Lully's Airs. French or Italian?

Author(s): James R. Anthony

Source: The Musical Times , Mar., 1987, Vol. 128, No. 1729 (Mar., 1987), pp. 126-129
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/964491

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sonality
sonality than
thananyone
anyoneelse,
else,
waswasdeeply
deeplyaware
aware
of Mozart's
of Mozart's
realizing
realizing
that such
that action
such action
threatened
threatened
his son'shis
narcissistic
son's narcissistic
principal
principalfailings
failingsofofpride,
pride,gullibility,
gullibility,
uncritical
uncritical
acceptance
acceptance
dependency.
dependency.
of
of flattery,
flattery,instability
instabilityand
andimpulsiveness.'3
impulsiveness.'3 When
WhenMozart
Mozart
ThereThere
is convincing
is convincing
evidence
evidence
for thefor
insidious
the insidious
onset dur-
onset dur-
fell
fell in
in love
lovewith
withAloysia
Aloysia Weber
Weber andand
waswasintent
intent
on taking
on taking
ing Mozart's
ing Mozart's
early early
adult life
adult
of life
a chronic
of a chronic
mood disturbance,
mood disturbance,
her
her toto Italy,
Italy,Leopold
Leopolddeveloped
developed nervous
nervous palpitations,
palpitations,
show-show-
whichwhich
persisted
persisted
until his
until
death,
his death,
and which
andwaswhich
associated
was associated
ed
ed aa lack
lackofofempathy,
empathy,and andwas
wasrebellious
rebelliousto his
to his
22-year-old
22-year-old
with with
pathological
pathological
mood swings
mood swings
of hypomania
of hypomania
and depres-
and depres-
son's
son's efforts
effortstotobreak
breakthethe
possessive
possessivechains
chains
of bondage
of bondage
that that
sion. sion.
It willItbecome
will become
apparentapparent
that thethat
diagnostic
the diagnostic
criteria criteria
were
were constraining
constraininghim.'4
him.'4After
Afterhishis
resignation,
resignation,
Mozart's
Mozart's
for cyclothymic
for cyclothymic
disorder
disorder
(which (which
is related
is related
to manic-
to manic-
relationship
relationshipwith
withhis
hisfather
father
became
became
strained,
strained,
and and
the com-
the com-
depressive
depressive
personality)
personality)
are fulfilled.15
are fulfilled.15
poser
poser substituted
substitutedhis
hisobject
object
to to
thethe
Webers.
Webers.
Leopold
Leopold
responded
respondedby
byshifting
shiftinghishis
allegiance
allegiance
to Nannerl,
to Nannerl,
without
without
15American
15American
Psychiatric
Psychiatric
Association:
Association:
Diagnostic
Diagnostic
and Statistical
and Statistical
Manual ofManual
Mental of Mental
Disorders
Disorders(Washington,
(Washington,DC,
DC,3/1980),
3/1980),
218-20
218-20

13see
13see Leopold
LeopoldMozart's
Mozart'sletters
letters
of of
16 16
andand
23 Feb
23 Feb
17781778
and 23
andAug
23 1782
Aug Part
1782 2Part
of Dr
2 of
Davies's
Dr Davies's
article, article,
next month,
next cites
month,documented
cites documented
examples examples
14see Leopold Mozart's letter of 25-6 Feb 1778 of Mozart's behaviour in support of his thesis.

Lully's airs - French or Italian?

James R. Anthony
deathcent
This year commemorates the 300th anniversary of the deathcent Lully
Lully bibliography
bibliographylists
lists6767
titles
titles
ofof
books,
books,
articles
articles
andand
of Jean-Baptiste Lully, on 22 March 1687. Lully perfor- dissertations written since 1960 that deal in some manner
mances are everywhere in preparation, the first volume ofwith his life and works.3 For those involved in Lully
the new complete works should see the light of day, andstudies, Herbert Schneider's Lully Werke Verzeichnis (Tut-
a 'Colloque Lully', which will bring together some of thezing, 1981) has been an invaluable aid.4
leading Lully scholars, is to take place in St Germain-en- The secrets of Lully's recitatives have been puzzled over,
Laye and Heidelberg in September. his orchestra analysed, his dances catalogued, his religious
Such commemorative activities are appropriate and longmusic surveyed and his court and theatre ballets probed.
overdue. Lully is a classic example of a composer whose Yet much remains to be done. In the early 18th century
influence is widely acknowledged but whose music is rarelythe librettist Pierre-Charles Roy despaired that Quinault,
performed. Of 13 tragedies en musique, only two, Alcesteunlike Corneille, left no thoughts concerning the genre that
and Armide, have been recorded. 'Bois epais' (Amadis, Act 'he invented and perfected'. No-one, at least in any depth,
2 scene iv) has often been singled out as typical of the besthas accepted Roy's challenge to 'tear from Quinault [and
among Lully's monologue airs ('serious, restrained, elegant-from Lully] his secret and ... to decomposer all his operas
ly proportioned, full of aristocratic yet sensuous charm').' in order to examine their inner workings'.5 Similarly, ex-
Yet anyone who wishes to hear a stylistically valid perfor-cept for the most superficial observations, no-one has at-
mance of 'Bois epais', accompanied by five-part strings, tempted to define those musical influences, especially from
must be content with two recorded examples, one byItaly, that contributed to Lully's creation of the tragedie
Caruso and the other by Rosa Ponselle; both contain an en musique. There has been no systematic study of Lully's
abridged piano reduction dressed up with secondaryoperatic airs that begins to approach the attention lavish-
dominants. 2 Ironically, these recordings do document theed on his recitatives and dances.
popularity of 'Bois 6pais' in the first third of this century This article, then, concentrates on one type of binary air
as a token 'early music' piece with which to open a song favoured by Lully in his tragedies, with particular atten-
mosttion both to its Italian origin and its dissemination in
recital. Performances of Le bourgeois gentilhomme, the most
Lul-France. The type in question is the so-called 'extended
popular Moliere - Lully comedie-ballet, severely restrict Lul-
ly's music even at the Comedie Frangaise; the 'Ballet des
Nations', the model ballet a entrees which concludes
Moliere's comedy, is never performed. 3see The New Grove French Baroque Masters (London, 1986), 67-9

Lully has been better served by scholars. The most re-4 Inexplicably, Schneider's fine catalogue has yet to receive a substantial review in
any English-language journal; a 38-line note appeared in Brio (autumn/winter, 1982)
and Jane Fulcher gave a cursory summary of the catalogue in Notes, xl (1983-4),
57, 'leaving a more detailed treatment of the accuracy of the catalogue to others'.
'D.J. Grout: A History of Western Music (New York, 3/1980), 348 [No review copy was supplied to MT, although requested - Ed.]
'Lettre sur l'Op6ra', Lettres sur quelques ecrits de ce tems, ii (Geneva, 1749): cited
2 A third recording was made in 1911 by the composer-singer Reynaldo Hahn with
piano accompaniment. in J.R. Anthony: La musique en France d l'epoque baroque (Paris, 1981), 104

126

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Ex.1
[A] A and B sections are shared by two characters are includ-

rrIr I fr r I|J J J JI J atort

Ld ed. At a glance it is clear that in Lully's operas the extend-
L'A - med binary air surpasses its nearest rival by a margin of two
Vous bra - viez
i tort L'A - mourquivous bles - se; one (285 t 144).
to one (285 to 144).
c9:rf ft1r rI ' R Ir J I I There is no doubt about the Italian origins of the extend-
6 7 6 B x x 4 x ed binary configuration. Characterized as the 'ubiquitous
[B] extended binary (ABB')',6 its use is documented in the
Irf Irr ? J I r-r-- BH opera and cantata arias from the mid-17th century by such
Le coeur le plus fort A des mo- ments de fai - composers as Luigi Rossi, Mario Savioni, Carlo Caproli,
Marco Marazzoli, Giacomo Carissimi, Orazio Michi, Pietro

6 6
1r r | r r I I Vannini and Carlo Eustachio.
4 6 56 Lully would have had no problem over coming into
[B'] possession of such airs, especially those by Rossi

'Jbs se eI
bles - se Le
f. r I J r or Carissimi, which circulated in manuscript
I ~I ]r * rI F from the middle of the century. In fact, the v
coeur le plus fort a des mo -
was such that, much later, Sebastien de Brossa
rF I fr IP Ij ed to write in his Catalogue of the 'p
4 x 6 5 b 6 56 airs and ariettes by the famous Luigi R
of the first among the Italians to give us airs t
men_t J Jj 1|~('s5 LJ only well made [savant et recherche] but
se. melodic grace [chant gracieux] which even today is admired
ments de fai s by all connoisseurs'.7 An offhand acknowledgment of Lul-
ICe " ly's debt to Rossi is found in Bauderon de Senece's 1688
6x 4 x
polemical allegory against Lully, Lettre de Clement Marot
binary ^ganization air'. may Itsbe seen
typical
in ex.1, a M de xxxortouchant ce qui est passe a l'arrivee de J
from Atys i). The text(Act
is usually a2quatrain
scene Lully auxiiChamps Elysees. Bauderon has Rossi co
with the last two lines re ?peated. The first two lines con- 'If one condemns his [Lully's] works ... I would only
stitute the A section; in :he
t B section, the textual repeti- that one separates what he took from me in order
tion never generates an ex :act musical repetition as a B' sec- innocent not be punished along with the guilty'.8
tion (which would, in an y case, be merely an ABB form) Yet why would Lully, who had become more
although note values anc I melodic shape may be similar. than the French after receiving letters of natur
The table below shows the distribution of the three types from Louis XIV in 1661, seek out Italian models
of binary air found in eac :h of Lully's tragedies en musique. French airs? It is common knowledge that he had
BI stands for the extendeid binary form (the subject of this personal and musical relationship with his esteemed
study), BII for the simpll e binary where the A and B sec- in-law, Michel Lambert. He had given Lambert
tions are of approximatel' y the same length (although each of composing doubles for his (Lully's) airs, and fro
is often made up of an irr egular number of bars), and BIII to time a Lambert air surfaces even in those court
is a rounded binary, wit] h a return to a portion of the A for which Lully supplied all the music (see for
section at the end of B. C )nly autonomous airs are includ- 'Doutez-vous de mon feu' from Les amours deguisez,
ed; duos and trios (althot igh often in the extended binary It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that Lully m
form), fragments andirs a from the inner sections of his BI airs on those of Lambert or on other examples
choruses are not conside red. Dialogue airs in which the the immense air de cour repertory; and indeed an exa
tion of recent literature shows that this assumption seems
TABLE I: D list ribution of binary airs to be universal.
In fact, it is true of Lully's simple binary airs (BII) and
opera (date)
rondeau airs, and of such general stylistic features as
Cadmus (1673)
Alceste (1674)
16 47 20 restricted range, syllabic treatment of text and conserv
Thisee (1675) 21 12 1 34 harmony. But the assumption of a French source cannot
24 6 5 3
Atys (1676) 22 15 2 39 be sustained if applied to Lully's extended binary airs, for
Isis (1677) 18 9 1 28 this air appears not to have been nationalized to any great
Psyche (1678)
Bellerophon (1679)
18
13
7 25 extent
12
in
25
the air de cour repertory before Lully himself ex-
Proserpine (1680) 24 6 5 35 ploited it. A sample of 135 airs by Lambert, for example,
Persie (1682) 22 12 1 35

Phaeton (1683) 22 10 32
Amadis (1684) 27 16 43 6 The New Grove, iii, 696
Roland (1685) 33 18 1 52
7Catalogue des livres de musique thiorique et pratique, MS 1724, 507-8
Armide (1686) 31 16 47
8cited by H. Prunieres: L'opera italien en France avant Lulli (Paris, 1913), 367

127

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shows only five clearly in this form,9 and the same is true the Italian extended binary air as foun
of certain of his contemporaries. Of 140 airs from 1666 - 74 cantatas of such composers as Rossi,
by Jean Sicard, five are of this type. Joseph de La Barre's Carissimi. Lully's first exposure to the
collection of Airs a deux parties of 1669 has no examples. ed binary air may have been in Rossi's O
A survey of Robert Ballard's Livre d'airs de differents ed at the Palais Royal in March 164
autheurs, from Book 1 (1658) to Book 15 (1672), reveals boy of 15 who had been in France onl
that only 23 out of 537 airs are of this kind; as in Lambert, possibility that Orfeo made an impre
there are more examples of the three-part extended air Florentine cannot be overlooked. B
(ABCC'). The first BI air in the Ballard collection is in popularity, there were other opportun
the second book, of 1659 (the anonymous 'En amour sou- heard subsequent performances in Ap
vent il faut feindre'); the earliest example of a Lully ex- Lully's first sommeil, 'Dormez, dorme
tended binary air known to me is in the seventh book, of Les amants magnifiques, may be model
1664 - 'Bel art qui retardez' from the court ballet, Ballet sleep scene 'Dormite, begli occhi' in O
des arts (1663). There appears to be a gradual increase in binary form is found frequently in Or
the number of such airs in the Ballard collection after 1663, the B and B' sections of Oristeo's 'No
with many examples from Lully's court ballets. The 1 scene iii; ex.2b is from the B and B
greatest concentration of extended binary airs is in Book (b) [B]
13 (1670), with five out of 31 in this form (three are by
Lully). Os - cu - ra- to mio ciel d'al - ta bel - ta;
As far as it goes, the above evidence suggests that it was
Lully himself who first exploited the French extended
binary air, even before his earliest operas. In fact, the
):i b[t:] r IfI J. r Ir
[B'I

~ rTir u , r r,I r' 11

gradual increase in the number of examples in Lully's court
ballets after 1663 parallels the increase already noted in
the Ballard collection. In Le carnaval mascarade of 1668, Os - cu - ra- to mio ciel d'al - to bel - ta.

for example, three airs out of five are of this type.

The relative lack of models in French sources can only 9' b l i r I r r . i J.
mean that Lully from his earliest years was familiar with (c) [B]
Ex.2 (a)
b[0] z r p IJJ r h I
[a [ J. } J I J I]J I r i b^ m Je neveux point a - voir d'e - poux qui soit ja -

S'al- tri guai l'in - fer - no da Ah che la

azr r ~tr or UILJ i
'[3]r i r r I I r I J. i
6 5 , X 6
b x 6 4 3

3 r r 1 r P I I =r
giu ah ah che la giru non non vi son mar
loux, N'y d'A- mant n'y d'A - mant qui soit sans cou-

9: J IJ. I J. Ij r F 1 6 xb 6 6
[B'lI B']

Wr: I r I,<I u ^J
ti - ri; S'al- tri guai l'in - fer - no
rr r IF
ra - ge; Je ne veux point a - voir d'e-poux qui
Tr
9:b r I I . II. Ir Ir' I 4
9 b rl r rr
x x 6 5, [ 6x 6

+-- rrr - rTh I J I l J lb

da Ah che la giu, ah ah che la
J.
soit ja-loux, N'y d'A-mant n'y d'A-mant qui
D
b J r I r" Ir Ir l i 66 6 x 6 56b x b

j b t- . -- J -, J j . 11
giu non non vi son mar - ti - ri.
soit sans cou-ra - ge.

Jb J L | I r. r I' i. II
6xthree-part
'There are, however, Len examples of the extended 4 x air, ABCC'.
b xJ_ J1 J J
128

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mia tarda pieta' from Mario Savioni's cantata Quando a The
The pervasive
pervasiveinfluence
influenceofofthe
theBB'
BB'configuration
configuration
that
that
terra miro; ex.2c is from Lully's Thesee (1675). It illustrates constitutes
constitutes the
thesecond
secondpart
partofof
thethe
airair
is is
everywhere
everywhere
in in
the B and B' sections of Cleone's air 'La valeur a mes yeux' evidence
evidence in
in Lully's
Lully'soperas.
operas.There
Thereareare
many
many
recitatives
recitatives
(Act 1 scene v) - a classic example of Lully's extended whose
whose conclusions
conclusionsare
areorganized
organized ininthat
that manner.
manner. Such
Such
is is
binary operatic air. Io's
Io's recitative
recitative'Contentez-vous
'Contentez-vous helas'
helas'
fromfrom IsisIsis
(Act
(Act
2 scene
2 scene
In spite of the chronological gap that separates them, ii). Often
Often aa BB'
BB'organization
organizationwill will
give
givegreater
greater amplitude
amplitude
exx.2a and 2c have similarities. Both exhibit a generally to one
one or
or both
bothsections
sectionsofofa arondeau
rondeau air;air;
this
thisoccurs,
occurs,
forfor
syllabic treatment of the text, with some repetitions. It is example,
example, in in the
therondeau
rondeau'Ah!
'Ah!queque
mesmes peines
peinessontsont
char-
char-
by means of these text repetitions that we may best define mants'
mants' from
fromPsyche
Psyche(Act
(Act4 4scene
scene
iii).
iii).
national styles. In Rossi, they result from an emotional im- By
By the
the time
timeof
ofLully's
Lully'sdeath,
death,the
the
extended
extended
binary
binary
air air
hadhad
petus; in the second line of the Lully, they serve instead become
become assimilated.
assimilated.ItItisiswell
wellrepresented
represented in in
Christoph
Christoph
to emphasize the anapests typical of French 17th-century Ballard's
Ballard's collections
collectionsofofAirs
Airsserieux
serieux
et et
a boire;
a boire;
it is
it the
is the
verse. The two examples have an almost identical voice favoured
favoured binary
binaryair
airform
formininthe the
tragedies
tragediesen enmusique
musique andand
range and both eschew a florid vocal style. The shorter the
the operas-ballets
operas-balletsof
ofAndre
AndreCampra
Campra and
andhishis
contemporaries;
contemporaries;
phrases and restricted range of ex.2b are paralleled in the it is
is found
found among
amongthetherecits
recitsinin
Lalande's
Lalande'sgrands
grandsmotets.
motets.
In In
air from Atys cited as ex.1. Monteclair's
Monteclair'sthird
thirdbook
bookofofcantatas
cantatasofof
1728,
1728,it can
it can
be con-
be con-
It is important to emphasize that there are many Italian sidered one of the main 'French' elements absorbed within
extended binary airs that are less restrained vocally with the da capo airs.10
long melismas and many text repetitions just as there are
many by Lully with the typical changes of meter borrow-
ed from French recitative. It is, therefore, above all the form 'Osee J. R. Anthony: 'French Binary Air within Italian Aria da capo in Monteclair's
of the air that transcends national styles. Third Book of Cantatas', PRMA, civ (1977-8), 47-56

Szymanowski and Islam

Alistair Wightman Karol
KarolSzymanowski
Szymanowski
died on 29 March 1937.

The
Theconfrontation
confrontationand and
coordination
coordination
of apparently disparate extent
of apparently extent of
ofhis
disparate hisknowledge
knowledge of of
either
either
thethe
folkfolk
musicmusic
or theor art
the art
cultures is one of the most intriguing aspects of music
music of ofthe
theregion.
region. We Wehavehave
only
only
Spiess's
Spiess's
account
account
- and- and
Szymanowski's mature work. His interest in Islam in par- this this suggests
suggeststhat
thatSzymanowski
Szymanowski never
never
set set
out out
to betoasbe
scien-
as scien-
ticular gave much of his middle-period music a distinctive tific
tific in
in his
hisapproach
approach as as
Bartok,
Bartok,whowho
hadhadvisited
visited
the same
the same
oriental colour. At first sight, this seems to derive from area
area in
in the
thecourse
courseofofethnomusicological
ethnomusicological investigations
investigations the the
the exotic, rather languid folklorism developed by some preceding
precedingyear.2
year.2Szymanowski
Szymanowski certainly
certainlyheardheard
muezzins
muezzins
19th-century Russians, but Szymanowski's first-hand
knowledge of North Africa enabled him to speak with a
2Bart6k
2Bart6khimself
himselfadmitted
admittedto to
thethe
existence
existence
of Arab
of Arab
influence
influence
in hisin
own
hiswork,
own work,
peculiarly authentic accent. Stefan Spiess, who travelled
notably
notablythe
thefirst
firstand
and
fourth
fourth
movements
movementsof the
of Dance
the Dance
Suite,Suite,
and the
and
third
the move-
third move-
with the composer to Algiers, Biskra and Tunis, later ment
ment of
ofthe
thePiano
PianoSuite
Suite
op.14
op.14
(1914),
(1914),
which
which
he said
he said
was 'tinctured
was 'tinctured
with oriental
with oriental
remarked on Szymanowski's 'unique absorption in impres-
sions, his inquisitiveness and his knack of forming - with
the help of a rich imagination and coordination of impres-
sions with a previously acquired knowledge - a full
IEE1 J ! iE^BEB 1, .i
historical picture of the country he was visiting'.'
Szymanowski's finest oriental works, composed after his
Send for free catalogue,
catalogue, including
including details
details of
of
travels through North Africa in 1914, celebrate the world
the 5-record Szymanowski commemorative
of Islam in a manner unparalleled by other European com-
boxed issue, and other rare recordings of
posers. His evocations do not, of course, depend upon a
works by this outstanding 20th century composer.
thoroughgoing exploitation of the motifs and the proper-
ties of Arab music; in fact it is impossible to ascertain the
I Wit

IStefan Spiess: 'Ze wspomniefi melomana' ('From the recollections of a music

lover'), reprinted in Karol Szymanowski we wspomnienach ('Karol Szymanowski in
reminiscences'), ed. J. M. Smoter (Krak6w, 1974), 59-60

129

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