Concerning Warburg's 'Costumi teatrali' and Angelo Solerti

Author(s): A. M. Meyer
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 50 (1987), pp. 171-188
Published by: The Warburg Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/751323
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 CONCERNING WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI'
AND ANGELO SOLERTI

A. M. Meyer
Das italienische Festwesen in seiner hbheren Form ist ein wahrer

Ubergang aus dem Leben in die Kunst (Burckhardt, Kultur der Renaissance)

HE CHANCE FIND of a letter1 from Angelo Solerti (1865-1907) to Aby Warburg,

written on 29 December I900 (P1. 48a) when Solerti was working simultaneously
on Le Origini del Melodramma. Testimonianze dei contemporanei (Turin I903), Gli Albori
del Melodramma (3 vols, Milan-Palermo-Naples I904-05), and Musica, Ballo e Drammatica
alla Corte Medicea dal i6oo al 1637 (Florence I905), has prompted a search, not entirely
unsuccessful,2 for further correspondence between these two scholars. That this must
have existed was clear from Solerti's letter, which, surprisingly, came to light in the card
index box in which Warburg kept his bibliographical notes for Italian festivals, together
with a printed list of Solerti's publications up to I898.3 The two had apparently met in
Rome, as Warburg reminded Solerti and Solerti acknowledges at the end of his letter: 'I
mixed up Bologna with Rome, though I remembered having made your acquaintance'.4
Forced by ill-health to abandon his career as a teacher of Italian literature, Solerti, after a
short spell as a librarian at the Marciana, was appointed Provveditore agli Studi, first for the
Province of Aquila in 1900 and from 1902 in Massa, where he lived with his family.

I should like to thank Professor C. Dionisotti, Professor
E. H. Gombrich, Professor Anna Laura Lepschy, and
particularly Dr Michael Fend, for helpful discussions
and advice. Dr Giles G. Barber, Librarian of the Taylor
Institution in Oxford, was kind enough to send me
photocopies of material in Italian periodicals not
available in London. Solerti's papers are preserved in
the Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai in Bergamo. Its
courtesy in providing photocopies is gratefully acknow-
ledged (see n. 2 below).
References are to the original publication of the
'Costumi teatrali' in Atti dell'Accademia del R. Istituto
Musicale di Firenze, Anno XXXIII, 1895: Commemor-
azione della Riforma melodrammatica, pp. I03-46, and not
to Warburg's Gesammelte Schriften, 1932, I, pp. 259-300oo
(Italian text also in La Rinascita del Paganesimo Antico, but
without the 'Anhang', Florence, La Nuova Italia, 1966,
pp. 59-o07). The German original of letters and other
material quoted in the text is given in Appendix II.
1 See Appendix I, pp. I80-83 and P1. 48a. Obituaries
of Solerti were published, among others, by R. Renier
(his teacher at the University of Turin) in the Giornale
Storico della Letteratura Italianna, XLIX, 1907, pp. 484-86,
together with those of G. I. Ascoli, G. Carducci, A. De
Nino, G. A. Martinetti, all of whom had died between
January and March 1907, and by V. Cian in
D'Ancona's Rassegna Bibliografica della Letteratura Italiana,
xv, I907, pp. io05-08. There is a 'Ricordo di Angelo
Solerti' by G. Pescetto in Musica d'oggi, n.s. I, i, I958,
pp. 25-27.
2 Enquiries at the Biblioteca Civica in Bergamo have
yielded two letters, one postcard and one note of thanks
on a visiting card from Warburg (Carteggio Solerti,
segnatura MMB 294. See Appendix I, pp. I83-85 and
P1. 48b). The first letter, dated 28 December I9oo00, is
obviously in reply to one from Solerti which has not so
far been found. The second letter and the postcard are in
reply to Solerti's letter published in Appendix I,
pp. 180-83.
3 For a full bibliography see Rime disperse di Francesco
Petrarca o a lui attribuite. Per la prima volta raccolte a cura
di Angelo Solerti. Edizione postuma con prefazione,
introduzione e bibliografia [degli scritti di A.S.] di V.
Cian, Firenze, Sansoni, I909.
4 Warburg went to Rome on 25 April 1895 especially
to see a performance at the Teatro Comunale Argentina
of Tasso's Aminta on the occasion of the Tasso
tercentenary celebrations, for which Solerti had
arranged an exhibition (cf. Cian, op. cit. n. I above,
p. 10o7). In October 1897 he was in Bologna where he
visited the Liceo Musicale - perhaps to see its vast
collection of libretti - and its Director, Dr Luigi
Torchi. At that time Solerti taught at the Liceo Galvani.

I'7
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Volume 50, 1987

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 I72 A. M. MEYER
In spite of the severe heart disease which led to his early death, Solerti's output as a
historian of literature is prodigious. While he was perhaps best known by the turn of the
century for his editions and his biography of Tasso, his work on the Este court at Ferrara,
and his fruitful collaboration with Pierre de Nolhac in II Viaggio di Enrico III re di Francia in
Italia e lefeste a Veneztia, Ferrara, Mantova e Torino (I 890), his later books and articles on the
origins and development of early opera (melodramma) remain unsurpassed. Like other
nineteenth-century masters, such as Alessandro D'Ancona and Alessandro Ademollo, he
went to the archives; and his archival studies made available the essential source material
on which historians, musicologists and students of the Florentine Camerata have drawn
ever since. It is only in more recent years that Italian archival material has been re-
examined in this context and newly evaluated by scholars like Nino Pirrotta, Flavio Testi,
Claude Palisca and Iain Fenlon.
In his letter Solerti expresses his gratitude to Warburg for sending him extracts from
cod. Magliabech. II.IX.45, a large part of which Warburg had had copied by Alceste
Giorgetti in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence.s They included Ottavio Rinuccini's
Mascherata degli Accecati (1596) which Solerti needed for publication in his Albori (Vol. II,
pp. 51-55). It is clear from the appendix to the letter that Solerti subsequently modified
organization and contents of both the Origini (the 'volumetto' of the first paragraph - 262
pages!) and the Albori (Part II ofVol. III was never published). One would like to think that
he did so partly as a result of further material which Warburg put at his disposal in
response to his requests. From the evidence that has so far come to light it is unfortunately
less clear what precisely Warburg was able to send him. The first fruit of his help,
however, is acknowledged by Solerti in the important article on 'Laura Guidiccioni
Lucchesini ed Emilio de' Cavalieri' which he decided to publish in advance of his three
books in the Rivista Musicale Italiana, IX, 4, 19o2, pp. 797-829. In discussing the pastorale
('brevissima', cf. Musica . . . alla Corte Medicea, p. 19) La Disperazione di Fileno, the text of
which by Laura Guidiccioni and the music by Cavalieri are now lost, Solerti says
(pp. 8 I f.): 'Ho ricercato dovunque questo Fileno, del quale tuttavia possiamo conoscere i
personaggi grazie ad una fortunata combinazione. Nella Palatina di Firenze si conservano
molti disegni relativi a mascherate, feste e rappresentazioni dello scorcio del secolo
decimosesto;... Fra tall disegni il signor Aby Warburg, chiaro cultore tra noi dell'arte e
che in particolare si i dilettato dei rapporti di essa e del costume col teatro, identific6
sedici disegni di mano di Alessandro Allori, che certamente furono preparati per servire
da modello ai costumi del Fileno', followed by a list of the characters with notes on their
costumes. (A footnote at this point states: 'Ne dette cenno in una nota (p. 141) dell'in-
teressantissimo studio I costumi teatrali per gli Intermezzi del 1589 . . . [1895]). Il sig. dott.
Warburg si compiacque poi mandarmi quest'elenco, che piii tardi io stesso riscontrai
sull'originale, ove stanno da c. 79 a c. 91'. Warburg says in his note 'Dar6 conto in altro
luogo di 16 disegni che si riferiscono alla Disperaztione di Fileno, messa in scena nel 1594' (in
fact first performed during the carnival of 1590, and repeated on later occasions in
Florence as well as, possibly, in Bologna in 1600).6 He found the drawings in the Archivio
di Stato di Firenze (Guardaroba 195, Soldi), together with Allori's accounts for the cost of

s A well-known MS of 337 folios, containing i.a. a 6 On the Bologna performance, see Solerti's doubts in
collection of mascherate of the late sixteenth century (cf. Albori, I, p. I2I n. 2.
Mazzatinti, XI, pp. 265-7o).

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 173
designing and making the costumes, but he never published them. The passages
regarding the Fileno and the references to Warburg are reprinted, with slight alterations,
in chapter vii of Solerti's Albori, I, p. 53.
The link between Warburg and Solerti was Warburg's lifelong interest in Festwesen in
all its aspects (cf. the index to his Gesammelte Schriften: the entry s.v. occupies nearly three
columns). It has been asked how he came to discover the Buontalenti drawings for the
1589 Intermedi. There is nothing in his papers to tell us, but it may have been by a fortunate
accident. When, having obtained his doctorate in Strasbourg and completed one year's
military service, Warburg returned to Florence early in I894, he spent a good deal of his
time in archives and libraries. Some of the notes in his card index boxes can be dated into
that period and reflect his concern with representations of Petrarch's Trionfi, with jousts
and processions and tournaments, and particulary with carri.7 It is conceivable that the
word carri in the title may have attracted his attention to a volume in the Biblioteca
Nazionale (c.B. 53.3.11), which he was to describe as 'il secondo di due volumi miscellanei
in foglio massimo con disegni, che stanno nella medesima Biblioteca fra le opere a
stampa (!) e sotto il titolo erroneo di Giulio Parigi: Disegni originali de' carrie figure de'
personaggi che decorarono la Mascherata rappresentante la Geneaologia degli Dei, fatta in Firenze
nelle nozze di Francesco de' Medici con Giovanna d'Austria descritta da Giorgio Vasari (ci6 & esatto)
aggiuntivi disegni dei personaggi che rappresentarono la Commedia intitolata La Pellegrina di
Girolamo Bargagli, recitata nel salone sopra gli Uffizi per le nozze di Ferdinando I (qui il
compilatore sbaglia, giacch6 i disegni sono soltanto per gli Intermezzi) . . . Di mano del
Parigi sono, per quanto mi sembra, soltanto due disegni, ii, pag. 39 e 40' ('Costumi
teatrali', p. I Io and n. 6).
So here were the hitherto unknown Buontalenti drawings (on pp. 1-37 and 74) which
were the starting-point for Warburg's far-reaching research on the 1589 marriage
festivities, followed by his discovery of Emilio de' Cavalieri's Libro di Conti, a number of
contemporary descriptions, and Agostino Caracci's and Epifanio d'Alfiano's engravings
of the scenes of four of the Intermedi.
On 3 May 1894 he wrote to his mother that he had at last reached the stage when he
could say he had found something, 'for the volume in the Bibl. Nazionale contains
drawings which are very significant for the rise of modern Opernwesen'. In a letter to his
father of 21I June he says 'Next spring, together with some venerable Florentine
greybeards, I hope to deliver my contribution to a jubilee publication'.
Warburg's discovery was topical. Three years earlier the suggestion that the ter-
centenary of the riforma melodrammatica, initiated by Ottavio Rinuccini's Dafne, variously

7G. Giannini, 'Origini del dramma musicale', II
Propugnatore, n.s. vi, i, 1893 (but written in I891I, the year
of publication of D'Ancona's Origini del Teatro Italiano),
p. 233: 'Le mascherate burlesche e satiriche . . . son
conosciute col nome di Carrie van ben distinte da un
altro genere di mascherate, affatto serie e richissime, che
resero tanto famoso l'antico Carneval fiorentino:-i
Trionfi'. Cf. the dedication (pp. ii-vii) of II Lasca (Anton
Francesco Grazzini) in his edition of Tutti i trionfi, carri,
mascherate o canti carnascialeschi andati per Firenze, dal tempo
del Magnifico Lorenzo vecchio de Medici . . . per infino e questo
anno presente 1559. Cf. also 'Costumi teatrali', p. 141 and
n. 2 (Carro del Sole and Carro d'Apolline pitico); and
Gesammelte Schriften, in other contexts, e.g., I, p. 74 (carri
trionfali), p. 86 (the series of the Planets attributed to the
so-called Baccio Baldini) and pl. 22 (the planet Venus
on her chariot). In Warburg's notes there are several
references to the 'Mascherata de le Fiamme d'Amore
andata a' di 26 di febraio i595. Numero I8 coppie a
cavallo con 4 staffieri per ciascuno, con musica sul Carro
composta da Luca Bati e la mascherata da Gino Ginori'.
This is no. 8 in the appendix to Solerti's letter, and the
subject of earlier correspondence (see Warburg's letter
of 28 December 1900oo, Appendix I, pp. I83 f.). The text is
in cod. Magliabech. II.IX.45, and published by Solerti
in Albori, n, p. 56.

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 174 A. M. MEYER
set to music between 1594 and I607 by Iacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, Iacopo Corsi and
Marco da Gagliano, should be duly celebrated was put to the Accademia del Regio
Istituto Musicale (later Istituto Musicale Luigi Cherubini) by its Librarian, the musico-
logist Riccardo Gandolfi, in I891. The programme was planned by a committee: 'di
tenere un' Adunanza solenne Accademica, di pubblicare un Libro Storico, per cura di una
Commissione speciale, di porre nell'Istituto una Lapide commemorativa'. Professor
Gandolfi was the President of the Commissione, whose members included the other
contributors to the projected volume, Odoardo Corazzini, Guido Mazzoni and Aby
Warburg. We do not know who introduced Warburg to Gandolfi, but certainly by the
early spring of I894 several people who could have done so knew about Warburg's work
on the Intermedi. Apart from his friend Giorgetti in the Archivio di Stato, there were Baron
Horace de Landau (the banker and bibliophile who was a friend of the Warburg family)
and his formidable librarian F. Roediger, both of whom welcomed Warburg many times
to the Villa Landau where he was happy to work among the riches of the library. He even
managed to persuade Roediger to have some manuscripts copied for him (for instance, the
Libro ceremoniale of Francesco Filarete and his successor as Herald of the Florentine
Republic, Angelo Manfidi).8 There was another bibliophile, Tito Cappugi, who was at
that time the owner of the only copy in Florence of the very rare Diario descritto da Giuseppe
Pavoni delle feste celebrate ... per tutto il di i5 di Maggio MDLXXXI (Bologna 1589)9 which
Warburg was allowed to consult and to copy in May I894. And there was his friend
Robert Davidsohn (1853-1 937), the historian of Florence who had lived there as a private
scholar since 1889. At any rate Warburg was invited to present his researches in the
commemorative volume, he was in regular touch with Gandolfi and he attended meetings
of the Commissione at the Istituto Musicale. At one of these he learned to his dismay that
owing to lack of funds it would not be possible to illustrate his article. He therefore wrote a
letter, drafted with Gandolfi's help and dated 12 December 1894, to the President of the
Istituto, the Marchese Filippo Torrigiani: '... Dubitando come git ebbi occasione di
esprimerle verbalmente, che l'indole del mio lavoro, per il quale & indispensabile
riprodurre i figurini, possa rendere difficile la pubblicazione dell'interessante volume
ideato della Commissione, onde rimuovere ogni ostacolo, le rinnuovo anche per iscritto la
offerta di sostenere in proprio le spese occorrenti per la riproduzione delle 6 fototipie'
(these were six designs by Buontalenti, and in addition the two Caracci engravings). The
offer was accepted, and Torrigiani himself arranged for the reproductions to be made by
the prestigious Istituto Geografico Militare, whose Director, Colonel Botto, he and
Warburg went to see on 27 December. A note at the end of the table of contents of the
volume says 'Ci sentiamo obbligati verso la onorevole Direzione del R. Istituto Geografico
Militare la quale nel suo laboratorio foto-meccanico ha eseguito con amore e cura speciali
le fotozincografie'. They are indeed splendid. Warburg was later to pay 767 lire (nearly
?31 at the time) for 500oo copies of 8 plates, and the Istituto's receipt of 27 March 1895
acknowledges his 'volontaria e gratuita contribuzione . .. alla pubblicazione del Volume
degli Atti dell'Accademia nella occasione del Centenario della Riforma Melodram-
matica'. In May 1896 Warburg paid another Ioo lire to the printers Galletti & Cocci 'per

8 An extract had been published by Giorgetti in the 9 See 'Costumi teatrali', p. 143 n. I (also Ges. Schr.,
Archivio Storico Italiano, s.xv, xx, I1883, pp. 318-20. Cf. now Anhang, p. 422 ad 297); and Solerti, Albori, I, p. 46 n. I.
the edition by R. C. Trexler, Geneva 1978 (Travaux
d'Humanisme et Renaissance, I65).

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 175
lavoro di stampa', presumably for a certain number of copies of his own contribution,
bound with the eight plates and separate title-page and pagination. On 23 December I894
he noted in his diary: 'The publication which the Music Institute here had planned was in
danger of foundering for lack ofquattrini; after some hesitation (which I find quite nice) the
gentlemen accepted my offer to pay for the cost of the reproductions (evening meeting,
23 Dec.). I consider it shameful that our capitalistic society - and especially here in Italy
- no longer produces free pioneers of scholarship. How much one could achieve here
even with only a moderate amount of single-minded attention' (see Appendix II, p. 185
and P1. 49b). On 24 March 1895 he wrote to his mother: 'The publication to which I am
contributing will, I hope, soon appear. It is possible that because I have put the expensive
illustrations of my work at the Accademia's disposal, and also in view of my trip to Genoa,
I may in the near future have to draw at short intervals up to ca. 2,ooo francs. Please do
not therefore assume that I am extravagant in my private life; in this past year I have put
my person and all my resources - down to the money - at the service of the idea of
wresting from oblivion a significant and totally unnoted phase in the development of
Florentine culture. Once the thing is completed I shall tell you the whole most interesting
pre-history in which, I may safely say, I have played a role by no means discreditable. But
one also feels how much effort it has consumed' (see Appendix II, p. 185).
A diary entry tells us that Warburg began the translation of his article with Alceste
Giorgetti on 9 February 1895, and the two worked on it steadily until 8 April when 'the
last corrections' were made (still in manuscript. Four days later they were proof-
correcting). Giorgetti (1852-i 93o), a Florentine, joined the Archivio di Stato at the age of
19 and soon became a scholar in his own right, writing regularly on Florentine medieval
and Renaissance history and on bibliographical and archival matters in the Archivio Storico
Italiano. He was a socio ordinario of the Deputazione Toscana di Storia Patria.'o His wife
was German, and he had a perfect command of German. He was unexpectedly passed
over for the Directorship of the Archivio in Florence, and was persuaded to accept that of
the Archivio of Massa. Hardly had he moved there in i9 i when his only son died, a blow
from which he never recovered. Giorgetti and his wife immediately returned to Florence
to be among friends and relations, and he lived there in retirement until his death. He and
Warburg may have met as early as 1888-89 during Warburg's first stay in Florence,
perhaps introduced by their mutual friend Davidsohn. By 1894 they were good friends,
meeting for an evening out with the Davidsohns or in the latter's house; and after
Warburg's marriage in October 1897 his wife and Signora Giorgetti were also on friendly
terms. The Warburgs made generous presents to the Giorgettis who lived in difficult
circumstances, exacerbated by continuous illness of their young son, and helped them to
acquire and furnish a small house in S. Donato so that Giorgio could be in the fresh air as
much as possible. After the Warburgs' return to Hamburg in i904 they exchanged
affectionate letters ('Mein lieber Signor Alceste') until 1927 (when they met again in
Florence, as they also did in 1929). Giorgetti published an obituary article in the Archivio
Storico Italiano (s. vII, xiii, 1930, pp. 341-44). It may have been he who put Solerti into
touch with Warburg, since it was he who copied so many documents for Warburg (both

1o Obituary by B. Barbadoro in Archivio Storico Italiano,

s. vII, xv, 1931 pp. 201-03.

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 176 A. M. MEYER
while the 'Costumi teatrali' were in preparation and for the publications that were to
succeed them) and who was therefore aware of those in which both shared an interest.
The volume containing 'I costumi teatrali per gli Intermezzi del 1589: i disegni di
Bernardo Buontalenti e il "Libro di Conti" di Emilio de' Cavalieri', Atti dell'Accademia del
R. Istituto Musicale di Firenze, Anno XXXIII: Commemorazione della Riforma melodrammatica,
was published in May 1895. The tercentenary celebration itself had taken place at the
Accademia on 17 February, with an address by Riccardo Gandolfi, the unveiling of the
commemorative stone, and the performance of musical fragments, reproduced at the end
of the volume, by Luca Marenzio, Iacopo Peri and Iacopo Melani. At this 'adunanza
solenne' Warburg was elected Accademico onorario. On 6 May Gandolfi wrote to Warburg:
'La presentazione del libro alla Regina andb molto bene, e si 1 interessata al di Lei lavoro.
Il Marchese Torrigiani informandola minutamente di tutto, ebbe occasione di rac-
contarle con quanto amore Ella si & occupato di questa pubblicazione, che illustra un fatto
di somma importanza della nostra storia... Scrivo al Vogel e al D'Ancona [i.e. to request
reviews] ..
On the fly-leaf of his working copy of the 'Costumi teatrali' (which he had received in
advance, on 20 April) Warburg noted the reviews of the volume, with quotations from two
of them: '[Chiude il volume un saggio del Dr. Aby Warburg... L'autore ha condotto il
suo] studio (veramente notevole per originalith di ricerche e per acume di osservazioni
critiche) .. .' (Cesare Paoli in Archivio Storico Italiano, s. v, xv, 1895, p. 397); and 'Questo
studio ['Costumi teatrali'] b di somma importanza perchi ci dimostra passo passo come si
adoperasse il Bardi perch2 l'intermezzo si cambiasse nel melodramma. Il terzo di questi
intermezzi, la Battaglia Pitica, i evidentemente l'anello di congiunzione dei due generi'
(I. Valetta, 'Il teatro lirico in Italia nei secoli XVI e XVII', Nuova Antologia, s. 3, 59, xix,
I ottobre 1895, p. 436). A third important review, listed but not quoted by Warburg, was
published by R. Renier in the Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, xxvI, I1895, pp. 251-
53: 'Importante 6, senza dubbio, per la storia della drammatica nostra e segnatamente per
quella degli apparati scenici, il lavoro con cui questo volume si chiude: A.
Warburg,... Vi si legge un'osservazione, come accennammo, preziosa per la riforma
melodrammatica e, crediamo, nuova del tutto: nel terzo di quelli intermezzi (pp. 13-33)
il W. trova gid in embrione la Dafne (p. o109) .. .' [cf. also 'Costumi teatrali', pp. I4O-42].
In fact this had already been observed by G. Giannini, op. cit. n. 7 above, p. 418 (whom
Warburg cites in a general context on p. 105 n. i). Renier concludes his review: 'E anche
una lettura istruttiva per chi voglia studiare tutto quel bizzarro, e talora assurdo,
simbolismo classicheggiante, che predomina negli innumerevoli apparati festaiuoli del
nostro rinascimento'.
Apart from noting two reviews in Italian periodicals and one in a daily paper Warburg
also lists on the fly-leaf Peters Jahrbuch, I896, p. 36, without comment. But he was not
pleased. Emil Vogel (1859-I908), the learned author of the Bibliothek der gedruckten
weltlichen Vocalmusik Italiens aus den Jahren 150o-7oo, 2 vols, Berlin I 892 and of monographs
on Monteverdi and Marco da Gagliano, was the founder and first editor ofthe Jahrbuch der
Musikbibliothek Peters. He had listed the commemorative volume among books received by
the Musikbibliothek (of which he was Librarian) in Vol. n, 1895. On 24 July 1896,
whether of his own accord or prompted perhaps by Gandolfi, he wrote to Warburg: 'I
received the Commemorazione della Riforma melodrammatica at the time through the good
offices of Professor Gandolfi, whom I have known personally for more than ten years and
to whom I am most grateful for his kind support during my several stays in

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 177

Florence .... Even then [i.e. after the brief bibliographical announcement in Vol. ii) I
regretted... that I could not discuss this splendid work in detail. Since I have no contact
with any of the customary musicological journals and the programme of my ownJahrbuch
did not then include criticism, I had to forgo a review altogether. This I regret all the more
now that a change in our original programme will give fairly wide space to critical reviews,
starting with Vol. mII. .... Unfortunately I cannot now make up for this without going
against the principle of only reviewing publications of the current year. However, the
work itself will blaze its own trail . .. in the small circle of experts who will be grateful for
it. And now let me confess that I count myself among these and that I derived the greatest
pleasure from so much new archival information. This monograph represents a signi-
ficant advance in our perception of that highly important dawn of musico-dramatic art'
(see Appendix II, p. 186).
In the event Vogel overcame his scruples and published a review in the Jahrbuch for
I896, Vol. m (Leipzig 1897). There is an undated draft of a letter (P1. 49a), written by
Warburg on a torn scrap of paper (which was not his usual habit): 'This morning I read
Vogel's notice in the Jahrbuch. I picked it up in the hope that my endeavours to discover
new material on the one hand and to attempt a description of the rise of opera in its
historical development on the other would be intelligently appreciated. Instead I find
some empty words of condescending approbation which are, moreover, of such a general
nature and show so little understanding of what really mattered to me that I doubt
whether he read my work properly at all. While he declares Corazzini's work, because of a
few new chronological data and personal scandal about the Peri family, to be the most
valuable part of the publication, he does not even mention who designed my 'costumes'
nor that these designs and the account book of Emilio de' Cavalieri are new material
discovered by me. (In that respect the Italians were much fairer in the Giornale Storico della
Letteratura Italiana. If this is all I can expect in Germany in the way of critical recognition
then I have deluded myself even about that small circle which ought to comprehend these
things) [This passage is crossed through]. I am really not vain, nor particularly keen on
praise. I am very ready' [here the draft breaks off] (see Appendix II, p. 186). The draft is
superscribed 'Sehr geehrter Herr Professor'. 'Herr Professor' is deleted and replaced by
'Dr'. Could the addressee be the musicologist Max Friedlaender (1852-1934) who was a
regular collaborator of the Jahrbuch? If so, the letter must have been drafted before
Friedlaender, having obtained his 'Habilitation' at the University of Berlin in 1895,
became a 'Herr Professor' there in 1903; and indeed the date is likely to be early in 1897,
after the publication of Vogel's review and about the time when Warburg noted in his
diary on 18 February (a day when he had also called on Herman Grimm in Berlin): 'To
Dr. Friedlaender, who was just about to go out; very satisfied with my work, wants me to
contribute to Peters Jahrbuch'. We do not know whether the letter was ever sent, nor what
Friedlaender's reaction may have been.
There were, of course, reactions from some of the scholars to whom Warburg had sent
his work. Among them was his teacher at Bonn whose influence had been formative, Karl
Lamprecht (1856-1915), since 1891 in the Chair of Medieval and Modern History at
Leipzig.11 He writes on I iJuly 1895: 'Only today - but now after having read it - I find

1 Cf. E. H. Gombrich, Aby Warburg. An Intellectual

Biography, London I97o, pp. 3o-37; and K. J. Wein-
traub, Visions of Culture, Chicago 1966, pp. 161-207.

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 178 A. M. MEYER
the time to thank you for your Costumi teatrali. That would have been something for
Springer!12 For the rest you are no doubt right: the Italians will show you little gratitude.
So much more all those who do not embrace the only true connoisseurship but want to be
historians. I should send the work to Grimm. Will you really settle in Florence altogether?
It almost seems so. As idealistic warden of the future institute [the German Art Historical
Institute]? .. .' (see Appendix II, p. 187).
Warburg took Lamprecht's advice and sent a copy to Herman Grimm,13 encouraged
also by Grimm's favourable reception of his first book on Botticelli's Birth of Venus and the
Primavera (Hamburg and Leipzig I893). In an accompanying letter of 16 July 1895 he
explains that 'as I cannot foresee when I shall be able to deal with the same subject in
German and more thoroughly I must ask you to excuse the inappropriateness of the
foreign guise and to be kind enough to take cognizance of the saggio as the incidental result
of my Florentine course of studies' (see Appendix II, p. I87). Grimm replied on 23July: 'I
should like to thank you very much for sending me your essay. It reminded me strangely of
times long past (in the 'fifties) when I was planning a history of the European stage and
examined all the literature on Italian theatre which the library here possessed at the time.
My summing-up of those studies will now never happen, but let me express the wish that
someone who has such matters at heart may one day deal with them extensively. From
Italy decorative opera and ballet (court pantomime) went partly to France, partly to
Austria, later also to luxurious Dresden, and grew exuberantly in convoluted tendrils. To
follow this up would be very interesting. For the last representation of this inferior theatre
["Theatasterei"] extends to Goethe, and the scenic element of Faust Part Two is
connected with the stage effects of the Italian stage of the sixteenth-seventeenth century. I
believe that all of Goethe's Greek goings-on in Faust Part Two have to be assessed from
this angle. I cannot account to you in detail about my reading of your work, for although I
have read it all nothing in it corresponds to what I am at present concerned with' (see
Appendix II, pp. 187 f.).
Wilhelm Creizenach (1851-I919), the literary historian, author i.a. of a five-volume
Geschichte des neueren Dramas (Halle a.S. 1893-1916), and Professor at the University of
Cracow, wrote on 29 May 1895: 'Please accept my best thanks for your kind gift. Both text
and illustrations gave me much pleasure. Admittedly, I can only learn in this instance and
not criticise. I found especially instructive your exposition of the range of ideas which gave
rise to the Intermezzo about the Harmony of the Spheres, and also what you say about the
operatic Apollo. Above all your observations on all'antica and baroque elements in music
drama have opened up wide vistas. I hope to profit further from a more detailed study of
what you tell us about the costumes, and I look forward with interest to the further
investigations which you are planning. Are you now going to stay in Hamburg for some
time? We live here full of our Italian memories and long to be back' (see Appendix II,
p. I88).
There was also a letter of the same date from Dr K. Schmetterer in Vienna, thanking
Warburg for sending him the Commemorazione della riforma melodrammatica, 'a work likely to
occupy me for a long time. I am fully in agreement with the selection published in the

12 The German art historian Anton Springer Berlin. His numerous publications include lives of
(1825-1I891I); cf. Gombrich, op. cit., pp. 49, 60. Goethe, Michelangelo and Raphael, and a translation of
13 I828-190oI. Son of Wilhelm, son-in-law of Bettina the Iliad. His review of Warburg's Botticelli in Deutsche
von Arnim; historian of art and of literature, professor at Literaturteitung, 14, 1893, Sp. 689-92.

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI I79
musical appendix; the chorus "O valoroso Dio"14 is the most beautiful of the three which
I have copied'. He then corrects a printing error in the seventh bar (first violin) of Peri's
'Stanza di Tirsi' (not copied by him, for the other two fragments in the musical appendix
are reproduced from Le Musiche di lacopo Peri . . . sopra l'Euridice, Florence, Marescotti,
I6oo, and from a manuscript score ofMelani's La Tancia, first performed at the opening of
the Teatro di Via della Pergola in 1657 - both in the library of the Istituto Musicale).
The last note on the fly-leaf (and repeated on another page) of Warburg's working
copy reads: 'Solerti, Gli albori del Melodramma passim (1904) I, 44 regrets that I missed
Memorie e Ricordi 1588/89 di Girolamo Soriacopi Provveditore del Castello di Firenze
(A.S.F. Arch. Magistrato delle [de'] Nove f. 3679). How is one to come across this without
special help?'. The somewhat petulant rhetorical question is followed by the date 191o in
brackets. This is curious, for according to his Library Accessions Book Warburg acquired
the Albori on Io May 190o5 and lost no time in asking Giorgetti to look at the document. On
I June Giorgetti sent him a detailed indication of its contents, and by the end of August
the copy was ready. A pencilled note is added to the fly-leaf: 'Giorgetti's transcription
attached, would have to be used in the German version' (see Appendix II, p. 188).
Indeed Soriacopi's [Ser Jacopi, Seriacopi] very important Memorie are printed, with
slight omissions of not directly relevant passages, on pp. 397-410 of the 'Anhang' to the
re-publication, together with the original German text,is of the 'Costumi teatrali' in
Warburg's Gesammelte Schriften edited by Gertrud Bing (Leipzig-Berlin 1932). As she says
in her preface (p. xvi): 'Warburg's results have been expanded and confirmed, but not
altered by these additions'. But Gertrud Bing's masterly 'Anhlinge' are far more than
appendices. The 'Costumi teatrali' are greatly enhanced by her own impressive research
on the subject, as of course they also are by her inclusion of Warburg's own notes and
ideas over the years since their first publication, of newly found documents, and of other
recent literature. Her 'Anhang' takes up 29 pages.
We do not know when Solerti read the 'Costumi teatrali'. In his letter (see Appendix I,
pp. I80 ff.) he asks Warburg for an offprint, though it is likely thathe saw the commemor-
ative volume, if not in 1895, at least before 1900oo. If he did, it seems strange that at the time
when they were obviously exchanging information and material he did not draw Warburg's

14 The first of the three musical fragments performed at
the celebration on 17 February 1895, a madrigal from
the 'Terzo Intermezzo' composed by Luca Marenzio to
a text by Rinuccini which, as a note in the appendix
states, was 'gentilmente estratto dalla Biblioteca di
Corte in Vienna dall'egregio Dott. Karl Schmetterer'
and 'dallo stesso disposto in partitura e ridotto in
notazione moderna'. His help was enlisted because the
only complete copy of the first publication of the music
for the 1589 festivities is in the Oesterreichische
Nationalbibliothek (formerly Hofbibliothek) in Vienna:
Intermedii et Concerti, Fatti per la Commedia rappresentata
in Firenze Nelle nozze del Serenissimo Don Ferdinando
Medici, E Madama Christiana di Lorena, Gran Duchi di
Toscana. In Venetia Appresso Giacomo Vincenti.
M.D.XCI. It was assembled by Cristofano Malvezzi,
the chief composer of the Intermedi, the others being Luca
Marenzio, Giulio Caccini, Giovanni de' Bardi and
Emilio de' Cavalieri. Cf. Vogel, Bibliothek, I, pp. 382-85;
the critical edition by D. P. Walker, Les Fites de Florence
(1589). Musique des Intermedes de 'La Pellegrina'. Etudes par
Federico Ghisi et D. P. Walker. Notes critiques par D. P.
Walker etJ.Jacquot, Paris, Editions du C.N.R.S., 1963;
Flavio Testi, 'Gli intermedi del 1589 e la decadenza del
genere' in his La Musica Italiana nel Seicento, I: II
melodramma, Milano, Bramante, 1970, pp. i1-49 and
bibl., pp.471-75; Iain Fenlon, 'The Politics of Specta-
cle' in the Programme Book edited by him of The
Florentine Intermedi of 1589 on the occasion of their
presentation by the B.B.C. on behalf of the European
Broadcasting Union (17 September 1979), pp. 22-26;
Hans Engel, 'Nochmals die Intermedien von Florenz
I1589', Festschrift Max Schneider, Leipzig I955, PP. 7 1-86;
Howard Mayer Brown, Sixteenth-Century Instrumentation:
The Music for the Florentine Intermedii, American Institute
of Musicology, n.p., 1973.
15is The German text differs in a few but important
respects from the Italian translation made by Warburg
and Giorgetti.

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 180 A. M. MEYER

attention to Seriacopi, but waited until the three volumes of his Albori were published in
1904-05. His quotation in Vol. I ofWarburg's text (p. Io8: 'Gli intermezzi si dividono in
due gruppi... in una parola dunque sono antichi esempi della "musica humana" ') is on
his pp. 43f.; and the note that distressed Warburg reads (p.44): 'Aby Warburg, Icostumi
teatrali per gli intermedi del 1589 nel vol. Commemorazione della riforma melodrammatica (Atti del
R. Istituto Musicale di Firenze), Firenze, 1895. Lo studio del Warburg & egualmente dotto ed
acuto sotto l'aspetto artistico come sotto quello letterario, e va considerato come saggio
fondamentale di simili illustrazioni. E da rammaricare che gli sia sfuggito, tra tanti di cui
seppe cosi bene valersi, il volume di Memorie e Ricordi 1588-89 di Girolamo Soriacopi
Provveditore del Castello di Firenze (Arch. di Stato di Firenze; Arch. del Magistrato de' Nove,
f. 3679), dove sono ampie notizie degli apparecchi, degli ordini ecc. riguardanti la
rappresentazione del I589, e, ci6 che piii importa, parecchi avvertimenti particolari dati
di persona dal Bardi sopra questi intermedi'.
There is no doubt that the regret it expresses is genuine, for Solerti thought highly of
Warburg's achievement in the 'Costumi teatrali' to which he refers several times in the
Albori and again in Musica, Ballo e Drammatica alla Corte Medicea (p. I9). If more of the
letters which they must have exchanged come to light it may one day be possible to have a
clearer picture of how these two scholars were able to help each other in their pioneering
work which is still fundamental for our knowledge of the problems connected with the
precursors and the creators of teatro musicale.

WARBURG INSTITUTE

APPENDIX I

Massa di Lunigiana
29.XII-900oo
Eg'o Signore
Io non so dirle come sia rimasto obbligato e quasi commosso ricevendo stamane la Sua
raccomandata! Proprio giorni sono aveva scritto al Sig. Podesta della Magliabechiana pregandolo
di farmi fare la copia della Mascherata degli Accecati del Rinuccini,1 e ora me la trovo qui col resto!
Scrivo al Podesti di sospendere la copia; e ringrazio Lei di tutto cuore. La Sua bonti e cortesia mi
d~i adito ad aprirle tutto l'animo mio, e dell'aiuto che Ella mi ha dato sapr6 renderle le debite grazie
nel volumetto, di cui ogni giorno mi cresce l'importanza, modificandone il disegno.
Prima di tutto La pregherei di dirmi se ci sarebbe altro di notevole nel codice II.IX.45, della
copia del quale Ella mi manda un quinterno che va da p. 39 a p. 51. Vedendo ora l'indice
dell'Appendice al volume che Le mando, potra giudicare da s6 se merita di accogliere qualche altra
cosa.

Io sono in una triste condizione, ed 8 che i medici non vorrebbero che io mi movessi; pure io
bisogna che venga a Firenze indubitatamente per vedere parecchie cose. Tuttavia se io potessi
raccogliere prima, invece di trattenermi fuori, le copie di alcune cose che mi mancano, sarebbe
bene. Ed 8 sotto l'impero di questa ragione che mi permetto, inviandole gli indici, di chiederle se
Ella avesse qualche altra copia gid fatta che mi potesse giovare.

1 Performed on 25 February 1595, with music ('sul ed. Corazzini, Florence I900, p. 328; Albori, II,
carro') by Piero Strozzi. Cf. A. Lapini, Diariofiorentino, PP. 51-55.

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 181

Segno su X ci6 che ancora mi manca, e vengo a qualche particolare.

I. Dei melodrammi manca la sola Aretusa;2 il Vogel, Bibliotek [sic] ne cita un esemplare nella
Bibl. Landau di costi. Prestarlo certo il Sig. Roediger non vorra: si potrebbe trovare chi per poco
prezzo fosse capace di copiare il solo testo dei versi? La pregherei di dirmene qualche cosa,
altrimenti la far6 copiare a S. Cecilia di Roma.
II. Non ho piii qui il Vogel e non so dove esista un esemplare delle Musiche del Malvezzi3 per
trarne la copia del Ballo di Laura Guidiccioni. Si tratterd di pochi versi: ma sono l'unica cosa che ci
resti di quella donna il cui nome 6 legato al risorgere del melodramma e bisogna procurarli.
III. L'intermedi del 1589 li copier6 dall'opuscolo di Bastiano de' Rossi costi, a meno che Ella
non li abbia gid tutti copiati e potesse favorirmeli. Anche se Ella avesse un estratto del suo studio
comparso nel volume commemorativo dal 1594 gliene sarei obbligato.
IV. Le Maschere di Bergiere del Rinuccini, le ho trovate indicati nel Bigazzi4 e spero trovarle
costi in Nazionale, e cosi: n.' Io e l e quelli indicati in fondo alla pagina. Non conoscendoli, non so
quali meriteranno d'essere riprodotti. Ogni suo consiglio in proposito mi sara gradito.
V. Del Bellis (n.o I3) so dal Vogel che non si conosce se non l'esemplare di Breslau. Non so
ancora come fare per averne la copia.
VI. Il n.o 14 sara la riproduzione di un mio vecchio articolo comparso anni sono.6 Per6 debbo
aggiungervi una Mascherata di poeti laureati7 che 6 nelle Mascherate di Andrea Gabrieli ecc., Venezia,
Gardano, I6oi, di cui secondo il Vogel non c'i che un esemplare a Vienna. Anche per questo sono
incerto, e forse scriver6 al Mussafias pregandolo di farmene fare la copia.
Io non so se mi mostro troppo importuno con Lei; certo l'improntitudine mia & in ragione della
cortesia Sua; ma Ella vorri compatire a chi i costretto a star prigioniero!
Trattandosi di indicazioni Le sarei grato se vorri senza troppa noia rispondermi in italiano,
comunque esso sia; mi trovo assai giii di esercizio col tedesco e non vorrei prendere abbagli in cose
importanti.
Gradisca i piii cordiali auguri per l'anno e per il secolo nuovo, e con molta stima mi creda
infinitamente grato e devoto.
Solerti
Io confondeva Bologna con Roma, ma
ricordava di averla conosciuta.

2 'Favola in musica' by Filippo Vitali. Solerti in
Origini, pp. 9o-97 reproduces the 'dedicatoria e prefa-
zione' by Vitali from the original printed edition (Rome,
Soldi, 1620) in a fuller version than Vogel, Bibliothek, IX,
pp. 331-32, but to a reprint of these in Albori, Il, Solerti
adds the text of the three-act opera by Monsignor
Ottavio Corsini (in whose house it was performed in
1620), pp. 341-84.
3 I.e. for the 1589 Intermedi in Malvezzi's edition of
1591. Cf. p. 179 n. 14. Albori, IX, pp.39-42 (but first
published by Solerti in 'Laura Guidiccioni Lucchesini
ed Emilio de' Cavalieri', Rivista Musicale Italiana, Ix, 4,
1902, pp. 797-829).
4 P. A. Bigazzi, Firenze e Contorni, Florence 1893, gives
a list offeste on pp. I 2-33. Warburg owned a copy
(limited edition of 300oo) in which he annotated these
pages (with dates). There is, however, no mention of
Rinuccini's Maschere di Bergiere, the autograph of which
is in cod. Trivulziano Ioo4, vII, c. 157. In Warburg's
notes there is a reference to Magl. Misc. T. I20.5:
'4 leaves, 9 stanzas (stampa) to which the accounts
notebook [i.e. Emilio de' Cavalieri's] refers'. This must
be the printed edition mentioned by Solerti (Florence,
Marescotti, 1590) in Albori, I, P. 44. He gives the
'dedicatoria' and text on pp. 45-49; and states in I,
p. 155 that the music is preserved in a manuscript in
Brussels, Bibliothbque du Conservatoire, MS 704.
s Domenico Belli, Orfeo dolente [= intermedi musicali in
Tasso's Aminta], Venetia, Amadino, 1616. Cf. Musica
... alla Corte Medicea, pp. 375-91, and particularly
Solerti's observations on the authorship of the text
(Chiabrera?), p. 376 and note pp. 44 f. He had received a
copy through Vogel (p. 106 n. 2).
6 This is no doubt Solerti's article 'Rappresentazioni
di poeti nel secolo XVI', Intermezzo, I, fasc. 17-18,
Alessandria 1890, which I have been unable to consult.
It does not appear to have been reprinted.
7 By Orazio Vecchi. Cf. Vogel, Bibliothek, IX, p. 584.
Not published by Solerti.
8Adolfo Mussafia (Spalato 1835-Florence 1905).
From 1860 to 1903 Professor of Romance Languages
and Literatures at the University of Vienna, from 1 857
to 1877 Scriptor at the Hofbibliothek.

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 182 A. M. MEYER

Appendici al volume

x I. Ballo di Laura Guidiccioni e di Emilio del Cavaliere dall'opera di CRISTOFORO MALVEZZI,

Intermedi e Concerti fatti per la Commedia ecc. per le nozze di Ferdinando Medici e Cristina di
Lorena (1589), Venezia, Vincenti, I59I [see-p. 181 n. 3].
2. EMILIO DEL CAVALIERE, Rappresentazione di anima e corpo I6o0o [Origini, pp. 3-39; cf. E.
Vogel, Marco da Gagliano. Zur Geschichte des Florentiner Musiklebens von 157o bis 1650, Leipzig
1889, pp. 8-Io].
x 3. Intermedi del 1589 con quello del Rinuccini [ Albori, ii, pp. 15-42].
x 4. RINUCCINI, Maschere di bergiere, Firenze 1590 [see p. 181 and n. 4; Albori, ii, pp. 43-491].

5. RINUCCINI, Mascherata degli Accecati 1595 ms. [see p. I80 and n. I; Albori, ii, pp. 51-551].
6. RINUCCINI, Balletto del 1613 tratto del BALDINUCCI, VO1. II = Vita di Giulio Parigi [this is
Rinuccini's Mascherata di Ninfe di Senna; Albori, u, pp. 261-94, cf. especially p. 283 and
Musica... Corte Medicea, pp. 62 and 74].

7. RINUCCINI, Mascherata delle Ingrate I608 [Monteverdi; Albori, u, pp. 247-591].

8. LUCA BATI, Mascherata delle Fiamme d'Amore 1595 ms. [see p. 173 n. 7].

9. Mascherata del 27febbraio 1595 ms. [this is Rinuccini's Mascherata di Stelle, MS. in Palat.
249, no. 400 and in Magliabech. II.IX.45; Albori, n, pp. 57-60].
x I io. Balletto della Cortesia che fu fatto nel 1613 col Passatempo del BUONARROTI [Musica... Corte
Medicea, pp. 81-84, 281-354. The text of the Ballo della Cortesia by Agniolo Ricci, the
music by Iacopo Peri].
x I. Ballo delle Zingare rappres. in Firenze alla S.A. di Toscana nel carnevale del 1614 [Musica .. Corte
Medicea, pp. 89-92; cf. Albori, u, p. 320: by Rinuccini?].

12. SALVADORI, Guerra di Bellezza 1616 [quoted in Musica... Corte Medicea, pp. I115-19 from
the description in Cesare Tinghi's Diario for 16 October 1616, cc. 58r-62v].

x I 3. BELLI, Orfeo dolente intermedi per l'Aminta recitata in casa Rinaldi nel 1616 (cfr. Vogel, Bibliotek
ecc.) [see p. 181 n. 5; Vogel, I, pp. 78 f.].

I4. Rappresentazioni di poeti nel secolo XVI [not included by Solerti; see p. 181I n. 6].

Incerti

dal Bigazzi, Bibl. di Firenze e Contorni i n.' 3412 [Rinuccini, Comparsa d'Eroi Celesti; Albori,
n, pp. 295-3 I] - 3483 [Rinuccini, Ninfe di Senna: see No. 6 above] - 3486 [Rinuccini,
Mascherata di Villanelle di Castello which Solerti was unable to find, cf. Albori, u, p. 262 and
Musica .. . Corte Medicea, p. 69 n. 2] del 1613. 3374 del 1614 [Rinuccini, Ballo di Donne
Turche; Musica . . . Corte Medicea, pp. 97 and 367-74]. 3430 del 1615 [F. Saracinelli,
cavaliere di S. Stefano, L'arrivo d'Amore in Toscana, quoted in Musica . . . Corte Medicea,
pp. 97-98 from the description in Cesare Tinghi's Diario for 25July 1615, cc. 665v-666r].

Indice del volume dei Melodrammi

I RINUCCINI
I. Dafne con le varianti del 16o8
2. Euridice 1600oo

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 183
3. Arianna I608
4. Narciso

[all in Albori, n]

5. ORDEI - TORELLI, IFidi amanti 16oo00 [published by Solerti as appendix to 'Precedenti del
Melodramma', RMI, x, 4, I903, PP. 471-84; cf. Vogel, II, pp. 246 f.]

II CHIABRERA

6. Rapimento di Cefalo I600

7. Orizia
8. Polifemo geloso prima del 1615 [cf. Origini, p. 238]
9. Pianto d'Orfeo
Io. Angelica in Ebuda 1615

I I. Vegghia delle Grazie I6i5

12. Galatea 1614 con le var. di Aci e Galatea 1617 [cf. Musica ... Corte Medicea, p. 124 n. 2]

13. STRIGGIO - MONTEVERDE, Orfeo I607

x 14. VITALI, F., Aretusa 1620 [see p. 181 n. 2]
[all in Albori, iu]

Dubito ancora se aggiungere il Natal d'Ercole [not included; cf. Musica... Corte Medicea,
p. 36 and n. I; Bigazzi, no. 3388], II Giuditio di Paride [not included; cf. Musica..., pp. 46,
47, 54-55; Bigazzi, no. 3387] e il Passatempo [Musica ... Corte Medicea, pp. 281-339] di
M. A. BUONARROTI jun. (I605; I607; 1613); e MINI PAOLO, La favola di Aragne [not
included or mentioned by Solerti; cf. Lafavola d'Aragne, attribuita gia erronamente ad Ottavio
Rinuccini, in questa seconda editione restituita al suo autore Paolo Mini . . . dall'abate G. B.
Zannoni, Florence 181io] e L. ALEARDI, Glauco schernito 161io [not included; cf. Origini,
p. 237]; e GALLETTI CESARE, L'Orindo 1608 [not included; cf. Origini, p. 236, Musica...,
p. 40 n. I].

(See p. 171 n. 2)
I Via Paolo Toscanelli
Firenze

28.XII.900
Sehr geehrter Herr Prof.,
Von anderen Auff'ihrungen des Chiabrera weiss ich nichts; ich lege Ihnen den Text der
Handschrift die das Ballett des Luca Bati enthilt,9 bei. Ich denke zunachst garnicht daran,
dariiber etwas zu publiziren und wiirde mich iiber alles freuen, was Sie davon publiziren.

9 Mascherata de le Fiamme d'Amore (I595). See p. 173,

end of n. 7.

13

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 I84 A. M. MEYER
Ich danke Ihnen besten[s] flir den Index Ihrer Publikation, die mich ganz ausserordentlich
interessiren wird.
Ich glaube, ich hatte einmal in Rom bei der Tasso Ausstellung die Ehre Ihnen vorgestellt zu
werden; es sollte mich sehr freuen, Sie hier bei mir zu sehen.
In hochachtungsvoller
Ergebenheit
Ihr A. Warburg

I Via Paolo Toscanelli

Firenze

30.XII.900
Egregio Sgre!
Prima di tutto buon capo d'anno e ammiglioramento prontissimo della sua salute nel nuovo
secolo! Mi permetto di scriverle in italiano alla buona sebbene contro la mia coscienzia filologica
sapendo benissimo che far6 tante parole tanti spropositi.
Essendo molto occupato mi permetto di mandarle primo il resto della copia del ms. delle
mascherate. Prima di stampare ci vorrebbe, come Lei ha visto senza dubbio, un confronto dalla
parte d'un filologo consummato. La copia 6 stata fatta dal impiegato del Lungo.1o Mi occuper6 ben
volontieri delle altre questioni.
Mi creda di Lei
devomo
A. Warburg

(postcard: P1. 48b)

12-1-9o01

Eg.'o Sgre
Mi dispiace di non esser in grado di fare qualcosa in quanto alla copia da L.[andau] non
conoscendo il R.[oediger] abbastanza bene per mandare un copista da lui. La migliore strada 6 di
andare personalmente alla Biblioteca L[andau] quando lei sara giunto qui.
Un estratto del mio lavoro non 6, purtroppo, neppure per me stesso disponibile, perch6 l'Istituto
Musicale rifiuta di mettere la pubblicazione al commercio. Ma M. Filippo Torrigiani senza dubbio
metterd una copia alla sua disposizione se Lei domandane un' esemplare.
Sperando di vederla fra poco
di Lei
devomo Warburg

1o This should probably read 'del Del Lungo' (Isidoro,
the historian and philologist, who was at that time an
accademico compilatore of the Vocabolario della Crusca).
There is in fact a note in Warburg's hand 'Copist von
Del Lungo' on the cover of the copy which he had had
made in February 1895 in the Biblioteca Nazionale of
the rare Raccolta di tutte I le solennissime FesteI nel Sponsalitio
della Serenissima Gran Duchessa di Toscana | fatte in
Fiorenza il mese di Maggio 1589 by Simone Cavallino
(Rome 1589) - cf. 'Costumi teatrali', passim.

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 185
(visiting card - undated11)

Koesterberg Blankenese
bei Altona

Dr.phil. A. Warburg
herzlichst fiir die Ubersendung Ihrer
sehr interessanten Studie dankend.

Florenz I. Via Paolo Toscanelli

APPENDIX II

(p. 175 and P1. 49b - Warburg's diary, 23 December 1894)

Die Publikation, die vom hiesigen Musikalischen Institut beabsichtigt war, drohte am Mangel
der Quattrini zu scheitern; nach einigem Zbgern (das ich ganz hiibsch finde) nehmen die Herren
mein Anerbieten, die Kosten der Reproductionen zu tragen an (23. Dezbr. Sitzg. abds).
Ich finde, dass es eine Schande ist, dass unsere kapitalistische Gesellschaft - und nun gar hier in
Italien nicht mehr freie Pioniere der Wissenschaft stellt.
Wie viel liisst sich hier noch selbst durch ein nur mittelgrosses Quantum zielbewusster
Aufmerksamkeit erreichen.

(p. 175 - from Warburg's letter to his mother, 24 March I895)

Die Publikation, an der ich betheiligt bin, wird nun hoffentlich bald herauskommen; es kann
sein, dass ich deswegen, weil ich die kostspieligen Abbildungen meiner Arbeit der Accademia zur
Verfiigung gestellt habe, in nichster Zeit, auch wegen der Reise nach Genua, in kurzen
Zeitriumen bis ca 2000 frcs. aufnehmen werde. Ich bitte deshalb nicht zu glauben, dass ich in
meinem Privatleben verschwende; ich habe meine Person und alle meine Krifte - bis auf das
Geld - in diesem letzten Jahr zur Verfiigung der Idee gestellt, eine bedeutende, vollkommen
unbeachtete Entwicklungsphase der florentinischen Cultur der Vergessenheit zu entreissen. Wenn
das Ding erst fertig ist, erzihle ich Euch einmal die ganze hSchst interessante Vorgeschichte, bei
der, wie ich ruhig sagen darf, mir eine keinesfalls schlechte Rolle zufillt. Aber man spiirt auch den
Consum an Kraft.

" Probably a note of thanks for Solerti's article on

Laura Guidiccioni and Emilio de' Cavalieri in the
Rivista Musicale Italiana, 1902 (see p. 1 72 above).

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 i86 A. M. MEYER
(pp. 176f.)

Hofbibliothek Peters Leipzig, 24.7.1896.

K6nigstrasse 26.
Sehr geehrter Herr Dr.!
Die 'Commemorazione della Riforma melodrammatica' erhielt ich s.Z. durch die Giite des
Herrn Prof. Gandolfi, der mir seit mehr als IoJahren pers6nlich bekannt u. dem ich wegen seiner
liebenswiirdigen Unterstiitzung wihrend meines mehrfachen florentiner Aufenthalts zu
lebhaftestem Danke verpflichtet bin. Ich zeigte das Werk in dem von mir edierten "Jahrbuch der
Musikbibliothek Peters" (Jahrgang II) bibliographisch an (in dem Verzeichnisse, das ich
alljihrlich iiber die Musik betreffendenJahrespublikationen aller Culturlinder gebe) u. bedauerte
damals schon, dass mir kein der Sache wiirdiges Organ zur Verfiigung stand, fiber das treffliche
Werk eingehend zu berichten. Da ich zu keiner der landliufigen Musikzeitungen in Beziehung
stehe und da weiter mein "Jahrbuch" in sein damaliges Programm Kritik nicht aufnahm, so
musste ich auf eine Besprechung fiberhaupt verzichten. Umso lebhafter aber bedauere ich dies
heute, als inzwischen (zum I. Male fiir den kommenden 3. Jahrgang) unter Anderung des
urspriinglichen Plans der kritischen Besprechung ein ziemlich weiter Raum frei steht. Wire dies
schon im vorigen Jahr geschehen, so hitte ich natiirlich nicht verfehlt, auf das Werk mit allem
Nachdruck hinzuweisen. Leider kann die Besprechung jetzt nicht nachgeholt werden, ohne das
Prinzip, nimlich nur Publikationen des jeweilig laufenden Jahres zu beriicksichtigen, zu
umstossen. Uebrigens wird sich das Werk selbst die Bahn brechen, freilich nicht ins grosse
Publikum (denn das verlangt mehr verzuckerte und pikant gewiirzte Kost), sondern in den kleinen
Kreis der fiir die Arbeit dankbaren Fachleute. Und nun lassen Sie mich Ihnen verraten, dass ich
mich zu denen zahle und namentlich fiber die vielen neuen archivarischen Aufschliisse meine
hellste Freude gehabt habe! Diese Monographie bedeutet einen bedeutenden Fortschritt unserer
Erkenntniss jener so hoch wichtigen Jugendzeit musikdramatischer Kunst!
Mit ausgezeichneter Hochachtung
Ihr ergebener
Emil Vogel.

(p. 177 and P1. 49a - undated draft letter, possibly to Dr Max Friedlaender)
Heute morgen las ich Vogel's Anzeige imJahrbuche. Ich griffzu derselben in der Hoffnung dass
meine Bemiihungen um die Entdeckung neuen Materials einerseits und um den Versuch einer
entwicklungsgeschichtlichen Darstellung der Entstehung der Oper anderseits verstindig gewiir-
digt wiirden. Statt dessen finde ich einige leere Worte herablassender Anerkennung, die noch dazu
so allgemein gehalten sind und so gar kein Verstindnis fiir das zeigen woraufes mir ankam, dass
ich zweifle ob er meine Arbeit iiberhaupt ordentlich gelesen hat. Wahrend er die Arbeit Corazzini's
wegen einiger neuer chronologischer Daten und persi6nlicher Scandalgeschichte iiber die Familie
Peri fiir den wertvollsten Teil der Publikation erklirt, erwihnt er nicht einmal, von wem meine
"Costiime" gezeichnet sind, noch auch, dass diese Zeichnungen und das Rechnungsbuch des
Emilio de' Cavalieri von mir neu entdecktes Material sind.
Da waren die Italiener im Giornale Storico della L. It. auch gerechter. [Wenn das alles ist was
ich in Deutschland an kritischer Anerkennung zu erwarten habe, dann habe ich mich sogar in dem
kleinen Kreise getiuscht der diese Sachen verstehen sollte].
Ich bin wirklich nicht eitel noch besonders auf Lob erpicht.
Ich bin sehr gerne bereit

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 WARBURG'S 'COSTUMI TEATRALI' AND A. SOLERTI 187

(pp. 177f.)
Leipzig II Juli I895.
Sehr verehrter Herr Doktor!

Erst heute - aber nun nach Lektiire - komme ich dazu, Ihnen fiir Ihre Costumi teatrali zu
danken. Das wire etwas fiir Springer gewesen! Im Uebrigen haben Sie freilich recht: die Italiener
werden Ihnen wenig Dank wissen. Um so mehr alle, die nicht auf die allein selig machende
Kennerschaft schwaren, sondern Historiker sein wollen. Grimm wiirde ich die Arbeit gewiss
schicken.
Werden Sie denn ganz in Florenz heimisch werden? Fast scheint es so. Als idealistischer
Herbergsvater des kiinftigen Instituts?
Hier erleben wir solche Stiirme im Glase Wasser - Kampfe um die kiinftigen Raume unseres
Kunsthistorischen Institutes, von denen ich hoffe, dass sie zu Gunsten Schmarsows enden werden.
Veranlasst sind sie im Grunde dadurch, dass der Beginn unserer Bauperiode in die Vakanz
zwischen Janitschek und Schmarsow fiel.
Sonst ist freilich fiber allen Wipfeln Ruh - und das ist, so weit es sich um iusserliche Fragen
handelt,ja ein wissenschaftlich nicht ungiinstiger Zustand.
Herzliche Grisse von Ihrem ergebensten
Lamprecht

(p. 178 - draft letter to Herman Grimm)

20i1, Flottbeker Chauss~e
Ottmarschen b. Altona

i6. Juli 95.

Hochverehrter Herr Geheimrath!

Seit einiger Zeit ist in Florenz eine italienische Festschrift zur Feier des dreihundertj~ihrigen
Bestehens der modernen Oper erschienen. Die freundliche Aufmunterung, die Sie mir bei meinem
ersten Versuche zu Teil werden liessen, liess in mir den Wunsch entstehen, Ihnen auch diese
zweite Studie zu fibersenden, die ich auf Veranlassung des R. Istituto Musicale in Florenz als
Beitrag in der erwahnten Schrift publizirte. Da ich noch nicht absehen kann, wann ich denselben
Gegenstand deutsch und ausffihrlicher werde behandeln ki6nnen, so muss ich Sie schon bitten, die
Unangemessenheit des fremden Gewandes zu entschuldigen und von dem "Saggio" als
gelegentliches Erzeugnis meines florentiner Studienganges giitigst Kenntnis nehmen zu wollen.
In Hochachtung und Ergebenheit
A.W.

(p. 178)
Hochgeehrter Herr,
fLir die Zusendung Ihres Aufsatzes sage ich Ihnen meinen besten Dank. Er erinnerte mich
seltsam an lingst vergangene Zeiten, (in den 5oerJahren) als ich eine Geschichte der europaischen
Biihne plante und alles was die hiesige Bibliothek an italiinischer Theaterlitteratur damals besass,
durchstudierte. Zur Zusammenfassung dieser Studien wird es nun niemals kommen, aber lassen
Sie mich den Wunsch aussprechen, es mdgeJemand, dem die Dinge am Herzen liegen, sie einmal
umfassend behandeln. Von Italien aus gingen decorative Oper und Ballet (Festpantomime) zum
Theil nach Frankreich, zum Theil nach Ostreich, spliter auch nach dem luxuriosen Dresden und
wucherten da in reichen Rankenverschlingungen. Dem einmal nachzugehen, wire sehr

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 188 A. M. MEYER

interessant. Denn die letzte Reprasention dieser Theatasterei erstreckt sich bis zu Goethe und das
Scenische des zweiten Theiles des Faust hingt zusammen mit Biihneneffecten der italiinischen
Biihne des 16/17 Jahrhunderts. Ich glaube, dass Goethe's ganze griechische Wirthschaft im
zweiten Theile des Faust von hier aus zu beurtheilen sei.
Ich kann Ihnen fiber die Lectiire Ihrer Arbeit im Einzelnen keine Rechenschaft geben, da ich sie
zwar durchgelesen habe, nichts darin aber dem entspricht, womit ich mich gerade beschiftige.
Hochachtungsvoll
der Ihrige
H. Grimm.

23-7.95-

(p. 178)
Sehr geehrter Herr,
nehmen Sie meinen verbindlichsten Dank f'ir Ihre liebenswiirdige Sendung entgegen, ich habe
mich an dem Text wie an den Abbildungen sehr erfreut. Allerdings kann ich in diesem Fall nur
lernen und nicht critisieren. Besonders lehrreich waren mir Ihre Ausf'ihrungen fiber den
Gedankenkreis, aus welchem das Intermezzo von der Sphirenharmonie hervorgegangen ist,
ferner was Sie iiber den Oper-Apollo sagen. Vor allem aber haben mir die Bemerkungen iiber die
antikisierenden und die Barock-Elemente im musicalischen Drama weite Ausblicke eroffnet. Aus
den Mitteilungen iiber die Costiime hoffe ich bei niherem Studium noch viel zu profitieren und auf
die in Aussicht gestellten weiteren Studien bin ich sehr gespannt. Wollen Sie nun f'ir lingere Zeit in
Hamburg bleiben? Wir leben noch ganz in italienischen Erinnerungen und sehnen uns dorthin
zurfick.
Mit den schdnsten Griissen von uns beiden
Ihr ergebenster
W. Creizenach

Krakau 29/5. 95

(p. 179 - note on fly-leafofWarburg's working copy of the 'Costumi teatrali')

Vgl. Solerti, Gli albori del melodramma passim (1 904) I, 44

bedauert dass mir entgangen sei
Memorie e Ricordi 1588/89 di Girolamo
Soriacopi Provveditore del Castello
di Firenze
(ASF. Arch Magistrato delle Nove f. 3679)

Wie soll man daraufohne Spezialhilfe kommen? (1910)

liegt in der Abschrift von Giorgetti bei, wire bei
deutscher Version zu verarbeiten

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