=The First Oratorio=.—The novelty of the new style, which was called
the _stilo rappresentativo_ (representative style), the vigor and
freedom it gave to an impressive delivery of the text, aroused
universal attention. Among the composers who essayed it was =Emilio
del Cavaliere= (1550-1599). By applying it to a sacred subject, he
originated the Oratorio. Roman by birth, he had passed part of his life
in Florence, and though not a member of the _Camerata_, was familiar
with its aims and practice.
The germ both of the Opera and Oratorio is to be found in the Miracle
Plays or so-called Mysteries of the Middle Ages. These were dramatic
representations of _Bible scenes_ or _religious allegories_ by means
of which a populace unable to read was taught the great truths of
sacred history. Cavaliere’s oratorio, _La Rappresentazione di Anima e
di Corpo_ (The Representation of Soul and Body), was given in 1600 in
Rome, at the Oratory of the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella—hence
its name.
[Music: PASSAGE FROM CAVALIERE’S ORATORIO.]
=Its Characteristics=.—Save for the _nature_ of the _subject_, there
was no apparent difference between it and an opera. The allegorical
characters taking part appeared in costume and in action. The score
even gives directions by which it may be concluded with a dance if
so desired. By this, however, dignified and stately movements are
understood, in nowise resembling the rapid dance of modern times. The
composer in his instructions for performance, which are unusually full
and complete, lays great stress upon an expressive delivery of the
text, and the swelling and diminishing of the tones by the singers.
In vigor and characterization it far surpasses Peri’s and Caccini’s
operas. Cavaliere’s death, which occurred ten months before the
production of his work, and the great popularity of the Opera, put a
stop to the immediate development of the Oratorio; that was reserved
for Carissimi a generation later.
=Monteverde=.—The task of taking the opera from the experimental
stage and of placing it on the artistic foundation which it now
occupies was accomplished by =Claudio Monteverde= (1568-1643), a man
of extraordinary genius and originality. A harmonist of surpassing
force and boldness, he had always rebelled against the restraints
of the contrapuntal school, though, unlike Peri and Caccini, he
was skilled in its intricacies. He was viol player in the band of
the Duke of Mantua, and had composed masses and madrigals, many of
which were severely criticised by the pedants of the day. He joined
definite issue with them in his _freedom of treating dissonances_,
the distinguishing feature of modern harmony. Heretofore, sevenths,
ninths, augmented fourths and the like had never been heard without
preparation. Monteverde, however, introduced them without regard to
this restriction, little heeding the anathemas heaped upon his head by
those who considered his infractions of established rules unpardonable.
His ardent, restless temperament, seeking novel modes of expression,
often led to wild and extravagant combinations which even today appear
harsh and forced. At that time they must have seemed wilful attempts
at outraging the ear and the sense of harmonic propriety. These
innovations, however, are the cornerstone of modern harmony; of this as
well as of the opera, Monteverde is the real founder. What are defects
in his church music are excellences in his operas. The discords which
disturb the serenity of a religious atmosphere are admirably fitted to
produce dramatic effects and powerful climaxes. Monteverde belonged
to the stage as his great contemporary, Palestrina, belonged to the
church.
=Position of Music in the 17th Century=.—The interest which the
success of the Florentine composers would have for a man thus gifted
can be readily imagined. Yet he was obliged to wait a number of years
for an opportunity to emulate their achievements. Music then was the
especial pastime of the great; it was part of the state with which they
surrounded themselves. Almost all titled and wealthy families had their
own bands of musicians and choirs of singers. These assisted in their
private chapels and lent additional eclat to seasons of festivity.
Concerts and operas were given only at court or in the palaces of
noblemen; public halls for any kind of musical occasion were unknown.
A musician or composer could make his way only by attaching himself
to a noble house or by securing a patron in court circles. _Dafne_
and _Euridice_ were made possible through the interest and protection
of Count Bardi and Count Corsi. The opera was also attended with
great expense. The taste of the times demanded an enormous outlay for
mounting—costumes, scenery, decorations; only the extremely wealthy
could afford it, and they reserved it for occasions of especial
importance.
[Music: ARIADNE’S LAMENT.]
=Monteverde’s First Opera=.—In 1607, the marriage of Margaret of Savoy
to Francesco Gonzaga, son of the Duke of Mantua, opened the way for
Monteverde’s first opera, _Arianna_ (Ariadne), which was received with
the utmost enthusiasm. Unfortunately, but a fragment of it remains,
Ariadne’s lament after her desertion by Theseus, the most celebrated
opera air ever written. In its unprepared discords of the harshest
nature, in the poignant expression of grief and despair so at variance
with the placid art of the day, this shows how, by a single stroke,
Monteverde cut loose from all the traditions of the past. In its less
than a score of measures it also anticipates principles of artistic
structure which were not formulated for nearly a century later and
which hold good to the present day. It is said that it brought tears to
every eye.
[Music: RITORNELLO BY MONTEVERDE.]
=His Second Opera=.—The following year he produced his second opera,
_Orfeo_ (Orpheus), so called to distinguish it from Peri’s _Euridice_
on the same subject. Though most of Monteverde’s works have been
lost, the score of _Orfeo_ has been preserved. It shows a surprising
advance over the simplicity of the Florentine operas. First of all,
in the great _expansion of the orchestra_. This numbers thirty-seven
instruments which throughout are _combined in groups_ and as a whole
with an art prefiguring certain effects of orchestration supposed to
be purely modern. Like harmony, instrumentation dates from Monteverde.
Instead of the customary vocal prologue, it begins with a _Toccata_
(instrumental prelude). The composer’s keen dramatic instinct is
shown by the masterly way in which he avoids the monotony of his
predecessors; the recitatives are varied by the introduction of
_ritornelli_, and each act ends with a chorus and a stately passage for
the orchestra. Five years later, the most famous composer of the day,
he left Mantua for Venice, where until his death he was director of
music at St. Mark’s.
=Monteverde’s Characteristics=.—Monteverde’s greatest service to
the opera lay in enlarging the sphere of the orchestra, and in the
initiation of a thoroughly instrumental style adapted to the character
of each instrument. He increased the number of players and released
the orchestra from the subordinate position of being a mere support
for the voice by employing it to heighten the dramatic situation. He
originated many previously unknown effects, among them the _pizzicato_
and the _tremolo_ of the violins in precisely the same form as used at
present. The latter so astounded the players that at first they refused
to attempt it, saying that it was impossible. He endowed the Recitative
with far greater freedom and depth of expression; under his hand it
lost much of the dryness of the Florentine school. His manner of
_writing_ for the voice was _declamatory_ rather than melodious; what
traces of definite melody occur in his works are generally confined
to the instruments, in which he curiously anticipates the practice of
latter-day dramatic composers.
=Popularization of the Opera=.—Until 1637 the opera was restricted to
royalty and the nobility. In that year the first public opera house was
opened in Venice, and such was the popularity of the new amusement that
before the end of the century there were no fewer than eleven in that
city alone, then with a population of about 140,000. It spread through
Italy with almost like rapidity, bearing in its wake an unparalleled
development of the art of song.
=Change of Character=.—With its introduction to the people, it was
manifestly impossible for the opera to retain its original character.
So long as it was confined to the cultivated, the classical ideals of
its founders met with intelligent appreciation, but when confronted
with audiences drawn from the masses desirous only of being amused,
a change was inevitable. Mythological and classical subjects were
gradually discarded in favor of those involving intrigue and disguise;
comic personages were introduced to enliven the scene. As the dramatic
action was thus brought nearer the comprehension of the unlearned,
so the music departed from the oratorical standards of the early
school, and showed a frank _tendency toward melody_ and _regularity of
form_. What was lost in elevation of theme, however, was made up by
the human interest imparted to the play and the consequent endeavor
of the composer to express, by his music, the varying vicissitudes of
life. Thus it gained in warmth of feeling and flexibility in means of
expression, while the evolution of rhythmic melody and definite musical
structure laid the foundation of the art as we now have it.
=The Venetian School=.—Venice naturally became the centre of an
important development of the opera. Of the numerous composers forming
the Venetian school, =Francesco Cavalli= (1600-1676) and =Marco Cesti=
(1620-1669) are second only in importance to Monteverde. The first was
Monteverde’s pupil, and had much of his broad dramatic style modified
by the influences of which we have just spoken. Cesti came to Venice
from Rome, where he had been the pupil of Carissimi, and brought with
him the smoothness and melodic flow of his master, albeit lacking in
essential power. Other names of a later date are =Giovanni Legrenzi=
(1625-1690), especially noted for spirit and vivacity, and =Antonio
Lotti= (1667-1740), his pupil, known by one or two charming airs which
still survive.
=Carissimi and the Oratorio=.—=Giovanni Carissimi= (1604-1674), though
he never wrote for the stage, was the strongest musical influence of
his day. He was an ardent admirer of the new school, and adapted it in
the form of oratorios and cantatas to the Church. In such works the
necessity for form as regards definite tonality, distinct rhythm and
melodic sequence is naturally much greater than in the Opera where
music is used to illustrate the dramatic situation, and is furthermore
elucidated by the action of the play. When the ear alone is obliged to
pass judgment there must be evidence of design in these particulars,
else the effect is confused and bewildering. Carissimi’s musical
instinct grasped this truth. His oratorios and cantatas show a logical
arrangement of choruses and ensembles, recitatives and arias combined
with a unity of effect and a clearness of characterization heretofore
unknown. The choruses in particular are strongly rhythmic and far more
dramatic than those which were commonly heard on the stage.
[Music: FROM “JEPHTHA” BY CARISSIMI.]
=Secularization of Church Music=.—This introduction of the new style
into the Church marked the passing of the old school and strongly
affected methods of dramatic composition. The public had never been
in sympathy with the austere standards of the Florentine school and
welcomed the appearance of _intelligible melody_ and the _spirited
rhythms_ to which Carissimi gave the first direct impulse. Not only
this; he fixed the form that the music of the Church was to bear for
a century to come. This secularization of church music had its good
and bad sides; good by reason of the greater freedom and variety
of expression thus gained; bad because of the bold and mechanical
imitation of Carissimi’s purely formal details by his successors, which
in the end led to a tiresome monotony of style.
=Characteristics of the Venetian School=.—Thus was taken the first
step toward the complete reversal of the conditions under which the
early Opera had arisen. Instead of the music’s being subordinate to
the drama, the drama was soon to serve merely as an excuse for the
music; the opera was destined to sink to the level of a concert sung
in costume; the dramatic action reduced to a minimum. The Venetian
school marks the turning-point in this direction. The high ideals
of Monteverde and his predecessors were gradually thrust into the
background; the singer began to assume precedence over the actor; truth
of _expression yielded_ to the fascinations of _time_ and _tune_,
which even the musically uncultivated could enjoy without bothering
their heads as to real dramatic fitness. Closely connected with these
tendencies was the establishment of a school of singing which, if we
may believe contemporary accounts, surpassed in technical facility and
brilliancy any vocal art heard either before or since that time. The
result was that singers finally regarded the opera only as a field for
the display of their dazzling accomplishments and in this they were
willingly supported by a public eager to be entertained and amused.