Giulio Caccini’s “Le Nuove Musiche”
Evidence of the Florentine Camerata’s Dedication to Monody
I’ve decided to submit essays from my past studies as writing samples. If you would like receive a list of resources, please reach out to me on twitter (@trevormolag) or elsewhere. This is one of the essays from my time at the University of Lethbridge. (2011)
As the sixteenth century gave way to the seventeenth, large-scale changes were taking place in the landscape of western music; a new vocal style, monody, was being developed. This development came partly as a result of the meetings of the Florentine Camerata, among whose members was Giulio Caccini, the most recognized composer of monody to this date. In order to understand the development of monody, it is useful to comprehend the desires of the Camerata and analyze the works found in Giulio Caccini’s collection entitled Le Nuove Musiche (The New Music). Doing so allows a rounded understanding of the genre, and gives one perspective on the rise of opera. At the end of the Sixteenth century, Giulio Caccini and the Florentine Camerata effectively revolutionized the Italian music scene and triggered the start of the Baroque era by adjusting society’s views towards musical style. It can be argued that this period of development was the true “Renaissance” in musical culture; as this was the time in which the style of the ancient classics was indeed rejuvenated.
The Florentine Camerata was group of humanists, scholars, theorists, and most importantly musicians that met from 1573 until the mid-1580s at the home of Giovanni de Bardi in Florence to discuss the “new style” of music.
They gathered to examine and suggest trends in various art forms; including drama but especially music, and how they believed these forms should continue to develop into the Seventeenth Century. Amongst this group were musicians Giulio Caccini, Vincenzo Galilei, Girolamo Mei, and others; perhaps Pietro Strozzi or a young Ottavio Rinuccini. A prestigious assembly to be sure — Caccini himself described the members of the Camerata as ‘a great part of the nobility but also the first [leading] musicians and men of genius and poets and philosophers of the city’.[1] The Camerata’s desire for music was to emulate the style of the ancient Greeks and Romans, in particular their expression of the affections (core emotions) of the text through musical style. This led them to express the need for certain characteristics in music. First and foremost, they believed that there should be a single melody line, and that counterpoint’s usefulness was limited to supporting the melody. They also believed that the piece’s rhythm should follow the natural declamation of the text, and that the melody should be carefully crafted in the ancient style to fit the affections. Some of these practices were already being implemented in other genres from around Europe at the time, but the Camerata’s general conclusions led to the development of the performance and compositional style of monody. Due to their desire for precise expression of the affects of a text, they also concluded that dramas and stories should be sung throughout, an obvious contribution to the rise of opera. Indeed, many of those that met at de’ Bardi’s in the late Sixteenth Century, including Caccini, would go on to compose the first operas.
Before Giulio Caccini joined the Camerata, some, but not all is known of his life; it is useful to understand his history to put into perspective the creation of monody.
Born in Rome in 1551, his fantastic singing voice was developed by an early age in a choir, before being recruited into the Medici patronage (in Florence) by his teen years.[2] He gained notoriety there as a singer, an instrumentalist, a teacher, and a composer, though his most important contributions to music came several decades later with his publication of monodies, Le Nuove Musiche. His time in Florence was not without instability, however; after enduring a series of events that included a fight with a student’s lover and a new Grand Duke of the Medici court, Caccini was removed from his position for a time and was flirting with the prospect of taking jobs in Ferrara or Rome (for considerably more money).[3] He would eventually push his way back into the Medici court for a wedding in 1600.[4] Indeed, by his actions Caccini seems an uncompromising character; he appears to have done whatever it would take to get ahead in his profession. He had public rivalries with the likes of Jacobo Peri and the aforementioned Emilio de’ Cavalieri (who was in the court of the Medici’s at the same time). His conflict with each of them was regarding the recognition for the invention of the new style — with Peri there was also the matter of the setting and publication of one of the first operas, Euridice. It could very well have been these disputes that urged Caccini to proclaim himself as the inventor of the monadic style in his dedication (to Count de’ Bardi) of L’Euridice (1602), referring to monody as “that style which, as Your Lordship knows, I used on other occasions, many years ago”.[5] Since every piece ever written prior to 1600 is unavailable, it is uncertain whether or not the monodies contained in Le Nuove Musiche were actually the first composed; there were, however, other collections published earlier.[6] Caccini’s character is also shadowed by a murder, as he put himself in the position of informant in an illicit affair. (During these times, death was an acceptable punishment for such a misdemeanor).
In the first half of the Seventeenth Century, monody began to change the geography of Italian music; it is essential to understand monody’s characteristics in order to see the connections it has to other identities in history.
A monody was an Italian, often secular, accompanied vocal song. The term used today, “monody”, was not used by the composers at the time; it is a construct coined by historians studying the songs of the early Baroque period. The composers themselves instead referred to monody as “stile rappresentativo” (representative style), as they believed that monody was the singing style which embodied the text in the most wholesome way. As such, monody was one of the first distinct styles written in the “seconda prattica” as iterated by Monteverdi. Monody was featured in arias and madrigals, and accompaniment was most often performed by a stringed instrument such as a lute, theorbo, or harpsichord.[7] The instrumental line was often embellished; indicated or not by the composer. Overall, monody’s broadest and yet most ground-breaking characteristic was the new concept of tonality; previously, counterpoint had been modal as harmony was a product of the melodies in each voice. With the advent of monody, however, harmony was created to support the melody, striking a polarity between the uppermost and lowest voice. Monody was extremely popular; pieces were published by more than 100 composers.[8] Of all those written, Caccini’s collection, Le Nuove Musiche, has become the most relevant due to its wide-spread popularity and his connections to the influential Camerata. It has indeed become the benchmark, signifying the advent of the true monadic style. Other significant composers of Monody aside from Caccini include Sigismondo d’India, Allessandro Grandi, and Claudio Aracini, among others.[9] Monody would remain relevant until around 1640, though these solo songs lay in the shadow of opera for much of this time. Of course, the findings and influence of the Camerata was not singularly responsible for the development of monody. Solo songs such as frottolas had been popular for some time, but the quickly-gained popularity of the style was in large part caused by the success of their member Caccini, who allowed his compositions to circulate Europe before the publication of Le Nuove Musiche. The wide dissemination of his works would unfortunately degrade the style, as many amateurs tried their hand at their own compositions and rearrangements of Caccini’s pieces. This is why Caccini chose to publish Le Nuove Musiche in the first place, saying that they had become “maimed and spoiled”.[10] Despite its quickly gained reputation, the progression of Monody should not be seen as a complete shift in musical history, however: in the words of historian Tim Carter, the sweeping popularity of the monodies of Caccini “emphasizes the point that if there was an important stylistic shift in music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods, it was less one of changing genres and performing media than a reorientation of the musical qualities deemed to be essential for effective and affective composition”.[11]
Caccini’s time with the Camerata enlightened him greatly, and his textual writings from that time period are strong evidence of his commitment to the discussions of the Camerata.
The preface of Le Nuove Musiche, his most influential collection, is a rich primary source for those studying Caccini and indeed all music of the Baroque, filled with quotes establishing the composer’s stance on many matters as well as giving details about his life. The resolutely written preface is also among the clearest descriptors of the characteristics of monadic philosophy. Amidst other things in the preface, Caccini describes the formation and meetings of the Camerata, reports on the reception of his monodies, and iterates the preferential treatment and tuning of his compositions. In the foreword, Caccini’s regard for the discussions of the Camerata is solidified by the statement that he “learned more from their learned discussions than [he] learned from descant in over thirty years”.[12] Caccini’s eloquent and purposeful explanations of the Camerata’s ideals demonstrated the conclusions from their discussions worthily:
“…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 marvelous effects admired by the writers, which cannot be produced by discant in modern musical compositions, especially in singing solo above a stringed instrument, not a word of it being understood for the multitude of divisions made upon long and short syllables and in every sort of music, though by the vulgar such singers were cried up for famous.”[13]
Indeed, a certain amount of distaste was indeed pronounced by Caccini in the current style and ornamentation of vocal music; him saying that it “ruined the conceit and verse”[14] of the text, that the “long windings and turnings of the voice are ill-used”,[15] and that there was “nothing more contrary to passion than they are”.[16] He elaborates to demonstrate his favored principles for ornamentation using musical examples. In addition to this, Caccini makes suggestions on singing technique and realization of the continuo towards the end of the preface.
By examining the expectations, techniques and compositional tools in place throughout Le Nuove Musiche, one can see its connections to the Camerata and understand its influence on seventeenth century music.
Containing twenty-two fine examples of monody, (twelve madrigals and ten arias); Le Nuove Musiche was published in 1602; later than intended due to the death of the printer.[17] The pieces within it were composed over the course of the last twenty years of the sixteenth century, and in Caccini’s preface he says that they were met with “affectionate applause” [18] by the Camerata and those in other cities to which he visited before the publication of his collection. The compositions are settings of emotional love poems; in many cases the author of the text is unidentified, but the majority of those that are known were written by the notable poets Ottavio Rinuccini, Giovanni Battista Guarina, or Gabriello Chiabrera. These texts are generally very amorous and solemn — excellent subjects for Caccini to implement his practice of expression. The accompaniment was written for a basso continuo part (as was the convention), in figured bass — Caccini claimed to have invented this style of notation with accidentals notated beneath the bass pitch to indicate to the performer which notes were to be played. A certain amount of leniency was given for improvisation within the continuo, such as passing tones.[19] In addition, Caccini expected the performer to accompany him or herself, reserving his pieces for highly trained musicians. This expectation also increased the capacity for an affective performance, as the recital of the piece is dependent on only one musician — allowing for absolute agreement in all aspects of the presentation.
Caccini implemented the compositional technique of heightened repetition in many instances in his pieces featured in Le Nuove Musiche.
Heightened repetition is the act of repeating a line or phrase of the text with similar musical pattern, but at a higher interval. This was done for emotional effect, and though this process was used quite often in the prima prattica (the style which he petitioned against), his affective use of heightened repetition was not blurred by complicated counterpoint, the bane of the Camerata. He would employ this practice very often (in the majority of cases) at the end of a piece in favor of an emotive conclusion, but it is common to find heightened repetitions within any given piece (see example 1a, mm. 20-26).
Caccini’s setting of the text and words was uniform with the views of the Camerata, but was at the same time consistent with some of the practices of the sixteenth century.
For correspondence with poetic form, Caccini would give each line from the poem its own musical phrase with a cadential ending. This was a common practice in the polyphonic madrigals of the time; it was also common in airs improvised on melodic formulas.[20] The cadential ending featured as a part of this type of text-setting often included a sustained or repeated note, as it did on many occasions. Other techniques often employed by Caccini in terms of text-setting include repetitions of notes in speech-like rhythm (see example 2a), a practice also put to use in late-century polyphonic madrigals and solo airs. By observing his text-setting techniques, it is not difficult to see the influence that Caccini allowed the music of the late sixteenth century to have on his compositions.
When composing Le Nuove Musiche, Caccini often specifically notated his intended ornaments.
Even though he went into specific detail in his preface as to his expectations for ornamentation, he still felt the need to include his ornaments in many (but not all) of the expected places so that the performers would be able to sing his compositions properly. Specific singing technique concepts described by Caccini in his preface to Le Nuove Musiche include crescendos and decrescendos, quick repetitions of the same note (trilli), small variations in the notated rhythm for effect, quick variations in melody around a central note (turns), and exclamations, a decrescendo placed after an accented note and finished with a sudden, pronounced emphasis (sforzando). [21] These ornaments were expected or inserted in composition to enhance the text’s affections, but not to only show off vocal virtuosity (as advised by the Camerata). Indeed, Caccini, a fantastic vocalist in his own right, likely had a small amount of faith in other performers to sing his pieces in the delicate style dictated by those that met at de Bardi’s. Examples of such ornamentation are abounding in Le Nuove Musiche, and we can specifically see instances where Caccini has either left out (see example 3a) or inserted (see example 3b, mm. 74-76) the ornaments in his notation. (In many modern editions, editors have suggested where these ornaments might be included, and in example 3a, we can see instances of trills, an exclamation, and suggested dynamics).
By examining the Florentine Camerata, monody, Giulio Caccini, and his compositions and writings found in Le Nuove Musiche, one can easily see the connections between them. Simply, the Camerata’s pursuit of affectionate music led them to certain conclusions, and these are observable in Caccini’s works. Caccini’s writings have stood the test of time, proving their influence; though Le Nuove Musiche might not have been the first collection of monodies published, it was certainly the widest spread, and the pieces within it may have been the first written. Their influence has been observed, and as such Le Nuove Musiche has come to define the genre of monody. Indeed, evidence shows through analysis that the compositions of Le Nuove Musiche are well-representative of the Camerata’s views and the changing landscape of Italian music on the brink of the Baroque. These observances are important to make because they had a great influence on music as it continued to change throughout the seventeenth century; indeed, monody was featured in the earliest Italian operas which would go on to have influence all over Europe.
[1] Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche (Florence: 1602), page nr., quoted in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1950), 18.
[2] Tim Carter et al., “Caccini: (1) Giulio Romolo Caccini,” Grove Music Online, under “Caccini,” http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com/ article/grove/music/40146 (accessed May 28, 2012).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Giulio Caccini, L’Euridice (Florence: 1602), page nr., quoted in Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche, ed. H. Wiley Hitchcock (Madison: A-R Editions, Inc, 1970), 8.
[6] Murray C. Bradshaw, “Text and Tonality in Early Sacred Monody (1599-1603),” Musica Disciplina 47 (1993): 225.
[7] Nigel Fortune and Tim Carter., “Monody,” Grove Music Online, http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com/article/grove/music/18977 (accessed May 28, 2012).
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche (Florence: 1602), page nr., quoted in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1950), 17.
[11] Tim Carter, “Caccini’s ‘Amarilli, Mia Bella: ‘ Some Questions (and a Few Answers),” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 113, no. 2 (1998): 250-73.
[12] Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche (Florence: 1602), page nr., quoted in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1950), 18.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Tim Carter, “On the Composition and Performance of Caccini’s ‘Le nuove musiche’ (1602),” Early Music 12, no. 2 (1984): 208-217.
[18] Giulio Caccini, Le Nuove Musiche (Florence: 1602), page nr., quoted in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1950), 19.
[19] Tim Carter, “On the Composition and Performance of Caccini’s ‘Le nuove musiche’ (1602),” Early Music 12, no. 2 (1984): 208-217.
[20] Claude V. Palisca, ed., The Norton Anthology of Western Music, 6th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2009), 1:397.
[21] Ibid.
