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 Vocal Warm-ups

•
2
2

•
Disposizione della Voce-

a vocal disposition that makes Florid Singing Possible i.e. How to

sing that fast glottal, clean with low breath pressure and articulated
manner in the throat or ... alternatel~ "off the voice' which is
required in so much music of the 1i C.
1

Monteverdi's Possente Spirto ofOrfeo.

Scalar I

th h
Italian singers of the late 16 c and early 1i c were celebrated for
their mastery of embellishment: Caccini (bRome- f1 in Florence)
Concerti delle donne (consorts of women) of the Ferrarese and
Gonzaga courts
This music is Rife with 32nd and 64th notes to be performed
without slowing down the tempo

• Conforto 1593 says that only a few singers possess this ability
Banchieri 1614 suggests practicing it alone with hpschd, lute,
chittarone, organ etc and
Bovicelli 1594 believes that it can be acquired, but only little by
little through practice.
Baird thinks it is a matter of how fast you think
Zacconi 1596. Practice lots ..."the more you do it the better it gets
Caccini in 1602 recommends open vowels '0" and' a' vowels and
'e' and condemns the "i" and 'u' vowel for practicing and singing
it.
Maffei favors 0 because the voice is rounder sounds less like
laughing and unites with the breath better .. U sounds like
howling and I sounds like neighing or like a little animal that has
wandered away from it mother

Ganassi confirms that the tempi of this coloratura was so fast that

• even unacceptable counterpoint created by the ornamentation

could not be perceived
Praetorius 1614-19 The faster the better

Bovicelli 1594 Trillo or repeated note ornament was sung so fast

•
that it could not be controlled

Zacconi 1596.-1622 Trillo is GATE to the DISPOSIZIONE

Ex.9 F. RognC'tIl" Selva de veut passaggd6201

(a) (b)

·¥~~~~~~~t-=~~~~~:~~1j~~~~~t:'JF~~j~0E~~~]
(c) (d)

~·····J121::J"l·~o II
(e) (f)

~~··=~:f-!-J=j:::;~17J=iF~~:.:::':::···.IT.=J-~~~i~!.~~::
.• .:• ~~:~
(g)

1.·S····~··~······~
~ iiiJ iIi:·
(i)
. . :J:,;-.) •• ~ ti~
(h)

.• ·~.".······.:~····~.·~ ···t·~.··········.,~~ FE9 1

"iJ':JJ. .,,; J~' ..fJ~#'; J-J"0 - J

J
•
~-"j1ij]m:r:rrn~ll

ISSUE OF TUE DAMAGE TO TUE VOICE? Alternating

long messe di voce with glottal

Trillo and Gruppo

SOURCES ON HOW TO LEARN THE TRILLO AKA
TREMOLO-use ofT or tr-For our purposes it is the rapid
reiteration ofa single note,

•
• In Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, where the C0111pOSer has written the
following coloratura to the word rida (he laughts) with the further explanation that 'qui
cade in riso naturale' (here one falls into natural laughter; ex.I3).

ti

~-L.LL..r ~ ~ ~ r Tr p
d~.

Gorgheggiare-which was a buzz word used for the making of

glottal ornament Dalla Casa and Zacconi use it:
Gorgheggiare-is defined as rattling or gargling MORE ON
THIS LATER

• Caccini says "beat every note with the throat on the vowel 'a'
Maffei specifies that only the throat is involved and that the rest of
the body should remain stationary"

Intonazione della voce (rising third variety) Bovicelli wants them

articulated less vigorously

Occasionally the chest is identified as the articulating agent (and

sometime in combo with the throat)

Christoph Bernhard (traveled twice to Rome and studied with

Fontana) Von der Singe-Kunst, oder Maniera, c1649

DEMONSTRATE Trillo von der Brust

• Sprezzatura

CACCINI INTRODUCES Dotted notes as giving more grace •

UNA CERTA NOBILE SPREZZATURA [DI CANTO] created by
a few faulty 8ths or 16ths relieviving the restrictiveness-also
forgiving part writing problems
Ex.14 Cacc irn Le nuove mustcne
(a) tt1110

:.~~ . =:E=.: . .:..~:::::: • . • -.:.-.lt.=~ •. ~. :.:f::::=:::.:::~:.:.: . :::::::~

(b)

~~~;.~:~IJEt~=~:·~:_~~~~ill~.~]:~0nE22=i_#:~;='-.;~1lt~·~.:
• 2.·:...]
tul lo

Changes in Sizes of Opera Houses

CHANGES IN STYLES OF COLORATURA; SGAGATEATA .

TALK ABOUT VIBRATO -3 ways of making it . •

TALK ABOUT THE VARIETIES OF ARTICULATION
BAG OF NUTS: TEACHING THE MODERN TRILL

Lament
(It. lamento).

Usually, a vocal piece based on a mournful text, often built over a descending tetrachord
ostinato and common in operas of the Baroque period.

. Set apart as an exceptional moment of emotional climax of particularly intense

expression, it provided an occasion for special formal development and for the display of
expressive rhetoric and of affective imagery.

Librettists and composers of early opera acknowledged the special dramatic position and •
affective responsibility of the lament, distinguishing it from the narrative flow of its
• context: librettists imposed greater formality through using more strongly metred and
rhymed texts in which particularly emotive lines often recurred as refrains; and
composers interpreted these texts with greater freedom, repeating or otherwise enhancing
specially expressive words or phrases with melodic sequence, dissonance or textural
conflicts, often imposing an overall tonal coherence to create structural self-sufficiency.
One of the most effective and clearly the 1110St influential of early 17th-century laments
was Monteverdi's Lamento d 'Arianna from his opera to a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini,
performed in Mantua in 1608. Its musical isolation from its context was recognized
immediately in contemporary descriptions of the opera's performance and confirmed by
the publication of monodic Ariadne laments by other composers, as well as Monteverdi's
own arrangement of it as a madrigal.

In the Venetian opera repertory of the 1640s an association between lament and
tetrachord became explicit. Pathetic lament arias, many of them associated with some
form of the tetrachord bass, continued to occur in operas of the late 17th and early 18th
centuries; indeed, with the development of other aria types, they tended to reaSSU111e their
former specific dramatic position. Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy-Queen both
contain a lament based on a chromatically descending tetrachord just before the
resolution of the plot, and several Handel operas, such as Orlando (1733), have similarly
placed laments in which the tetrachord bass plays a significant role .

CACCINI: LE NUOVE MUSICHE

Music helpful to have" Nothing on earth . . . loss ofbreath . .. Amarilli. Dolcissimo

sospiro. . .

Caccini publishes his first volume of Le Nuove Musiche around 1600 having spent 20
•
yrs or so writing in the style of the Florentine Camerata-which sought to rid Music of
the excesses of ornamentation. (Even madrigals at the time were ornamented
simultaneously in all parts

Caccini is one of the few writers from the time of Monteverdi to give us an essay on how
to sing this music-as he does in the Preface to 1601 but he is motivated by a number of
factors ....

1. He is a famous singer of the time

2. He is a successful voice teacher, as attested by the success of his daughter

Francesca and his wife, both of whom he successfully taught to trill!

3. He is a composer-whose music is very successfully circulating in mss forms and

is being ornamented by other singers (and not to his liking)

He writes Le Nuove Musiche preface in order to advocate for these his published

•
renditions/ornamentations of his own piece as the Uhrtext of his compositions. "I see
many of them circulating tattered and torn; moreover I see the improper use of those
eighth and 16th notes and runs, rather those redoubled and intertwined with each other
developed by ME to avoid that old style (sixteenth and eighth note runs) of the passaggi.

Baird interpretation: Caccini had tried hard as a composer to maintain the principles of
the camerata (giving the proper stresses to the words and avoiding word obliterating
constant ornamentation of the Renaissance style) GIVE EXAMPLE!-Nothing on Earth.

Furthermore he feels that the other essential aspects of GOO 0 singing style are being
used indiscriminately:

1. Vocal crescendos and decrescendos

2. Esclamazioni
3. 'Tremolos
4. Trills

Caccini's use of the words raddoppiate (redoubled) -he feels that he has invented this
particular type of ornamentation. (WHAT Is IT?)

•
Una certa nobile sprezzatura-a certain noble negligence-according to Castiglione
sprezzatura is that virue which "is opposite to affectation ... whence springs grace ...
Sprezzatura in this sense suggest the effortless resolution of all difficulties ...a kind of
well-bred negligence born of complete self possession. Sprezzatura endorses creating
and holding dissonances (in Baird's opinion)

neglecting regular rhythm-not submitting to strict time. He even endorses "often

hal ving the values of the notes" See "Dolcissimo sospiro"

negligence in composition which he prizes is that of NOT resolving a the vocal part's
dissonant note against the bass in the traditional way.

In his compositions he admits to text painting-to trying to find those notes of greater or
lesser passion---depending on the feelings of the text. He tries to make long
unornamented notes on the long syllables and to save his ornamentation for the short
syllables! He feels that constant (Renaissance style ornamentation) creates the
OPPOSITE of singing affectively -movingly.

THE MAJOR SOURCE OF "GRACE" IN SINGING IS TO MOVE THE LISTENER!!!!

Caccini makes the distinction that he DOES use passaggi (division) and otherwise on
dance like pieces or pieces where the passion is irrelevant or less important to him.
When these are used he recommends that the vowel "u" is better in the soprano voice
than the tenor and that the vowel 'I' is better in the tenor than 'u' Open vowels are more
sonorous that closed ones and help in achieveing control (Voice teacher talk). He prefers
chest to the falsettolhead voice 'from it no good can arise!" Don't run out of breath (he
gives clues for how to do that in his examples)

dispozione della voce-speed of execution, control or command of the ntoes and of the
voice. Luca conforto "Breve et facile maniera d'essercitarsi ...a far passaggi' says that
he can in two months teach a singing method which will allow the singer this flexibility

The crescendos and decrescendos/ and esclamazioni are said to be indiscrimiately

employed when they are used all the time and when the singer relies overly much on
these to sing affectingly.

He of course stresses singing in tune BUT adores an ornament called 'intonazione della
voce' -what we might today call 'attack' or 'manner of 'attack'

1. being on the note itself and make a gradual crescendo

 •
2. begin on the third below (careful because this can be discordant with many
harmonies Bflat chord and g-a-b rising to the third (implying gminor). this is
perhaps the most common ornament ofCaccini and! everybody else! from this
period. It is allover Ie N uove Musiche and in the ornamentations of Caccini' s
works. Look at p 49 footnote 25

3. The third below has become commonplace

4. He prefers beginning by singing a descrescendo adding a little vibrato-'spirit'

and then on to a crescendo. Avoid harshness with your crescendos! See page

49-we will practice some esclamazioni! Crescendos may be uused on all half

notes and dotted quarter notes that descend and will be more effective if if the

following note is short. FIRST READ p 50 columns one and two(up to the

TRILLO)

5. Whole notes should get a hairpin dynamic 'crescere e scemare della voce' -aka

messa di voce

6. In contradistinction the esclamazione is the sting followed by the sudden

crescendo (an perhaps a vibrato crescendo -vocal intensity (Caccini's words)

takes place in LESS time that the messa di voce on a whole note.

7. Dotted notes have more grace than undotted notes. see' languire' of mus ex p

49-Compare in EXAMPLE C both page 52-3) the (#2's) which have more grace

than the #1 's) caccini is trying to notate sprezzatura for us in example C

8. Lombards are prized by him as well See D-I on p 52).

9. Trillo-Caccini gives directions for how to TEACH the trillo and the gruppo on p

•
50 (not necessarily how to Perform it!

the best instrument to accompany the tenor voice is the the chitarrone--- archlute/theorbo

fiI
1.r,
l

RECENT RESEARCHES IN THE MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE ERA • VOLUME IX

I-
Giulio Caccini
I
L LE NUOVE
~ MUSICHE
!"1
Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock
I
Ie
~
lJ.. J

D1 ·~! .;I

II
l
t i A-R EDITIONS, INC. • MADISON
I

•
I ~
(0 1970, A-R Editions, Inc.

I r1

: "' __
I
~-
r
To the Readers
If I have not heretofore published the musical
studies I made after the noble manner of singing
learned from my famous master Scipione del Palla,"
nor other compositions of divers madrigals and airs
made by me at various times, it is because I esteemed
them but little. It seemed to me that these pieces of
. mine bad been bonored enough-indeed, much more
than they merited-by being constantly performed by
the most famous singers of Italy, male and female, and
by other noble persons who are lovers of the profession.
But now I see many of them circulating tattered and
[ tom; moreover I see ill-used those single and double
vocal roulades-rather, those redoubled and inter­
~
Q :".'
..•.
lLoreazo (di Jacopo) Salviati, member of a distinguished
f1orentioe family, occasional ambassador of Ferdinando I de'
Medici "to various powers," and governor of Siena in 1607. Sec
Agostino Ademollo, Marietta tl~' Ricci, ovvero; Firenze til
tempo M'" Assedi« (Florence, 1845), IV, 1211. Salviati"s resi­
dence in Florence, to which Caccini refers later in his dedica­
tion, was at Borgo de" Pinti, 76, and came to be called (after
a later owner) Palazzo Aldobrandini-Borghesi; it was not far
from Caecini's house on the present Via Capponi. See Walther
Limburger, D~ GelJiiuM von Florenz (Leipzig. 1910), 4.
:lRegarding the repetition of "grace" here and the idea of
I I Krazia in general. see below, note 6.
acacciai·s house is now No. 42, Via Gino Capponi. The
disc:repaacy between the date he gives and those of the preced­
! I ing imprimatur is partially explained by the printer; see below,
paF 57. The discrepancy in years arises from the Florentine
calendar, which began the year on the Feast of the Annuncia­
~ tion, March 25th.
·Little is known of Scipione del Palla (or Delle Palle, or
Della Palla, or Dc' Vecchi) beyond his havina taught Caccini
at Rome to sing and to play the lute. He is cited in the Dialoghi
sui. mruica (1552) of Luigi Denticc as being active in Naples
at that time, and his only known composition, a setting of
Petrarcb's "Dura lege,·· was published at Naples in a collec­
tion orAer! raccolti ... Dove si cantano sonetti, stante & Terze
J
~(IS71).
aQu;; lunghi giri di WlC; snnplic;, e dDppi, ci~ rtlddoppiale,
illl'~cc",'e
I'una MII'o/IIa. Caceini never precisely explains
these terms. "Quei lunghi giri di voci semplici e doppi" may
have been a phrase of some currency, for Jacopo Peri had
used exactly these words in the preface to his L'Euridice (dated
February 6. 1600 [i.e., 1601D. with reference to the singing of
the virtuosa Vittoria Archilei. Caceini, in one of his models
43
twined with each other'--developed by me to avoid
that old style of passaggi formerly in common use \ _ _ ty--.
(one more suited to wind and stringed instruments ~
than to the voice); and I see vocal crescendos-and­
•
Ie
decrescendos, esclamazion i, tremolos and trills, and
other such embellishments of good singing style used
indiscriminately. Thus I have been forced (and also
urged by friends) to have these pieces of mine published,
and in this first publication to explain to my readers
by means of the present discourse the reasons that led
me to such a type of song for solo voice. In this way,
since (so far as I know) music of that total grace' tha.t
I hear ringing in my mind is uncommon in our modern
below [Example C). distinguishes between a cascat« scempia
(singlc fall) and a cascara doppia; perhaps the latter "doubly"
ornaments the fall from C to F-sharp by not only (I) speeding
it up, after delaying its beginning, but also (2) going below the
F-sharp goal before rising to achieve it. However, in the context
of the present sentence (and also in Peri's) one is tempted to
interpret "single," "double," and "redoubled" roulades as ]HIS­
sau; or su.ccessively quicker note-values (eighths. sixteenths,
and thirty-seconds) and "intertwinings" as various combina- •
tions of these.
Caccini's failure to define his terms is all the more frustrating
since he apparently considered the r(JdJoppiat~, at least. as
rather special; he mentions them specifically in the preface to
his setting of LJEllridic~ (dated December 20. 1600)-and.. like
Peri a few months later cites Vittoria Archilei as an exponent
11
of his music: u • • • the new style of passofli and rQddopp;a'~
invented by me. now used by Vittoria Archilei, a singer or that
very excellence proclaimed by her fame" who has been sjnging
my works for a long time" (... 10 nuova maniera d~ passaggi;
~ rQddoppiQt~ inventat! da me i quali "O~tI adopera cantando
l'opere mie riD ~ motto tempo, Vittorio Archilei, CQ,,'a'r;C"~ di
qu~lIa eccellenza, die mostra iI grido d~lI(J sua foma.]
'/"tera Krazia. For the sixteenth-century artist, grazia had
rather more subtle and significant connotations than docs
"grace" for us (although. lacking a better word.. "grace" is
consistently used herein as a translation for the many ap­
pearances of grQzia). Drawing on Castiglionc·s II Cor/~gitl1fo
(published 1528). Vasari was the first to hold up grazia, as
opposed to mere beauty. as an artistic ideal, along with laci/ita
-speed and ease of execution, technical effortlessness. GrQZiQ
was not to be confused with the serious and sublime in art, but
rather connected with sweetness and softness {dolcezza, rmr­
bidezza). It was a natural gift; even etymologically it suggested
•

•
['
times, perhaps I may give some idea of it in these lines,
that others may achieve perfection, as uA great flame
follows a tiny spark. "1
At the time when the admirable Camerata of the
~.~
most illustrious Signor Giovanni Bardi, Count of
Vernio, was flourishing in Florence, with not only many
of the nobility but also the foremost musicians, intel­
lectuals, poets, and philosophers of the city in atten­
dance, I too was present; and I can truly say that I
gained more from their learned discussions than from
my more than thirty years of counterpoint. For these
most knowledgeable gentlemen kept encouraging me,
and with the most lucid reasoning convinced me, not
to esteem that sort of music which, preventing any
clear understanding of the words, shatters both their
form and content,' now lengthening and now shorten­
ing syllables to accommodate the counterpoint (a
laceration of the poetry!), but rather to conform to
that manner so lauded by Plato' and other philosophers
(who declared that music is naught but speech, with
!' the spiritual and the metaphysical. As • natural gift, Dot
•
to be ~uired simply by study and labor, it related to-in
fact, it coUld only spring from-an effortless, unforced manner
(sec Dote II below, on sprezzatura). In the usage of the late
sixtccoth and early seventeenth centuries (as exemplified in
the dictionary of the Accadcmia della Crusea), graz;a stood
for ··bellezza ..• chc rapisce altrui ad amorc,,-ubeauty
... which scducea DOC unto love."
CacciDi's many uses of the term, and even his otherwise
slightly awkward repetition of it in the dedication of I.e Nuo~
MwiclJe· (where hard on the heels of the KrazUl attributed to
Lorenzo Salviati is mentioned Iraz. tli'Vina), places him within
the late Renaissance tradition of thought about grazUJ and
its importance in any work of art, iDcludinl musical perform­
ance.
See Anthony Blunt, Artistic TMory in Italy 1450-1600
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940), 93-98; John Shearman,
H Maniera as an Aesthetic Ideal;' TM h"ais.sIJna and Man­
nerism, StJuli~s ;11 Western Art. Acts of the Twentieth Inter­
national Congress of the History of Art (1961), D (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1963), 2031'; Sydney Freedberg,
I. Panni,ianino Hu Works ;11 Paind. (Cambridge: Harvard
l
Univenity Press, 1950). 6.
'Dante, Paradiso, I, 34.
III concetta, cI II ~r.JO.
'kpublic, 398D. English translation in Oliver Strunk, ed.,
SOUTce ReadinKs in Music History (New York: W. W. Norton,
1950), 4.
•
1. UIIQ certa nobile sprezzatura di canto. Like the concept of
44
'd . j .' - ' ....... - "1>2 "fg­
rhythm and tone coming after; not vice versa) with the
aim that it enter into the minds of men and have those
wonderful effects admired by the great writers. But
this has not been possible because of the counterpoint
of modem music, and even more impossible in solos
sung to one or another stringed instrument, wherein
Dot a single word has been understood for the multitude
of passaggi on both short and long syllables and in
every sort of piece-although precisely because of these
[passagg'l some have been extolled by hoi pol/oi and
proclaimed mighty singers.
Having thus seen, as I say, that such music and
musicians offered no pleasure beyond that which
pleasant sounds could give-solely to the sense of
hearing, since they could not move the mind without
the words being understood-it occurred to me to
introduce a kind of music in which ODe could almost
speak in tones, employing in it (as I have said elsewhere]
a certain noble negligence of song;" sometimes trans­
gressing by [allowing] several drssonances while still
grazitl mentioned above (note: 6), that of Jpr~zza'"'a in ar
andtbeha.vior goes back to Castiglione's CorlqiQ1lo. where i
is defined as Althat virtue opposite to affectation •.. whenc.
sprinp pacc·' (qu~sta y;r,g odunque contraria alia ajfetlaz;on~
III fIUIl no; per ora c1liam;amo spr~zzaturG ... il vero font.
do". .riN ItI ,razia). Sp,~zza'lIrd in this sense suggests, .,
Shearman bas put it. "the effortless resolution or all difficultie:
••. [aJ kindor well-bred DcglilCDCC born of complete self
possession." See Baldassare Castipione, II Libro tkl cortegiano
cd. Carlo Cordi6-{ldilan: Ricc:anlo Ricciardi, [1960 ), I, 27-2'
(pp. 48-SO);cr~Jla> Shearman, Mannerism [Harmoadswortb
Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd, 1967), 21, 96.
10Castiglione's tint discussion of spr~zzahlTa~ he has Signo
Magnifico (i.e., Giuliano dc' Medici) analogize between th
desirable ··ocpgen<:e" of rules or
comportment and those 0
music, explaining that composers uncgligcntly" introduce di!
sonances DOwaud then, for "to go on using the perfect specie
[i.e., perfect consonances) unrelievcdly is satiating and is to
affected hannonically" (qwl continuar« n~l1e ~rfet'~ gene'
,Jaz~,/j e dimostra una 'roppo aJfettala tUmOnitJ). Caccii
probably has this discussion in mind when be introduces ttl
term spruztllUTa and when he goes on to speak of "transgre:
sing"-that is, neglecting the rules of counterpoint-by rom
io. dissonances and yet not changing the: bass note (to resoh
the dissonances) according to the Uordinary way." Ano the
WIY in which he aims at achieving the desired sprezzatUJ
is by "neglecting" regular rhythm; see his instructions in tI
model madrigal, "Deh, dove son fuggiti" [Example F, measur
15-17), and his remarks about "not submitting to strict tin

maintaining the bass note" (save when I wished to do
r the air were heard in the Camerata, and the exhorta­
it the ordinary way and play the inner parts on the
instrument to express some aft"ect11 - f o r which, how­
ever, they are of little value). Thus originated those
songs for a single voice (which seemed to me to have
more power to delight and move [one] than several
voices together) which I composed at that time: the
madrigals "Perfidissimo volto," "Vedro'I mio sol,"
"Dovro dunque rnorire," and others like them, and
particularly the air on the eclogue of Sannazaro, U
[-. "Itene ~ l'ombra de gli ameni faggi," in that very
style I later employed for the fables performed in song
at Florence."
but often halving the values of the notes" (page 5S, below).
Caceini had earlier mentioned sprezzatura in print in the
~l
preface to his L'Eur;dic~ (1600). He speaks there of "having
sometimes tied the bass notes so that upon the occurrence of
the many dissonances therein the ear wiD Dot be offended by
i re-sounding the (bass] note" and goes on to say that in his new
t style of song he has "employed a certain sprezzatura which I
~l
I
.1
consider to have something Doble about it,.. believing that by
means of it I approach that much closer to the essence of
speech" (... havendo legato alcune volte le corde del basso,
affine che nel trapassare delle molte dissonanze, ch'entro vi sono,
I non si ripercuota 10 corda, e l'udito ne venga offeso. Nella qual
maniera .di canto ho ;0 usata IUUJ certa sprezzatura, ch« io ho
stimato; cbe habbia del nobile, parendomi con essa di essermi
appressato quel p;u alia natura al fa vella.)
Twelve years after Le Nuove Mwiclae. in the preface to
another song collection (Nuo'l~ MlUicM ~ nuova maniera di
scriverle, 1614), Caccini again discussed sprrzzatura. ..Sprez­
I zatura is that charm lent to a song by a few 'faulty' eighths or
sixteenths on various tones, together with [similar 'slips') made
in the tempo; these relieve the song or a certain restricted
narrowness and dryness and make it pleasant, free, and airy,
just as in common speech eloquence and variety make pleasant
and sweet the mailers being spoken of. And to the figures of
speech and the rhetorical flourishes in such eloquence cor­
respond the passagg;, tremolos, and other like ornaments
(in music), which may occasionally be introduced here and there
in every affect." (La sprezzatura ~ quell« l~gg;adr;Q la quQ/~
si da al canto co'l trascorso di p;u crome, ~ semicrome sopr«
diverse corde co'l qual« fattoa tempo, togliendos! 01 canto Wla
certa terminata angustia, ~ Sl!CCMZZa., si rende p;QC~WJ/~, licen­
zioso, ~ arioso, si come ne! parlar comUM 10 eloqwnza, e la
!eco"Jia ren. ag~roli, ~ dolci Ie cost! tli cui si fa~lIl1. Nella
q&ulJ~ eloquenra all~ fiBur~, ~ a ; colori rettorici assimiglierei,
~ , i passaggi, i trilli, ~ ,/i all'; similt ornamenti, cM sparsam~lIl~
I
in of"i offetto si possono tal'ora introdurre.]
I
. J
II Trapassanda talora ~r alcune false. tenerrdo ~,b 10 cor.
del basso ferma.
I
45
I
•
The warm approval with which these madrigals and
tions to continue in the same direction toward my
chosen goal, led me to go to Rome for a trial of them
there also. The aforesaid madrigals and the air were
performed in Signor Nero Neri's house for many
gentlemen assembled there (and notably Signor Liane
Strozzi), IS and everyone can testify how I was urged
to continue as I bad begun, and was told that never
before had anyone heard music for a solo voice, to a
simple stringed instrument, with such power to move
the affect of the soul" as these madrigals. (This was
both because of their new style and because, accustomed
l'Caccini uses the word aJfetto often, and in two ways. Here
(and for example in the phrase given in note (6) the word
approximates the German Affekt and refers to a state of mind­
cum-emotion. Elsewhere a more particularized meaning ap­
pears: thus the vocal embellishments he discusses below-thc
tremolo. the trill. etc.-are termed offetti, The double meaning
arises from the Baroque theory -that music's aim is to "move
the affect" (first meaning) by embodying itself an affect (first
meaning). often in particular, even stereotyped idioms or
affects (second meaning). In its second meaning, affetto ap­
proaches 'he modern English "device" or even, in one of its
meanings, "effect." Caccini too occasionally uses effeno as a
•
synonym for afJella (second meaning). One is reminded of the
play on these words in the Tuscan proverb, "Dagli effetti si
conoscono gli affetti."
tlJacopo Sannazaro (c. 1456-1530), humanist and court poet
to the Aragonese kings at Naples, much esteemed by Italian
madrigalists. The ver~ mentioned by Caccini is from San­
nazare's Arcadia (I~s; first published in 1504); the line
quoted is the beginning of the second eclogue. Caecini's music
(cited by him also in the dedication of his L' Eur;d;c~) is ap­
parently lost.
l·Rcferring, of course, to the Florentine operas of 1600.
In his preface to L'Euridic« (1600), Caccini mentions having
composed in what he here calls Uthat very style" for more than
fifteen yean (. .. tutte I'altre mie musiche, ch« son fuori in
penna, compost; da me piu di quindici anno SOliD in diversi tempi).
This would place the pieces he mentions here, implied to be the
earliest in the new style, in the early or middle I S8O's.
Ispresumably Leone Strozzi (1555-1632), who, although a
member of one of the greatest Florentine families, resided
permanently in Rome.
I·Muo~~re I'Q.ff~"o thll'animo. Here is expressed the highest
aim of music according to the thought or
Caccini and his
circle-indeed., of the whole Baroque era. Animo implies a
somewhat restricted aspect of soul (anima) or spirit {spirito
umono) namely the seat of the intellectual and moral faculties,
J
of feeling, and of will. Concerning a./fello see above, note 12.
J
•
r
then to hearing as solos madrigals published (originally)
for multiple voices, they did not think a soprano part
sung by itself alone could have any affect whatsoever,
without the artful interrelationships of [all) the parts.)
Upon my return to Florence I reflected on the fact
that also at that time certain canzonets were common
among musicians, for the most part with despicable
words that appeared unseemly to me and were depre­
cated by men of sensibility. And it occurred to me, as a
way of occasionally relieving depression, to compose
I~ some canzonets in air style that could be used in con­
cert with stringed instruments. Having communicated
this thought of mine to many gentlemen of the city,
I was courteously gratified by them with many can­
zonets in verses of various meters, as also later by
Signor Gabriella Chiabrera," who favored me with a
great many, quite different from all the rest, offering
me a fine opportunity for variety. All of these, set by
me to divers airs from time to time, were found not
1 JChiabrcra (1552-1637) was a humanistic poet and dramatist
especially apt at court poctry. At Florence ror many years,
he was favored by botb Ferdinanda and Cosimo II de' Medici.
He was the author of II RDpimento di Cefalo and other work.s
set by Caccini, including some of the songs of Le NuoW!MusicJae.
As Caccini hints, he was an important force behind a reform
of Tuscan poetry. on Greek models.
··Caccini is claiming to have served the Mcdici since 1565.
Although it is unlikely he would exaggerate thus publicly,
I the earliest known record of his employment by a Medici is
in connection with the festivities for the wedding of Francesco
de' Medici and Bianca Cappello in 1579. In the account of the
Fest« Nt!llr Nozze ... (Florence, I S19). he is described as
"famous for singin," (per canto jamoso) and as having per­
formed on the occasion some music by Piero Strom. Sec
Angelo Solerti, Musica, Bolio e D'DIMUII;clJ alia Corte M~tlic~a
dol 1600 al 1637 (Florence: R. Bemporad .t Figlio. 1905). 10.
,eHo s~mp'~ p,ocu,ato /';milaz;one * t cOIIerll; dell~ parole.
-eaa:ini's word is conSDnDIIZ~. Here as elsewhere in the
preface he uses the word in a literal scnse--uconsoundings"'­
not in the sense of "consonances" (as opposed to dissonances).
His word cordll, on the other hand. docs not mean "chord"
but "stringn-e.g., on the arcblute-hence by extension "note,"
which is how it is translated herein. Caccini's terminololY is
often thus determined by his mll;~' as lutanist and singer.
11/0 IuIbbia usato la/ora IIIC11n~ poeM cronw fino 01 yolor tl'un
qllorlo di battut« 11 IIna mess« ;/ pill. In this translation, the
following equivalents for Caccini's nomenclature of note­
values are used: b,~ ( I=t ) :a double-whoIe-note; sn7f;br~~
( 0 ) = whole-note; minima ( • ) .. hair-note; s~m;minima
• 46
displeasing anywhere in Italy: nowadays anyone who
wants to compose for a solo voice uses this style. And
particularly here in Florence, where I have already
spent thirty-seven years in the service of Their Most
Serene Princes," thanks to their bounty anyone wishing
to do so has been able to see and hear at his pleasure
all that I have continued
., to do on the basis of such
experiments.
In both madrigals and airs I have always sought to
imitate the ideas behind the words, It trying to find those
notes of greater or lesser affect (depending on the feel­
ings of the texts) and of particular grace. As much as
possible I have hidden the art of counterpoint. ( have
formed chords" on the long syllables, avoiding them on
the short, and I have observed the same rule in making
passaggi, although for a bit of decoration 1 have
sometimes used, mainly on short syllables, a few eighth­
notes for as long as a quarter of one tact us or a half
at the most." These are permissible since they pass by
( • ) =- quarter-note; croma ( l ):= eighth-note; semicroma
( : ) a. sixteenth-note; biscroma ( j ) :a thirty-second-note,
With the sentence quoted. Caccini raises more issues than
he clarifies. In his time, battuta signified tact us, " • measure­
U
ment of time irrespective of musical tempo or sense of meter
that was often designated by a down-up motion of the hand.
regular or irregular. But the sum of note-values that rowe:
equal one taetus (T) in the latcr sixteenth century varice:
depending partly on the timc signature, partly on its inter
pretation by composer and/or performer. One Florentim
contemporary of Caceini, Antonio Brunelli, discusses the rcla
tionship of note-values to tactus in a way most interesting fa
us. In his Rqole IIIi1iss;~ ~, /i scoksri . • . (Florence. 1606}
Brunelli says that with the time-signature C, which he term
Irmpo mtlggior~ imperf~tlo, one semibreve equals the tactu
(8 == T). We find this signature but twice in Le NllOve Mu.s;cm
in (2) and (7). With the exception of one SODB in triple mete
(19), with the signature ¢3, Cac:cini otherwise uses exclusive'
the signature: ¢. In Renaissance notation theory ¢ was terme
/Woportio duplQ. and it theoretically implied a simple dimirr
tion of the time-values or C, in the ratio 2: I. But Brune
refers to ¢ as tempo minor« ;mperf~"o. thereby sugcsting
is merely a different species of C; furthermore, although ,
urlCS the old proportional interpretation, "that it be sung wi
all the notes at half value, and likewise the rests" (that
with 28 ~ T), he remarks critically that some teachers do n
distinpish between it and C.
Now, Brunelli may in fact be referrin. disparagingly
Cac:cini. whom he would have known at Florence and who y
certainly one or the most noted teachers there. For Cacci•
[
quickly and are not ptWQggi but merely an additional
bit of grace, and also because with good judgment
there are exceptions to every rule.
I said above that "vocal roulades are iU used" as a
reminder that passagg; were not devised because they
are essential to good singing style but rather, I believe,
as a kind of tickling of the ears of those who hardly
understand what affective singing reaUy is. If they did
understand, pasSQggi would doubtless be loathed, there
being nothing more inimical to affective expression.
Thus did I speak of those long vocal roulades as being
f' : ill used, even though they are indeed adopted by me for
use in less affective pieces, and on long syllables-not
short! -and in final cadences. A propos such roulades,
there remains necessary only the observation tba as
for vowelS~l e vowe II as a better effect in the soprano
voice than in the tenor, the vowel i bett~~ in the tt!~or
tIlilDU: the o~are all in common usc. although of
. urse illc·op;n ones are much more sonorous than the
closed, just as they are more suitable and easier for
practicing control." And if these roulades must still be
manner of barrios his music suggests that he does not distin­
guish between ¢ and C. Most commonly, he bars his usual ¢
time in units of two semibrcves (¢ •• 1~ ~ ~ 1.1, for instance).
Since barlines often are used to demark the taetus in music of
this period, such barriol sugests that 28 :=- T in ¢ time in
U Nuov« MUJicM. However, dotting the pages of Caccini's
collection ate "measures" of one semibreve's value (¢ ~ ~ I.
for instance). appcariol almost invariably one at a time; or,
occasionally. or three semibreves' value. Putnam Aldric, to
I whose Rltylltm i,. ~w,,/ee"tlt-C~nlur~ llalia" Monody (New
York: W. W. Norton, 1966) some of the present discussion
i! indebted. cites a similar situation in Monteverdi "in which
bartines are at first placed by taetus but at points the scribe
has to make them equal one-half tactus.... It should, of course,
have been written in ImtpO IftIlgKiorr ;mperfelto, c. with S =­
tadus, and does, in fact appear under this sign on another
paae of the same manuscript."
That Caccini's pieces in ¢ time "sbould have" been written
in C may also be sUllcsted by approaching the matter from
the opposite direction: by surveyinl the songs of U NIIO"~
Musiclle to see how long. in fact, tire Caccini's Ubits of decora­
tion ... on short syllables." Since he is at pains to aver that
they are not JHUSDggi (as if some might claim them to be), we
<=an assume he is speakinl or those figures in short note-values,
generally proceeding by seale-degrees, often tumin. about a
single tone, that arc obvious elaborations or simple melodic
motions. Excluding those "short" syllablcs-that is. unaccented
Ones--that carry elaborate ptlSSQKX; for "affectivc'· reasons
47
employed, let it be done according to some rule ob-
served in my works and not either by chance or ac­ •
cording to contrapuntal practice. This is what usually
comes to mind first, when one wants to sing works as
solos (and thus be stylish), in the conviction that
counterpoint will be sufficient. But to compose and
sing well in this style, understanding of the [poet's]
conception and sensitivity to the text (plus imitating
them through affective music and expressing them
through affective: singing) are much more useful than
counterpoint, The latter I usc only to adjust the two
parts to each other, to avoid certain egregious errors,
and to link certain dissonances -and more to match
the affect than to be artful. Indeed, it is clear that an
air or madrigal composed in this style, with a taste
for the ideas of the words, (and beard] from someone
with a good singing style, will make a better impression
and win give greater delight than another full of con­
trapuntal art; of this there is no better proof than ex-
perience itself.
CUCh. then, were the reasons that led me to such a ~
on key words like mora, ardori, S~1M, and the like (see (2J9
meas, n, 70; (4), meas. 11-19,61-68; [7], meas. JJ, 62; (9),-meas.
29-30; etc.), we find such figures almost exclusively of the •
value of a .snrl;min;mtl or a minimtl, or in other words one-
quarter or one-half of a semibreve. This is as true of the songs
in C time as in ¢ time, which lends further weight to the sup-
position that Caccini did not really distinguish between the
two signatures and that for him S ~ T.
aper esercitare la dispos;z;onr. Caccini may mean "place­
ment," though whether of the voice, of pitch, or of the notes
in proper succession is not clear. My interpretation of dis­
pos;z;on~ as signifying somcthing broader--control or command
of the notes and of the voice, perhaps even of the listener
through an indefinable u presc nce - is partially based on
t9
Giovanni Luca Conforto's use of the term. In his Br~y~ et
facit« maniera d'essercitorsi . . . a far ptlssogg; (Rome, 1593),
Coaforto writes that he is aware that &&ooly in the great cit Res
and at princely courts is practiced that manner of singing with
beauty and disposiziont!" (solo nelle Citta ,rond;, & nell« corti
M Princ;pi, si U.JQ il modo di cantor cD va,Itt!ZZG, t! dispositione}.
Later, he says that he aims to offer a singing method Uwith
which all those who sing may, in less than Iwo months. ac­
quire a good and attractive disposizioM, singing all the notes
securely" (CO" la quale potranno tutti qwl/;, eM cantano, iff
IMno 4; duoi m~siJfar Qcqui.sto di bona, &I Iru;oJra dispositione
cantand« sopra 'IItt~ te "O,~ ferme ). See Srr," tf facile maniem
... (facs.; Berlin, 1922), fols, I r and •• of the "Dichiara­
zione" following the music.
 kind of song for a solo voice, and where, and on what
syllables and vowels, one should employ roulades.
Now it remains to say whi- vocal crescendos-and~
decrescendos, esclamaiionT,tremolos and trills, anit-­
the other aforementioned eflects are hlndlscrlmlnately
used." In fact, they--may be said to be Indlscnmlnalely
used whenever they are employed, both in affective
music (where they are more necessary) and in dance
songs. The source of this defect, if I am not mistaken,
lies in the musician S not really having mastered be­
9 in these writings is essential up to that degree.
forehand the matter he wishes to sing; for if he had,
unquestionably he would not fall into such errors.
And the one who even more easily falls into them is
he who, basing a wholly affective singing style (so to
speak) on a general rule that vocal crescendos-and­
decrescendos and esclamazioni are the basis of affect,
uses them in every sort of music, whether or not the
. words require them. Whereas those who thoroughly
understand the ideas and the feelings of the words
recognize these failings; they know how to distinguish
, where more affect is needed, and where less, and it is
they whom we should seek to please the most with
every work, and should value their commendation
more than the applause of the ignorant public.
This art will not suffer mediocrity, and the more
exquisite details there exist for its perfection, the more
labor and diligence must we who profess the art invest
in every work-and also love, which is what has moved
me (seeing that in every science and every art we are
enlightened by writings) to leave this little glimmer of
aCJaitarrone, sometimes also called arciliuto. Along with
the tiorba (theorbo), the ckitarron« came into existence in the
latter half of the sixteenth century in response to the need for
an orchestral or accompanimentallute with an extended bass
range. Both instrumcnts differed from the normal lute in having
extra bass strings off the fingerboard, thus of single pitches.
A Pisan arcblute of 1571 in the Milan museum has eight such
bass strings off the fingerboard, six on it; a beautiful Venetian
archlute of 1593 built by Magno Dielfopruchar-on commis­
sion, according to an old inventory, from the Duchy of Mantua
as a aift to Montevttdi-has six bass strings ofrthc fingerboard,
five double courses and a single uppermost string on it. Where­
l
as the dlitarrone accommodated the extra bass strings by an
extension of the neck. to a second peg-box (the length of the
whole instrument sometimes approaching two meters), the
thcorbo had a second peg-box set laterally alongside fhe usual
•,
~J
)
48
light in the present notes and comments, with the
intention of demonstrating how much is involved in
making a profession of solo singing to the archlute"
or another stringed instrument, even provided that
one is already acquainted with its technique and plays
adequately. Not that in some respects it cannot also
be acquired by long practical experience, as many,
men and women alike, are seen to have done, if only
to a certain degree. And yet the theory [embodied]
In the singer's profession (above all), particular
details are of no account; it is the whole that counts.
To proceed in order, therefore, I will say that the first
and most important foundation !s a vocal intonation>
on all the notes not only such as to avoid flatting a~d
sharping but to have a good style. Since two [kinds of
attack] are generally in use, we shall view both and
show with the kind of commentary I mentioned which
of them seems to me the more appropriate, for the
results it producesLThere are indeed some who in
attacking the first note [of a phrase] begin a third
below; others begin on the note itself and make a gradual
crescendo, believing this to be the proper way to put
forth the voice with grace. As for the first, not only
can it not be a general rule since it is discordant with
many harmonies, but even where it can be used it has
become such a commonplace (and also because some
stay too long on the third below, whereas it should be
scarcely suggested) that instead of having grace I
should say it were rather unpleasant to the ear and
one. The theorbo, with its squat and solid structure, couh
accommodate thicker strings, with greater tension, than th
chitarrone; the latter's tone was thus slighter by comparisor
Sec Natale and Franco Gallini, Comun~ di Milano: Mus~
d~gl; strumenti musical}: Catalog» (Milan, 1%3). 107.
uL·;ntonQzione tklla voce. In this sentence, Caccini uses tt
term in two senses: first in the sense of accurate pitch-plac
ment ("to avoid ftatting or sharping"), then in the sense of tl
approach to • note, the attack Cato have a good style"). TI
discussion that follows is concerned with several modes
attack; the context makes it clear that Caccini is not in fc
speaking of "all tbe notes" <as he says in this sentence) ~
mainly of ~hrasc-bcginnings. The ··first note" is mention.
but that this docs not mean only the very beginning or a so
is made obvious by his discussion and examples.
[
ought to be used but seldom, especially by beginners."
,-'~ I should rather choose, as more unusual, the second:
that of the crescendo. And yet I have never been content
within ordinary boundaries accepted by others; rather
have 1 always proceeded to seek out all the novelty
I could, provided that the novelty be such as to facilitate
attaining the goal of music, namely to give delight and
to move the affect of the soul. Thus have I found to
be a more affective manner an attack that is the opposite
of the other: that is, to begin singing with a decrescendo,
then on to an esclamazione, which is the most basic
means of moving the affect. Now, an esclamazione
is really nothing but a certain strengthening of the
relaxed voice; and the vocal crescendo in the soprano
range, especially with falsetto," often becomes harsh
and unbearable to the ear. as I myself have heard on
many occasions. Without a doubt, therefore, as an
affect more apt to move [the listener], a better result will
be had from a decrescendo on the attack than from a
~<:.
Esc,;;;aziofte Esc/Clmauonc
" languida pi", vatJCI
;;
Cor__ mio,
I
[Example A]
~ccini is harsh on the practitioners of an attack which
approaches the main note from a third below. However, one
of the most common decorative figures in the songs of Le
Nuove MUS;CM is precisely one in which a principal note is
approached from a lower third (with an intervening lower
second): typical patterns are -..g,.l , --W- . ~ .
L
and the like, characteristically occurring at the bclin~gs of
phrases or on accented words and syllables. This figure may
derive. at least, from the lower-third attack-intono2;on~ d is­
paraged by Caccini as a "commonplace." That it was a com­
49
one carries them into practice (by which one becomes
•
more perfect in all the arts, but particularly in the
profession of the tx:rfect singer, whether man or
woman).
1 ( Now, then, one can experiment with the example
J
\~ 1
I above [Example Al t with the words "Cor mio, deh, certain judgment is, which sometimes must prevail
non languire?" below it, to see with what greater or
lesser grace one can make attacks in the manner cited
I above. Thus one can begin "Cor rnio" by making a
gradual decrescendo on the first dotted half-note and
swelling the voice with a little more spirit on the falling
quarter-note; a quite affective esclamazione will result,
even on a note that falls by step. Much more spirited
[an esclamazionet will arise, however, on the word
"deh," from the fact that its note does not fall by
step; it will also be very sweet by virtue of its continua­ : with less, grace). Hence I must now demonstrate first
tion with a major [sic] sixth which falls by leap. I wanted
to make this observation not only to show what an
esclamazione is, and whence it arises, but to show that
it can be of two degrees, one more affective than the
other depending partly on ODe or another of the modes i siteness observed by me go without demonstration.
of intonation herein described, partly on imitation of L.
the word (but only when its meaning relates to the
general concept [of the textj), I would add that in all
affective pieces e.s~.'~'!'i!:z;on; ~ay_ as a general rule be
used <?D _al_~ __ ~a~f-notcs and dotted quarter-notes that
descend;" and they win be more affective if the follow­
ing note is short. They arc not to be made on whole­
notes, which offer more room for a crescendo-and­
I decrescendo of the voice without using esclamazloni,"
It follows that in airy pieces or dance songs- instead
of these affects one should rely only on the sprightliness
I1'This is the first line of a madrigal by Giovanni Battista
Guarini (1538-1612),· see his RiIM (Venice: Ciotti, 1621). 296.
Luzzasco Luzzaschi published a setting of the poem for two
sopranos and basso continuo; see Luzzasehi. M adrigali . . .
(1601), eel. Adriano Cavicchi; Monumenti di Musica Italiana,
Ser. 11. Vol. II (Brescia: L'Organo, 1965), 45-47.
SCaccini's phrase-tut't' It' ".iII~, t' ~miminirM col pilo
per d;.scld~,~is ambiguous. He may be referring only to the
J. J pattern discussed in the example above <and appearing
often in those below, as well as in the sonp); that is, col plUllo
may modify min;~ only. My translation takes his word-order
at face value.
-And yet twice in his model madrigal [Example F, measures
2-3. 3S] Caccini indicates an t'sclamozioM on whale-notes.
Nevertheless, with this sentence he makes clearer the real
•
crescendo; for in the. first manner-the [attack with a]
crescendo-to make an esclamazione one must after
relaxing the voice crescendo even more, and thus, I say,
does it seem strained and coarse. But a wholly different
result is obtained by [an initial] decrescendo, since at the
point of relaxation giving it just a bit more spirit will
make it ever more affective. Aside from this, by using
sometimes now one, now the Slther, variety may also
be achieved; and variety is most essential to this art,
provided it be directed to the aforesaid goal.
Now, if the major source of grace in singing so as to
be able to move the affect of the soul be true under­
standing as to where 'one should employ the affects,
and if this be demonstrated with many vivid arguments,
it still follows that one learns that most essential grace
also from writings. Even if it cannot be described in a
better way or with greater clarity (for all one's intel­
ligence), one can nevertheless acquire it perfectly,
provided that after studying theory and the said rules
fY1.uN-r~? "J-!::"
,
non lan- gui­ reo
;;
[.)
•
sui- reo
['J
monplace is suggested by Bovicclli's discussion of attacks,
written a few years before Caceini's, in which he counsels only
the approach from below. Unlike Caccini, he counsels explicitly
that the lower third be held as long as possible before the rise
to the written note: "the longer you hold the first note, the
shorter the second, the more grace wiII the voice gain (quanto
U
piu st t;e,,~ Itl primo nota, ~ 10 seconda ~ piu veloce, si dll anco
maglior ,ralia alia voce), Giovanni Battista Bovicelli, R~go/~.
paSSQrgi di musica . . . (Venice, 1594), II.
au 'loci fint«. Sec note 47 below.
of song, as usually conveyed by the air itself; although
occasionally some esclamazione may occur, the same
sprightliness should be maintained, with no affect
smacking of lethargy introduced.
That we realize how necessary for the musician a
over (rules of] art as over other things, may also be
seen in the example above [Example A): on the second
syllable of the word "Ianguire," bow much more
grace the first four eighth-notes have, with the second
lengthened by a dot, than the last four equal ones
(marked "Per esempio")! Indeed, there are many
things used in good singing style that arc written in
one way but, to be more graceful, arc effected in quite
another (whence some are said to sing with more, some
how the tremolo and the trill are described" by me,
and how I teach them to those of my household who
arc concerned with such matters, and then in addition
all the other 1110st essential effects, so that no exqui­
i
Trillo
Pi---" ~i II
[Example B)
nature of an ~sc/amQz;onr (if still by indirection). Here as
elsewhere in the preface, crescendo-and-decrescendo t il crescere
~ scemare /kilt! WJU) is spoken of as if it were a sing/~ thing,
one type of ornament; it also takes lime, e.g., the whole-note
mentioned here. It might then be represented as ~ ::::::=- .
An t'scltmtllzioM, in addition to being an opposite sort of
ornamcnt- "a strengthening of the relaxed voice," which must
involve essentially a decresccndo-and-crescendo-rcq uires less
time. Perhaps it coukl be represented by :>, <:: sft . The
t'SCltmUU;OM also seems to involve matters of vocal relaxatio D
.s. intensity (having little to do with dynamics] which cannot
be represented graphically (and with some difficulty verbally').
,. MIU;c~ oriose, b Ctl"zO"~I1~ II ballo.
nCaa:ini's verb (.scr;Yer~) can mean ....to describe" or, in
the usage of his time, "to write." In the passage that follows,
so
r
The tremolof written by me on a single note is If it is true that experience is the best teacher, I can

r: demonstrated ill this way for no other reason than that,
in teaching it to my first wife and now to the one who
, daughters," I observed no other rule
is living with/my
(
than that w~ich is written out {for both [the tremolo
\
and the trj~i.e., to begin with the first quarter-note,
the~be~ch note with the throat on the vowel Q,
up to the final double-whole-note; and ~.e~lse'the trill.
How excellently the tremolo and the trill were learned
by my late wife with the above rule may be adjudged
by those who heard her sing during her life, as also I
leave to the judgment of those who can [now] hear
my present wife how exquisitely they are done by her.
•
state with some assurance that no better way to teach
them can be found, nor a better way to describe them,
than is given here for both.
The tremolo and the trill arc necessary steps for
many things here written out, effects with that grace
most sought after in good singing. Yet, as noted above,
written in only one way or another, they give a result
opposite to what is usual. Thus I shall not only show
how they may be used but shall also illustrate all the
said effects in two ways with the same note-values.
Thus, as repeated above several times, we may yet
realize that from these writings together with actual

L
I I

\l.~~' ,
ta '"
t,

:: 2

;II!~ 1. f~> _~_~R,

;- ....
=---
•
, "
I~
t' "
It
:: ,t
, "" I' I"

: 2 ~ ::2 Trilla :: Trillo ::

~F ~ : i 1 :~J :. ~;.

{Example C}

f.
Ui
he seems to be "describing" the way he teaches the tremolo
and the trill (by "writing" them out that way), not the way he
performs them. In ra~ the gradually accelerating tremolo he
both writes and describes in this passage is slightly less common
in the music examples and songs than an even tremolo with
notes of equal value: compare (Example 0-31, (9). measure 54.
and [I i-b), measure 21-all accelerating tremolos-with (Exam­
ple D-4J. (Example 0-71, [Example EJ. measure 8. and (14).
measure II4-all even-note tremolos. Of course. many more
1
tremolos. to be made on notes of various lengths. are indeter­
minate since they arc indicated only verballyI
-As is well-known, Caccini's word is trilla (and his word for
trill, as found below. is gruppo). "Tremolo" better sugacsts the
nature of the device; it also was not unprecedented in Caccini's
day: both Zacconi (Prall;CQ· tli musica, 1592) and Bovicelli
(R~go~, ,ossagg; di musica, 1594) use tremolo to denote the
repeated single-note embellishment, although Conforto lBrev«
~, fDC;'~ maniera d'essercitarsi ... Qfar pQssaggi, 1593) antic­
ipates Caccini's use of trillo. Playford adds to his translation of
the preface a lengthy notc on the tremolo; sec Strunk. Sourer
R~odin'J in Music History, 391.
JSCaccini's first wife. Lucia, his daughters Franccsca and
Settimia, and his second wife Margherita were all well-known
singers (as was his son Pompeo); Francesca was a not-in­
considerable composer as well.
I&URe-striking with the throat."

51

•
'.f
1
-e - -
: :: ::
.15
'0
:: z Casctu« dop 3'
ia
I,
';
2 Casca'd sce,n~.tJ 'I I,

I
;:
~

~CnSCQ'~ perricorreil ~Gr~l ~l2JAllrG cascalasi

~ ' ~ - QlIt 1~
[Example C, continued]

practice all the beauties of this art may be learned. [more examples] are written out below [Examples
Since we see from the examples written above D, E, and F) with words and with a bass part for
in two ways [Example C] that those with the number archlute; by practicing them and the others, one may
"2" have more grace than those numbered 1t " to U train oneself in every most affective turn [of phrase]
enable us to gain greater experience of them some and thereby gain greater perfection.

I~_'~.
..

Cor _ mio

[Example D-/]

I deh, _ _ non _ lan- gui- re

II • 10 .t 1.0
[Example D-l)

39

non Ian-gut- "Fe

II '10.-6 ,

[Example D-3]

HUSingle fall." .UAnother similar [double] fall."

.uDouble fall. n -E natural in the original.
1766 Fall to re-take a breath. n

• 52
[' ,,;110

(
I
deb._- non

{Example D-4]
1.0- gui-

6 II liD 14
re

r eJclamazi.one a!!r"uostJ

non lI u i - re
r
L [Example D-5]
['J II '10 14
•
',illo

ill Ahi­ m~, ch'iomo­ ro

r (6]
{Example D-6]
, S II '10 , '10

{'rilloJ
Jruppi ,,;110 IgruppiJ

(
\

R
Pilr­

.rlllo
•
IlruPPol

L to.

t] [Example D-7]

(casca,aJ

Ahi­ 180- roo

[6J ,
(Example D-8)
, .. '10
, U"'
0010

53

•
 -

very essential, especially as regards breath control," delights afforded in heaven.

to make use of them as needed. In this connection it Note that I have been accustomed, in aU the pier
will be useful to note that when he who professes this that have come from my pen, to indicate with numbe
art is to sing alone to the archlute or some other stringed over the bass part the thirds and the sixths-maj
instrument without being constrained to accommodate when there is a sharp, minor when a ftat--and likew
himself to others, let him choose a key in which he when sevenths or other dissonances are to be rna

r can sing with a full, natural voice, avoiding falsetto,"

in which-or at least in a register where one must
strain to sing-one must waste breath trying Dot to
in the inner voi~ as an accompaniment. It remai
only to say that ties in the bass part are used thusly
me: after the [initial] chord, one should play again 01

r expose the tones too much (since for the most part
they usuaUy offend the ear). Rather must one use
[the breath] to give more spirit to vocal crescendos­
the
note
notes [of the harmony] indicated [and Dot the bs
again], this being (if I am not mistaken) me
fitting to the proper usage of the archlute (and t
·_­ and-decrescendos, esclamazioni, and all the other effects easiest way to manage and play it), granted that tl
1
........
we have demonstrated: let one make sure not to faU instrument is more suitable for accompanying t
short in a pinch. From the falsetto voice no nobility voice, especially the tenor voice, than any other. F
of good singing can arise; that comes from a natural the rest, I leave to the decision of the more expert t
voice, comfortable through the whole range, able to repetition in the bass of those notes that may ha
be controlled at will, [and] with the breath used only to greater significance or that will be a better accompai
demonstrate mastery of all the best affects necessary ment for the solo voicc-not being able, so far as
for this most noble manner of singing. know, to write it out more clearly except in .tablatui
The love for this manner, and indeed for aU music, As for the aforementioned inner parts, special noti
that bums in me by natural inclination and by the should be given to Antonio Naldi, called "Il Bardella
studies of many years, will excuse me for having gone most gracious servant of Their Most Serene Hig
further than befits one who esteems the learning of nesses, as he has truly been their inventor.... Just as
something no less than he esteems the imparting of is considered by all to be the most excellent of the
that which he has learned, [and] further' than befits the who up to the present have ever played a like instr
respect I have for all those who profess this art. A ment, so by their emulation of him do testify the pi
thing of great beauty and delight. by nature, [the art fessionals and others who enjoy playing the archlu
of music] becomes something to be admired and gains Had only there not happened to him what has so oft
the love of others wholly when those who possess it, happened to others!-namely, that some seem asham
exercising it often both through teaching and delight­ to have learned from the discipline of another, as
ing others with it, reveal it as a sample, a veritable everyone could be or ought to be the inventor of ;
image, of those ceaseless heavenly harmonies from things, and as if man's genius were thus robbed of t
which come aU good things on earth, arousing the minds capacity to go on discovering new disciplines to t
of its listeners to the contemplation of the infinite own glory and the benefit of all.·

wandering here and there, give me news of their benign light,
for I die.
-fA rt!spuaz;oM .1 jialD.
.7Le roc; finte. In context, Caccini seems to be arguing for
use of the chest register (voc« P~1IIJJ r IIIJllUalr) as against the
head register Ivoc« finlll,· literally, "feigned voice".
tlNaldi was at the Medici court in Florence in the late six­
teenth and early seventeenth centuries as player of the ch;ttm'~
or tiorba romana, which he is said to have invented. He is often
cited as an accompanist for the celebrated singer Vitto
Archilci.
-caccini apparently had second thoughts about this til
paragraph, and it was omitted in the 1607 and 161S editic
(the only other ones) of U N&IO~ Musi~. Playford (or
anonymous translator) must have bad access to one of th.
editions. Dot the first, for this paragraph is not included in 1
seventeenth-century English version, nor of course in
reprinting by Strunk in Source R~Qdings in Music Hi$IOTY.

56
 -

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11111 ~
 Christoph Bernhard Von der Singekunst oder Manier (c 1649) will be applicable
to Carissimi, Schuetz and especially to German religious music of the time...
the prevailing style of the time was called stylus gravis. This style uses only
four figures - in modern terminology the passing note, auxiliary note,
suspension and prepared appoggiatura. To these four Bernhard added 15
additional figures, including most of the dissonances associated with
17th-century style. He named Monteverdi as the founder of this style and added
several of his Italian successors, including Carissimi, Scacchi and his own
colleagues in Dresden, Albrici, Bontempi and Peranda. He named only three
Germans, Schlitz, Kerll and the younger Forster.
Stylus luxurians theatralis is used mostly in theatrical productions; the
leading exponents of it are contemporary Roman musicians, and no Germans are
listed. Here language is the absolute master of music, and Bernhard's
discussion includes suggestions for word-painting and other non-dissonant
rhetorical devices as well as the addition of seven more figures. In 1670
Schlitz requested him to compose a motet for his funeral to the text Cantabiles
mihi erant justificationes tuae, which, to Schutz's great approval, he set for
five voices in the stylus gravis. Bernhard's motet was performed at Schlitz's
funeral in 1672 but was subsequently lost. Bernhard's compositions consist
almost entirely of sacred vocal music.
Bernhard's other sacred vocal works are of equally high quality. Composed in a
variety of styles, they include masses and motets in the stylus gravis, many

'.
small and large sacred concertos and a few concerto-aria cantatas

Manier==ornaments
Cantar sode has the following ornaments:
1. Fermo-straight tone?
2. Forte
3. Piano
4. Trillo
5. Accento
6. Anticipatione della syllaba
7. anticipatione della nota
8. Cercar della nota
9. Ardire

fermo straight or steady tone required on all notes unless trillo or ardire is
applied. Tremulous singing is a defect -Elderly singers feature the tremulo
because they have not choice.
Piano e forte-dynamics are important. messa di voce is used on long notes.
Forte (alone) is used on notes of shorter value. If the messa di voce is not
done gradually it will sound abonimable. On short notes-more often thatn note
one begins with a piano and ends with piano.
Trillo-without one cannot be a good singer. Can be made in the throat /head or
in the chest/belly. should not sound like a bleat when in the throat. Should

• be sung when a 't' is found in the music. Should not be overuse. It is nice to
 employ messa di voce on long trillos and to create echo effects ( see example 3)
Accento is used on descending notes, repeated notes and closing notes. Cannot
be used on two successive notes. only on Long syllables. Last syllabel fa a
song
Anticipatione della syllaba (like a tierce de coule) is used in stepwise motion
•
but more rarely when the notes rise or fall a third. -even more rarely when
they fall a 4th 5th or 6th and most rarely when they rise a 4th 5th or 6th.
see example 6 p. 17. and example 7 p. 18
Anticipatione della nota-is employed when notes rise or fall a second. See
example 9 page 18.
Cercar della nota-means searching out of notes and is marked by ICI .used
beginning or during the course of a phrase. The note immediately below the
written one is glided up to the written one. Pavarotti. Can be used between
two notes of the same pitch or between leaprs. Examples lOp. 18 and Eg 11 p.
19.

READ p. 19 in TOTALITY

Ardire is a trernulo (vibrato) performed on the last note of a cadence. used by

fes-mainly by basses. However not on the final note of a PIECE!

•
t
READ p. 20 # 26 with the CLASS! !!

"

On
Von der Sing-Kunst oder Manier

the Art of Singing or OrnamentAtion

Christoph Bernhard (eA .1"4&)

1. To uphold the title of singer it is not enough m~rely
to be vocally prepared to sing readily, f01'·~~in:·.adrlition to a
good voice, an artful style called manier is required, To
earn the name of singer it is necessary to learn this stvle;
to observe and apply what refinements the true singer krtovs ,

2. Manier, or ornamentation , is of two kinds : one kind

adhering to the written notes, the other kind departing from
them.
3. The ornaments that adhere to the written notes are of
two different kinds, one concerned ~nly with the notes, the
other taking the text into consideration. These kinds·-.of
manier have their particular names and are divided into two
categories because of their natural properties.
1. Cantar sodo ( tt firm singing " ) and
2. Cantar d'affetto ( ' t emotional singing tt )

\
The kind of ornamentation that d~parts from the notes is called
can tar passagiato ( "singing with melismatic paaaage s " ) •
..:. ....
4. In addition each kind of ornamentation is called after
the place where it is liked best. The first is called cantar
alla Romana, the second a11a Napolitana, and the third alla
LOmbarda. These kinds will be explained one after the other.
5. The style of ornamentation adherin~ to the notes called
cantar sodo , is called atraight or even singing because it
does not depart ~rom the notes in melismas, but divides each
note according to its particular grace.
6. .Th~ devicp~ to be used in this are the following :
1) fermi, 2) forte, 3) pi;}o, 4) trillo, S) accento, 6) anti-
ci~atione gella s~llab~, anticipatione della nota, 8) cer­
car della not_, 9 ard1re. .
7. The fermo or holding firm" of the voice is required on
all notes except1ng where the trillo or ardire is used. The
orna~nt of the ferrno must particularly be thus understood be­
cause the tremulo ( except on the organ, on which all the voices
can tremulo together , where for the sake of variety it sounds

well) is an offense. Bv olopr sin~ers it is not applied for •

art's sake, it creeps in because they can no longer hold the
voice firm Whoever d~sires more testi~ony on the disadvanta~es
of the tre~ulo should hear an old tremulo-er singin~ alone and
he will be ahre to jud~e why the tremulo of this singer is n~t
used for the ardire, which will be discussed later. The ard1re
is allowed to basses in some places with the stipulation that
it is used selda., especially on short notes.

A. Piano and forte ••••

These pianos and fortes are eithpr us~d on one note~

9.
to~ether • or on different notes followin~ each other; in the
first CAse on whole notes and half notes, and in the seconrl cease
on short notes.
10. On whole notes and half notes , piano is performed at
the bpginning, forte in the middle, and at the end piano is
used once again. In this, be careful not to fall too suddenly
from ian~ into forte( in this example as in the next).

pi 'ie . f P ~
12. The trilla 18 the hardest but also the most graceful
e .F
ornament, and no one can be c0nsidered a ~ood singer who does
not know how to use it. However it is imposRible to dpscribe
with words how it is learned; it must be learnerl through hear­
in~ , so thar its prpcise method may h~ learned. It may be
noted howev~r that it sometimes ori~inates fro", the chest voice
and so~etimes comes from the throat or hearl. Further, not
all trillos can be sung from the chest, where they are best sung,
but must be sing in the throat ( com~only thp hi~hest). Above
all, strict attention must be paid that in making the trilla
it will not be unsteady so that it becoP'eS a bleating. There
is a1.so this to observe, that it is not good to make it so
short that the listener can not notic~ it, so that it is not
done at its best. When it is well started it should be per­
mitt~d to be as lilJ8tas it is possible to make it, and it will
be the moremoving and wonderful. Moreover it ahou Ld not be
pe r-fo rme d too f a s t; , the voice a ho u Ld be permitted to f Loa t
also 1t . should not be too slow. If a choice had to be made' but
I woulrl rather hear it too fast than too slow, but the medi~n

C'- .
between them will be the baqt.

•
•• 13. The trillo is done ever~here 8 T is marked ( the sign
by which it is indicated). It may be perform:d in other ~laces
upon consideration. It is more through pract1ce a~d hear1ng
that its place is learned than thr~ugh.prece~ts WT1tten ~own,
which take a singer's freedom. This d1scret1on about Wh1Ch
notes upon which to perform trillos is an ability to choose.
It is well to remember that it should not be done too often,
for it is much the same as with sausages , when frugally made
with spices they are agreeable. Too many should not be done,
especially in the beginning. This is our first care, express­
ed in this place, but applying to all the kinds of ornaments
to be explained. Their use can better be learned bV exercise.

14. If forte and piano appear in the lon~er trillos, which

is very agreeable to hear, it happens 1n two ways: 1) the
trilla begins piano and the voice is allowed to increase,
2) the trillo may De doubled ( quando si fa trilli doppi) • as
in this example :

15. Accento is a certain ornament made bv endin~ a note

as if with an echo that is just beginning. It is an error to
use a strongly expelled shout instead of a smooth accento, and
to think that by doing this a singer's ornament is g1ven, an
aversion wo which is caused in the listener by disadvantageous
Shouts.
l~. It is used once in passages of 1) descending notes,

2) adjoining notes, and 3) on final notes

A- A II -r

17. ,. Used once " means that between two notes following
each other, only one may be ornamented with an accento the
other remains without accento, but a third note following this
may have an accento.
18. Only those syllables that in speech are long permit an
accento , and those that are short in spepch must not have an
accento. However, the last syllable of a word, even though it
would not bear an emphasis in speech, may have an accento.
19. AntictJ;atione della syl1.aba is sip;nified by an Sand
(as the name s we) is an ornament which causes the sVllable of
the second note to be sung on a (rhythmic)subdivision of the
 4

first; for example:

If
,
which may be sung,
approximately: ~

20. Anticipatione della syllaba is used 1) commonly when

a note progresses one-half step higher than thp preceding,

2) less often, when a note rises or falls a third, 3) even less

often, when a note falls a fourth, fi~th or sixth, and least

often when there is a rising fourth, fifth or sixth •••• the

syllable that belongs to the second note is heard fastened at

the end of the first not~, and may be seen in the example above.

If a note rises or falls a third, the syl1abl~ of the second

note is sun~ on part of the time of the first note on the pitch

between the two notes, as:

as .
.• - - - • ., - - . I

If the note falls a fourth, fifth, etc. the interval is divi­

ded as follows:

The last kind , when the note rises a fourth, etc. is almost

not used, but is done thus:

•
21. Anticipatione della nota is, as the name shows also

an ornament Wh1Ch performs the second of two notes on a part'

of the first, and it is signified by an N. It is used when

notes go up or down a second.

2~. If a note rises a second the first note is divided

and the last part of it takes the pitCh of the second; also

when the pitch descends a second:

It
.,
23. Cercar della nota means a search for the note and

is signified by a C. '

(" ­
<,
•
 5

• 24 It is userl either in th~ be~inning ( i.e. on the

first ~ote) or in th~ continuation of the not~s. If it is
performed on the first note, begin on the pitch just below,
Quite short and delicate, and from this glide up to thp note

~ ~} rl:~ ~-iEE
In the middle of the phrase it can be used between conjunct
as well as disjunct notes. If the not~s are conjunct, proceed
from the first to the s~cond through e1ther the tone above or
the tone be low.

When the cercar della nota is used for a rising or falling

second, the anticipatione della nota must first be used ac­
cording to the precedin~ rule :

If the notes rise or fall a third, the cercar della nota is used
in the following way :

~ 0

However, if the notes rise or fall a fourth, fifth, etc., the

cercar della nota is taken either a note higher or lower. In
leaps th18 S1ze t the rising ornament is seldom used and there­
fore the falling ornament only is illustrated.

~.
25. The ardire is a tremulo that is made on the last note
of a phraRe. This ardire is used by f~w except basses. It
is well to remember that on the La at note of a piece tha t is
called the final it ahou l.d not be u sed ,
These in short arp the Manier which are called Ro~ana,

•
(~
which each and every musician , instrumentalist as well as sin­
g~r , should use.
 6

•
26. Cantar al1a Napo1itana or d'affetto is a manier
proper only to singers ••••
21. It consists of the singer observing the text assi­
duously and after instructions, modifying the VQ1Ce accordingly.

28. This is accomplished in two ways : 1) through obser­

vance of the words as worns, and 2) through the observance of
of their sense.
29. The first consists of the corrpct pronunciation of .
the words to be sung, ther~fore that the sin~er does not ~rowl,
lisp or have other bad expresRions. He must have the most
elegant and artful spepch in his own mother-tongue. If he be
German, he must not speak Swabian or Pommeranian, etc. but
Meissenisch, or the spepch of that area, and an Italian must
not sp~ak the accent of Bologna or Venice, but that of Flor­
ence or Rome. Langua~es foreign to a singer must be spoken
with the same ease and amoothness natives use. Latin, which
is spoken differentlv in different places, leaves the sin~er
frep to conform to the practisp of the place where he is •••

•
Nauwach, Johann

(b Brandenburg, C 1595; d ?Dresden, c 1630). German composer. He went to Dresden as a

choirboy about 1607 and spent 1110st of the rest of his life there. In 1612 the Elector of
Saxony sent him to Turin and to Florence, where he studied the lute with Lorenzo Allegri
and became acquainted with the latest Italian vocal music. In 1618 he was back in
Dresden, where five years later he described himself as a chamber musician. His second
collection of songs in 1627 was occasioned by the same wedding festivities in Torgau as
Schlitz's opera Dafne.

Nauwach's two collections of songs are an important link between Italian monodies and
the emerging German continuo lied of the 1630s. The Italian Arie (1623) are heavily
influenced by Caccini, d'India and other monodists; as in Le nuove musiche there are
through-composed madrigals (including an elaborately ornamented version of Caccini's
own Amarillii and strophic dance-songs in AABB form. The musically superior 1627
volume, the first German collection of continuo lieder, is an anthology of various
italianate and older German song types and some immediate precursors of the mid-17th­
century lied. It includes a set of strophic variations for two voices and continuo based on
the rornanesca, a madrigal-like lied with embellishments and a three-part villanella or
strophic, syllabic dance-lied, all of them similar to Italian models. Wer von Amor ist
arrestirt, a solo SOIlg, is a setting of a traditional strophic poem and except for the
continuo part could belong to the solo lied tradition of the previous century. Nine poems,

• however, are reform verses by Opitz, and at least four look forward to those found in the
continuo lieder of Albert and his imitators.

WORKS

Edition:

Das deutsche Sololied und die Ballade, ed. H.J. Moser, Mw, xiv (1957~ Eng. trans., 1958)

Libro primo di arie passeggiate, 1v, be (Dresden, 1623)

Erster Theil teutscher Villanellen, 1, 2~ 3vv, theorbo/lute/hpd/othcr inst (Dresden, 1627)

BIBLIOGI{APHY

MGG1 (C. Engelbrecht)

A. Einstein: 'Ein unbekannter Druck aus der Fruhzeit der deutschen Monodie' , SIMG ,
xiii (191 1-1 2), 286-96
W. Vetter: Das fruhdeutsche Lied (Munster, 1928), ii [incl. edns]
F. Blume: 'Die Handschrift T 131 del' New York Public Library', Festschrift Karl Gustav
Fellerer zum sechzigsten Geburtstag, ed. H. Huschen (Regensburg, 1962), 51-66
R.H. Thomas: Poetry and Song in the German Baroque (Oxford, 1963) [incl. 2 of
Nauwach's songs]

.I.H. Baron: Foreign Influences on the German Secular Solo Continuo Lied in the Mid­

•
Seventeenth Century (diss., Brandeis U., 1967) AUTI-IOI{: JOHN H. BARON
© Oxford University Press 2007
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