The Florentine Camerata and the Birth of the Baroque Era History of Opera The Florentine Camerata and the Birth of the Baroque Era

Academies Academy: formal gatherings of gentlemen amateurs Met to discuss topics that interested them Wide range of subjects (or just one concentration) Patron: provide money, meeting place, and snacks Composers Theorists Poets Florence, Italy: Birthplace of the Baroque As many as 20 academies at one time

Florentine Camerata 1570-1590; 1590-1600 Patron: Giovanni Bardi Composers: Caccini, Peri, Cavalieri Theorist: Vincenzo Galilei Poets: Rinuccini, Striggio, Strozzi Studied classical Greek music

Moving the Emotions What were the Greeks doing? Read about Greek music Moved the emotions more than modern music (remember the Palestrina?) Monophony: single, simple vocal line Modern composers were writing polyphonic music Polyphony: combining two or more simultaneous, yet mostly independent musical lines. Do theses complex lines take away from the emotional power of the music?

Pastoral Dramas Pastoral Drama: a play in verse with music and songs interspersed Based on the idea of how Greek and Roman plays were performed Idyllic love in rural settings Poets, patrons, and composers loved these simple, mythical subjects Poliziano’s Favola d’Orfeo Florence, 1471

Reviving Greek Plays 16th Century saw a revival of Ancient Greek plays 5 acts Added musical interludes between acts called intermedio Unrelated to the play Each interlude is called a tableau Combined tableau make up an intermedio Medici family started requesting intermedio for all occasions Became its own genre/art form—no longer needed to accompany a Greek tragedy

La Pellegrina “The Pilgrim Woman,” 1589 Medici family wedding—requested an intermedio Camerata wrote the intermedio Theme: the power of ancient music 6 tableau: each depicted the power of ancient music in different ways with different characters Madrigals, instrumental pieces, divided choir pieces, solo songs

Post-Pellegrina Camerata: “Was this piece successful? Did it move the emotions?”

Post-Pellegrina Why not? Too much virtuosity: showing off a performer or composer’s technical talent and skill Remember all those composers and poets in the Camerata? They each wanted to contribute to the intermedio. Too many different ideas and too much competition Virtuosity was not the way to move the emotions

Monody Strong polyphonic tradition No going back to monophony Camerata (Galilei) developed the concept of monody Monody: solo song with simple accompaniment Different from monophony: solo vocal line without accompaniment Accompaniment at the time Basso Continuo: one player accompanying the vocalist on the harpsichord, lute, or organ

Monody, Aria, Solo Madrigal This style of singing was not a “new” idea Sing epics/strophic poems with light instrumental accompaniment Solo parts of madrigals Caccini published songs for voice and continuo; set poetry to music Le nuove musiche (1602) Arias: strophic solo songs Madrigals: through composed solo songs Caccini’s compositions were well-received by the Camerata Finally, something that would move the emotions! Ornaments to enhance meaning of the text, not just to show off a singer’s abilities Vedrò ‘l mio sol Explain strophic

The Earliest Operas Peri’s Dafne Peri’s L’Euridice Florence, 1598—only fragments remain Peri’s L’Euridice 1600, Florence Full score remains Four attempts before this Cavalieri Text by Rinuccini

Next Time Peri’s L’Euridice New conventions Florence, 1600 New conventions Aria Recitative Arioso Sinfonia Ritornello Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo Florence, 1607