9 9 Giulio Caccini Born in Rome, the tenor Giulio Caccini (1551-1618) performed and taught sing- ing at the court of the grand duke of Tuscany in Florence for most of his profes- sional life. Solo singing to instrumental accompaniment was by no means an exclusively Florentine practice in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, but in his personal style Caccini eschewed the extravagant improvisation prized at the time in both vocal and instrumental performance. Under the influence of schol- ars of the ancient Greek theater, he had Participated in developing a new way of singing in staged dramas, a manner of “speaking in tones.” This new manner influenced his chamber singing, in that he insisted that the invention and appli- cation of ornamental figures should serve to enhance the declamation and the expressive force of the text. Display of technical virtuosity was to disappear in favor of a musical representation of speech—but speech in the artfully simple, yet high literary manner of poets like Ottavio Rinuccini and Gabriele Chiabrera. This “speaking in tones” also required a flexible instrumental accompaniment, because word accents in Italian poetic lines do not make regular patterns of stress. The Florentine solution—in the form of the figured bass—was presented to the world in both of Caccini’s landmark publications, the score to his opera Euridice and his collection of monodies called Le nuove musiche (The New Music). His bass lines, which prescribed more for the player than did guitar tabla- ture, were still far from the complete scores given in lute or keyboard notation. Caccini’s dedication to the opera briefly introduces both this new notation for the performers of the basso continuo and his new manner of singing. Dedication to Euridice (1600) To the most illustrious lord, Signor Giovanni Bardi, Count of Vernio,’ Lieuten- ant-General of both Companies of the Guard of Our Most Holy Father. After composing the fable of Eurydice in music in stile rappresentativo and having it printed, I felt it to be part of my duty to dedicate it to Your Illustrious Lordship, whose especial servant I have always been and to whom I find myself under innumerable obligations. In it Your Lordship will recognize that style which, as Your Lordship knows, I used on other occasions, many years ago, in the eclogue of Sannazaro, “Itene all’ombra degli ameni faggi,”* and in other Text: L'Euridice composta in musica in stile rappresentativo (Florence: Giorgio Marescotti, 1600; facs. Bologna, 1976), pp. {i-ii].; translation by Oliver Strunk. The Italian text is also available in A. Solerti, Le origini del melodramma (Turin, 1903; repr. Bologna [1969}), pp. 50-52 and in T. Carter and Z, Szweykowski, eds., Composing Opera (Cracow, 1994), also trans. into English. 1. For Bardi, see No. 1 above. 2, From the Arcadia of Jacopo Sannazaro. The line given is the beginning of the monologue of Montano in terza rima, fc ig the “Prosa seconda,” Caccini’s music seems not to have been 605606 99 GIULIO CACCINI madrigals of mine from that time. “Perfidissimo volto,” “Vedrd il mio sol” | “Dovrd dunque morire,”® and the like. This is likewise the manner which Your | Lordship, in the years when Your Lordship’s camerata was flourishing in Flor | ence, discussing it in company with many other noble virtuosi, declared to b that used by the ancient Greeks when introducing song into the present of their tragedies and other fables. Thus the harmony of the parts reciting in the present Euridice is supporte above a basso continuato.‘ In this I have indicated the most necessary fourth sixths, and sevenths, and major and minor thirds, for the rest leaving it to the judgment and art of the player to adapt the inner parts in their places. The” notes of the bass I have sometimes tied in order that, in the passing of the, many dissonances that occur, the note may not be struck again and the ear offended. In this manner of singing, I have used a certain sprezzatura which T deem to have an element of nobility, believing that with it I have approached - that much nearer to ordinary speech. Further, when two sopranos are making passaggi, singing with the inner parts, I have not avoided the succession of two _ octaves or two fifths, thinking thereby, with their beauty and novelty, to cause | 8 greater pleasure, especially since without these passaggi, all the parts are free from such faults. i I had thought on the present occasion to deliver a discourse to my readers | upon the noble manner of singing, in my judgment the best one, so that others _ could practice it, along with some curious points relating to it, and with the | new style of passaggi and raddoppiate® invented by me, which Vittoria Archilei, a singer of that excellence to which her resounding fame bears witness,® has | long employed in singing my works. But since this has not at present seemed | best to some of my friends (to whom I cannot and must not be disloyal), Ihave | reserved this for another occasion,’ enjoying, for the time being, this single | satisfaction of having been the first to give songs of this kind and their style and | manner to the press.* This manner appears throughout my other compositions, | composed at various times going back more than fifteen years, as I have never _ used in them any art other than the imitation of the sentiments of the words, | touching those notes more or less passionate that I judged most suitable for | the grace which is required for good singing, which grace and which manner | 3. Le nuove muische, nos, 6, 7, and 11. “Perfidissimo volto” in Ne thology of | Music, 3d ed., vol. 1, no. 54, ages nies erie An 4 4. For examples of Caccin's basso continuato, see No. 20, pp. 103-8. ] 5. peel coat ra but a precise meaning remains unclear; see the Glossary of Foreign 6. Archilei, who had taken part in the Florentine intermedi of 1589, san, the of Euridice the frst performance of the Peri-Caccini score; see also No. 4, note 18” = : 7. The promised dtcourse was subsequent published a the preface to Le nuove musiche; see 0. 20, 8, Caccini evidently rushed into print in order to antici ipate the publication of Peri’ . claim is that e isthe fist to have printed songs inthe new sje. Peis lain ae Ne ees that his Euridice was performed before Caccin's was composed or printed, :Dedication to Euridice 607 of singing Your Most Illustrious Lordship has many times reported to me to be universally accepted in Rome as good. Meanwhile I pray Your Lordship to receive with favor the expression of my good will, etc., and to continue to grant me Your Lordship’s protection, under which shield I hope ever to be able to take refuge and be defended from the perils that commonly threaten things little used, knowing that Your Lordship will always be able to testify that my compositions are not unpleasing to a great prince who, having occasion to test all the good arts, can judge them supremely well. With which, kissing Your Illustrious Lordship’s hand, I pray Our Lord to bestow happiness upon Your Lordship. Florence, December 20, 1600 Your Illustrious Lordship’s most affectionate and beholden servant, Giulio Caccini 1 OO sintio Gaceint __ Caccini's first publication of solo madrigals and arias included music from his entire active career, The preface addressed to the readers articulates the main principles upon which Caccini based the claim that his musical style was new. ‘Among these were aspects of composition, such as the suppression of counter- point, which freed the bass from the rhythms of the vocal line, and a free har- fnonic rhythm that followed the cadences of spoken Italian. Others were aspects of performance practice, such as his recommendation that ornamental figures should on the whole be of moderate duratign and that expressive techniques be reserved for affective texts and be dependent, above all, on the meaning of the words. More particularly, Caccini explained his preferences regarding the spe- cial use of crescendos and decrescendos on the part of the singer, and he illus- trated the trillo on one tone and the gruppo, the equivalent of the modern neighbor-note trill. With less comment he offered rhythmic variants of common figures and cadences, followed by examples in which all these devices are applied, including passages to be sung senza misura, that is, without strict adherence to the beats within the tactus.