Vecchi and the Matured Madrigal Drama
The fully developed madrigal drama of the latter years of the sixteenth
century was an art form entirely dissimilar to anything known to the
modern stage, and, as we shall presently see, it was in itself a frank
confession of utter confusion in the search for a musical means of
individual expression. If no other evidence were at hand, the works of
Vecchi would be sufficient to prove that the logical progress of the
medieval lyric drama in one direction had led it into the very mazes of
the polyphonic wilderness. This new form lacked the spectacular glories
of the really operatic shows described in Chapter XI and it abandoned
even their ways of voicing the utterances of individual characters. Much
misinformation concerning this madrigal drama has been disseminated by
the comfortable process of repeating without scrutiny errors early
fastened upon histories of music.
The master spirit of the madrigal drama was Orazio Vecchi, born about
1551 at Modena. He became a priest and was canon of Corregio in 1586 and
in 1591 deacon. He became chapel master at the cathedral of Modena in
1596 and after numerous vicissitudes died in 1605. His most important
work was "L'Amfiparnaso, commedia harmonica," performed at Modena in
1594. This has been preserved in its entirety, together with the
author's preface, from which valuable information may be gathered. The
work is an attempt to turn into a lyric form the "Commedia dell' Arte,"
enacted in early times at village fairs in northern Italy. The
characters are Arlecchino, Pantalone, Doctor Graziano, Brighella,
Isabella, Lelio and others. The story of the play, however, does not
concern us so much as the author's artistic purposes and the methods by
which he sought to achieve them. In the addresses to the reader prefixed
to his scores Vecchi states some of his artistic beliefs. He says:
"The gross jests, which are found in the comedies of our time, and
which are their meat rather than the spice, are the reasons why he
who says 'Comedy' seems to speak of a buffoon's pastime. They wrong
themselves who give to such gracious poesy a sense so unworthy. True
comedy, properly regarded, has for its object the representation in
divers personages of almost all the actions of familiar life. To
hold the mirror up to human life it bestows attention no less upon
the useful than upon the pleasing, and it does not suffice it to
raise a laugh." ("Amfiparnaso.")
"It will be said that it is contrary to convention to mingle serious
music with that which is merely pleasing and that one thus brings
discredit on the profession. But the pleasing and the serious
according to report have been mingled from father to son. Aristotle
says so; Homer and Virgil give examples." ("Veglie di Siena," 1604.)
"I know full well that at first view some will be able to judge my
artistic caprices low and flimsy, but they ought to know that it
requires as much grace, art and nature to draw well a rôle of comedy
as to represent a wise old grumbler." ("Selva di Varia Ricreatione,"
1590.)
"Everything has a precise meaning, and the actor should try to find
it; and, that done, to express it well and intelligently in such a
way as to give life to the work." ("Amfiparnaso.")
"The moral intention of it will be less than that of the simple
comedy, for music applies itself to the passion rather than to the
reason, and hence I have been compelled to use reflective elements
with moderation. Moreover, the action has less scope for
development, spoken words being more rapid than song; so it is
expedient to condense, to restrict, to suppress details, and to take
only the capital situations. The imagination ought to supply the
rest." ("Amfiparnaso.")
When we turn to the drama itself to ascertain how the composer embodied
his artistic ideas, we find that the score shows a series of scenes
containing speeches for single personages and dialogues for two or more.
All of these are set to madrigal music in five parts. This music
exhibits much variety of style and expressive power. The composer was
undoubtedly a master of his material. How intricate and yet pictorial
his style can become may be seen in these four measures from Act I,
scene second, which contain words uttered by Lelio.
[Musical Notation]
That the composer sometimes employed skilfully the contrast of pure
chord sequence is seen in his setting of the "tag" of the play spoken by
Lelio and beginning thus:
[Musical Notation]
Interesting as this music is in itself, the temptation to enter upon a
prolonged examination of the score must be resisted for the good reason
that a more important matter demands our attention. It has often been
stated that in the madrigal drama, when the musician wished a single
personage to speak, that character sang his part in the madrigal while
alone on the stage and the other parts were sung behind the scenes. This
error has persistently clung to musical history, despite the fact that
it was long ago exposed by European authors who ought to have commanded
more consideration. The present writer is indebted to Romain Rolland for
guidance in his examination into this matter.
Vecchi had an enthusiastic disciple in Adriano Banchieri, born at
Bologna in 1567 and died in the same city in 1634. Although he was a
pupil of Giuseppe Guami, organist of St. Mark's, himself an organist of
St. Michele in Bologna, and a serious theoretician, he was none the less
the author of several comedies and satires, which he wrote under the
pseudonym of Camillo Scaligeri della Fratta. He states in the title page
that his comedy, "Il Studio Dilettevole" (for three voices) produced in
1603, is after the manner of Vecchi's "Amfiparnaso." His "Saggezia
Giovenile," produced somewhat later, is equipped with a preface
containing full directions as the method of performing a madrigal drama.
He says:
"Before the music begins one of the singers will read in a loud
voice the title of the scene, the names of the personages and the
argument.
"The place of the scene is a chamber of moderate size, as well
closed as possible (for the quality of the sound). In an angle of
the room are placed two pieces of carpet on the floor and a pleasing
scene. Two chairs are placed, one at the right, the other at the
left. Behind the scene are benches for the singers, which are turned
toward the public and separated from one another by the breadth of a
palm. Behind these is an orchestra of lutes, clavicembali, and other
instruments, in tune with the voices. From above the scene falls a
large curtain which shuts off the singers and instrumentalists; the
rule of procedure will be according to the following order:
"The invisible singers read the music from their parts. They will be
three at a time, or better, six, two sopranos, two tenors, one alto
and one bass, singing or remaining silent according to the occasion,
giving with spirit the lively words and with feeling the sentimental
ones and pronouncing all with loud and intelligible voices according
to the judgment of prudent singers.
"The actors alone on the scene, and reciting, should prepare their
parts so as to know them by heart and in every detail of place and
time follow the music with all care as to time. It will not be a bad
idea to have a prompter to aid the singers, instrumentalists and
reciters."
The words, carefully chosen by the writer, prove conclusively that the
actors did not sing; they spoke. The only music was that which came from
behind the curtain at the rear.
Further directions for the performance of a madrigal drama by Vecchi
tell us that when a single person speaks on the stage, all the musical
parts join in representing him. In the case of a dialogue between two
actors the voices are to be divided into two groups situated so that the
musical sounds shall seem to proceed from the actors. For example, when
Lucio and Isabella converse, men's voices represent the former and
women's voices the latter. The subjoined passage of dialogue between
Frulla and Isabella, Act II, scene fifth, will show how two voices were
represented:
[Musical Notation]
In the "Fidi Amanti" of Torelli there is a scene for two men,
a satyr and a shepherd, and one woman, a nymph. In this the two men
are represented always by the tenor and the bass, the latter having
the chief burden of the delineation of the satyr. The soprano and alto
voices are reserved for the nymph. Yet in this scene whenever the
emotion becomes intense, whether sad or joyous, the four voices unite
in singing the principal phrase.
Rolland, with his customary acumen, notes that in Vecchi's five part
madrigals for the stage the employment of the odd voice is plainly
governed by musical needs. It has to be common to both personages in a
scene for two and hence it is always the least characteristic voice. Its
chief business is to fill in the harmony.
It is not essential to the purpose of this work that the story of
"L'Amfiparnaso" or any of the other important madrigal dramas should be
told. The significant points are the disappearance of the more gorgeous
elements of spectacle found in the older court shows, the rise to
prominence of the comic element, and above all the entire obliteration
of the tentative methods of solo song found in the earlier lyric drama.
The old-fashioned _cantori a liuti_ sank into obscurity as the madrigal
grew in general favor in Italy, and in the latter years of the sixteenth
century their art seems to have undergone alterations quite in keeping
with the growing complexity of madrigal forms. The madrigal was now the
solo form with an instrumental accompaniment made from the under voices,
and this solo form was not used in the madrigal drama. Its musicians had
laid aside the "recitar alla lira," so much praised by Castiglione in
1514, and were seeking for some new way of setting solo utterance to
music. The method chosen by Vecchi must appear to us to be removed from
possibilities of artistic success still further than the solo
adaptations of frottole, yet the historical fact is that his
"Amfiparnaso" had an extraordinary popularity and set a fashion.
Some of Vecchi's works were produced and met with favor even after the
pseudo-Hellenic invention of the Bardi fraternity had burst upon Italy.
Indeed the madrigal drama died hard and its final burial was not
accomplished till the opera had begun to take shape more definite than
that found in the experimental productions of its founders. With the
declining years of this curious form we need not concern ourselves. We
may now turn to a consideration of the experiments which led to the
creation of dramatic recitative, the missing link in the primeval world
of the lyric drama.