musicians, and with the usual ceremonies of these lands.’39 After that the cardinal legate set out on the long journey back to Rome. From other of Mucante’s annotations we learn that the Polish aristocracy enjoyed musical entertainments during banquets.40 Is it possible to imagine that secular vocal music was performed on these occasions? We know that in the late sixteenth century there were no language barriers between Italians and Poles. The king, the nobles, the senators and ecclesiastics spoke well in Latin and also in Italian.41 In the Diario it is stated that Sigismund III ‘understands and speaks Italian, Latin, German and Polish very well’ while his wife, Queen Anna, understood ‘Latin, Spanish, German and also Polish, but speaks only Polish and Spanish’.42 We cannot therefore exclude the possibility that Marenzio’s secular music was also performed in Warsaw: if we are to believe Peacham, Queen Anna enjoyed this repertory. Patricia Myers has recently suggested that some anonymous canzonettas contained in a manuscript in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden (MS Grimma 52) were composed by Marenzio during his stay in Poland.43 Be that as it may, it is clear that the duties of the maestro di cappella in Warsaw lay principally in the sphere of composing and performing sacred music. In fact the only known pieces by Marenzio that can be ascribed to that period with a fair degree of certainty are all sacred. These are three polychoral motets, A solis ortus cardine for eight voices, Jubilate Deo ... cantate for 12 voices and Laudate

39 40

41 42

43

fù cantato con bellissima musica il Te Deum Laudamus’ (‘Monday 21 [October]. Finally there was sung a Te Deum laudamus, with very fine music’). ‘Fù poi la Messa cantata con bellissima musica di sua maestà, e con le solite cerimonie di quei paesi.’ Ibid., vol. 2, fol. 342v. Ibid., vol. 1, fol. 174v: ‘Banchetto fatto dal Re ... non vi fu musica, et altro trattenimento, come sogliono fare in Polonia per rispetto del lutto di Sua Maestà’ (‘Banquet held by the king … there was no music and no entertainment, as is usual in Poland, out of respect for His Majesty’s mourning’); vol. 2, fol. 266v: ‘si levorno tutti da tavola che vi corse più di un’hora grossa di tempo, nel quale oltre il ragionare e musica che continuamente si fece mentre durò il banchetto, si fecero ancora molti brindisi’ (‘everyone rose from the table after a good hour had elapsed, during which, apart from conversation and the music that accompanied the banquet continuously, there were many toasts’). Wo´s, Itinerario in Polonia, p. 16. ‘intende e parla benissimo italiano, latino, tedescho, e polacco … la lingua latina, la spagnuola, la todesca, et anco la polacca, ma non parla se non la polacca e spagnuola’. Mucante, ‘Itinerario’, vol. 1, fols 144 and 145. Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 15, introduction, p. xiv.

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Dominum for 12 voices. They were included in an anthology published in Kraków in 1604, under the imprint of Basilius Skalski, whose title page, in English translation, reads: ‘Sacred melodies for five, six, seven, eight and twelve voices, by four very famous directors of the music of the Most Serene and powerful Sigismund III, King of Poland and Sweden, etc., etc., with other famous musicians of that cappella. Work by Vincenzo Gigli, Roman, musician of the same flourishing royal chapel, gathered from [that cappella]’.44 The collection, edited by the Roman musician Vincenzo Gigli, includes 20 pieces by 15 members of the Polish royal cappella. The four ‘famous music directors’, whom the title page also calls ‘Regis Poloniae Capelli magistri’, are Annibale Stabile, Luca Marenzio, Giulio Cesare Gabussi and Asprilio Pacelli.45 We can only make conjectures about King Sigismund’s musical tastes, but from the repertory represented in Melodiae sacrae we may deduce without a shadow of doubt that he was especially partial to polychoral music, with imposing effects. This is why he spared no expense to bring from Italy not only the best maestri di cappella, but also whole groups of singers and instrumentalists, no doubt at very great cost. The 22 musicians who left Italy with Marenzio very probably included organists and instrumentalists. The two lists of Italian musicians that have survived (September 1599 and March 1602) list

44

Melodiae sacrae, quinque, sex, septem, octo et duodecem vocum, quatuor celeberrimorum musices moderatorum Serenissimi ac potentissimi Poloniae Sveciaeque etc etc Regis Sigismundi Tertii, nec non aliquot aliorum praesentis Capellae praestantissimorum Musicorum. Opera ac Studio Vincentii Lilii Romani, eiusdem florentissimae Capellae Regiae musici, hinc inde collectae (RISM 16042). The only extant copy survives (incomplete) in the Proskesche Musikbibliothek, Regensburg (the canto, alto and tenor of choir I). The three motets by Marenzio are edited respectively in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 82–85; vol. 7, pp. 9–25 and 26–38; for an examination of the pieces and their sources see Jackson, ‘Marenzio, Poland and the late polychoral sacred style’, pp. 628 ff. Interestingly the motet Jubilate Deo ... cantate for 12 voices (whose text and music both differ from the motet Jubilate Deo ... servite, from which the two masses cited in n. 37 are derived), is an amplification of an earlier piece for eight voices preserved in three printed sources (RISM 16143, 16171 and 16212: modern editions in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 7, pp. 1–8). It is highly probable that during his Polish period Marenzio reworked pre-existing pieces to give them a still more imposing, sumptuous sound. As pointed out by Oscar Mischiati (Marenzio, Messa e mottetto ‘Jubilate Deo’, introduction, p. xvi), the three-choir version for 12 voices survives complete in the organ intabulation of Pelplin (no. 289), which includes six other pieces by Marenzio; see Sutkowski and Osostowicz Sutkowska (eds), The Pelplin Tablature. 45 Sandelewski, ‘Giulio Cesare Gabussi in Polonia’, pp. 133 ff. The chronology of the four maestri di cappella may be corrected as follows: Annibale Stabile (1595, not 1598–c. 1601 as Sandelewski states), Luca Marenzio (1596–c. 1598), Giulio Cesare Gabussi (1601–2) and Asprilio Pacelli (1603–23).

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various trombonists, cornettists and violinists.46 Asprilio Pacelli’s Sacrae cantiones (Venice, 1608) confirms and amplifies this pronounced leaning towards polychorality, entirely worthy of a sovereign who aimed for the highest prestige not only for his dominions, but for the Catholic Church.47 We may now reconsider Henry Peacham’s story in the light of the information we have collected. Once we have excluded the possibility that the mysterious ‘kinswoman’ was a relative of the pope, we have firmer grounds to hypothesize that Peacham may mistakenly have taken the Italian words famiglio/familiare in their meaning of ‘relative’, whereas in fact the words could also denote a person close to the court (famiglia) of a nobleman. In this case the person in question would have been a woman attached to the court of either of the cardinali nepoti, Cinzio and Pietro. At this point the fact that a woman known to the Aldobrandini sang and played the lute and spent time in the company of Luca Marenzio no longer seems to lie completely in the realm of romantic fiction. The ‘overmuch familiarity’ to which Peacham refers could have created an element of unease, even of offence, in the private (and to us well-nigh impenetrable sphere of the cardinals).48 However, the historian, confronted with this situation, is obliged to stop short, lacking documents that could throw light on the situation. It is nevertheless useful to examine all the motives that could have induced Clemente VIII and Cinzio Aldobrandini to send Marenzio to the King of Poland. Peacham invokes the name of the pope, as does Marenzio’s letter to Flavia Orsini and the avviso of 12 August 1595. What kind of relationship did Marenzio have with the pope? An unknown avviso of 21 December 1594 (see Pl. 8) gives rise to reflection: 46 Szweykowska, I musici italiani, pp. 138 ff., 147. Roland Jackson (‘Marenzio, Poland’, p. 628), in his discussion of a Roman manuscript of the 12-voice version of the motet Laudate Dominum, also present in the Polish print RISM 16042, points out that the only surviving voice of Choir III is untexted, suggesting instrumental performance. 47 Vecchi, ‘La “Docta Schola” di Asprilio Pacelli’, pp. 153–62. 48 A letter of Cardinal Del Monte to Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici (ASF, Mediceo, 3760, Rome, 22 August 1597) informs us that one evening he had been at dinner with Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in the company of Pietro Aldobrandini. After dinner and a round of gambling, the three cardinals went for a walk, making music ‘to the likes of Crescenza and Maccarana’ (‘alle Crescenze et Maccarane’), two women whose identities remain a mystery. The connection between ecclesiastics, music and gallantry in sixteenth-century Rome is not without foundation: Zapperi, Eros e controriforma, p. 87. Moreover, according to diplomatic dispatches from Florence to Ferrara, Del Monte was rumoured to be dissolute, Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici’s ‘secretary in matters of love’. He was made a cardinal only because Grand Duke Ferdinando insisted, and with great reluctance on the part of the Curia because of his dedication to sensual pleasures: see Chater, ‘Musical patronage in Rome’, pp. 212–13.

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Apart from the musical reform about which we wrote [earlier], Signor Marenzio now has the special task of adapting the motets, hymns and other things that are sung in concerted notes and syllables in such a way that they can be very easily understood by the listeners. Having begun this task he is daily proving his success, and it is firmly believed that His Holiness is remunerating him in accordance with the merit and worth of one so rare and excellent in this profession.49

This report documents the important role, hitherto unsuspected, played by sacred music as part of Marenzio’s professional activities. Palestrina had died a few months previously, and it was Marenzio, so far as one can infer, who was given the task give practical reality to the musical prescriptions of the Council of Trent: thus our composer, at least for a short time, became a spiritual heir to the princeps musicae.50 In motets and hymns each syllable of the Latin text had to be immediately and ‘very easily’ understood by the listeners. It is not at all clear to which repertory of sacred polyphony this task of musical ‘adaption’ was to be applied. From the lexicographers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Gerber, Fétis) we learn that in 1595 there appeared in Venice a collection, Completorium ac antiphonae sex vocibus, attributed to Luca Marenzio, whose content may have corresponded to the laconic musical description in the avviso. Unfortunately this book of polyphonic antiphons has been lost.51 The document also refers to another ‘musical reform’. Almost certainly this phrase refers to the revision of the Gregorian chant books that had taken place under the supervision of Gregory XIII. Palestrina and Zoilo undertook this work: 49

‘Oltra alla riforma della musica, che si scrisse il s[igno]r Marentio ha hora cura part[icola]re di ridurre gli mottetti, et hinni con altre cose che si cantano musicalm[en]te in note et sillabe concertate di modo che faciliss[imamen]te si possino intendere da gli auditori al che havendo dato principio si va quotidianam[en]te provando come gli rieschino non senza ferma op[inio]ne che sia per esser rimunerato da S[ua] B[eatitudi]ne conforme al merito et valore di così raro et eccellente in q[ue]sta professione.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1062, fol. 771 (Rome, 21 December 1594). 50 This interpretation diverges from the traditional interpretations of Marenzio’s biography. Francesco Luisi ‘La scuola policorale romana del Sei-Settecento’, p. 13, has written that ‘la contrarietà dell’ambiente romano alla produzione musicale sacra [di Marenzio] è evidentissima e ha ragioni provate nell’esame della tecnica compositiva messa in atto dal compositore: egli non si pone sulla scia di Palestrina, e quindi non è in grado di rappresentare la scuola romana’ (‘the opposition of Roman circles to [Marenzio’s] sacred output is very evident and its reasons are demonstrable from the composer’s technique: he does not follow Palestrina’s path, and therefore cannot represent the Roman school’). As we have seen, this opposition – if it ever existed – seems to have abated in the months between 1594 and 1595. 51 Also lost is a Secondo libro di mottetti a quattro voci (Venice: Vincenti, 1588; repr. 1592) and a posthumous collection of polychoral motets for 12 voices (Venice, 1614): Fétis, ‘Marenzio’, in Biographie, vol. 5, p. 452.

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they had the task of revising the Antiphoner, the Gradual and the Psalter. After Palestrina’s death a special commission of the Congregazione dei Riti was convened, presided over by Cardinal Del Monte, to examine the manuscript sold by Palestrina’s son Igino: among the commission’s members we find Marenzio alongside Giovanni Maria Nanino, Andrea Dragoni and Fulgenzio Valesio. Since the commission determined that the second part of the manuscript was not the work of Palestrina, a lawsuit against Igino was brought. Towards the end of 1594 these musicians were formally assigned the task of completing this work of revision.52 It is thus clear that in the two years 1594–95 Marenzio occupied roles of the highest importance in bringing about the musical reforms prescribed by the Council of Trent: if his name appeared in the avvisi he must have enjoyed an irreproachable reputation in the Holy See. Just as the composer Giulio Cesare Gabussi occupied a position of trust with St Charles Borromeus, so did Marenzio, albeit for only a short period, with Pope Clement VIII: both musicians subsequently became maestri di cappella of the devoutly Catholic King Sigismund III. But let us return to our original question: why did the pope decide to deprive himself of a musician who was carrying out work so highly valued by the Church of Rome? One answer we can give is of a political nature. Pope Clement, who as a cardinal had been the legate in Poland, held King Sigismund in great affection,53 and especially counted on him as a faithful ally to stem the advance of the Turks (and the Protestants) in eastern Europe. He would therefore have wanted to satisfy this sovereign’s request by sending him an excellent musician such as Marenzio, even if the consequence of such generosity would have meant an impoverishment of Roman musical life; as the avviso of 12 agosto 1595 put it: ‘the finest concerti and most pleasant music performed there were his work’.54 Moreover, that reasons of state might demand some personal sacrifice was not unheard of: Cardinal Luigi d’Este, though probably satisfied with his musician, had been minded to give him to the King of France. A second explanation – the one offered by the Protestant Henry Peacham – cannot be supported by the official documents. Marenzio, though in delicate health, was sent to the remote and turbulent kingdom of Poland to expiate a sin. This thesis is not provable, but neither does it patently contradict the most reliable 52 53

54

The whole episode is recounted in Molitor, Die nachtridentinische Choralreform, vol. 2, pp. 21, 41 and 59. According to the Venetian ambassador Giovanni Dolfin (1598) ‘con Polonia si conserva il Papa in buona intelligenza; ama la persona del re, e la stima principe religioso e di buona volontà’ (‘the pope keeps in close touch with Poland; he is a close personal friend of the king and thinks he is a devout prince with good will’). See Alberi, Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti, vol. 4, p. 473. See above, n. 18.

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documentary sources. Just as Ovid, in ancient times, had been sent into exile for two obscure reasons, ‘carmen et error’, so the same may have happened to our composer. In Marenzio’s case the ‘error’ would have consisted in ‘overmuch familiarity’ with a mysterious singer and lutenist active in Rome, while the ‘carmen’ could perhaps be identified with certain secular madrigals considered too lascivious and compromising for a close collaborator of the pope.

Chapter 21

Repentance? Famous musician, on the point of death, repents of the music he has written to lascivious texts. Luca Marenzio, who in our time enjoyed great fame among musicians, composed many pieces that were indecent and unbefitting a Christian. When he fell ill and was near the end of his life, Father Giovenale Ancina approached him, preceding his other intimate friends, and visited and comforted his friend in his final hour. But as soon as Marenzio saw the Father, he sighed deeply and said: ‘Ah, Father, if only I had not published my music, if only I could erase it with my blood and leave no trace behind!’ But by then the musician could no longer fulfil either of his wishes. Indeed, sinful acts cannot be revoked, and as Horace says, neque scit vox missa reverti. In truth he is dead and buried, but perhaps, if he had been cured, things would have been no better, since he would have persevered in his former conduct. For this reason God granted that, while he was still conscious, he was able to beg pardon from Him for those sins for which he felt shame and repentance.1

This curious anecdote is recorded by an erudite Roman Latinist of the Seicento, Gian Vittorio Rossi. Publishing under the nom de plume of Ianus Nicius Erythraeus, Rossi knew well the leading figures in the literary, spiritual and political life of Rome under Pope Clement VIII and his immediate successors. In 1599, when Marenzio died, he was a young man of 22 years old. It is therefore of little relevance that the work from which the anecdote is taken was published as 1 I.N. Erythraeus [G.V. Rossi], Exempla virtutum et vitiorum, p. 326, capitolo CII: ‘Insignem musicum, jam ferme morientem, modorum poenitet, quos impuris carminibus adhibuerat. Lucas Marentius, cui, nostra tempestate, magnum erat inter musicos nomen, multa modulatus erat parum honesta, nec satis Christiano homine digna; ad quem jam aegrum planeque depositum accessit P[ater] Iuvenalis Ancina, cujus antea meminibus, quo amicum inviseret; et consolaretur extremo illo tempore. Sed simul ac ipse Patrem aspexit, petivit alte suspirium, atque, Utinam, inquit, mi Pater, modos, quos feci, vel nunquam edidissem, vel delere sanguine ipso possem, ut nullum eorum vestigium extaret. Sed jam neutrum in manu sua erat. Nam neque infecta facta reddi possunt, neque scit, ut Horatius inquit, vox missa reverti. Verum tum ille quidem est mortuus; sed fortasse, si convaluisset, nihilo melior esset effectus, sed morem antiquum obtinuisset. Quamobrem recte sublatus est à Deo, dum ea illi mens erat, qua potuit ab eo peccatorum illorum veniam impetrare, quae tum ipsum commisisse pudebat pigebatque.’ 230

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late as 1644: the author remains an important witness of the period. And yet, as one can easily imagine, Rossi’s anecdote has not been lent much credence by modern scholars. Ledbetter does not mention it, while Engel briefly refers to it, but only to distance himself from it.2 Whether true or imaginary, Marenzio’s repentance gives us occasion to reflect on the profound cultural transformation that occurred in Rome at the end of the sixteenth century. Padre Giovenale Ancina, Marenzio’s alleged confessor, was in full sympathy with the new spirit of moralizing authoritarianism. A member of the Congregazione dell’Oratorio, Ancina had been born in Cuneo in 1545. At first he practised as a doctor in the duchy of Savoy, where he gained a solid reputation, but in 1572 he was profoundly moved by a funeral service and entered the ecclesiastical life. He then moved to Rome, where he came to know St Philip Neri personally. From 1586 he was in Naples, where he dedicated himself to good works and also composed spiritual canzonets. In fact Ancina did not lack discernment in musical matters and, like Philip Neri, regarded music as a powerful means of religious edification. He therefore could not tolerate compositions based on secular texts. It is told that Giovanni de Macque once graciously offered the zealous priest a collection of madrigals only to see him tear it to pieces.3 Ancina’s programme of reform (not to say censorship) is expounded in inflammatory language in his most important work, the Tempio armonico della Beatissima Vergine (RISM 15996), an imposing collection of 122 laudi for three voices, with music by the most celebrated composers, including Ancina himself.4 In his preface ‘to decent, devout, pious and humble singers’ (‘a gli honesti, divoti, pii, et modesti cantori’) Ancina writes: We should hold in no little esteem the singular grace Our Lord has wrought for us in keeping us far from the language and spirit of vain, profane, lascivious and indecent vocal compositions, causing us to abhor that which is commonly sought and desired and (worse still) actually practised – one might almost say continually practised – by many in your profession: such is the blindness of worldly, sensual men ...

In his following preface ‘to clergymen and ecclesiastics’ (‘a clerici et religiosi’) he continues: 2

Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 82 ff.: ‘Sarebbe vano cercare testi di Marenzio, della cui pubblicazione egli avesse potuto pentirsi. La storia del cantore d’amore convertito e pentito, più che una realtà, è certamente un episodio dell’eccesso di zelo del tempo e del Rossi’ (‘One searches in vain among Marenzio’s texts whose publication would have given him cause to repent. The story of the singer of love who converts and repents, rather than being a reality, is an example of the excessive zeal of the time, and of Rossi in particular’). 3 The anecdote is told in Bacci, Vita del Servo di Dio Gio. Giovenale Ancina, p. 263. 4 Marenzio contributed one piece, Ahimé pur s’avicina.

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And to tell the truth, it is not enough to declare to those who profess the Christian doctrine and life in the capacity of priest ... how unseemly it is to live licentiously and shamelessly, accustomed to speaking and singing words and compositions that are not only vain, scurrilous, farcical and profane, but (worse still) obscene, indecent, filthy, scandalous and sometimes even sacrilegious ..., which is really intolerable, and more becoming Gentiles deprived of the light of God than Christians. ... Such compositions St John Chrysostom calls satanic, in other words diabolical and infernal; and he adds that they are unworthy of forgiveness, deserving all kinds of reproach and punishment. He says this expressly in several places: in addition he calls these compositions indecent and meretricious, and he says they are abominable, that they pollute the ears, filling them with dung.5

He then recalls that Cardinal Caetani, in a commentary on St Thomas Aquinas’s Summa, ‘says that it is a mortal sin to sing or play lascivious, indecent compositions with the intention of provoking oneself or others to lust or indecent thoughts’6. At this point, the remedy suggested by Ancina is very simple: it is sufficient to take away from a secular composition words that are ‘obscene, lascivious or filthy’ in order to arrive at a composition that is excellent and at the same time deemed suitable for the singer, player or listener. In fact, ‘carnal’ men mostly refused to sing such contrafacta: ‘a most clear sign that they enjoy not only the notes, but also, and to a greater degree, the amorous, lascivious and indecent words, which are apt and capable of arousing themselves and also others to libidinousness, and like disgusting animals they wallow in the filth, and like filthy, stinking beetles they are contented to roll in the earth ... pellets of dung’.7 5

6 7

‘Non è da stimar poco la gratia singolare da Dio Nostro Signore fattavi in tenervi lontani la lingua e ’l cuore dalle vane canzoni profane, lascive, et dishoneste, facendovi abhorrir quello, che da molti altri di tal vostra professione communemente vien sopra modo bramato, e desiderato, et (quel ch’è peggio) attualmente poi esercitato, et quasi dir si può di continuo pratticato: tanta è la cecità de gli huomini mondani, et sensuali... E per dirne il vero non si basta esprimere à chi fà professione della Dottrina, et Vita Christiana in grado Sacerdotale, ... quanto sia disdicevole il viver licentioso, et impudico, usando di parlar’, e di cantar parole, et canzoni non solo vane, scurrili, buffonesche, et profane (ma quel ch’è ’l peggio) oscene, dishoneste, sporche, scandalose, e tal volta anco sacrileghe ..., cosa veramente intolerabile, et propria più di Gentili privi del vero lume di Dio, che conveniente à Christiani....Vengono da San Gioan Chrysostomo chiamati li sudetti canti Satanici, cioè Diabolici, et Infernali; aggiungendo esser’indegni di perdono, et meritevoli di qualsivoglia gran castigo, et supplicio. Così lo dice espressamente in più luoghi: et inoltre gli chiama canti dishonesti, et meretricij: e dice esser’abominevoli, per che imbrattano l’orecchie, et riempiono di sterco.’ ‘dice esser peccato mortale il cantar’, ò suonar canzoni lascive, et dishoneste con intentione di provocar se stesso, od altri à Lussuria, et à dishonesti pensieri’ ‘segno apertissimo, che non dell’armonia sola si dilettano, ma molto più delle parole amatorie, lascive e dishoneste, atte, e potenti ad incitar loro stessi; et altri parimenti à

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Good grounds exist for believing that a number of these ‘meretricious’ compositions are to be identified as madrigals or works in related genres. In fact we know that Ancina applied his purifying methods to the collection L’amorosa Ero. Marc’Antonio Martinengo’s poetic text, the original of which is printed in the musical collection, was modified with changes in manuscript as follows: Ero così dicea Ch’era il suo amor nell’acque ed ella ardea: Onde lucenti e chiare Che le candide membra, e il vago viso Dolce baciate del mio bel Narciso, Ite superbe al mare, Che sì ricco tesor, sì care spoglie Il vostro grembo accoglie; Ch’andrei superba anch’io Se tenessi qual voi l’Idolo mio.

Pietro così dicea Ch’era il suo amor nell’acque ed esso ardea: Onde lucenti e chiare Che del Sommo Fattor le Sacre piante Dolce baciate voi beate e sante, Itene liete al mare, Che sì ricco tesor, sì care spoglie Il vostro grembo accoglie; Che per mia gioia anch’io Sopra voi ne vo’ pur al Signor mio.8

Thus Hero spoke, who for Leander burned who braved the deep: ‘O shining waves and clear, who the white limbs and the sweet comely face

Thus Peter spoke who for his love burned who braved the deep: ‘O shining waves and clear, who lovingly caress the sacred feet

libidine, et à guisa d’animali immondi s’involtano nel fango, et come scaravoni schifi, et puzzolenti si compiacciono d’andar rotolando per terra ... pallottole di sterco’. Similar ideas are found in a letter of Ancina to his superiors in 1598 (Roma, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, MS O. 27, fol. 111): ‘la mia mira principale altro non è se non la gloria di Dio e la salvezza delle anime, e mediante l’aiuto della divina gratia spero per questa via e pretendo smorbar l’Italia o Roma almeno dalla contagiosa peste et pestifero veneno delle maledette canzoni profane, obscene, lascive et sporche per cui si conducono le centinaia et migliaia di anime peccatrici et miserabili al profondo baratro infernale; et ciò se non da secolari, almen da religiosi ingolfati in queste miserie da piangersi con lagrime di sangue’ (‘my principal aim is none other than the glory of God and the salvation of souls, and through the help of divine grace I hope and believe I can in this way purge Italy or at least Rome of the contagious plague and pestiferous poison of these accursed profane vocal pieces, obscene, lascivious and filthy, which lead hundreds and thousands of sinful and miserable souls into the deep infernal abyss, and I hope this, if not for the lay people, then at least for the ecclesiastics engulfed in this misery, for which you should weep with tears of blood’). Italian quoted in Damilano, Giovenale Ancina, musicista filippino, p. 36. 8 Texts printed in Lincoln (ed.) The Madrigal Collection L’amorosa Ero, pp. viii–ix. Text of Ero così dicea in Marenzio, The Complete Four-Voice Madrigals, ed. John Steele, p. 154, from which the translation is also taken. The only surviving printed copy, with Ancina’s manuscript modifications, is found in the Biblioteca Vallicelliana, Rome, Cod. O. 35.

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of my Narcissus lovingly caress, go proudly back to sea, for such rich treasure, such beloved spoil, you gather in your lap. I too would swell with pride, If I, like you, my Idol might embrace.’

of the Supreme Creator, go joyfully back to sea, for such rich treasure, such beloved spoil, you gather in your lap. I too with joy would walk across the deep to reach my Lord and Saviour.’

Since Marenzio was one of the 18 composers included in L’amorosa Ero (see Chapter 1), one may conclude that he too would have made a good target for Father Ancina’s moralizing campaign. It is no coincidence that a print of his first book a 5 was also manually ‘corrected’, that is, plied to spiritual ends: thus Liquide perle amor becomes Fiamme di vero amore (‘Flames of true love’), the lascivious Tirsi morir volea is transformed into Christo morir volea (‘Christ wanted to die’), with the title ‘La Madonna à piè della Croce’ (‘The Madonna at the foot of the Cross’), and Dolorosi martir was accompanied by the edifying rubric ‘Lamento d’anime dannate’ (‘Lament of damned souls’).9 Now one can easily understand the sense of the title chosen by Gian Vittorio Rossi for his anecdote about Marenzio and Ancina: ‘Famous musician, on the point of death, repents of the music he has written to lascivious texts.’ The music per se was neither indecent nor sinful, but could become so when accompanied by words ‘apt to arouse libidinousness’. Thus Marenzio’s repentance, if it ever occurred in the way Rossi describes, is a faithful reflection of Ancina’s thinking.10 This zeal in matters musical went parallel with certain analogous tendencies in the figurative arts: it was in these years, in fact, that Roman artists found a climate of increased sobriety imposed upon them. Only a decade before, Gian Paolo Lomazzo’s Trattato della pittura, scoltura et architettura (1584) had calmly considered the possibility of encountering erotic themes in the residences of the nobility: it was enough to avoid ‘indecent depictions’ (‘rappresentarli disonestamente’). By 1601, however, Cardinal Silvio Antoniano, advising Pietro Aldobrandini how to paint frescoes in the Villa at Frascati, affirmed that profane subjects, such as those taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, were still admissible, 9

This curious madrigal print is preserved in the Biblioteca dei Filippini, Naples, and carries the wrong title page with the title Il primo libro delle Fiamme ... dell’eccellente musico Cipriano Rore (Venice, erede di Girolamo Scotto, 1585). I think it highly probable that the author of these manuscript changes is once again Ancina. We know that he was in Naples in the second half of the 1580s. 10 Rossi’s account does not appear to be without historical foundation. We know that Marenzio and Ancina were both living in Rome in 1599. The presence of a Marenzio composition in the Tempio armonico proves that the two men worked together, even if they may not have been friends. The letter of dedication of the Tempio (to Cornelia Cesi Caetani, Duchess of Ceri) is dated from Rome, the ‘Chiesa Nuova in Vallicella’, 4 August 1599. Marenzio died on 22 August of the same year.

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as long as they did not offend against decency and morality; however, in the homes of Christian princes and ecclesiastics, Christian and ecclesiastical subjects were infinitely preferable. Thus did the prescriptions of the Council of Trent begin to be more rigorously applied than previously. Right from the beginning of his reign Clement VIII was engaged in proscribing indecency (‘cosa sconcia’) in the decorations of churches and other sacred buildings. In St Peter’s, for example, he ordered the breast of St Mary Magdalene to be covered with flowing hair. Fundamentally he was pursuing the same objective as Giovenale Ancina: to remove any element apt to arouse lasciviousness, especially in ecclesiastical circles.11 An even closer parallel is that between the spiritual travestimenti of secular madrigals and certain specific iconographic directives, such as the papal decree to transform the statue of Minerva in S. Maria in Aracoeli into a saint. We must, however, add that Clemente VIII’s position was not as radical or as intransigent as that of Ancina. In fact the pope, in agreement with Cardinal Antoniano, threw out the rigid iconographic reforms proposed by Cardinal Paleotti, who wished to institute a kind of index of prohibited images. And the motive adopted was very subtle: if the degeneration of Catholic imagery were recognized, the heretics would take advantage of it by slandering the entire tradition of the Church.12 In any case, the politics of the Aldobrandini pope were inclined towards balance and prudence, even though the burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno, a notoriously authoritarian aberration, would suggest otherwise. With these premises in mind, it is difficult to penetrate the enigma of Marenzio’s last years. Did he really fall foul of the pope, as Peacham maintains? Or was he always cherished at Cinzio Aldobrandini’s court, as other seventeenthcentury biographers maintain? Unfortunately our reconstruction is hampered by a scarcity of available documents. In the last chapter I drew attention to unknown testimony from 1596 depicting Marenzio engaged in the performance of sacred music in Warsaw. As early as the following year the information from Poland grows scarcer. It is probable that Marenzio remained at the court of Sigismund III; whether or not this is the case, the singer and gentleman Francesco Rasi had already returned to Italy at the end of 1597.13 In his extraordinary autobiographical letter to the Duke of Mantua dated 30 April 1601 Rasi recounted his travels, which in time and place correspond remarkably closely with Marenzio’s biography: 11 All these aspects are discussed in Zapperi, Eros e Controriforma, pp. 53–63. For an interpretation that plays down the pope’s intransigence and illuminates his tendency towards prudent mediation, see also Zuccari, Arte e committenza, pp. 9–30. 12 Ibid., p. 18. 13 ASCR, Carteggio Orsini, 108, fol. 480, letter of Pietro Priuli (Venice, 11 November 1597): ‘Il S[igno]r Francesco Rasi è capitato in Venetia, et in casa mia ...’ (‘Signor Francesco Rasi has turned up in Venice, and is [staying] at my house’. Quoted in Kirkendale, The Court Musicians in Florence, p. 564.

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Desiring to see new things ... I prepared for a pleasant voyage, and in carrying it out, I wanted to see Rome before any other city, and having arrived there I used music in the same way an orator would use the affects, so that through persuasion I might be able to obtain what I wanted ... and I had such friendly and favourable fortune, that in the chambers of princes and in the conversations of private persons, wherever I happened to show what I could do, I acquired the reputation of being a gentleman, ... and so many of them, even the pope himself [Clement VIII], did not disdain to offer me [the use of] their homes ..., and, desirous of retaining my freedom, whatever offers were made to me, I did not to submit to any form of service, but having seen the wonders of that city, I wanted to see some others, and wishing to get away from Italy I toured most of Germany, and in the company of the Bishop of Caserta, His Majesty’s Nuntio, I reached the court of the King of Poland in time for those celebrated meetings that took place in 1597 when, on the arrival of the legate Gaetano [Enrico Caetani] of blessed memory, among the honourable actions I undertook, I gave an oration that was second to none in the public senate before His Majesty and His Most Illustrious Lordship in the name of the indisposed bishop ... I was beside myself at seeing the instruments of the Hungarian war ... in Vienna I had a nasty accident while leaping from an coach that was rolling down a precipice, breaking my left leg, and in unbearable pain returned to Vienna, where I was healed at great expense and with great trouble.... On my return to Italy Your Highness [Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga] invited me to come to Mantua ... on arriving in Venice in the company of the famous Priuli, I came to Mantua ... and you appointed me as your servant.14 14

‘Desideroso di vedere novità ... ad una dolce peregrinatione mi preparai, e mettendola ad effetto, avanti che niun’altra città vedesse, volli veder Roma, et ivi giunto mi servia della musica non altrimenti che farebbe un oratore de gli affetti, a fine che persuadendo, ottenga il compimento de’ suoi desiderij ...et hebbi tanto amica e favorevole la fortuna, che nelle camere de’ prencipi, e nelle conversationi de’ privati, ove m’occorse dar saggio di me, mi fei reputare per gentilhuomo, ... per lo che molti di loro, e questo Pontefice istesso non si sdegnò di proferirmi la casa sua ... e per allora geloso della mia libertà per qualsivoglia proferta, che mi fusse fatta non mi sottomessi a servitù, ma sì come haver veduto le meraviglie di quella città, così mi compiacqui vederne dell’altre, e non contento dell’Italia, veddi la maggior parte della Germania, et in compagnia del Vescovo di Caserta nuntio di S[ua] S[anti]tà mi condussi alla corte del Re di Pollonia in tempo di quei celebri comitij che corsero l’anno ’97 ove arrivando il legato Gaetano di buona memoria tra l’altre honorate attioni ch’io feci non fu seconda all’altre l’oratione che in publico senato avanti a S[ua] M[ae]stà et a S[ua] S[ignoria] Ill[ustrissi]mo in nome del vescovo infermo recitai ... mi lasciai trasportar a veder gli apparecchi della guerra d’Ungheria ... a Vienna per sinistro accidente saltando da una carrozza volta al precipitio mi roppi nel mezzo la gamba sinistra, e con dolore intollerabile a Vienna ritornato, quivi con lunga spesa e fatica mi curava.... L’ A[ltezzaV[ostra] m’invitò al mio ritorno in Italia a passare da Mantova ... giunto a Venetia in compagnia del clarissimo Priuli, me ne venni a Mantova ... et ella m’elesse per suo servitore.’ASM, Archivio Gonzaga, 1167, fols. 122–124v. Quoted in Kirkendale, The Court Musicians in Florence, pp. 569–70. It is interesting that Rasi’s father described this ‘benedetta gita’ (‘blessed journey’) in Poland, the cause of many debts, as the ‘ruin’ of his family (ibid., p. 566).

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Thus Francesco Rasi left his home town of Arezzo for Rome, then went to Warsaw and Vienna, and finally to Venice and Mantua, where he entered the service of Duke Vincenzo: his itinerary is very close to Marenzio’s, with the difference that the latter at some unknown point in time returned to Rome. But Marenzio too had professional contacts with members of the Gonzaga house at the turn of the century. His eighth book a 5 was addressed to Ferrante Gonzaga, Prince of Molfetta and Lord of Guastalla, with the dedication signed in Venice on 20 October 1598. On what date Marenzio returned to Italy, and with which patron he resided, is unknown. The composer’s presence in Venice seems to have been brief, dictated solely by his desire to see his madrigals through the printing presses. It would be rash to speculate about a prolonged stay in Venice on the basis of this single document; but it would also be futile to seek enlightenment in the somewhat conventional text of his dedication: No sooner had I finished composition of these my new madrigals, than the thought came to me to dedicate them to the most noble name of Your Excellency ... who in every noble endeavour is admired as a singular example of our age; and you are able and accustomed to discuss and assess music in particular, with most discriminating taste and sound wit.15

It is more interesting to learn that Marenzio earned Ferrante Gonzaga’s respect: ‘My devotion and regard for Your Excellency will be will known to you for many reasons, above all for the signal favours that I received from you when I recently offered myself to you as a true and most affectionate servant.’16 A hypothesis has also been put forward that the composer stayed in Mantua towards the middle of 1598,17 but we now know that Gonzaga and Marenzio were both members of the Accademia Olimpica in Vicenza from at least 1596 (see Chapter 19), so it is possible they had known each other for some time. Ferrante was the cousin of the Duke of Mantua. From an early history of the dukedom of Guastalla we learn that this patron was a music lover who accompanied a group of singers on the harpsichord.18 He was also in contact with 15

‘Non prima ho dato fine alla compositione di questi nuovi miei Madrigali, che m’è venuto inanzi un pensiero di dedicargli al nobilissimo nome di V[ostra] E[ccelenza] ... la quale in ogni nobile professione è ammirata come singolare essempio di nostra etade; et di questa della Musica in particolare, può, et suole discretissimamente, et con sanissimo ingegno et discorrere, et giudicare.’ Original text quoted from the critical edition by Myers, in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 15, p. xv. 16 ‘La devotion, et l’osservanza mia verso l’E[ccelenza] V[ostra] le deve esser per molte cagioni assai nota, et massime per le segnalate gratie, ch’io ricevei da lei, quando presentialmente me le dedicai per vero, et affettionatissimo servitore.’ Ibid. 17 Ibid, p. xix. 18 Affò, Istoria della città e ducato di Guastalla, vol. 3, p. 73: ‘[Ferrante Gonzaga] fu ... molto amante della Musica, e teneva presso di se egregj Cantori, all’armonia de’

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famous men of letters such as Tasso, Guarini and Angelo Grillo, whose texts are duly set by Marenzio in his eighth book a 5. All of this makes us think that this atypical collection, in which homorhythmic textures predominate, was conceived expressly to satisfy the prince’s literary and musical tastes. Fewer than seven months separate the eight book a 5 from Marenzio’s last publication, his ninth book a 5 (Venice: A. Gardano, 1599), dedicated to Vincenzo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua. Once he had returned to Rome for good, on 10 May 1599 the composer wrote: Feeling myself supremely honoured by Your Most Serene Highness, when in months past you have been pleased to command me to send you some of my compositions, I have been persuaded that the fruits of my humble genius are perhaps not entirely worthy of scorn, since they are prized by such a prince as Your Highness, who is sublime both in rank and intellect ...19

The letter has an interesting conclusion: I implore you to accept with favour not just this [music], but also my obedience and affection; and having obtained it, as I hope from your singular kindness, perhaps it will happen that my feeble intellect, stimulated by your grace, will in the future produce fruits more worthy of Your Most Serene Highness, to whom I humbly incline, in conclusion wishing you all prosperity.20

And the composer’s signature is preceded by a formula without precedent in the other madrigal books: ‘Perpetuo, et devotissimo servitore’ (‘perpetual and most humble servant’), the adjective ‘perpetuo’ replacing the more conventional ‘humilissimo’. The madrigals promised to the duke ‘in the future’ never appeared. His constitution severely weakened, the composer passed away on 22 August of the same year: ‘Luca Marenzio, singer to His Holiness, died at the Villa Medici and quali far soleva egli sovente dolce accordo col Gravicembalo, che valorosamente toccava’ (‘[Ferrante Gonzaga] was ... a great lover of music, and he surrounded himself with excellent singers, whose notes he would softly accompany on the harpsichord, which he played with great skill’). 19 ‘Il sentirmi sopremamente honorato dall’Altezza vostra Serenissima, mentre alli mesi passati si compiacque comandarmi, ch’io dovessi mandarle alcune delle mie compositioni, ha destato in me qualche opinione, che li frutti del mio basso ingegno, non sieno forsi da sprezzarsi in tutto, già che vengono pregiati da Prencipe non meno di stato, che di intelletto sublime, com’è l’A[ltezza]V[ostra] ...’. 20 ‘La supplico a voler gradire non tanto esse, quanto l’ubidienza, et l’affetto mio: il che ottenendo, come spero dalla singolare sua benignità, forsi avverrà, che ’l debole intelletto mio fomentato dalla gratia sua, produchi per l’avenire parti più degni dell’A[ltezza] S[ua] Sereniss[ima] a cui mi inchino humile pregandole per fine ogni prosperità maggiore.’

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was buried in S. Lorenzo’, reads the Liber mortuorum of the parish of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, where indeed he is buried.21 This laconic record is echoed by the report in the Avvisi di Roma (24 August 1599): ‘Luca Marenzio died in the garden of the Grand Duke [the Villa Medici] and was buried in the church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, not without grief from the musicians here, who did him honour for his compositions.’22 When Marenzio returned to Italy from Poland, presumably in 1598, he found a political and cultural situation somewhat altered from previous years. Duke Alfonso II d’Este had died without an heir on 27 October 1597; with him the dukedom of Ferrara, an irreplaceable beacon of musical culture, also disappeared. The city of the Estensi devolved to the Holy See, specifically under the governance of the cardinal legate Pietro Aldobrandini. Culturally speaking, the Ferrarese devolution had severe repercussions, as has recently been demonstrated: from the refined hedonism of the Ferrarese court, which had attained one of its highest forms of expression in the art of madrigal, it was necessary to assume a Counter-Reformation approach to the arts, carefully geared to the spiritual edification of its audience, and therefore suspicious of every pleasure for its own sake.23 However, among the peninsula’s rulers there remained one who inherited from Ferrara the mantle of the final flowering of the 21

‘Luca Marentio cantore di N[ostro] Sig[no]re morse al Giardino de’ Medici s[epolto] in S[an] L[orenzo].’ Rome, Archivio del Vicariato, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, Liber mortuorum, I, fol. 113v (August 1599). The transcription supplied by Engel is inaccurate (Luca Marenzio, p. 82): ‘... morto al Giardino de’ Medici in C[omunione] S[anctae] E[cclesiae]’. The supposed abbreviation ‘in C.S.E.’ is none other than ‘s[epolto] in S[an] L[orenzo]’. In 1999 a plaque was unveiled in the church to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Marenzio’s death. 22 ‘... Luca Marentio ... morse al giardino del Gran Duca et fu sepelito in S. Lorenzo Lucina non senza dolore di questi Musici, che si facevano onore delle sue compositioni’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1067, fol. 525 (Rome, 24 August 1599). Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 237. The same avviso informs us that in Rome at that time there was ‘sospetto di peste’ (‘plague was suspected’). 23 The last supposed musical splendours of Ferrara after devolution, with a final revival of the concerto delle dame on 16 November 1598, have been traced to their last, sad twilight in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 92 ff. Annibaldi, ‘Il mecenate “politico”’ (I), p. 60, pulls no punches in his discussion of the consequences of papal policy: ‘La sterilizzazione della strepitosa feracità della cultura e dell’arte della Ferrara estense non fu una conseguenza strisciante della cappa di conformismo poi lentamente calata sulla città: ... fu direttamente innescato dalla spoliazione del patrimonio artistico accumulato nei secoli dagli Estensi da parte del papa Aldobrandini e del suo seguito’ (‘The sterilization of the striking cultural and artistic fertility of Estense Ferrara was no creeping consequence of the net of conformity in which the city was gradually caught: ... it was directly triggered by the plundering, on the part of the pope and his retinue, of the artistic patrimony accumulated by the Estensi over centuries’).

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madrigal: Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua, son of the music lover and composer Guglielmo, who cultivated the highly sophisticated style that one of his musicians, Claudio Monteverdi, was to call seconda prattica. Significantly it was this prince who commissioned Marenzio’s ninth and last book of five-voice madrigals. Rome too had changed during his absence. Diego de Campo, the music-loving private cameriere of the pope, had died one month before the duke of Ferrara.24 By way of contrast, it was in these very years that Giovenale Ancina launched his bitter crusade against secular music, seeking to ‘purge’ Rome (and the Roman clergy in particular) from ‘vain’ madrigals and ‘lascivious’ canzonettas. Another unfavourable circumstance was the temporary (albeit extremely expensive) transfer of the pope and his court to Ferrara, from May to November 1598. Among the musicians usually resident in Rome, Ruggiero Giovannelli followed Pietro Aldobrandini to the devolved city.25 If Marenzio returned to Italy in that year, he certainly would not have been able to find his patron Cinzio Aldobrandini in Rome. Perhaps this is why he was in Venice when his eighth book a 5 appeared. Let us now try to tackle the controversial topic of Marenzio’s relations with the Aldobrandini on the eve of his return to Italy.26 According to Ottavio Rossi events unfolded as follows: [Marenzio] received remarkable gifts from the King of Poland when he was appointed by that monarch with a salary of 1500 scudi, and he believed he would return laden with treasure. However, since the foreign climate was not conducive to his delicate constitution, he left the king’s service after a short time, but with great honour, returning to Rome, where he was always cherished by the whole court, and held in especially great favour and very close to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, nephew of Pope Clement VIII. He died young and was buried in S. Lorenzo in Lucina.27 24 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1065, fol. 573 (Rome, 20 September 1597). Referred to in Annibaldi, ‘Il mecenate “politico”’ (I), p. 52. 25 Ibid., p. 55. 26 On this subject see Macy, ‘The late madrigals of Luca Marenzio’, pp. 12–15 and 29–35; Bizzarini, ‘L’ultimo Marenzio’. 27 ‘[Marenzio] singolarissimi doni riportò dal Rè di Polonia allhora che fù chiamato da quella Maestà con provisione di mille scudi all’anno, et con opinione, ch’egli di là dovesse riportarne tesori. Ma quell’aria straniera non secondando gli elementi della sua complessione delicata, si levò in breve ma honoratissimamente da quel servitio, ritornandolo in Roma dove continuamente poi se ne visse caro à tutta la Corte et sopra modo carissimo, et familiarissimo del Cardinal Cintio Aldobrandino nipote di Papa Clemente VIII. Morì giovane, et fù sepolto in San Lorenzo in Lucina.’ Rossi, Elogi historici di Bresciani illustri, pp. 490–91. Quoted in Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 239. Rossi is echoed by Calvi, Scena letteraria degli scrittori bergamaschi: ‘Lo vidde Roma dopo il ritorno da Polonia continuamente.... Per Luca Marenzo era la Corte tutta nella sovrabbondanza della stima appassionata, ma il Cardinale Cintio

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This testimony seems openly to contradict the already mentioned words of Peacham: ‘But returning, he found the affection of the Pope so estranged from him that hereupon he took a conceit and died’. As stated in Chapter 10, there appears to be no valid reason to doubt the words of Ottavio Rossi, the Brescian historian who had lived in Rome in the reign of Clement VIII. Indeed, his account is at many points fully confirmed by the Avvisi di Roma.28 Even if definitive documentary proofs are lacking concerning Marenzio’s return to Cinzio’s famiglia, Marenzio must have stayed in touch with the Aldobrandini, at least on the formal level. If the Avvisi gave specific details about his death, we may infer that the composer still moved within papal court circles; the expression ‘cantore di Nostro Signore’ used in the Liber mortuorum would appear to confirm this. But Cinzio Aldobrandini, after the devolution of Ferrara, was politically speaking a waning star at the court of Rome. To make matters worse still, he was rash enough to fly from Ferrara unexpectedly. On 13 October 1598 one of his grooms had a quarrel with that of another prelate; a lively altercation ensued, in which words were uttered that were derogatory of Cinzio.29 The indignant Passeri ... Aldobrandino ... le concesse tal posto nel suo affetto, che non era Luca famigliare del Cardinale, ma padrone.... Morì assai giovane nella stessa Città di Roma al Giardino de’ Medici Cantore di Nostro Signore l’anno 1599 22 Agosto, et nella chiesa di S. Lorenzo in Lucina convertiti gli organi, et voci musicali in carmi dolorosi di pianto, hebbe sepoltura, chiamato in quel libro de defonti Luca Marenzo Bergamasco’ (‘He was continually to be seen in Rome after his return from Poland.... The court was passionately enthusiastic about Luca Marenzo, and Cardinal Cinzio Passeri ... Aldobrandini ... gave him such a place in his affections that Luca was no longer the cardinal’s familiare, but his master.... He died very young in the city of Rome at the Villa Medici, a singer of His Holiness, in the year 1599, on 22 August, and in the church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, with musical instruments and voices turned to songs of sorrow and grief, he was buried, and the book of the dead [of that church] calls him “Luca Marenzo Bergamasco”’). Apart from the adjective ‘Bergamasco’, added arbitrarily to show that the musician belonged to the Marenzi family of Bergamo, Calvi proves himself to be cognizant of the Liber mortuorum of S. Lorenzo in Lucina. 28 For the journey to Poland and the details about salary and Marenzio’s delicate health, see BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1063, fol. 522v (Rome, 12 August 1595), quoted in Chapter 20, n. 18: the avviso does indeed mention the remuneration of 1500 scudi per year. For Marenzio’s burial in S. Lorenzo, see above. 29 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1066, fol. 41v (Ferrara, 14 October 1598): ‘la mattina delli 13 sendo stato fatto un graviss[im]o affronto di bastonate da un staffiere del Vicelegato Centurione al Cocchiere del Card[ina]le San Giorgio, entrato in sospetto, che tal atto fusse stato fomentato dal Card[ina]l Aldobrand[in]o s’era partito di Ferrara p[er] Venetia, Padova et Vicenza con Mons[igno]r Montorio seguitato da esso vicelegato p[er] sincerarlo, come seguì con la pregionia del staffiere, che sarria severamente castigato ...’ (‘on the morning of the 13th, after a serious and insulting

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cardinal sought exile in Venice, then in Vicenza, Chioggia and Milan. It was not until 7 May 1599, after insistent pressure from the pope, that he was persuaded to return to Rome.30 It is probably not a coincidence that the dedication of Marenzio’s ninth book a 5 was signed in Rome on 10 May 1599, three days after Cinzio’s return: in this way we can explain the complete absence of documents relating to Marenzio in Rome in the months immediately preceding. By contrast, on 6 June he appears to have acted as godfather to the daughter of a certain Cosmo Faloni in one of the city’s parishes.31 Perhaps Marenzio, in his last years, followed Cardinal Cinzio in his wanderings through Italy; perhaps he was in Ferrara in the summer of 1598 (when Ferrante Gonzaga paid homage to the Aldobrandini);32 perhaps he made contact with his former protectors. The range of hypotheses is broad, but one detail should not elude our attention: Marenzio died at the ‘Giardino de Medici’, the imposing villa on the Pincian Hill belonging to the grand duke of Tuscany. We know that Marenzio’s brother, Marenzio Marenzi, who had for some time served incident in which a groom of the Vice Legate Centurion beat the coachman of Cardinal San Giorgio [Cinzio Aldobrandini], [the latter], suspecting that this deed was fomented by Cardinal [Pietro] Aldobrandini, left Ferrara for Venice, Padua and Vicenza with Monsignor Montorio; the Vice Legate went after him in order to reassure him, as occurred later with the imprisonment of the groom, who will be severely punished ...’. 30 BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1067, fol. 282 (Rome, 5 May 1599) and fol. 287v (Rome, 8 May 1599); Fasano Guarini, ‘Aldobrandini (Passeri), Cinzio’, in DBI, vol. 2, p. 103. 31 Engel (Luca Marenzio, p. 79) reproduces ‘con ogni riserva’ (‘with reservations’) this information on the basis of an incomplete indication by Raffaele Casimiri. On p. 82, without explanation, Engel changes the date to 9 July. The parish in question is designated as ‘S. Maria’, too vague an indication to be able to undertake an accurate check. The document is probably to be found in Archivio del Vicariato in Rome, even though some of the parish records are in ASV. Casimiri reported the entry of ‘Luciano de Luca Marentij’ (a son of Marenzio?) in the baptismal records of San Nicola (which?) on 12 May 1598. I checked the baptismal records of S. Maria in Trastevere, S. Maria sopra Minerva, S. Maria del Popolo and S. Nicola in Carcere, all without success. 32 On Marenzio’s possible visit to Ferrara see Bizzarini, ‘L’ultimo Marenzio’. This article also mentions the correspondence between Ferrante Gonzaga, Pietro and Cinzio Aldobrandini (Archivio di Stato di Parma, Archivio Gonzaga di Guastalla, 52’ and 52’’). Ferrante Gonzaga and Cinzio Aldobrandini both had relations with the Genovese Doria family. Ferrante was married to Vittoria Doria, while Cinzio, in August 1598, ‘era stato à Genova incognito ... et haveva alloggiato fuori della Città all’Osteria Reale, dove il P[rincip]e Doria gli aveva mandato à dire di volerlo andar à visitare ...’ (‘had visited Genoa incognito ... and stayed outside the city in the Osteria Reale, where Prince Doria had sent word that he wished to visit him ...’. BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1066, fol. 645 (Rome, 29 August 1598).

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the grand duke, was at that time working as a gardener at the villa, and for this reason scholars have supposed that Luca sought hospitality with his brother when he became ill.33 But we should not exclude the possibility that the composer reestablished contact with Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici. If Ferdinando had the closest of ties with his nephew Virginio Orsini and with Cardinal Montalto, it is not difficult to regard him as a sort of behind-the-scenes fixer of Marenzio’s final decade, just as Cardinal Luigi d’Este had been during the first half of the 1580s. At this point it may be possible to clarify the ambiguous dynamic of the pope’s waning ‘affection’ for Marenzio. To a considerable extent it could depend on the political deterioration in relations between the Holy See and the other reigning princes. For instance, in the case of Tuscany, at first relations between the Aldobrandini and Ferdinando de’ Medici were fairly warm, but in 1595 a growing distrust began to arise, according to the Venetian ambassadors.34 In 1598 the pope was on good terms with the King of Poland, whose religious fervour he admired, but he had a ‘very poor opinion’ (‘malissimo concetto’) of the duke of Mantua (to whom Marenzio dedicated his last book of madrigals). According to the pope, the duke showed ‘ill will’ (‘mala volontà’) and ‘lack of conscience’ (‘poca coscienza’)35 – not to speak of his reputation throughout Europe as a great libertine. Clement VIII was seeking among rulers for believers who would support his programme of Catholic reform, just as, in 1594, he had nourished the hope that Marenzio would prove to be a competent collaborator on the postTridentine revision of sacred chant and polyphony (see preceding chapter). But a composer who in 1599 was engaged on ‘profane compositions’ and who, moreover, could address them to a prince who was ‘lacking in conscience’ could not meet with truly unconditional approval. Pope Aldobrandini was on intimate terms with the Oratorian Fathers and had been a personal friend of St Philip Neri: the pope’s confessors belonged to St Philip’s congregation:36 perhaps he even shared the moralizing aspirations of Giovenale Ancina, though – being 33 34

Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 6; Kirkendale, The Court Musicians in Florence, p. 246. In 1595 Paolo Paruta observed that ‘il papa col granduca di Toscana tiene amicizia, ma ... maggiore nell’apparenza che nell’esistenza’ (‘the pope is on friendly terms with the grand duke of Tuscany, but ... more in appearance than in reality’). The situation had already worsened in 1598, according to Giovanni Dolfin: ‘Con Fiorenza le cose passano peggio che con ogni altro perché il Papa non ha gusto alcuno dell’operazioni del granduca, ed il granduca duolsi in estremo che non riceva mai una grazia, né alcuna sodisfazione’ (‘With regard to Florence things are worse than in any other respect, because the pope does not relish anything the grand duke does, and the grand duke complains bitterly that he never received any favour or satisfaction’). Alberi, Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti, ser. ii, vol. 4, p. 431 and 475. 35 Ibid., pp. 473 and 476. 36 Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 24, p. 158; Annibaldi, ‘Il mecenate “politico”’ (1), p. 62.

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inclined towards mediation – he would no doubt have wanted to soften their excesses. The fact remains that the Liber mortuorum of S. Lorenzo in Lucina designates Marenzio as ‘Cantore di Nostro Signore’ – ‘singer of His Holiness’ or papal singer. In the past there has been much discussion about Marenzio’s possible membership of the Sistine Chapel choir. No other contemporary source except the Liber mortuorum mentions this aspect. Only in 1711 did Andrea Adami place Marenzio among the ‘cantori pontifici’ of Clement VIII, also calling him ‘the sweetest swan who composed in the madrigal style’ (‘il cigno più soave che abbia avuto lo stil Madrigalesco’).37 In reality, as James Chater has confirmed after verifying the sources, the surviving Sistine Chapel diaries contain no trace of Marenzio’s name among the singers.38 Moreover, and even more significantly, the 1599 diary does not mention his death, as was customary for papal singers.39 One must therefore conclude that for Marenzio the title ‘Cantore di Nostro Signore’, at least in the year of his death, was no more than an honorific, indicating simply his familiarity with the papal court and the Aldobrandini in particular,40 a familiarity that had reached its peak in 1594 and subsequently 37

Adami, Osservazioni, p. 185: ‘Ritornato in Roma, fù ammesso nella nostra Cappella, amato da tutta la Corte Romana, e particolarmente dal Cardinale Cintio Aldobrandini Nipote di Clemente VIII. Morì ai 22 Agosto 1599, e fù seppellito in S. Lorenzo in Lucina, come riferisce Ottavio Rossi negli Elogi Istorici de’ Bresciani illustri foglio 490’ (‘He returned to Rome, was admitted to our Chapel, was loved by the whole papal court, and especially by Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, nephew of Clement VIII. He died on 22 August 1599, and was buried in S. Lorenzo in Lucina, as Ottavio Rossi writes in his Elogi istorici de’ Bresciani illustri, fol. 490’). Pitoni (Notitia de’ contrapuntisti, p. 152) also asserts that Marenzio served as a papal singer. 38 Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 7. Chater checked the diaries for the period 1577–99 (BAV, Cappella Sistina, Diarii 11–21). For the 1590s, diaries are missing for the years 1590, 1591, 1595 and 1598. 39 Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 8. 40 This is what Engel (Luca Marenzio, p. 77) believed. However, Roland Jackson, in his introduction to Marenzio’s sacred music in the Opera omnia, 1, has reaffirmed that Marenzio belonged to the Sistine Chapel on the basis of a nineteenth-century work, Schelle, Die päpstliche Sängerschule, p. 264. As Chater has explained (‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 7), Schelle had misinterpreted a Sistine diary entry dated 24 February 1594, where Marenzio is indeed mentioned, but only as a famiglio of Cardinal San Giorgio: ‘Giovedì. Adì 24 [febbraio] Questa mattina l’Ill[ustrissi]mo et R[everendissi]mo Cardinal San Giorgio nepote del Papa ha pregato il n[ost]ro Collegio de Cantori che cantassero la messa a detta chiesa de san Giorgio dove sua signoria Ill[ustrissi]ma ha preso il posesso del suo titolo, a qual messa tutti li nostri compagni furno p[rese]nti eccetto il sig[no]r Mastro di Capella sig[no]r Alesandro Merlo, il sig[no]r Decano et il sig[no]re Sotto: di poi la Messa il sig[no]r Luca Marentio invitò tutto il Collegio a desinare da parte del sopradetto sig[no]r Cardinale in Palazzo, a qual desinare mancorno li giubilati: il sig[no]r

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underwent a circumspect revision. Recently Jean Lionnet has noted that Giovanni Battista Acquisti, a well-known tenor in the middle of the seventeenth century, was also always designated as ‘cantore di nostro signore’ in the documents, even though he was not a singer in the Sistine Chapel; instead he was chaplain of the papal chapel, and thus a familiare of the pope; for this reason he was universally known as ‘cantore di Nostro Signore’.41 This does not mean that Marenzio could not have been temporarily admitted to the Sistine Chapel Choir in 1595, before being sent to Poland: the diary of that year has not survived. What is certain is that one of his sacred works, the Magnificat for eight voices, remained in the repertoire of the papal singers for a long time.42 In this ambiguous and nebulous tangle of information it is not difficult to perceive signs of progressive estrangement between Marenzio and musical life in Rome. The text of his dedication to Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, of whom Marenzio declares himself a ‘perpetuo servitore’, would seem to suggest a yearning for a more open, stimulating cultural climate, an alternative at least to the one that had come about in the Rome of Clement VIII. The testimonies of Ottavio Rossi and Henry Peacham, while reflecting contrasting points of view, present two sides of the same coin. The Catholic Rossi adheres to the original sources, maintaining that Marenzio, the (honorary?) ‘singer of His Holiness’, remained in favour at the Roman court until the end of his life. The Englishman Peacham, on the other hand, certainly inclined towards a hostile attitude to the pope, maintains the

Horatio Crescentio, il sig[no]r Archangelo Crivello et il sig[no]r Pietro Montoja’ (‘Thursday, 24 [February]. This morning the Most Illustrious and Reverend Cardinal San Giorgio, nephew of the pope, asked our college of singers to sing mass at the church of S. Giorgio where His Most Illustrious Lordship took possession of his title, and at this mass all our companions were present except the maestro di cappella Signor Alessandro Merlo, the deacon and Signor Sotto: after mass, Signor Luca Marenzio, on behalf of the cardinal, invited the whole college to dine in the [Vatican] Palace. However, Signor Horatio Crescentio, Signor Archangelo Crivello and Signor Pietro Montoja did not attend the celebrations because they were exempted’): BAV, Cappella Sistina, Diarii, 19, fol. 13. The passage is quoted in Frey, ‘Das Diarium der Sixtinischen Sängerkapelle’, p. 460. 41 See the ‘Discussione’ in Luisi, Curti and Gozzi (eds), La scuola policorale romana del Sei-Settecento, p. 139. 42 Frey, ‘Il repertorio dei cantori pontifici’, pp. 142, 150. Marenzio’s Magnificat VIII toni (short version) appears in two manuscript sources in the musical archive of the Sistine Chapel: BAV, Cappella Sistina, MSS 29 and 152. The work also appears in a Roman anthology of 1592: Psalmi, motecta, magnificat, et antiphona, Salve Regina diversorum auctorum: octo vocibus concinenda, selecta a Jo. Luca Conforti (RISM 15922): see Giani, ‘I due Magnificat VIII toni’, p. 221. Giani’s hypothesis that in this work Marenzio succeeded in putting into practice the precepts of the Council of Trent appears to be confirmed by the documents discussed in the preceding chapter.

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opposite. In his last years Marenzio could indeed have experienced a somewhat hostile environment, but one concealed by an official veil of dissimulation that, in spite of everything, continued to recognize his stature as an excellent musician. Erythraeus’s anecdote is instructive in this respect: ‘Famous musician, on the point of death, repents of the music he has written to lascivious texts.’ Marenzio’s fame remained indisputable, but the secular poetry he had set to music risked placing him in a bad light in the more rigid circles of Counter-Reformation Rome.

Chapter 22

The ‘Wise Fool’ A madrigal is born of the encounter between poetry and music. Some poetic texts are set as madrigals, while others remain excluded from the musical experience. We should like to know more about the relationship between poets and madrigalists in the Cinquecento. For example, it would be interesting to know more about possible collaboration between the two (if indeed this occurred). In reality the spheres of music and literature for the most part seem distant and isolated from each other, even with regard to the practice of the polyphonic madrigal, which should have celebrated their ideal union. The music prints, as a rule, bear only the name of the composer, while that of the poet was systematically omitted.1 No one objected to this custom, which may strike us, educated as we are to accept the modern concept of intellectual copyright, as totally unjustifiable and injurious to an author’s dignity. For any composer could set a text to music unbeknown to the poet and publish it without the correct attribution. Also surprising is the absence of curiosity on the part of the purchaser of a music print, since, with the exception of widely known poetry such as Petrarch’s, it would not be easy to trace a poem’s author. From all this we ought to be able to conclude that for a sixteenth-century writer it was much more of an honour to publish a collection of poems with his or her own name on the title page than to figure anonymously in a musical collection, however prestigious. But this is not always the case: on the contrary, often the greatest poets of the age express pleasure that their works were set to music. Torquato Tasso, in the period between 1585 and 1592, addressed the following poem ‘to a musician who had set to music some madrigals’: Queste mie rime, sparte sotto dolci misure, raccolto hai tu ne le vergate carte e coi tuoi dolci modi [canti] purghi le voglie impure, ove il mio stil talora ne la tua voce e ne l’altrui l’onora;

1

Among the very rare exceptions is the anthology Il trionfo di Dori …, Venice, 1592, where the author of the texts appears at the head of each setting. Marenzio contributed the madrigal Leggiadre ninfe, which had already appeared in his fifth book a 5 (1591). 247

248

Luca Marenzio e più, quando le lodi del bel Vincenzo [Gonzaga] e i pregi canti degli avi gloriosi egregi.2 These my verses, scattered among sweet measures, you have gathered into your lined pages and with your sweet modes you purge impure desires, where my style honours them sometimes in your voice, sometimes in someone else’s; and also, when you sing the praises of the great Vincenzo, and extol in song his glorious and distinguished ancestors.

In all probability this grateful poetic homage was addressed to Giaches de Wert, who in his seventh book a 5 (1581) and eighth book a 5 (1586) set some octaves from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, thereby inaugurating the musical fortune of this epic poem. Even more significant is a passage from a letter written after 1593 by the poet Alessandro Guarini (the son of the author of Il pastor fido) to the composer Giulio Belli: ‘I am not astonished that Your Lordship should honour my verses with your music, expecting and finding cause for satisfaction and service from me, as this is the custom and privilege of virtuosi; but I am astonished that my poetic scribblings, grown ambitious, should have flown out of my hands without my noticing, to gain credit through your notes.’ Guarini is here alluding to the frequency with which texts came into the hands of musicians even before they were published, and thus in an exclusively private manuscript edition. Far from complaining about this unexpected appropriation, the younger Guarini commented: ‘I certainly did not think that some of the madrigals you indicated in your letter were in other hands than my own, but having reached your hands, it could not have turned out better.’ What is surprising is that often even the composer did not know who wrote the poetry he or she was setting to music. Otherwise one could not explain why Guarini concludes his letter to Belli as follows: ‘I did not want to omit to tell you that the [poem] beginning Ecco scesa dal ciel nuova Diana is by Signor Annibale Pocaterra of blessed memory.’3 2

‘Ad un musico, che avea posto in musica alcuni madrigali’ (‘To a musician who had set to music some madrigals’): Tasso, Opere, ed. Maier, vol. 1, p. 634, n. 643. Quoted in Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 514. 3 ‘Io non mi sono maravigliato, che V.S. faccia onore alle mie rime con la sua Musica, e di me si prometta, e si vaglia in cosa di sua soddisfazione, e servigio, perché questo è costume e privilegio de’ virtuosi; maravigliato mi sono, come le mie ciancie poetiche, divenute ambiziose, mi siano volate fuori di mano, senza avvedermene, per pigliar credito nelle sue note … Io certo non mi credeva, che alcuni de’ Madriali,

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It is still not absolutely clear how the literary choices of musicians were made. Unfortunately first-hand sources are thin on the ground, while even the exchange of letters between composers and poets is somewhat rare. Whatever the case, the relationship between these two professional figures must have been determined by the mediation of the ‘prencipe’: in an age teeming with versifiers (many of whom were simply dilettanti), aristocratic patrons received copious poetic homages, and some of these works were then entrusted, perhaps by hand, to the composer whose turn it was. We have already discussed Cardinal Luigi d’Este’s written request to his maestro di cappella: ‘Messer Luca, some noble ladies desire you to set to music the enclosed madrigal, and they have asked if I can command you to do it ...’.4 In this case Marenzio was in receipt of a poetic text of whose authorship he was not informed. After all, court poets, who often improvised verse on topical themes, aimed principally to flatter their patrons, after which they abandoned it to its fate. For instance Ridolfo Arlotti gave one of his poems to Ippolita d’Este with this recommendation: ‘Your Excellency can give it to Virchi5 and tell him that if he doesn’t like it, I won’t mind if he throws it away.’6 The important thing was to satisfy the patron. Given these premises, the problem of poetic attribution in sixteenth-century music is not easy to solve. Every text has to be traced to the definitive literary source, whose attribution is beyond doubt. But it is clear that the poetry that survives only in musical prints is destined for the most part to remain ‘di autore incerto’, to use the contemporary expression. In its transition from literary source to musical source a poem could undergo various transformations, with the risk of serious corruption. Sometimes, however, composers took their texts directly from musical prints.7 Marenzio’s large output of madrigals has mostly been examined with the focus

4 5 6 7

segnati da lei nella sua, fossero in altre mani, che nelle mie, ma essendo essi alle sue pervenute, non potevano capitar meglio … Non voglio restar di dirle, che quel, che incomincia Ecco scesa dal Ciel nuova Diana è del Sig. Annibale Pocaterra, di memoria dignissima’: A. Guarini, Prose, pp. 84–85. Quoted in Durante and Martellotti, ‘Tasso, Luzzaschi’, p. 42. See Chapter 8. On this Brescian composer, see Chapters 1 and 10. ‘Potrà V.E. donarlo al Virchi et dirgli se non gli piace, che lo gitti in malora e me ne contento.’ Reproduced in Durante and Martellotti, ‘Tasso, Luzzaschi’, p. 44. Vassalli, ‘Il Tasso in musica’, p. 53: ‘sarà più vero che una volta immessa sul mercato musicale la scrittura segua un suo proprio destino, interno ad una tradizione testuale musicale, andando da musicista a musicista, tramite le stampe di musica’ (‘it would be truer to say that once brought to the musical market a text follows its own destiny within a tradition of musical texts, passing through music prints from musician to musician’). This is confirmed above all with respect to the villanella: see DeFord, ‘The influence of the madrigal on canzonetta texts’; Assenza, ‘La trasmissione dei testi poetici’.

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on literary issues: identification of sources, attribution of individual texts, poetic choices, the role of patrons.8 Despite this, several obscure areas remain. James Chater has shown that the poets whose text Marenzio set to music the most frequently are Battista Guarini (35 attributed texts), Petrarch (29), Torquato Tasso (27) and Jacopo Sannazaro (26).9 To this group we should add a friend of Tasso’s, the Benedictine Angelo Grillo, who published all his secular work under the nom de plume of Livio Celiano.10 Nine of Marenzio’s madrigals may be attributed to Grillo. Among the other poets – whether contemporary with Marenzio or before his time – the most notable are Dante (1 text), Sacchetti (1), Ariosto (3), Tansillo (3), Molza (2), Bembo (1), Caro (1), Della Casa (5), Alamanni (2), Pigna (2) and Groto ‘il cieco d’Adria’ (‘the blindman of Adria’) (1).11 Below them in the pecking order, peeping from behind an almost impenetrable façade of anonymity, we may detect a veritable throng of versifiers of little or no distinction. At this point we should focus our concentration on the possible relationship that may have existed between Marenzio and the poets of his time. In Rome and in the other cities he visited, the composer certainly was able to meet the authors of the texts he set. Points of biographical contact exist in the already discussed cases of the writers Cristoforo Castelletti, Antonio Ongaro and Ottavio Rinuccini.12 In the cases of Tasso and Guarini it is also possible to hypothesize a personal acquaintance with the composer. If Marenzio set to music the works of the most famous late sixteenth-century poets with such frequency, this must be due in part to the vogue for the madrigal in this period,13 but also, 8

9

10 11 12 13

For research in this field see especially Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche per i madrigali di Luca Marenzio’; id., Luca Marenzio and the Italian Madrigal, vol. 1, pp. 19–35 (‘The Literary Sources’) and 171–225 (the valuable Appendix II, indicating for each madrigal the mode, the author of the poetic text where identified, the reprints, settings by other composers of the same text and instrumental reworkings). Ibid., p. 20. Chater perceives two different patterns of literary choice in Marenzio’s music. Before 1593 one finds a supreme preference for Sannazaro; but after this date Marenzio completely abandons the author of Arcadia; in its place come numerous settings from Guarini’s Il pastor fido. On the identity of Celiano/Grillo see Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents, new observations’, p. 10; Durante and Martellotti, Don Angelo Grillo O.S.B. For a complete list of the poets see Chater, Luca Marenzio and the Italian Madrigal, vol. 1, p. 20. See respectively Chapters 2, 12 and 17. Vassalli, ‘Il Tasso in musica’ p. 47, observes that from the 1570s the musical fortune of Tasso’s poetry ‘è straordinariamente propagata, coprendo praticamente tutto il territorio italiano, senza privilegiare nessuna area in particolare, nemmeno Ferrara o Mantova, come ci si potrebbe attendere’ (‘is remarkably widespread, covering almost the entire territory of Italy, without favouring any particular area, not even Ferrara or Mantua, as one would expect’).

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we may presume, to the persistent contacts with the courts of Rome, Ferrara and Mantua. In his voluminous prose output, Torquato Tasso rarely touched on musical subjects and – so far as we know – does not mention Marenzio explicitly. However, he offers a notably ideological perspective on the late sixteenth-century madrigal in his dialogue La Cavaletta, o vero della poesia toscana.14 One wellknown passage from this work is especially worth considering: Neapolitan Foreigner: But canzonas [understood as a literary form] need music, almost like seasoning. But what kind of seasoning should we be looking for, the kind that lascivious youths like at feasts and dances, amid the capering of women, or the kind more befitting serious men and ladies? Orsina Cavaletta: Preferably the former. N.F.: So we will leave aside all that music that has degenerated into softness and effeminacy, and we will ask Striggio and Iacches [Wert] and Lucciasco [Luzzaschi] and some other excellent master(s) of excellent music to recall music to that gravity from which, having gone astray, it has often transgressed in ways it would be better to pass over in silence than to discuss. And this grave mode will be similar to what Aristotle calls ␦␻␳␫␴␶␫´, that is, magnificent, constant, grave and above all appropriate to the lyre.15 O.C.: I do not dislike this; yet nothing can be pleasurable unless accompanied by sweetness. N.F.: I do not disparage sweetness and suavity, but I would like to see them tempered, since I consider that music is like one of the other noble arts, each of which is shadowed by a counterfeit, similar in appearance, but very dissimilar in its operations: as the art of cooking is to medicine, the slanderer to the orator, the sophist to the philosopher, so is lascivious to temperate music.16 14

This dialogue has recently been interpretated as a theoretical manifesto of an incipient seconda prattica. See Carapezza, ‘Tasso e la seconda pratica’. 15 Cf. Aristotle, Politics, VIII, 1342b: ‘With regard to the Doric mode, everyone agrees that it is very grave and above all has a virile character.’ 16 ‘Forestiero Napolitano: Ma le canzoni hanno bisogno de la musica quasi per condimento. Ma quale cercherem noi che sia questo condimento, qual piace a’ giovani lascivi fra’ conviti e fra’ balli de le saltatrici, o pur quello ch’a gli uomini gravi e a le donne suol convenire? Orsina Cavaletta: Questo più tosto. F.N.: Dunque lasciarem da parte tutta quella musica la qual degenerando è divenuta molle ed effeminata, e pregheremo lo Striggio e Iacches [Wert] e ’l Lucciasco e alcuno altro eccelente maestro di musica eccelente che voglia richiamarla a quella gravità da la quale traviando è spesso traboccata in parte di cui è più bello il tacere che ’l ragionare. E questo modo grave sarà simile a quello che Aristotele chiama doristì, il quale è magnifico, costante e grave e sopra tutti gli altri assecondato alla cetera. O.C.: Cotesto non mi spiace; ma pur niuna cosa scompagnata da la dolcezza può essere dilettevole.

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Alfred Einstein has advanced the hypothesis that behind the ‘excellent master(s) of excellent music’ invoked by the ‘Neapolitan Foreigner’ (i.e. Tasso himself) is concealed the identity of Luca Marenzio, who in these very years, following Wert’s example, opened his fourth book a 5 (1584) with his setting of four octaves from La Gerusalemme liberata.17 According to Einstein, Tasso avoided naming Marenzio in order not to provoke the jealousy of the other three musicians active at the Ferrarese court: Alessandro Striggio, Giaches de Wert and Luzzasco Luzzaschi.18 More recently, scholars have distanced themselves from this interpretation, not without well-founded reasons.19 Elio Durante and Anna Martellotti go further, casting serious doubt on Tasso’s musical competence, by implication playing down the importance of his pleas for reform. On the one hand, his moralistic condemnation of ‘soft and effeminate music’ repeats a topos very widespread in Classical Greek and Latin texts (a similar passage can be found in Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria, I. X. 31); on the other, the three F.N.: Io non biasimo la dolcezza e la soavità, ma ci vorrei il temperamento, perch’io stimo che la musica sia com’una de le altre arti pur nobili, ciascuna de le quali è seguita da un lusinghiero, simile ne l’apparenza, ma ne l’operazioni molto dissimigliante: e come l’arte de la cucina lusinga la medicina, il calunniatore a l’oratore, il sofista al filosofo, così la musica lasciva a la temperata.’ Critical edition by Raimondi in Tasso, Opere minori, vol. 2, p. 562. 17 Canto XII, 96–9: Giunto a la tomba / Non di morte sei tu / Dagli lor tu / Ed amando morrò. Modern edn in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2, pp. 1–7. The first two octaves had previously been set by Wert in his seventh book a 5 (1581). It appears that Marenzio took his unusual version of the text from Wert rather than from literary sources: see Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, pp. 565–71; Chater, Luca Marenzio and the Italian Madrigal, vol. 1, p. 187; Fenlon, ‘Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga’, pp. 247–49; Owens, ‘Marenzio and Wert read Tasso’. For his first book a 4 of 1585, Marenzio returned to Gerusalemme with his setting of Vezzosi augelli (XVI, 12); modern edition in Marenzio, The Complete Four-Voice Madrigals. 18 See Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 1, pp. 219–21; vol. 2, p. 663. The same opinion, expressed with greater caution, recurs in Engel, Luca Marenzio, pp. 22–23. 19 Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, p. 557: ‘Già nel 1584 … Marenzio aveva tanto consolidata la sua fama e aveva dalla sua tanti e tali protettori estensi, medicei e gonzagheschi che nessuno si sarebbe adontato dell’aggiunta del suo nome all’elenco del Tasso’ (‘As early as 1584 … Marenzio had consolidated his fame to such an extent and numbered so many protectors among the Estensi, Medici and Gonzagas that no one would have taken offence at the addition of his name in Tasso’s list’; Durante and Martellotti, ‘Tasso, Luzzaschi’, p. 26: ‘il contesto “alcuno altro eccelente maestro di musica eccelente” implica non un singolare sibbene un indefinito plurale, né sembra avere consistenza l’ipotesi della gelosia dei ferraresi, tanto più che né Striggio né Wert lo erano’ (‘the context “alcuno altro eccelente maestro di musica eccelente” implies an indefinite plural, not a singular, nor does the hypothesis of the jealousy of the Ferrarese seem consistent, given that neither Striggio or Wert was Ferrarese’.)

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musicians referred to – Striggio, Wert and Luzzaschi – would have been chosen for purely contingent reasons, all three of them being present at the court of Alfonso d’Este in 1584, the year of La Cavaletta’s composition.20 Be that as it may, even if the poet lacked a solid musical education, throughout his life he was in the presence of ladies and patrons who were deeply involved with the art of music. An image of Tasso as much more alert to musical experience is conveyed in Alessandro Guarini’s dialogue Il farnetico savio overo il Tasso (1611), which casts Tasso (the ‘farnetico savio’ or ‘wise fool’) in the role of master and the Perugian writer Cesare Caporale in that of student. The work is of great interest not only because it is set in Rome at the time in which Tasso was a protégé of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, but also because it contains important references to Marenzio’s music: Tasso. I may be able to talk like a musician, but I cannot compose. So to follow our comparison, we can say that Marenzio (to speak of modern composers) is a musical Petrarch, Luzzaschi a musical Dante. I will not speak of the one [Gesualdo da Venosa] who most highly resembles Dante, and, revealing himself as much a prince among musicians as he is among lords, has with his nobility and his rare genius wondrously ennobled this art. … Caporale. So in Dante one can admire neither sweetness nor elegance, nor in Petrarch power or skill in imitating nature, nor, (as you say) refinement in the use of counterpoint. T. I have already told you that the praise of one is not to the disparagement of the other, and just as this does not apply to Luzzaschi and Marenzio, so it applies even less to the two poets. … [Here follows a quotation of the last lines of the canto of Paolo and Francesca, Inferno, V, 124–42] Now I do not know if these lines appear to you, as they do to me, to be one of the sweetest and elegant madrigals that Marenzio ever composed; but I do know that your taste is such that to you sugar must taste sweet, not bitter.21 20

The dialogue can be dated 1584–85: Tasso’s letters do not mention it until the end of 1585, and it was not published until March 1587 (Gioie di rime, e prose, quinta e sesta parte, Venice: Giulio Vasalini). See Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, p. 557. Tasso’s scanty knowledge of music would seem to be confirmed in a remark in La Cavaletta, when Ercole Cavalletto, addressing the Neapolitan Foreigner, says: ‘Voi sarete per avventura simile a Socrate, che imparò musica nella sua vecchiezza’ (‘You are perhaps like Socrates, who learnt music in old age’). See Durante and Martellotti, ‘Tasso, Luzzaschi’, pp. 21–23. Of the three musicians Tasso mentions, only Luzzaschi was in the service of the duke of Ferrara, while Wert and Striggio, despite their frequent visits to the court, were in the service respectively of the duke of Mantua and the grand duke of Toscana (ibid., p. 24 ff.). 21 ‘Tasso: Io so forsi parlare qual Musico, ma non armonizzare. Diremo dunque, secondo nostra sembianza, che il Marenzio (per parlar de’ moderni) in Musica sia un

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Whether this dialogue is merely a literary fiction of Alessandro Guarini’s or, at least in part, a reflection of Tasso’s thinking in the last years of his life is hard to ascertain. Current opinion would seem to lean towards a fiction;22 however, elements of the quoted passage contain a remarkable ring of truth, from both a historical and a conceptual point of view. Above all, the chronological gap between the dialogue’s year of publication (1611) and the period in which the events are purported to have happened (around 1593) does not amount to a decisive proof of the source’s unreliability. In fact one may backdate the composition of the text to the 1590s, since some of the letters by Guarini contained in the same edition of the Prose originate from this same decade. If therefore Alessandro Guarini had occasion to converse with Tasso after the period of the latter’s confinement in the Ospedale di S. Anna (as the title, Il farnetico savio, suggests), this must have occurred in Rome between 1592 and 1595. Biographers have looked in vain for explicit references to Tasso in the surviving papers of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini,23 but there is no doubt that from the end of 1594 the poet was staying in the Vatican, in an apartment not far from Marenzio’s room. It is therefore reasonable to think that the two men had met, perhaps on more than one occasion. Any doubts on this matter can be altro Petrarca, e un altro Dante il Luzzasco. Taccio di tale [Gesualdo da Venosa] pur à Dante somigliantissimo, che così Prencipe tra Musici dimostrandosi, com’egli è tra’ Signori, hà colla sua nobiltà, e col suo pellegrino ingegno nobilitata mirabilmente quest’arte…. Caporale: Dunque in Dante non s’ammira né dolcezza né leggiadria, e nel Petrarca non forza, o virtù rasomigliatrice, né (come diceste voi) isquisitezza di contrappunto. T.: Già vi ho detto, che la loda dell’uno, è senza il biasmo dell’altro, e come ciò non dee dirsi del Luzzasco, né del Marenzio, così tanto meno de’ duoi Poeti…. Hora io non so già se così a voi, come à me sembrino i detti versi [Dante, Inferno, V, 124–46] uno de’ più soavi, e leggiadri Madricali, che già mai componesse il Marenzio; questo so io, che il vostro gusto è ben tale, che dolce il zucchero e non amaro dovrà parervi.’ A. Guarini, Prose (1611), pp. 14–15. This last passage suggests that Dante’s poetry too, like Luzzaschi’s music, can sometimes have a sweetness worthy of Petrarch; vice versa, Petrarch’s poetry, like Marenzio’s music, can sometimes have the force of Dante. 22 Durante and Martellotti, ‘Tasso, Luzzaschi’, p. 27: ‘Se il Tasso è l’interlocutore, è inutile ribadire che il pensiero è di Alessandro Guarini, e sue sono ovviamente le considerazioni di carattere musicale …’ (‘Even if Tasso is the interlocutor, it scarcely needs stating that the thought is Alessandro Guarini’s, as, obviously, are the reflections of a musical nature’). This does not preclude the possibility that there could have been a substantial agreement between the ideas of Tasso and Alessandro Guarini. 23 On this problem see Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso, vol. 1, p. 732. The presumed dispersal of the private papers of Cinzio Aldobrandini, only part of which have been gathered in ASV, Fondo Borghese, has also been a serious impediment to research on the life of Luca Marenzio.

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dispelled by the following report in the Avviso di Roma (26 April 1595), recounting the great poet’s funeral: ‘Yesterday morning the poet laureate Torquato Tasso died, and yesterday evening he was buried in S. Onofrio with all solemnity, accompanied by countless ecclesiastics and priests, as well as the entire famiglia of the Illustrious Cardinal of S. Giorgio [Cinzio Aldobrandini], to whom, in gratitude for the favours he received during his life, he has bequeathed all his writings, which are of a very great number.’24 As we know, Marenzio belonged to the cardinal’s famiglia. It is not very probable, in any case, that Tasso and Marenzio should have worked together on a common project, because, among other reasons, the poet was notoriously shy and moody. A spicy anecdote describes an unusual meeting between Tasso and Bernardo Buontalenti: In Florence, at the behest of the Most Serene ducal family, a comedy by Torquato Tasso had been performed, with the accompaniment of stage machinery and décor by Bernardo.… After a few days during which the comedy had been performed … a man of fine appearance and venerable bearing, dressed in country clothes, alighted from his horse and accosted him … as follows: – Are you that Bernardo Buontalenti, of whom people speak so highly for the wonderful inventions which each day emanate from your genius, in particular those stupendous machines for the recently performed comedy of Tasso? – I am Buontalenti (he replied), but the other compliments with which your goodness and courtesy are pleased to honour me are not true. – Whereupon the unknown person, with a sweet smile, threw his arms round his neck, embracing him tightly, kissed his forehead, and said: – You are Bernardo Buontalenti, and I am Torquato Tasso; addio, addio amico, addio. – And without granting the architect whom he had recognized (and who had been completely overcome by the unexpected meeting) a moment of time to detain him with words or deeds, he mounted his horse, set off at a good clip, and was never seen again.25

24

‘Hiermattina morse Torquato Tasso Poeta Laureato, et hieri sera con honorata pompa fù sepelito in S. Onofrio, accompagnato da infiniti religiosi, et Preti, oltre la famiglia tutta dell’Ill.mo S. Giorgio [Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini] al quale per gratitudine delle gratie ricevute in vita sua, hà lasciato in morte tutti li suoi scritti, che sono in grand[issi]mo numero.’ BAV, Avvisi di Roma, Urb. Lat. 1063, fol. 264v (Rome, 26 April 1595). Quoted in Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso, vol. 1, p. 812. 25 ‘Erasi recitata in Firenze per volontà di Serenissimi una commedia composta da Torquato Tasso, coll’accompagnatura delle macchine e prospettive di Bernardo…. Dopo alcuni giorni della recitata commedia … un uomo molto ben in arnese, venerabile di persona e d’aspetto, vestito in abito di campagna, smontato apposta da cavallo … così gli parlò: Sete voi quel Bernardo Buontalenti, di cui tanto altamente si parla per le meravigliose invenzioni che partorisce ogni dì l’ingegno vostro, e quegli particolarmente, che ha inventate le stupende macchine per la commedia, recitatasi ultimamente, composta dal Tasso? – Io son Buontalenti (rispose), ma non tale nel resto, quale si compiace di stimarmi la vostra bontà e cortesia. – Allora quello sconosciuto personaggio con un dolce riso gettogli le braccia al collo, strettamente

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It is easy to imagine a meeting along these lines having taken place between Marenzio and Tasso. In Alessandro Guarini’s dialogue the protagonist declares: ‘I may be able to talk like a musician, but I cannot compose.’ It is probable that in his last years Tasso, perhaps under the stimulus of the letters of Carlo Gesualdo (the ‘prince among musicians’, who is said to resemble Dante so highly), had deepened his knowledge of music, perhaps following the legendary model of Socrates, who is reputed to have learnt music in his later years. Thanks to his repeated visits to Rome (he was an intimate of Scipione Gonzaga as well as Aldobrandini), the poet would undoubtedly have been able to gain acquaintance of the madrigals of Marenzio, who was then celebrated as a ‘divino compositore’. In all of his collections of that period Marenzio was careful to include at least one text by (or ascribed to) Tasso.26 Rereading Il farnetico savio, one gains the impression of substantial agreement with the thoughts expressed in the earlier La Cavaletta. In the earlier work there is talk of ennobling the art of music with ‘gravità’ and ‘temperamento’ (a reasonable course midway between the ‘piacevole’ and the ‘grave’); here ‘dolcezza e leggiadria’ (‘sweetness and elegance’) are opposed to ‘forza o virtù rasomigliatrice’ (‘power or skill at imitating [nature]’), qualities that in any case are not incompatible in the works of the best poets (Dante and Petrarch) and musicians (Luzzaschi, Gesualdo, Marenzio). One may perceive in Tasso’s musical philosophy a progressive maturing and sharpening of focus. The dialogue of La Cavaletta had maintained that epic poetry in ottava rima, unlike other poetic forms, did not require to be sung.27 The impressive settings of stanzas from La Gerusalemme liberata composed in the 1580s by Wert and Marenzio may have induced the poet to reconsider these statements and regard abbracciandolo, baciollo in fronte, e poi disse: – Voi siete Bernardo Buontalenti, ed io sono Torquato Tasso; addio, addio amico, addio. – E senza concedere al riconosciuto architetto (che a quello inaspettato incontro era restato sopraffatto oltremodo) un momento di tempo di poterlo né con parole né con fatti trattenere, se ne montò a cavallo, si partì a buon passo, e non mai più si rivide.’ This episode is recounted in Baldinucci, Notizia de’ professori, vol. 2, pp. 62–64. Quoted in Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso, vol. 1, pp. 656–57. 26 Nel dolce seno della bella Clori and Amatemi ben mio in the fifth book a 6 (1591); Donna de l’alma mia in the sixth book a 5 (1594); Là dove sono i pargoletti Amori and O verdi selve in the sixth book a 6 (1595); Al lume delle stelle in the seventh book a 5 (1595). Also from the sixth book a 6, Lucida perla, a cui fu conca il cielo is attributed to both Tasso and Guarini: Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, p. 209. We can therefore correct Pirrotta’s statement (‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, p. 564) that the sixth book a 5, dedicated to Cinzio Aldobrandini, contains no settings of texts by Tasso. 27 Tasso, Opere minori, p. 561.

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polyphonic music of the late Cinquecento as an art that had now been fully ‘ennobled’. Though present in numerous collections of Marenzio, Tasso’s poetry did not enjoy the same extraordinary musical fortune as Battista Guarini’s poetry. A comparison of the settings of passages from Aminta and those from Pastor fido in the last decade of the Cinquecento is enough to show that, at least where pastoral drama was concerned, Guarini was clearly the favourite.28 Marenzio was the first of the leading madrigalists to set passages from Guarini’s drama in more than a sporadic way: his sixth book a 5 and seventh book a 5 (1594 and 1595) have for Il pastor fido a pioneering importance very similar to Wert’s seventh book a 5 and eighth book a 5 for La Gerusalemme liberata.29 These books by Marenzio – to which one may add his eight book a 5 – are characterized by a marked predilection for the genre of pastoral drama or eclogue. For besides Il pastor fido are represented two eclogues attributed – with many doubts – to Tasso: Il convito de’ pastori and Arezia ninfa, which, however, enjoyed almost no fortune with other musicians. These poetic choices were probably influenced by Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini’s literary circle, to which both Tasso and Guarini belonged from 1594 to 1595; nor should one forget the already mentioned role played by Cardinal Montalto, another Marenzio patron, who between 1594 and 1596 was planning a Roman performance of Il pastor fido.30 It is truly a pity that there is no evidence of direct relations between Marenzio and Guarini. The latter, unlike Tasso, must have had an excellent knowledge of music. His daughter Anna, brutally murdered by her husband in a fit of jealousy, took part regularly in the concerto delle dame in Ferrara. His son Alessandro, the author of Il farnetico savio, was a friend of Luzzaschi, for whom he wrote the 28 On these aspects see Chater, ‘“Un pasticcio di madrigaletti”?’ 29 Two famous composers were able to publish Pastor fido settings before Marenzio: Filippo de Monte with O d’aspido più sorda in his fourteenth book a 5 (1590) and Claudio Monteverdi with O primavera gioventù dell’anno in his third book a 5 (1592): see Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’, p. 72; id., ‘“Un pasticcio di madrigaletti”?’, p. 152. 30 See Chapter 18. Despite the attribution to Tasso of the texts from Il convito de’ pastori and Arezia ninfa in Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’, pp. 72–73, 96, 99, some doubts still linger as to the correctness of this attribution (doubts shared by Chater). At any rate, in his critical edition Angelo Solerti relegated the two poems to the poet’s Opere minori in versi, vol. 3, pp. 433–41 and 409–19. Arezia ninfa in one MS is attributed to Ferrante Gonzaga (Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, p. 235). Whatever the truth, there is a striking contrast between the success of Il pastor fido and the relative obscurity of Il convito de’ pastori, whose plot is clearly derived from Guarini’s pastoral tragicomedy. Is a relatively minor poet indicated, such as Angelo Grillo? Then his statement (see below) that Marenzio’s ‘last book’ is ‘almost completely filled with’ poems of his would make even more sense, if indeed the eighth book a 5 is being referred to.

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famous dedicatory letter of his sixth book a 5, a veritable manifesto of madrigalian Affektenlehre.31 Battista Guarini too had collaborated directly with Luzzaschi, around 1584, producing the famous ballo, Il gioco della cieca (blindman’s buff) from Act III of Il pastor fido.32 But the documents known to us contain no evidence of collaboration with Marenzio. Poet and musician could have met at the Aldobrandini court (if not on previous occasions). We know that Guarini, hoping to obtain for his son Alessandro a position at the Seminario Romano, went to Rome at the end of 1593 and spent the winter there. In the spring he returned to Venice, but between December of 1594 and April 1595 he was once again in Rome.33 The most interesting testimony of the relations between Marenzio and the writers of his time comes from a letter of the Benedictine priest Angelo Grillo, who wrote under the alias of Livio Celiano. In addition to being a poet of merit, Grillo was an assiduous cultivator of music: in 1584 he sent Tasso ‘due tomi del Zerlino’ (‘two volumes of Zarlino’), that is Le istitutioni harmoniche and the Dimostrationi harmoniche, the most authoritative texts on music theory of the time. Grillo was Genoese, but had stayed in various cities and monasteries throughout Italy: Rome, Milan, Brescia, Subiaco, Praglia and San Benedetto Mantovano. He exchanged letters with countless patrons and men of culture, among whom the names of the composers Giulio Caccini, Felice Anerio, Giaches de Wert and Serafino Cantoni stand out. Once, after being consulted by Wert, he replied: ‘After Cavalier Guarini’s madrigals, pray do not seek mine, lest you should be tarred with the brush of poor taste, and I of excessive boldness. For I know only too well that there is as much difference between my madrigals and Signor Guarini’s as between talking with the soul and talking with the body. For it is soul and spirit that always characterize this most lovely of 31 A. Guarini, Prose, p. 142: ‘come a nascer prima fu la poesia, così la musica lei (come sua donna) riverisce, et a lei cede della prima genitura l’onore. … Onde ne segue che, se il poeta inalza lo stile, solleva eziandio il musico il tuono. Piagne, se il verso piagne, ride, se ride, se corre, se resta, se priega, se niega, se grida, se tace, se vive, se muore, tutti questi affetti, ed effetti, così vivamente da lei vengon espressi, che quella par quasi emulazione, che propriamente rassomiglianza de’ dirsi’ (‘just as poetry was born first, so music reveres her (as her mistress) and cedes to her the honour due to the elder. … Thus it follows that if the poet elevates his style, the musician is accustomed to raise his tone. He weeps, if the poetic line weeps, laughs if it laughs, if it runs, stands still, beseeches, denies, cries, is silent, lives, dies, all these affects and effects are expressed by the music so vividly, that what should properly be called imitation of nature seems more like emulation’). 32 On these aspects see Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria del concerto delle dame, p. 63 ff. and passim, and ‘Tasso, Luzzaschi’, p. 30 ff. 33 See Myers, introduction to Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 13, p. xx, n. 27; below, Chapter 24. Cardinals Cinzio and Pietro Aldobrandini both valued Guarini’s poetry.

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poets.’34 The same modesty appears in a letter to Felice Anerio: ‘In the last few months three madrigals from our Pietosi affetti were honoured by you with musical settings; and Father Don Serafino Spina, who undertook to send them to me, wrote to me that you were thinking of setting others, so as to make a complete book.’35 But let us now pass to the most interesting letter, sent from Subiaco to the Brescian priest and composer Don Massimiano Gabbiani in Ravenna: The past few months I sent Your Reverence a madrigaletto on the martyrdom of S. Placido, so that you could honour it with a musical setting; but I suspect it has gone astray, since you have not written to me at all. I am sending it to you again. I know you will favour it because of the piety of its subject, rather than for the work’s merit. This cannot be worth much, since the Muses neglected to look after it on the journey, leaving it to the whims of fortune, so that God alone know where it has got to. Now, as I said, I am sending it to you again. Signor Lelio Bertani used to tell me that a gifted composer setting clumsy poetry is like a valiant knight seated on a jade. Even if Your Reverence will not be riding a Bucephalus36 this time, you will not, I am sure, fare badly on a mere horse; and, if I am not deceived, you will be able to tilt your lance as before, to the full satisfaction of the spectators. The other day the last works of Signor Luca Marenzio of honoured memory came to me by chance, almost completely filled with my poetry. To be sure, it was juvenile poetry set to mature music, for the poetry was written at a time when not only the poetry but also the poet was very immature. So much the more then do I stand in debt to that immortal swan, who wished to intone his deathsong, so to speak, to the lines of a Cricket [Grillo], which he made sweet and immortal through his harmonious melody. Such men should never die. But what is there to marvel at? This great world will also close its eyes, but even this grim corpse, this immense pile of ashes will be resurrected to a better life. And I believe this to be true for Signor Marenzio, and I have offered a special prayer of thanksgiving to him for having so honoured the work of someone he did not know, or at least never met. May God accept it for the sake of the salvation of this harmonious soul, and grant Your Reverence the object of your religious contemplations.37

34

‘Doppo i madrigali del Cavalier Guarini, pregovi à non ricercare i miei per non dar tara à voi di poco gusto, et a me di soverchio ardimento. Che pur troppo so, ch’è tanta differenza da’ miei madrigali à quei del signor Guarini, quanto è da parlar con l’anima à parlar co ’l corpo. Che tutti anima, e tutti spirto son sempre i parti di quel leggiadrissimo poeta’: Grillo, Lettere, p. 729. Wert’s letter is undated. These letters were first discussed in Einstein, ‘Abbot Angelo Grillo’s Letters’. 35 ‘Tre madrigali de’ nostri Pietosi Affetti hebbi a’ mesi passati, honorati et raccolti da V.S. sotto le sue leggi harmoniche; e ’l Padre Don Serafino Spina, il quale prese carico d’inviarmeli, scrissemi ch’ella pensava di passar tanto oltre, che se ne fermasse un compiuto libro.’ Einstein, ‘Abbot Angelo Grillo’s Letters’, p. 266. 36 Bucephalus was the name of Alexander the Great’s horse. 37 ‘Inviai questi mesi passati un Madrigaletto a V[ostra] P[aterni]tà fatto nel martirio di San Placido, perche fosse honorato della sua musica; ma dubito che sia smarrito, non

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This letter not only confirms the intense admiration a writer could feel towards an outstanding composer, it also reveals that Marenzio had ‘never’ met Marenzio in person. Who could have acted as an intermediary between the two men? We know that Grillo lived for some time in Brescia, where he knew Lelio Bertani and the historian Ottavio Rossi, both of whom were in contact with Marenzio. So the Genoese poet learnt Marenzio’s name not only from musical prints but also through personal conversations with his Brescian friends. As for Marenzio, Grillo’s fame could have reached him through the mediation of some patrons. As James Chater has revealed, the madrigal collection mentioned in the letter (‘the last works of Signor Luca Marenzio … almost completely filled with my poetry’) is none other than the eighth book a 5 of 1598, actually the composer’s penultimate publication.38 Since the book’s dedicatee, Ferrante Gonzaga, had for a long time been corresponding intensely with Angelo Grillo, it is not difficult to suppose that it was he who had passed the texts on to Marenzio.39 Another scrivendomene Ella cosa alcuna. Glielo rimando di nuovo. So che lo favorirà per la pietà del soggetto se non per lo merito del componimento. Il qual si può stimar molto poco da che le Muse l’han transcurato nel viaggio et lasciatolo in arbitrio della fortuna, che Dio sa dove l’ha condotto. Hor, come dico, lo rimando di nuovo. Mi soleva dire il Signor Lelio Bertani che un valente Musico sovra goffa Poesia era come un valoroso Cavaliere sovra una rozza. Se V[ostra] P[aterni]tà non cavalcherà questa volta un Bucefalo, non farà, credo io, in tutto male a cavallo; et potrà se non m’inganno, correr la sua lancia, come hà fatto altre volte con soddisfattion degli spettatori. Questi giorni adietro mi capitarono a caso le ultime fatiche del Signor Luca Marenzo, degnissima memoria, quasi tutte piene di miei versi: ma versi giovinetti sotto canuta Musica: sendo fatti in quel tempo, che non solo la Poesia, ma anco il Poeta erano immaturi assai. Tanto più ne son debitore a quell’immortal Cigno, che per così dire, volle cantar l’estreme sue essequie co’ versi d’un Grillo, raddolciti, et immortalati nella sua melodia soavissima. Simili huomini non doverian mai morire. Ma che meraviglia? Anco chiuderà gli occhi questo gran Mondo, et di horrido cadavero et cenere immenso risorgerà anch’egli a più bella vita, come stimo del signor Marenzo, per lo quale offersi particolar sacrificio in guiderdone d’haver tanto honorato le cose d’uno sconosciuto, ò almen non veduto mai. Iddio me lo accetti per salute di quella armonica anima, et a V[ostra] P[aterni]tà conceda il fine de’ suoi religiosi pensieri.’ Grillo, Lettere, p. 890. This letter is undated, but is signed ‘Da Subiaco’. Durante and Martellotti, Don Angelo Grillo O.S.B., p. 452, place him at the monastery of S. Scolastica di Subiaco in 1601. 38 Chater, ‘Luca Marenzio: new documents’, p. 11. Einstein’s hypothesis (‘Abbot Angelo Grillo’) about a lost book of madrigals on texts by Grillo, repeated by Franco Piperno (‘Marenzio, Luca’ in Dizionario enciclopedico universale, vol. 4, pp. 647–61), is therefore no longer valid. 39 Ferrante Gonzaga had married a Genoese noblewoman, Vittoria Doria. Marenzio’s eighth book a 5 contains seven madrigals on texts attributed to Grillo: Provate la mia fiamma, Ahi chi ti insidia, Quando io miro le rose, Questi leggiadri, Care lagrime mie, La mia Clori è brunetta, Laura se pur sei l’aura. Rimanti in pace, also on a text

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intermediary could have been the Genoese Nicola (Nicolò) Pallavicino, dedicatee of the fifth book a 5 (1584) and a nephew of Angelo Grillo.40 Until this penultimate collection Marenzio felt himself obliged to satisfy the wishes of his protectors. On the other hand, to maintain that a composer of this stature did not also follow purely personal criteria in his selection of texts is to adopt an overly mechanistic view. As Lelio Bertani (see the above-quoted letter), said: ‘A gifted composer setting clumsy poetry is like a valiant knight seated on a jade.’ The extraordinary sensitivity Marenzio shows himself capable of when setting madrigal texts cannot but reflect an equally developed culture and literary taste.

by Grillo, had previously appeared in the sixth book a 5 (1594), dedicated to Cinzio Aldobrandini. The cardinal was also in contact with the Genoese poet. 40 This family tie is referred to in A. Grillo, Lettere, p. 323. However, Marenzio’s fifth book a 5 contains no texts attributed to Grillo.

Chapter 23

The Platonic spirit Among the few writings of Marenzio that have survived we rarely find discussion of poetics or references to the literary culture of his time. For this reason it is worthwhile to examine the texts of two dedicatory letters containing passages of philosophic interest. The third book a 5 was not addressed to a single protector, but to a collective institution: the renowned Accademia Filarmonica of Verona, which in that period became an important point of reference for Italian madrigalists. On 1 December Marenzio in Rome wrote the following to the Veronese academicians: these few musical compositions of mine ... jealous both for their own reputation and for the public good, are an attempt to revive with their example that ancient law of Egypt, whose strict decrees did not allow any kind of music to be enjoyed by public crowds before being fully approved by certain highly prudent guardians of the public good. And indeed, in all the movements of human souls, the perfect consonance of harmonic numbers holds such sway and judgement, that it is no astonishment that the greatest of all philosophers established the correct use of this wonderful discipline as a fundamental basis of his fortunate Republic; and how far I have progressed in the understanding of this discipline up to now is something you alone, most judicious lords, are fit to determine. ...1

A statement that in certain ways complements the above passage can be found in the dedication of Marenzio’s second book a 6 to the cardinal of Guise (Rome, 15 April 1584): The notion that perfect music is, as the common herd imagine, intended only to delight 1 ‘queste poche mie compositioni di Musica ... gelose non meno della propria riputatione, che del publico bene, tentano di rinovare co ’l loro essempio quell’antichissima legge d’Egitto, i cui rigorosi decreti, non prima alcuna maniera di Musica lasciavano vagar per le radunanze de gl’huomini, che da certi prudentissimi conservatori della comune utilità fosse interamente approvata. Et certo in tutti i movimenti de gl’animi humani hà tanto di giuridittione, & d’arbitrio la perfetta consonanza de numeri armonici, che non è maraviglia, se ’l maggiore di tutti i Filosofi per base fermissima della sua fortunata Republica stabilì il diritto uso di questa mirabile disciplina; nella intelligenza della quale per quanto buona strada incaminato io mi sia, et che progresso habbia fatto fin qui à voi soli giudiciosissimi Signori s’appartiene il determinare ...’. 262

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the senses, is so far from the opinion of sages, that the greatest of the judicious disciples of Pythagoras proposed that it was the true way to reduce to stable concord all the internal dissonances of our souls, and he considered it worthy to be called the unique parallel to temperance. ... It causes no astonishment that the actions of a truly Christian temperance always accompanied the study of perfect music, the understanding of which the voice of fame declared to be so excellent that I, like a new Egyptian composer according to the usage of that ancient nation, come to consecrate along with myself these few notes of mine to you as a true Mercury. ...2

The two dedications pose some problems of interpretation. With the sole exception of Pythagoras, Marenzio does not mention any of the ancient philosophers by name, but behind this reticence it is easy to recognize the auctoritas of Plato, referred to as ‘the greatest of all philosophers’, who ‘established the correct use of this wonderful discipline [of music] as a fundamental basis of his fortunate Republic’. It is significant that it is Plato, not Aristotle, who is here elevated to the rank of the greatest philosopher. This is mainly due to the specifically musical content. Whereas Cinquecento authors usually referred back to Aristotle before re-elaborating the key concept of mimesis as the foundation of poetry, musical theorists often had recourse to Plato. When Torquato Tasso called for a return in music to the gravity of the Dorian mode in his dialogue La Cavaletta, he invoked the authority of Aristotle, with an implicit reference to Politics and to (Pseudo-Aristotelian) Problems.3 In reality, the official culture of the Counter-Reformation viewed neo-Platonic doctrines with increasing suspicion. These doctrines could continue to flourish in some intellectual circles, riding the wave of the great Humanist ferment that was not yet spent. The Accademia Filarmonica of Verona, located in the territory of the Venetian Republic, was certainly a cultural association of this kind. Plato discussed music on several occasions. At the end of the sixteenth century the following passage from the Republic (III. 398) attracted much attention:

2

‘Tanto è lontano dal parere dei savi, Illustrissimo Monsignore, che la perfetta musica sia, come il volgo s’imagina, indirizzata al solo diletto de’ sentimenti, che ’l maggiore de più giuditiosi seguaci di Pitagora proponendocela per vera strada di ridurre à stabile concordia ogni intrinseca dissonanza de gli animi nostri la riputò degna di essere detta unico parallelo della Temperanza. ... Non è maraviglia se alle attioni d’una vera Christiana temperanza accompagnò sempre lo studio della perfetta musica, nella cui intelligenza il grido della fama la divulga tanto eccellente, che io quasi nuovo compositore Egittio secondo il ritto dell’antica natione à lei come à vero Mercurio vengo à consecrar meco insieme queste poche mie note.’ 3 However, ten years after writing his La Cavaletta, Tasso in his Discorsi del poema eroico (1594) was to name ‘Socrates and Plato in the dialogues Republic and Laws’ among the sources concerning Dorian harmonies: Tasso, Discorsi dell’arte poetica e del poema eroico, ed. Poma, p. 263.

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Socrates: But at any rate you are in a position to start by saying that singing consists of three elements: words, harmony and rhythm. Glaucos: Yes, that is right. S: Insofar as it has words, it is no different from speech that is not sung, in the need to conform to the models we just named, and in the same way. G: Yes, indeed. S: And harmony and rhythm have to accommodate themselves to the words. G: Of course!

It was Plato who between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries dominated the crucial debate about the relationship between text and music and hence about the aesthetics of the madrigal. Of the three elements that make up singing – words, harmony and rhythm – it is harmony and rhythm that should accompany the words. This postulate was to form the basis of Monteverdi’s ‘seconda prattica’, based on the principle that the text (oratione, logos) should be the master of the music (‘armonia’), and not vice versa.4 But the learned Zarlino, under the tutelage of the Platonic tradition, had arrived at the same conclusions: It remains now to be seen (seeing as both the time and the place require it) in what way one should accompany the harmonies to the verbal content. I say ‘accompany the harmonies to the words’, because although in the Seconda parte (where I explained what Plato had in mind when he spoke of melody) we said that it is composed of oration, harmony and number; and also that in this composition one of these things is not more important than the other; nevertheless oration occupies first position as the principle of these elements; and the other two parts are its servants. Because after showing the whole by means of the parts, [Plato] says that harmony and number should follow oration, not the vice versa.5 4

See Giulio Cesare Monteverdi’s Dichiaratione della Lettera stampata nel Quinto libro de suoi madrigali in C. Monteverdi, Scherzi musicali a tre voci (Venice, 1607), partially translated in Strunk, Source Readings, pp. 408–9. According to Giulio Cesare, Monteverdi identifies two practices: in the first, armonia is the mistress of oratione, while in the second the relationship is reversed. The composers of the first practice include Ockeghem, Josquin, La Rue, Mouton, Crecquillon, Clemens non Papa, Gombert and Willaert (who perfected the first practice), with the ‘eccellentissimo’ Zarlino as their rule maker. The seconda prattica composers, with the ‘divino’ Rore at their head, include Gesualdo, Cavaliere, Fontanelli, Turchi, Pecci, Ingegneri, Marenzio, Wert, Luzzaschi, Peri and Caccini. He then cites Plato’s definition of melody: ‘Melodiam ex tribus constare, oratione, harmonia, Rithmo ... Rithmus & Harmonia orationem sequuntur non ipsa oratio Rithmum & Harmoniam sequitur’ (‘Melody consists of three things, oration, harmony and rhythm ... Rhythm and harmony follow oration, not vice versa’). Thus the primacy Plato assigns to oratione is cited as justification for the priorities of the seconda prattica. For a reappraisal of these aspects see Tomlinson, Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance. 5 ‘Resta hora da vedere (essendo che il tempo, & il luogo lo ricerca) in qual maniera si debba accompagnare le Harmonie alle soggette Parole. Dico accompagnar le

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While this is not the place to delve into such a complex subject,6 still it is important to stress that Marenzio, as a possible reader of Plato’s Republic, could have been led to a current of thought fundamental for the evolution of the Cinquecento madrigal. The Platonic tradition also provides a frame of reference (though not an exclusive one) for the concept of ‘temperamento’ that we encountered in our discussion of Tasso’s La Cavaletta. The canon Artusi, in his famous querelle with Monteverdi, defined ‘concento’ as ‘that tempering of low and high of which Plato spoke’.7 Clearly, the same source could sometimes be used to arrive at very different opinions, whether in support of innovation or in defence of tradition. In his dedication to the cardinal of Guise, Marenzio presented in summary form the

6 7

Harmonie alle Parole, per questo: perche se bene nella Seconda parte (dichiarando secondo la mente di Platone quello, che era Melodia) si è detto, che è un composto di Oratione, di Harmonia, et di Numero; et pari che in tal compositione l’una di queste cose non sia prima dell’altra; tuttavia avanti le altre parti pone la Oratione come cosa principale; et le altre due parti, come quelle, che serveno a lei. Percioche dopo che hà manifestato il tutto col mezo delle parti dice, che l’Harmonia, et il Numero debbeno seguitare la Oratione, et non la Oratione il Numero, né l’Harmonia.’ Zarlino, Istitutioni harmoniche, p. 339 (capitolo 32, ‘In qual maniera le Harmonie si accommodino alle soggette Parole’). Far more radical conclusions, though founded on the same premises, are attained by Giulio Caccini in the famous preface to his Le nuove musiche Florence, 1602): ‘questi intendentissimi gentiluomini m’hanno sempre confortato, e con chiarissime ragioni convinto, a non pregiare quella sorte di musica che non lasciando bene intendersi le parole, guasta il concetto et il verso, ora allungando et ora scorciando le sillabe per accomodarsi al contrappunto, laceramento della poesia, ma ad attenermi a quella maniera cotanto lodata da Platone et altri filosofi, che affermarono la musica altro non essere che la favella e il ritmo et il sono per ultimo, e non per lo contrario, a volere che ella possa penetrare nell’altrui intelletto e fare quei mirabili effetti che ammirano gli scrittori, e che non potevano farsi per il contrappunto nelle oderne musiche ...’ (‘for these most understanding gentlemen [the members of Count Giovanni de’ Bardi’s Camerata] always encouraged me and convinced me with the clearest reasons not to follow that old way of composition whose music, not suffering the words to be understood by the hearers, ruins the conceit and the verse, now lengthening and now shortening the syllables to match the descant, a laceration of the poetry, but to hold fast to that manner so much praised by Plato and other philosophers, who declare that music is nothing other than the fable and last and not the contrary, the rhythm and the sound, in order to penetrate the perception of others and to produce those marvellous effects, admired by the writers, which cannot be produced by counterpoint in modern musical composition ...’). Translation follows Strunk, Source Readings, p. 378. However, I have replaced Strunk’s ‘descant’ by ‘counterpoint’ – JC). For a unified overview of musical thought in the sixteenth century see Palisca, Humanism in Italian Renaissance Musical Thought. ‘quel temperamento di grave et acuto che disse Platone’. Artusi, Seconda parte dell’Artusi, p. 26.

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Pythagorean doctrine according to which music, rather than aiming at sensual pleasure, serves to compose the dissonances of the soul, and thus is ‘the unique parallel to temperance’. (A little further on he uses the expression ‘Christian temperance’ in deference to the patron’s clerical status.) The concept of a music that aimed to be beneficial rather than merely pleasurable was a widely diffused topos in intellectual circles in this period. Much more unusual, and therefore all the more noteworthy, are the references to ancient Egypt found in both the Marenzio dedications cited. To the Filarmonici of Verona the composer had explained that no music could be diffused among ancient Egyptians without the prior assent of ‘most prudent’ sages. To Cardinal de Guise, however, he turned like ‘a new Egyptian composer’, resolved to consecrate his own work to a ‘true Mercury’. With this expression Marenzio was not thinking of the Mercury of classical mythology, but to Hermes Trismegistus, whose wisdom, attested to in the celebrated writings of the Corpus hermeticum, had aroused great interest in Marsilio Ficino and in the other followers of the Renaissance neo-Platonist tradition. I do not know where Marenzio could have come across the story of ancient Egyptian laws concerning music. I believe it is plausible that some learned person in the service of Cardinal Luigi d’Este communicated this idea to him verbally. Composers often allowed themselves to be helped by zealous men of letters in composing their dedications, almost always flavoured with vacuous rhetoric and lacking specific references to musical compositions.8 The allusion to Egypt and to Hermes Trismegistus would seem to lead us to a brilliant philosopher and scholar who was active at the Ferrarese court in that period: Francesco Patrizi. A highly revered student of Plato, Patrizi was also intensively engaged with ‘Egyptian’ philosophy. In 1571, when planning a work on fragments predating Plato and Aristotle, he proposed a section dedicated to the ‘philosophical doctrines of the Egyptians: from Mercurius [Trismegistus], Iamblichus, Plutarch, Palaephatus and also from the author of the Mystic Theology attributed by the Egyptians to Aristotle, and from other authors’.9 And in a letter of 1585 to Matteo Sonner, ambassador to Alfonso d’Este from the court of the Duke of Bavaria, he wrote: ‘I began ... with my own hand to transcribe my Zoroastro, the first of my ten books of Thesaurus sapientiae, and it contains elevated, most noble, curious

8

9

For the well-known case of Macque, in which the composer, before publishing his dedication, asked a certain ‘Signor Peranda’, secretary to Caetani, for help, see Lippmann, ‘Giovanni de Macque fra Roma e Napoli’, pp. 258–63. As we have seen, Luzzaschi too asked Alessando Guarini to write the dedication of his sixth book a 5. ‘[dogmata] Aegyptiorum: ex Mercurio, Jamblicho, Plutarcho, Palephato ut puto autore, Mysticae Aegyptiorum Theologiae Aristoteli ascriptae atque aliis’. See letter of Francesco Patrizi to an unknown person, perhaps Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (Venice, 31 May 1571), in Patrizi da Cherso, Lettere ed opuscoli inediti, ed. Aguzzi Barbagli, pp. 8 ff.

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and unknown materials. And so I have made a dedication of this and of the two following, Mercurio Trismegisto and Mosè, which I intend to publish under the name of the Most Serene Duke Guglielmo [Gonzaga].’10 Did Patrizi know Marenzio? The biographies of the two men intersect on several occasions: in the early months of 1581, for example, both men were in Ferrara, in direct contact with the ducal court. For many years Patrizi served Alfonso d’Este at the Ferrarese Studio; then, in 1592, he moved to Rome on the invitation of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini. After being admitted to the prelate’s private academy, the old philosopher probably had the opportunity to meet Marenzio again. Besides, his musical interests were far from negligible. In his dedication to Alfonso d’Este of his treatise Della poetica, Patrizi had pointed to the glorious musical tradition of the Ferrarese duchy: ‘[The music] of the Abbey of Pomposa, the work of great men such as the monk Guido [of Arezzo], was regenerated, and then expanded and refined by the Modenese Lodovico Fogliani (who taught theory) and was practised by Josquin, by Adrian [Willaert] and Cipriano [de Rore], and by many others who were supported here: and finally the Chromatic and the Enharmonic was first heard here through the agency of Don Nicola Vicentino, who was in the service of your family.’11 This short passage demonstrates Patrizi’s intense humanistic interest in the ancient genera of Greek music, which was also the target of restoration in the field of practical musicmaking. The philosopher had contacts with various scholars and academics versed in music theory. Mention should especially be made of the Bolognese Ercole Bottrigari, who was also attracted by the idea of restoring by the ancient chromatic genus.12 There was an intense correspondence with the main 10

‘mi posi ... a trascrivere di mia mano il mio Zoroastro, che è primo de’ dieci libri del mio Thesaurus sapientiae, e contiene materie alte e nobilissime e curiose e incognite. Così ho fatto una dedicatoria di esso, e di due seguenti, che sono Mercurio Trismegisto e Mosè, che dico di mandar fuori sotto nome del Serenissimo Signor Duca Guglielmo.’ Letter of Patrizi to Matteo Sonner (Ferrara, 30 March 1585), in Patrizi, Lettere, ed. Aguzzo Barbagli, pp. 40 ff. No book was published with the Thesaurus sapientiae. The material about which the philosopher writes in this letter was incorporated into the Magia philosophica and the Nova de universis philosophia, the latter dedicated to Cardinal Federico Borromeo. 11 ‘[La musica] nella Badia di Pomposa, opera de’ vostri maggiori da Guido Monaco, fu rigenerata, e poi cresciuta, e raffinata da Lud[ovi]co Fogliani Modanese, in teorica insegnata, ed esercitata, da’ Giusquini, da gli Adriani, e da Cipriani, e da tanti altri che quì prima hebbero sostegno: e finalmente la Cromatica, e la Enarmonica per D. Nicola Vicentino, ne’ servigi di vostra casa, prima quì si fe sentire.’ Patrizi, Della poetica (Florence, 1586), dedicatory letter. 12 On relations between Patrizi and Bottrigari see Patrizi, Lettere, pp. 53 ff. Bottrigari chose the philosopher as a protagonist in his dialogue Il Patricio, overo dei tetracordi armonici di Aristosseno (Bologna, 1593). Patrizi’s place in the field of musicology

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protagonists of Florentine cultural life in the late Cinquecento, such as Baccio Valori and Giovanni Battista Strozzi the Younger; however, we lack precise information about Patrizi’s contributions to Giovanni de’ Bardi’s circle.13 It is also significant that Patrizi, alongside Zarlino, adhered to the syncretistic programme of the Accademia Veneziana della Fama (1557–62).14 While living in Ferrara he became closely acquainted with Tarquinia Molza, whom he had known since the early 1570s. Homages to this beautiful lady, ‘a miracle among women, not only for her incomparable learning ... but also for her poetry, philosophy, and music’, recur quite frequently in his writings, especially in the unfinished dialogues of L’amorosa filosofia.15 It is true that these close relations between the Istrian intellectual and some of the key figures of contemporary music are insufficient to demonstrate a real influence on Marenzio’s works. But they do provide a litmus test of the contiguity of speculative and practical music within the boundaries of the humanistic applications of Platonic tradition. The suspicion remains that Marenzio aligned himself with this culture for was discussed in Artusi, L’Artusi (Venice, 1600); id., La seconda parte (Venice, 1603). Bottrigari’s interest in the chromatic genus can be seen in his four-voice composition published in his dialogue Il Melone. 13 Patrizi, Lettere, pp. xxi ff., 28 ff. 14 Gozza, ‘“Desiderio di natione lombardo da Pavia”’, p. 145: ‘L’eclettico programma editoriale dell’Accademia Veneta per la classe musicale, che affianca “l’Armonia del Mondo di Fra Francesco Giorgio tradotto dalla lingua latina” agli scritti di Tolomeo, Porfirio, Aristide Quintiliano, Faber Stapulensis, Glareano e Foliani, è forse riconducibile alle diverse attitudini culturali e musicali di Francesco Patrizi e Zarlino: da un lato un platonismo numerologico e ermetizzante, affine al neoplatonismo di Fabio Paolini e dell’Accademia degli Uranici, dall’altro la tradizione della trattatistica musicale, da Tolomeo a Foliani (tenuto da Zarlino in grande considerazione), riletta in chiave di rinascimento delle matematiche e alla luce delle discussioni epistemologiche sulla teoria aristotelica della dimostrazione’ (‘The eclectic publishing programme of the Accademia Veneta in the musical category, in which the “Armonia del mondo di Fra Francesco Giorgio tradotto dalla lingua latina” is seen alongside the writings of Ptolemy, Porphyry, Aristides Quintilianus, Faber Stapulensis, Glareanus and Fogliani, can perhaps be traced back to the diverse cultural and musical attitudes of Francesco Patrizi and Zarlino: on one side a numerological, hermeneutic Platonism, allied to the neo-Platonism of Fabio Paolini and the Accademia degli Uranici, on the other the tradition of musical treatises, from Ptolemy to Fogliani (whom Zarlino held in high regard), re-read using as cipher the revival of mathematics and in the light of the epistemological discussions about Aristotelian theories of proof’). 15 ‘miracolo di tutte le donne, e per la incomparabile dottrina ... e per la filosofia e poesie sue, e per la musica’. Patrizi, Lettere, pp. 11–22. An extract from L’amorosa filosofia, with valuable information on Molza, is reproduced in Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria, pp. 132–6.

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contingent motives. The two ‘philosophical’ dedications, dating respectively from the end of 1582 and the beginning of 1584, appear to reflect ideological tendencies that can be directly related to the circle of Cardinal Luigi d’Este. It is indicative that in the 1590s, after the composer had moved closer to Bardi in Florence and Patrizi in Rome, any Platonic references disappear at precisely the moment when one would expect the contrary. Luigi d’Este was a protector of philosophers, including those of the occult, those who sometimes ventured into the fields of alchemy and divination.16 It was in 1582, the year of Marenzio’s dedication to the Filarmonici of Verona, that the cardinal pressed into service the intellectual Girolamo Frachetta, who dedicated to his patron an encyclopedia compiled from philosophical texts, De universo assertiones octigentae (Rome, 1583), the fruit of remarkable erudition in the field of neo-Platonic, hermetic and cabbalistic learning.17 Can we perceive the hand of Frachetta in Marenzio’s ‘Platonic’ dedications? The places, times and occasions seem to favour this hypothesis. Even if Marenzio did not cultivate a personal interest in Platonic philosophy, he could have entered into contact with the intellectuals in the service of Cardinale d’Este, and perhaps he borrowed from them the call for a profound musical renewal based on humanistic foundations.

16 See Chapters 3 and 13. 17 Despite the cardinal’s protection, Frachetta had suffered problems with the censorship. It is no coincidence that after 1585 he tried to conform to the Aristotelian tradition and devoted himself to more innocuous literary themes. We know that in the Este household he met many cultivated men and he knew Scipione Gonzaga: Baldini, ‘Girolamo Frachetta’.

Chapter 24

A new style On 10 December 1587, in that interlude in Marenzio’s life between the death of Luigi d’Este and his admission into the service of Ferdinando de’ Medici, Marenzio addressed to Count Mario Bevilacqua his first book a 4, 5, 6 (1588), a collection with especially serious artistic ambitions.1 Famed as an outstandingly discerning musical patron, Bevilacqua was the protector of the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona, an association Marenzio had known since the early 1580s. The text of the dedication, well known for its programmatic content, reads as follows: The devotion in which I have always held Your Very Illustrious Lordship, although it was born of the honoured fame of your very noble qualities, has been nourished in me and has grown through the favours and pleasing demonstrations that I have received from you; and since I have been unable till now to respond to them except with pure and simple affection, it seemed to me fitting on the occasion of my passing through Verona to present to you these madrigals composed by me very recently in a style very different from that of the past, inasmuch as I have aimed, through the imitation of the words and the propriety of the style, at a sombre gravity (so to speak), which will perhaps be far more pleasing to connoisseurs like you and to your most virtuoso ensemble. Accept with happy countenance this small expression of my devotion and service, and deign to preserve me in your customary favour, since I kiss your hand with lively heart and pray for your complete happiness.2

One is immediately struck by the extraordinary interest of this dedication. It is above all a unique ‘manifesto’ of Marenzio’s poetics, signed by the composer 1 2

Critical edition in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 7. ‘La divotione, che sempre ho portato a V[ostra] S[ignoria] Molto Illustre: se ben è nata dall’honorato grido delle nobilissime qualità sue, si è tutta via in me nudrita, et cresciuta per li favori, et grate dimostrationi da lei ricevute: né avendo fin hora potuto corrisponderle se non co ’l puro, et semplice affetto, mi è paruto con l’occasione del mio passaggio per Verona presentarle questi Madrigali da me ultimamente composti con maniera assai differente dalla passata, havendo, et per l’imitatione delle parole, et per la proprietà dello stile atteso ad una (dirò così) mesta gravità, che da gl’intendenti pari suoi, et dal virtuosissimo suo ridutto sarà forse via più gradita. Accetti ella con lieta fronte questo picciolo effetto dell’osservanza, et servitù mia, et degnisi conservarmi nella solita gratia, che di vivo cuore le baccio la mano, pregandole ogni compita felicità.’ 270

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himself. Einstein and Engel saw in these declarations a direct response to Tasso’s dialogue La Cavaletta, which called for a return of madrigalian music to an appropriate ‘gravità’.3 In reality the ancient concept of gravitas seems to have been a highly familiar topos to cultivated people and musicians in the sixteenth century. For example Orazio Vecchi, in his Veglie di Siena (1604), classified his compositions into two categories: ‘grave’ and ‘piacevole’.4 Therefore we cannot prove with absolute certainty that it was Tasso’s work that set the tone for this unusual madrigal collection, even if, as we shall see, chronological factors and the adoption of an artificial style for this occasion make the hypothesis not only attractive but plausible. But how do this ‘style very different from that of the past’5 and this ‘sombre gravity’ manifest themselves? An answer can be found above all in the choice of poetry, dominated by the classic Petrarch and Sannazaro. The first text, taken from Petrarch’s sestina Mia benigna fortuna, immediately projects a shade of grave anxiety: Ov’è condotto il mio amoroso stile? A parlar d’ira, a ragionar di morte. U’ son’i versi, u’ son giunte le rime, Che gentil cor udia pensoso e lieto; Ov’è ’l favoleggiar d’Amor le notti? Hor non parl’io, né penso, altro che pianto.

Where has my amorous style fled? To speak of wrath, to discuss death. Where have they gone, the verses and rhymes that a gentle heart once heard, thoughtful and happy; where are the tales of Love, recited by night? Now I can speak or think of nothing but tears.6

The same sombre tone can be found in the other poetic texts, as can be seen from the incipits: a4 2. Se la mia vita da l’aspro tormento (Petrarch) 3. Piango ché Amor con disusato oltraggio 4. Affligger chi per voi la vita piagne (Della Casa) a5 5. Fuggito è ’l sonno a le mie crude notti (Petrarch) 3 4 5

6

See Chapter 22. Haar, ‘On musical games in the 16th century’, p. 33. ‘maniera assai differente dalla passata’. On the concept of manner see Haar, ‘Selfconsciousness’, pp. 222–25. The relevant issue of Studi musicali (3, 1974) includes the acts of the international conference ‘Manierismo in arte e musica’, Rome, Accademia nazionale di S. Cecilia, 18–23 October 1973. Texts and translations of the first book a 4, 5, 6 are reprinted in Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 7, pp. xxii–xxvi. (However, the translations of the poetic texts in this chapter are my own – JC.)

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6. 7. 8. 9. 10. a6 11. 12. 13. 14.

Senza il mio vago sol qual fia il mio stato (Troiano) Senza il mio sole, in tenebre e martiri (Sannazaro) Ben mi credeva, lasso (Sannazaro) Fiere silvestre, che per lati campi (Sannazaro) Ecco che un’altra volta, o piagge apriche (Sannazaro) Com’ogni rio che d’acque dolci et chiare Valli riposte e sole (Sannazaro) Interdette speranze e van desio (Sannazaro) O fere stelle, homai datemi pace (Sannazaro)

Only in the fifteenth and last poetic text (set for two five-voice choirs in accordance with the custom of ending a collection with a ‘grand finale’) does an overall brighter mood take over, albeit one tinged with solemnity: Basti fin qui le pen’e i duri affanni In tante carte e le mie gravi some Haver mostrato, e come Amor i suoi seguaci al fin governa. Hor mi vorrei levar con altri vanni Per potermi di lauro ornar le chiome E con più saldo nome Lasciar di noi qua giù memoria eterna. (Sannazaro)

May the pains and the harsh anxieties hitherto expressed in so many poems suffice to show both my heavy burdens and how Love leads his followers to the end. Now I would like to soar on other wings so that I may adorn my brow with laurel and, with a more secure reputation, leave here below some eternal memory of us.

From the musical point of view the unity of the book is assured by the constant use of tempus imperfectum diminutum (¢) in all the pieces, a choice of mensuration entirely consistent with his intention to express a ‘sombre gravity’.7 The contents of the collection are uniform not, as hitherto, in the number of voices, but rather in the style and the argument of the poetic texts. It is probable that this esoteric solution, certainly far removed from the public’s expectations, determined the collection’s lack of success in the publishing market: it was the only one of Marenzio’s books not to have been reprinted.8

7

8

For a comment on the whole book see Luisi, ‘La “maniera assai differente dalla passata”’, pp. 51–71. See also Freedman, ‘Marenzio’s Madrigali a quattro, cinque et sei voci of 1588’. A more recent discussion of this book is Cecchi’s paper ‘“Ove ho condotto il mio amoroso stile?”’ Ledbetter (Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 7, introduction, p. xvii) has observed that all the madrigals in the book except the last ‘give the impression of moving rather sedately in a steady tempo, of proceeding without extreme or violent changes in rhythmic values (although pieces tend to become gradually somewhat more animated toward the end of the book)’. However, Luisi (‘La “maniera assai differente”’, p. 62) concludes that in these compositions ‘confluisce senza alcuna limitazione tutta la

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Ledbetter has concluded that this book occupies a position midway in Marenzio’s compositional development, not only because it stands almost exactly at the centre of his career as a madrigalist, but also because it represents a stylistic watershed between the first and second decades of his creative activity.9 However, a detailed consideration of the book’s context and of the circles for which it was intended have led me to revise at least in part the implications of Ledbetter’s claim. Let us first turn our attention to Count Mario Bevilacqua, whom we have already encountered in connection with the Marenzio portrait and who has already been the object of scholarly attention.10 Bevilacqua was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona on 8 June 1568,11 and he sponsored a famous musical ridotto in his palace. This is how a contemporary writer describes this ridotto: Certain honorable gatherings, called musical ridutti, can also be considered types of Academies. These take place here in the homes of various noble private citizens; the most important among them is that of Mario Bevilacqua, in whose magnificent palace, on certain specified days of the week, in a room noteworthy for its precious and excellent paintings and other noble decorations, one may hear divine maturità artistica di Marenzio, senza esclusione di sorta di quegli atteggiamenti di poderosa impronta tecnica che il musico sapeva magistralmente piegare alle sue esigenze espressive’ (‘Marenzio’s artistic maturity flows together without limitation, without excluding those powerful demonstrations of technique that the master was able to bend to his expressive requirements’). Again (ibid., pp. 65 ff.): ‘La mia idea è che lo sfortunato esito dell’edizione non può essere stato determinato dalla qualità artistica dei brani, la cui validità appare indiscutibile; l’unica motivazione possibile rimane l’insolito uso del tactus con misura di breve’ (‘My idea is that the lack of success of this publication cannot be attributed to the artistic quality of the pieces, whose value seems beyond doubt; the only remaining possible reason is the unusual use of the misura di breve’). Freedman (‘Marenzio’s Madrigali’, p. 340) observes: ‘the likelihood that the book enjoyed only limited circulation should not be taken as an indicator of its insularity. Quite to the contrary, in this volume we may detect allusions to and reworkings of poetry, music, and aesthetic ideals current not only in Bevilacqua’s household, but also in the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona, and even among other elevated circles of North Italian musical patronage of the second half of the sixteenth century.’ 9 Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 7, p. xviii. 10 Paganuzzi, ‘Mario Bevilacqua, amico della musica’; Castellani, ‘A 1593 Veronese inventory’. A branch of the Bevilacqua family transferred to Ferrara, where in the 1590s Counts Bonifacio and Luigi Bevilacqua promoted an active musical ridotto: see Newcomb, ‘The three anthologies for Laura Peverara’; id., The Madrigal at Ferrara, vol. 1, pp. 197 ff.; Chater, ‘Reflections of music glory’; Freedman, ‘Marenzio’s Madrigali’, pp. 340 ff. 11 Turrini, L’Accademia filarmonica, p. 157.

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harmonies performed by various most excellent masters, who are paid for the most part out of the liberality of that gentleman. There is both vocal music and that of all sorts of musical instruments, which have been gathered there in great numbers from every part of Christendom at great expense and high diligence. For this reason the ridutto has become famous not only in Verona but in the whole of Italy.12

Another tribute to the gathering was paid by a theorist from Parma, Pietro Ponzio, who set his treatise Ragionamento di musica, published, like Marenzio’s book, in 1588, within the ambience of the ridotto. In his dedication to Bevilacqua Ponzio praises the count as a ‘protector of music and musicians, whose most illustrious house continually resounds with harmony and worthy, excellent concerti’.13 The fame of this Veronese nobleman must have flourished also in Rome, for Giovanni Battista Moscaglia offered him his third book a 5 (1585) with these flattering words: Having heard the resounding trumpet of your most illustrious nobility, and the most honourable fame of your ridotto, frequented by so many highly skilled spirits, and which, being adorned with most perfect musical instruments of almost every sort, together with the famous portraits of all the most excellent musicians of today, not only in Italy but throughout Europe: whence all those of prowess compete to pay you homage ...14

12

‘Specie d’Academie si puonno dire anco, alcune honorate congregationi, chiamate ridutti musicali, che quivi si fanno, in casa di diversi nobilissimi cittadini privati, tra quali quello è principalissimo del Conte Mario Bevilacqua, nel cui magnifico palazzo, alcuni deputati giorni della settimana, in istanza, per preciose, et eccellenti pitture, et altri nobili ornamenti, riguardevole, s’odono, da diversi eccellentissimi professori concertate, salariati la maggior parte dalla liberalità di quel Signore, harmonie divine, così di canti, come di qualunque si sia sorte di musici istrumenti, che con gran spesa e somma diligenza, da tutte le parti di Christianità, procurati sono ivi copiosissimamente raccolti, onde s’è fatto quel ridutto non in Verona solo, ma in tutta l’Italia chiarissimo, e famoso.’ G.F. Tinto, La nobiltà di Verona (Verona, 1592), pp. 389–90. Original passage and translation both quoted from Ledbetter’s introduction to Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 15, p. xiv. 13 ‘protettore della Musica, e de Musici, la cui casa tanto Illustriss[ima] di continuo risuona d’harmonia, e concerti degni, e eccellenti’. Ponzio, Ragionamento di musica, dedicatory letter. 14 ‘Havendo udito la risonante tromba della molto Illustre nobiltà sua, & la fama del’honoratissimo suo Ridotto da tanti virtuosi spiriti frequentato, el quale con esser ornato di perfettissimi, & quasi de ogni maniera istrumenti musicali, insieme co li famosi ritratti de tutti li più Eccellenti Musici ch’oggidì, & anco per molti anni adietro habbi hauto l’Europa, non che l’Italia: dove quasi come ad un Museo, tutti li virtuosi concorreno a gara a fargli riverenza.’ The dedication was signed in Rome on 15 June 1585.

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It should not surprise us that internationally famous composers such as Lasso and Monte dedicated some of their works to this patron.15 Of extreme interest for a correct re-reading of Marenzio’s ‘manifesto’ book is the dedication of Philippe de Monte’s eleventh book a 5 (1586): ‘I greatly enjoyed composing these madrigals in that more lively and cheerful style that I was allowed to be able to find, so that they may provide material for others to be sung cheerfully …’.16 Monte speaks of a ‘more lively and cheerful style’, Marenzio of a ‘sombre gravity’; however, the two collections are both organic and thematically unified, as if Count Bevilacqua had assigned both these leading composers the task of exploring cheerfulness and melancholy respectively. Another aspect of this famous Marenzio dedication merits some observations. The ‘style very different from that of the past’ manifests itself in two features: first and foremost, in the new way of conceiving a madrigal collection organically, and, less importantly, in a style occasionally touching on austerity, with a reduction in diminution, melismas, ‘tone-painting’, and those lively figurations that had enjoyed such success in the preceding madrigal books for five and six voices. It is these features that lie behind Marenzio’s stated aim of achieving a ‘sombre gravity’, both ‘through the imitation of the words and the propriety of the style’. All this is reflected in a solemn pace that often, as in the ‘programmatic’ opening madrigal, seeks to ‘fuggir la cadenza’ (‘avoid the cadence’), in an evident homage to the conceit expressed in the opening line: ‘Ov’è condotto [= fuggito] il mio amoroso stile?’ (‘Where has my amorous style fled?’) (Ex. 24.1). In other passages – such as the flowing opening of Com’ogni rio – we find ‘pictorial’ procedures that are entirely typical of Marenzio, but reduced to a sombre mood underscored by an appropriate choice of mode (Ex. 24.2).17 But we should guard against attributing to this collection the role of an authentic shift in Marenzio’s creativity. It remains a parenthesis complete in itself, an experience that, while enriching the composer’s technical baggage, does 15

Merulo, Stivorio, Moscaglia, Coma, Corona, Martinengo, Leoni, Nicoletti, Orazio Vecchi and Maddalena Casulana are among the numerous dedicants. Mario Bevilacqua was also the dedicatee of the madrigal anthologies I lieti amanti (RISM 158610) and La gloria musicale (159214). He died in 1593, but found a worthy successor in his nephew Alessandro Bevilacqua, the dedicatee of madrigals by Baccusi (1594), Masnelli (1596) and Pallavicino (1600). 16 ‘ho havuto grandissimo gusto in compor questi Madrigali in quello più vivace et allegro stile, che a me sia stato lecito di poter ritrovare, acciò che porghino altrui materia d’esser allegramente cantati …’. The dedication was signed in Prague on 15 November 1586: see NV 772. 17 About this madrigal Freedman (‘Marenzio’s Madrigali’, p. 340) writes: ‘The text of Come ogni Rio … cleverly reworks the syllables of the count’s name [Mario Bevilacqua] as the phonetic constituents of a brooding seascape (“Com’ogni Rio che d’acque dolci et chiare / Porge tributo al Mare”)’.

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A new style

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Luca Marenzio

not signal a genuine point of no return. I do not believe these madrigals owe their origin to a personal crisis, or to a fit of personal melancholy. Their ‘academic’ character, touching in certain cases on austerity (despite the undoubted poetic inspiration and the supreme mastery of the writing), could in reality be the consequence of a theoretical doctrine such as that expounded by Tasso in La Cavaletta.18 That Marenzio had excelled in melancholic expression was clear to the most sensitive connoisseurs of the time. In the last years of the Cinquecento the Englishman John Baldwin compiled an interesting musical manuscript, now preserved in London.19 With the aim of collecting pieces of outstanding artistic worth, Baldwin selected sacred and secular compositions by English composers, William Byrd being his favourite. The only significant exception is 13 madrigals by Marenzio, 11 taken from the first book a 4, 5, 6, and two taken from the first two books a 5, Dolorosi martir and O voi che sospirate.20 The choice was certainly no accident, for the two earliest madrigals, published in 1580 and 1581, share with those of 1588 the use of the tactus alla breve, and also the searing, doleful expressive style triggered by the pathos-filled texts. O voi che sospirate in particular is taken from the same Petrarch sestina Mia benigna fortuna that Marenzio used for the opening piece of the collection addressed to Bevilacqua; its extraordinary chromaticism is reflected in the equally well-known O fere stelle from the first book a 4, 5, 6. All this proves that a late sixteenth-century connoisseur like John Baldwin could trace examples of ‘sombre gravity’ right back to Marenzio’s earliest output, even if these occur in isolated passages and by way of exception, but certainly already complete and mature. The true novelty of the madrigals addressed to Bevilacqua consists in a striving towards a unified and particularly austere style, one therefore specifically intended for an audience of connoisseurs, with no concessions to the usual varietas imposed by current taste and the publishing market, instead pointing to the poetic laurel to which the close of the final madrigal specifically alludes: ‘Per potermi di lauro ornar le chiome / E con più saldo nome / Lasciar di noi qua giù memoria eterna’.

18

Cf. Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 663: ‘Marenzio’s “mesta gravità” and Tasso’s “gravità” are so similar that there must be a connection of some sort between them.’ Further reflections, also on relations between Tasso and Bevilacqua, can be found in Freedman, ‘Marenzio’s Madrigali’, pp. 345–49. 19 London, British Library, King’s Library MS R.M.24.d.2. On the Baldwin Manuscript see Kerman, The Elizabethan Madrigal, p. 46; Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 7, p. xvii. 20 One especially important detail is that the Baldwin Manuscript bears only the notes, without the poetic texts. Thus the compiler’s attention would seem to have extended only to the purely musical qualities, without any regard for Marenzio’s acclaimed ‘imitazione delle parole’.

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279

If therefore the 1588 collection did not act as a stylistic watershed, it is worth wondering what other turning points may have provided the pivot for the complicated evolution of Marenzio’s career as a composer. The two years 1584–85 turn out to be crucial, for several reasons. We have insisted, more than once, on the creative fertility of this period, which led to an especially high concentration of publications. In these years Marenzio was always careful to explore the expressive possibilities of compositions scored for fewer than five voices. Looking back over the composer’s career we note that the youthful Sacrae cantiones (written before the 1580s) were composed for five, six and seven voices. In the same way, his madrigals published before 1585 (including those scattered in anthologies) are all scored for five or more voices. However, 1584 saw the publication of the Primo libro delle villanelle a tre voci, and in 1585 there appeared the first book a 421 and the Motecta festorum totius anni,22 also for four voices. This is a highly significant correlation. Four-voice texture was widespread for a time, but did not predominate at the close of the Cinquecento. Probably Marenzio attributed to this texture a sense of noble gravitas, an ideal of sober classicism. It is no coincidence that, among the 21 compositions that form the first book a 4, texts by Petrarch predominate alongside a notable presence of Sannazaro and Tasso. Guarini and the court versifiers are set aside, a fact that reinforces the classical character of the literary choice. The archaic tempus imperfectum diminutum (¢) appears in the following pieces: no. 8; Nova angeletta (Petrarch); no. 10, Chi vuol udire i miei sospiri (Sannazaro); no. 13, Ahi, dispietata morte! (Petrarch); no. 17, Tutto ’l dì piango (Petrarch); and no. 20 Lasso! dicea (Tasso). This is the highest portion of misura alla breve pieces in any Marenzio collection published until that moment. With the exception of the lively Nova angeletta, for which the tactus alla breve does not appear to signify any gravity, these pieces anticipate the expressive manner of the madrigals in the Bevilacqua collection, even if they do not share their asceticism and sparing use of note nere. As Einstein has noted,23 Tutto ’l dì piango, with its leaden, doleful sonorities, has its origins in the archaic style of Cipriano de Rore. The other side of the coin in the first book a 4 is represented by those settings which are more obviously naturalistic in character, where one finds the florid tone-painting typical of Marenzio’s earliest collections. We need only recall no. 21

Two modern editions are: Marenzio, Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci, ed. Iosue, Luisi and Tecardi; id., The Complete Four-Voice Madrigals for Mixed Voices, ed. Steele. 22 Modern edition by Jackson in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 2. 23 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 658. There is moreover an explicit quote from Rore’s Amor, ben mi credevo at the end of Marenzio’s Ahi! dispietata morte on the notes e–f–e–a–g–f–e. See Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, p. 72 and vol. 2, p. 176, musical ex. 191.

280

Luca Marenzio

12, Vezzosi augelli (whose text comes from La Gerusalemme liberata, Canto 16), no. 16, I lieti amanti, and above all no. 9, Vedi le valli e i campi (both based on versi sdruccioli from Sannazaro’s Arcadia). The rustic element and that of intimate sentimentality are combined in the bipartite no. 18, Zefiro torna (Petrarch), still the most celebrated composition of the book and one of the most cherished pieces in Marenzio’s entire output. Attention to musical form and to all those elements that lend musical coherence is present right from the first madrigal in the collection, the precious Non vidi mai dopo notturna pioggia (Petrarch), whose double-counterpoint conclusion was highlighted by Einstein.24 From these observations it is clear that the first book a 4, although it contains no striking harmonic experiments, occupies an important place in Marenzio’s creative evolution. The sacred counterpoise of this madrigal collection can be found in the contemporaneous Motecta festorum totius anni, our composer’s first real venture into the field of liturgy.25 The close parallels between the two collections, with all the differences of genre and in vocal deployment between da cappella and da camera singing, have already been discussed by various scholars.26 The broad scale of the sacred collection, almost twice the size of a normal madrigal book, could have taken a great deal of time to compose. An examination of the Motecta gives one the impression that Marenzio intended to refine his style by means of an exercise in elegance, a style that was quintessential or at least more ‘objective’ compared to that which prevails in his secular works and in the youthful Sacrae cantiones, as can be seen in motet no. 41, Veni sponsa Christi (Ex. 24.3). Even in the sacred pieces Marenzio holds true to the fundamental idea of a precise ‘imitazione delle parole’; it is sufficient to think of Estote fortes in bello, where the music vividly depicts the moral force of the Apostles, the fierce battle against evil and, finally, the joy of the promise of the eternal Kingdom. It is perhaps for this reason that in 1585 the motets were dedicated to Scipione Gonzaga, a prelate of refined literary culture, a friend of Tasso and the protector of various Roman musicians. Among the more inspired pieces we may mention the Christmas motet Hodie

24

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 658. Einstein talks significantly of ‘structural intention’. The same critical position is reached via analysis in Steele, ‘“Good air and fine invention”’, p. 115: ‘Marenzio arriva alla coerenza musicale a molti livelli, e non ci può sorprendere il fatto che trascrizioni per strumenti della sua musica fossero così popolari’ (‘Marenzio arrives at musical cohesion on many levels, and it need not surprise us that instrumental transcriptions of his music were so popular’). 25 The texts of these motets are Magnificat antiphons for the office of Vespers. 26 Wade, ‘The sacred style of Luca Marenzio’; Jackson, ‘I primi mottetti di Marenzio’; Steele, ‘“Good air and fine invention”’, pp. 110 and 116; Acciai, ‘Lucae Marentii’.

A new style

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w.

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B (F4)

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spon

-

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? b w. Ve

-

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&b ˙ Vb ˙ ?b ˙ Ex. 24.3

Ó

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˙.

sa

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ve

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ni

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w

ni

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sa

ni

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w

ni

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w ve

-

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-

-

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sti,

„

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w

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˙

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sti,

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w

sti,

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œ W

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-

ni spon - sa

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10

sa

-

˙ ˙ ˙ ˙

ve

˙.

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„

∑

˙

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˙

sti,

„

5

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-

˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ -

„

Vb C

T (C4)

281

m

w. ve W

-

sti.

Marenzio, Veni sponsa Christi, bars 1–11

m

ni

m

œ œ œ œ ˙. Chri

˙

œ˙ ˙ m -

282

Luca Marenzio

Christus natus est,27 the intense Sepelierunt Stephanum and the Easter motet Et respicientes, whose concluding ‘Alleluia’ almost recalls the instrumental ritornellos of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. We can certainly agree with Engel when he praises the wonderful way in which Marenzio, even in this repertory, is able to give each text ‘una fisionomia musicale propria’ (‘its own musical physiognomy’).28 In his monograph of 1965 Denis Arnold concluded that Marenzio was a ‘developing composer’, in other words, one whose style was in constant evolution.29 Certainly, if we compare the madrigals of the ninth book a 5 (1599) with those composed 20 years earlier we note a profound difference; however, this presumed ‘evolution’ does not proceed in a linear way. The evolutionary concept underlying the penetrating analyses of Einstein and Arnold risk taking the form of an abstract model, sometimes at odds with the natural unfolding of history. In this respect Arnold’s remarks on the collection dedicated to Mario Bevilacqua are significant: When a composer is conscious enough of a change to write of ‘a manner rather different’ we must immediately suspect that some revolution of mind or technique has taken place. This is not altogether true, for the madrigals are indeed only ‘rather different’. There is no sudden experimental interest in chromaticism or dissonance, no discovery of new textures or sonorities. But there is a change of tone and mood, as can be seen at once in the verses he chooses.30

However, Arnold partially misrepresents the meaning of Marenzio’s dedication. He translates the ‘maniera assai diversa’ of the original as ‘rather different’ (Italian: ‘piuttosto diversa’), thus watering down the author’s true sense of ‘very different’; moreover, he is convinced that the main targets for innovation in the field of the madrigal are chromaticism and dissonance (in other words, Monteverdi’s seconda prattica). However, I believe that the presumed ‘revolution of mind or technique’ in the first book a 4, 5, 6 depends primarily on patronage and historical context. When Marenzio wrote his music for the Florentine Intermedi of 1589 he did not hesitate to abandon the ‘sombre gravity’ of the year before. According to Arnold the music for La pellegrina does not reveal any signs of spiritual 27

In Marenzio’s setting we find the curious extra-liturgical interjections ‘noe, noe’. According to Jackson (‘I primi mottetti’, p. 35), this textual padding reflects a typically Roman local custom found also in Christmas pieces of the same name by Palestrina and Nanino. 28 Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 202. 29 Arnold, Marenzio, p. 39. This description is recalled as the title of the last chapter of Chater, Luca Marenzio (vol. 1, pp. 113–27). 30 Arnold, Marenzio, p. 23.

A new style

283

evolution31 – not at least in the direction indicated in the Bevilacqua collection. However, neither does the subsequent fifth book a 5 (1591), dedicated to Virginio Orsini, resume the mood of gravity. This collection seems to mark a return to lively, luxuriant superficiality in the use of vocal diminution, changing textures and polyvocal virtuosity. All this has an explanation: as always, Marenzio’s style is determined by the prevailing mood of the poetic texts. In the case of the fifth book a 5, the book has the function of a wedding gift, of a refined homage to the duke and duchess of Bracciano, whose marriage had been celebrated one and a half years before the book’s publication. In the fifth book a 6 the ‘sombre gravity’ has lost its raison d’être: in its place comes an aristocratic elegance (no. 1, Leggiadrissima eterna primavera) that often takes on the tones of festive cheerfulness (no. 2, Leggiadre ninfe) or refined sensuality (no. 8, Nel dolce seno della bella Clori, no. 10, Con la sua man, no. 12, Baci soavi e cari). Piece no. 9, Amatemi ben mio, on a text by Tasso, merits particular attention. As has been noted several times, this madrigal bears a close textual and musical relationship with a piece of the same name in Il quarto libro delle villanelle a tre voci (1587): the two exordia are identical, with the difference that the madrigal is composed in the first mode untransposed (with finalis on D), while the villanella is transposed in a flatwards direction (finalis on G).32 Thus the abundant osmosis between madrigal and canzonetta finds a clear example even in the mature Marenzio of the 1590s, and the ideal of the madrigale arioso, constructed on a beautiful musical phrase – as happens in the case of Amatemi ben mio – is confirmed as a living reality even on the threshold of the seventeenth century (Ex. 24.4 and 24.5). Marenzio often uses the virtuoso textures of his six-voice madrigals for festive ends. One may cite the sunny compositions in mode 12: Come inanti de l’alba ruggiadosa (I a 6, no. 1), in honour of Cleria Farnese Cesarini; Cedan l’antiche tue chiare vittorie (II a 6, no. 4), to celebrate a Roman lady named Vittoria; and Leggiadre ninfe (V a 6, no. 2), to celebrate the marriage of the Venetian patrician Leonardo Sanudo.33 Perhaps it is no mere coincidence that the dedications of the first four books a 6 exercise a special diplomatic function between Marenzio’s

31

Ibid., p. 26: ‘This music [the Intermedi] shows no signs of progress in his spiritual development, but technically Marenzio must have learned a great deal.’ 32 Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, p. 205. According to Chater the madrigal served as model for the villanella. The madrigal was probably composed in the early months of 1587, too late to be included in the fourth book a 6, which was ready for press as early as December 1586. The text of the villanella freely re-elaborates Tasso’s madrigaletto. Marenzio’s madrigal Amatemi ben mio has been analysed in Dürr, ‘Imitar la poesia’, pp. 229–54. 33 Leggiadre ninfe was later included in the anthology Il trionfo di Dori (1592): Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 667; Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 2, p. 131, n. 51.

284 (G2)

Luca Marenzio

œ œ. œ œ œ ˙ &b cŒ J A - ma - te - mi

(C1)

(F3)

ben

mi

& b c Œ œ œ . Jœ œ œ # ˙ ? c˙ b A

ta

o Che se d’a - mar - mi,

#

œ œ

œ œ œ œ ˙

œ œ

mi

-

o Che se d’a - mar - mi,

œ œ œ œ ˙

dol -

-

ben

mi

-

o Che se d’a - mar - mi,

dol -

ma - te - mi

mi

-

˙ a,

Œ Jœ Jœ ˙ m 10

Œœ œœœœ ˙ ˙ Non vi mo-stra-te

pi - a

-

œ œ ˙ & b œ œ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ Œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ Jœ J ce vi - ta mi a, Non vi mo-stra-te pi - a Vi-ve - rò œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œœ ˙ œ œ w ? JJ œ b ce vi - ta

Ex. 24.4

dol -

ben

œ. œ œ œ ˙ J

œœœ œ œ œ œ ˙ & b JJ -

-

A - ma - te - mi

5

ce vi

œ œ

œ œ œ œ ˙

mi

-

a, Non vi

mo-stra-te

Vi-ve-rò

Œ Œ

pi - a Vi-ve - rò

Marenzio, Amatemi ben mio (villanella), bars 1–10

patron at that time, Cardinal Luigi d’Este, and his political interlocutors in that period: respectively Alfonso d’Este, duke of Ferrara, the cardinal of Guise, Bianca Capello, the grand duchess of Tuscany and Jean de Vivonne, the ambassador of France.34 The six-voice texture seems to stand midway between the standard textures for four or five voices and the polychoral pieces, which, as is well known, were reserved for festive occasions. We should therefore not be surprised to find in this repertory some presages of the concertante style and that air of magnificence that characterizes the larger-scale compositions of Roman and Venetian circles at the threshold of the seventeenth century.35 This solemn façade of sound does not mean that we cannot find in the six-voice books some of the most felicitous compositions of Marenzio: In un lucido rio (III 34 See Chapters 7, 15 and 17. 35 Einstein’s observations are still, for the most part, valid today. Regarding the madrigals for six voices, he writes: ‘The ensemble is so free and easy that it is in danger of crossing the boundaries of the stile concertante’ (The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 633); ‘He uses his six voices to produce the most refined and most varied divisions into half-choirs of three, four, and five voices, each of which has the complete text but a choral symphony to which each voice makes its particular contribution without having any claim to a particular share’ (ibid., p. 650). On the sixvoice repertory see also Bennett, ‘The six-voiced secular madrigals of Luca Marenzio’.

A new style

285

j & c Œ œ œ. œ œ œ ˙

C (C1)

A - ma - te - mi

ben

mi

j & c Œ œ œ. œ œ œ #˙

Q (C2)

A - ma - te - mi

∑

&c

A (C3)

ben

mi

-

-

∑

o

Per

-

Per

-

Œ ˙

Vc

T (C4)

Vc ?c

B (F4)

∑

A

œ œ

co - re

& ˙ & ˙

œ œ ˙

œ

mi

ci

-

ci

œ œ ˙

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O - gn’al - tro

ci

bœ

bo e vi

-

œ ˙ -

-

ve

œ

bo e vi

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-

bo e vi

-

∑

ché

œ ˙

sde - gna il mio

˙

ché

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sde - gna il mio

o

∑ œ

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ché

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sde - gna il mio

∑

œ ˙

œ œ ˙

∑

V

ben

˙

∑

∑

O - gn’al - tro

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ma - te - mi

O - gn’al - tro

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co - re

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˙

-

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œ

Per S (C4)

ché

œ

#œ ˙ o

˙

œ

œ #˙

ve

œ œ ˙

∑

œ œ œ œ œm

sol d’a - mo - re. V’a - me-rò

œ œ œ œ œm

œ œ ˙

sol d’a - mo - re. V’a - me-rò

œ #œ ˙

ve

∑

œ ˙

sol d’a - mo - re

∑

Ó

m j œ. œ m V’a - me -

V ˙ ?

œ œ

co - re

∑

œ œ ˙

O - gn’al - tro

ci

∑

œ ˙ -

bo e vi

-

∑

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ve

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˙ Ó

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Ex. 24.5

Marenzio, Amatemi ben mio (madrigal), bars 1–9

286

Luca Marenzio

a 6, no. 4), Piangea Filli (ibid., no. 14), Dice la mia bellissima Licori (IV a 6, no. 7), Caro Aminta, pur puoi (ibid., no. 9), Questa ordì il laccio (ibid., no. 12). Occasionally, though with less frequency, we can also find serious madrigals set in the characteristic modes 3 and 9 with tempus imperfectum diminutum (¢): O dolorosa sorte (I a 6, no. 9), Tutte sue squadre di miserie e stenti (II a 6, no. 6), Nessun visse giamai più di me lieto (ibid., no. 2, with text by Petrarch), Del cibo onde il signor (ibid., no. 11, text by Petrarch) and Crudel, perché mi fuggi (IV a 6, no. 6). The greater concentration of pathos-filled pieces in the second book a 6 (1584) finds its aesthetic motivation in the dedication to Cardinal de Guise, where it is stated that according to the philosophers ‘perfect music’ should not just aim to ‘delight the senses’ (see last chapter). At any rate, in the six-voice collections (at least until the V a 6) a brilliant tone prevails alongside the sentimental themes of pastoral idyll. As Einstein has noted, the third book a 6 (1585) is ‘wholly sensuous and hedonistic’.36 On the other hand, the collection represents a renewed commitment to the madrigale arioso, as is shown by the seductive opening and closing phrase of the first piece, Io morirò d’amore. It is much more difficult to establish a correct reading of the sixth and last book a 6 of 1595, dedicated to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, duchess of Ferrara. From the outset the presence of two long, pathos-filled cycles such as the Petrarch sestina Giovane donna (in seven movements) and above all Tansillo’s capitolo Se quel dolor (in ten movements) would seem to confirm that the composer had definitively taken up the gravitas he had earlier announced in the Bevilacqua collection and which now takes on a more intensely anguished espression (Ex. 24.6). But, to complicate matters, the poetic unity of the book is denied and contradicted by other pieces in a clearly lighter and more brilliant tone.37 According to Patricia Myers, the editor of the critical edition, Marenzio carefully selected the poetic texts to pay tribute to Duchess Margherita; above all, the luxuriant style of pieces like Lucida perla (no. 1), Là dove sono i pargoletti Amori (no. 4) and O verdi selve (no. 5) would seem to point to the concerto delle dame. Myers does not believe these pieces date from the 1590s; she thinks it far more probable that they were commissioned by Cardinal Luigi d’Este in the early 1580s or even earlier.38 The text of Lucida perla was written by Guarini in 1579 for the wedding of Margherita Gonzaga and Alfonso d’Este. According to Einstein, ‘it would be a 36

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 646: ‘No work of Marenzio’s has greater uniformity than this third book of six-voiced madrigals.… It contains … no pathosfilled pieces and no harmonic audacities.’ 37 Thus Patricia Myers (Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6, introduction, p. xiii) writes that the sixth book a 6 ‘would seem a curious combination of light-hearted festive verse and multi-strophic poems of a distinctly sombre tone’. 38 Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 13, passim.

A new style

&b c w

C (C1)

w

w

Se

287

quel

Q (C3)

Vb c ∑

A (C3)

Vb c ∑

do

∑

∑ w

w ∑

∑

T (C4)

Vb c ∑

∑

∑

∑

nw

Ó ˙

∑

che

∑

w

∑

w

#w

∑

∑

∑

quel

∑

∑

∑

10

&b w

mo

∑

va i

-

nan

do

-

-

-

zi al

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bw

w

ri

-

∑

∑

w ∑

˙

#˙ ∑

˙ ∑

ri

∑

nw

∑

Vb ˙

-

∑

n˙

w

˙ #˙

w

zi al

che

∑

∑

n˙ ˙

˙ ˙

lor

che

va i - nan

-

∑

∑

Marenzio, Se quel dolor, bars 1–13

w

-

nan

m œ

-

m

re,

w

w

˙

˙ va i

m

˙.

#w

Se

Ex. 24.6

∑

Se

?b c ∑

?b

∑

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do - lor

∑

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∑

quel

w

va i - nan

˙ b˙

Vb c ∑

Vb ˙

˙ ˙

lor che

bw

S (C4)

Vb

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∑

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B (F4)

5

n˙ ˙

˙ ˙

∑ ˙

zi al

m ˙ m

mo

w quel

-

m

288

Luca Marenzio

mistake to suppose this piece to have been written for the wedding itself’,39 since its style is so brilliant and secure that it can only be the fruit of a completely mature technique. Ledbetter is of another opinion: for him, the reference in the text to Margherita’s future motherhood (‘e sarai madre ancor di semidei’ – ‘and you will still be the mother of demi-gods’) would have been in poor taste after 16 years of marriage without offspring: the timing makes better sense if we accept the 1579 dating.40 This objection carries less force if we consider that in the late Cinquecento texts written to celebrate weddings could be set to music and published a long time after the event itself, without any regard for the poetry’s loss of topicality. Moreover, as Patricia Myers observes, the expression ‘e sarai madre ancor di semidei’ is a commonplace of wedding poems and their musical settings.41 Nevertheless Myers agrees with Ledbetter in assigning the piece to the period of the composer’s youthful production and, to prove her thesis, points to the close stylistic parallel between Lucida perla and Marenzio’s contributions to the Ferrarese anthologies of the 1580s, Il lauro secco and Il lauro verde.42 By way of analogy Myers also applies these considerations to the two Tasso settings of the sixth book a 6. However, this chronology gives rise to some doubt. Even if the vogue for vocal diminutions and coloraturas reached a decisive turning point in the later Marenzio collections, nevertheless it does not disappear altogether, and it had various imitators in Rome at the end of the century. The five-voice madrigals of Raval, to cite one composer who was in contact with both Cardinal Montalto and Marenzio in the early 1590s, had frequent recourse to melismatic writing, producing a result that is so mannered and bizarre as to stand comparison, in its own way, with the most extravagant harmonic audacities of Gesualdo.43 Above all, the style of the sumptuous, festive madrigals, of which Lucida perla, composed in mode 12, is an example, does not follow the route that leads to the seconda prattica or to the expressive madrigal, but rather follows the example of the Florentine intermedi. At any event Einstein was correct in observing that Lucida perla has greater musical maturity than the polyphonic embellishments of the Ferrarese anthologies, refined though these are. In respect of musical technique we may note the remarkable opening stretto with successive entries on the words ‘a cui fu 39 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 671. 40 Ledbetter, ‘Luca Marenzio’, p. 33. 41 Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 13, p. xv. 42 Ibid., p. xvi: ‘In degree and type of ornamentation … Mentre l’aura spirò and Bianchi cigni, Marenzio’s contributions to Il lauro secco and Il lauro verde respectively, are the ones most similar in style to Lucida perla.’ 43 Ruth DeFord (‘Ruggiero Giovannelli and the madrigal in Rome’, vol. 1, pp. 218–23) comments with severity on the ‘ponderous’ style of Raval’s madrigals, over-loaded with fioriture and sometimes at odds with poetic diction: ‘Raval’s music is often not merely dull, but awkward or even totally absurd’ (p. 222).

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conca’ (bass in bar 5, canto in bars 7–8, sesto in bars 9–10, quinto in bars 10–11, tenor in bars 13, alto in bars 13–14, canto in bar 14 (partially inverted), and so on until bar 21). As if this were not enough, in bars 63–75 (‘del Re de fiumi’) we find a broad progression of melismatic phrases of a type that is hard to find in the madrigals of the early 1580s (Ex. 24.7).44 It is true that in Marenzio’s late madrigals, from the sixth book a 5 (1594) onwards, we find a gradual tendency towards greater seriousness, or at any rate towards styles very different from those that predominated in the 1580s. An interval of nine years separates the publications of the fifth and sixth books a 5. Much has been written about the conspicuous decline in creativity that straddles the two decades, in the period between Luigi d’Este’s death and the composer’s entry into Cinzio Aldobrandini’s service. The reality is that we cannot conclude that Marenzio allowed himself a creative pause, but can only suppose that he could find fewer outlets for his music in the publishing market. One can object that for a master of his fame it would not have been difficult to publish music books, but Roland Jackson has observed that this apparent slowing down of productivity is convincingly explained if we imagine that Marenzio was intensely interested in sacred music, and polychoral writing in particular.45 The newly discovered documents discussed in Chapter 20 strengthen this hypothesis and reveal the composer’s strong commitment to the renewal of music in accordance with the aims of the Counter-Reformation. Unfortunately we lack reliable chronological documentation, but it is plausible to date the peak of this creative phase to the papacy of Clement VIII and the Polish interlude spent at Sigismund III’s court. A good number of German prints in the early 1600s contain sacred polychoral pieces for eight or more voices, which could for the most part have been composed in the 1590s; the manuscript sources are mostly located in Polish libraries (Gda´nsk), Germany (Berlin, Kassel, Dresden, Lüneburg, Tübingen) and Rome itself (in particular, BAV, Cappella Giulia XIII.25 contains a version for eight voices, in two choirs, of Psalm 150, Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius).46 The only late sixteenth-century Italian print containing sacred music by Marenzio is the Roman anthology of the singer Giovan Luca Conforti (1592).47 44 An equally florid style appears in some of the polychoral motets: see below. 45 See Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 1, p. x. 46 The printed and manuscript sources of Marenzio’s sacred music have been discussed by Roland Jackson in the introductions to the Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. xiii–xvii; vol. 3, pp. ix ff.; vol. 7, pp. ix–xxiv (with bibliographical update) and Oscar Mischiati in the critical apparatus to Marenzio, Messa e mottetto ‘Jubilate Deo’, pp. xiv–xvi. The attribution to Marenzio of some polychoral compositions is currently under discussion: cf. Chapter 20, n. 37. For an overview of the problem see Jackson in Marenzio, Opera omnia, vol. 7, pp. xvii–xxiv. 47 Psalmi, Motecta, Magnificat et Antiphona Salve Regina Diversorum Auctorum: octo vocibus concinenda, selecta a Jo. Luca Conforti, Rome: Francesco Coattino, 1592. The collection includes a version of Marenzio’s Magnificat for eight voices.

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It represents an interesting terminus ante quem for Marenzio’s composing activity in the field of sacred two-choir music: we should conclude that, even before the coronation of the Aldobrandini pope, the composer was devoting himself to sacred music, probably at the request of Cardinal Montalto or the Roman confraternities. However, there is reason to believe that these activities continued after 1592: Conforti’s preface states that he had collected ‘bellissimi concerti di musica’, and a very similar expression recurs in the expression of regret at Marenzio’s departure that we have read in avviso of 12 August 1595: ‘His departure will cause some inconvenience to oratories here, as the finest concerti and most lovely music performed there were his work.’48 Noel O’Regan has recently called attention to the anthology of Schadeus (1611)49 that contains three motets for eight voices by Marenzio: Deus venerunt gentes, Exsurgat Deus and Iniquos odio habui. The texts of these pieces would seem to be appropriate for the Lent devotions, and we know that the composer was engaged by the Confraternity of SS. Trinità on at least two occasions, in 1584 and 1592. Drawing attention to the individual treatment of each verse, the rhythmic vivacity, the use of tone-painting, the virtuosity required in all the voices and above all the high frequency of rapid syllabization, O’Regan dates these pieces to the 1590s.50 We may note in parenthesis that the opulent writing of these pieces, and of Deus venerunt gentes in particular (Ex. 24.8), presents traits in common with the contemporary madrigal Lucida perla. We may now undertake an overview of the last four books a 5, those in which one recognizes the traits of a new style. These four books are connected by a subtle network of analogies, but there are also profound differences. From the historico-biographical point of view, the seventh and the eighth books on the one hand (1594–95), and the eighth and ninth on the other (1598–99) would seem to form two distinct blocks, separated by the composer’s period of service with the King of Poland (1596–97). The sixth and seventh books were both intended for the same entourage, that is the circle of Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini and, in a broader sense, of Pope Clement VIII himself; Diego de Campo, the dedicatee of the seventh book a 5, also falls into this group. With regard to literary choice, the two collections share an obvious trait: they are both dominated by the presence of passages from Guarini’s Il pastor fido. We may also note the gradual decrease in texts by 48

‘q[ues]ti oratorij [romani] recever[an]no q[u]alche incommodo poiché li più belli concerti e più vaghe musiche che si facessero uscivano dalle sue mani’. See Chapter 20, n. 18. 49 Promptuarii musici, sacras harmonias sive motetas V. VI. VII. & VIII. … (RISM 16111). 50 O’Regan, Institutional Patronage in Post-Tridentine Rome, p. 73; id., ‘Marenzio’s sacred music: the Roman context’, pp. 613 ff. For a modern edition of these motets see the Opera omnia, vol. 3.

292

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Luca Marenzio

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non-contemporary poets: Petrarch and Sannazaro are both absent, though exceptions are formed by Annibal Caro (VI a 5, no. 8) and Pietro Bembo (VII a 5, no. 4); in both cases, Marenzio uses the archaic misura di breve (¢). For the rest, in the sixth book a 5 we find more recent texts such as those by Giovan Battista Strozzi (nos 12 and 16), Ridolfo Arlotti (no. 1), Torquato Tasso (no. 3), Antonio Ongaro (no. 6) and Angelo Grillo (no. 16). The seventh book a 5 represents even more of an organic whole: here Guarini completely predominates, with the sole exception of one text by Tasso (no. 5). Marenzio’s unexpected interest in Il pastor fido is worth some reflection. Before the publication of the sixth book a 6 (1594), madrigal composers did not pay much attention to Guarini’s masterpiece,51 while from 1595 the play was greatly in vogue. We cannot rule out the possibility that Cinzio Aldobrandini, perhaps in collaboration with Cardinal Montalto, may have played a role in alerting the composer to the possibilities of this tragicommedia pastorale. Some scholars have even hypothesized a direct collaboration between Marenzio and Guarini.52 Compared with the collections of the early 1580s the sixth book a 5 represents a sudden change of stylistic direction.53 The melismas, the coloraturas, the attention given to individual words and phrases for the sake of tone-painting have become rarer, even though they do not completely disappear.54 There are correspondingly fewer exordia in contrapuntal imitation, essentially because of the use of vocatives and exclamations at the openings (no. 4, Anima cruda, no. 7, Ah, dolente partita, no. 11, Deh, Tirsi, anima mia), where solemn semibreve chords are more appropriate. As Einstein has correctly shown, the sixth book a 5 demonstrates how decisive the early 1590s were in Marenzio’s creative trajectory in the attainment of a new 51 See Chapter 22. 52 According to Patricia Myers (Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol.e 24, p. xx): ‘Marenzio’s sudden interest in Guarini’s drama – an interest manifested by his setting of four passages from Il pastor fido in VI a 5 (1594), eleven in VII a 5 (1595), and a tripartite scene between Silvio and Dorinda in VIII a 5 (1598) – suggests the possibility of a personal relationship with the poet, a relationship which could have developed only over a period of time such as the winters Guarini spent in Cinzio’s circle in 1593–94 and 1594–95. The nature of the verses which Marenzio chose to set supports the thesis of close personal contact between the composer and the poet.’ 53 Modern edition in Marenzio, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2. 54 In Ben’ho del caro oggetto (no. 8) – one of the most artistically significant madrigals in the collection (though not written in an innovative style) – we find the more usual colorature on the words ‘fontane’ (‘fountains’), ‘rivi’ (‘banks’) and ‘gioia’ (‘joy’). Similarly, Ecco Maggio seren (no. 16) has a passage in triple time to describe the dance and a broad melisma for the adjective ‘fiorito’ (‘flowery’). In other places the fioriture lose their madrigalian character to become pure embellishments, with the character of gorgia, reserved normally for the upper voice (cf. no. 12, bars 12–15).

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lyricism and a new rhetoric.55 In reality the goals achieved in Marenzio’s youthful output are not rejected; rather, they contribute to a greater and more mature varietas. The sixth book a 5 does not have a unified character. Five out of the 17 pieces (nos 5, 7, 8, 9 and 15) use the misura di breve, but apart from the graphic aspect they do not have many traits in common. The archaic tactus can be easily understood in the ‘classical’ sonnet by Annibal Caro (no. 8), but is also used in poetic texts by contemporaries of Marenzio: in the two pieces from Il pastor fido (nos 5 and 7) and in the sonnet by Angelo Grillo (no. 15). In these madrigals the mensuration sign ¢ is justified by the choice of modes suitable for a plaintive mood: respectively mode 4 transposed, 10 and 3 transposed. Different again is the case of Amor, se giusto sei (no. 9), where the misura di breve together with the use of mode 8 underlines the arioso character – evidenced also by the aria del ruggiero paraphrase in the bass – of this most delicate setting (Ex. 24.9). Both Rimanti in pace (no. 15) and Udite, lagrimosi spirti (no. 5) provide evidence of Marenzio’s sophisticated and experimental approach to harmony, which results in ever more unpredictable progressions, often associated with chromaticism.56 If no. 5 recalls the stile reservato of the Bevilacqua collection, no. 15, while still serious in character, is more modern and rhythmically flexible. Among the pieces written in misura comune (c) no. 13, Mentre qual viva pietra, is the only one that approaches the transition of the Roman madrigal. Both the imitative opening in the manner of the instrumental canzona and the effective conclusion with scalar motifs in long note values (a favourite device of Giovannelli’s) could be considered extraneous to Marenzio’s new path, but in fact they belong to that subtly pluralistic aesthetic in which different stylistic directions are juxtaposed in each book: for this reason I do not think the apparently old-fashioned pieces in this collection necessarily date from a previous stylistic period. For the rest, the sixth book a 5 develops a new language of lyrical polyphonic declamation, particularly adapted to monologues and laments (such as the opening piece, S’io parto, i’ moro), in accordance with a strategy of expressive intensification that Marenzio was to pursue further in his next book. The seventh book a 5 (1595), already the object of recent studies,57 stands out 55 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 670. 56 Remarkable is the chromatic passage in the seconda parte of no. 15 corresponding to the words ‘Ond’ei di morte la sua faccia impressa’ (‘Then he, his face bearing the mark of death’) and ‘Di martir in martir di doglie e’n doglie’ (‘From torment to torment, from grief to grief’). In no. 5, however, one is struck by the tortuous chromatic line of the bass, combined with lugubrious and mysterious harmonies (the text is a heartfelt invocation of the ‘lagrimosi spiriti d’Averno’ – ‘tearful spirits of hell’). 57 Apart from the introduction to the already cited critical edition, see Caraci Vela, ‘Osservazioni intorno al Settimo libro dei madrigali a cinque voci’.

A new style

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for its extraordinary textual unity, with 12 of 17 pieces based on passages from Il pastor fido. Compared with the sixth book a 5, the misura alla breve is rare – the only example is no. 4, on a text by Bembo – while the ideal of the new declamation takes hold, with characteristic figurations in anapaestic rhythms and final sections animated by elaborations in imitative counterpoint. Among the gems of the seventh book a 5 we find a celebrated high point in Marenzio’s output, Cruda Amarilli (no. 3), magisterial above all for the conclusion of its seconda parte. In the collection as a whole the harmonic language becomes more

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personal, with denser occurrence of dissonance, suspensions and durezze employing diminished fourths. The eighth book a 5 (1598) gives the impression that Marenzio has reached another stylistic turning point. Immediately obvious is the unity of the collection: 14 of its 16 pieces are written in a fundamentally chordal and homorhythmic style.58 It has been claimed, not without reason, that the eighth book a 5 appears to owe its origins to the literary and musical tastes of its dedicatee, Ferrante Gonzaga.59 This is confirmed above all by the literary choice, where the most represented poet is Angelo Grillo, who, like Tasso and Guarini, was an old friend of Ferrante. From Il pastor fido are taken Deh Tirsi mio gentil (no. 10) and the tripartite scena Se tu dolce mio ben – Dorinda, ah, dirò mia – Ferir quel petto (no. 15), whereas the first four madrigals derive from a littleknown eclogue ascribed to Tasso, Il convito de’ pastori. Another text presumed to be by Tasso is ‘Non sol’, dissi (no. 14), even if the eclogue in question, Arezia ninfa, is attributed to Ferrante Gonzaga himself in one manuscript source.60 As in the seventh book a 5 there appear with extreme frequency chromatic progressions between third-related chords. New stylistic traits include a greater concision (whereby textual repetitions are reduced to a minimum), absence of melismas or tone-painting,61 and the definitive disappearance of the misura di breve (¢). But not even the clear prevalence of homorythms compromises the internal varietas of the book. The composer places in strategic positions pieces that, for their melodic and rhythmic incisiveness, assimilate the gait of the new canzonetta and balletto: Provate la mia fiamma (no. 5), Quand’io io miro le rose (no. 9: Ex. 24.10), La mia Clori è brunetta (no. 13). It is significant that the Brescian musician Ottavio Bargnani, a friend of the historian Ottavio Rossi, included Provate la mia fiamma and La mia Clori è brunetta in his own collection of Canzonette, arie e madrigali a tre e quattro voci published in 1599.62 Since Bargnani’s dedication is signed in Brescia on 15 July, we may believe that Marenzio, still living at the time, personally approved the republication of these two pieces. In Bargnani’s book the two compositions are included among the ‘Canzonette a quattro’, but bear the eloquent designation ‘Aria a 4 del Marenzio’. The fact that a piece originally written for five voices can be harmonized in four parts without noticeably impoverishing the music reminds us that we have now 58 59 60 61 62

The two exceptions are Care lagrime mie (no. 12) and Laura, se pur sei laura – Perfida, pur potesti (no. 16). See Chapter 21. See also Patricia Myers’s introduction to the critical edition, Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 15, p. xvii; Bizzarini, ‘L’ultimo Marenzio’. See Chapter 22, n. 30. The only conspicuous exception is La mia Clori è brunetta (no. 13), where to depict the colour brown Marenzio uses color, or black notes indicating triple time. DeFord, ‘Musical relationships between the Italian madrigal and light genres’, p. 127.

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left the age of classic polyphony for that of basso continuo (and, let us remember, Ferrante Gonzaga played the harpsichord). The sixth, seventh and eighth books appear to tread an evolutionary path towards lyrical declamation or, if one prefers, towards a form of accompanied monody in polyphonic garb. Even in this case, however, it would be imprudent to apply an abstract model of linear evolution. In three such diverse collections (despite the common presence of Il pastor fido and the tendency towards the stile recitativo) one may observe a stylistic trait that, though sporadic, is in my opinion significant: the exordium scored for the three upper voices. We encounter it in the following pieces: Hor chi Clori beata (VI a 5, no. 19), Quell’augellin che canta (VII a 5, no. 2) and Questi leggiadri odorosetti fiori (VIII a 5, no. 11). This device is very usual in Marenzio’s music, and above all exists independently of the legendary three Ferrarese ladies, since in the 1590s (but the phenomenon is rooted further in the past) one could have found an agile trio of high, though not necessarily female, voices in Rome, Florence and Mantua.63 At any event, in the later five-voice books of Marenzio the quinto is not written at the same pitch as the soprano, as often happens in the 1580s. The presence of a unique, isolated canto has thus been interpreted – in my opinion correctly – as the expression of a monodic tendency.64 The Florentine musical scene probably acted as a stimulus for Marenzio’s new style. We have seen that he collaborated with Bardi, Peri and Caccini at the time of the Florentine Intermedi, and even in 1590, after his return to Rome, the composer kept in touch with Antonio Bicci and Alberigo Malvezzi. Bardi too, after moving to the city, was on friendly terms with Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini. All the same, we may recognize other influences. In the 1580s Ferrante Gonzaga had gathered to his court in Guastalla some of the best Italian dramatists: Muzio Manfredi, Guarini, Angelo Ingegneri. These men worked together under the auspices of the Accademia Olimpica and of various courts, and, as we shall see, some of their dramatic productions included music. It is important to note that Angelo Ingegneri, the producer of the play performed at the inauguration of the Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza, had entered Ferrante Gonzaga’s service in 1586, and in the summer of 1592 he became private secretary to Cinzio Aldobrandini.65 It is in this complicated web of peripatetic musicians and literary figures, who brought the Olimpici of Vicenza, Aldobrandini’s Roman academy and the enlightened court of Guastalla into contact with one another, that I believe 63

We need scarcely recall the opening piece of the second intermedio (1589), Belle ne fe’ natura, scored for three high voices. 64 See for example Piperno, ‘Marenzio, Luca’, in Dizionario enciclopedico della musica e dei musicisti, vol. 4, p. 651. 65 See Doglio, ‘Nota biografica’, p. xxvi in Ingegneri, Della poesia rappresentativa (1989).

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we can identify the cultural, aesthetic and ideological background of Marenzio’s eighth book a 5. In his settings of the choruses for Edippo tiranno Andrea Gabrieli followed Ingegneri’s musical prescriptions,66 writing in a chordal, homorhythmic style without fughe and diminutions in order to make the text as intelligible as possible. But the same requirement was stated in relation to music destined for non-tragic C (G2)

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quel-le che v’ha l’ar ? b œ œ bœ œ ˙ quel-le che v’ha

Nel

ro

-

se Ch’in

œ #œ -

se Ch’in

œ œ -

se Ch’in

œ œ -

se Ch’in

œ œ -

se Ch’in

œ œ œ œ ˙ voi na - tu - ra

œ œ œ œ ˙ voi na - tu - ra

se

E

œ œ se

E

œ œ

voi na - tu - ra

po -

se

E

voi na - tu - ra

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po -

se

E

˙

œ

voi na - tu - ra

po -

se

œ œ œ œ ˙

œ œ

spar - te Non

œ œ œ œ ˙ va - go se - no

po -

œ œ œ œ ˙

œ œ bœ œ ˙ va - go se - no

po -

œ œ

œ œ

spar - te Non

œ œ œ

E

œ œ œ œ

so co - no-scer

œ œ œ œ

so co - no-scer

œ œ

v’ha l’ar -

œ Vb œ œ œ

Nel

œ œ

& b œ œ œ . œj ˙

66

ro

?b c œ œ œ œ œ JJ ˙ Quan-d’io mi - ro le

&b

ro

V b c œ œ œ Jœ Jœ ˙ Quan-d’io mi - ro le

B (F3)

ro

jj &b cœ œ œ œ œ ˙

œ œ

-

œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ te Nel va - go se - no spar - te Non so co - no-scer ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œj œ œ te Nel va - go se - no spar - te Non so co - no - scer œ œ œ bœ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ J

l’ar - te

Nel

va - go se - no

spar - te Non

so co - no - scer

Ingegneri, Della poesia rappresentativa, p. 31. Ingegneri’s treatise appeared in 1598, but was conceived after his experience as a producer at the Teatro Olimpico. For a modern edition of Andrea’s Gabrieli’s choruses see Gabrieli, La représentation d’Edippe tiranno, ed. Schrade.

A new style

&b ˙

10

po

-

&b ˙ po

-

&b ˙ po

-

Vb ˙ po

?b ˙

po

Ex. 24.10

-

-

˙

œ ˙

i

S’o voi

˙

œ ˙

i

S’o voi

˙

œ b˙

i

S’o voi

˙ i

˙ i

œ ˙ S’o voi

œ b˙

S’o voi

299

œ œ œ œ . Jœ œ œ ˙ le

ro - se o sian

le

ro - se

œ œ œ œ . Jœ œ ˙

le

ro - se o sian

le

vo

ro - se o sian

œ œ œ œ œ

le

le

ro - se

ro - se

-

vo

w -

-

le

-

le

ro - se

vo

vo

m

i

w

œ œ œ œ . œj œ œ ˙ ro - se o sian

ro - se

m

vo - i

œ œ ˙

ro - se o sian le

m

i

#œ w

j œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ ˙

le

w

m

i

w

m

i

Marenzio, Quand’io miro le rose, bars 1–14

performances: from a letter Muzio Manfredi sent to Wert in 1591 we learn that the poet, undertaking to co-ordinate a production of his ‘favola boscareccia’ La Semiramis at the court of Mantua, had asked the composer for settings respecting the ‘affetti’ and without ‘artificio fugato’.67 When Marenzio was in Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini’s service he could, at least in theory, have formed with Ingegneri and Guarini a team capable of putting on theatrical presentations with music. To call the ‘dramatic’ madrigals of the sixth book a 5 and the seventh book a 5 ‘rappresentativa’ is perhaps to go too far: nevertheless, their style, so different from the past, as well as following a general tendency, appears to align itself with the ideological baggage of theatrical figures. In his eighth book a 5, whose ‘virtual theatre’ appears to be aimed at the circle round Ferrante Gonzaga, this process becomes even more evident. Even if not necessarily intended for the stage, the eighth book a 5 was in any case suitable for academies with music, frequented by men of letters and connoisseurs of the theatre, like for example the Mantuan Accademia degli Invaghiti of which Ferrante was a member and which, some years later, was to promote the performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Compared with the austerity of Andrea Gabrieli’s Chori, Marenzio’s declamation is more inclined to unfurl in melody and aria,68 reflecting the character of the poetic texts, which are not tragic but rather delicate and pastoral.

67 Manfredi, Lettere brevissime, pp. 228–29; D’Ancona, Origini del teatro italiano, pp. 424–25. 68 Rosa Barezzani, ‘Rilievi melodici e tendenze monodiche’.

300

Luca Marenzio

To understand such an atypical book as the eighth book a 5, where declamatory, homorhythmic and monodic elements are coupled with the sharply etched rhythmic-melodic outlines of the canzonetta, we should also take into consideration the new taste that was taking hold in Mantuan circles, exemplified by Gastoldi’s successful Balletti (1591), a close model for Marenzio’s Quand’io miro le rose (Ex. 24.10). Also at Mantua, in 1598 Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga promoted three performances of Il pastor fido, in which, so far as we can gather from the few surviving documents, music had an important role.69 In addition, the literary vogue for the eclogue and pastoral drama had spread to various Italian centres and had a complex genesis.70 It is interesting to compare the stylistic eclecticism, pastoral tone and ‘pseudomonody’ of Marenzio’s eighth book a 5 with the mature artistic results of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. The two fragments reproduced here – the incipit of Marenzio’s madrigal Vita soave (Ex. 24.11) and the entrance of the Shepherd in Act I of Orfeo (Ex. 24.12) – apart from sharing a curious (if coincidental) melodic resemblance, illustrate the subtle differences between madrigalian declamation and the recitativo arioso of the earliest operas. This complex web of relationships undoubtedly contributes, at least in part, to the heterogenous, problematical and apparently contradictory nature of Marenzio’s last book, which reflects a literary culture and musical taste in continual transformation. The elements I have just demonstrated allow us to take an approach to Marenzio’s opus extremum, his eleventh book a 5 of 1599, that in some respects is new.71 Hans Engel saw in this extraordinary collection the start of Marenzio’s ‘third style’, based on a mature return to counterpoint: ‘at this moment a definitive new style could perhaps have begun, one that presaged the fusion of three stylistic elements: the rhythmical impulse, declamation and counterpoint’.72 The same writer makes an appropriate comparison between this book and the first book a 4, 5, 6; the analogy is confirmed by the literary preponderance of Petrarchan or at 69

For a bibliographical synthesis of these Mantuan performances, which surely merit new investigation, see Bizzarini, ‘L’ultimo Marenzio’. 70 Gerbino, ‘Orpheus in Arcadia’. 71 Critical edition and commentary in Marenzio, Il nono libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1599), ed. Fabbri. The seven madrigals from Book Nine on texts by Petrarch (nos 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 13) have recently been analysed in Janz, Die PetrarcaVertonungen, pp. 371–424. 72 ‘forse da questo momento avrebbe potuto aver inizio il definitivo nuovo stile, che lascia presagire una fusione dei tre elementi stilistici: del periodo ritmico, della declamazione e del contrappunto’. Engel, Luca Marenzio, p. 137. With regard to contrapuntal technique, we should note that the final madrigal, La bella man vi stringo, is in the form of a canon at the lower fourth between the two highest voices. This solution creates an almost spiritual and mystical climate: above all, the opening soggetto recalls the antiphon Salve regina.

A new style C (C1)

B (F4)

&b ?

301

&b cÓ

˙

˙

? cw b

Vi

-

˙ a

ve

œ

œ

œ

e

di

dol

˙

Œ

œ

&b ˙

˙

Œ

˙

pie

-

na

sor

Che

Ex. 24.11

œ

˙ scon

˙

-

œ

-

-

za

˙

˙

œ

˙

œ

œ

tre a

l’em

œ

bœ

œ

˙

Ciel

piac

˙

so - la

-

ta e

-

tri

œ ˙

pia

mia

˙ -

˙

œ œ

œ

-

œ

œ œ ˙

œ œ

œ

cez

˙

˙

fai hor me - co

? œ œ œ #œ b

so

˙.

œ

al

˙ œ

-

10

te et

œ œj œj œ &b

˙

œ

˙.

œ -

Men

Œ

˙

& b ˙. ? b b˙

ta

5

Œ

b ˙

?b ˙

œ

˙.

˙ -

œ

que

˙

15

œ œ -

m

sta?

œ œ

m

Marenzio, Vita soave, bars 1–15 (reduction for canto and bass)

any rate ‘classical’ texts, along with the only Dante setting in the composer’s entire output:73 1. Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro (Dante) 2. Amor, i’ ho molti e molt’anni pianto (Petrarch) 3. Dura legge d’Amor, ma benché obliqua (Petrarch) 73

Degrada, ‘Dante e la musica del Cinquecento’.

302

Luca Marenzio

j j˚ j˚ ˚j ˚j ˚j œœ œœ œ & b c Œ ‰ J J J J Jœ Jœ . Jœ œ . œ œ œ œ Jœ . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œj  In que-sto lie - to e for-tu-na - to gior-no ch’ha po-sto fi - ne agl’a-mo-ro-si af? cw w b w w Pastore

(C4)

B (F4)

5

&b œ ˙ ?

fan - ni

b w

j j ‰ œ œj j œj j ‰ œ . œj ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ del

no - stro se - mi - de - o

˙

˙

can-tiam

˙

˙

œ ‰ œj

Pa - sto - ri

in

w

j j j j j j j ˚j & b œj œ œ . œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ Jœ œ ˙ œ œ w 10

?

sì so - a - vi ac - cen - ti

b ˙

˙

w

che sian lie - ti d’Or - feo no - stri con - cen

˙

˙

w

w -

m

ti.

w

m

Ex. 24.12 Claudio Monteverdi, Orfeo, Act I, bars 1–13 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Chiaro segno Amor pose alle mie rime (Petrarch) Se sì alto pon gir mie stanche rime (Petrarch) L’aura, ch’el verde lauro e l’aureo crine (Petrarch) Il vago e bello Armillo (Grillo) Solo e pensoso i più deserti campi (Petrarch) Vivo in guerra mendico, e son dolente (Ongaro) Fiume, ch’a l’onde tue ninf’e pastori (Ongaro) Parto o non parto? Ahi, come (Guarini) Credete voi ch’io viva (Guarini) Crudele, acerba, inesorabil morte (Petrarch) La bella man vi stringo (Guarini)

It is probable that the patronage of the duke of Mantua, in this specific case, induced Marenzio to change course after his experiences with the seventh and eighth books a 5. From the dedicatory letter we learn that Vincenzo Gonzaga had ‘commanded’ the composer to send him some compositions; unfortunately we cannot say if the literary choices are the composer’s or the patron’s. Three texts from the ninth book a 5 (nos 5, 8, 13) had previously been set to music by Lassos, and two of these (nos 8 and 13) by Wert. It is known that Vincenzo Gonzaga, from the period in which he became duke, had corresponded with Wert and had

A new style

303

specifically asked him for some madrigals.74 Marenzio could therefore find in the duke of Mantua an ideal point of reference for compositions that were extraordinarily serious, difficult and esoteric. His return to counterpoint was undoubtedly dictated by a desire to measure himself once again against the most illustrious madrigal tradition (Rore, Lasso, Wert) and with the classicism of Petrarchan texts. Tracing the presumed evolution of the composer, we cannot fail to be struck by the stylistic break with the chordal verticality of the eighth book a 5, while the two vast cycles of the sixth book a 6 – the Petrarchan sestina Giovane donna and the Tansillo capitolo Se quel dolor – had already confirmed the ineluctable value of counterpoint, often combined with languidly tortuous chromaticism, as the vehicle for a profound and advanced mode of expression.75 The ninth book a 5, therefore, reduces the vertical homorhythms of the preceding book, and without renouncing declamation completely (see for example the solemn opening of no. 2), resumes a free contrapuntal technique, highly personal, one laden with stylistic dissonances (no. 1) and in some cases (nos 3, 8 and 13) bristling with chromatism.76 The opening of Solo e pensoso (no. 8), with the canto’s gradual chromatic ascent and descent extended over the first 24 bars, is too well known to need discussing again here.77 Despite the esoteric profundity of such famous pieces as Dura legge d’amor (no. 3) and Crudele, acerba inesorabil morte (no. 13), Marenzio’s ninth book a 5 does not represent the exact counterpoise of the Bevilacqua collection. In fact, the literary choices made in the first book a 4, 5, 6 are monochrome compared with the less rigid ones of Book 9. The texts by Guarini, Grillo and Ongaro seem extraneous to the tragic melancholy of Petrarch, even if, as James Chater has 74

On 6 November 1584 Vincenzo Gonzaga had written to Wert: ‘Mio carissimo mi farete servitio gratissimo mandandomi quanto prima una copia della musica fatta da voi sopra le stanze del Tasso che cominciano, Qual musico gentil ch’al canto snodi, et anco qualche madrigale novo de’ vostri se ne havete et quanto maggior sarà il numero delle compositioni vostre che m’inviarete, più ve ne resterò obligato per mostrarmevi grato in qual si voglia nostra occasione’ (‘Mio carissimo, you would do me a great service if you sent me as soon as possible a copy of the music you made on the stanzas of Tasso that begin “Qual musico gentil ch’al canto snodi”, and also that new madrigal of yours if you have it, and the more of your compositions you send me the more I will be obliged to show my gratitude on whatever occasion presents itself to us’). Quoted in Bertolotti, Musici alla corte dei Gonzaga, p. 167. 75 We should note that Marenzio’s decision to set Se quel dolor was very probably prompted by Wert’s earlier setting of the same text. Cf. Myers’s introduction to Marenzio, The Secular Works, vol. 6, pp. xix–xxi. 76 Paolo Fabbri, introduction to Marenzio, Il Nono libro, p. x, in attempting to explain certain highly contrapuntal clashes, cites the phenomenon of ‘contrappunto alla mente’, (‘improvised counterpoint’). 77 For the extensive bibliography of this madrigal see the valuable essay by Privitera, ‘Malinconia e acedia’.

304

Luca Marenzio

pointed out, Guarini’s Parto o non parto (no. 11) represents a ‘partenza angosciosa’.78 The two collections also were also intended for two different milieux: the aim of the madrigals of 1588 was to elaborate ‘a style very different from that of the past’, those of 1599 were the devoted tribute of a mature composer to a refined Italian sovereign. The first collection was not reprinted, while the second aroused strong interest in the publishing market, so satisfied the taste of the ‘pubblico’, if by that we mean a refined élite who followed with interest the evolution of the seconda prattica madrigal.79 Especially surprising are each mood change within a given madrigal brought about by strongly contrasted musical gestures. In Dura legge d’amor the slow, oscillating and almost hypnotic chromaticism in the canto (bars 104–14) seems almost to be the very emblem of acedia, a sense of painful and oppressive indecision (Ex. 24.13). But soon the argument becomes livelier, crochets become more frequent and proceed with a dactylic rhythm that is even shameless in its insistent vitality (Ex. 24.14). Such contrasts occur frequently throughout the book. When Marenzio composed the madrigals of the ninth book a 5 he was not aware of his imminent demise. In his dedication to Vincenzo Gonzaga he expressed the hope of producing ‘in the future fruits that are more worthy of Your Serene Highness’. Nevertheless the sense of death and anguished despair that emanates from the more intense pieces in the collection (though often balanced by an equally evident vitality, embodied in the lively contrapuntal elaborations in note nere) has profoundly impressed critics both ancient and modern. In his ‘complete edition’ of 1609 the publisher Pierre Phalèse defined Marenzio’s eleventh book a 5 as ‘his testament’. And Alfred Einstein, concluding his fine chapter on the composer, wrote: ‘Throughout this book one has the impression that it is a last work, the climax and more than climax of a wholly personal style, just as one has this impression of Wagner’s Parsifal, which could likewise have been followed only by repetitions. Marenzio himself was not of this opinion … But sometimes it happens that Fate knows best when to break the circle.’80 Despite the sombre fascination of this collection, if we wish to retain a rigorously historical viewpoint we should guard against falling into the opus extremum mystique. Angelo Grillo, for example, was convinced that the final fruit of Marenzio’s art was the eighth book a 5, which contained his ‘juvenile poetry 78

Chater, ‘Fonti poetiche’, p. 82. We may note that in this madrigal, on the word ‘moro’ appears an unexpected modulation, from C minor first inversion to A major first inversion, an exceptional point of resemblance between the harmonic styles of Marenzio and Gesualdo. 79 We know of four Venetian reprints of the ninth book a 5 between 1601 and 1609. Cf. also the observations in Chapter 26. 80 Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 688.

A new style

C (C1)

105

& c m bw

nw

Se

pa

& cm Ó œ œ ˙

A (C3)

305

bw -

u

nw

bw

ra o

ver

-

œ œ œ œ ˙

œ œ

˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ

Se pa - u - ra o ver - go-gna a-vien che’l se

V cm ∑

T (C4)

Se pa

V cm ∑

Q (C4)

& ˙ -

-

gna a

#œ œ ˙

-

œœ˙

se pa - u

go-gna a-vien che’l se

∑

Ó

∑

˙

-

œ œ

nw

#w

vien

che’l

se

a

ra o

˙ ˙ -

∑

gua

œœ ˙

˙

œ œ

œ

-

vien che’l

se

ver - go - gna a- vien che’l

se

œ œ œ œ œ

w

∑

œ œ œ œ œ œ

Se pa - u - ra over - go-gna a-vien che’l

Ex. 24.13

œ œ

Ó

#w

˙. -

œ œ w V œ œ ?

˙ ˙a

ra o ver - go-gna a-vien che’l se - gua

∑

Ó ˙

˙

vien che’l se - gua,

∑

V

-

∑ 110

go

u

gua

Ó ˙

Se pa - u - ra o ver-

w

& nw

-

∑

?cm ∑

B (F4)

˙

œ œ

Ó

-

-

∑ w -

œ

˙

#w

-

gua

-

gua

w

∑

m m ∑ m

w se

m

gua

w -

m

gua

Marenzio, Dura legge d’amor, bars 104–14

set to mature music’.81 We should not forget that the melancholy bard of Solo e pensoso was the same composer who had set La mia Clori è brunetta as a lighthearted balletto a few months before.82 Once again the ideal is confirmed of madrigalian composition as mimesis of poetic text: the musician weeps if the poem weeps, but laughs when it laughs. 81 82

See Chapter 22. This late interest of Marenzio in the lighter forms should not be considered exceptional. A few days after the composer’s death there appeared in Rome

306

Luca Marenzio

It is a great pity that the historian possesses no literary or archival document capable of a psychological interpretation. Marenzio’s inner life remains completely closed to us: we possess no autobiographical confessions, and the few autograph letters that survive are too formal to throw any light on even the smallest aspect of his elusive personality. However, as we have seen, the composer’s portrait in Vienna, if carefully interpreted, can enrich our knowledge.

jj & c m Jœ Jœ œ œ œ œ œ Co - me sem - pre fra due j j j j & c m œ œ œ #œ œ œ

C (C1)

A (C3)

V cm

T (C4)

Co- me sem - pre fra due,

∑

˙ si

œ

œ

˙

œ œ J J

veg

-

ghia,

co-me

∑

j j j j œ œ œ œ œ œ co-me sem - pre fra due, œ œ ˙

j j œ œ œ œ œ œ J J Co-me sem - pre fra due

V cm

Q (C4)

?c

B (F4)

si

œ œ œ œ œ œ J J J J

∑

Ó

Co-me sem - pre fra due,

∑

m

veg

-

œ œ J J

Œ

co-me

œ œ œ #œ œ œ

∑

Co-me sem - pre fra due 130

&œ

j j œ œ œ

sem - pre fra due,

j j &œ œ œ

jj œ œ œ

ghi’e ghi’e

V

œ

dor

sem - pre fra due,

?œ

jj œ œ œ

˙

si

jj œ œ œ Œ

˙ -

me,

œ œ œ JJ

jj œ œ œ

co-me sem - pre fra due

œ

veg

si

∑

œ

-

˙ veg

Œ

co-me sem - pre fra due

˙ œ œ œ J J

Œœ œ

Ó

co-me sem - pre fra due

jj œ œ œ

co-me sem - pre fra due,

V˙

jj œ œ ˙

œ -

˙

ghi’e ghi’e

œ

si

veg -

jj jj œ œ œ# œ œ ˙

jj œ œ œ œ œ œ JJ

co-me sempre fra due,

co-me sem-pre fra due,

œ si

˙

œ

ghi’e ghi’e

dor

˙

veg

˙ -

ghia,

œœ œ ˙ -

me,

Ó

˙

si

œ œ œ œ J J # Jœ Jœ co- me sem-pre fra due,

Giovenale Ancina’s Tempio armonico, containing the spiritual canzonetta for three voices Ahime pur s’avicina, which could be dated 1599 on the basis of historical and biographical (if not stylistic) considerations.

A new style

&œ

jj jj œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ 135

˙ dor

&œ

-

˙

-

me,

co-me sem - pre fra due

œ œ

ghi’e

dor

-

jj jj ˙ Vœ œ œ œ œ œ co-me sem-pre fra due

V˙

œ

veg

-

ghi’e

me,

si

œ œ dor

-

?œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ JJ J J co-me sem-pre fra due

Ex. 24.14

œ

Œ ˙ veg

œ Œ me,

˙

˙

si

veg

-

j j jj œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

˙

˙

ghi’e

dor

˙

-

veg

Ó

jj œ œ œ œ œ œ œ JJ

veg

-

ghi’e

dor

-

ghi’e

m

œ ˙

co-me sem - pre fra due si

˙

-

∑

ghia

˙

m

œ œ œ œm

co-me sem - pre fra due si

˙

si

307

veg

œm -

ghi’e

m

w -

Marenzio, Dura legge d’amor, bars 127–37

The musical fragment depicted can reveal something of Marenzio’s temperament in the years of his full artistic maturity. The tenor part not only bears the mensuration sign of tempus imperfectum diminutum (¢), it also appears to be written in mode 8 (initium g, ambitus d–e⬘), appropriate, according to Orazio Vecchi, for ‘the gentle, the sweet but also the grave’ (‘le cose soavi, e dolci, et anco gravi’):83

BC w A

˙ -

mor

˙

˙ Ó ∑

˙

˙

œ œ œ œ

l' [text illegible]

An opening of this kind does not seem to lend itself to fugal elaboration, but rather points to a chordal, arioso opening, along the lines of Amor, se giusto sei (VI a 5). Even though no composition with this incipit has come down to us, one can recognize in the vocal line the ‘gentle, sweet but also grave’ style of an amorous but not necessarily pathos-laden madrigal. Thus, in his portrait of himself, Marenzio perhaps intended to immortalize the singer of love and dulcedo rather than that of ‘sombre gravity’ or acedia.

83

On the character or ethos of the individual modes, see Chapter 25.

Chapter 25

Order and significance A period of formalities and cast-iron respect for etiquette, the century in which Marenzio lived must have attributed a certain importance to the order in which single compositions appeared in print and the way they were grouped. In published anthologies the opening and closing positions were given to the most illustrious composers, or to the editor of the collection, who in this way was in a position to do the honours of the house, as it were.1 Just as the dukes of Ferrara and Florence waged a protracted quarrel about precedence, so it would not be too fanciful to imagine the subterranean rivalries of musicians vying to obtain the position of honour within an anthology. It is also plausible – in some cases certain – that composers paid close attention to the order of their pieces within single-author madrigal prints. That such an order could possess great significance is a hypothesis I shall now try to corroborate with a review of Marenzio’s secular output.2 In a madrigal book the opening and closing positions (exordium and finis, to use the terminology of rhetoric) assume a crucially important function. This is proved by the fact that Marenzio’s numerous books conclude with a special piece, intended for a different ensemble of voices than that specified on the title page. Usually these are compositions for double choir, as occurs in six of Marenzio’s collections between the first book a 5 (1580) and the sixth book a 5 (1594). The list comprises: O tu che fra le selve, ‘dialogo a 8 in risposta d’ecco’ (I a 5, 1580); Viene Clori gentil, ‘dialogo a 10’ (I a 6, 1581); Se ’l pensier che mi strugge, for eight voices (II a 5, 1581); Donne, il celeste lume, for nine voices (the ninth voice ‘se piace’ or ad libitum) (IV a 6, 1587); Basti fin qui le pen’e i duri affanni, for 10 voices (I a 4, 5, 6, 1588); and Cantiam la bella Clori, for eight voices (VI a 5, 1594). Even the Quinto libro delle villanelle a tre voci (1587) concludes with an exceptional composition, Non più gl’Arabi fumi, distinguished by its four-voice texture and also by the truly extraordinary absence of strophic repetitions. In other cases, even when retaining the vocal scoring of the preceding pieces, the concluding piece is distinguished by the nature of the text or by a particular 1 2

Some examples have already been discussed in Chapter 11. I shall avoid an examination of the sacred output for reasons that can easily be guessed: the Sacrae cantiones are posthumous, and therefore were published outside the direct control of the composer, while the Motecta festorum totius anni adhere explicitly to the order of the liturgical year. 308

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compositional intention. Pieces of this kind include the lively caccia by Sacchetti, Passando con pensier (II a 6, 1584), the multi-movement cycle by Sannazaro, Non fu mai cervo (Madrigali spirituali, 1584), the dialogue by Sannazaro, Vienne, Montan (I a 4, 1585), the echo madrigal by Tasso, O verdi selve (VI a 6, 1595), and the canon at the lower fourth, La bella man vi stringo, on a text by Guarini (IX a 5, 1599). The other seven collections forgo the charms of a ‘gran finale’, even if in some cases (e.g., VII a 5, 1595, and VIII a 5, 1598) the final composition presents a musical style that is in deliberate contrast to the other pieces. Sometimes one perceives in the final madrigal a desire to offer some reassurance, to redress the emotional balance for the singers and listeners. This can be seen above all in the more sombre collections, such as the I a 4, 5, 6 or the VII a 5. As regards the opening pieces, one can rarely identify pre-established formal characteristics. Some multi-movement madrigals are placed at the opening of a book: Deggio dunque partire (three sections, II a 5, 1581), Giunto a la tomba (four sections, IV a 5, 1584), Sola angioletta (six sections, V a 5, 1585), Leggiadrissima eterna Primavera (two sections, V a 6, 1591), Lucida perla (two sections, VI a 6, 1595), O occhi del mio core (two sections, VIII a 5, 1598), Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro (two sections, IX a 5, 1599).3 In general we may plausibly maintain that the composer assigned the opening position to compositions of a particular aesthetic level, or at any rate bound for success. The pieces that open the first three books a 5 were all had notably successful, beginning with the most obvious example, Liquide perle. We cannot exclude the possibility that the widespread acclaim of this music was due not only to intrinsic aesthetic qualities but also to the place of honour it occupied in the collection in question. Elsewhere the opening pieces assume the function of courteous homage to influential figures, as certain elements or textual details clearly reveal: one thinks of Come inanti de l’alba ruggiadosa (I a 6, 1581, acrostic on ‘Cleria Cesarini’), Leggiadrissima eterna Primavera (V a 6, 1591, for the wedding of Flavia and Virginio Orsini), Lucida perla (VI a 6, 1595, for the wedding of Margherita Gonzaga Este). More interesting are the cases of ‘manifesto’ pieces that allude to specific or conscious changes of style. At least two compositions belong to this type: Ov’è condotto il mio amoroso stile? (I a 4, 5, 6, 1588) and Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro (IX a 5, 1599). On the other hand, no genuine autobiographical confession should necessarily be read into certain dolorous partenze as Deggio dunque partire (II a 5, 1581) and S’io parto i’ moro (VI a 5, 1594).4 With regard to the proposed entry of Marenzio into the service of the king of Poland, Franco Piperno has recently claimed that 3 4

On these compositions see Chegai, ‘Marenzio e il madrigale multisezionale’. See also n. 8. On the genre of the partenza see Chater, ‘“Such sweet sorrow”’.

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the sixth book a 5, which insists with special sadness on the theme of partenza, shows that this position was unwelcome to the composer.5 But the dedication of the sixth book a 5 to Cinzio Aldobrandini is dated 1 January 1594 and we know that the plan to send Marenzio to service in Poland was conceived and matured only in the course of the following year;6 therefore when the composer set S’io parto i’ moro he could not have known anything about his future departure from Rome. In the previous chapter I have already said something about the organic unity of single madrigal collections. The choice of poetic texts obeys obvious thematic criteria in the first book a 4, 5, 6 (1588), the fifth book a 6 (1591), the seventh book a 5 (1595), the ninth book a 5 (1599) and, in part, also in the eighth book a 5 (1589). The other books have more the character of a miscellany; nevertheless, we should point out that this varietas is always subordinate to a considerable level of internal organization. Marenzio, like other composers of the period, obeys certain rules of tonal disposition. Above all he is careful to distinguish madrigals sung with key signature of B (in the transposed modes, cantus mollis) from those with no key signature (untransposed modes, cantus durus). Usually a collection opens with a group of ‘untransposed’ madrigals and concludes with ‘transposed’ ones (with B); sometimes, as in the first book a 4 (1585), the scheme is tripartite: we begin with transposed modes, at the centre stands a group in untransposed modes, and at the end there is a return to transposed modes; more rarely, as in the fourth book a 5 (1584), the grouping is divided according to a quadripartite scheme. Often the last madrigal is composed in an untransposed mode,7 but, as always, there is no lack of exceptions. By way of example we may usefully examine the disposition of single pieces in the third book a 5 (1582), dedicated to the Accademici Filarmonici of Verona. The architecture of this collection is articulated in a fairly sophisticated way. True, the book is without a well-defined exordium or finis (for example, there is no double-choir piece to conclude with), but a contrived and premeditated tonal disposition is nevertheless noticeable: the madrigals from no. 10 to the end are all written in the transposed modes while nos 1–9 are in the untransposed modes. The book is divided into two almost equal parts: nos 1–9 and 10–17. This symmetry becomes almost perfect if we consider the centrally placed no. 9 (Se la mia fiamma ardente) as an element of separation between two sections of similar length: nos 1–8 | no. 9 | nos 10–17. This interpretation is confirmed by an analysis of no. 9: indeed, the exceptional use of the misura alla breve (¢) is accompanied by an exordium in imitative 5 6 7

Piperno, ‘Marenzio, Luca’ in Dizionario enciclopedico, vol. 4, pp. 649 and 651. See Chapter 20. The concluding madrigal of the fifth book a 5 (1585) has a key signature of two flats, a unique case in Marenzio’s output

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counterpoint and by frequent suspensions and evaded cadences: these somewhat recherché and precious stylistic elements work together to make Se la mia fiamma ardente the heart of the book. During his 20-year activity as a madrigalist Marenzio on several occasions showed an interest in composing large-scale musical cycles in more than three sections. His first, albeit indirect, experience was his contribution to the composite setting of the ‘sestina’ by Alamanni, Mentre ti fui sì grato, in the Roman anthology Dolci affetti (1582). His first complete essay in multimovement composition is the sestina by Sannazaro, Non fu mai cervo, placed at the close of the Madrigali spirituali (1584). In the same period there followed Giunto a la tomba from Tasso’s Gerusalemme (IV a 5, 1584) and a second sestina by Sannazaro, Sola angioletta (V a 5, 1585). We must wait until the 1590s for a vigorous resumption of this type of composition: Guarini’s Canzon de’ baci, Baci soavi e cari (V a 6, 1591), and, above all, the two great and engrossing cycles from the sixth book a 6 (1595), Petrarch’s canzona Giovane donna (in seven sections) and Tansillo’s capitolo Se quel dolor (10 sections). It is significant that in these works Marenzio moves away from the standard five-voice complement towards the more sonorous, virtuoso six-voice combination. Moreover, in these collections, the multi-movement pieces no longer occupy an opening or closing position, but are placed at the centre or near the end of the book.8 This can be explained by the highly emotional nature of these pieces, certainly ill-fitted to provide a happy or festive ending, as the conventions of the time, along with Marenzio’s own custom, more or less prescribed. From the large-scale articulations of cyclic madrigals to the significant (if undeclared) grouping of single madrigals seems a rather small step. The dramatic unity of a collection like the seventh book a 5 (1595) has already been pointed out: here, there is nothing casual about the ordering of the pieces, even if it diverges from that found in Il pastor fido.9 And even when such a clear narrative plan can be found, one laid down by the composer himself, we may often observe stylistic contrasts, mood changes, altered situations, deliberately arranged so as to enliven the internal varietas of a collection. This aim would seem to underlie the logic of the insertion, in the fourth book a 5 (1584), of a lively piece, albeit based on a clumsy text, Mentre il ciel è sereno, immediately after the sublime style of Tasso’s octaves: ‘a joke one could gladly do without’, in the opinion of Nino Pirrotta.10 8

On the cyclic madrigals see Myers, ‘An analytical study of Italian cyclic madrigals’. On Marenzio in particular, see Janz, Die Petrarca-Vertonungen, pp. 235 ff. (analysis of the canzone Giovane donna); Cecchi, ‘Modalità, grande forma e rapporto tra testo e musica’. 9 Caraci Vela, ‘Osservazioni intorno al Settimo libro’, p. 16. 10 ‘uno scherzo del quale si farebbe volentieri a meno’. Pirrotta, ‘Note su Marenzio e il Tasso’, p. 567.

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A kind of multi-movement work, though not easily perceptible as such, is one where the settings of single stanzas straddle several collections, setting up a web of fascinating interrelationships. The most famous case is Petrarch’s double sestina Mia benigna fortuna, of which Marenzio set eight stanzas spread over four books: Stanza 12 7 3 6 10 5 11 2

Incipit O voi che sospirate a miglior note11 Nessun visse giamai più di me lieto Ov’è condotto il mio amoroso stile Fuggito è il sonno alle mie crude notti Amor, i’ ho molti e molt’anni pianto Chiaro segno Amor pose alle mie rime Se sì alto pon gir mie stanche rime Crudele, acerba, inesorabil morte

Source II a 5, no. 10, 1581 II a 6, no. 2, 1584 I a 4, 5, 6, no. 1, 1588 Ibid., no. 5 IX a 5, no. 2, 1599 Ibid., no. 4 Ibid., no. 5 Ibid., no. 13

In this scheme, and particularly with the four pieces in the ninth book a 5, Marenzio does not adhere to the original order; it is as if he wanted to offer an entirely new poetic trajectory, one adapted to his own personality. Massimo Privitera has discerned in the ninth book a 5 an ‘autobiographical significance in the line of argument’ (‘consequenzialità autobiografica del discorso’): starting with a heartfelt initial lament (no. 2, Amor, i’ho molti e molt’anni pianto), he arrives at the consciousness of a ‘changed style’ (‘mutato stile’: no. 5, Se sì alto pon gir mie stanche rime). The composer, Privitera concludes, is providing a ‘summing up of his own development’ (‘un bilancio della propria evoluzione’).12 This is a fascinating key for the interpretation of Marenzio’s stylistic development. But here we are dealing less with autobiography in the strict sense than a spiritual autobiography, one detached from specific events in the composer’s life, but traceable to an interior and creative tension, one it is possible to find in all Marenzio’s output, especially the late works. The settings of the sestina Mia benigna fortuna from the ninth book a 5 refer explicitly to the esoteric collection of Count Bevilacqua (I a 4, 5, 6), but also to the more precocious works of the early 1580s. In any case it would be rather hazardous to interpret the increased melancholy of Marenzio’s last works as a direct reflection of sad events in his life, such as unhappiness in love, an anguished stay in Poland, a precarious professional situation after his return to Italy, or a fatal illness. If a listening of the ninth book a 5 is emotive enough to evoke these images, a diametrically opposed impression 11 As Privitera (‘Malinconia e acedia’, p. 37) states, Marenzio replaces the original rhyme word ‘notti’ (‘nights’) with ‘note’ (‘notes’), charging the passage with a musical meaning. 12 Ibid., p. 52. See also Privitera, ‘“Ond’io vo col pensier cangiando stile”’.

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can be gained from the contemporary madrigal-canzonetta Quand’io miro le rose (VIII a 5). The musical creativity of Marenzio is not nourished by autobiographical episodes, but rather reflects changing psychological inclinations, often close to the melancholic humour, traditionally the temperament that characterizes creative geniuses. Tasso wrote in his well-known dialogue Il messaggiero (1580): [...] melancholics, as Aristotle states, were outstanding geniuses in the study of philosophy, the government of the republic and the composition of poetry; Empedocles, Socrates and Plato were all melancholic; ... and many years later Lucretius killed himself for melancholy; and Democritus drove from Parnassus the poets who were sane. Not only philosophers and poets, but also heroes, as Aristotle says, are infested with the same vice ... Among the melancholics we may also count Ajax and Bellopheron [recte: Bellerophon], one of whom became truly mad, while the other was wont to go through deserted places, and from place to place, whence he could say: Alone and thoughtful, through deserted plains, I wander still, with slow and measured tread, My eyes keep watch, the better to avoid All trace of human footsteps in the sand.13

Some of the guidelines (admittedly somewhat vague) useful for recognizing the changing moods expressed in Marenzio’s madrigals can be found in a manuscript treatise on modality, Mostra delli tuoni, attributed to Orazio Vecchi.14 In Table 25.1 I reproduce the 12-mode system theorized by Glareanus and Zarlino 13

[...] i maninconici, come afferma Aristotele, sono stati di chiaro ingegno ne gli studi de la filosofia e nel governo de la repubblica e nel compor versi; ed Empedocle e Socrate e Platone furono maninconici; ... e molti anni dapoi Lucrezio s’uccise per maninconia; e Democrito caccia di Parnaso i poeti che sian savi. Né solo i filosofi e i poeti, ma gli eroi, come dice l’istesso Aristotele, sono infestati dal medesimo vizio ... Si possono anche tra’ maninconici annoverare Aiace e Belloferonte [sic]: l’uno de’ quali divenne pazzo a fatto; l’altro era solito d’andare pe’ luoghi disabitati, laonde poteva dire: Solo e pensoso i più deserti campi Vo misurando a passi tardi e lenti E porto gli occhi per fuggire intenti Ove vestigio uman l’arena stampi

Quoted in Privitera, ‘Malinconia e acedia’, p. 55. The source of the passage is the pseudo-Aristotelian Problems, XXX, 1. 14 Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, MS C.30: Vecchi, Mostra delli tuoni [copy by E. Giacobbi, 1630], ed. Pollastri. Original MS cited and discussed in Chater, Luca Marenzio, vol. 1, pp. 40–45.

d (g) d (g) e (a) e (a) f

Dorian Hypodorian Phrygian Hypophrygian Lydian

Hypolydian Mixolydian

Hypomixolydian Aeolian Hypoaeolian Ionian Hypoionian

1 2 3 4 5

6 7

8 9 10 11 12

‘a mixture of cheerfulness and gravity’; can be used for texts of very different character quieter and more relaxed than mode 1 ‘much in use because it is suited to doleful words, full of grief’ ‘suited to tearful words, full of compassion’ ‘suited to modesty, and for the arousal of dull souls’. Vecchi cites Venuta era Madonna (I a 5, no. 9); but this mode becomes increasingly rare in the sixteenth century ‘suited to words of supplication, often used in the church’ ‘very suited to wanton compositions, as we can see in the madrigal by Marenzio, Spuntavan già’ (I a 5, no. 3) identified with ‘the sweet and gentle, also the grave’ ‘suited to harsh words mingled with cheerfulness’ ‘suited to plaintive words, threatening revenge’. Suitable for unrequited love. ‘suited to dance-like, joyful subjects’ ‘suited to triumph’. Like the above, suitable for festive occasions like weddings and for bucolic, pastoral scenes.

Characteristicsa

a Quoted passages translated from Vecchi’s Mostra delli tuoni. Original text reads: ‘misto con l’allegrezza e con la gravità’ (mode 1); ‘molto in uso perché s’accomoda a le parole dolorose, e piene di pianto’ (mode 3); ‘atto alle parole lagrimevoli e piene di compassione’ (mode 4); ‘atto alla modestia, et alla sollevatione de gl’animi noiosi’ (mode 5); ‘atto alle parole deprecative, usato assai nella chiesa’ (mode 6); ‘molto atto a i componimenti lascivi, come si può vedere nel Madrigale del Marentio, Spuntavan già’ (mode 7); ‘le cose soavi, e dolci, et anco gravi’ (mode 8); ‘atto alle parole severe miste con l’allegrezza’ (mode 9); ‘atto alle parole flebili, et minacciose di vendetta’ (mode 10); ‘atto a soggetti danzevoli, e gioiosi’ (mode 11); ‘atto al triomfo’ (mode 12).

g (c) a (d) a (d) c (f) c (f)

f g (c)

Finalis (transposed)

No. Name

Table 25.1 The 12-mode system of Glareanus and Zarlino with Orazio Vecchi’s annotations on ethos

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(Istitutioni harmoniche, first edition, 1558), together with the respective ‘ethic’ annotations of Vecchi.15 Compared with the numerous (and often contradictory) lists of modal characteristics (ethos) encountered in Renaissance treatises, the one proposed by Vecchi, explicitly based on some madrigals from Marenzio’s first book a 5, is undoubtedly the one closest to our composer’s poetics; nevertheless it is applied very flexibly.16 Often two compositions in the same mode will show insurmountable differences in character. For example, Tirsi morir volea and Dolorosi martir (I a 5, nos 5 and 6) are both composed in mode 3 untransposed (authentic Phrygian), but the first madrigal is without the searing pathos of the second. Liquide perle (I a 5, no. 1) and Solo e pensoso (IX a 5, no. 8) also share the same modal scheme, mode 7 untransposed, but apart from the finalis no other structural or typifying element seems to link the two pieces, which in character and expression are remote from each other.17 Once again the composer’s creative 15

In the sixteenth century the terms ‘modo’ and ‘tuono’ were often considered synonymous, but could also take on different semantic nuances. To avoid confusion Zarlino preferred the word ‘modo’: ‘Et perche questo nome Tuono si estende in più cose, come hauemo veduto; però io per schiuare la Equiuocatione, più che hò potuto, hò voluto nominarli Modi, & non Tuoni’ (‘And because this word “tone” extends to several things (as we have seen), I have decided, to avoid ambiguity as much as I can, to call them “modes”, not “tones”’ (Istitutioni harmoniche, p. 297). Practical musicians, on the other hand, including madrigal composers and organists, used the term ‘tuono’: as we have seen, in L’amorosa Ero each piece is stated as having been composed ‘nel medesimo tuono’ (‘in the same tone’). Similarly, Orazio Vecchi called his treatise Mostra delli tuoni (and not ‘delli modi’). Another phenomenon altogether were the nine psalmodic tones then being used in sacred music. Adriano Banchieri in his Cartella musicale (p. 117) explained the structural difference between the system of the nine tones, to be understood as melodic formulae for liturgical use, and the system of the 12 modes, to be understood as scalar structures for analytical and speculative use. 16 On the question of the modal ethos, of which Vincenzo Galilei denied the existence, see Palisca, ‘Mode ethos in the Renaissance’; Carter, Music in Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Italy, pp. 53–56. It is very possible, even if we lack indisputable proof, that Marenzio, like Vecchi, consciously applied the doctrine of the 12 modes of Glareanus and Zarlino to his own compositions. The madrigal Due rose fresch’e colte in Paradiso is composed in mode 2. In the madrigal L’aura che’l verde lauro (IX a 5) the word ‘nove’ (which in reality means ‘nuove’ or ‘new’) could also be translated as ‘nine’, a reference to mode 9; this choice could also have been suggested by the word ‘pellegrine’ (‘wandering’; here meaning ‘extraneous to’), a reference to the ninth psalmodic tone, the so-called tonus peregrinus (‘wandering tone’), which corresponds to mode 9. However, one does not always find such a close correspondence between the numbers present in a text and the choice of mode. The matter is discussed in Janz, Die Petrarca-Vertonungen, pp. 333 ff. 17 On the choice of mode 7 for Solo e pensoso Janz (Die Petrarca-Vertonungen, p. 313) comments: ‘Der Grund für die Wahl des siebenten Modus dürften hier die

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imagination transcends any attempt at theoretical elaboration or abstract, cerebral classification.

“perturbationi” sein (Vgl. Zarlino, Istitutioni harmoniche, S. 327), die den Text unterschwellig durchziehen und nur selten direkt angesprochen werden (z. B. Zeile 8: avampi); sie bilden den Hintergrund für Petrarcas elegisch gefärbte Darstellung seiner Liebesleiden und seiner Flucht in die Einsamkeit’ (‘The reason for the choice of mode 7 could be the “perturbationi” of which Zarlino writes (Istitutioni harmoniche, p. 327), which run through the text like a subterranean current, welling up only rarely (e.g. in line 8: ‘avampi’ [‘blazes’]); they form the background for Petrarch’s elegiac representation of his love pains and of his flight into solitude’).

Chapter 26

Seconda prattica and second Renaissance It is widely known that in the 1590s the Italian madrigal underwent profound transformations in its quest for new forms of expression. Claudio Monteverdi gave this fascinating phenomenon the name ‘seconda prattica’, propounding the theoretical argument of a new relationship between text and music founded on the primacy, not the subjugation, of the word.1 According to Monteverdi, Marenzio was among the greatest musical innovators of the late Cinquecento alongside other famous madrigalists (Rore, Ingegneri, Luzzaschi, Wert, Gesualdo) and the two first composers of opera (Peri and Caccini), all of whom were motivated by the same spiritual aim: the intimate understanding of ‘true art’. We shall try to understand what parts of Marenzio’s output can be reduced to the principles of the seconda prattica. Some indications can be found in the writings of Severo Bonini, a Florentine theorist and a Vallombrosan monk. In the manuscript treatise Discorsi e regole sopra la musica (dating from the 1640s) Bonini names our composer several times, placing him in the canon of excellent composers: But where has that true Prince of practical music Gio. Palestina brought us, with the art and gravity of his harmonies? Where Nanino, Cipriano, Filippo di Monte, Orlando [di Lasso], Costanzo Porta, Claudio Merula [Merulo], Andrea Gabrieli, Vittoria, Morales, Luca Marenzio, who has composed in so many styles, as in his Ninth Book for Five Voices, Nenna and the Prince of Venosa [Gesualdo] with his new style for composing madrigals? Claudio Monteverdi with his charming concerti? Luzzasco [Luzzaschi] with his ricercari?2

In this passage Marenzio’s versatility is mentioned, with his ninth book a 5 1 2

See the text reproduced in Chapter 23, n. 2. ‘Ma dove si lascia quello veramente Principe della Musica prattica Gio. Palestina mediante l’arte, e la gravità delle sue armonie? Dove il Nanino, Cipriano, Filippo di Monte, Orlando, Gostanzo Porta, Claudio Merula, Andrea Gabbrielli, il Vittoria, il Morales, Luca Marenzio il quale hà composto in tante sorte di maniere come la nona opera a cinque, il Nenna et il Principe di Venosa con il suo nuovo stile di comporre Madrigali? Claudio Monteverdi con i suoi vaghi concerti? Luzzasco con i suoi Ricercari?’ Severo Bonini, Discorsi e regole, ed. Bonino, p. 56. 317

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cited as an example. Bonini then interestingly distinguishes three ‘ordini’ of musical style that matured in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: the seconda prattica of Monteverdi at its height appears to coincide with the ‘terzo ordine’. Here is how this classification is applied to Marenzio: And then my friend replied that Luca Marenzio, the gentleman from Bergamo,3 had been the most universal of all composers of vocal music, since he has composed in both styles, the second and the third: in the second, as in the five-voice pieces Liquide perle amore and Tirsi morir volea [I a 5], in the third, as in the five-voice S’io parto io moro [VI a 5], in Book Nine, Così nel mio cantar voglio esser aspro4 [IX a 5], so full of art, in that for six voices, Se bramate ch’io mora [IV a 6] and in Lucida perla [VI a 6]. In these works we hear double conceits [double counterpoint], asperities well conceived and well resolved, and divine sweetness, for he used affects in accordance with the words, and in sum he was excellent in all his works, bearing the palm above those masters of our time, who have agreed that whoever wishes to please found it convenient to imitate him as much as they could.5 3

On the Bergamasque branch of the Marenzi family, which was not closely related to the composer, see Chapter 10. 4 The text by Dante (and of Marenzio’s madrigal) in fact reads: ‘Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro’ (‘talking’, not ‘singing’). On the significance of this lapsus by Bonini see Privitera, ‘Malinconia e acedia’, p. 52. 5 ‘E seguendo l’Amico replicò, come Luca Marentio gentilomo bergamasco era stato il più universale Compositore di cantilene di tutti gl’altri, poiché hà composto negli ambidui Stili del secondo e del terzo, del Secondo come in quella muta à cinque voci dove sono quelle parole Liquide perle amore, e Tirsi morir volea [I a 5], del Terzo come in quelli med[esimamen]te à cinque voci, S’io parto io moro [VI a 5], in quelli della nona Muta, Così nel mio cantar voglio esser aspro [IX a 5], tanto artifizziosi, in quelli à sei voci, Se bramate ch’io mora [IV a 6] e in quelli, Lucida perla [VI a 6]. Si odono in queste dette opere concetti doppi, crudezze bene intese, e ben risolute, e dolcezze divine, havendo usato gl’affetti secondo le parole, et insomma in tutte l’opere sue è stato eccellente portando la palma sopra quanti Maestri de nostri tempi sono stati con pace loro, che chi hà voluto dilettare gl’è convenuto imitarlo per quanto à saputo.’ Severo Bonini, Discorsi, pp. 165–66. On the historical evolution of the ‘secondo ordine’ Bonini writes (pp. 161–62): ‘Fiorì Cipriano de Rore, il quale dette nome di sé con i Madrigali à quattro voci, dove è quello che comincia Cantai mentre, ch’io arsi. Fiorì Orlando di Lasso con la sua sestina Standomi un giorno. Fiorì Adriano Vuillaert il quale, secondo che scrive il Zarlino, in guisa di nuovo Pitagora esaminando minutamente, avanti però il Palestina assai, quello che nella Musica poteva occorrere, e trovatovi infiniti errori, cominciò à levargli, e ridurla verso quello honore, che già ella era, e che ragionevolmente dovria essere. E le sue composizzioni hanno dato chiarissimo esempio dell’arte sua. Furono huomini segnalati in questa professione Filippo di Monte, Pietro Vinci, il Vittoria, chiamato la scimia del Palestina, il Morales, il Nanino, il Soriano, Iaches de Vuert, Oratio Vecchi, Luca Marentio del gentiluomini bergamaschi, il Cavaccio et innumerabili altri di questo secondo ordine. Luca Marentio in alcune opere madrigali come in quella Liquide perle amore, il Cavaccio, l’Ugolino,

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We may note that in this knowledgeable outline of Marenzio’s stylistic evolution Bonini omits the first book a 4, 5, 6 (evidently he did not know it, perhaps because of the rarity of the print), while, surprisingly, he mentions the fourth book a 6 (1587), which, although it belongs to Marenzio’s less mature style, offers wonderful essays in ‘dolcezze divine’. But which composers in each of the three ‘orders’ should one follow and imitate? But in the non-concerted madrigals of the second order, Palestrina, Orlando [di Lasso], Filippo de Monte, the Florentine Luca Abati [Bati], Cipriano [de Rore], particularly in his piece that begins Cantai mentre ch’io arsi, Luca Marenzio in the one with the words Liquide perle Amore, Felice Anerio, Nanino. But in the style of the third order you should imitate in these madrigals the Prince of Venosa [Gesualdo], Marenzio in that five-voice piece from his Ninth Book Così nel mio cantar, Monteverdi in the work that begins Ahi dolente partita, Nenna, Pecci, Gagliano, [Santi] Orlandi, Nebbio, Vitali, the Chevalier Del Turco, all five of whom are Florentine.6

This demonstrates that the canon delineated by Severo Bonini completes and clarifies Monteverdi’s theories on seconda prattica. But such conscious historiography makes us understand how the exciting adventure of the polyphonic madrigal had now reached its twilight. ‘Do you not see’, writes the historian bitterly, et infiniti autori di quel tempo’ (‘Cipriano de Rore flourished, and he became famous with his madrigals for four voices, where there is the piece that begins Cantai mentre, ch’io arsi. Orlando di Lasso flourished with his sestina Standomi un giorno. Adrian Willaert flourished who, according to Zarlino, like a new Pythagoras examined minutely, in the period long before Palestrina, what could happen in music, and finding innumerable errors, began to remove them, and to restore to music that honour which it had had in the past, and which by reason it should have. And his compositions were a distinguished example of his art. The most famous in this profession were Philippe de Monte, Pietro Vinci, Vittoria, called Palestrina’s ape, Morales, Nanino, Soriano, Iaches de Wert, Orazio Vecchi, Luca Marenzio of the Bergamasque gentlemen, Cavaccio and countless others of this second order. Luca Marenzio in some madrigals such as Liquide perle amore, Cavaccio, Ugolino, and innumerable other composers of that time’). 6 ‘Se ne’ madrigali non concertati del secondo ordine, il Palestina, Orlando, Filippo de Monte, Luca Abati fiorentino, Cipriano particolarmente in quella muta che comincia Cantai mentre ch’io arsi, Luca Marenzio in quella dove è Liquide perle Amore, Felice Anerio, il Nanino. Ma nello stile del terzo ordine imiterete ne’ detti madrigali il principe di Venosa, il Marenzio in quelli a cinque della muta nona Così nel mio cantar, il Monteverdi in quella particolare opera che comincia Ahi dolente partita, il Nenna, il Pecci, il Gagliani, l’Orlandi, il Nebbio, il Vitali, il cavalier Del Turco, tutti e cinque fiorentini.’ Ibid., p. 177.

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that today [c. 1640] one writes nothing but ariettas for one or two voices accompanied by harpsichords or similar instruments? Madrigals to sing unaccompanied at table have been consigned to oblivion, as also has a cappella music ... and so little by little this art is being lost, since today effort does not seem too wise, and Zarlino’s rules have been given the boot, along with all the other rule-makers’ books, and people are guided by their own caprice, and have this stupid maxim, that the people who wrote the rules are human beings like everyone else.7

Born in 1582, Bonini compiled his treatise at an advanced age, around the middle of the Seicento, a period in which the madrigals of Marenzio had disappeared from current musical praxis, only to exert greater fascination on scholars and connoisseurs of counterpoint. But at the time of Marenzio’s premature death in 1599, the genre of the madrigal was still flourishing and still did not presage the threats that were to come from the establishment of basso continuo, the stile concertato and opera. Marenzio participated in the complex evolution of the Italian madrigal until the last, and there is no doubt that he kept abreast of the times: if in the 1580s he could be described as ‘a modern and charming composer’ (‘compositor moderno et vago’),8 in the 1590s he became an ‘artful’ (‘artifizzioso’) composer, capable of ‘asperities well conceived and well resolved’, excellent in the use of ‘affects used in accordance with the words’,9 just what Monteverdian seconda prattica called for. But he was not the only composer to follow this trajectory. Benedetto Pallavicino, to name a contemporary omitted from the canons of Monteverdi and Bonini, had also begun in the 1580s with a vocal style that was especially light and florid, concluding his career with the intense sixth book a 5 (1600), with its abundance of audacities and harmonic asperities.10 The reasons for Marenzio’s stylistic innovations should not be sought in his private life, but in the general change of taste that pervaded the madrigal at the end of the century. That Marenzio was also able to excel in this new style, as Bonini and Monteverdi (the latter indirectly) recognized, can be ascribed to his celebrated technical mastery and above all to his extraordinary artistic sensibility. Other composers – the ‘Romano’ Ruggiero Giovannelli 7

‘Non vedete che oggi non si attende se non a comporre ariette a una e due voci concertate per li arpicordi o simili strumenti? I madrigali da cantarsi al tavolino senza concertarsi si sono mandati in oblio, così ancora le musiche a cappella ... e così a poco a poco si andrà perdendo simil arte, poiché la fatica par oggi non troppo sana, havendo dato un calcio alle regole del Zarlino et a quanti libri si trovano di regolisti, governandosi di lor proprio capriccio havendo questa sciocca massima, cioè che chi ha composto le regole è un huomo come gli altri.’ Ibid., pp. 100–101. 8 See the Bourdenay Codex in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Cf. Mischiati, ‘Un’antologia manoscritta’, p. 319. 9 These descriptions are Bonini’s, as noted above. 10 On the evolution of Pallavicino see Patuzzi, ‘“Poter metter fine allo infinito”’.

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was one of those – were content to excel in the ‘secondo ordine’ even into the 1590s. From the musical point of view the Rome of Clement VIII, despite the open attitude to culture of his nephew Cinzio Aldobrandini, seemed backward compared with cities like Florence and Mantua. Marenzio quickly realized this and therefore addressed his last collections of madrigals to members of the Gonzaga house. I have said that on returning from Poland the composer encountered a political situation unfavourable to him, since the city of Ferrara had been devolved to the Holy See and his patron Cinzio Aldobrandini was at the time in conflict with the pope. None of this inhibited the composer’s creativity, nor did it prevent his last works, despite their audacity, from enjoying great success at the printing presses. The first decade of the Seicento was in fact the heyday of Marenzio’s success at the printing press, not only in Italy, but also in Flanders and in the Germanspeaking territories.11 Here we should once again discuss the commonplace, now tacitly accepted in all writings about Marenzio, that the later madrigal books did not repeat the publishing success of the earlier ones. This is true in the purely numerical and absolute sense, but the statistical data should be viewed in a historical context, and above all we should remember that after 1610 the polyphonic Italian madrigal was on its way to extinction. Thus, while the eight reprints of the first book a 5 (1580) are spread over 30 years (1582–1608), the four reprints of the ninth book a 5 (1599) cover a period of a mere decade (1601–9). However, if we limit ourselves to comparing the reprints of these two books in the first decade of the Seicento we shall find that there are no real significant differences: in other words, the second and third orders theorized by Severo Bonini cohabited fairly peacefully at the dawn of the new century. Considered from the broad viewpoint of economic history, the composer’s European success around the turn of the century belongs to the phenomenon Fernand Braudel has perceptively defined as the second Italian Renaissance: We find an undeniable richness in this Italy of the late Cinquecento and early Seicento. This comes as no surprise: the century ... of the early Baroque, is the period of the greatest diffusion of Italian culture. ... For the times of Lorenzo il Magnifico and Michelangelo we could use, as a metaphor, the purest drops of water that are sprinkled all over Europe, then streams, but not yet rivers; now, as regards this Italian gran secolo, we must think in terms of a boundless ocean. To talk of the Italian gran secolo does not mean comparing it – with a value judgement – to that period of the Renaissance that in itself would be less great. It is not a question of setting Leonardo da Vinci beside Galileo, even though that comparison is possible. ... The real problem 11 Marenzio’s fame is reflected, among other things, in treatises: see Gargiulo, ‘Marenzio “moderno autore”’. For a review of the ninth book a 5 in particular see the introductory essay to Marenzio, Il nono libro de madrigali a cinque voci, ed. Fabbri, pp. x–xv.

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for us is to know which of the two made the greatest impact outside its borders, regardless of whether this impact was of better quality.12

In the field of music there can be little doubt that this impact was often of the highest quality. ‘Renaissance’ is a controversial term, too charged with mythical resonances to find unambiguous applications. We shall not get very far if we dwell on the Renaissance as opposed to the Mannerist (or even proto-Baroque) spirit of Marenzio’s music. However, I find this conceptual category useful in the final assessment of the composer’s career. Art historians usual include early sixteenthcentury Rome, not yet traumatized by the storms of Lutheran reform, as part of the Renaissance. After the Council of Trent the scenario changes, but it is a slow, complex transformation, permeated with contradictions, weighed down with obstacles. The expansive wave of Humanism still runs vigorously through the folds of the Counter-Reformation (or the Catholic Reform for those historians who, not without reason, wish to demonstrate its innovative and constructive aspects). Marenzio’s career participates in both components, without apparent trauma or discernible tension. Luigi d’Este, who created the diplomatic premises for the establishment of the composer’s career, was certainly less a cardinal of the Counter-Reformation than a gran signore of the late Renaissance, essentially absorbed by political activity and as such dedicated to sumptuousness and magnificence. His court was frequented by humanists and free thinkers, even by libertine bons viveurs and unscrupulous adventurers. Ferdinando de’ Medici, Marenzio’s next patron, shared with d’Este a humanistic vocation for luxury, but exceeded him in political ambition and political determination. Both these princes, though cardinals, wished (or accepted) that their composer focus exclusively (or predominantly) on secular music. But no composer living in Rome could exempt himself from rendering services in the sacred sphere. In the 1580s, in parallel with the extraordinary success of his madrigals and villanellas, Marenzio was in contact with the Archconfraternity of 12

‘Troviamo un’innegabile ricchezza in questa Italia dell’ultimo scorcio del Cinquecento, del primo Seicento. Nessuna sorpresa, dunque: il secolo ... del primo Barocco, è il periodo del massimo irradiamento della civiltà italiana. ... Per i tempi di Lorenzo il Magnifico e di Michelangelo potremmo ricorrere, come metafora, a gocce purissime d’acqua di cui s’imperla tutta l’Europa, poi a ruscelli, non certo a fiumi; ora, per questo gran secolo italiano, bisogna pensare a un mare senza fine. Parlare di gran secolo italiano non significa confrontarlo – con un giudizio di valore – a quel periodo del Rinascimento, che, in sé, sarebbe meno grande di questo. Non si tratta, anche se il paragone è possibile, di mettere Galileo al di sopra di Leonardo da Vinci. ... Il vero problema per noi è sapere quale delle due ha fatto più rumore fuori dei suoi confini, sia o no questo rumore di migliore qualità.’ F. Braudel, Il secondo Rinascimento, pp. 83–84.

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SS. Trinità in order to participate as singer and/or composer in the Lenten devotional rites. He also brought out a book of four-voice motets, a very elegant collection worthy of the best of Marenzio, though lacking in spectacular or acclaimed originality (which in any case would not have suited this repertory). However, this apparently sporadic, occasional incursion into sacred music had an important consequence. In the early 1590s, after forging closer links with Cardinals Montalto and Aldobrandini, Marenzio dedicated more time to setting liturgical texts. Perhaps this new interest in the sacred (probably the fruit of specific commissions) explains the rapid decline in madrigal collections. Around 1594, straight after Palestrina’s death, the relation of trust established between Marenzio and the papal circle of Clement VIII reaches its peak. Marenzio became the official musician of the Counter-Reformation and, though not a member of the Cappella Sistina, he was called ‘cantore di Nostro Signore’ and was a musical collaborator of the Holy See. His commitment to the soughtafter intelligibility of liturgical texts bore fruit in a polyphonic collection of antiphons, unfortunately no longer extant, printed in Venice in 1595. The close collaboration with the Aldobrandini pope was suddenly broken off after the request of King Sigismund III of Poland, a champion of the Counter-Reformation in eastern Europe who was so dazzled by the splendour of Rome that he ardently sought out the best musicians of the city. Alfred Einstein, in the opening pages of his section on Marenzio, found it hard to imagine Marenzio in an ecclesiastical cappella, playing the organ or directing a choir. Rather, he paints a picture of a romantic dreamer, strolling through the cypresses and fountains of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, or seated at his desk behind the high windows of the Vatican Palace, or among the portraits of the most beautiful Roman ladies in the Cesarini palace, or conversing with poets, literary figures and philosophers in the private academies of Rome.13 However, Mucante’s precious diary, the only direct testimony of the Polish visit, describes a perfect musician of the Counter-Reformation, directing a large cappella of singers and instrumentalists, the author of splendid masses ‘in eco’, where textual intelligibility is matched by the imagination of a triumphant Church. None of this distracted Marenzio from secular music. Once he had returned to Italy he resumed contact with the Italian prince who, perhaps more than any other, incarnated the spirit of the Second Renaissance, Vincenzo Gonzaga. In this last phase of his life he contributed to the development of the new madrigal and also of the new canzonetta. When one is discussing seconda prattica as applied to Marenzio, we need to be somewhat cautious. Adriano Banchieri, in his Cartella musicale, described him as a model composer, ‘zealously following the proper rules’ (‘zelante delle buone regole’), just like Palestrina. The theorist Pietro Cerone, on the other hand, the author of the monumental treatise El Melopeo, stigmatizes him as the author 13

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, vol. 2, p. 612.

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of ‘licentious’ (‘licensiosos’) passages, ‘without rules’ (‘sin regla’), ‘without sweetness or perfect harmony’ (‘sin dulçura, y sin perfeta harmonia’), which ‘contain unsingable passages’ (‘tienen del incantable’); he explicitly refers to the ninth book a 5 and the madrigal Dura legge d’amor.14 Cerone develops this argument in a chapter dedicated to the imitation of the words (‘De como el imitar con el canto el sentido de la letra’ – ‘On how to imitate in singing the meaning of the words’) and it is significant that instead of the innovator Marenzio he prefers the more reassuring Giovannelli of the third book a 5 (1599), an excellent musician of the ‘secondo ordine’, to use Severo Bonini’s theoretical distinction. As Denis Arnold has observed, Marenzio certainly participated in the new stylistic currents of the end of the century, but he was no revolutionary: despite the eighth book a 5 he does not aspire to monody, despite the ninth book a 5 he does not surpass Wert in ‘unsingable’ melodic asperities, despite the variety of his chromatic madrigals he does not reach the morbid extravagance of Gesualdo, despite the dissonance of the seventh book a 5 he does not break the rules as Monteverdi was to do.15 The carefully contrived art of his late books, though remarkable and full of surprises, steers clear of the mannerist excesses that characterize so much of the madrigalian output composed between 1590 and 1610; even when his proverbial ‘divine dolcezze’ give way to a graver idiom (Ov’è condotto il mio amoroso stile?) or a harsher one (Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro), Marenzio remains a classical composer, a model of inventio and

14

Cerone, El Melopeo y maestro, pp. 669 ff. Cerone, who nevertheless admired Marenzio, writes (ibid., p. 89): ‘Philippe de Monte y Lucas Marenzio tienen hecho muy lindo y muy suaves passos chromaticos, ò por dezirlo mas propriamente, passos moles, lascivos y affeminados’ (‘Philippe de Monte and Luca Marenzio wrote very beautiful and sweet chromatic passages – or to state it more properly, soft, lascivious and effeminate ones’). The passage is also quoted and translated into Italian in Fabbri, Monteverdi, p. 24. In the introduction to his edition of Marenzio’s ninth book a 5, pp. x–xv, Paolo Fabbri mentions the above passages from Cerone and also theoretical writings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Artusi, Bonini, Pitoni, Martini and Burney. 15 Arnold, ‘Marenzio ed il madrigale “fin de siècle”’, p. 22. Cf. also Degrada, ‘Dante e la musica del Cinquecento’, pp. 273–74: ‘Nei momenti estremi di questa ricerca Marenzio raggiunge una modernità di linguaggio davvero singolare: le sue audacie contrappuntistiche sono qui persino più radicali delle più scapigliate stravaganze armoniche di Gesualdo. Ma la vena lirica del Marenzio, la sua sottilissima, delicata sentimentalità non vien meno del tutto; essa risuona come un’eco lontana, tra le asprezze di questo sconvolto paesaggio sonoro ...’ (‘In the extreme moments of this search [in the madrigal Così nel mio parlar from the ninth book a 5] Marenzio reaches a truly singular modernity of language: here his contrapuntal audacities are even more radical than the wilder extravagances of Gesualdo. But Marenzio’s lyrical vein, his subtle, delicate sensitivity does not decrease at all; it resounds like a far-off echo, among the asperities of this unsettling soundscape.’

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creative poise, both with regard to the poetic text and to the purely musical values. He transmits and distils a mature and restless musical culture, full of ferment, often contradictory, but filtered through a magisterial technique and an extraordinary poetic sensibility. For this reason his best compositions are still exciting and relevant for us today.16

16

For an exhaustive list of recordings with music by Marenzio up to 1999 see R. Giuliani, Luca Marenzio: discografia; id., ‘Marenzio on record’.

Bibliography Primary sources Sources are arranged alphabetically by city, library, archival source and number of busta, filza or registro. An asterisk indicates those documents where Marenzio’s name is explicitly cited. Manuscript sources cited in the under Secondary sources are listed here. For each document sufficient information is provided for retrieval: shelfmark, page number and/or date. If the documents are chronologically ordered within the filza only the date is specified. Brescia, Archivio Capitolare Libri contabili, 59c, fol. 48v (January 1554) Brescia, Archivio di Stato *Archivio Storico Civico, Polizze d’Estimo, Coccaglio, 386/b (Giovanni Francesco Marenzio, 1588) Coccaglio, Archivio Parrocchiale Registri di battesimo (1565), fol. 16 (Giuliano Marenzi) Florence, Archivio di Stato (ASF) Mediceo, 209, Lettera di benservito of Ferdinando de’ Medici for Francesco Rasi (Pratolino, 10 September 1595) *Mediceo, 289, Lettera di benservito of Ferdinando de’ Medici for Luca Marenzio (Pratolino, 10 September 1595) Mediceo, 768, Alessandro Striggio to Francesco de’ Medici (Mantua, 13 July 1584 and 29 July 1584) Mediceo, 854, Emilio de’ Cavalieri to Ferdinando de’ Medici (Rome, 11 March 1594) Mediceo, 2900, Orazio Urbani in Ferrara to Francesco de’ Medici (13 February 1581, 26 June 1581, 13 February 1581) Mediceo, 2901, Orazio Urbani to Francesco de’ Medici (Ferrara, 25 April 1583) Mediceo, 3622, Emilio de’ Cavalieri in Rome to Ferdinando de’ Medici (8 October 1593, 19 November 1593, 26 November 1593, 18 December 1593, 11 February 1594, 8 March 1594) Mediceo, 3760, Francesco Maria Del Monte to Ferdinando de’ Medici (Rome, 22 August 1597) Mediceo, 5931, Emilio de’ Cavalieri to Bianca Cappello (Rome, 1 October 1582) 327

328

Bibliography

Mediceo, 5939, *Pietro Strozzi to Bianca Cappello (Florence, 31 May 1585), *Luca Marenzio to Bianca Cappello (Rome, 24 May 1585) Mediceo, 5958, Emilio de’ Cavalieri to Bianca Cappello (Rome, 4 February 1586) *Mediceo, Depositeria generale, 389, fol. 17, ruolo of Ferdinando de’ Medici (1588) Mantua, Archivio di Stato (ASM) Archivio Gonzaga, 904, Fellonica to Guglielmo Gonzaga (Rome, 12 August 1570) Archivio Gonzaga, 934, Aurelio Zibramonte in Rome to Guglielmo Gonzaga (26 March 1583, *9 April 1583, 13 April 1583, 1 July 1583, 2 July 1583, *3 May 1586, 10 May 1586, *24 May 1586, *31 May 1586, *14 June 1586, *21 June 1586) Archivio Gonzaga, 947, *Attilio Malegnani to Federigo Cattaneo (Rome, 17 January 1587), *Federigo Cattaneo to Cesare [?Gussago] (Rome, 24 January 1587), *Attilio Malegnani to Federigo Cattaneo (Rome, 13 May 1587) Archivio Gonzaga, 1167, Francesco Rasi to Vincenzo Gonzaga (30 April 1601) Archivio Gonzaga, 1511, Annibale Capello in Venice to Aurelio Zibramonte (*10 September 1580, *17 September 1580, *24 September 1580) *Archivio Gonzaga, 1519, Cesare [?Gussago] to Federigo Cattaneo (Brescia, 10 February 1587) Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana Fondo Belgiojoso, 222, fascicolo 1 (corrispondenza da Roma, 1549–1740) Modena, Archivio di Stato (ASMo) *Ambasciatori (Roma), 121 [olim 77], Giovanni Pietro Tolomeo to Luigi d’Este (Rome, 23 June 1580) *Ambasciatori (Roma), 122 [olim 78], Giovan Battista Nobili to Luigi d’Este (Rome, 25 December 1579) Ambasciatori (Roma), 91, Giulio Masetto to Alfonso II d’Este (Rome, 24 June 1581) *Ambasciatori (Roma), 133 [olim 89], Luigi d’Este to Fulvio Teofilo (Tivoli, 10 June 1583) Ambasciatori (Firenze), 28, Ercole Cortile in Florence to Alfonso II d’Este (2 January 1588, 12 February 1588, 27 February 1588, 13 April 1588, 13 August 1588) Ambasciatori (Firenze), 29, Ercole Cortile to Alfonso II d’Este (Florence, 28 January 1589) Ambasciatori (Firenze), 31, Girolamo Giliolo to Alfonso II d’Este (Florence, 4 May 1589) Amministrazione principi, 1186, Spesa de’ donationi (7 January 1583)

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Index of Compositions by Marenzio Madrigals Books I a 4, 100n, 279–80, 310 Ahi dispietata morte (no. 13), 279 Chi vuol udire i miei sospiri (no. 10), 279 I lieti amanti (no. 16), 280 Lasso, dicea, perché venisti Amore (no. 20), 9n, 279 Non vidi mai dopo notturna pioggia (no. 1), 280 Nova angeletta (no. 8), 279 Tutto ’l dì piango (no. 17), 279 Vedi le valli e i campi (no. 9), 280 Veggo dolce mio bene (no. 3), 210 Vezzosi augelli (no 12), 280 Vienne Montan (no. 21), 309 Zefiro torna (no. 18), 280 I a 4, 5, 6, 174, 270–79, 282–3, 308–10, 312, 319 Basti fin qui le pen’e i duri affanni (no. 15), 272, 308 Com’ogni rio (no. 11), 275, 277 Fuggito è il sonno (no. 5), 312 O fere stelle (no. 14), 278 Ov’è condotto (no. 1), 275–6, 309, 312, 324 I a 5, 4–7, 152–3, 321 Cantava la più vaga pastorella (no. 11), 210 Che fa oggi il mio sole (no. 7), 210 Dolorosi martir (no. 6), 18, 152, 278, 315 Liquide perle (no. 1), 18, 141–7, 152, 164, 234, 309, 315, 318 compared with Gabrieli, 154 compared with G.M. Nanino, 156–7 compared with Giovannelli, 159 Madonna mia gentil (no. 10), 152 Ohimè dov’è il mio ben (no. 2), 152 O tu che fra le selve (no. 14), 308 Tirsi morir volea (no. 5), 20–23, 152–3, 210, 315, 318 Spuntavan già (no. 3), 152, 314 Venuta era Madonna (no. 9), 314 II a 5, 40–46, 49, 123n Al vago del mio sole (no. 7), 41 Amor poi che non vuole (no. 4), 45–6 Deggio dunque partire / Io partirò (no. 1), 45–6, 210, 309 351

352

Index of Compositions by Marenzio Fillida mia (no. 6), 158–9 Già torna a rallegrar (no. 15), 46 I’ piango, ed ella il volto (no. 12), 44 Itene a l’ombra (no. 8), 46 Mi fa lasso languire (no. 14), 44–5 O voi che sospirate (no. 10), 42–4, 46, 278, 312 Se ’l pensier che mi strugge (no. 16), 46, 308

III a 5, 84, 262, 269, 310–11 Scherzando con diletto (no. 8), 55n Se la mia fiamma ardente (no. 9), 310–11 IV a 5, 5n, 61–3, 92, 100n, 311 Ecco l’aurora (no. 9), 212 Giunto a la tomba (no. 1), 62n, 252n, 309, 311 Mentre il cielo è sereno (no. 2), 311 V a 5, 100n, 148–9, 261 Basciami mille volte (no. 14), 149, 151 Due rose fresch’e colte in Paradiso (no. 16), 315n Filli, tu sei più bella (no. 11), 148–50 Sola angioletta (no. 1), 309, 311 VI a 5, 62n, 198, 257, 291–4, 297, 318 Ah, dolente partita (no. 7), 293 Amor, se giusto sei (no. 9), 294–5, 307 Anima cruda sì ma però bella (no. 4), 191, 293 Ben ho del caro oggetto (no. 8), 293n Cantiam la bella Clori (no. 17), 308 Deh Tirsi, anima mia (no. 11), 293 Donna de l’alma mia (no. 3), 256n Ecco Maggio seren (no. 16), 293n Hor chi Clori beata (no. 10), 297 Mentre qual viva pietra (no. 13), 294 Rimanti in pace (no. 15), 260–61n, 294 S’io parto, i’ moro (no. 1), 294, 309–10, 318 Udite, lagrimosi spirti (no. 5), 294 VII a 5, 189, 208, 257, 294–7, 310 Al lume delle stelle (no. 5), 256n Cruda Amarilli (no. 3), 295 Quell’augellin che canta (no. 2), 297 VIII a 5, 237–8, 297–305 La mia Clori è brunetta (no. 13), 296, 305 O occhi del mio core (no. 1), 309 Provate la mia fiamma (no. 5), 296 Quand’io miro le rose (no. 9), 296, 298–311, 313 Questi leggiadri odorosetti fiori (no. 11), 297 Vita soave (no. 4), 300–301

Index of Compositions by Marenzio IX a 5, 238, 243, 245, 302–7, 312, 321 Amor, i’ ho molti e molt’anni pianto (no. 2), 303, 312 Chiaro segno Amor pose alle mie rime (no. 4), 312 Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro (no. 1), 303, 309, 318, 324 Crudele, acerba inesorabil morte (no. 13), 303, 312 Dura legge d’amor (no. 3), 303–7, 324 La bella man vi stringo (no. 14), 300n, 309 L’aura che ’l verde lauro (no. 6), 315 Parto o non parto (no. 11), 304 Se sì alto pon gir mie stanche rime (no. 5), 312 Solo e pensoso (no. 8), 303, 305, 315, 316n I a 6, 39–40, 123n, 283–4 Come inanti de l’alba rugiadosa (no. 1), 49–50, 283, 309 O dolorosa sorte (no. 9), 286 Viene Clori gentil (no. 18), 308 II a 6, 100n, 126, 138, 262–3, 286, 283–4 Cedan l’antiche tue chiare vittorie (no. 4), 102–3, 135, 283 Del cibo onde il signor (no. 11), 286 Nessun visse giamai più di me lieto (no. 2), 286, 312 Passando con pensier (no. 15), 309 Satiati amor (no. 1), 153 Tutte sue squadre di miserie e stenti (no. 6), 286 III a 6, 100n, 166, 283–4, 286 In un lucido rio (no. 4), 284 Io morirò d’amore (no. 1), 286 Piangea Filli (no. 14), 286 Qual per ombrose e verdeggianti valli (no. 6), 153 IV a 6, 135, 283–4, 286, 318–9 Caro Aminta, pur puoi (no. 9), 286 Crudel, perché mi fuggi (no. 6), 286 Dice la mia bellissima Licori (no. 7), 286 Donne, il celeste lume (no. 15), 89–90, 308 La dipartita è amara (no. 3), 135–6 Questa ordì il laccio (no. 12), 286 Se bramate ch’io mora (no. 1), 318 V a 6, 187–9, 283 Amatemi ben mio (no. 9), 256n, 283–5 Baci soavi e cari (no. 12), 283, 311 Con la sua man (no. 10), 283 Leggiadre ninfe (no. 2), 247n, 283 Leggiadrissima, eterna primavera (no. 1), 187–9, 283 Nel dolce seno della bella Clori (no. 8), 256n VI a 6, 206–7, 286 Giovane donna (no. 2), 207, 286, 303, 311

353

354

Index of Compositions by Marenzio Lucida perla, a cui fu conca il cielo (no. 1), 207n, 256n, 286, 288–91, 309, 318 Là dove sono i pargoletti Amori (no. 4), 55n, 207n, 256n, 286 O verdi selve (no. 5), 207–8n, 256n, 286, 309 Se quel dolor (no. 3), 207, 286–7, 303, 311

Madrigali spirituali, 27, 31–2, 100n Il dì che di pallor la faccia tinse (no. 4), 92 Non fu mai cervo (no. 12), 309, 311

Villanellas Books I vill., 105, 160–64, 279 Al primo vostro sguardo (no. 15), 161n Donna, da vostri sguardi (no. 1), 163–4 Fuggirò tanto Amore (no. 3), 163–4 Il ladro ch’a la strada v’a rubare (no. 5), 162 Le rose, frond’e fiori (no. 17), 161n Vorria parlare e dire quant’è grave (no. 8), 161n II vill., 61, 105, 160–64 A la strada (no. 10), 161n, 163 O tu che mi dai pene (no. 19), 161n III vill., 105, 128–9, 147–8, 160–64 Amanti voi, che Amore in preggio avete (no. 21), 129n IV vill., 61, 105–6, 160–64, 174, 283 Amatemi, ben mio (no. 3), 283–4 Mi parto, ahi sorte ria (no. 13), 161 V vill., 61, 105–6, 160–64, 174 Non più gl’Arabi fumi (no. 22), 308

Sacred Music Motecta festorum, 73n, 100n, 114, 279–282 Estote fortes in bello (no. 35), 280 Et respicientes (no. 9), 282 Hodie Christus natus est (no. 1), 280, 282 Sepelierunt Stephanum (no. 2), 282 Veni sponsa Christi (no. 41), 280–81 Sacrae cantiones, 14–18, 68n, 69, 73n, 85, 112, 147, 279–80, 308n Salve regina (no. 4), 15–18 Polychoral motetts, 184, 193, 224–6, 289–91 A solis ortus cardine, 224 Deus venerunt gentes, 291–2 Exsurgat Deus, 291

Index of Compositions by Marenzio Iniquos odio habui, 291 Jubilate Deo ... cantate a 12, 224 Laudate Dominum a 8, 289 Laudate Dominum a 12, 225, 226n Magnificat, 245, 289n Te Deum laudamus, 222n Polychoral masses, 222–24, 289n

Anthologies Il primo fiore (RISM 15777), 18, 74, 153n Donna bella e crudel 18, 74 Dolci affetti (RISM 15824), 61, 77–9, 81–2, 156–7, 311 In quel ben nato 81n Il lauro secco (RISM 15825), 83, 91, 154–5, 157, 288n Il lauro verde (RISM 158310), 23n, 55, 83, 288n Bianchi cigni e canori 55 Li amorosi ardori (RISM 158312), 157n, 203 Perché adoprar catene 157n, 203 Spoglia amorosa (RISM 15845), 84 Canzonette spirituali (RISM 15857), 52n, 82 Servirò il grande Iddio, 52n Primo che per Giesù spargesti, 52n Diletto spirituale (RISM 16862), 81 I lieti amanti (RISM 158610), 54n, 275n Corona di dodici sonetti (RISM 15867), 83, 172n L’Amorosa Ero (RISM 158817), 1–2, 74, 75n, 160n, 233–4 Ero così dicea 233–4 Le gioie (RISM 15897), 80–81, 154n, 172 Musica transalpina (RISM 158829), 205, 210 Intermedii et concerti (RISM 15917), 184–6 Belle ne fe’ Natura, 184 Chi dal delfino aita, 184 O figlie di Piero, 185 O mille volte mille, 185 Qui di carne si sfama, 185 Se nelle voci nostre, 184 Sinfonia, 184 La gloria musicale (RISM 159214), 275n

355

356

Index of Compositions by Marenzio

The First Sett of Italian Madrigals Englished (RISM 159029), 205, 210 Selva di varia ricreazione (RISM 159031), 93–7 O messir. Che distu?, 93–7 Psalmi, motecta, Magnificat (RISM 15922), 289 Il Trionfo di Dori (RISM 159211), 247n, 283n Tempio armonico (RISM 15996), 231–2, 305–6n Ahimè pur s’avicina, 305–6n Canzonette di Ottavio Bargnani (RISM 159912), 70n, 296 Melodiae sacrae (RISM 16042), 225 Promptuarii musici (RISM 16111), 291

General Index Accademia degli Invaghiti, 299 Accademia dei Rinnovati, 55 Accademia di Santa Cecilia, see Compagnia de’ musici di Roma Accademia Filarmonica, 84, 173–4, 201–3, 262, 270, 273–5; see also Verona Accademia Olimpica, 84n, 202–3, 237, 297–9 Acciai, Giovanni, 280n Accoramboni, Vittoria, 61, 102–3, 135, 188–9 Acquisti, Giovanni Battista, 245 Adami, Andrea, 244 Affò, Ireneo, 237n Aguzzi Barbagli, Danilo, 266–7n Aiguino, Illuminato, 75 Alaleona, Domenico, 199 Alamanni, Luigi, 78, 250, 311 Albani, Gian Girolamo, Cardinal, 82 Alberi, Eugenio, 25n, 32n, 228n, 243n Alberti, Venere, 37 Alberto (Alberti), Pietro, 38n Aldobrandini Passeri, Cinzio, Cardinal of San Giorgio, 258n 196–8, 207, 211, 214, 216–19, 226, 235, 240–243, 244n, 253–8, 261n, 267, 289, 291, 293, 297, 299, 310, 321, 323 Aldobrandini, Elisabetta, 198 Aldobrandini, Giovanni Francesco, 193, 194n, 196, 197n, 212 Aldobrandini, Olimpia, 193, 196, 197n, 212 Aldobrandini, Pietro, 197 Aldobrandini, Pietro, Cardinal, 193, 194n, 196–8, 208, 215, 219, 226, 234, 239–43 Alessandrino (Michele Bonelli), Cardinal, 100, 104 Allacci, Leone, 90n Almici, Bartolomeo, 66n

Altemps, Marco Sittico, Cardinal, 100 Altemps, Marquis, 88 Alvin, Florimonte d’, Marquis of Pienna, see Hallwin, Florimonte Amadino, Ricciardo, 14n, 61n, 89n, 140n Ameyden, Teodoro, 50n Ancina, Giovenale, 230–235, 240, 243, 306n Andreini, Isabella, 182, 183n Anerio, Felice, 77n, 80–82, 160n, 161, 190, 209n, 258–9, 319 Animuccia, Giovanni, 60, 78 Animuccia, Paolo, 60 Anna, Queen of Poland, 224 Annibaldi, Claudio, 137n, 197n, 208n, 212n, 239n, 240, 243n Antegnati, family of organ builders, 212 Antegnati, Graziadio, 69n Antoniano, Silvio, Cardinal, 25, 234–5 Antonio da Lugo, 54 Antonio del Cornetto, 13 Aragona, Giulia, 52 Aragona, Simone Tagliavia, d’, Cardinal, 169 Arcadelt (Archadelt), Jacques, 3n, 14, 139, 141 archconfraternities, see confraternities Archilei, Antonio, 173, 175, 180 Archilei, Vittoria, 103, 173, 175, 177, 180n, 182, 189, 193–4, 197n, 212 Arco, Livia d’, 39, 125 aria, 139–64, 283, 286, 307 arioso style, see aria Ariosto, Ludovico, 41, 250 Aristides Quintilianus, 268n Aristoxenus (Aristosseno), 267n Aristotle, 8, 251, 263, 266, 313 Arlotti, Ridolfo, 249, 293 Arnold, Denis, 152, 160n, 282, 324 357

358

General Index

Artusi, Giovanni Maria, 140, 265n, 268n, 324n Assenza, Concetta, 148n, 161n, 249n Bacci, Pietro Iacomo, 231 Baccusi, Ippolito, 83n, 275n Balbi, Ludovico, 192n Baldini, Enzo, 269n Baldini, Vittorio, 23n Baldinucci, Filippo, 256n Baldwin, John, 278 Banchieri, Adriano, 1, 76n, 140, 142, 164n, 315n, 323 Bandini, family, 124, 125n Bandini, Ottavio, 61, 81–2 Banti, Anna, 52n Barbara of Austria, 165 Bardi (de’ Bardi), Giovanni, Count of Vernio, 83, 169, 172, 176, 178–80, 184–6, 198, 265n Barera, Rodiano, 1 Bargagli, Girolamo, 176, 296 Bargnani, Ottavio, 70, 75 Baronio, Cesare, Cardinal, 70 Barré, Antonio, 149 Bati, Luca, 319 Bellarmino, Roberto (Saint), Cardinal, 70 Bellasio, Paolo, 77, 79–80, 83 Bellati, 177 Bellère, Jean, 205 Belli, Giulio, 142n, 248 Bembo, Pietro, 141, 250, 293, 295 Benacci, Alessandro, 183n Bennett, Keith, 284 Berchem, Jachet, 14n Berecchia (Bericcia), 32 Beretta, Niccolò, 67 Beretta, Ottavio, 70n Bernardi, Antonio, 177 Bernardo, Franciosino della Cornetta, 177 Bertani, Lelio, 1–2, 18n, 68n, 69–71, 74–5, 160n, 209n, 259–61 Bertolotti, Antonio, 107n, 112, 303n Bertoncello, Andrea, 67 Besard, Jean-Baptiste, 195n Bevilacqua, Alessandro, 275n Bevilacqua, Bonifacio, 273n

Bevilacqua, Luigi, 273n Bevilacqua, Mario, 84n, 173–74, 201–2, 270, 273–5, 278–9, 282–3, 286, 294, 303, 312 Bianchetti, Lodovico, 31–2, 100 Bianchi, Lino, 73n Bianconi, Lorenzo, 3n Bicci, Antonio, 189, 297 Biffi, Gioseffo, 143 Bignami, Giovanni, 64n, 66, 68n Bino, Carla, 176n Bizzarini, Marco, 2n, 10n, 19n, 36n, 37n, 42n, 51n, 55n, 81n, 96n, 122n, 293n, 240n, 242n, 296n, 300n Boccapadule, Antonio, 11, 82, 103 Boenicke, Christina, 156n Bolcato, Vittorio, 203n Bollani, Domenico, 69–70 Bonaventuri, Pietro, 167 Boncompagni, Filippo, see Sansisto, Cardinal Boncompagni, Giacomo, Duke of Sora 11, 27, 30, 87, 90–93, 98, 103, 124, 135 Boncompagni, Ugo, see Gregory XIII Bovia (Bovio), Laura 177 Bonifacio, Giovanni, 199, 200n Bonini, Severo, 68n, 317–21, 324 Bonino, Mary Ann, 317n Borromeo, Agostino, 197n Borromeo, Charles St, 228 Borromeo, Federico, Cardinal, 267n Bosio, gentleman, 123 Bottrigari, Ercole, 44, 186, 267, 268n Boyer, Ferdinand, 189n Brancaccio, Giulio Cesare, 36–8, 42–3, 49, 54, 125, 148 Braudel, Fernand, 321, 322n Bremond d’Ars, Guy de, 129n, 131n, 132n, 133n Brescia, 4, 64–76, 258–9, 296 Brown, Howard Mayer, 87n, 149n, 180n Bruno, Giordano, 196, 235 Brunswick, Duke of, 50–51 Bulgarelli, Tullio, 183n Burke, Peter, 8n, 65n, 199, 200n Burney, Charles, 211, 212n, 324n Byrd, William, 205, 210, 278

General Index Caccini, Giulio, 167, 169n, 173, 177, 179–80, 183n, 186, 189, 220, 258, 264n, 265n, 297, 317 Caccini, Lucia, 177, 182 Caetani Orsini, Giovanna, 52n, 82 Caetani, Camillo, 61, 63, 105, 220n Caetani, Enrico, Cardinal, 61n, 105, 199, 220–23, 232, 236, 266n Caetani (Gaetano), Onorato, 88n Cafiero, Rosa, 161n Caimo, Giuseppe, 23n, 161 Calvi, Donato, 68n, 71n, 240n Calzavacca, Illuminato, 68n Camerata fiorentina, see Bardi, Giovanni Campo, Diego de, 63, 199, 206, 208, 211, 240, 291 Campori, Giuseppe, 8 Canal, Pietro, 107n Cancineo, Michelangelo, 142n Canobbio, Alessandro, 201n Cantoni, Serafino, 258 Capello, Annibale, 19n, 35n, 107–11, 113, 117 Cappello (Capello), Bianca, 32n, 83, 116, 166–72, 175n, 182n, 284 Caporale, Cesare, 253 Capponi, Gino, 171 Capranica, Isabella, 52 Caraci Vela, Maria, 294n, 311n Carapezza, Paolo Emilio, 251n Caravaggio (Michelangeli Merisi), 105 Caro, Annibale, 250, 293–4 Carracci, Annibale, 105 Carter, Tim, 140n, 315n Casimiri, Raffaele, 3n, 32n, 77n, 242n Castellani, Marcello, 273n Castelletti, Cristoforo, 87, 89–93, 97, 135, 250 Castiglione, Baldassare, 47 castrati, 32n, 173 Castro, Jean 23n Casulana, Maddalena, 18n, 275n Catena, Girolamo, 97n Cattaneo, Federico, 72n, 113, 115, 118, 120, 125n Cavaccio, Giovanni, 1, 318n, 319n Cavalier del Liuto, 38n, 190, 194, 195n

359

Cavalieri, Emilio de’, 81, 171, 172n, 175, 177n, 178–81, 186, 189, 193–4, 197n, 217n, 218n, 221, 264n Cavalletto, Ercole, 253n Cavallino, Simone, 183n Cavriani, Cesare, 110n Cecchi, Paolo, 187n, 272n, 311n Cecil, Robert, 204–5 Celiano, Livio, see Grillo, Angelo Cenci, Beatrice, 196 Cerasi, Tiberio, 105 Cerone, Pietro, 323–4 Cervelli, Luisa, 38n Caesar, 114 Cesare, Friar, 120 Cesarini, Cleria, see Farnese Cesarini, Cleria Cesarini, Giorgio, 50, 52, 87 Cesi Caetani, Cornelia, 234n Cesis, Federico, 88, 89n Charles V, Emperor, 165 Chater, James, 18n, 23n, 32n, 40n, 62n, 75n, 87, 89, 90n–93n, 135n, 136, 139, 141n, 142, 143n, 152n, 153, 157, 160n, 167n, 171–2n, 174, 189n, 190, 191n, 200n, 203n, 211n, 226n, 244, 250, 252n, 256–7n, 260, 273n, 279n, 282–3n, 303, 304n, 309n, 313n Chegai, Andrea, 309n Chiappini, Luciano, 9n, 122n Chieli, Matteo, 103n Christine de Lorraine, 134, 177, 179n chromatism, 42–4, 278, 282, 294, 303–4, 324 see also seconda prattica Civitello, Boezio, 59n Clemens non Papa, Jacobus, 264n Clement VIII, Pope, 25, 63, 196–8, 207–8, 211–14, 217–19, 226, 228–30, 235–6, 239n, 240–41, 243–5, 289, 291, 321, 323 Clementi, F., 87n Coattino, Francesco, 189n Coccaglio, 4, 15, 65–9, 75 Coligny, Gaspard de, 126 Colonna, Marc’Antonio, Cardinal, 50–51n

360

General Index

Coma, Annibale, 83n, 275n commedia dell’arte, 93–8, 104 Commendone, Francesco Giovanni, Cardinal, 60 Compagnia de’ Musici di Roma, 77–84 concerti (‘musica de’ voci e varii instromenti’), 214, 222, 291 see also intermedi concerto delle dame (musica secreta) 36–40, 48–9, 54–5, 176 see also women in music Condé, Henri de Bourbon, 132 Conforti, Giovan Luca, 42, 55n, 61, 173, 245n, 289n, 291 Confraternita dei Bresciani, 64, 77, 175 Confraternity of SS. Crocefisso, 199 Confraternity of SS. Trinità, 57–63, 173–4, 192–3 Congregazione dei Riti, 228 Conosciuti, Leonardo, 36n Contino, Giovanni, 14–16, 68n, 69–75, 153 contrafacta, 232–4 Conversi, Girolamo, 161 Corona, Giovanni, 275n Cortile, Ercole, 56, 167n, 175–8 Counter-Reformation, 23–5, 226–35, 239, 289, 322–3 Cozzando, Leonardo, 67–9 Cozzi, Federico, 54n Crequillon, Thomas, 264n Crescenzi, Orazio, 245n Crivelli, Arcangelo, 77, 79–80, 161, 245n Croce, Giovanni, 23n, 162n, 204, 209n Crosatti, Remo, 15n Curti, Danilo, 245n D’Accone, Frank, 204n Damilano, Pietro, 233n D’Ancona, Alessandro, 299n Dandini (Dandino), Anselmo, 57, 60–62 Dante Alighieri, 250, 253, 254n, 256, 301, 318n DeFord, Ruth, 5n, 52n, 78n, 105n, 148n, 158n, 160n, 249n, 288n, 296n

Degrada, Francesco, 301n, 324n De La Rue, Pierre, 264n Della Casa, Giovanni, 250, 271 Della Porta, Giambattista, 8n, 10 Della Rovere, Giulio Feltrio, Cardinal, 23 Della, Sala, Iosquino, 79 Della Valle, Pietro, 55n, 141, 142n, 151, 160n Dell’Huomo, Agostino, 192 Delli Arminii, Dimitilla, 72n Del Mel, Rinaldo, 81, 142n, 161 Del Monte, Francesco Maria, Cardinal, 174, 193–4, 208, 226n, 228 Del Silenzio, Ruggero, 68n Del Turco, Giovanni, 264, 319 Delumeau, Jean, 119n Del Vasto, Marquis, 58 De Magistris, Pomponio, 106 Democritus, 313 De Monendis, Antonio, 67 De Muris, Johannes, 140 Dentice, Scipione, 190, 194–5 De Paulis, Annibale, 105 De Rossi, Bastiano, 179, 180n, 182–3n, 185 des Prez, Josquin, 45n, 140, 264n, 267 Deza (Dezza), Pedro, Cardinal, 88 Di Benedetto, Arnaldo, 23n Doglio, Maria Luisa, 297n Dolfin, Giovanni, 228n, 243n Doni, Giovan Battista, 55n, 140, 141n, 149 Doria, Vittoria, 242n, 260n Dowland, John, 203–5, 211 Dragoni, Giovanni Andrea, 5n, 77–8, 80–81, 199n, 228 Dueto, Antonio, 149n Durante, Elio, 33n, 36–7n, 39n, 47n, 53–4n, 125n, 135n, 239n, 249–50n, 252, 253–4n, 258n, 260n, 268n Durante, Ottavio, 173 Dürr, Walter, 283n East, Thomas, 205, 210 Eccard, Johann, 97 echo, 222–3, 308

General Index Einstein, Arnold, 2, 47, 113, 136n, 149n, 152, 160, 161n, 188n, 212n, 248n, 252, 259n, 260n, 271, 278n, 279–80, 282, 283n, 284n, 286, 288, 293, 294n, 304, 323 Elizabeth, Queen of England, 131, 204 Empedocles, 313 Engel, Hans, 14n, 18–19n, 64–6n, 71, 84, 107n, 111, 122, 152n, 166, 180n, 197, 200, 211, 213–4, 219n, 220n, 221, 223, 231, 239, 242, 243–4n, 271, 282n, 300 Erythraeus, Janus Nicius, see Rossi, Gian Vittorio Este, Alfonso d’, Don, 36n, 169 Este, Alfonso I d’, Duke of Ferrara, 166n Este, Alfonso II d’, Duke of Ferrara, 9, 27, 30, 33, 35–7, 39, 50, 53–4, 56, 110n, 111, 116, [122–3], 130, 165–6, 167n, 175–6, 178n, [182n], 183n, 196, 207, 239–40, 253, 266–7, 284, 286 Este, Anna d’, 122 Este, Cesare d’, Duke of Modena and Reggio, 166, 169 Este, Ercole II d’, Duke of Ferrara, 7 Este, Filippo d’, 207 Este, Ippolita d’, 249 Este, Ippolito II d’, Cardinal, 7, 18, 27, 99, 114n Este, Leonora d’, 7–8, 34, 36, 39 Este, Lucrezia d’, Duchess of Urbino, 7–8, 35–6, 39–40, 48–9, 123n Este, Luigi d’, Cardinal, 4, 6–12, 14, 18–20, 23, 25–40, 42n, 48–51, 54n, 55–7, 59–63, 72, 75, 81n, 84, 87, 89n, 96, 99–103, 107–9, 110n, 111, 113–15, 117–19, 122–134, 136–8, 165–9, 171, 188n, 198–9, 206, 228, 243, 249, 266, 269–70, 284, 286, 289, 322 Este, Margherita Gonzaga d’, duchess of Ferrara, 35–6, 48, 135, 206, 286n, 288, 309 Fabbri, Mario, 108n, 175n Fabbri, Paolo, 300n, 303n, 321n, 324n Faber Stapulensis, 268n

361

Fabris, Dinko, 195n Falcone, Achille, 3 Faloni, Cosmo, 242 falsetti, 42, 55, 173 Farnese Cesarini, Cleria (Clelia), 40, 49–52, 87, 92, 171–2, 283, 309, [323] Farnese, Alessandro, Cardinal, 7, 38n, 39, 50, 60, 89n, 99, 110n Farnese, Margherita, 34, 109 Farnese, Odoardo, Cardinal, 226n Farnese, Ottavio, Duke of Parma, 110n Fasano Guarini, Elena, 198n, 242n Fè d’Ostiani, Luigi, 67n Felis, Stefano, 92n, 209n Fellonica, Francesco, 18n female patrons, see Cappello, Bianca; Este, Lucrezia d’; Este, Margherita Gonzaga d’; Farnese Cesarini, Cleria; Peretti Orsini, Flavia Fenlon, Iain, 83n, 87n, 107n, 108n, 110n, 113–14n, 176n, 252n Feramondo, attorney, 66 Ferdinand I, Emperor, 165 Ferdinand von Tyrol, 202 Ferrabosco (Ferabosco), Alfonso, 1, 161n, 209n Ferrara, 33–46, 48, 53–6, 239 Ferrari, Cristoforo, 105, 127–8, 162n, 203 Ferratelli, Giacomo, 59n Ferretti, Iacopo, 161, 162n, 209n Fétis, François-Joseph, 227 Ficino, Marsilio, 149n, 266 Fiorino, Gasparo, 161 Fiorino, Ippolito, 1, 35, 38 Firpo, Massimo, 8n Fitherbert, Nicola, 204–5 Florence, 165–86, 297 Foa, Anna, 60n Fogliani, Ludovico, 267, 268n Fontana, Domenico, 101 Fontanelli, Alfonso, 264n Fortuna, Simone, 175 Foschetti, Lorenzo, 85 Frachetta, Girolamo, 10, 269 Franchi, Ferrante, 62n, 105 Franchi, Saverio, 32n Franco, Veronica, 26

362

General Index

Françoise de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, 122 Frangipani, Fabio Mirto, archbishop of Nazareth, 131–2 Franzoni, Lanfranco, 202n Freedman, Richard, 272n, 273, 275n, 278n Frescobaldi, Girolamo, 201 Frey, Hermann-Walther, 245n Gabbiani, Massimiano, 259 Gabrieli, Andrea, 18n, 23n, 73, 153–4, 202, 203n, 212, 298–9, 317 Gabussi (Gabucci), Giulio Cesare, 23n, 225, 228 Gadenstedt, Berthold von, 183n Gagliano, Marco da, 319 Galeazzi, Girolamo, 35 Galilei, Galileo, 321, 322n Galilei, Vincenzo, 169, 186, 315n Gambara, Giovan Francesco, Cardinal, 64, 110n Gardano, Alessandro, 32n, 52, 91, 128 Gardano, Angelo, 61n, 90n, 140n Gargiulo, Piero, 189n, 321n Garofalo, Fausto, 59n Garzoni, Tommaso, 66n Gasbarri, Carlo, 62n Gastoldi, Giovan Giacomo, 1, 2, 42n, 107n, 112, 121, 300 Gerber, Ludwig, 227 Gerbino, Giuseppe, 300n Gesualdo, Alfonso, Cardinal, 193 Gesualdo, Carlo, Prince of Venosa, 23n, 141–2, 209n, 253, 254n, 256, 264n, 288, 304n Giacobbi, E., 313n Gialdroni, Giuliana, 78n, 80n Giani, Ugo, 245n Giazotto, Remo, 77–8n Gigli, Vincenzo, 225 Giliolo, Girolamo, 183n Gintzler, Simon, 14 Giorgi (Giorgio), Francesco, 268n Giovanna d’Austria, 167 Giovannelli (Giovanelli), Ruggiero, 1–2, 5n, 18n, 25, 77n, 79–81, 83–4, 90–92, 105n, 139, 141, 157–9, 160n,

161, 162n, 199n, 208, 209n, 240, 294, 320, 324 Giuliani, Marco, 54n, 127–8n, 161n Giuliani, Roberto, 325n Giustiniani, Orsatto, 202–3 Giustiniani, Vincenzo, 42n, 52n, 139–40, 142, 148–9, 151, 157, 164, 173, 190 Glareanus, Heinrich, 268n, 313–4 Gnoli, Domenico, 102n Gombert, Nicolas, 16, 164n Gondi, Petro, 132 Gonzaga, Ferrante, Lord of Guastalla, 203, 237, 238n, 242, 257n, 260, 296–7, 299 Gonzaga, Gian Vincenzo, Cardinal, 124, 125n Gonzaga, Guglielmo, Duke of Mantua, 14, 70, 87, 107–110, 112–13, 117–21, 124n, 165, 169, 174, 240, 245, [253n], 267 Gonzaga, Ludovico, Duke of Nevers, 130 Gonzaga, Margherita, see Este Gonzaga, Margherita d’ Gonzaga, Scipione, 72, 82–3, 110n, 113–119, 125n, 127, 130n, 169n, 256, 269n, 280 Gonzaga, Vincenzo, Duke of Mantua, 34, 109–111, 121, 175, 236–8, 240, 243, 248, 300, 302–4, 323 Gori, Anton Francesco, 140n Gottifredi, Bartolomeo, 135n Gozza, Paolo, 268n Grattan Flood, W.H., 205n gravity (gravità), 200, 270–2, 278–9, 282, 286, 307 see also piacevole/grave; tempus imperfectum diminutum Gregory XIII, Pope,11, 23–5, 27–32, 60, 64, 74, 77, 98–103, 124n, 126, 227 Gregory XIV, Pope,196, 207 Griffi, Orazio, 80 Grillo, Angelo (nom de plume Livio Celiano) 76n, 238, 250, 257n, 258–61, 293–4, 296, 302–4 Groto, Luigi, (Il Cieco d’Adria), 250 Gualfreducci, Onofrio, 32n, 173, 177, 190 Gualtieri, Attilio, 61, 105–6, 174

General Index Gualtieri, Camillo, 61 Guarini, Alessandro, 248, 249n, 254, 256–8, 266n Guarini, Anna, 36–7, 48, 257 Guarini, Battista, 20, 23, 41, 135n, 153, 176, 188, 191, 198, 203, 207, 238, 250, 256n, 257–8, 259n, 279, 286, 291, 293, 296–7, 299, 302–4, 309, 311 Il pastor fido, 176, 191–2, 257–8, 291, 293–7, 311 Guarisco, cavalier, 67 Guastavillano, Filippo, Cardinal, 88 Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico, 102n Guerrini, Paolo, 64, 65–6n, 67–9, 71, 97n Guidiccioni, Laura, see Lucchesini, Laura Guido d’Arezzo, 140, 267 Guise, Henri, Duke of, 126, 130, 133 Guise, Louis de, Cardinal, 126, 133, 262, 265–6, 284, 286 Guise, Prince Granville of, 133–4 Gussago, Cesare, 120 Haar, James, 147n, 151n, 271n Hallwin, Florimonte, Marquis of Piennes, 127–9 Hallwin, Louis de, Marquis of Piennes, 129n Haskell, Francis, 5n Hawkins, John, 211, 212n Henri, King of Navarre, 74, 130–32 Henri III, King of France, 26n, 100, [111], 122–3, 126–7, 129–34, [228] Hermes Trismegistus, 266 hermetic tradition, see philosophy of music Hill, John Walter, 190–92, 195n Hölderlin, Friedrich, 200n homorhythmic texture, 153, 238, 296–300 see also aria Hornes, Gherardo di, 205–6 Horace, 78 Iamblichus, 266 imitazione delle parole, 44, 147, 152, 160, 258, 278n

363

Incisa della Rocchetta, Giovanni, 62n Ingegneri, Angelo, 197–9 Ingegneri, Marc’Antonio, 1–2, 72, 153, 203, 264n, 317 Innocent IX, Pope, 196 Innsbruck, 200–201, 220 instrumental practice, see concerti; intermedi; performance practice instrumental reworking of vocal music, 14n, 139, 195n, 225n, 226n intermedi, 86–93, 176–86 Iosue, Aldo, 279n Jackson, Roland, 14n, 15–16, 18n, 222n, 223n, 225–6n, 244n, 279–80n, 282n, 289 Jacomelli (Giacomelli) (del violino), Giovan Battista, 108n, 175, 177, 184n Jagellona (Jagiellonka), Anna 224 Janz, Bernhard, 44n, 143n, 163n, 300n, 311n, 315n John Chrysostom, St 232 Josquin, see des Prez Josquin Joyeuse (Gioiosa), Anne, Duke de, 116, 122–5, 133, 135, 165 Joyeuse (Giosiosa), Francesco, Cardinal, [124n] Kerman, Joseph, 205n, 210n, 278n Keyte, Hugh, 180n Kirkendale, Warren, 93n, 95n, 96–7, 122, 172n, 174, 175n, 182n, 183, 187n, 193, 217n, 221n, 233n, 236n, 243n Kochanowski, Piotr, 213–4, 220 Koss (Coss), Bartholomaeus (Bartlemiej), 214–17, 219–220 Kraków, 219–20, 225 Kretschmer, Ernst, 200n Kümmel, Werner Friedrich, 183n Lanfranco, Giovanni Maria, 70 Lasso (Lassus), Orlando di 3n, 60, 73, 84, 97, 139, 153, 209n, 275, 302–3, 317, 318n, 319 La Via, Stefano, 143n, 184n

364

General Index

Ledbetter, Steven, 10–14n, 19, 27n, 30–36n, 40n, 48n, 55–7, 66, 70–71n, 72, 107–9n, 112, 113n–23n, 128n, 166, 167n, 170–71n, 175–8n, 179, 183n, 188n–9n, 191n, 194–5n, 204n, 209n, 211n, 213–4, 216n, 218–9n, 221, 231, 239n, 272n, 273, 274n, 288 Lefèvre, Renato, 62n Leonardo da Vinci, 321, 322n Leoni, Leone, 275n Leonora of Austria, 87 Lincoln, Harry B., 1n, 233n Lionnet, Jean, 245 Lippmann, Friedrich, 105n, 266n Litta, Pompeo, 188n, 212n Locatello, Giovanni Battista, 77–80, 83, 142n Lomazzo, Gian Paolo, 234 Louis XII, King of France, 122 Lowinsky, Edward E., 43n Lucchesini de’ Guidiccioni, Laura, 177, 181, 189 Lucretius, 313 Luisi, Francesco, 223n, 227n, 245n, 272n, 279n Lunelli, Renato, 13n lute intabulations, see instrumental reworking Luxembourg, Duke of, 133 Luzzaschi, Luzzasco, 1, 2, 35, 44, 148, 181, 201, 212, 251–3, 254n, 256–8, 264n, 266n, 317 Maccarani, Laura, 226n MacClintock, Carol, 52n Mace, Dean T., 141n MacNeil, Anne, 183n Macque, Jean (Giovanni) de, 18n, 60, 61n, 77–80, 83, 92n, 105, 148n, 209n, 212, 231 Macy, Laura, 22n, 240n, 266n Madonna, Maria Luisa, 104n madrigalisms, 152n see also aria; imitazione delle parole; melismas; parole-chiave Madruzzo, Cristoforo, Cardinal, 8, 12–15, 18, 20, 70, 72, 75, 107–8, 165

Madruzzo, Ludovico, Cardinal, 12n, 18, 39, 199 Magagnato, Licisco, 202 Maier, Bruno, 248n Mainardi, Antonio, 72 Malaspina, Germanico, 215, 218–9 Malatesta, Pandolfo, 67n Malegnani, Attilio, 118n, 119–20 Malvezzi, Alberigo, 203–4 Malvezzi, Cristofano, 23n, 80–81, 83, 87, 172, 177, 179–81, 186, 204, 297 Manfredi, Muzio, 203, 297, 299 Mantua, 14, 34, 72–3, 75, 107–21, 300 Marenzi (Marenzio), Arrighino, 67n Marenzi (Marenzio), Barbara Olimpia, 66 Marenzi (Marenzio), Camillo, 67n Marenzi (Marenzio), Francesco, 67n Marenzi (Marenzio), Giovanni Francesco, 65–6, 68, [120] Marenzi (Marenzio), Giuliano, Luca’s grandfather, 65–6 Marenzi (Marenzio), Giuliano, Luca’s brother, 65–6, 68 Marenzi (Marenzio), Lelia, 66 Marenzi (Marenzio), Marenzio, 65–6, 242 Marenzi (Marenzio), Ortensia, 66 Marguérite (Margot) de Valois, Queen of Navarre, 74 Marguérite Lorraine de Vaudemont 123 Margherita (singing girl, Archilei’s pupil), 177, 182, 189 Marignetti, Barbara, 184n Marinelli, Giulio Cesare, 42n Marini, Paola, 202n Marino, Giambattista, 146 Mariotti Masi, Maria Luisa, 168n Maroni Lumbroso, Matizia, 59n, 64n Martellotti, Anna, 33n, 36–7n, 39n, 47n, 53–4n, 125n, 135n, 239n, 249–50n, 252, 253–4n, 258n, 260n, 268n Martinengo, Gabriele, 275n Martinengo, Marc’Antonio, 1, 73–6, 233 Martini, Antonio, 59n, 64n Martini, Giovan Battista, 324n Masetti (Masetto), Giulio, 38n Masetto, Andrea, 75 Masnelli (Masenelli), Paolo, 275n

General Index Mazzoni, Stefano, 128n Medici, Antonio, Don, 167 Medici, Caterina de’, Queen of France, 137, 177 Medici, Cosimo I de’, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 165, 166n, 167 Medici, Eleonora de’, 175 Medici, Ferdinando I de’, Cardinal, later Grand Duke of Tuscany, 7–9, 28, 50, 51n, 56, 66, 81, 89n, 99–100, 102, 116, 165–8, 169n, 171–9, 187, 189, 195–6, 204, 217–8, 220, 226n, [239], 242–3, 270, 322 Medici, Francesco I de’, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 9, 34, 37n, 167–8, 173, 178–9, 181, 182n, 183, 189, [190n], 193, [253n] Medici, Isabella de’, 188 Medici, Lorenzo de’, (‘Il Magnifico’) 321, 322n Medici, Lucrezia de’, 165 Medici, Maria de’, 175 Medici, Virginia de’, 166, 169, 178 Medici Orsini, Isabella de’, 52 Meier, Bernhard, 39n, 103, 126n, 129n, 143n Meldert, Leonardo, 23, 153 Melfio, Bastiano, 90n Meli, Ernesto, 139n melismas, 41–2, 152, 291, 293 Merlo, Alessandro, 61n, 148, 244–5n Merlo, Giovani Antonio, 104 Merulo, Claudio, 1–2, 18n, 74, 84, 212, 275n, 317 Michelangelo Buonarroti, 321, 322n Micheli, Domenico, 61n Michi, Orazio, 55n, 190 Milleville, Alessandro, 23n, 35 Miroglio, Federico, 36n Mischiati, Oscar, 4n, 134n, 139n, 205n, 223n, 225n, 289n, 320n misura di breve, see tempus imperfectum diminutum Mocenigo, Luigi, 24 modality, 143, 313–6 Molitor, Raphael, 228n Molza, Francesco Maria, 41, 250

365

Molza, Tarquinia, 41, 53, 268 monody, 191–2 Montaigne, Michel de, 24–5, 27, 50, 57–8, 59n, 91n Montalto, Cardinal Alessandro Peretti de, 173–5, 176n, 190–5, 197, 199, 208, 220, 243, 257, 288, 291, 293, 323 Montalto, Felice Peretti, Cardinal, see Sixtus V Monte, Philippe (Filippo) de, 3, 23n, 79, 84, 115, 139, 153, 208–9, 257n, 275, 317, 318n, 319, 324n Monteverdi, Claudio, 2, 72, 121, 134, 140, 186, 209n, 220, 240, 257n, 264–5, 282, 299–300, 317–20, 324 Monteverdi, Giulio Cesare, 134n, 264n Monti, Andrea de’, 59 Montoia, Pietro, 245n Montorio, Monsignor, 241–2n Morales, Cristóbal de, 16, 317, 318–9n Morando, Alfonso, 202n Morel, Philip, 184n Morelli, Arnaldo, 104n Morichini, Carlo, 59n Morley, Thomas, 140, 149, 157, 161, 210n Morsolino, Antonio, 1, 74 Moscaglia, Giovan Battista, 77–80, 83, 161, 210, 274, 275n Mosto, Giovan Battista, 18n, 74 Mouton, Jean, 264n Mucante, Giovanni Paolo, 220n, 221–4, 323 Muratori, Ludovico Antonio, 8 Muret, Marc-Antoine, 9 musica secreta, see concerto delle dame Myers, Patricia Ann, 55, 197n, 206–8n, 219n, 224, 237n, 258n, 286, 288, 293n, 296n, 303n, 311n Nanino, Giovanni Bernardino, 59n, 72n, 80, 199n, 201, 228 Nanino, Giovanni Maria, 1–3, 18n, 77–81, 83–4, 139, 156–7, 160–61, 172, 209n, 282n, 317, 318n, 319 Nenna, Pomponio, 317, 319 neo-Platonic tradition, see philosophy of music

366

General Index

Neri, Philip, St, 59, 62n, 81, 231, 243 van Nevel, Paul, 180n Newcomb, Anthony, 33n, 38n, 41, 42n, 47n, 48, 55, 111–12, 122n, 125n, 152n, 154, 160n, 176n, 273n Nicoletti, Filippo, 275n Niemcewicz, Julian, 221 Nobili, Giovanni Battista, 11–12 Norimberghi, Camillo, 105 Novalis, Friedrich, 200n Ockeghem, Johannes, 264n Olgiati, Elena, 52 Ongaro, Antonio, 5–6, 61–2, 92, 250, 293, 302–3 Orbaan, Johannes Albertus Franciscus, 78n, 89n, 92n, 97n, 100n, 101n, 104–5n, 191, 194n O’Regan, Noel 12, 59, 60n, 82n, 91n, 112, 172, 192, 208n, 291 Orlandi, Sante, 319 Orsini, Francesca, 52 Orsini, Flavia, see Peretti Orsini, Flavia Orsini, Flavio, Cardinal, 60 Orsini, Isabella, see Medici Orsini, Isabella de’ Orsini, Leonora, 175 Orsini, Paolo Giordano, Duke of Bracciano, 30, 38n, 61, 102–3, 165, 188 Orsini, Paolo Giordano II, Duke of Bracciano, 188n Orsini, Pietro, Bishop of Spoleto, 82 Orsini, Troilo, 189 Orsini, Virginio, Duke of Bracciano, 103, 175, 187–95, 197, 207, 212, 217–8, 220, 243, 283, 309 Osostowicz Sutkowska, Alina, 225n Ovid, 184, 229, 234 Owens, Jessie Ann, 62n, 252n Pace, Giovan Battista, 92n, 142n Pacelli, Asprilio, 225–6 Pacifici, Vincenzo, 8–9n, 30–31n, 34n, 51n, 101n, 130n, 132n, 137n, 166n Padua, 35, 37–8 Pagano, Sergio, 77n

Paganuzzi, Enrico, 201n, 273n Pagni, Lorenzo, 13n Palaephatus, 266 Palentrotti, Melchior, 190 Paleotti, Gabriele, Cardinal, 25, 235 Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da, 3, 15, 32, 60, 73, 77–80, 83–4, 110–13, 139–41, 161, 172, 173n, 208, 209n, 227–8, 282n, 317, 318–19n, 323 Palisca, Claude, 172n, 265n, 315n Pallavicino, Benedetto, 23n, 121, 142n, 209n, 275n, 320 Pallavicino, Nicola, 149, 261 Parabosco, Girolamo, 41 Paratico, Giuliano, 71, 76n parole-chiave, 152 see also imitazione delle parole Parrott, Andrew, 180n Partegiani, Natale, 64n, 66–7n, 69 Paruta, Paolo, 243n Pasqualino, Lelio, 141, 146, 156n Passeri, Aurelio, 198 Pastor, Ludwig von, 220n, 221, 243n Patrizi, Francesco, 53, 54n, 198, 266–9 Paul III, Pope, 24, 50 Paul IV, Pope, 24 Pavoni, Giuseppe, 183n Peacham, Henry, 200, 209–12, 224, 226, 228, 235, 241, 245 Pecci, Tommaso, 264n, 319 Pellio, Giovanni, 79 Pelplin intabulation, 225n Peperara (Peverara), Laura, 36–7, 39, 41, 18, 55 Peranda, 266n Peretti, Alessandro de, see Montalto, Cardinal Alessandro Peretti de Peretti, Felice, see Sixtus V Peretti Orsini, Flavia, Duchess of Bracciano, 103, 187–8, 190, 193–5, 197, 212, 217–8, 226, [283], 309 Peretti, Camilla, 102–3, 106 Peretti, Francesco, 102 Peretti (Montalto), Michele 191 performance practice, 37, 42–3, 47, 55, 60, 86, 128–9, 173, 179–85, 191–2, 222–3, 237

General Index see also castrati; falsetti; concerti; confraternities; intermedi; women in music Peri, Iacopo, 181, 186, 264n, 297, 317 Peroni, Vincenzo, 70n Personellus, Vincenzo, 66n Pervue (Perouet), Nicolò, 77–80, 81n, 83 Pesci, Marco, 195n Petrarch, 41, 44, 135n, 147, 200n, 247, 250, 253, 254n, 256, 271, 278–80, 286, 293, 300–303, 311–12, 316 Petrobelli, Pierluigi, 204n Petrucci, Franca, 105n Peverelli, Giovanni Maria, 102 Phalèse, Pierre, 205–6, 304 Philip II, King of Spain, 13, 27, 127, 129, 204 philosophy of music, 149–40n, 262–9 piacevole/grave, 141–2, 155, 271 see also gravity Piccioni, Giovanni Maria, 15, 69, 85 Pierluigi, Angelo, 110 Pierluigi, Giovanni, see Palestrina Pierluigi, Igino, 228 Pierluigi, Ridolfo, 75 Pigna, Giovan Battista, 135, 250 Piissimi, Vittoria, 182 Pinelli, Gian Vincenzo, 266n Pius V, Pope, St 23–4, 64, 97 Piperno, Franco, 18n, 78n, 83n, 85n, 206n, 209n, 260n, 297n, 309n, 310n Pirrotta, Nino, 77–8n, 80, 83n, 103, 122n, 147n, 156n, 159n, 161n, 166n, 169n, 178, 180n, 182n, 183n, 185, 186n, 252–3n, 256n, 311 Pisany, Marquis of, see Vivonne, Jean de Plato, 263–6, 313 Plutarch, 266 Pocaterra, Annibale, 135n, 248–9 Pollastri, Mariarosa, 313n Pollux, Julius, 185, 186n Polychoral music, see concerti; echo; intermedi; Index of compositions by Marenzio (Madrigals Books; Sacred Music; Anthologies)

367

Poma, Luigi, 263n Pompei, Alessandro, 202n Ponzio, Pietro, 274 Pordenon, Marc’Antonio, 84n Porphyry, 268n Porta, Costanzo, 1, 54, 317 Portone, P., 8n portrait of Marenzio, 199–202, 306–7 Poulton, Diana, 204, 205n Povoledo, Elena, 147n, 161n, 169n, 178n Powers, Harold S,. 143n Preti, Alfonso, 83n Primavera, Leonardo, 161 Prinzivalli, Virginio, 197–8n Priuli, Pietro, 235n, 236 Privitera, Massimo, 145n, 303n, 312, 313n, 318n Ptolemy, 268n Pythagoras, 263, 318–9n Quagliati, Paolo, 15, 52, 80–82, 161, 199n Quazza, Romolo, 207n Quintilian, 252 Quirini, Chiara, 52 Ragazzoni, Monsignor 131 Raimondi, Enzo, 252n Rambouillet Cardinal (Charles d’Angennes), 133 Ranzolin, Antonio, 84n, 203n Rasi, Francesco, 173, 220, 221n, 235–6 Raval, Sebastián, 3, 190, 194–5, 199, 288 Raverij, Alessandro, 141n Recupito, Ippolita, 176n, 190 Renée of France, 7–8, 122, 127 Renée of Lorraine, 97 Ricordi, Giacomo, 59n Rinuccini, Ottavio, 180–81, 250 Ripa, Cesare, 149n Rizzi, Antonio, 108n, 110n Roccio, Girolamo, 172n Rome under Gregory XIII, 24–5 under Clement VIII, 234–5

368

General Index

see also aria; Boncompagni, Giacomo; Clement VIII; Compagnia de’ Musici di Roma; concerti; Confraternities; CounterReformation; Este, Luigi d’; Gregory XIII; monody; Montaigne, Michel de; Montalto, Alessandro Peretti de’; Orsini, Paolo Giordano; Orsini, Virginio; performance practice; Sistine Chapel; Sixtus V Rore, Cipriano de, 3n, 73, 84, 139–41, 143, 234n, 264n, 267, 279, 303, 317, 318n, 319 Rosa Barezzani, Maria Teresa, 161n, 163n, 299n Rosa, Persiano, 59 Rosselli, John, 72–3n, Rossello (Roussel), François, 78 Rossi, Bastiano de, 68n Rossi, Gian Vittorio (nom de plume Janus Nicius Erythraeus), 230–31, 234, 246 Rossi, Ottavio, 68n, 69–71, 73–6, 209, 240–41, 244–5, 260, 296 Rota, Andrea, 32 Roy, Bartolomeo, 77–80, 83 Rucellai, Orazio, 124, 125n, 193 Rudolph II, Emperor, [115], 207 Ruffini, Giulia, 52 Ruis (Ruiz), Girolamo, 5n, 61–3, 84, 91–2, 199 Ruis (Ruiz), Michele, 5n, 62 Ruiz, Ferrante, 62n Rusticucci, Girolamo, Cardinal, 18n, 29–30, 114n, 124 Sacchetti, Franco, 250, 309 Sala, Mariella, 139n Saltini, G.E., 13 Sandbichler, Veronika, 199n Sandelewski, Wiaroslaw, 225n Sandrin, Pierre, 14n San Giorgio, Cardinal of, see Aldobrandini, Cinzio Sannazaro, Jacopo, 41, 250, 271–2, 279–80, 293, 309, 311

Sans, Nicolas de Pellevé, Cardinal of, 124, 125n, 132 Sansisto, Filippo Boncompagni, Cardinal of, 88, 100 Santacroce, Prospero, Cardinal, 50–51n, 124 Sanudo, Leonardo, 283 Saslow, James M., 184n Savoia di Collegno, Antonio Maria, 13n Scaletta, Orazio, 142n Schadeus, Abraham, 291 Schelle, Eduard, 244n Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von, 200n Schrade, Leo, 172n Scotto, Girolamo, 14, 77n, 84, 141n Scudamore, John, 204 seconda prattica, 263–5, 304, 317–21 Seriacopi, Girolamo, 183n Settimani, Francesco, 183n Sforza, Francesco, Cardinal, 89n Shakespeare, William, 189 Sherr, Richard, 73n, 110n Sigismund (Zygmunt) III Waza, King of Poland, [175], 213–16, 228, 235–6, [240], 289, [291], [309], 323 Sirleto, Guglielmo, Cardinal, 99 Sistine Chapel, 11–12, 104, 244–5 Sixtus V, Pope, 11n, 23, 25, 77, 82, 97n, 99–106, 127, 130–33, 173, 178, 187–8, 196–7, 212 Skalski, Basilius, 225 Socrates, 256, 263n, 313 Soldani, Jacopo, 8n Solerti, Angelo, 8, 180n, 183n, 254–7n Sonner, Matteo, 266–7 Sophocles, 128n Soriano, Francesco, 3, 5n, 15, 18n, 77–81, 83, 111–14, 139, 160–61, 318–9n Soto (Sotto) de Langa, Francesco, 245n Spano, Donato Antonio, 148n Spina, Serafino, 259 Stabile, Annibale, 77, 79–80, 83, 153–4, 156, 161, 172, 213–4, 216, 219–20, 225 Statilio, 197 Steele, John, 233n, 280n

General Index Stella, Scipione, 194, 195n Stendhal (Henri Beyle), 102n Stivorio, Francesco, 275n Stoppelli, Pasquale, 90n Striggio, Alessandro, 1–2, 3n, 18n, 83n, 84, 87, 136n, 139, 153, 181–2, 183n, 292–3 Strozzi, Cesare, 50n Strozzi, Giovan Battista the Elder, 135n, 293 Strozzi, Giovan Battista the Younger, 180, 268 Strozzi, Pietro, 169, 171, 183n Strunk, Oliver, 108n, 112–3n, 200n, 209n, 211n, 264–5n stylus luxurians, 41–2 see also imitazione delle parole; melismas Summers, William, 77n Sutkowski, Adam, 225n Sweelinck, Jan Peterszoon, 142n Szweykowska, Anna, 220n, 221, 226n Szweykowski, Zygmunt, 220n tactus alla breve, see tempus imperfectum diminutum Tagmann, Pierre M., 70n, 107n Tansillo, Luigi, 135n, 250, 286, 303, 311 Tartaglino, Ippolito, 77, 80 Tasso, Torquato, 8n, 9, 23n, 41, 62, 92, 103n, 114, 135n, 147, 187n, 198, 200n, 207, 208n, 238, 247–8, 250–8, 263, 271, 278–80, 283, 288, 293, 296, 303n, 309, 311, 313 La Cavaletta, 251–3, 278 Tecardi, Antenore, 279n tempus imperfectum diminutum (misura di breve; tactus alla breve), 44, 200, 272, 279, 294–6, 307, 310 see also gravity Teofili, Fulvio, 122 Testaverde Matteini, Annamaria, 183n Thomas Aquinas, St, 232 Tieck, Johann Ludwig, 102n Tieffenbrucker, Leonardo, 38n Tiepolo, Paolo, 31

369

Tinto, Giovanni Francesco, 274n Tivoli, 7, 9, 123–5, 129, 133, 137 see also Este, Luigi d’ Tolomeo, Giovanni Pietro, 34n, 38n Tomlinson, Gary, 149n, 264n Tornieri, Giacomo, 32 Tracetti, Lorenzino, 195n Trent 12–3, 18, 27, 220, 227, 322 Troiano, Giovanni, 78, 80–81, 199n Troiano, Girolamo, 76n, 272 Troiano, Massimo, 97n Truchsess, Otto von, Cardinal, 70 Turchi, see Del Turco, Giovanni Turini, Gregorio, 71 Turrini, Giuseppe, 273n Ugolini, Vincenzo, 318–9n Unger, Hans-Heinrich, 163n Urbani, Orazio, 37n, 39n, 54n Urban VII, Pope, 196 Valdrighi, Luigi-Francesco, 38n Valesio, Fulgenzio, 228 Valori, Baccio, 268 Vasalini, Giulio, 253n Vasco Rocca, Sandra, 59n Vassalli, Antonio, 249–50n Vecchi, Giuseppe, 226n Vecchi, Orazio (Horatio), 18n, 93–6, 143, 148, 162n, 209n, 271, 275n, 307, 313–5, 318–9n Venere, Vendelio, 38n Venturi, 194 Venturi, Pompilio, 51 Venturi del Nibbio, Stefano, 162n Verdelot, Philippe, 14 Verona, 84, 173–4, 201–3, 262, 270, 273–5 see also Accademia Filarmonica; Bevilacqua Mario; portrait of Marenzio Verovio, Simone, 81–2 Vertuosa Compagnia de’ Musici di Roma, see Compagnia de’ Musici di Roma Vettori, Romano, 13n, 18n Vian, Nello, 62n Vicentino, Nicola, 44, 186, 267

370

General Index

Victoria, Tomás Luis de, 15, 317, 318–9n Villeroy, Monsieur de, 122 Villiers, Pierre de, 14n Vincenzi, Giacomo, 61n, 89n, 106n, 140–41n Vinci, Pietro, 53, 318–19n Vinta, Belisario, 181, 182n Virchi, Paolo, 1–2, 54, 75, 249 Vitali, Filippo, 319 Vivonne, Jean de, Marquis of Pisany, 129–137, 284 Vopa, Giovan Donato, 92n, 142n

Willaert, Adrian, 43n, 264n, 267, 318, 319n Winspeare, Fabrizio, 189n women in music, 36–7, 39, 47–56, 152, 176–7, 181–2, 193–4, 268, 297 see also female patrons Wo´s, Jan Wladyslaw, 220n, 224n Ximenez, Consalvo, 206 Ximenez, Edoardo, 206 Ximenez, Ferdinando, 206 Yates, Frances A., 123n

Wade, Walter Wilson, 280n Wagner, Richard, 304 Walker, Daniel P., 87n, 180n Warburg, Aby, 177n, 183n Warsaw, 220–25 see also Sigismund III Wert, Giaches (Jaches) de, 14, 23, 34n, 54n, 62n, 70, 73, 84, 107, 109, 112, 113n, 114, 120, 141, 148, 153, 209n, 248, 251–3, 256–8, 264n, 299, 302–3, 317, 318–9n, 324 Wilhelm, Duke of Bavaria, 97

Zacconi, Ludovico, 52n, 143 Zapperi, Roberto, 25, 50n, 189n, 226n, 235n Zarlino, Gioseffo, 1–2n, 258, 264, 265n, 268, 313–14, 315–16n, 318–19n, 320 Zibramonte, Aurelio, 19n, 35n, 107, 108n, 109–12, 122, 124n, 169 Zoilo, Annibale, 1, 59n, 60, 77–80, 83, 110–11, 112n, 113, 172, 227 Zuccari, Alessandro, 235n Zuccarini, Giovan Battista, 83, 172n