Italian Baroque Music

- Facsimile of the 12 sonatas in ms. 177 (Biblioteca del Sacro Convento di S. Francesco)
-Musicological introduction by Guido Olivieri
- Critical notes by Enrico Gatti
- Critical edition in a separate file, suitable for performance
Texts both in Italian and English

Michael Talbot


VIVALDI, ORLANDINI AND A MANUSCRIPT IN SKARA

Summary


The municipal library, called Stifts- och Landsbiblioteket, in the small Swedish town of Skara holds a large collection of ‘loose’ arias from the eighteenth century grouped under the generic shelfmark “494”. These were collected by Swedish visitors to Italy as souvenirs of their travels and in some instances for practical use back home. One such item, occupying a single gathering of four folios, is no. 494:62, which contains two arias for tenor: (1) the aria “Cada pur sul capo audace”, attributed in the manuscript correctly to Vivaldi and copied in the hand of Scribe 2 (in Paul Everett’s classification); (2) an anonymous aria (copied in short score by a different hand), “Fu del re comando allora”, which turns out to be by Giuseppe Maria Orlandini and is listed in the Ryom catalogue as RV Anh. 59:14. This pair of arias was probably purchased in Venice during the carnival season of 1718. “Cada pur” belongs to Artabano, re de’ Parti (RV 706-B), “Fu del re” to Orlandini’s Antigona.
The article discusses the music of both arias in the context of their parent works, correcting certain misconceptions that have arisen about the respective productions. Vivaldi’s aria is categorized as not merely an aria all’unisono but also (largely by virtue of that feature) a ‘variable-register’ aria capable of being sung without transposition of the instrumental accompaniment by singers belonging to different voice types. This flexibility was evidently one of the reasons behind its frequent recycling. For Orlandini’s aria, the discussion centres on that composer’s musical language. The special role of short scores (often with their instrumental ritornellos excised) in the extension of operatic music to the private, domestic sphere is acknowledged, and to some extent justified. Finally, the article provides new information on Orlandini’s librettist, Benedetto Pasqualigo (1673-1743) and his drama Antigona .

The complete volume of Studi vivaldiani, 19 (2019), where this article is published on pp. 51-64, is downloadable from <https://www.cini.it/pubblicazioni/studi-vivaldiani-19-2019>.

The present article is devoted to selected views regarding polychoral technique to have appeared in the writings of Polish musicologists. A brief survey of those views forms the starting point for an attempt to pinpoint how polychoral technique has been defined by scholars (the context of Polish music serves here only as a background). Their views are then confronted with definitions found in the Western musicological literature. Special emphasis is placed on the so-called Italian schools of composition, especially the ‘Venetian polychoral school’. Another major issue discussed in the article is the inconsistent use of the term cori spezzati by scholars, who often treat it as synonymous with polychoral technique.

This article focuses on violin sonatas attributed to Arcangelo Corelli which are transmitted in English sources, but are excluded from any of the printed collections published under the composer’s supervision. These compositions open up interesting questions about the criteria of attribution and the stylistic analysis appropriate to such ‘unauthorized’ repertory, which reveals features not always comparable to those of the compositions officially released by the composer. Noneteless the study and comparison of the extant sources confirm the attribution to Corelli of some violin sonatas and the partial reliability of the English manuscript tradition; this is due to the close contacts that the English court of James ii and Maria Beatrice d’Este entertained with the papacy, and especially with the entourage surrounding Christina of Sweden. At the same time, the analysis of the English transmission helps to identify spurious works among Corelli’s doubtful compositions – for instance, some works which are certainly to be attributed to Gottfried Finger. This study brings attention to sources which are not listed in the thematic catalogue of Corelli’s works and which today represent important material for new research.

So far, Stradella’s operatic production has been reconstructed on the basis of the operas that the musician composed in Genoa during the last years of his life. This article aims to present recent discoveries that shed light on Stradella’s Roman years and on the network of relationships that he maintained with the leading fi gures of the Roman aristocracy. The new acquisitions on his production would not have been possible without the discovery of the inventory of the music belonging to the singer and friend of the composer Giovan Battista Vulpio. Unpublished archival documents have revealed that this huge collection probably belonged to the Roman prince Flavio Orsini, who was the librettist for two of Stradella’s operas, “La Doriclea” and “Il moro per amore”, that were copied on his behalf in 1672 and 1681 respectively. The inventory of the Vulpio (formerly Orsini) collection reveals the title of a hitherto unknown opera by Stradella, “Amare e fingere” (“Loving and pretending”), whose score – as argued in the article – can be identifi ed with the one, anonymous and without title, which is preserved in the Chigi collection of the Vatican Library. This ‘commedia per musica’, based on simple love plots, with few characters and a small number of instruments, was performed in Siena in 1676 under Chigi patronage. The attribution to Stradella seems to be confi rmed both by some biographical elements of the composer, and by some details of the compositional style.

This is the first study to examine Antonio Vivaldi's opera, Orlando finto pazzo, in relation to its source text, Matteo Boiardo's masterpiece, Orlando innamorato. The intent of this analysis is to revive interest in a work that was overshadowed by the critically acclaimed Giovanni Ristori opus, Orlando furioso. While the librettist Grazio Braccioli preserves familiar traits of Boiardo's protagonists, he inventively develops their strengths and weaknesses to the audience's delight. Orlando, who remains hopelessly clueless about his adored Angelica's nefarious motives, nevertheless eventually wises up to his former mistress Origille's pattern of treachery.

Grandi protettori di musicisti, il duca Carlo Emanuele I (1562-1630), il cardinale Maurizio di Savoia (1593-1657) e Cristina di Francia (1606-1663), meglio nota come Madama Reale, occupano un posto del tutto particolare nel paesaggio culturale e politico europeo all’inizio del Seicento.
In effetti, oltre il loro ruolo politico e diplomatico, questi personaggi hanno favorito la realizzazione di eventi artistici per fini di affermazione politica. Essi hanno in questo modo contribuito a modellare la geografia urbana, sociale e musicale di un ducato periferico, rispetto alle grandi corti europee, in anni in cui Sigismondo d’India (c. 1582-1629), compositore di spicco in questo periodo, ha animato e trasformato la vita musicale di una corte particolarmente composita ed eccentrica.
Il presente intervento intende studiare i significati culturali delle pratiche musicali che si manifestano attraverso le feste e gli spettacoli di Casa Savoia. Pratiche musicali che si possono capire come esperienza musicale collettiva, inserita in un dispositivo politico. Si rivela, allora, l’importanza dei principi mecenati in quanto motori del transfert culturale e delle novità musicali, gli scambi franco-piemontesi attraverso le celebrazioni per il giorno di nascita del duca e della Madama Reale, e la singolarità del patronage del cardinale Maurizio di Savoia. L’analisi dell’intreccio tra spazio urbano, politica e spettacolo musicale mostra così un altro aspetto della grammatica dell’identità e della storia sociale e diplomatica della corte di Torino.

The subject-matter of the work is a seventeenth-century Italian sonata for a violin solo and continuo, its form and the technique. For the needs of the work, all known and preserved old prints and manuscripts with the Italian violin sonatas of the discussed period have been analysed (altogether there are 220 compositions of thirty composers’ authorship, see: Wykaz I [Index I] and Aneks A [Appendix A]). Classified as Italian were the works of the Italian composers writing in Italy and at the Italianised European courts. The time frame chosen begins in 1617 with the first in history edition of solo sonatas from Biagio Marini’s Affetti musicali, Op. 1, and ends with the manuscript collection of Carlo Ambrogio Lonati, which was dated to the January of 1701, though, finding its concordances in the copies of Colombi from before 1694.

Resumo: Esse trabalho descreve o panorama histórico do violoncelo do final do século XVII para o início do século XVIII e discute quais foram os caminhos percorridos para que a técnica de execução do instrumento chegasse à acepção que é encontrada na obra do compositor Luigi Boccherini. Conclui-se esse trabalho com uma breve análise de excertos de sua Sonata em Si bemol Maior, através de tratados diretamente relacionados a peça. Dessa forma, defende-se também a importância do estudo desse tipo de tratado para a compreensão da música e sua retórica.

This article examines the Italian music-printing industry in the seventeenth century from two distinct perspectives. The first revisits the industry’s decline and the circumstances that led to that state of affairs. The second traces the unlikely commercial success of the guitar tutors of Pietro Millioni, offering a glimpse into the inner workings of the industry. A quantitative analysis of production patterns using a newly constructed database of seventeenth-century Italian music prints provides a nuanced view of the rise and fall in output across various printing centers. Cross-referencing these data with an analysis of the corpora of the leading printing houses of Venice and Rome exposes various idiosyncrasies of these two centers of music printing and suggests that the downturn in production was driven not only by domestic conditions but also by the gradual decline of Venice as a dominant international economy.

The music in the Millioni books is printed with an idiomatic notation for the guitar known as alfabeto. The simplicity of alfabeto notation offered the musically illiterate an accessible path to music making, while its typographical features offered printers a cheap and easy method of printing music without specialized equipment or expertise. The continued success of these books in a contracting market demonstrates the significant appeal of this music for both printer and consumer, which contributed to the codification of oral musical traditions in print. The reconstruction of the genealogy of the Millioni books discloses numerous commercial ties between publishers, as well as their influence over musical content.

Girolamo Frescobaldi   Se l’aura spira
(1613-1643)                   Cosi mi disprezzate

Michel Lambert           Vos mépris chaque jour
(1610-1696)                   Par mes chants tristes et touchants
                                  Le repos, l’ombre, le silence
                                  Tout l’univers obéït à l’amour

Giovanni Legrenzi “Lumi potete piangere” from Venere sopra un scoglio
(1626-1690)

Claudio Monteverdi       Quel sguardo sdegnosetto
(1567-1643)                       Zefiro torna

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa Selections from Pièces de clavecin avec voix ou       
de Mondonville                 violon op.5 1. Regna terrae, Cantate Deo
(1711-1772)                                         5. Paratum cor meum


Girolamo Frescobaldi         “Balletto-Corrente-Passacagli” from Toccata
(1613-1643)                         d’intavolatura     
                                                Maddalena alla Croce

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault       Gloria in excelsis Deo, C.99
(1676-1748)

This study presents the oeuvre of Adriano Banchieri, a Bolognese monk whose lifetime spanned the late Renaissance and early Baroque. Although the catalogue of his works lists no more than some fifty extant items, these are of an exceptional variety: two-thirds of them encompass almost every musical genre of Banchieri's time – sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental – as well as his writings on music theory and practice. The remaining third consists of literary works ranging from novels, satires, commedia dell'arte, letters and sacred writings, to texts on and in the Bolognese dialect.
Since its publication in 1981, this study has remained the only one to provide an extensive, detailed survey and analysis of specimens from every genre of the composer-performer-author’s output, focusing on his genuine contributions, models and examples in order to reveal their common background and to portray Banchieri's mindset as an artist and personality. Nearly all of the musical and literary specimens are published here for the first time in a modern edition.

Propuesta de análisis siguiendo los presupuestos teóricos de la retórica musical
aplicados a la sonata BWV 1030 para flauta y clave. Escrita por un gran conocedor de
la Retórica, disciplina que estudió en la escuela, J.S. Bach emplea numerosas figuras extramusicales para conseguir suscitar determinados efectos en el oyente. En la Retórica se encuentra la clave para dar explicación a figuras que en algunos casos transgreden las reglas tradicionales del contrapunto.

Based on the musical rhetorical principles, this paper provides new perspectives
of analysis on J.S. Bach Sonate BWV 1030 for flute and harpsichord. This composer
was an expert on Rhetoric, a subject which he studied during his school years. That is why Bach realizes its value raising feelings in the listener and uses consciously a lot of extramusical ornaments and figures. Rhetoric is the key in order to understand the meaning of figures which trespass usual counterpoint rules.

The paper focuses on the sources of and existing links between the Aristotelian rhetoric and monodic music in late Renaissance and first Baroque in Italy. It describes a practice well know as "Recitar cantando", practice which will soon be changed in "Affektenlehre".

The article examines the first Italian translation of Ursula Kirkendale's studies about Handel's Roman years and how influential her work has been until now - Prince Ruspoli Musical and Musicological Prize being one of its most welcome effects. The translation was issued by LIM in 2017 and it is a thoroughly revised and updated version of the groundbreaking writings by Ursula Kirkendale, carefully commented by her eminent husband Warren Kirkendale. Moreover, the article proposes a new answer to an old question: why biographers (before Ursula Kirkendale) did not say much about the composer's Roman years and his departure from the Eternal City.

Federico Maria Sardelli writes from the perspective of a professional baroque flautist and recorder-player, as well as from that of an experienced and committed scholar, in order to shed light on the bewildering array of sizes and tunings of the recorder and transverse flute families as they relate to Antonio Vivaldi's compositions. Sardelli draws copiously on primary documents to analyse and place in context the capable and surprisingly progressive instrumental technique displayed in Vivaldi's music. The book includes a discussion of the much-disputed chronology of Vivaldi's works, drawing on both internal and external evidence. Each known piece by him in which the flute or the recorder appears is evaluated fully from historical, biographical, technical and aesthetic standpoints. This book is designed to appeal not only to Vivaldi scholars and lovers of the composer's music, but also to players of the two instruments, students of organology and those with an interest in late baroque music in general. Vivaldi is a composer who constantly springs surprises as, even today, new pieces are discovered or old ones reinterpreted. Much has happened since Sardelli's book was first published in Italian, and this new English version takes full account of all these new discoveries and developments. The reader will be left with a much fuller picture of the composer and his times, and the knowledge and insights gained from minutely examining his music for these two wind instruments will be found to have a wider relevance for his work as a whole. Generous music examples and illustrations bring the book's arguments to life.

Edition of the original version in A minor for Sopranino Recorder (Flautino).
VIVALDI, Antonio. RV 445. A minor. " Conc.to per Flautino". Autograph added: "G' Istrom:ti alla 4ª: Bassa", in Di / Don Antonio Vivaldi / Concerti / Tomo VIII.
I-Tn. TO0265, MS GIORDANO 31, fol. 433r-442r.

Nel mottetto Sitientes del Codice Altemps 1 è stato riscontrato un particolare episodio in notazione proporzionale, che ha fornito lo spunto per alcuni approfondimenti. Alla mis. 106 della trascrizione moderna il TENOR inizia una breve sezione in solo sul testo 'Deum fonte vivum sitiat, sitiat anima vestra': es. 1 -D. MASSENZIO, Sitientes, episodio proporzionale, facsimile es. 2 -D. MASSENZIO, Sitientes, miss. 105-113 1 DOMENICO MASSENZIO, Opera omnia, vol. VI, p. 273, Composizioni sparse, Codice Altemps, Collectio maior, f. 179 v , [17.] Sitientes, 5 vv. CCATB, violino, liuto, tiorba, cembalo e organo; cfr. LUCIANO LUCIANI, Le composizioni di Ruggero Giovannelli contenute nei due codici manoscritti ex Biblioteca Altaempsiana, detti «Collectio major» e «Collectio minor», pp. 297 e 304, in «Ruggero Giovannelli, "Musico eccellentissimo e forse il primo del suo tempo". Atti del Convegno internazionale di Studi (Palestrina e Velletri, 12-14 giugno 1992)», a c. di C. Bongiovanni e G. Rostirolla, Fondazione Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Palestrina, 1998.

La prima parte del libro, «Intorno a Vivaldi», costituisce un'ampia indagine sul contesto in cui Vivaldi componeva per violoncello, contrabbasso e viola da gamba. Dopo un chiarimento terminologico che prende in esame i molteplici usi localmente diversificati, riunisce dati biografici sugli strumentisti che potrebbero essere entrati in contatto con Vivaldi e aver influenzato la sua immagine degli strumenti bassi ad arco. In particolare vengono rese pubbliche per la prima volta le biografie delle figlie della Pietà; ma anche su altri violoncellisti, contrabbassisti e violisti la ricerca ha portato alla luce molte informazioni biografiche finora sconosciute.
Segue una panoramica sul repertorio italiano per violoncello e per viola da gamba, utile a contestualizzare – talvolta relativizzare, talaltra esaltare – il contributo vivaldiano, e a portare alla luce non poche scoperte e novità su attribuzioni e destinazioni. Vengono poi discussi gli aspetti tecnico-strumentali di ognuno dei tre strumenti (posizione esecutiva, tecnica della mano sinistra e dell'arco etc), verranno offerte risposte ai molti dubbi sulle possibili accordature e infine raccolte informazioni sulla costruzione degli strumenti e i liutai che operavano in Italia.
Va evidenziato che questa ricerca è sempre circoscritta al contesto vivaldiano, evitando di appesantire la trattazione con excursus in campi cronologicamente e geograficamente distanti e cercando le risposte anche alle domande più difficili perché meno documentate quanto più possibile nelle testimonianze appartenenti ai luoghi e ai tempi di Vivaldi.

La seconda parte del libro è dedicata alle opere di Vivaldi: si esamina tutto il corpus della musica strumentale e vocale che preveda una parte solistica per violoncello o per viola da gamba. Ogni composizione e ogni fonte vien analizzata minutamente estraendo informazioni sulla genesi della partitura, la datazione, i possibili destinatari, le parentele con altre opere e mettendone in luce le particolarità tecnico-strumentali e altre caratteristiche salienti. Per attenersi anche in questa parte strettamente al tema preposto, l'indagine rinuncia a generiche analisi formali, armoniche e contrappuntistiche (e tanto più a una coloristica descrizione dei sentimenti che la musica suscita nella scrivente), nella convinzione che questi elementi siano non già specifici del repertorio per i bassi d'arco, ma anzi comuni a quello di altri strumenti solisti e quindi da affidare a una ricerca trasversale.

La terza parte è concepita in particolare per chi esegue la musica di Vivaldi perché dedicata ad alcune questioni di prassi esecutiva del registro grave. Un minuzioso spoglio di tutte le indicazioni di strumentazione con cui Vivaldi circostanzia le sue parti per i bassi, ha dato vita a un regesto che impone conclusioni in parte sorprendentemente difformi dalle esecuzioni pur storicamente informate dei nostri tempi. Nel secondo capitolo vengono invece riunite e contestualizzate tutte le indicazioni originali sugli organici e le formazioni orchestrali al tempo di Vivaldi per indagarne l'incidenza di violoncelli e contrabbassi: ne risulta un quadro sfaccettato e anch'esso talvolta ben diverso dalle nostre abitudini d'ascolto odierne.

Conclude il lavoro un inventario delle composizioni con parti solistiche per violoncello e per viola da gamba, seguito da un elenco dell composizioni che prevedono un accompagnamento a contrabbasso solo.

The discovery of the Ruffo Music Book and the compositions of Federico and Francesco Ruffo and Filippo Muscari has enriched the viol repertoire with some interesting and technically thought-provoking music—works which, whilst undoubtedly not of the highest quality, are attractive and original. At the same time the manuscript is a reminder that those researching the history of the viol are never safe from surprises. Nobody was expecting to find that a bass viol in A was in use in a high Baroque palace in Sicily.

Come cantavano i grandi interpreti della musica italiana del ’700? Quale segreto si celava dietro la prodigiosa tecnica dei castrati? Cosa resta oggi di quella gloriosa tradizione, e come si può provare a recuperarla? In questo libro si suggerisce qualche risposta a simili domande, grazie all’analisi comparativa di centinaia di fonti storiche. La tecnica vocale dell’Italia preromantica, da Monteverdi a Bellini, viene ricostruita minuziosamente nelle sue secolari evoluzioni, offrendo sia un’immagine storicamente credibile che decine di proposte pratiche, ricavate dalla documentazione superstite e testate personalmente dall'autore in dieci anni di studii canori. Il risultato non è un metodo di canto, né un testo tradizionale di storia della musica, ma un palco da cui udire la voce degli antichi interpreti per provare a comprenderne il mondo ed a condividerne l’esperienza artistica. Questi i principali temi trattati: - Caratteri generali dell’antica scuola italiana; - Respirazione, attacco del suono, vocalizzazione; - Registri e classificazioni vocali; - L’emersione della voix sombrée e l’«Ut de poitrine»; - La fusione dei registri, anima del canto italiano; - Uso pratico dei registri: composizione ed esecuzione; - Gli elementi accidentali del canto; - Espressività ed agilità nella formazione della voce; - Accentazione, legato e portamento. Circa 400 testi citati, tra fonti a stampa e manoscritti, presente bibliografia e indice sommario dei nomi e delle cose notevoli.

Una de las obras de repertorio para la flauta travesera más destacadas, no ya del periodo barroco exclusivamente sino de toda la historia del instrumento, apenas ha sido objeto de estudio más allá de las frecuentemente esquemáticas introducciones a ediciones en partitura o grabación discográfica. Desde la perspectiva del flautista cualificado y bajo un punto de vista histórico, musicológico y técnico, se aportan junto al manejo de la bibliografía existente reflexiones personales para tratar cuestiones tales como el lugar que ocupa la sonata en el catálogo bachiano, la relación de Bach con la flauta, la dificultad técnica de su música y, como asunto más controvertido, la existencia de un registro propiamente idiomático para la flauta. Al margen se tratan otras cuestiones de análisis de la forma y el estilo que no podían faltar en una aproximación general a la pieza. Como apéndice se procura un listado con las ediciones en partitura y en grabación discográfica más representativas de la sonata.

This research presents an overview of performance practices related to the cello
in the city of Naples in around 1700, with special focus on its training in the Neapolitan
conservatori. The Neapolitan cello school, neglected in modern studies till very
recently, is a turning point in the development of this instrument. This research sheds
some light on this fascinating aspect of the Mid-Baroque period. The paper examines
the historical, cultural and musical context of the time, the teaching methods employed in the Neapolitan conservatori, the skills the pupils were expected to acquire (with special attention to the cellists), and the main roles and duties of professional cellists in the Neapolitan musical scene. Moreover, it presents some biographical information on the main Neapolitan cellists of the period, e.g. F. Alborea, R. Greco, G. Ruvo, F.P. Supriano, and offer a catalogue of Neapolitan Baroque cello repertoire, comprising more than 120 compositions.

After completing this research I have realized that we, as modern-day performers, should get more inspired by the approach to music learning that the Neapolitan conservatori had. Specifically as historically informed musicians, we should try to get as close as possible to these practices, since this would bring us a better insight about how this music was thought, composed, learnt, experienced and performed. As Neapolitan music became so influential throughout the 18th century, and as the pedagogical tools used at the conservatories spread through Europe, this approach might in fact be expanded to an even broader context.

Allargamento tonale nelle composizioni per tastiera al tempo di Frescobaldi Con sviluppi tardo-seicenteschi verso temperamenti di tipo circolante FONTI Strumenti a tastiera e pratica musicale Fonti e documenti dal XV al XVII secolo IV: 1600-1620 (a cura di Pier Paolo Donati

For my forthcoming essay on Margherita Durastanti I have prepared a list of all the known operas, in which she sang and acted, and here comes the first part, 1700 to 1719. This is list is subject to change, as the research is still going on. Titles in red means I do not have the libretto myself. When a whole line is in red, it means that research needs to be done.

Questo studio riguarda la vita musicale presso la Cappella dei Cantori e il Collegio degli Innocenti della Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista di Torino tra il 1600 e il 1650. Esso segue uno studio pubblicato precedentemente, riguardante la medesima istituzione tra il 1500 e il 1575 e sarà seguito da un saggio analogo riguardante il periodo intermedio.
Solo recentemente sono stati riordinati i Sindicati della Cappella, vale a dire i documenti contabili, ed è stato possibile leggere la maggior parte dei passaggi significativi, pubblicati estensivamente nell'Appendice di documenti che si trova al termine del saggio. Inoltre, una Tabella indica/riporta i maestri di musica e di grammatica, raggruppa i nomi e i ruoli dei coristi, dei pueri e le presenze degli strumentisti, insieme all'entità delle paghe, alle provenienze, alle durate del servizio.
Alcune figure importanti transitarono da Torino: i loro dettagli biografici in tali anni sono contestualizzati per la prima volta. Si viene a conoscenza delle vicende del maestro Giovanni Luigi Cerro e degli organisti Pietro Antonio Aliaudo e Giovanni Petito. Dei successivi maestri  le biografie vengono coordinate con le opere a stampa pervenuteci e con le testimonianze del loro operato altrove nel Nord Italia. Così abbiamo Giovanni Battista Stefanini (maestro dal 1603 circa a non dopo il 1605); la figura interessante di Ruggero Trofeo, in servizio in duomo dal 1607 o poco prima, come organista e più avanti sicuramente anche con funzioni di maestro, fino alla morte (1613: di Trofeo ho identificato uno sconosciuto O sacrum convivium nel fondo di manoscritti musicali del duomo, qui trascritto nell'Appendice 1); Enrico Antonio Radesca, organista almeno dal 1604 e maestro dal 1615 fino alla morte (che possiamo ora datare al settembre 1625). Vengono alla luce alcuni inediti periodi di interim come direttore della musica di personalità quali Filippo Albini (1624 e 1628-1629); Giovanni Stefano Fontana Morello (1626-inizio 1628); Filippo Vitali (ottobre 1629-1630); Guido Antonio Cerro (maggio 1637-maggio 1639). Nel solco della bravura di Trofeo si sviluppano gli anni giovanili all'organo del figlio di lui Grisostomo e di Fabrizio Fontana, organisti nella cattedrale torinese rispettivamente dal 1619 al 1631-1632 il primo e dal 1632 al 1639 il secondo. Si colloca dopo questi anni l'inizio dell'epoca di Giovanni Battista Trabattone, a Torino fin dal 1632 ma stabilmente al vertice della cappella dal 1643 e da allora presumibilmente anche organista. Di Trabattone una ricognizione del catalogo delle opere condotta sui manoscritti del duomo ha permesso di ricostruire un ciclo di inni, di cui nell'Appendice 2 si trascrive Jesu redemptor omnium.
Nella prima metà del Seicento, tenendo presente lo scenario in via di sviluppo di una Torino, importante capitale di un ducato sempre più presente nello scacchiere europeo, il ruolo di mecenate del duca Carlo Emanuele di Savoia, [i risvolti della sua politica ecclesiastica], è possibile notare una delle principali caratteristiche della musica in cattedrale e più in generale dell'arte e dell'intrattenimento di corte: lo stretto rapporto tra il corpo musicale del duomo e le musiche della corte. La corte era collocata nei locali del palazzo immediatamente a ridosso al complesso architettonico del duomo - e incastonato proprio nella metà spaziale tra i due edifici fu lo spazio sacro per la Sindone: essa dimostrerà una netta capacità di imporre che i medesimi musici e cantori prestassero la propria opera contemporaneamente in Duomo e a corte o presso l'entourage dell'altro mecenate delle arti e di un personale corpo musicale, il cardinale Maurizio; fenomeno reso ovvio anche dal fatto che in molte occasioni del cerimoniale entrambe le musiche fossero chiamate a partecipare. Tra i cantori che personificano tale interdipendenza vi furono Laudilio Vignati, Pietro Michele Carrozzano, Michele Antonio Borgarello, Angelo Barbarino, Claudio Viano, Antonio Buccafuoco, Michel Angelo Brunerio, Filiberto Ghigo, oppure l'organista Pietro Gallacia, oppure ancora gli strumentisti Giovanni Giacomo Torriano (trombone) e Antonio Burdese (violone), per concludere con l'interessante figura di Innocenzo Somis, inizialmente soprano presso il duomo e poi suonatore di violone in entrambe le cappelle, primo membro della famosa dinastia di violinisti.

This study concerns musical life of the Cappella dei Cantori (chorists' chapel) and the Collegio degli Innocenti (choirboys' college) in the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin between 1600 and 1650. It follows a previously published research about the same institution betwenn 1500 and 1575 and will be integrated soon by a similar paper about the intermediate period.
The Sindacati della Cappella (i. e. the account books) have been put in order only recently and it has been possible to read them and publish ample passages in the Appendix. Moreover, a Table reports the name of music and grammar teachers and of the pueri, the role of the singer and the instrumentists, besides the salaries, the provenance and duty duration.
Some important personalities passed through (or stayed in) Turin: the biographical details of their 'Turin years' are here described for the first time. In the same way we learn about masters like Giovanni Luigi Cerro and organists like Pietro Antonio Aliaudo and Giovanni Petito, at the beginnings of the century. The biographies of the following masters are connected with their extant printed works and with other documentary evidences of their wirk elsewhere in (northern) Italy. So we have Giovanni Battista Stefanini (master from 1603 approximately until – and not after – 1605); the interesting figure of Ruggero Trofeo (in service in the cathedral in 1607 or shortly before, as organist and later probably also with functions of master until death in 1613: I have identified an unknown O sacrum convivium by Trofeo in a musical manuscript in the Cathedral archives and I trascribed it in Appendix 1); Enrico Antonio Radesca (organist at least from 1604 and teacher from 1615 until his death, which can now be dated in September 1625). Some unknown interim periods came to light when masters were Filippo Albini (i 1624 and in 1628-1629 again), Giovanni Stefano Fontana Morello (from 1626 to the beginnings of 1628), Filippo Vitali (October 1629 – end of 1630), Guido Antonio Cerro (from May 1637 to May 1639). Into the groove of Trofeo’s skill, his son Grisostomo (from 1619 to 1632) and Fabrizio Fontana (from 1632 to 1639) took the first steps. After these years, an age of continuity with the following chapel master, Giovanni Battista Trabattone: he was in Turin from 1632, but steadily at the top of the chapel from 1643 and starting from this year presumably organist as well; his duties ended in 1682 (his death year) or somewhat earlier. A careful survey of Trabattone’s catalogue in the musical archives of the Cathedral has enabled the reconstruction of an hymn cycle: the first of them, Jesu redemptor omnium, is transcribed in Appendix 2.
In this half of the century, on the secular side, in the city of Turin - become capital of the Duchy of Savoy in 1563 and even more partecipating in the italian and european arena - the Duke Charles Emmanuel I stood up as an art patron and expressed a precise ecclesiastical politics. One also had to consider that the ducal court lied in the building immediately behind the architectural complex of the Cathedral and the space where the Holy Shroud was stored was physically between the dome and the ducal palace. All these factors would produce one of the most characteristic feature of Turin cathedral music: its close relationship with the musical bodies of the court and - concretely - that many of the musicians and chorists would work at the same time in the Cathedral and at the Court or in the entourage of Cardinal Maurice of Savoy, son of the Duke. This phaenomenon can also be explained by the fact thatin many ceremonial occasion both the musical bodies were called to take part. Among the chorists personifying this interdependence Laudilio Vignati, Pietro Michele Carrozzano, Michele Antonio Borgarello, Angelo Barbarino, Claudio Viano, Antonio Buccafuoco, Michel Angelo Brunerio, Filiberto Ghigo; among the instrumentist the organist Pietro Gallacia, the trombonist Giovanni Giacomo Torriano, the violone player Antonio Burdese. Special attention goes to Innocenzo Somis, at the beginning soprano at the Cathedral and then violone player in both the chapels: he was the first member of the renown violinist dynasty.

Researching the Italian repertoire for viola da gamba written after circa 1640, when the instrument in Italy went definitively out of fashion, it’s important to interpret the instrumental labels with care. In XVII and XVIII century Italian – differently from English and French - the simple term ‘viola’ could mean either the violin family as a whole or the middle/low size of the family (i.e. the alto or the violoncello); the viol was indicated with its own full name 'viola da gamba'.  Not even the indication of clef can be helpful: there is no actual link between C-clefs and the concerto of viols.
After this rigorous terminological exam, it’s possible to collect but a small viol repertoire written by Italian composers for Italian performers, for most linked to the Venetian feminine orphanages. To this we can add a small amount of composition written for foreign patrons and virtuosi. But the most significant contribution to the Italian repertoire for viol is due to Italian composers who, living abroad, write for a foreign public. Also Italian composition adapted and transcribed by foreign musicians are considered at the end of the essay.

WONDER WOMEN: SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA, LAVINIA FONTANA AND ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE SELF-PORTRAIT PAINTING BY FEMALE ARTISTS

by Rosa Lena Reed Robinson

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts in Art History at
Studio Art Centers International
Florence, Italy

2017


This  thesis is focused on the self-portrait painting practice by three female artists from the Renaissance and the Baroque periods: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Chapter I introduces the self-portrait as it developed specific to the Renaissance and in relation to a Greco-Roman classical ideal. The chapter focuses on Renaissance concepts of art and the very role of the artist. Chapter II studies the numerous self-portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first great Renaissance female artist to have an international career. The artist’s self-portraits both became a foundation for those of later female artists and self-consciously expressed the new elite status achieved by this Lombard artist of noble lineage who worked as court portraitist for the Spanish monarchy. Chapter III examines the self-portraits and innovative identity self-portraiture of Lavinia Fontana of Bologna. It is demonstrated how her two early self-portraits built on the precedent established by Sofonisba, and yet, are of somewhat greater iconographic complexity. While in her maturity the artist developed self-portraiture into the identity self-portrait through the subject of Judith and Holofernes. Within her treatments of the theme in some examples she put herself into the figure of Judith and in others into Judith’s maid Abra. Lavinia Fontana’s final masterpiece, the improbable painting Minerva Dressing done at the end of her extensive career was likewise arguably an identity self-portrait. Minerva Dressing constitutes the first female fully nude figure painted by a female artist. Chapter IV focuses on Artemisia Gentileschi. This thesis designates the artist’s Pommersfelden Susanna and the Elders as both Artemisia’s first exact self-portrait and the first female full-length nude self-portrait painted by a female artist. The work is also an identity self-portrait. This chapter continues with a discussion of both versions of Artemisia’s infamous Judith and Holofernes (Capodimonte/Uffizi). Both works are arguably exact self-portrait paintings and identity self-portraits. Artemisia’s Allegory of Painting in London, often referred to as a self-portrait in scholarship, is suggested a perhaps better understood as an ideal identity self-portrait rather than a literal self-representation. The Allegory of Painting is considered together with other attributed self-portraits and portraits of the artist. A major theme in Chapter IV is the transition from literal self-representation to allegorical and ideal portrayal of the self. This thesis suggests that, as the artist’s career advanced, Artemisia Gentileschi did continue to paint both the exact and the ideal self-portrait. Finally, in the Conclusion, the legacy of the self-portraits of the Wonder Women, to adopt a phrase from Giorgio Vasari, is considered in reference to future female artists such as Elisabetta Sirani, Angelica Kauffmann, Elisabeth Vigée Le-Brun and Paula Modersohn-Becker.

This is the third chapter in a Ph.D. dissertation that explains the aboriginal musical structure of European music. It is formed on the natural scale and explains why music today is in the major and minor modes and has triadic harmony as an integral component.

Like many kinds of popular entertainment, the opera of seventeenth-century Venice relied heavily on formulae. From the lamenting queen to the comic servant, creators had numerous stock characters and plot elements to draw upon, recombine, and vary almost endlessly. However, the genre’s daring treatment of sexuality often overshadows a significant stock character-trait: sworn chastity, the rejection not only of one specific courtship, but of sexual (and usually romantic) intimacy in general.

Characters that assert such convictions (particularly women, and most such assertors are female in these operas) stand firmly apart from societal norms. Yet, far from embodying a monolithic stereotype, these characters offer a wide range of perspectives on desire, charting diverse courses through their respective music-dramas as they attempt to reconcile their vow with the pressures of a world (and sometimes a person) that seeks to invalidate them.

This paper surveys some of the character-type’s most prominent incarnations, many of whom separate sex not only from romance but also from sensuous pleasure (partnered and otherwise), validating non-standard relationships in a manner strikingly evocative of twenty-first century asexual discourse. It examines both the origins and outcomes of such convictions, from necessity to fear to genuine disinterest, and from empoweringly happy to disturbingly ‘corrective’ and cautionary endings. And it interrogates the numerous ways in which the characters themselves portray their convictions, from the identity crisis faced by Diana upon realizing that she has fallen in love, to Penelope’s carefully cultivated (yet not necessarily dissembled) image as a perpetually mourning widow.

Questo studio ricostruisce le complesse vicende di un’opera di Gennaro D’Alessandro che si credeva irrimediabilmente perduta dopo i bombardamenti di Dresda durante la Seconda guerra mondiale: l’Ottone, dramma per musica basato sul libretto dell’Adelaide di Antonio Salvi, accomodato da Carlo Goldoni. L’opera fu rappresentata al Teatro Grimani di S. Giovanni Grisostomo di Venezia dal 26 dicembre 1739 al 31 gennaio 1740 al cospetto di Federico Cristiano Leopoldo, principe elettore ereditario di Sassonia. Tramite il libretto goldoniano dell’Ottone è stato possibile rintracciare, attraverso una impegnativa quanto lunga fase di ricerca, una buona porzione dell’opera di D’Alessandro sparsa in diverse fonti. La partitura dell’Adelaide, regina d'Italia, conservata nella Biblioteca Estense Universitaria di Modena, è in realtà tutto quello che rimane dell’Ottone di Gennaro D’Alessandro (inclusi i recitativi e dieci arie) in una versione adattata da Paolo Scalabrini. L'opera fu rappresentata dalla compagnia itinerante di Pietro Mingotti a Praga, Lipsia e Amburgo nel 1744 con il titolo di Adelaide, richiamando l’appellativo del soggetto originale di Salvi. Accanto a tale significativa identificazione si è aggiunta la scoperta di un cospicuo quanto prezioso nucleo di brani dell’Ottone/Adelaide già presenti nella biblioteca privata del compositore Everett Burton Helm ed oggi ripartita tra la Lilly Library di Bloomington e la National Library of Australia di Canberra. L’identificazione e il reperimento delle nuove fonti musicali dell’Ottone di D’Alessandro-Goldoni non sono qui però disgiunte dall’analisi comparata della tradizione dei libretti dell’Adelaide/Ottone. Si è quindi cercato di fornire un quadro più ampio possibile della fortuna di un soggetto settecentesco col quale si cimentarono compositori della levatura di Vivaldi, Orlandini ed Handel.