'Col nobilissimo esercitio della vivuola': Monteverdi's String Writing

Author(s): Peter Holman

Source: Early Music, Vol. 21, No. 4, Monteverdi I (Nov., 1993), pp. 576-590
Published by: Oxford University Press
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PERFORMING MATTERS
Peter Holman
'Col nobilissimo esercitio
Monteverdi'sstring writing
In about 1590 Claudio Monteverdi moved from his
home town of Cremonato takeup a post at the Mantuan
courtas a stringplayer.DedicatingIIterzolibrodemadri-
gali (Venice, 1592) to Vincenzo Gonzaga, Monteverdi
wrote that 'the most noble exercise of the vivuola ...
opened to me the fortunate way into your service'
('quantunquecol nobilissimo esercitiodellavivuola che
m'apersela fortunataporta del suo servitio').'Monte-
verdiwas in his earlytwenties,and it was his firstjob as a
professional, adult musician. Yet he had alreadypub-
lished four or five collections of vocal music, and his
subsequentcareerwas to take him a long way from the
humbleworld of the professionalinstrumentalist.In the
winter of 1601/2he succeeded Benedetto Pallavicinoas
musicaldirector,and by the end of the firstdecadeof the
new centuryhe was recognizedas one of the most emi-
nent composers of his time, with eight published col-
lections of vocal chambermusic to his credit, as well as
two operas,severalballetsand a revolutionarycollection
of concertedchurch music. In 1613he was appointedto
one of the most important musical posts in Italy--
maestrodi cappellaof St Mark's,Venice.
However, this familiar story of genius's steady pro-
gressionfrom obscurityto fame and fortunecontainsan
interestingparadox.Monteverdi is not known to have
written any purelyinstrumentalmusic, yet he evidently
continued to play string instruments. In his Dichiara-
tione, printed at the end of II quinto librode madrigali
(Venice, 1605), Giulio Cesare Monteverdi mentioned
that his brother was concerned with the playing of the
two violebastarde;and Matteo Caberlotireferredto the
composeras a 'new Orpheuswith the sound of his viola,
in which he had no equals' ('novello Orfeo col suono
della sua viola, di cui non ebbe pari').2No composer of
the time contributedmore to the developmentof string
technique,and to the developmentof new typesof string
writing.Monteverdiwas the first composer to specifya
number of technical devices familiar to us from later
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della vivuola':
string music. In the Combattimentodi Tancredie Clo-
rindahe callsfor two-fingeredpizzicato('si strappanole
corde con duoi deti'; also 'si streppa la corda con due
deti'), measuredtremolo,a type of sforzando('E arcata
sola P.', i.e. forte to piano in a single stroke), and at the
end he even specifiesa particularbowing:the stringsare
asked to accompany Clorinda's dying words with
'smooth strokes' ('arcatesoaue'), and to fade away on
the last note ('Questa vltima nota va in arcata
more[n]do').3Monteverdiwas also one of the firstcom-
posersto use obbligatoinstrumentsin a numberof gen-
res of vocal music-the madrigal,the canzonetta and
opera-and in his latermusic he continuallyastonishes
the listenerwith the variedand inventiveways he com-
bines violins and voices. Furthermore,he seems to have
inventedor popularizedseveralstringscoringsthat later
becamewidespread;he was, for instance,one of the first
Italian composers to use the modern 'string quartet'
layout.
There are, of course, good reasons why we have no
instrumental music by Monteverdi. In his youth the
musical culture of Italian courts and cities was still
largelytaken up with vocal music:the madrigalwas the
chief form of secular music, used equally for private
recreationand in more public, concert-likesituations.
As a maestrodi cappellaMonteverdiwould mainly have
been requiredto write vocal music, and may well have
felt that it was beneath his dignity to contributeto the
instrumentalrepertory.At the time, much of it was writ-
ten by practisinginstrumentalists-the classof musician
that the composerprobablyfelt he had transcendedafter
1601/2.
Furthermore, a constant thread running through
Monteverdi'swritingsis the idea that music should be a
vehicle for the expression of human emotions. 'How,
dear Sir',he askedAlessandroStriggioin a famous letter
of 1616about a proposed favola marittimaat Mantua,
'can I imitate the speech of the winds, if they do not
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993 577
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speak? And how can I, by such means, move the
passions?Ariadnemoved us because she was a woman,
and similarly Orpheus because he was a man, not a
wind.'4Monteverdiwent on to acknowledgethat 'music
can suggest,without any words, the noise of winds and
the bleating of sheep, the neighing of horses and so on
and so forth.' But 'moving the passions' could clearly
only be achievedby the human voice. Nevertheless,the
beautifulfive-partdancemusic in the Ballodelleingrate,
or the superb, virtuoso instrumental writing of the
Sonatasopra'SanctaMaria'offer us tantalizingglimpses
of what might have been had Monteverdi'sinclinations
and situation been ratherdifferent.
The purpose of this articleis not to providea guided
tour of Monteverdi'sstringwriting,nor to arguethat the
role of instrumentsand instrumentalwritingin his con-
certedworkshas been undervaluedin the past-a point
made recentlywith some eloquence by Massimo Ossi.5
Rather,its aim is to place Monteverdi'sinstrumental
writingin the widerhistoryof stringedinstrumentsand
theirmusic, and, in the process,to tryto illuminatesome
of the difficult issues of scoring and instrumentation
thatbedevilmodernperformancesand recordings.First,
however,a few generalpoints about terminology.
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578 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993
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In the 16th century the two main families of string
instruments,the violins and the viols, were usuallydis-
tinguishedin Italianin one of two ways.The root word
viola could be qualifiedby the phrasesda braccioand da
gamba, or by augmentativesand diminutives, so that
violini or violetteand violonireferredrespectivelyto the
small-bodiedviolins and the largerviols as a class,irres-
pective of the size of individualinstrumentsin the con-
sorts. Violino,violetta,viola and violoneonly gradually
came to mean particularsizes of string instrumentsin
the courseof the 17thcentury.One of the problemswith
the terminologyused by Monteverdiand his contempo-
rariesis that they often used thesewords in their old and
new meaningsin the samecontext. Forinstance,Monte-
verdi calls for 'quattroviole da brazzo'in the introduc-
tion to the Combattimento,printed in the basso
continuo part, but labels the upper three string parts
'Violino, 'Violino'and 'Viola da Brazzio'.Similarly,the
six instrumentsof 'Altricanti d'Amor'are describedas
'quatroviole e doi violini' and are labelled(in descend-
ing pitch order) 'Violino, 'Violino' 'ViolaContrabasso'
(actuallyan alto-rangepart), 'Violada gamba','Violada
gamba'and 'Violacontrabasso',though they arereferred
to collectivelyas 'viole' in the solo voice and continuo
parts when they all enter in the third section of the
work.6
The unqualified term viole is often translated
unthinkinglytodayas 'viols',but, as the exampleof 'Altri
canti d'amor' demonstrates,it was used at the time to
mean violins as well as viols, and is best rendered in
Englishwith the neutralword 'strings'GaryTomlinson
statesthat Ariadne'slament in Arianna(1608)was orig-
inally'a solo song with a polyphonicaccompanimentof
viols' because an eyewitness description of the opera
mentions that the piece was 'accompagnatoda viole et
violini'.7But I know of no other case at the time where
violini can be shown to mean viols, and the viole are as
likelyto havebeen da braccioas da gamba.It is true that
viols were particularlyassociated with accompanying
the voice in the 16thcentury,but Monteverdiuses mem-
bers of the violin family in this role in severaldramatic
works,notablyin Orfeo,Act 3, where Orpheus'saccom-
panied recitative'Sol tu, nobile Dio' is labelled 'Furno
sonate le altre parti da tre Viole da braccio, & un con-
trabassode Viola tocchi pian piano'."8 Of course,it is also
possiblethat the role of the violeand violiniin Ariadne's
lament was to provide punctuating ritornellos, not
literallyto accompanythe voice.
It was not unusual at the time to label the upper
instrumentsofa violin consortspecificallyas violini,and
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1 An anonymousportraitof a musician, formerlythought to be Monteverdi,holding a string instrument (Oxford,

Ashmolean Museum)

EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993 579

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the lower parts unspecificallyand collectivelyas viole.
The first of the settings of 'LaudateDominum omnes
gentes'in the Selvamoralee spirituale(Venice,1641),for
instance,is saidto be 'a5. voci concertatocon due violini
& un choro a quattrovoci qualpotarsie cantaree sonare
con quattroviole o Tronboni',while the first'Beatusvir'
is scoredmore specificallyfor '6. voci concertatocon due
violini & 3 viole da brazzo ouero 3 Tronboni'.Monte-
verdidid not usuallyprintthese ripienoparts,but two of
them creptinto the Magnificat'i 8. voci & due violini &
quatro viole ouero quatro Tronboni ...' in the Selva
moraleby mistakeinsteadof two of the voice parts;they
are alto- and bass-rangeparts, which proves that the
term viole could include bass violins as well as violas.9
The same terminologyis often found in Austrianmusic
of the late 17th century-for instance, in many of the
manuscriptsof concerted works at Kromhfii in Mor-
avia,or in HeinrichBiber'sSonatce,tam aris,quamaulis
servientes(Salzburg,1676),which has two partslabelled
'Violino'and up to fourlabelled'Viola',in alto,tenor and
bass ranges."'
It needs to be emphasized that Monteverdi hardly
everspecifiedviols in his works.Therearemorethan too
partsfor membersof the violin family,but none for viols
in a complete consort, and only a handfulfor any indi-
vidual member of the family. 'Trebassi da gamba'are
includedin the list of instrumentsprintedat the front of
the score of Orfeo (Venice, 1609 and 1615), as well as
'Duoi contrabasside Viola';one of the latter,at least,was
a viol, for the sinfonia at the end of the passagein Act 3
mentioned above is playedby 'un contrabassode Viola
da gamba'."Similarly,the instrumental bass part of
'Domine ad adjuvandum'in the 1610o Vespersis marked
'Trombone,Contrabassoda gamba,&Viuolada brazzo';
the Combattimentocalls for a 'contrabassoda Gamba';
whilethe thirdchoir of 'Con che soaviti' in Concerto:set-
timo librode madrigali(Venice,1619)consists of a 'Viola
da Braccioouero da Gamba'a 'Bassode Braccioouero
da gamba'and 'il Contrabasso'."Finally,as mentioned
above,two partsin 'Altricantid'Amor'arelabelled'Vio-
la da gamba'though I arguebelowthatthe scoringof the
piece may reflectAustrianratherthan Venetianpractice,
and that the parts concerned may not even have been
written by Monteverdi. Clearly, Monteverdi's string
players in Mantua and Venice nearly always played
instrumentsof the violin family,even though viols were
still being made by northernItalianinstrumentmakers
long after his death.
There are also terminologicalproblems surrounding
Monteverdi'suse of particularstringinstruments.Much size: in Lanfranco's Scintille di musica (Brescia, 1533)the
580 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993
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ink hasbeen spilt overthe exactidentityof the 'duoi Vio-
lini piccioli alla Francese'specifiedin Act 2 of Orfeo.3It
used to be thought that the instrumentin question was
the small violin, 75 per cent of full-size (traditionally
calledhalf-sizein the trade),writtenfor in scordaturaby
late 17th-and early18th-centurycomposerssuch as Erle-
bach,FuxandJ.S. Bach,andvariouslytuned a 2nd,a 3rd
and a 4th above the ordinaryviolin. But David Boyden
argued convincingly that it was a kit or pochette,the
miniature violin particularlyassociated with French
dancing masters-hence Monteverdi's label 'alla
Francese'.RandleCotgravedefinedthe wordpochein his
Dictionarieof the Frenchand EnglishTongues(London,
1611) as 'the little narrow,and long Violin (having the
back of one peece) which Frenchdauncers,or dauncing
masters,carrieabout with them in a case, when they go
to teach their Schollers'.Boyden also argued that the
'Violinipiccioli'partsin Orfeosounded an octavehigher
than written. He pointed out that the parts are about a
4th lower than those for the two 'Violini ordinarijda
braccio' that play a few bars later; Monteverdicannot
have intended his 'Violinipiccioli' to sound lower than
them. Boydensuggestedthat theywereplayedon instru-
ments similar to the 'Exilent:gar klein Geig/mit drey
Saitten'describedby MichaelPraetorius,tunedg '-d"-a"
or a'-e"-b".4 On these instrumentsthe partscould have
been playedtransposedup an octavewithout going out
of first position.
A greatdeal of ink has also been spilt over the ranges
and sizes of the ordinarymembersof Monteverdi'svio-
lin consort.A number of more or less fantastictheories
have been proposed over the years, either directly in
print or by implicationin performancesand recordings:
that his violinopartswere actuallyplayedby violas, and
his violinopiccoloparts by ordinaryviolins; conversely,
that the upperinnerpartsof five-partconsortsareinten-
ded for violins; that the lower inner parts are intended
for so-called 'tenor violins'; and that his contrabasso
parts were always played at 16' pitch. I will deal with
some of them in due course, but it is worth setting out
now the normalpracticeof violin consortsaround16oo;
we shall see that Monteverdiconforms to it in virtually
all particulars.
Violin consortsof the 16thcenturytypicallyconsisted
of four or five instruments,a violin, two or threeviolas,
and a bass. The violin was originallythree-string,tuned
g-d'-a', and acquiredits e" stringaroundthe middle of
the century.The violas, similarly,were originallytuned
c-g-d' and receivedthe a' stringlater,but theyvariedin
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2 Paolo Veronese(c.1528-88),The Weddingat Cana (1562),detail (Paris,Louvre).Veroneseis depicted playing the viola da
gamba, Tintoretto the violin and Titian the bass instrument.

middle members of the consort are given the same
tunings, but are called 'Co[n]traalto' and 'Tenore' and
Mersenne states in Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636-7)
that the three viola parts of the French court violin band
were 'of different sizes even though they are [tuned] in
unison'; as we might expect, surviving violas of the
period vary a good deal in size.'5
The bass member of the violin consort, originally
tuned F-c-g', most commonly had a fourth string
added at the bottom, tuned to B'b. With the plain gut
strings of the period such a low note could only be
obtained by large instruments with a long string-length.
So small bass violins, particularly those that were used
for playing walking along, must have had a higher
tuning-such as G-d-a-e', given by Adriano Banchieri
in L'organo suonarino (Venice, 1605), P-43, and Con-
clusioni nel suono dell'organo (Bologna, 1609), P-55, or
F-c-g-d', given by Praetorius and by Lodovico Zacconi
in his Prattica di musica (Venice, 1592) (also copied by
Daniel Hitzler in his Extract aus der neuen Musica oder
Singkunst (Nuremberg, 1623)).'6 Zacconi, it is true, gives
F-c-g-d' as a tuning for violas rather than bass instru-
ments, which has given rise to the idea that string con-
sorts of the period included 'tenor violins'. Instruments
of this sort may have existed for a short period-one
may, for instance, have been used for the 'Trombone,

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ouero Viola da brazzo'partwith the rangeB-f' in Mon-
teverdi'sSonata sopra 'SanctaMaria'-but there is no
sign that they were used to play inner lines of four- or
five-partviolin consort music, for the parts-including
those in Monteverdi'sworks-never go below c, the low-
est note on the ordinaryviola.
Violin consorts with a single violin part were the
norm everywherein Europefor most of the 16thcentury,
and remainedso in much of northernEuropewell into
the 17thcentury.But new string scorings featuringtwo
violin partsbeganto appearsoon after1600.Theycan be
distinguishedfrom the olderscoringswith a singleviolin
and two or threeviolasby virtueof the factthat they fea-
ture the interplayof two equal and crossing soprano
parts, that they are usually notated in treble (G2) clefs
(the second parts of one-soprano music are usually in
the soprano (Ci) or mezzo-soprano (C2) clefs); most
important,the second partdoes not go abovef", the top
note of the viola in firstposition using a fingerextension.
It is safeto assumethatviolaswerenot playedout of first
position at the time, for the sopranopartsin stringcon-
sort music aresimilarlylimitedto c"', the top note of the
violin in first position with a finger extension. Music
with two equal soprano partswas not new. It had been
common in five- and six-partvocal music, sacred and
secular,for much of the 16th century,and had spread
from there into some northernEuropeaninstrumental
repertories-Elizabethanconsortmusic, for instance,or
German five- and six-part intradas for wind instru-
ments.'7However,the two-sopranoscoringis not known
to havebeen appliedto violin consortsuntilthe firstdec-
ade of the 17th century, when it is found in several
printed sources from Monteverdi'sMantuancircle.
The earliestconsort music apparentlyscored for two
violins, two violas and bass comes in the first instru-
mental collection of Salamone Rossi, the Jewish
composer and violinist who was born in Mantua and
seems to have spent his entirelife there. Rossi'sIIprimo
librodellesinfoniee gagliarde(Venice,1607),said on the
title-pageto be for 'due Viole, ouero doi Cornetti,& vn
Chittaroneo altro istromentoda corpo',consistsmainly
of short three-partsinfoniasfor sopranopartsand con-
tinuo. At the end thereis a sectionof'sinfonie e gagliarde
a cinque voci' with inner parts for two instruments,
unspecifiedbut doubtlessintendedprimarilyfor violas.'8
However, the same year, 1607, saw the production in
Mantua of Monteverdi's Orfeo, the printed score of
which contains some five-part instrumental passages
with two soprano parts scored for variedcombinations
of instrumentsincludinga group of violeda braccio;the
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chorus 'Lasciatei monti' in Act 1, for instance, was
accompaniedby 'cinqueViole da braccio,tre Chittaroni,
duoi Clavicembani,un Arpadoppia, un contrabassode
Viola, & un Flautinoalla vigesimaseconda'.'9
Furthermore,Monteverdi had already published a
vocal work with instrumentalpassagesof a similarsort.
The nine-part polychoralmadrigal'Questi vaghi con-
centi' the last item in IIquintolibrode madrigali(Venice,
1605),is prefacedand punctuatedby a beautifulgalliard-
like Monteverdidid not specify any instru-
'Sinfonia'.o
ments, but he almost certainlyhad in mind a violin con-
sort, apparently laid out for two violins, two violas and
bass:the second of the five partsuses the same clef (C1)
as the top part and occasionallycrosses it, but does not
go above e". It is of interest that in II quinto libro the
instrumentalpartsprefaceall nine voice parts (only the
second does not have a duplicate),which suggeststhat
there should be a separategroup of instrumentswith
each vocal choir.2'
We know from the list of instrumentsin the score of
Orfeo that Monteverdi used ten violin-family instru-
ments ('Dieci Viole da brazzo'), which has led per-
formers to suppose that the five-part instrumental
passageswere playedtwo to a part. This may have been
so, particularlyin the opening 'Toccata' which was
played'con tutti li stromenti',or the chorus 'Vieni Ime-
neo' in Act 1,'concertatoal suono di tutti gli stromenti'.2
But several numbers are specificallyallocated to only
half the ten strings:as we have seen, 'cinque Viole da
braccio' played in the chorus 'Lasciatei monti' while
'cinque Viole da braccio, un contrabasso,duoi Clav-
icembani & tre chitarroni' played the ritornello to
Orpheus'ssong in Act 2, 'Vi ricorda6 boschi ombrosi'.23
This may have been because the strings were divided
into two separateconsorts, effectivelyplayingone to a
part. The ritornellojust mentioned was played'da den-
tro' ('fromwithin'),which perhapsmeansthat the group
that played it was placed behind the scenes; it certainly
seems to imply that the 'fromwithin' music (which also
included the ritornello for 'Violini piccioli' discussed
above, and a ritornello a little later in Act 2 played 'di
dentro da duoi Chitaroni un Clavicembano,& duoi
Flautini')was playedby a group of musiciansphysically
separatedfrom their colleagues.24 Weknow that some of
the continuo instrumentsin Orfeowere placed in two
groups on opposite sides of the stage, for in Orpheus's
lament at the beginning of Act 5 'Duoi Organidi legno,
& duoi Chitaroni'played'one at the left-handcornerof
the scene, the other at the right'('l'uno nel angolo sinis-
tro de la Sena,l'altronel destro');one grouppresumably
accompaniedOrpheuswhile the other accompaniedhis
echo.25
Instrumentalistswere frequently dispersed in 16th-
and early 17th-century court entertainments. For
instance, ten violins played in the Balet comique de la
Royne(Paris,15October 1581),but they did not form a
single'orchestra', for theywere dividedinto two separate
groups opposite sidesof the hall.26Moredirectlyrele-
on
vant to Orfeo,Marcoda Gaglianowrote in the prefaceto
the score of La Dafne (Florence,16o8) that his opera
(performedin Mantuain 16o8)should begin with a sin-
fonia playedby 'the severalinstrumentswhich are used
to accompanythe chorusesand playthe ritornellos',but
that four viole 'eitherda braccioor da gamba'should be :r .

'placed in the nearest stage exit where they cannot be

noticed' to supplythe sound of Apollo'slyre.27A similar
arrangementin Orfeomight explainthe presenceof the
low-pitchedsinfoniathat occurstwice in Act 3 and once
in Act 5. On its second appearanceit is labelled'Questa
Sinfo[nia] si son6 pian piano, con Viole da braccio,un
Org[ano] di leg[no] & un contrabasso de Viola da
gamba' and is probablyalso intended to representthe
sound of the lyre, for it is associated with two of
Orpheus'smost impassioned solos: it frames his great
'prayer'to Charon,and it comes at the end of his hymn
of praiseto Eurydice'sbeauty.28 Certainly,the groupthat
playedthis low-pitchedpiece, in five partswith C3, C4,
C4, C4 and F4 clefs, cannot have been constituted the
same as the one (or ones) that playedthe instrumental
passageswith two sopranoparts;it wasprobablylaid out
for violin, three violas and bass.
The Ballo delle ingrate,performedin Mantua in the
next year,16o8,also contains music for five-partstrings.
It was printedin the Madrigaliguerrieri,et amorosi,but
in a version that seems to derivefrom a performancein
Vienna in the late 1620osor the 1630os.29Rinuccini'stext
wasalteredin a few places-a referenceto the riverMin-
cio was changedto the Danube-and it seemsthat some
of the vocal music was rewritten.The role of Pluto, with
its virtuoso runs and wide leaps, is closer to the bass
partsof Monteverdi'slateoperasthan to the music given
to Charonand Pluto in Orfeo,and Venus'slittle passage
of stile concitatoat the words 'Invan gentil guerriero
move in campo d'honor leggiadroe fiero' ('in vain does
a noble warrioract manfullyand fiercelyon the field of
honour') can hardlydate from before1624,when Mon-
teverdi wrote the Combattimento,his pioneer essay in
the warlikestyle.
The stringwritingin the Ballodelle ingrate,however,
seems to have been left more or less as it was originally
'i
: : .. ' :
. .. .
3 Giovanni Bellini (c.143o/4o-1516), detail of an altarpiece
showing an angel playing the lira da braccio (Venice,Church
of S. Zaccaria)
composed in 16o8.Monteverdispecified'CinqueViole
da brazzo, Clavicembanoe Chitarone'for the work (a
mention of 'all kinds of instruments'in an eyewitness
descriptionof the 16o8performancehasbeen takenas an
invitationto use wind instruments,but it mayjust refer
to a varied continuo group),30and the five-partdance
music for the ingrateis much more old-fashionedthan
the four-partstring writing in the Combattimento.The
second (untitled) part acts as an alto rather than a
second soprano:it hardlyever crossesthe top part, and
never rises abovef", so it looks as if Monteverdiinten-
ded one-violin, three-violaratherthan two-violin, two-
viola scoring.
At firstsight it is difficultto understandwhy he went
backto an earliertype of stringwriting,havingused the
new type so successfullyin Orfeo.A possibleexplanation
is the presencein Italyof a Frenchviolin band in 16o8.
The 12-man group seems to have toured some of the
northern Italian courts before settling in Florence;we
know from a letterdated18April16o8,writtenby a Man-
tuan court officialto his opposite number in Florence,
that the servicesof a group of 'Musici Francesi'then in
Florencehad been offered to the Mantuan court, but

EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993 583

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that theywere eventuallydeclined.31 But the groupcould
have visited Mantua some time that spring; the Ballo
delle ingratewas performedduring the celebrationsfor
the wedding of Francesco Gonzaga to Margheritaof
Savoyin May and June.The one-violin, three-violalay-
out was used all over Europearound16oo,but gradually
came to be thought of as Frenchwhen violin bands in
other countrieswent over to more modern scorings.
Manywritershave drawnattentionto the similarities
between the Ballo delle ingrateand the Frenchballetde
cour, and it is possible that Monteverdi acquired his
knowledge of the genre not on his trip to Flandersin
1599,as has been suggested,but from Frenchviolinists
and dancingmastersin Mantuain 16o8.It is surelysig-
nificant that Monteverdi stated in his introduction to
the work that 'the said instruments are doubled as
needed accordingto the requirementof the size of the
place in which it is to be performed' ('Li quali ustru-
menti si radoppianosecondo il bisogno della grandezza
del loco in cui devisi rapresentare')-the only evidence
for doubled strings in Monteverdi, apart from the
ambiguousindicationsin Orfeoand 'Questivaghi con-
centi' alreadydiscussed.
The placing of the dance music in the Ballo delle
ingrateis also a problem. The stage directions seem to
BAqI
.oBERLIOZ
GILUCK
....MOZART
tUrtCA.L
derte
RIEII
SC.UBE.T.
Gesamt asgaben
BairenreiterTE MA
Urtext
. .
584 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993
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call for it in four places:(1)when 'the ungratefulwomen
begin to appear'('Qui incomincianoapparirele Donne
ingrate');(2) when Pluto commands them to dance;(3)
when Pluto commands them to leave; and (4) when
'theyreturnto hell to the sound of the firstentrata'('tor-
nano al Inferno al suono della prima entrata').All the
music was printed in a single block at (2) in the Madri-
gali guerrieri,et amorosi,but this may have been just for
the convenienceof the printer,or may reflectthe layout
of the manuscriptthat served as printers'copy. It con-
sists of four elements: (a) a pavan-likepassagemarked
entrata;(b) 'il ballo' the same music repeatedwith the
additionof a versionof it in tripletime; (c) a set of three
variations,with C, 6/4 and3/2 time-signatures,on a rap-
idly modulatinggroundbass;and (d) a repetitionof the
entrata,strangelyalteredby the omission of a semibreve
beat in eachphrase.PerhapsMonteverdiintended(a) to
be playedat (1), (b) to be playedat (2), which makes
sense of the rubric'they dance the balloup to the half-
way point' ('Danzanoil ballo sino a mezzo'), and (c) to
be played at (3), which makes sense of the rubric 'the
ungratefulsouls take up again the second part of the
ballo to the sound as before' ('Qui ripligianole Anime
Ingratela secondapartedel Balloal suono come prima').
Finally,the obvious place for (d) is (4), where its trun-
cated,haltingphrasesserveas a moving reminderof the
ladies' short period of freedom.
No surveyof the stringwritingin Monteverdi'sMan-
tuan workswould be completewithout a mention of the
requirementsof the 1610o Vespers.In moderneditionsthe
scoring of the 'work' tends to reflect the common
assumption that it is a unified cycle,intendedto be per-
formed complete on a single occasion by a single vocal
and instrumentalensemble.3In fact,only threepiecesin
Sanctissimcevirgini missa senis vocibusad ecclesiarum
choros ac Vesperepluribus decantandce(Venice, 1610)
specifyparticularinstruments,and they are remarkably
diversein their requirements.33 In Domine ad adjuvan-
dum there are partsfor 'Cornetto,& Violino da brazzo',
'Cornetto, & Violino da brazzo', 'Viuola da brazzo',
'Viuola da brazzo, & Trombone','Trombone;& Viuola
da brazzo',and 'Trombone,Contrabassoda gamba, &
Viuola da brazzo'.This complete six-part string con-
sort-two violins, three violas and bass violin doubled
by contrabasso-does not recurin the collection (the six-
part ritornellosin Dixit Dominusand the five-partones
in Ave marisstellaare for unspecifiedinstruments),and
is unusual in Italianchurch music of the period.
It was more common to use violins in mixed ensem-
bles with wind instruments (as in Giovanni Gabrieli's
late motets), or in pairswith voices and continuo instru-
ments (as in much of Monteverdi'slaterchurchmusic).
Thus, the Sonatasopra 'SanctaMaria'has parts for two
violins and a bass violin with two cornetts and three
trombones (the second, the 'Trombone,ouero Viola da
brazzo'partmentioned earlier,the third marked'Trom-
bone doppio'). The Magnificatfor 'sevenvoices and six
instruments'('Septemvocibus, & sex instrumentis')has
parts for two violins, bass violin and three cornetts,
though in the 'Quia respexit'the first cornett is seem-
ingly required to change to 'Fifara',trombone and
'Flauto',the second to 'Pifara'and 'Flauto',and the third
to trombone, and in the 'Sicutlocutus est' the third cor-
nett is againrequiredto changeto trombone;in practice,
more musiciansareneededbecausein severalplacesthe
cornett playersare not given time to make the changes.
We must be wary,of course, of assumingthat printed
partbooksof the period were actuallyused for perform-
ance and arethereforereliableguidesto the size and dis-
position of their performing forces. Many collections
need to be supplementedwith duplicateparts, printed
or manuscript,before they can be used (as the Magni-
ficatdemonstrates),and werepresumablyused in partto
transmitrepertoryto musiciansoutside the orbit of the
composer rather than as material for actual perform-
ance. Nevertheless,the layout of the instrumentalparts
in the 1610collection is instructive.For one thing, there
is no consistencyin the way particularinstrumentsare
allocatedto particularpartbooks.For instance,the vio-
lin parts for Domine ad adjuvandumare in the cantus
and sextus books, while those for the Sonata sopra
'SanctaMaria' are in the sextus and altus books, and
those for the Magnificatin the quintusand bassus.This
suggeststhat the manuscriptmaterialused as printer's
copy consistedof a numberof separatesets of parts,not
a singleco-ordinatedset of materialfor the whole 'work',
as is produced for modern performances-which is
another reason for thinking that the individual items
had a diverse origin and existence. Also, it is unlikely
that Monteverdiwanted his instrumentaliststo double
the vocal partsin numberswhere they are not specified,
as happensroutinelyin modern performances;thereare
no doublingpartsin the partbooks,and Laudatepueriis
specificallydescribedas 'a 8 voci sole nel organo'in the
bassusgeneralispart. Nor is it likely that Monteverdi
intended his stringpartsto be doubled.Violin bands of
orchestral size were beginning to be established in
northern European courts at the time, and were not
unknownin Italy,as we haveseen. Buttheiruse seems to
have been confined to secular music until the second
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half of the century.
The exact identity and role of Monteverdi'scontra-
bassois a problem. Adriano Banchierigives the tuning
D'-G'-C-E-A-d for the 'violone in contrabasso con
tasti' in his Conclusioninel suono dell'organo,pp.53-4,
and it is also one of the three tunings given by Michael
Praetorius for the six-string 'Violone, Grop Viol-de
Gamba-Bass'(also referredto as the 'Grop-BapViol de
Gamba' and 'Italis Violono, oder Contrabasso da
gamba');the other tunings are the five-stringE'-A'-D-
G-c and the six-string Double-bass
viols tuned D'-G'-C-E-A-d E'-A'-D-G-c-f.34
are usually used today to
double Monteverdi's bass parts at the lower octave,
particularlyin works such as Domine ad adjuvandum
that also assign a bass violin to the same part. Octave
doubling was certainly known at the time. Praetorius
wrote of two recently-made'gargrosseVioln de Gamba
Sub Basse'(also referredto as 'Gargrop Ba3 Viol','gros-
sen Sub Bap geigen' and 'Grop Contra-Bas-Geig')that
he used 'on the bass-line [of, presumably,polychoral
vocal music], playingat the lower octave'.He addedthat
the instrumenthad 'greatcarryingpower',and sounded
like 'the Untersatzsub-bassof an organ';it is illustrated
with five strings,and is given the odd tuning D '-E '-A'-
D-G.35But he does not associate the ordinary con-
. . . .. . .
.=w
-= Eqg
g~g
A nK
V:..
..0
--.AIV ... ~.~.~'INN l.w .... _
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993 585
Ex.1 'Conche soavitY',
bars48-54
che so
'Viola da Braccio O:
overo da Gamba'
'Basso de Braccio -
overodagamba'
. . ..m__
'il Contrabasso'
Basso Continuo
-
7 -o-
trabassoda gamba with octave doubling, and some of
Monteverdi'scontrabassopartsonly make sense at nota-
ted pitch.
The clearestcases are those that take the lowest parts
of stringconsorts,and arenot doubledby bassviolins or
any other melody instruments.Transposingthese parts
down an octavecreatesawkwardand unconvincinggaps
betweenthe bassand the partaboveit. In the case of 'Sol
tu, nobile Dio' in Orfeo,there is alreadyoften a gap of
more than an octavebetween the 'contrabassode Viola'
and the part immediatelyabove in the four-partstring
group that accompaniesOrpheus'svoice. Similarly,the
'Contrabasso'partin the thirdchoir of'Con che soavita'
is the bass of a homogeneous three-partlow-pitched
choir, while the 'Viola Contrabasso'part in 'Altricanti
d'Amor'is the lowest partof a six-partconsort.Further-
more, the part in 'Con che soavita'has the range C-a,
and could therefore not be played throughout trans-
posed down an octave with the tunings given by Ban-
chieriand Praetorius(ex.1).Octavetranspositionmakes
a bit more sense in 'Vagoaugelletto,che cantando vai',
from the Madrigaliguerrieri,et amorosiand scored for
seven voices, two violins, a part marked 'Contrabassi'
with the notated rangeF-c', and continuo.36It acts as a
ripieno part, reinforcingthe tuttis and droppingout of
the texture in the solos.
The contrabassopartin the Combattimentohas rather
a different function. In the introduction to the work
Monteverdispecifiedfive stringedinstruments,'quattro
viole da brazzo,Soprano,Alto, Tenore& Basso;et con-
trabassoda Gamba'and added that the latter'will con-
tinue with the harpsichord' ('che continuera con il
586 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993
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- a - ve armo - ni a fa - re ste
p P 5"
--o-
Clauicembano').This seems to mean that the contra-
bassoshould playthe bass of some or all of the solo vocal
passages-the harpsichord need not, of course, have
been the only continuo instrument-while the bassvio-
lin should play only with the upper strings; unfortu-
nately, the Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi is
uninformativeon this point, for thereis no separatebass
violin part, and the two copies of the continuo, printed
as partof a full scorein the basso continuo and in a short
score in the tenoreprimo partbook, do not have any
indications of instrumentation.Again, it is not clear
whetherthe contrabasso playershouldtransposesome or
all of the part down an octave, though experiencehas
shown that the best effect is produced when he plays
mainly at the same octave as the left hand of the
harpsichord.
Thereis anotherpuzzlingfeatureof the stringwriting
in the Combattimento.In the introductionthe four viole
da brazzo are described as 'Soprano, Alto, Tenore et
Basso'and yet the upperpartsareboth labelled'Violino'.
The writingis similarlyinconsistent:much of it looks as
if it was written for violin, two violas and bass, for the
second part is printed in the mezzo-sopranoclef (C2),
with the range a-d", and never crosses the first violin
part. However,in three of the war-likepassages,begin-
ning respectivelyat the words'Odi le spadeorribilmente
urtasi','onde sempreal ferir'and 'O che sanguignae spa-
ziosa porta' the second part suddenly becomes a true
soprano, echoing and crossingthe first violin. A fourth
passage,beginningat the words 'u' l'artein bando',pro-
vides a clue to what may havehappened:the score in the
basso continuo part gives the familiarversion, in block
Ex.2 Combattimentodi Tancredie Clorinda,bars 302-6, string parts only
[1]
'Violino'
'Violino' [21,
from part-book
from score
'Viola da Brazzio'
Basso Continuo
chordswith the second partfunctioningas an alto, while
the partbookcontainsa completelydifferentline with the
as the otherthreepassages(ex.2).
same characteristics
A likelyexplanationis that Monteverdi'soriginalver-
sion of the work (written,he tells us in the introduction,
for a performance in 1624 in the Venetian palazzo of
Girolamo Mocenigo) was conceived for the standard
16th- and early17th-centurycombination of violin, two
violas and bass-and thatthe passagesfor two equalvio-
lins are the result of a revision, never completed. The
newer 'string quartet' scoring is conspicuous by its
absence in Italian music of the 162os and before. The
four-partpieces in collectionsfrom that decadeby com-
posers such as GiovanniMartinoCesare,BiagioMarini,
Dario Castello, Giovanni Rovetta, Giovanni Picchi,
CarloFarinaand GirolamoFrescobaldiall use the older
scoring, and to my knowledge the earliest music that
appears to be written for two violins, viola and bass
comes from north Germany:it was publishedin the col-
lection Taffel-Consort (Hamburg, 1621), composed,
compiled and arrangedby the English expatriateTho-
mas Simpson, of the Biickeburgcourt near Hanover.It
took some time for the new scoring to be established
south of the Alps, and it may be that Monteverdionly
began to modernize the string writing of the Combat-
timento shortly before it was printed in the Madrigali
guerrieri, et amorosi.
Another work in the Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi
with puzzling string writing is 'Altricanti d'Amor'.As
mentioned earlier,it calls for a six-partstringconsort of
two violins, a viola, two viols and contrabasso,a scoring
that has no parallelelsewherein Monteverdi,or, as faras
I am aware,in the works of his Italiancontemporaries.
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I
Furthermore,the instrumentsare used in peculiarways.
The work startswith a sinfonia for two violins, 'Violada
gamba' (describedas 'Viola da brazzo'in the tavola of
the basso continuo) and continuo. The viol continuesto
play for a while in the firstvocal section, often dropping
in and out of the texturewith the violins, but sometimes
doublingthe lowest vocal part in a way that is untypical
of Monteverdi'spractice. Melody instruments do not
seem to have been much used to double the continuo
lines of Italianvocalmusic at the time, evenwhen violins
were present-which explainswhy there areso few parts
for them in Monteverdi's collections.37The practice
seems to havebeen more common in Germany,though
Heinrich Schiitzspecificallywarnedagainstusing a vio-
lone when a solo voice was alreadydoubling the bass.38
It is also strangethat thereis a changein the role of the
'Violada Gamba'part halfwaythrough the work:at the
entry of the full six-part consort in the third vocal sec-
tion it takes a low inner partwhile the contrabassotakes
over its function as the bass of the ensemble-some-
thing that neverhappenselsewherein Monteverdi.All in
all, it seemsunlikelythat Monteverdiwasresponsiblefor
all the aspectsof the stringwritingin 'Altricantid'Amor'.
In the final full section there are dozens of glaringcon-
secutive octaves between the lower inner parts and the
violins, as if some inexperthand had tried to write the
viola and viol partsfrom a set of manuscriptpartswith-
out scoring up the work; perhaps the same individual
was responsible for the anomalies already discussed.
Perhaps,too, 'Altricanti d'Amor'was originallyscored
just for six voices, two violins and continuo, like 'Altri
canti di Marte',its companion piece in the Madrigali
guerrieri,et amorosi.BookVIIIwas a madrigalcollection
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993 587
of unprecedentedsize and complexity,and it is easy to
understandhow a few foreign inner parts might have
slipped past its septuagenariancomposer when he was
preparingit for the press.
It maybe that Monteverdi's'assistant'was workingat
the Imperial court. 'Altricanti d'Amor' stands at the
head of Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, and is addressed
to the Habsburgemperor, the dedicatee. The volume
seems originallyto have been intended to honour Fer-
dinand II; followinghis death in December1636several
of the pieces were probablyperformed in Regensburg
and Vienna during the celebrationsin connection with
the coronation of his successor, Ferdinand III.39 An
Austrian performance of 'Altri canti d'Amor' may
explain why the work mixes violins and viols, for such
scorings were used by Viennese court composers for
much of the century.A numberof sonatasand ballettiin
the Kromhfiz collection by Antonio Bertali (1605-69),
who worked at the Imperialcourt from 1624,and Ales-
sandro Poglietti (d 1683), organist there from 1661, are
cases in point. Bertali's'Sonata a 2 chori' mixes two
'Viola d: Gamba'with two violins, two violas, 'violone',
three trombones and organ, while an eight-partsonata
by Pogliettiis scored for '2. viol de gambe in Concerto'
and a six-partviolin consort;a 'Ballettoa6' in Poglietti's
autographuses a similarscoring to 'Altricanti d'amor':
'Violine' 'Violino 2do' 'Altodi Viola','Gamba''Gamba
2da'and 'Bassodi Viola'.40
The stringpartsof Monteverdi'slate operasalso pose
problems of authenticity.It is now generallyaccepted
that the manuscript scores of II ritorno d'Ulisse (1640)
and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643) are not radically
incomplete,as used to be thought,and do not need to be
'realized'so that they sound like Orfeo.41Theywerewrit-
ten for the commercialVenetiantheatre,not to demon-
strate the spending power of a courtly 6lite, and all the
emphasiswas on 'a sung play,in which the singer-actors
should reignsupreme',asAlan Curtisputs it in his recent
edition.42 The strings make only a marginal contri-
bution-nearly alwaysin the form of short punctuating
ritornellos-and some surviving records of payments
for the San Cassianotheatreshow that they are likelyto
have played one to a part. When Cavalli'sAntiocowas
performedin 1659,paymentswere made to eight instru-
mentalists:three 'violin' players, a 'Violetta',two the-
orbos, and two whose function is not given.Fora revival
of Cavalli'sCiroin 1665, ten playersare listed:two vio-
lins, a 'violetta',a 'viola da brazzo',two theorbos, three
keyboardsand one whose function is not given.43The
extantscore of Cirocontainsfive-partritornellos,so it is
588 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993
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likely that the unspecified instrument was a second
viola.
II ritornod'Ulisseis scored consistently for five-part
strings,and can be performedmore or less as it standsin
the sole musical source, now in the National Libraryin
Vienna.44Poppeais, however,an editorialnightmare:it
has become clearin recentyearsthat some of the music
was not written by Monteverdi, and that the musical
texts in the Veniceand Naplesmanuscripts,which con-
tinually differ from each other, stand at some distance
from the composer's autograph and from what was
heard at the first performance.45 The string writing is
particularly confused and confusing.Nearlyall the bass
parts of the ritornellosare the samein both manuscripts,
while the upperpartstend to be completelydifferent;in
the Venicescore all save one are in three parts,for two
violins and bass, while in the Naples version most of
them have a viola part as well. On the whole, the Venice
ritornellos are earlier in style and simpler than the
Naplesones, and tend to havefewerawkwardmoments,
though it is far from clear that Monteverdihimself had
anythingto do with the upper parts of either set.
A likely explanation is that the original autograph
contained only the basses of the instrumentalpassages,
and that the upper parts were supplied by others; the
ones in the Naples score may havebeen composed for a
1651revivalin that city, while those in the Venice score
probablycome from Cavalli'scircle(his wife copied Acts
i and 3 of the manuscript,and he annotated it), and
could havebeen used in the firstperformance.However,
doubt has recentlybeen caston this by the discoverythat
three of the sinfonias in the Venice manuscript also
appearin otheroperasof the 164os:the one at the begin-
ning of the opera is common to Cavalli's Doriclea (1645),
and the two in the coronationscene,Act3, scene 8, make
up the sinfoniaat the beginningof FrancescoSacrati'sLa
finta pazza (1641,but probablya version preparedfor a
later revival).46Monteverdi'sown ritornellos,assuming
that he composed them, might well have been in five
parts, like the ones in II ritorno d'Ulisse.
Finally,I would like to draw attention to an earlier
vocalworkby Monteverdithatmayhavea missingstring
ritornello. The song 'Ohim&ch'io cado, ohime ch'in-
ciampo ancora',published by Carlo Milanuzzi in the
anthology Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice,
1624), consists of six variations over a long modulating
ground bass.47Each verse is separated by a five-bar
'Ritornello' apparentlyfor continuo alone. It can be
regardedas a challengeto the improvisationalskills of
the continuo players,but the exampleofL'incoronazione
Ex.3 'Ohimech'iocado,ohimech'inciampoancora',excerpt,withstringpartsby PeterHolman
(a)

_ _ I

( b)

ii Pa - ra - di - - - so.

(b)do

TI1lI0m
@1993,PeterHolman

di Poppea raises the possibility that there is really some- 'P.Fabbri,Monteverdi (Turin,1985),p.32.Thereseemsto be no
foundationforthefrequently repeated statementthatMonteverdiwas
thing missing. I have therefore written four upper string formallyappointedas a 'suonatoredi vivuola';indeed, he was
parts for the ritornello, and for the last few bars, where describedas a cantorein 1594:seeFabbri,p.36.
Monteverdi abandons the ground bass, in the hope that 2Sourcereadingsin musichistory,ed.O.Strunk,iii:TheBaroque era
others will include this beautiful song in their concert (NewYork,1965),p.46;Fabbri,Monteverdi, p.44.
3Madrigali et amorosi. .. libroottavo(Venice,1638),in
guerrieri,
programmes (ex.3). ClaudioMonteverdi: Madrigals bookVIII,ed. G. F.Malipiero,rev.S.
I wouldliketo thankTim Carter,MassimoOssiand Clif- Appelbaum (NewYork,1991), PP-143-67.Malipiero's of
transcriptions
Monteverdi's rubricsandscoringindications havebeencheckedwith
fordBartlettforreadingdraftsof thisarticle,andfor mak- theoriginals;
smallvariants of spelling,punctuation
andcapitalization
ing many valuablesuggestions. betweenthepartbookshavebeenignored.
4Theletters
ofClaudio Monteverdi, trans.D.Stevens(London,1980),
PeterHolman is the directorof the Parleyof Instruments p.117.
and Opera Restor'd. His book Four and twenty fiddlers: 5M.Ossi,'ClaudioMonteverdi's techniqueanditsrolein
concertato
thedevelopment of hismusicalthought'(PhDdiss.,Harvard U.,1989);
the violin at the English court, 1540-1690 has recently M.Ossi,'ClaudioMonteverdi's thecan-
ordinenovo,belloetgustevole:
beenpublishedby OxfordUniversityPress. zonettaas dramaticmoduleand formalarchetype', Journalof the

EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1993 589

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
AmericanMusicologicalSociety,xlv (1992),pp.261-304. 35Praetorius, De organographia, pp.25, 45-6, pl. v.
6Madrigaliguerrieri,et amorosi,in Madrigalsbook VIII,ed. Mal- 36Madrigals bookVIII,ed. Malipiero,pp.230-53.
ipiero, p.2. The third and fourth parts are labelled'Viola'. 37G.Dixon, 'Continuo scoring in the earlyBaroque:the role of the
7G.Tomlinson,Monteverdiand the end of the Renaissance(Oxford, bowed-bassinstruments',Chelys,xv (1986), pp.38-53.
1987/R199o),p.138;see also A. Solerti, Gli albori del melodramma 38HeinrichSchiitz,MusikalischeExequien,Neue Ausgabesamtlicher
(Milan, 1905),i, P-99. Werke,iv (Kasseland Basle,1956),p.8.
"Monteverdi: L'Orfeo,ed. C. Bartlett(Wyton,1993),p.76;see also J. 39D.Stevens,'Madrigaliguerrieri,et amorosi',Musicalquarterly,liii
Glover, 'A list of Monteverdi'sinstrumental specifications' Claudio (1967),pp.161-87;Thelettersof ClaudioMonteverdi,p.417;Tomlinson,
Monteverdi:'Orfeo'ed. J. Whenham (Cambridge,1986),pp.182-4. Monteverdiand the end of the Renaissance,p.2o9; for other Viennese
9Tuttele operedi ClaudioMonteverdi,xv, ed. G. E Malipiero(Asolo, traitsin the collection,see M. Mabbett,TheItalianmadrigal,1620-1655
1928),pp.481,368, 639. (PhD diss., London U., 1989).
"oHeinrichIgnazFranzBiber,1644-1704:Sonataetam arisquamaulis 40Seventeenth-century musicfromKromrizi,Czechoslovakia: a catalog
servientes(1676),ed. E. Schenk, Denkmalerder Tonkunst in Oster- of theLiechtensteinmusiccollectionon microfilmat SyracuseUniversity,
reich, cvi-cvii (Grazand Vienna, 1963). ed. C. A. Otto (Syracuse,1977),IV.1o3,IV.18;WienerTanzmusikin der
"L'Orfeo, ed. Bartlett,p.79. zweitenHiiftedes siebzehtenJahrhunderts, ed. P. Nettl, Denkmalerder
"Tuttele opere,xiv (Asolo, 1932),p.123;vii (Asolo, 1928),pp.137-51. Tonkunstin Osterreich,xxv (Graz,1960), pp.52-8.
13L'Orfeo,ed. Bartlett,p.36;see, in particular,D. Boyden,'Montever- 41For the dates, see W. Osthoff, 'Zur bologneser Auffihrung von
di's violinipiccioliallafranceseand violeda brazzo'Annalesmusicolo- Monteverdis Ritornodi Ulisse',Anzeigerder Philosophisch-historisch
giques,vi (1958-63),PP.387-401;L.Sirch,'Violinipiccoli allafrancesee Klasseder Osterreichischen Akademieder Wissenschaften, viii (1958),
canto alla francesenell'Orfeo(1607)e negli Scherzimusicali (1607)di pp.155-6o;Tomlinson,Monteverdiand theendof theRenaissance,p.215;
Monteverdi',Nuova rivistamusicaleitaliana, xv (1981),pp.5o-65; M. ClaudioMonteverdi:L'incoronazione di Poppea,ed. A. Curtis(London,
Downie Banks, 'The violino piccolo and other small violins' Early 1989),p.v.
music,xviii (1990), pp.588-96. 42L'incoronazionedi Poppea,ed. Curtis,p.xii.
'4M.Praetorius,Syntagmatismusici tomussecundus:De organogra- 43D.Arnold, 'L'incoronazione di Poppeaand its orchestralrequire-
phia (Wolfenbfittel,1619/R1958), p.26, pl. xxi. ments' Musical times, civ (1963), pp.176-8, 255; J. Glover, Cavalli
15SeeP. Holman, Four and twentyfiddlers:the violin at the English (London, 1978),pp.o06-12.
court,1540-1690(Oxford, 1993),pp.24, 235-6. 44MS18763;Tuttele opere,xii (Asolo, 1930).
'6Holman,Fourand twentyfiddlers,pp.26-7;see also Boyden,'Mon- 15Seethe discussionin L'incoronazione di Poppea,ed. Curtis,pp.v-ix;
teverdi's violini piccioli'; and D. Boyden, 'The tenor violin: myth, and Claudio Monteverdi:L'incoronazionedi Poppea,ed. C. Bartlett
mystery,or misnomer' FestschriftOtto ErichDeutsch,ed. W. Gersten- (Wyton, 1991).
berg, J. La Rue and W. Rehm (Kassel,1963),pp.273-9. 46L'incoronazionedi Poppea,ed. Curtis,pp.viii, 237.
'7Holman,Fourand twentyfiddlers,pp.169-71. 47Tuttele opere,ix (Asolo, 1939),pp.111-16.
'8SalamoneRossi:Sinfonie,gagliarde,1607-1608,ed. E Rikko and J.
Newman (New York,1966), nos. 1-6, 13.
'9L'Orfeo, ed. Bartlett,p.15.
2?Tuttele opere,v (Asolo, 1927),pp.104-30.
"The instrumentalparts are laid out correctlyin ClaudioMonte-
verdi:Operaomnia, ed. M. Caraci,vi: Madrigalia 5 voci, libroquinto
ROBERT GOBLE
(Cremona,1984),pp.2o3-22.
22L'Orfeo,ed. Bartlett,pp.2, 12-13.
& SON
23L'Orfeo,
S ed. Bartlett,pp.22-4, 42.
"L'Orfeo,ed. Bartlett,p.39.
25L'Orfeo,ed. Bartlett,p.1o8.
26Balet
S comiquede la Royne(Paris,1582/R1965), ff.22r-22v.
7LaDafnedi Marcoda Gagliano,ed. J. Erber(London,1978),pp.iii,
v; see also P. Pickett, Behind the mask:Monteverdi's'L'Orfeo'(1992),
pp.19, 20 [a privatelyprinted booklet availablefrom King'sMusic].
28L'Orfeo, ed. Bartlett,pp.66, 79, 114;see also ClaudioMonteverdi:
'Orfeo,ed. Whenham,pp.69, 75.
29Madrigals bookVIII,ed. Malipiero,pp.332-65.The Vienna revival
is often dated 1628,but I am gratefulto Tim Carterfor pointing out to
me that this is not based on reliableevidence;see also J. Whenham,
'The later madrigalsand madrigal-books',The new Monteverdicom-
panion, ed. D. Arnold and N. Fortune (London, 1985),p.246.
30D.Arnold, 'Performingpractice',The new Monteverdicompanion,
p.326.
3A. Solerti,Musica,balloe drammaticaalla cortemediceadal 16ooal
1637(Florence,19o5/R1969),p.41;T. Carter,'A Florentinewedding of
16o08Acta musicologica,Iv (1983), pp.89-1o7; T. Carter,JacopoPeri
(1561-1633): his life and works (New York and London, 1989), i, Harpischordsof outstanding
pp.329-30. musical refinementand reliability
32See,for example,ClaudioMonteverdi:VesperaeBeataeMariaeVir-
ginis, ed. G. Wolters(Wolfenbtitteland Zurich, 1966). GREATSTONES, KILN LANE
33Tutte le opere,xiv, pp.126-326;facsimileedition with an introduc- HEADINGTON, OXFORDOX3 8HQ
tion by G. Haenen (Peer,1992). TEL:0865 61685
34Praetorius, De organographia,pp.25,44-5, pl. vi.

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