Women and music in sixteenth-century Ferrara 9781108648400, 1108648401, 9781316650455, 1316650456

Table of contents :
Cover
Half-title
Series information
Title page
Copyright information
Dedication
Table of contents
List of Figures
List of Music Examples
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Note on Music Prints and Translations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Musica secreta
Secret Histories: Ferrarese Women in Musicological Literature
Secret Combinations: Putting the Histories Together
Doing Music History
1 Ferrarese Convents and the Este in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century
Music and Convent Life
The Este and Ferrarese Convents at the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century The Este and the Convent of Corpus DominiThe Musical Legacy of Caterina Vigri
Suor Leonora d'Este
The Voci Pari Motets of the 1540s and Their Ferrarese Context
Performance Implications
Scotto's Voci Pari Collection of 1563
2 Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century
Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Noblewoman
Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Courtesan
The Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century
Music for the Noblewomen of Ercole II's Ferrara
Bertoldo di Bertoldi and Laura d'Este 3 Princesses and Politics: The Este Women and Music in the 1550sThe Marriage Negotiations for Anna
Musical Echoes of the Negotiations in Early Works by Cipriano De Rore
The Madrigali d'amore and the Madrigali de la Fama of 1548
Selene and Gli Antivalomeni: Giraldi's Didactic Spectacles
Francesco Dalla Viola, Cipriano de Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal in the 1550s
Traces of Ferrarese Song in Giaches de Wert's Primo libro de' madrigali a quattro voci of 1561
4 Actresses and Ariosto: Spectacle and Song in the 1560s
Berchem's Capriccio of 1561 The First Singing Ladies: Lucrezia Bendidio and Tarquinia MolzaSinging Actresses and Ariostean Spectacle
The New "New Music"
A World Turned Upside Down
5 "Un modo di cantare molto diverso": Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s
The Bendidio Sisters at Brescello in 1571
The Convents in the Early 1570s
The Court in Recovery
Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection
Neapolitan Song Before the 1570s
Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s
Bardi on De Rore: An Outsider's View of the Ferrarese Musical Legacy in the 1570s 6 Margherita's Arrival and the Convents in the First Half of the 1580sConvents and Music in the 1580s
The Este Women and the Convents of Ferrara in the 1580s
Musical Practice in San Vito in the 1580s
7 Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto
The Commemorative Volumes of the 1580s
Lodovico Agostini's Il nuovo Echo (1583)
Giaches de Wert's L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586): The Apotheosis of the Concerto
Traces of the Concerto's Performance Practice in the 1580s Repertoire
Transposition
Bass Lines and Accompaniment Style
Ensemble Ornamentation

Citation preview

i

Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara The musica secreta or concerto delle dame of Duke Alfonso II d’Este, an ensemble of virtuoso female musicians that performed behind closed doors at the castello in Ferrara, is well-known to music history. Their story is often told by focusing on the Duke’s obsessive patronage and the exclusivity of their music. This book examines the music-making of four generations of princesses, noblewomen, and nuns in Ferrara, as performers, creators, and patrons from a new perspective. It rethinks the relationships between polyphony and song, sacred and secular, performer and composer, patron and musician, court and convent. With new archival evidence and analysis of music, people, and events over the course of the century, from the role of the princess nun musician, Leonora d’Este, to the fate of the musica secreta’s jealously guarded repertoire, this radical approach will appeal to musicians and scholars alike. Laurie Stras is Research Professor of Music at the University of Huddersfield, where she teaches and researches sixteenth-century music, popular music, and music and disability. She is co-director of the ensemble Musica Secreta, with whom she has made four acclaimed recordings, including Lucrezia Borgia’s Daughter, winner of the 2016 Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society.

ii

iii

New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism

General editors Jeffrey Kallberg, Anthony Newcomb, and Ruth Solie This series explores the conceptual frameworks that shape or have shaped the ways in which we understand music and its history, and aims to elaborate structures of explanation, interpretation, commentary, and criticism which make music intelligible and which provide a basis for argument about judgements of value. The intellectual scope of the series is broad. Some investigations will treat, for example, historiographical topics, others will apply cross-disciplinary methods to the criticism of music, and there will also be studies which consider music in its relation to society, culture, and politics. Overall, the series hopes to create a greater presence for music in the ongoing discourse among the human sciences.

Published titles Leslie C. Dunn and Nancy A. Jones (eds.), Embodied Voices: Representing Female Vocality in Western Culture Downing A. Thomas, Music and the Origins of Language: Theories from the French Enlightenment Thomas S. Grey, Wagner’s Musical Prose Daniel K. L. Chua, Absolute Music and the Construction of Meaning Adam Krims, Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity Annette Richards, The Free Fantasia and the Musical Picturesque Richard Will, The Characteristic Symphony in the Age of Haydn and Beethoven Christopher Morris, Reading Opera Between the Lines: Orchestral Interludes and Cultural Meaning from Wagner to Berg Emma Dillon, Medieval Music-Making and the ‘Roman de Fauvel’ David Yearsley, Bach and the Meanings of Counterpoint David Metzer, Quotation and Cultural Meaning in the Twentieth Century

iv

Alexander Rehding, Hugo Riemann and the Birth of Modern Musical Thought Dana Gooley, The Virtuoso Liszt Bonnie Gordon, Monteverdi’s Unruly Women: The Power of Song in Early Modern Italy Gary Tomlinson, The Singing of the New World: Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact Matthew Gelbart, The Invention of Folk Music and Art Music: Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner Olivia A. Bloechl, Native American Song at the Frontiers of Early Modern Music Giuseppe Gerbino, Music and the Myth of Arcadia in Renaissance Italy Roger Freitas, Portrait of a Castrato: Politics, Patronage, and Music in the Life of Atto Melani Gundula Kreuzer, Verdi and the Germans: From Unification to the Third Reich Holly Watkins, Metaphors of Depth in German Musical Thought: From E. T. A. Hoffmann to Arnold Schoenberg Davinia Caddy, The Ballets Russes and Beyond: Music and Dance in Belle-Époque Paris Brigid Cohen, Stefan Wolpe and the Avant-Garde Diaspora Nicholas Mathew, Political Beethoven Julie Brown, Schoenberg and Redemption Phyllis Weliver, Mary Gladstone and the Victorian Salon: Music, Literature, Liberalism Francesca Brittan, Music and Fantasy in the Age of Berlioz Laurie Stras, Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara

v

Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara Laurie Stras University of Huddersfield

vi

University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107154070 DOI: 10.1017/9781316650455 © Laurie Stras 2018 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2018 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Stras, Laurie, author. Title: Women and music in sixteenth-century Ferrara / Laurie Stras. Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom: New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2018. | Series: New perspectives in music history and criticism | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018000017 | ISBN 9781107154070 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Music – Social aspects – Italy – Ferrara – History – 16th century. | Women musicians – Italy – Ferrara – History – 16th century. | Music – Italy – Ferrara – 16th century – History and criticism. | Ferrara (Italy) – Court and courtiers – History – 16th century. Classification: LCC ML3917.I8 S8 2018 | DDC 780.82/0945451–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018000017 ISBN 978-1-107-15407-0 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

vii

for Deborah

viii

ix

Contents

List of Figures x List of Music Examples

xi

List of Tables xvi Acknowledgments

xvii

Note on Music Prints and Translations List of Abbreviations

xix

xxi

Introduction: Musica secreta

1

1

Ferrarese Convents and the Este in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century 13

2

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century 55

3

Princesses and Politics: The Este Women and Music in the 1550s 89

4

Actresses and Ariosto: Spectacle and Song in the 1560s 139

5

“Un modo di cantare molto diverso”: Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s 168

6

Margherita’s Arrival and the Convents in the First Half of the 1580s 217

7

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto 241

8

Ferrara’s Final Chapter: Court and Convents in the 1590s

9

Afterlife in Mantua 321 Bibliography General Index

289

341 373

Index of Compositions

388

Appendices containing the original language source material and genealogies can be found in the book’s Resources section on the Cambridge University Press website at www.cambridge.org/9781107154070.

x

Figures

1.1

Map of Ferrara, showing the locations of the major convents and palaces: © Joe Paget. Underlying map data © OpenStreetMap.org contributors; made available under the Open Database License: opendatacommons.org 15

1.2

Sulpizio Tombesi’s epitaph: © The British Library Board. Borsetti, Andrea. Supplemento al compendio historico del Signor D. Marc’ Antonio Guarini, 230. Ferrara: Giglio, 1670. Shelfmark: 658.d.18 23

3.1

Title page, Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548); by permission of the International Museum and Library of Music of Bologna 96

3.2

Final page, Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548); by permission of the International Museum and Library of Music of Bologna 97

3.3

Aere da cantar stantie, penultimate page, Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548); by permission of the International Museum and Library of Music of Bologna 100

xi

Music Examples

1.1 1.2a

“Salve sponsa Dei,” anon., RISM 15432, hexachordal antiphon Hymn, Concinat plebs fidelium, Office of Saint Clare 2

38

39

1.2b

“O salutaris hostia,” anon. RISM 1543 , mm. 1–14

1.3a

“Virgo Maria speciosissima,” anon. RISM 15432, mm. 91–102

1.3b

“Mater, patris, et filia,” Antoine Brumel, RISM 1501, mm. 1–5 41

1.4a

“Miserere mei, Deus,” Josquin des Prez, RISM 15192, mm. 1–8

39

42

2

1.4b

“Tribulationes civitatum audivimus,” anon., RISM 1543 , mm. 1–6 42

1.4c

“Infelix ego,” Adriano Willaert, RISM 15569, mm. 7–12

1.5

41

43

“Suscipe verbum, virgo Maria,” anon., RISM 15432, mm. 1–17 2

1.6

“Hodie Simon Petrus,” anon., RISM 1543 , mm. 33–40

48

1.7

“Felix namque es sacra,” anon., RISM 15432, mm. 1–10

50

9

45

1.8

“Vidi speciosam columbam,” anon., RISM 1549 , mm. 15–23

1.9

“Miserere nostri Deus omnium,” Cipriano de Rore, RISM 15634, mm. 1–13 52

2.1

“Stella che fra le stelle,” Alfonso Dalla Viola, Primo libro di madrigali (1539), mm. 16–20 77

2.2

“Alma beat’e bella,” Alfonso Dalla Viola, Primo libro di madrigali (1539), mm. 1–9 78

2.3

“Dolci e fresche onde chiare,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), mm. 1–11 82

2.4

“Mia benigna fortuna e il viver lieto,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), mm. 14–28 84

2.5

“I non poria giamai,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), mm. 1–12 85

2.6

“Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), Canto 88

3.1a

51

“Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva,” Cipriano de Rore, RISM 154934, mm. 2–13, Canto 94

xii

xii

Music Examples 3.1b

“Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva,” Cipriano de Rore, RISM 154934, mm. 23–29 94

3.2

“Ahy speranza fallace,” Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548), mm. 10–21 98

3.3

Missa sopra la fede non debbe esser corotta, Jachet of Mantua, RISM 15551, beginning of Kyrie and Osanna, Cantus; “Hayme che quella fede,” Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548), Canto, mm. 1–14; 34–39 106

3.4a

“Aspro core e selvaggio et cruda voglia,” Adriano Willaert, Musica nova (1559), mm. 109–115 114

3.4b

“Vivo sol di speranza, rimembrando,” Francesco Dalla Viola, RISM 15487, mm. 24–31 115

3.5

“Vivo sol di speranza, rimembrando,” Francesco Dalla Viola, Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (1550), mm. 23–30 116

3.6

“Felice chi dispensa,” Francesco Dalla Viola, RISM 15487 and Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (1550), mm. 25–28 117

3.7

“Datemi pace! o duri miei pensieri!” Cipriano de Rore, Il secondo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (1557), mm. 1–23 122

3.8

“L’ineffabil bontà del Redentore,” Cipriano de Rore, Il quarto libro d’i madregali a cinque voci (1557), mm. 1–7 124

3.9

“Il dolce sonno mi promise pace,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 1–13 130

3.10

“Dolce e felice sogno,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 24–35 132

3.11

“Dolci spoglie, felic’e care tanto,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 62–80 133

3.12

“Chi mi fura il ben mio?” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 30–42 135

3.13

“Chi mi fura il ben mio?” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 10–22 137

3.14

“Cara la vita mia, egl’è pur vero,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1558), mm. 1–4, Canto with reduction of lower parts 137

4.1

“Vane speranze mie, date omai pace,” Giulio Fiesco, Madrigali ... libro secondo (1567), mm. 92–96 158

4.2

“S’armi pur d’ira, disdegnoso ed empio,” Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova (1569), mm. 1–18 161

xiii

Music Examples

xiii 4.3

“Lingua gelata e per tacer bugiarda,” Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova (1569), mm. 1–10 163

4.4

“Quando leva costei gl’occhi dolenti,” Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova (1569), mm. 113–119 164

5.1

“Aura soave di segreti accenti,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 6–9 173

5.2

“Stral pungente d’Amore,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 1–9 174

5.3

Missa Libera me Domine, Sanctus, Paolo Isnardi, Missae quatuor vocum (1573), mm. 10–14 178

5.4

Missa Libera me Domine, Sanctus, Paolo Isnardi, Missae quatuor vocum (1573), mm. 39–44 178

5.5

“Fuggi, spene mia, fuggi,” Alessandro Striggio, from the lute transcription in Vincenzo Galilei’s Fronimo (Venice: Scotto, 1584); reduced to melody and rhythmically simplified bass line 195

5.6

“In profondo silentio era sepolta,” Alessandro Milleville, Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (1575), mm. 1–4 198

5.7

“Già mi vivea felice e tutto lieto,” Alessandro Milleville, Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (1575), mm. 16–26, Canto with reduction of lower parts 198

5.8

“Già mi vivea felice e tutto lieto,” Alessandro Milleville, Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (1575), mm. 36–45, Canto with reduction of lower parts 199

5.9

“Donna felice e bella,” Lodovico Agostini, Libro secondo de madrigali a quatro voci (1572) 202

5.10

“La bella Pargoletta,” Paolo Isnardi, Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1577), mm. 24–37 204

5.11a

“Al dolce vostro canto,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1576), mm. 57–61 206

5.11b

“Al dolce vostro canto,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1576), mm. 57–61, Canto and Alto ornamented, reduction of all parts 207

5.12

“Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 18–30 208

5.13

“Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 1–7 209

7.1

“Udite, amanti, udite,” Alberto Dall’Occa, I-MOe Mus. F.1358, mm. 1–15 245

xiv

xiv

Music Examples 7.2

“Non miri il mio bel sole,” Girolamo Belli, I-MOe Mus. F.1358

246

7.3

“Con gli occhi molli e con le chiome sparse,” Paolo Virchi, I-MOe Mus. F.1358, mm. 1–11 248

7.4

“Come la notte ogni fiammella è viva,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–5 257

7.5

“Gratie ch’al poch’il ciel largo destina,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 1–4 265

7.6

“Vener ch’un giorno avea,” Giaches de Wert, L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 42–47 266

7.7

“Usciva omai dal molle e fresco grembo,” Giaches de Wert, L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 1–2 267

7.8

“Si come ai freschi matutini rai,” Giaches de Wert, L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 27–39 269

7.9

“Se voi sete il cor mio,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–5 (note values halved), voice and bass line reduction 271

7.10

“Aura soave di segreti accenti,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 1–5, voice and bass line reduction 271

7.11

“Occhi del pianto mio,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 39–45 273

7.12

“Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?” Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, RISM 15869, mm. 6–10 274

7.13

“Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 5–11 275

7.14a

“Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri, hor come io godo,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–8 276

7.14b

“Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri, hor come io godo,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–8, ornamented with basso seguente 277

7.15

“Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri, hor come io godo,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 11–23, ornamented with basso seguente 278

7.16

“Amor se così dolce e il mio dolore,” Cipriano de Rore, Il quarto libro d'i madregali a cinque voci (1557), mm. 73–104 280

7.17

“Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 35–38 283

7.18

“Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 35–41, reduced with simplified basso continuo 284

xv

Music Examples

xv 7.19a

“Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 1–4 285

7.19b

“Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 1–4, reduced with simplified basso continuo 285

7.20

“Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara,” Giaches de Wert, L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 49–72; Canto with basso seguente, and simplified basso continuo 287

7.21

“Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara,” Giaches de Wert, L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 94–97; Canto with basso seguente, and simplified basso continuo 288

8.1

“Vidi speciosam colombam,” Raffaella Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones (1593), mm. 30–41 306

8.2

“Miserere mei, Deus,” Raffaella Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones (1593), mm. 1–6 307

8.3

“Cor mio, benchè lontana,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Sesto libro de' madrigali a cinque voci (1596), mm. 8–14 309

8.4

“Cor mio, benchè lontana,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Sesto libro de' madrigali a cinque voci (1596), mm. 21–23 310

9.1

“Ave Regina caeolorum,” Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 1–36 327

9.2

“Anima mea liquefacta est,” Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 34–38 330

9.3

“Con voi giocando Amor a voi simile,” Giaches de Wert, L'ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 35–36 330

9.4

“Deus misereatur nostri,” Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 13–17 331

9.5

Litaniae Beatae Mariae Virginis, Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 1–13 332 Except where indicated in the text, all music examples are transcribed by the author from primary sources. Repeated text, indicated in the source by the abbreviation “ij,” is written out and italicized. Ligatures are indicated by closed brackets, coloration by open brackets.

xvi

Tables

1.1

The convents of Ferrara in the sixteenth century

16

7.1

Commemorative music volumes relevant to the Ferrarese concerto of the 1580s 242

xvi

Acknowledgments

Throughout this book’s long gestation, many people have been generous with their time, skills, and knowledge, helping me in myriad ways. I cannot thank them all individually here, although where appropriate I  have indicated their names in the footnotes, and I am certain to be good for a beverage of their choice on our next meeting. However, there are a handful of scholars without whose support I would never have crossed the finish line, and it is only right that I  acknowledge them here. I thank Tim Carter, Suzanne Cusick, David Gallagher, Melanie Marshall, Craig Monson, Paul Schleuse, and Candace Smith for their compassionate, intelligent conversations and comments; Leofranc HolfordStrevens, Giulio Ongaro, and Andrew Dell’Antonio for their lightning-quick and deeply insightful responses to requests for translation assistance; Bonnie Blackburn for reading zero drafts of many chapters, some of which no longer exist, and for diligently proofreading the appendix; and Paula Higgins for reading the entire manuscript and giving me the confidence to let go. This work is all the better and richer for their input. Victoria Cooper, then Kate Brett at Cambridge University Press have been models of confidence and forbearance, and I’m grateful to Sophie Taylor, Eilidh Burrett, Lisa Sinclair, Gail Welsh, and  Lorraine Slipper for their genial assistance. Jessie Ann Owens was as generous a reader as I could have desired. Anthony Newcomb has been a source of encouragement and inspiration since even before we met in 1996, for without his trail-blazing work on the madrigal at Ferrara, I would have had no book to write. There are also two groups of musicians who have stuck with the Ferrara project through freezing recording sessions in bat-infested churches, in wellie-shod processions through muddy festival fields, through times of great joy and great sorrow. Our ensemble Musica Secreta and our choir Celestial Sirens provide me with constant food for thought and revive my enthusiasm every time I feel it is flagging. In 2007 Sarah Dunant joined her expertise and flair to our happy band, giving us new ways to introduce the Ferrarese ladies to new audiences and spurring me to think about their world outside traditional scholarly parameters. The commitment and friendship they offer humbles me, and they have made my journey with this music spectacular.

xvi

xviii

Acknowledgments Over the years I have had grants – from the British Academy, the Arts Council of England, the Arts and Humanities Research Board (now Council), the Ambache Charitable Trust, and the University of Southampton – which funded study leave, research trips, rehearsals, reproductions, recordings, and concerts. Financial support from Little, Brown & Co. cheerfully administered by Zoe Hood, brought Sacred Hearts to life for audiences across the British Isles. Bringing up two children, holding down a full-time lectureship, and codirecting two ensembles have ensured my visits to Italy have been many, short, and sweet. The staff of libraries and archives the length of the Po valley have been unfailingly courteous and helpful, and I  am always surprised when they greet me warmly, even when I  have not seen them for years. I thank Don Enrico Peverada, the former director of the Archivio Storico Diocesano, Ferrara, for his generosity, and Madre Maria Flavia Cavazzana, for allowing me precious access to the archive of the Monastero del Corpus Domini, Ferrara. I also thank the directors and staff at the British Library; the Archivio di Stato and Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara; the Biblioteca della Musica, Bologna; the Archivio di Stato, Florence; the Archivio di Stato and Biblioteca Teresiana, Mantua; the Archivio di  Stato and Biblioteca Estense, Modena; the Archivio di Stato and Biblioteca Nazionale Palatina, Parma; and the Biblioteca dell’Accademia Filarmonica, Verona. Space to write has not always been easy to find, and I  am grateful to Sister Clare Ruva and Sister Susanna, guesthouse mistresses, and Sister Leo, Abbess, of the Convent of Poor Clares at Crossbush for their hospitality, allowing me to work undisturbed in one of their parlors, absorbing the peace and gentle rhythm of their community life. This book is dedicated to Deborah Roberts, co-director of Musica Secreta, who has been my cherished colleague and friend for over twenty years. It is a testament to our friendship, and to her innate understanding of the music and her sublime ability to bring it to life. Finally, without the loving understanding of a family who put up with so much (mental and physical) absence for so long, I might still have written this book, but life wouldn’t have been as much fun and really wouldn’t have meant much at all. Eternal love and gratitude to my mother Judith, stepfather John, sister Cindy, and, above all, Pete, Joe, and Jim. You can have me back now.

xix

Note on Music Prints and Translations

Unless there are reasons for a complete title to be included, primary source music prints are referred to by short title in the text and captions; multiauthor prints are referred to in captions using the sigla by which they are identified in Répertoire international des sources musicales (RISM), series B/ I. Publication details (place: publisher, date) are included unless this is clear in the surrounding text. Source texts and titles have been transcribed according to the following principles: The letters “u” and “v” have been interchanged to reflect modern spellings, and abbreviations and ampersands have been expanded, both without comment; spelling, punctuation, and capitalization have not been systematically modernized. While I have translated place names, where possible I have adhered to the conventions for the capitalization of names appropriate to their linguistic origin, so Francesco Dalla Viola, De Wert for Giaches de Wert, Pons for Anne de Pons. Unless otherwise stated, all translations of source material are by the author.

xx

xxi

Abbreviations

Libraries and Archives I-Baa I-Bc I-Fas

I-FEamcd I-FEas I-FEasd I-FEc I-Fn I-MAas

I-MOas

I-MOe I-PAas

I-PAp I-Rasv I-VEaf

Archivio arcivescovile, Bologna Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica, Bologna Archivio di Stato, Florence AM Archivio Mediceo del Principato CRSGF Corporazioni religiose sopresse dal governo francese Archivio del monastero di Corpus Domini, Ferrara Archivio di Stato, Ferrara Archivio Storico Diocesano, Ferrara Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence Archivio di Stato, Mantua AGCE Archivio Gonzaga, Corrispondenza esterna AGCI Archivio Gonzaga, Corrispondenza interna Archivio di Stato, Modena CAI Cancelleria Ducale, Carteggio ambasciatori, Italia CDL Camera Ducale Estense, Libri camerali diversi CDP Cancelleria Ducale, Carteggi e documenti di particolari CPE Cancelleria Ducale, Carteggio con principi esteri CS Casa e Stato, Carteggi tra principi estensi GS Cancelleria Ducale, Magistrato poi Giunta Suprema di Giurisdizione Sovrana Biblioteca Estense, Modena Archivio di Stato, Parma CFE Carteggio farnesiano estero CFI Carteggio farnesiano interno Biblioteca Nazionale Palatina, Parma Archivio segreto, Vatican City, Rome Biblioteca dell’Accademia Filarmonica, Verona

xxi

xxii

Abbreviations

Frequently Cited Sources Primary GuarBreve

GuarComp

GuarDiario1570

GuarDiario1598

GuarNar

MerendaIst MerendaMem

MerendaVit

MucanzioDia

VicentinoAM

Guarini, Marcantonio. Breve descrittione della sua vita e delle cose ne’ suoi tempi accadute in Ferrara sino al MDXCVI, 1596. Manoscritti italiani 368 (α.M.5.18). Modena, Biblioteca Estense. Guarini, Marcantonio. Compendio historico dell’origine, accrescimento e prerogative delle chiese e luoghi pij della città e diocesi di Ferrara, etc. Ferrara: Heirs of Vittorio Baldini, 1621. Guarini, Marcantonio. Diario di tutte le cose accadute nella Nobilissima Città di Ferrara principiando per tutto l’Anno MDLXX sino a questo dì et Anno MDLXXXXVII, 1597. Manoscritti italiani 285 (α.H.2.16). Modena, Biblioteca Estense. Guarini, Marcantonio. Diario descritto da Marc’antonio Guarini di tutte le cose al suo tempo accadute nella nobilissima Città di Ferrara principiando per tutto il dì 28 di Genaio dell’anno presente 1598 sino a questo dì et anno presente, n.d. Manoscritti italiani 387 (α.H.2.17). Modena, Biblioteca Estense. Guarini, Tiberio. Breve naratione e vera Historia della fondatione del Monastero di S. Orsola, c.1620. Ms. 1088. Mantua, Biblioteca Comunale Teresiana. Merenda, Girolamo. Istorie di Ferrara, 1596. Manoscritti italiani 132 (α.G.6.28). Modena, Biblioteca Estense. Merenda, Girolamo. Memorie di Ferrara, n.d. Manoscritti italiani 354 (α.T.5.1). Modena, Biblioteca Estense. Merenda, Girolamo. Vite dei signori d’Este vissuti al tempo dello scrittore. Principia col card. Ippolito I, e termina col principe Cesare, 1592. Coll. Antonelli 332. Ferrara, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea. Giovanni Paulo. “Diarorum Caeremonialium Joannis Pauli Mucantii Romani J.U. Doctoris, et Caerimonarium Apostolicarum Magistri,” 1598. London, British Library, Add. MS 8451. L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica. Rome: Barré, 1555.

xxi

xxiii

Abbreviations Secondary BlaisRen

CavicchiMJ CoesterSV DurMarCron

DurMarMS

DurMarPep

GiustinianiD NewcombMF

PeveradaDoc

SolertiFer StrasRore

StrasVP

WaismanFM

Blaisdell [Webb], Charmarie Jenkins. “Royalty and Reform:  The Predicament of Renée de  France, 1510– 1575.” PhD, Tufts, 1969. Cavicchi, Camilla. “Maistre Jhan alla corte degli Este (1512–1538).” PhD, Università di Bologna, 2006. Coester, Christiane. Schön wie Venus, mutig wie Mars. Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 2007. Durante, Elio, and Anna Martellotti. Cronistoria del concerto delle dame principalissime di Margherita Gonzaga d’Este. 2nd edn. Florence: Studio per Edizioni Scelte, 1989. Durante, Elio, and Anna Martellotti. Madrigali segreti per le dame di Ferrara:  Il manoscritto musicale F.1358 della Biblioteca Estense di Modena. 2  vols. Florence: Studio per Edizioni Scelte, 2000. Durante, Elio, and Anna Martellotti. «Giovinetta peregrina». La vera storia di Laura Peperara e Torquato Tasso. Florence: Olschki, 2010. Giustiniani, Vincenzo. Discorsi sulle arti e sui mestieri. Edited by Anna Banti. Florence: Sansoni, 1981. Newcomb, Anthony. The Madrigal at Ferrara, 1579– 1597. 2  vols. Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 1981. Peverada, Enrico. “Documenti per la storia organaria dei monasteri femminili ferrarese (sec.  XVI–XVII).” L’Organo:  Rivista di cultura organaria e organistica 30 (1996): 119–93. Solerti, Angelo. Ferrara e la corte estense nella seconda metà del secolo XVI. Città di Castello: Lapi, 1900. Stras, Laurie. “Cipriano de Rore and the Este Women.” In Cipriano de  Rore:  New Perspectives on His Life and Music, edited by Jessie Ann Owens and Katelijne Schiltz, 75–102. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. Stras, Laurie. “Voci pari Motets and Convent Polyphony in the 1540s: The materna lingua complex.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 70, no. 3 (2017): 617–96. Waisman, Leonardo Julio. “The Ferrarese Madrigal in the Mid-Sixteenth Century.” PhD, University of Chicago, 1988.

xxvi

1

h

Introduction: Musica secreta

In late March 1606, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, nearing the end of a long and productive life, sent a consignment of eleven volumes of music, carefully ruled and copied in canto e basso, to the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo Gonzaga. In the musician’s words, the collection represented eighteen years of his life in nearly three hundred pieces of music. The gift was kept secret, at least from other important parties interested in obtaining the books. Luzzaschi asked for no reward, simply the reassuring knowledge that the music would be used by an ensemble of sufficient quality to do it justice. His own ensemble, the virtuoso concerto delle dame of the court of Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara  – long since disbanded, and all but two members deceased or disgraced  – had been famous throughout Europe. Its talents were the stuff of conversation and envy at courts all over Italy, although it had been called the musica secreta because only a select few were allowed to witness it perform. Hugely precious and closely guarded for nearly thirty years, in the end Luzzaschi’s priceless library did not go to the highest bidder, but to the place – the Mantuan court – where he believed it would continue to come alive through the bodies of musicians and the ears of listeners who would do it most honor. One of those musicians, of course, was Vincenzo’s maestro della musica, Claudio Monteverdi. Thirty years old or not, this music was sought after, for Vincenzo had competition from both the Medici court and Cardinal Montalto in Rome. It must have caused quite a stir upon its arrival at Mantua, as after many months of waiting, Vincenzo would have been eager to hear the music performed by his own concerto (a group which included Monteverdi’s wife), and perhaps even to share it with his sister Margherita, Duke Alfonso’s widow and erstwhile employer of the Ferrarese ladies. At the very least, the arrival of the books would have allowed Monteverdi space to develop new ideas, given that they provided him with more than enough new chamber music to last for a while. Indeed, the subsequent two years saw him set aside the madrigal in order to establish himself as an innovator in a new kind of spectacle, composing and producing two large-scale theatrical works, the favola in musica, L’Orfeo (1607), and the tragedia … in musica, L’Arianna (1608).1 1

Fabbri, Monteverdi, 63–99, 104.

2

2

Introduction: Musica secreta The only testament left to Luzzaschi’s gift is a series of letters, written by Duke Vincenzo’s agent in Ferrara, the Marquis of Scandiano, Giulio Thiene.2 Alas, the trail goes cold quickly, for all eleven books are unaccounted for, either lost or destroyed. The testimony of the letters is as frustrating as it is fascinating: they give us more information about Luzzaschi and his working methods, and they are proof of the cultural value and importance of the concerto, even in its afterlife, but we are left only a little wiser with regard to what and how the concerto actually sang. We have only a single publication as primary musical evidence of its performance practice, Luzzaschi’s Madrigali … a uno, doi e tre soprani (Rome: Verovio, 1601), but the letters have thrown the book’s ostensibly authoritative evidence into doubt. However detailed its florid ornamentation appears, the book now needs to be regarded with a more critical eye, for its notation does not correspond to the description of the library in Thiene’s letters; nor, for that matter, does any other publication that emanated from Ferrara during the sixteenth century. And while there are copious descriptions of the women’s performances, the language is not always precise or easy to interpret in modern usage. The existence of the Ferrarese concerto delle dame is well known to modern musicologists despite this lack of hard practical evidence, and the group has been frequently invoked in discussions of patronage, performance, embellishment, professionalism, courtliness, gender, and genre. Nonetheless, they were neither the first nor the only female musicians to be admired in Ferrara. Musical women had graced the court in generations past, and beyond the castello, the city’s convents had a long history of musical excellence. The Este were generous in their support of female religious houses, recognizing that convents played a vital role in securing Ferrara’s spiritual and economic stability. Ducal patronage ensured that convent music-making flourished throughout the sixteenth century, and exclusive convent ensembles  – not unlike the concerto at court – entertained and amazed elite audiences. Yet the story here, too, is fragmented, distributed randomly through archival records, and the musical evidence of what and how the nuns sang, if recorded at all, has been even more effectively obscured. This, then, is a book about secrets: hidden histories, hidden meanings, hidden music; private concerts, concealed musicians, veiled women, forgotten practices, exclusivity, enclosure, codes, artifice, and spin. The phrase musica secreta has several connotations in relation to late-sixteenth-century Ferrara. The word musica itself can have at least three. It can mean the 2

Thiene was also a principe of the Ferrarese Accademia degli Intrepidi, to whom Monteverdi dedicated his Quarto libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Amadino, 1603); see Carter, “ ‘E in rileggendo,’ ” 146–47.

3

3

Ferrarese Women in Musicological Literature woman who makes music, the feminine form of il musico; the creating of music, as the third person singular form of the verb musicare; and the music itself, both immaterial, as something you hear, and material, as something you can hold in your hand.3 Secreta adds many nuances: It pertains not only to privilege, esoterica, confidentiality and suppression, but also to position in relation to a ruler – the origin of the English secretary. A prayer said in secreta may be heard by no one else save God. Moreover, a segreta can be a place, either for storage or imprisonment – a room, a cellar, a dungeon, or clausura – that hides its contents from the outside world. Each meaning of musica secreta has a resonance for Ferrarese music, and in particular for the women whose participation made Ferrara one of the great musical centers of sixteenth-century Europe. This book is also the first exploration of female patronage and musicmaking in Ferrara both throughout the century and across the sacred/secular divide, bringing together the evidence from both court and convents. The task is not always clear-cut, as the sound of the Ferrarese women musicians is disguised by the very means by which we even know of their existence. Their stories have been told and their music recorded on paper according to conventions that we may no longer understand completely, or that we have completely misunderstood. The historical evidence has been filtered through the subjectivities of the chroniclers and critics; and each account is intrinsically shaped by its teller’s purpose – what Natalie Zemon Davis called “the fiction in the archives.”4 Nevertheless, enough remains to demonstrate the vital role of music in the lives of the Este women, as both patrons and musicians, and how the women of Ferrara came to have such an impact on the development of music at the end of the Renaissance.

Secret Histories: Ferrarese Women in Musicological Literature While the musical practices of the concerto delle dame and the convent ensembles were carefully guarded, knowledge of their existence was not, as it constituted an important element in the projection of Ferrarese, and hence Este, magnificence. Acknowledgment could come in a dedication, such as in Giaches de Wert’s L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1586), which praises both the women of the concerto for their virtuoso

3

4

In the preface to her book on Francesca Caccini, Suzanne Cusick makes this point with regard to the word musica containing a tension between being and doing; Cusick, Francesca Caccini, xxv–xxvi. Davis, Fiction in the Archives, 1–6.

4

4

Introduction: Musica secreta performances and their patrons for their exquisite taste. It could come in theoretical debate, such as Ercole Bottrigari’s Il Desiderio (Venice: Amadino, 1594) and Giovanni Maria Artusi’s L’Artusi (Venice, Vincenti, 1600), both of which extol the nuns of San  Vito as the finest musicians in the city, even though they disagree about most everything else.5 These reports were used in the seventeenth century as the basis for retrospective comment intent on salvaging Ferrara’s cultural importance, which waned after city devolved to the Papal States upon the death of Duke Alfonso II in 1597.6 Chroniclers highlighted the musical excellence of its convents in particular, establishing their reputation over generations and emphasizing their debt to the Este, no longer dukes of Ferrara but still the closest it had to an indigenous nobility. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the names of individual female singers at the Ferrarese court lived on, but only as muses to its great literary figures, Torquato Tasso and Giambattista Guarini. The nuns were mentioned by Charles Burney, but only in passing, for he found Artusi’s account of San  Vito most interesting for its descriptions of instruments.7 But at the turn of the twentieth century, the work of Angelo Solerti revived scholarly interest in a sixteenth-century court culture at Ferrara. Solerti uncovered the women’s role in musical entertainment through his examination of the archival record, and published a history that revealed the extent and importance of their performances, illustrated with transcriptions of letters, memoirs, and reports.8 Solerti’s discoveries remain the bedrock on which most modern explorations of the concerto are based, for they included both biographical information that helped locate the women in the courtly context and vivid descriptions of their singing, the most detailed of which is perhaps Vincenzo Giustiniani’s seventeenth-century memoire, the Discorso sopra la musica.9 However important, though, Solerti’s assertions are sometimes erroneous: For instance, he identified the “three ladies” of the concerto with the three women most often associated with Torquato Tasso (through the poet’s own dedications) – Lucrezia Bendidio, Tarquinia Molza, and Laura

5 6

7

8 9

Bottrigari, Il Desiderio; Artusi, L’Artusi. GuarComp; Faustini, Aggiunta (Ferrara: Gironi, 1646); Borsetti, Supplemento (Ferrara: Giglio, 1670). Burney, A General History of Music, 174. The nuns of Ferrara were included in a German dissertation published in 1917, although its author, Kathi Meyer-Baer, was never able to see it translated into English and put into wider circulation: Meyer-Baer, Der chorische Gesang der Frauen; Josephson, “Why Then All the Difficulties!,” 257. SolertiFer. Solerti transcribed and edited the manuscript in Le origini del melodramma, 98–140. The most recent edition by Anna Banti is GiustinianiD, 13–36.

5

5

Ferrarese Women in Musicological Literature Peverara – even though there is still no evidence that these three women ever sang together in ensemble. When Alfred Einstein came to write The  Italian Madrigal, he matched the accounts published by Solerti with the contemporaneous musical record, thereby establishing the concerto’s position in one of  the grand modern narratives of musical history.10 Einstein’s distaste for female singers verged on horror, and he characterized them as incontinent sirens – “the virtuoso, the singer with a cunning throat and a flowing coloratura, is the deadly enemy of the creative musician whose chief concern is expression”  – supporting his critique (not always soundly) with appeals to both Gioseffo Zarlino and Torquato Tasso.11 However, he had a particular use for the ensemble: although the notion of an ineluctably corrosive female voice surfaces throughout his account, in the chapter “Concento and Concerto” he lays the responsibility for the decline of polyphony squarely at their feet. Vulgar ornamentation and an emphasis on multiple high voices were its death knell: The concento is forced to make the transition to the concerto when to the competition of the sopranos there is added the element of virtuosity. And this addition coincided with the appearance at the court of Ferrara under Alfonso II of those three celebrated ladies, so often praised in song.12

Adriano Cavicchi’s modern edition of Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali appeared in the 1960s, but Einstein’s summary of the concerto’s legacy remained unchallenged for decades, until the publication of two booklength studies (one in Italian and one in English) within two years of each other, in 1979 and 1981.13 Elio Durante and Anna Martellotti’s Cronistoria del concerto delle dame principalissime di Margherita Gonzaga d’Este (1979) was a historical account based exclusively on contemporary sources; its appendices reproduced hundreds of letters, chronicles, dispatches, and poetic texts regarding the women of the concerto in the 1580s. Anthony Newcomb’s The Madrigal at Ferrara (1981) juxtaposed his own fresh examination of the archival material with a more thorough consideration of the musical documents; the appendices included musical transcriptions, payment records, and an analysis of the court music library. Taken together, 10 11 12 13

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, 821ff. Ibid., 663, 842. Ibid., 825. Luzzaschi, Madrigali, modern edition ed. Cavicchi, 1965; Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria (1st edn.); NewcombMF. The Cronistoria was revised and expanded in a second edition in 1989 (DurMarCron). Durante and Martellotti also published a critical edition of a music manuscript associated with the ensemble, together with biographies of the composers, and a further booklength study on Laura Peverara: DurMarMS; DurMarPep.

6

6

Introduction: Musica secreta these three volumes amplified in both depth and scope the historical, cultural, and musical knowledge of Ferrara in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, and became an invaluable collective resource as musicology began to embrace the compensatory history of Renaissance women begun by feminist scholars in the 1970s.14 But in seeking to correct Solerti’s erroneous identifications, the corpus established a new paradigm: that the ladies of the 1580s were a distinct group, assembled by Alfonso II d’Este and employed at the court – only ostensibly as ladies-in-waiting but in reality as musicians – who were there to satisfy the duke’s melomania and his obsession with the female voice. Thus the ladies of concerto were simultaneously established as objects of the male gaze, and also granted a form of anachronistic dignity through the professionalization of their craft. This dichotomy was explored in the seminal collection Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150–1950, by Newcomb himself, summarizing the problem in the title of his chapter, “Courtesans, Muses, or Musicians? Professional Women Musicians in Sixteenth-Century Italy.” Women Making Music also allowed the concerto to be considered by the reader with their fifteenth-century forbears (in a chapter by Howard Mayer Brown) and their sixteenth-century contemporaries (in a chapter by Jane Bowers) in a Ferrarese context.15 Bowers’s chapter brought the nuns of San  Vito into anglophone published scholarship for the first time, highlighting the achievements of San  Vito’s most illustrious musical figure, Suor  Raffaella Aleotti, who was the first nun, and only the second woman, to have a musical volume published in her own name. Yet for all their contemporaneous fame, in some respects surpassing that of their secular sisters, the women religious of Ferrara have not inspired the same interest as the concerto: there exist only two relatively recent dissertations, one on Ferrarese music post-1597 (with a chapter on the convents) and another on Aleotti herself; an extended journal article on convent organs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and a single recording of Aleotti’s motets.16 Moreover, Ferrara’s nuns are considered alongside the concerto only twice, and then only tangentially to Artusi and Monteverdi, in a discussion of a dispute between male musicians.17 This may, of course, be the result of another archival fiction, reflected more widely in 14 15 16

17

Lerner, “Placing Women in History”; Kelly-Gadol, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” Brown, “Women Singers”; Bowers, “The Emergence of Women Composers.” Franklin, “Musical Activity”; Carruthers-Clement, “Vittoria/Raphaella Aleotti”; PeveradaDoc. Carruthers-Clement produced editions of Suor Raffaella’s madrigals and motets, with the prefatory material extended and refined by Massimo Ossi and Thomas Bridges; Vittoria Aleotti, Ghirlanda de madrigali, modern edition, 1994; Raffaella Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones, modern edition, 2006. The recording is by Cappella Artemisia, directed by Candace Smith, Raphaella Aleotti: Le Monache di San Vito, Tactus TC.570101 (2005). Cusick, “Gendering Modern Music,” 6; Carter, “ ‘E in rileggendo,’ ” 142.

7

7

Ferrarese Women in Musicological Literature the lack of scholarship on sixteenth-century convent music in general.18 The office that became the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars was first conceived only in 1586 as a part of Sixtus V’s post-Tridentine reforms, and Vatican records only become reliable from around 1598; institutional documentation prior to that date is sparse and dispersed. Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali have been recorded individually and in their entirety a number of times, with varying degrees of attention paid to Newcomb’s careful summary of the concerto’s performing style.19 But the publications of the 1970s also provided inspiration for a pair of scholarly performers, willing to consider in both print and performance the implications of the rich archival material they contained. Richard Wistreich has explored the military and musical career of Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, the Neapolitan mercenary who had a troubled relationship with the Ferrarese court; and Nina Treadwell has considered the implications of late-sixteenth-century performance practice in the context of the famous intermedii performed in Florence in 1589.20 Both studies are richly informed by knowledge of the concerto and accounts of their performances, but neither investigate the concerto’s own repertoire. The third group of women that populate this book are perhaps the least well served in the musicological literature. Ferrarese courtly women are relatively well documented in historical scholarship, and have been generously theorized in literary studies, particularly pertaining to Lodovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, but  – with the notable exception of Isabella d’Este – we are insufficiently aware of the musical activities of the duchesses and princesses of Ferrara.21 While two figures at either end of the century – Lucrezia Borgia and Margherita Gonzaga d’Este – have received reasonable attention as patrons and particularly as patrons of dance, the female relatives

18

19

20 21

Studies of musical convents in other Italian cities often begin at the end of the sixteenth century, focusing attention on the seventeenth: Monson, Disembodied Voices; Kendrick, Celestial Sirens; Montford, “Music in the Convents of Counter-Reformation Rome”; Reardon, Holy Concord. The music of Florentine nuns has been considered more holistically, but still only supplementing the study of other aspects of the city’s culture: Macey, Bonfire Songs; Lowe, Nuns’ Chronicles; Harness, Echoes of Women’s Voices; Cusick, Francesca Caccini. Luzzaschi: Concerto delle dame di Ferrara: Madrigali a uno, due e tre soprani (1601), Sergio Vartolo, Harmonia Mundi 901136 (1985); Concerto delle donne, Consort of Musicke, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77154 (1986); The Secret Music of Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali a uno, due e tre soprani (1601), Musica Secreta, Amon Ra 58 (1991); Le concert secret des dames de Ferrare: Madrigaux de Luzzaschi et Agostini, Doulce Memoire, ZigZag 71001 (2008); Luzzaschi: Concerto delle dame, La Venexiana, Glossa 920919 (2009). Wistreich, Warrior, Courtier, Singer; Treadwell, Music and Wonder. Prizer, Courtly Pastimes; Prizer, “Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia”; Prizer, “Games of Venus”; Prizer, “Una ‘virtù molto conveniente’ ”; Fenlon, “Music and Learning”; Shephard, Echoing Helicon.

8

8

Introduction: Musica secreta that fall between them in the Este genealogy are overshadowed by their fathers, husbands, and brothers.22 Borgia’s daughter, Suor Leonora, was an accomplished musician and potentially also a composer; her granddaughters Anna, Lucrezia, and Leonora were experienced performers even before they had entered their teens.23 This is not to say that their activities are unacknowledged or even unexpected, for the musicological consensus has long been that women, particularly noblewomen, were expected to be able to sing a bit – but there is little apart from scant notice that this princess played the harpsichord, or that one had lessons with a composer better known that she. In fact, the princesses grew up in a culture that fostered and celebrated both their learning and virtuosity as a manifestation of Este magnificence. But perhaps more pernicious even than their invisibility as musicians themselves is the downplaying of their role in animating musical production and performance at court. By denying Ferrarese noblewomen’s musical agency throughout the sixteenth century, the accepted narrative puts the city’s female musicians exclusively at the behest of male control. Too often, their position, organization, and continued success are attributed solely to the patronage of Duke Alfonso II. The real story is more complex.

Secret Combinations: Putting the Histories Together This book was inspired by a series of archival discoveries, made during the fall and winter of 2009, which functioned like the crucial missing pieces of a jigsaw, connecting disparate strands of scholarly enquiry to form a startling new picture. The Luzzaschi letters already mentioned provided an endpoint for the concerto, but I  also found a wealth of references to Duchess  Margherita and her ladies in relation to the city’s convents.24 As performers, my ensemble Musica Secreta had already hypothesized a relationship between the performance practice of the concerto and that of early seventeenth-century convent choirs.25 This new evidence made that theory more credible, but it also required me then to think more about what 22

23

24

25

Treadwell, “ ‘Simil combattimento fatto de Dame’ ”; Bosi, “Leone Tolosa”; Bosi, “More Documentation.” Biographical studies of the Este princesses and duchesses include Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este; Lazzari, Le ultime tre duchesse di Ferrara; BlaisRen; Carpinello, Lucrezia d’Este; CoesterSV. These included two manuscripts of convent entertainments that belonged to Duchess Margherita; Stras, “The ‘Ricreationi.’ ” The project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, resulted in a recording: Dangerous Graces: Music by Cipriano de Rore and His Pupils, Musica Secreta, Linn CKD 169 (2002).

9

9

Secret Combinations sixteenth-century nuns actually sang. Hunting for repertoire for my amateur choir had previously inspired me to investigate the equal-voice repertoire more closely and this, in turn, led me to the mysterious anonymous motet collections of the early 1540s.26 The circumstantial links in these books to Ferrarese music brought me back to the city in an unexpected and utterly serendipitous fashion. What had begun (in my research plans, at least) as a scholarly performer’s critical contemplation of the late-sixteenth-century concerto suddenly expanded into an investigation of more than sixty years of mostly untranscribed repertoire and scantily reported historical events. After several false starts trying to organize the material I already had into a coherent whole, I accepted I needed a chronological anchor, and that in turn required me to return to the archives and the musical sources to try to fill in the gaps. What the book has become, then, is a new history of Ferrarese music in the sixteenth century, one that puts the women at the center rather than on the periphery. It recovers women’s agency in music-making, whether that be as performers, composers, or patrons. It considers seriously the role that performance practice played in the development of polyphonic composition, and never assumes that the music we see was always the music they played and heard. It attempts to highlight the women’s achievements without glossing over the details of their lives, acknowledging them as actors on the historical, political, and cultural stage, but recognizing the limitations on their powers for self-determination. Consciously and subconsciously I have tried to recover them from the male gaze of both documentation and scholarship; if at times I appear to have stepped back from feminist critique, it is because the book’s first purpose is to place all their stories together. There remains much more to be said about how their stories have been told – the emphasis in the documents on physical appearance, the language used to describe the women and their actions, the brutal and sorry reality of female subjugation that is often accepted tout court – but there is only so long that a single academic study can be. The opening two chapters of this book examine Ferrarese musical women in the first half of the sixteenth century. Chapter  1 introduces the city’s main convents and their musical lives, and describes their relationship with the Este family, particularly through the story of Suor Leonora d’Este, abbess of Corpus Domini and the daughter of Duke Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia. Chapter  2 revisits female musical performance and virtuosity in courtly environments at the beginning of the 26

StrasVP. See also Lucrezia Borgia’s Daughter, Musica Secreta and Celestial Sirens, Obsidian CD717 (2017).

10

10

Introduction: Musica secreta century, particularly as a manifestation of civic magnificence. It considers the early education of the Este princesses, and the role of Este women  – Ercole II’s wife Renée and Alfonso I’s mistress Laura Dianti – as patrons of secular song and the early madrigal. Chapters 3 and 4 continue this narrative, and follow the Princesses Anna, Lucrezia, and Leonora into young adulthood in the 1550s and 1560s.27 Anna’s marriage celebrations provide the opportunity to examine the use of Bradamante, the central female character of Lodovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, as a symbol for Este brides. The tropes associated with Bradamante – warrior princess, lamenting abbandonnata – are enmeshed in the cultural production associated with Anna’s wedding, and begin a trajectory that can be traced through family marriage celebrations for the remainder of the century. Chapter  3 also considers the effect of Duchess  Renée’s religious convictions on her daughters, and on cultural activity in Ferrara in the second half of the 1550s. Chapter 4 examines the cultural manifestation of the Este’s dynastic instability, with both Duke Alfonso II and Princess Lucrezia seeking to establish themselves through marriage throughout the 1560s. Ariostean themes dominated court spectacle, but as the princesses aged, a new generation of female performers assumed the responsibility for providing musical entertainment at the heart of the court. The catastrophic earthquakes that struck Ferrara in late 1570 and 1571 come at the midpoint of the book’s chronological span, when the city’s fortunes were changed forever by the physical and political consequences of the disaster. Forced to maintain equilibrium between rival states and the Church, abandoned by many of his male courtiers, Duke  Alfonso turned to his sisters’ households and the city itself for the resources to project Ferrara’s superiority, even in times of calamity. Chapter 5 tells the story of the 1570s, when female courtiers were actively recruited to court spectacle more publicly and more frequently than before. It charts the development of Ferrarese song and polyphony as it absorbed the Roman-Neapolitan influences imported by the “foreign” courtiers Leonora Sanvitale and Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, and considers how composers from Ferrara’s ecclesiastical institutions, Paolo Isnardi and Lodovico Agostini, brought their polyphonic skills to bear in the secular court repertoire. The final four chapters provide counter-narratives to the well-known stories already found in the literature. Chapter 6 describes the Este women’s relationships with the city’s convents during the heyday of the concerto in the 1580s, showing how they treated the convents as extensions of their 27

Two studies, not specifically focused on female music-making, also inform these chapters: WaismanFM; Owens and Schiltz, Cipriano de Rore.

11

11

Doing Music History court environment  – primarily but not always strictly gynesocial retreats. Chapter 7 re-examines the music of the 1580s in the light of the discoveries in the rest of this book, concentrating on three commemorative volumes that document musical life at the center of the court: Modena Mus. MS F.1358, Lodovico Agostini’s Il  nuovo Echo (Ferrara:  Baldini, 1583), and De  Wert’s Ottavo libro of 1586. It looks at how the adaptive performance practices documented in the convents  – instrumental accompaniment, selective transposition, ensemble ornamentation  – can be applied to the concerto’s repertoire, and how traces of these practices can be found in the music itself. Chapters  8 and 9 extend the musical and historical narratives up to  and beyond the devolution of Ferrara to the Papal States in 1598, adding to the biographies of the singing women and the dowager Duchess  Margherita. They clarify the role of the convents in Ferrara’s cultural self-fashioning after devolution, and show how Ferrara’s musical legacy was transmuted and transformed in early seventeenth-century Mantua.

Doing Music History While always aware of the fiction in the archives, I am just as aware of the “fictive element” or narrative impulse that drives all historians to “fill in and weed out.”28 Many details of the Ferrarese women’s stories, particularly their performance stories, are still lost to us, but the experience of working with Musica Secreta and Celestial Sirens is fundamental to the conclusions presented here. We have immersed ourselves in the world of equal-voice polyphony, and have also attempted to solve the conundrum of decorating and performing the open-scored polyphony composed for the concerto and the convents with female voices and instruments alone. Practical investigation demands solutions: as Bruce Haynes put it, “Because musicians perform concerts, they can’t skip over the bits they are not sure about.”29 Working with the novelist Sarah Dunant on the Sacred Hearts project, on the other hand, made me think hard about how every aspect of the women’s lives would have had an impact on their music, whether as performers or patrons:  illness, pregnancy, marriage, bereavement, the daily chanting of the Office, the necessity of diplomacy and hospitality, even in the midst of crisis.30 So I have taken comfort in the words of the novelist Ursula Le Guin, who said: 28 29 30

Treitler, Music and the Historical Imagination, 39. Haynes, The End of Early Music, 128. Sarah Dunant drew on my research for her novel Sacred Hearts (London: Virago, 2009). Musica Secreta and Celestial Sirens recorded a “soundtrack” that accompanied the book: Sacred Hearts, Secret Music, Divine Arts 25077 (2009).

12

12

Introduction: Musica secreta The way one does research into nonexistent history is to tell the story and find out what happened. I believe this isn’t very different from what historians of the so-called real world do … You look at what happens and try to see why it happens, you listen to what the people there tell you and watch what they do, you think about it seriously, and you try to tell it honestly, so that the story will have weight and make sense.31

This description seems to me to have deep resonances with what musicians do, whether or not they are working with materials from the distant past. It suggests that we are intellectually, even morally, obliged to support our performance decisions with arguments that have considered all the evidence available. But more importantly, to accept Le Guin’s model is to accept that in order to research music history, one must “do” music history, even if there is only an incomplete, inaccurate, or contradictory set of data there in the first place. Although this book has been many years in the making, there is still plenty more to do – in terms of archival recovery, musical experimentation, analysis, and contextualization – for anyone wishing to expand its work. The archival record is still relatively untapped regarding the musical activities of Ferrarese convents, before and after devolution. Moreover, aside from the court and convents, the musical institutions of Ferrara were numerous  – confraternities, academies, monastic houses, synagogues, the cathedral chapter – and a record of their activities and influences is crucial to a comprehensive cultural biography of Ferrarese music. Laura Dianti and Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, are still woefully under-researched as patrons and as political players. Marfisa d’Este is an equally fascinating figure, at once a name instantly recognizable to any student of Ferrarese culture, and yet difficult to pin down in terms of her musical patronage. Indeed, the activities of many female members of the ruling families of Northern Italy are waiting to be explored and revealed, particularly as they are so inextricably bound with the networks of convents that were home to their sisters, aunts, and widowed mothers – so that we may tenderly rehabilitate them to the historical narrative. But we must also recognize that all of these women, whether enclosed in a convent or out in the secular world, would have actively “done” music. Perhaps they were not always readers or singers of polyphony, paid musicians, or published composers – but that does not diminish the importance of music to their lives.

31

Le Guin, Tales from Earthsea, xii.

13

1

h

Ferrarese Convents and the Este in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century

The story of women’s music-making in sixteenth-century Ferrara has most frequently been told from the point of view of courtly duchesses and dame, but its roots spread beyond the ancient castello into the city’s convents, where music was a much more central activity of women’s lives than at court. Nuns’ singing marked the passage of the hours of the day both inside and outside enclosure, for their music was accessible to the entire populace, albeit only through the grilles and windows that broke the separation between the inner and outer portions of the church attached to every convent. Convent musical practice was also accessible to courtly women throughout their lives, whether as part of their childhood experiences as educande, or as adults in retreat from the demands of the secular world. The experience of living and perhaps even singing with nuns would have enriched the musical knowledge of courtly women, for in clausura nuns had to acquire and develop the skills used to fashion liturgical chant and polyphony that were not necessary for the limited musical displays appropriate to courtly femininity. Moreover, nuns sang as women much earlier and far more freely than courtly women were able to do, both individually and collectively. The many texts derived from the Song of Songs, antiphons and  responsories for female saints, and meditative-devotional works addressed to Christ allowed nuns to speak and sing in a specifically female voice, expressing physical and spiritual desires that could not be articulated directly in the language of courtly love. Throughout the 350  years of their primacy in Ferrara, the Este family provided generous support for the convents of their city, each generation financing the expansion or building of new complexes. For some, spiritual imperatives combined with social engineering, creating homes for reformed prostitutes and destitute orphans, or refuges for battered wives. Others were more concerned to create a pleasant environment for female family members who, temporarily or permanently, found refuge in a religious community. One Este princess, Suor Leonora, daughter of Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia, enriched her convent home and the city that supported it with both material and musical wealth, certainly in terms of its physical endowment, and perhaps also with compositions of her own. Her institution, Corpus Domini,

14

14

Ferrarese Convents and the Este eventually became the eternal resting place of the all the Este, and for a time at least the nuns sang daily for their departed souls.

Music and Convent Life Convents were an essential component of Renaissance society: they provided a stable and strong religious corpus, ever available to intercede with God and the saints on behalf of their communities, their leaders, and their leaders’ families. They represented security for women from all tiers of society, whether as sanctuaries or as providers of emergency care; but they were also the repositories into which surplus or unruly female citizens could be discarded. They were economic units unto themselves, offering a variety of skilled labor and services in exchange for alms, monetary or in kind: convents were schools, scriptoria, pharmacies, wineries, textile workshops, bakeries, or other kinds of specialized workplaces, benefiting from continuity, longterm retention of expertise, free labor, and a largely passive and settled workforce. And crucially, the sound of nuns’ music was embedded in the religious and cultural life of every city, a source of civic pride and indicative of a city’s spiritual health. There were more than twenty convents, ospedali, conservatorii, and oratorii within Ferrara’s relatively small diocese, from the great enclosed noble houses – Corpus Domini, San Bernardino, San Guglielmo, San Vito, Sant’Antonio in Polesine, San Silvestro – to the poorest lay institutions that sheltered the city’s orfane, destitute girls who had been lucky enough to be accepted into their care, and the convertite, or reformed prostitutes (see Figure 1.1 for the location of the principal convents and palaces in Ferrara). Nearly all the major orders of nuns had a presence: the Augustinians, the Benedictines, the Clarissans, the Dominicans, the Servites, the Laterans, and the Carmelites.1 Because of the pressures of dowry inflation  – which put the price of marriage for more than one daughter out of reach for many families – and the need for social care in turbulent times, the expansion in Ferrarese convents was continuous throughout the century. By its end, the official number of women living in enclosure was over one thousand, but it is likely to have been many more, with many more again finding sanctuary in charitable homes run by nuns (see Table 1.1).2 1 2

The history of the city’s convents is given in Berengan and Calore, Le custodi del sacro. Information on dowries, actual numbers, and permitted numbers for the enclosed communities in 1574 is drawn from Appendix 1.1: I-MOas, GS, b. 254a, [Giovanni Battista Maremonti], “Informatione dello Stato de’ Monasterii di Ferrara.” The official limits for 1590 are given in Fontana, Constitutioni, 89–90. One hundred and three sisters are named in a contract drawn up regarding the purchase of land and the upkeep of the organ at Corpus Domini in 1569;

15

15

Music and Convent Life

Figure 1.1 Map of Ferrara, showing the locations of the major convents and palaces

Several of these convents were very large communities, housing many women and covering many acres to accommodate livestock, and with kitchen and medicinal gardens. A  “list of offices” from Sant’Antonio in Polesine shows that, apart from the abbess, there were at least sixty-six nuns required to fulfill all the responsibilities of running the convent.3 There are positions of instruction – the novice mistress and the chapel mistress – and

3

I-FEas, Archivio Notarile, Giovanni Battista Codegori, Matr.582, pacco 24s. A seventeenthcentury copy is transcribed in Appendix 1.2: I-FEasd, Fondo Monastero di Corpus Domini 3/1, “Catasto delle R.R.M.M. del Corpus Domini,” fols. 28(right)–31(left). Appendix 1.3: I-MOe, Ital. 449 (α.G.5.21), “Cartario del Monastero di S. Antonio del Polesine,” 256r. There is no date on the document, but it appears to be early seventeenth-century; the list, however, would be representative of the convent’s structure throughout the early modern period.

16

16

Ferrarese Convents and the Este

Table 1.1 The convents of Ferrara in the sixteenth century Convent

Order

1574 dowry (in scudi)

Ca’ Bianca Convertite (Santa Maria Maddalena) Corpus Domini San Bernardino San Gabrielle San Guglielmo San Rocco San Silvestro San Vito Sant’Agostino Sant’Antonio Santa Caterina da Siena Santa Caterina Martire Santa Lucia Santa Maria del Mortaro Santa Monica

Servite Clarissan (Observant)

– 250

Clarissan (Observant) Clarissan (Observant) Carmelite Clarissan Dominican Benedictine Augustinian Augustinian Benedictine Dominican Servite Augustinian Laterans Dominican

900 no minimum – 2255 400 1315 500 1600 2420 1550 2400 30 2000 360

Total

1574 actual numbers

1574 permitted numbers

1590 permitted numbers

75 72

40 40

60 –

110 88 110 108 48 78 98 70 110 89 116 30 103 74

80 60 60 110 36 80 55 – – 60 120 20 80 36

70 50 60 70 60 80 66 80 115 75 120 40 60 50

1379

877

1056

administration, including the two treasurers appointed “to look after the nuns’ money.” Some nuns ensured that the rules of the convent were obeyed, from supervising the parlatorio and the ruota (the small revolving hatch at the entrance of the convent through which goods and documents could be passed) to organizing provision for the convent’s daily needs at the granary and the firewood stocks; and some had specific chapel duties, such as the sacristans. Even the oldest nuns were put to work if they were able, ensuring that silence was observed appropriately. At Sant’Antonio, as in most other convents, skilled labor, governance, and managerial roles were shared among the monache coriste, or choir sisters – professed nuns whose dowries and social status before entering the convent largely allowed them to escape menial tasks – but the manual labor was done by the converse, or servant nuns, who were recruited with a muchreduced dowry. At the end of the list, the distinction in duties between monaca and conversa is made. All sisters had to staff the kitchen, but shifts were different according to rank: monache were allocated on a weekly basis, whereas the converse were on a fortnightly rotation. Also resident at the convent would be novizie, novices who intended to enter religious life after at least a year of instruction; educande, young girls who received education and moral instruction but who were not obliged to remain; and possibly

17

17

Music and Convent Life zitelle, indigent young women who looked to the convent for protection in return for service. Noble families with several daughters, locked into a system that obliged them to protect the patrimony through primogeniture (which reduced the number of eligible husbands), had little option but to place some of them in convents. However, if a girl had special skills, particularly musical ones, her family was often able to negotiate a smaller dowry, payable upon the girl’s entry into religious life. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when music became so important to convent economy, but even in the early sixteenth century girls with musical talents were welcomed, even solicited, by convents looking to increase their prestige and income.4 Ultimately, this practice represented good business sense:  music was a way of attracting both regular endowments, monetary or otherwise, and eventually wealthier dowried novices to keep their communities thriving. For the girls themselves, music could create opportunities for self-advancement within the convent, and could even provide access to a few more creature comforts – relaxation of convent rules for the wealthy, extra food or warmth for the less well-off – to improve their quality of life in enclosure. Music was fundamental to convent life, as every day was measured and punctuated by the eight Hours of the Office:  Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. Freed from the responsibility of regular manual labor, coriste were instead required to attend chapel to recite or intone the Office according to the rite of their order. Those who could read or who owned their own breviaries were responsible for those sections of the Office that vary with the days or seasons. A few years after the convent of San Bernardino was established in 1510, it was provided with a new wording of the Clarissan rule that is clear about the behavior required in chapel: 1. We order that all the sisters should participate in choir in the Divine Office both by day and by night at the first bell, and the Abbess should take the most diligent care that the said Office should be recited slowly, with devotion, at the designated hours and times, and each is obliged to get up and go to Matins, and to all the other canonical Hours (if she is not already ill, or legitimately impeded, or if she is older than sixty years; and in this case we leave it to the discretion of the Abbess, who may grant dispensation). And whoever is negligent of the Divine Office,

4

In 1525 the Benedictine convent of Le Murate in Florence admitted a girl from a poor family, Suor Marta, “because she possessed the ‘rare talent’ of a bass voice.” Lowe, Nuns’ Chronicles, 275. See also the discussion in Chapter 6.

18

18

Ferrarese Convents and the Este for the first time must say the Pater noster and the Ave Maria five times in the refectory; the second time she must do the discipline [i.e. self-flagellate] in public; for the third she must eat only bread and wine, and for all subsequent times (as she has become habituated), for each she must eat off the refectory floor. 2. While the Divine Office is being recited or Mass is heard, no sister must dare talk, laugh, joke or do anything else inappropriate. No one shall leave during the Divine Office or Mass except for the most urgent reason, and with the permission of the Abbess when present, or when she is not, of the Mother Vicar, or whoever is presiding in the choir. 3. Each must do, without talking back, the job in the choir allocated to her by she who has the particular responsibility for it, and no one shall hide in the back saying, “it’s not my turn”; and who ever does contrary to what she is told, for every time she shall confess her sins in the public refectory. 4. The sisters should be solicitous and frequently at holy prayer, which we order must be done every day together at least for an hour, which time and hour shall be determined by all the sisters, and agreed together.5

The convent’s interior church was normally connected with the external church via a window, grate, or grille, through which any members of the public present would have been able to hear the recitations of the Office. The sections of the Office in which more elaborate music might be heard most frequently were the evening hours of Vespers and Compline. Mass, for the nuns only, would have been celebrated by a visiting priest from the convent’s governing institution. At Christmas and during Holy Week, on the principal feasts of the Church, or that of a convent’s titular saint, or in connection with a special rite – such as a burial, a commemoration, or the profession of a new nun – a second Mass might be said with the celebrant officiating for a congregation in the external church.6 For one such occasion, the profession of Suor Heironima Ferrarini on 13 January 1488, the mass was conducted by

5

6

Appendix 1.4: I-FEamcd, Registro, Ordinazioni delle Monache de S. Bernardino di Ferrara. This document is too fragile to be consulted, but it is transcribed in full in Lombardi, I francescani, 4:285–86. Eventually, these would have been the only occasions on which the nuns would have been permitted to interact musically with others from outside the convent: “The nuns alone, and no others, neither laity nor ecclesiastical, will sing their Divine Offices, with the only concession being that at the principal solemnities of their church, or for the dead, they can sing the Masses with the deacon and sub-deacon, and the nuns may sing the rest of the Mass”; Appendix 1.5: Fontana, Constitutioni, 34.

19

19

The Este and Ferrarese Convents the General of the Friars of San Nicolò, and the organ was played by “the son of Paolo da Sestola, tailor.”7 Even though music was a central part of nuns’ worship, many in the Church were uneasy about how advanced musical practice in convents might lead the nuns to vanity. These objections came from both establishment and anti-establishment reformers. For instance, in the 1490s the Ferrarese archreformer Girolamo Savonarola condemned the use of convent organs, perhaps on the basis that organs facilitated the learning and singing of polyphony, of which he deeply disapproved.8 And several decades later, the bishop of Verona banned any musical practice in convents apart from chant, on the basis that the nuns should be concentrating on the words of the liturgy rather than “notes and the rules of music.”9 The tension between Italian cities’ needs and support for conventual music and the demands of at least some Church representatives to curb it fluctuated throughout the sixteenth century, but disputes were dealt with locally, with the power to legislate and enforce restrictions within the diocese formally conferred on bishops by the final sitting of the Council of Trent in 1565.10 Ferrara’s nuns were fortunate to be governed by bishops who at worst tolerated, and at best encouraged, fine music-making in the city’s convents, right up to the final decade of the century.

The Este and Ferrarese Convents at the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century In 1257 Azzo  VII d’Este acquired the monastery of Sant’Antonio Abate for his daughter, Beatrice, a Benedictine nun.11 At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Beatrice’s convent, known locally as Sant’Antonio in Polesine (Saint Anthony in the Swamp) and built on a fertile pocket of land surrounded by water, was only sometimes accessible by horse or on foot.12 However, it was a place of frequent pilgrimage, particularly after 1451 when Borso d’Este drained the surrounding swamps and brought the convent 7

8 9 10 11

12

Folin, “Sul ‘buon uso,’ ” 233. This is likely to be Gerolamo da Sestola, “il Coglia,” the agent who recruited Josquin des Prez to Ferrara in 1502; Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 224–28. Macey, Bonfire Songs, 95–96. StrasVP, 620. Monson, “The Council of Trent Revisited,” 19–29. Beatrice was beatified in the eighteenth century. Her cult was based on an oily liquid that emitted from her funereal monument, which was said to have miraculous curative powers. Appendix 1.6: I-MOe, Ital. 265 (α.W.6.28), Prisciani, “Notizie dello Monastero di San Antonio in Polesine,” 51r.

20

20

Ferrarese Convents and the Este within the protection of the city walls.13 Its direct access to the river made it an important reception center for visiting dignitaries and a starting point for their entrata celebrations. For Borso’s half-brother, Ercole I, investing in holy women and convents in which to house them was both a religious and civic imperative, good for the city’s soul and its economy.14 As admirers of Savonarola, Ercole and his wife Eleonora d’Aragona took a personal interest in convent reform. Ercole’s greatest gesture was to bring the “living saint” and Savonarolan disciple, Suor  Lucia Brocadelli di  Narni, to Ferrara from Viterbo in 1499, complete with ecstasies and stigmata, establishing the Dominican house of Santa Caterina da Siena for her.15 It was perhaps his way of recompensing the city for Borso’s loss of Caterina Vigri (later Saint Catherine of Bologna) in 1456 from the convent of Corpus Domini, when she left Ferrara to set up a sister establishment in Bologna. Intent on doing good works, Ercole and Eleonora created five new institutions, but the Este’s motivation for establishing convents was also fed by the growing need to balance the welfare of noblewomen with the precarious social practice that required families to preserve the integrity of the family wealth while also securing upward mobility for their daughters.16 With existing houses oversubscribed, conventual discipline was sometimes difficult to maintain, and an early foretaste of post-Tridentine austerity may be found in the record of a dispute at Sant’Antonio that had to be resolved by the duchess’s personal intervention. Although still the most prestigious institution in Ferrara, the convent was supporting more than one hundred nuns, over three times the number it was built to house, creating crowded conditions that tested the serenity of the cloisters. In 1487 a young professa was deprived of her organetto “because she played it very well, and because perhaps she did so more than the sisters, and the brothers who govern them, wished, and to be in observance, and for legitimate cause and for a good example.”17 While in the spirit of Savonarolan Observance, and therefore pleasing to Duchess Eleonora, the gesture may have been prompted more by convent politics than a need to control musical impropriety. To comfort the young woman, an aunt also professed at the convent made plans to take

13 14 15 16

17

Ghirardo, “Topography of Prostitution,” 420. Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, 177. See also Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, 116–17. Folin, “Sul ‘buon uso,’ ” 181–96. For an account of the explosion in numbers in Ferrarese convents in the late fifteenth century, see ibid., 201–203. For a similar phenomenon in Venice during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see Sperling, Convents and the Body Politic. Appendix 1.7: I-MOas, CPE Roma, b. 8, Eleonora d’Aragona to Bonfrancesco Arlotti, 20 August 1487. Cited in Folin, “Sul ‘buon uso,’ ” 207, 235–36.

21

21

The Este and Ferrarese Convents her to enjoy the curative waters at Padua, which further inflamed the community. The duchess eventually requested that the Pope revoke any privilege that allowed sisters to leave the convent for health reasons, in order to prevent any further disruption. In 1497 Ercole rebuilt the churches of two neighboring convents, the Augustinian house of San Vito and the Benedictine house of San Silvestro.18 San Silvestro was the oldest convent in the city, its origins dating back to the tenth century. Evidence relating to San  Silvestro’s organ points to a more open attitude to conventual music-making from Alfonso I, who had become duke in 1505. Its records show one of the earliest traces of institutional musical activity in a Ferrarese convent, in payments for the tuning and maintenance of its organ in 1518.19 San Silvestro was originally situated beyond the walls, but in 1515 Alfonso I began a further city expansion to the east. Rather than lose the convent, he ordered the construction of an entire new complex within the city walls, and in 1520 the nuns moved into their new home. The new church was consecrated in 1524; the organ and the inner choir were lavishly decorated by the city’s finest painters.20 Alfonso had little of his father’s interest in Observant reforms but had certainly inherited his love of music, so it does not seem surprising that San Silvestro could invest heavily in the aesthetic experience of making music in its new choir without censure. Convents were all required to be self-sufficient, and without a doubt some relied upon their musical reputations to help balance their books. But this would not have been just in terms of the acquisition of dowries, for the value of a dowry to the convent was inevitably reduced by the cost of another nun to feed, clothe, and house for the rest of her life. Music would also create another lucrative income stream that incurred little in terms of future outlay:  funerals, burial agreements, and requiem offices. Convent funerals were not necessarily modest affairs; when Don  Alfonsino d’Este, first husband of Marfisa d’Este, died suddenly in 1578, he was buried in Sant’Agostino with “sumptuous obsequies.”21 Moreover, it is common to find generous bequests to convents in exchange for masses and offices to be sung for the testator’s soul in perpetuity. For instance, when Anna Sforza died in 1497, she was buried in the Augustinian convent of San  Vito wearing the habit of the order, leaving a perpetual monthly gift of 22 loaves of pane nero

18 19 20 21

Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, 391–92; Berengan and Calore, Le custodi del sacro, 74. PeveradaDoc, 167. Brisighella, Descrizione delle pitture, 428. The alleged cause of Alfonsino’s death was unusual: “On 4 September, Lord Alfonsino, husband of Lady Marfisa, from too much making love with his wife, died of it. He was

22

22

Ferrarese Convents and the Este and 25  soldi for expenses incurred in relation to regular commemorative offices sung on her behalf.22 The relationship between musical reputation and burial economics may be behind a unique monument that stood in San Silvestro.23 It commemorated a nobleman who died in the 1560s, at a time when the convent housed at least one celebrated musical nun, Suor Diana Montecuccoli, who was skilled in both singing and playing.24 The tomb had prominence in the external church and was inscribed with a musical rebus, perhaps related to the convent’s musical tradition, and certainly in keeping with Ferrara’s culture of musical esoterica (Figure 1.2). In order to decipher the inscription, the reader must be able to understand not only basic musical symbols, but also the hexachordal system:  “Questo Monumento e de me, Sulpicio [mi-sol-picio] Tombese et della Laura [la la-ura], mia [mi-a] chara Consorta. Ergo Domine Deus mihi [mi-mi], Sulpitiique [solP-itijque] Laurae utrisque [la-ut-re ut-tres-que] miserere [mi-se-re-re], amen.” (This monument is for me, Sulpizio Tombesi, and for Laura, my beloved wife. Therefore, Lord God have mercy on me, Sulpitio and Laura both together, amen.)25 The inscription suggests that participation in the city’s learned musical culture was widespread. But it may also indicate that Tombesi knew that the appreciation of music might draw visitors specifically to the church, and that those passing the tomb were likely both to possess the skill to read it, and enjoy the challenge of so doing.

The Este and the Convent of Corpus Domini In the medieval period, Sant’Antonio in Polesine had been the convent of choice for Este princesses. However, at the end of the fifteenth century, the Clarissan convent of Corpus Domini (also known as Corpus Christi, or Corpo di Cristo) became the favored house for the family, largely through the patronage of Eleonora d’Aragona. With the support of Eleonora and Ercole, Corpus Domini began to rival Sant’Antonio as Ferrara’s most prestigious

22 23 24

25

buried in with the nuns of Sant’Agostino with pomp, and also with sumptuous obsequies.” Appendix 1.8: GuarDiario1570, 28r. Berengan and Calore, Le custodi del sacro, 74; Appendix 1.9: MerendaMem, 258r. Borsetti, Supplemento, 230. Appendix 1.10: Pietro Calzolari, Historia monastica di D. Pietro Calzolai … distincta in cinque giornate (Florence: Torrentino, 1561), 3:67. Sulpizio Tombesi was a gentleman at the Este court, serving Sigismondo d’Este, Alfonso I, Ercole II, and Alfonso II between 1516 and 1563; Guerzoni, Le corti estensi, 158–59. Perhaps inspired by his monument, Frizzi includes him in a list of famous Ferrarese musicians, although his musical activity – if it ever existed – has not been recorded elsewhere; Frizzi, Memorie, 4:414.

23

23

The Este and the Convent of Corpus Domini

Figure 1.2 Sulpizio Tombesi’s epitaph: Andrea Borsetti, Supplemento al compendio historico del Signor D. Marc’ Antonio Guarini (Ferrara: Giglio, 1670), 230.

convent, particularly once its estate was greatly enlarged by the bequest of Giovanni Romei’s grand palazzo, the Casa Romei. The palace stood adjacent to the convent and was absorbed into its estate in 1483, creating a complex that occupied a whole block in the oldest part of the city. Eleonora d’Aragona had a cell at the convent reserved for her personal use, and when she died in 1493, she was buried in the choir, establishing a tradition that would last until the Este left Ferrara. After her, many members of the family were also interred there: her son Alfonso I; his second wife Lucrezia Borgia and a number of their infant children; their daughter, Suor Leonora; Ercole II; his illegitimate daughter Suor  Lucrezia; Alfonso  II; his first wife Lucrezia de’  Medici; and his sisters, the Princesses Lucrezia and Leonora.26 One Ferrarese chronicle includes an extensive list of annual elemosine (alms) donated by the exchequer to Ferrarese convents, itemized under the name of each duke, duchess, or princess. Its list for Corpus Domini, by far the longest in the inventory, notes huge quantities of money, food, wine, candles, and other consumables, some of which would have been intended for distribution, but the rest surely intended for the nuns themselves.27

26

27

The remains of all other members of the family buried in Ferrara were “systematized” and reinterred in Corpus Domini in 1960; Lombardi, Gli Estensi, 62. Appendix 1.11: MerendaMem, 257v–60r.

24

24

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Alfonso I, in particular, made elaborate arrangements for the convent to be given alms and expensive ritual objects; however, because the nuns had taken a vow of poverty, the legacy was administered by the Franciscan friars at the neighboring Ospedale di Sant’Anna.28 In return for such generosity, the nuns were expected to advocate for their benefactor on a grand scale. The duke established a complex schedule of prayers and offices, to be sung first in his honor and (after his death) in his memory. The most important was a monthly service after which a public distribution of food and wine would be made to the poor. This service was to be solemn: the will stipulates that it should be officiated by friars or priests, suggesting that it was to include a mass. In addition, the will requires weekly sung recitations of the Seven Penitential Psalms together with their litanies and prayers, and an Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And first affectionately he beseeches, and as much as he can charges the venerable mother sisters of the holy convent of Corpus Christi of this city of Ferrara, the which for their decent and saintly life he has always helped and [for which he has] had much devotion and faith, that he wishes them to make a commendation of his life for as long as his Excellence lives, and after his death of his soul, praying and beseeching by them to God, and making a particular prayer for it; the which that Lord Duke trusts will always be said aloud. And apart from the usual [prayers], his Excellence wishes and commits, and thus asks them that which he wishes to be done, the below written orations and devotions in particular: First, that every time the said sisters or any one of them enters into their church for praying or for reciting the Offices they must recite one Ave Maria for the life of that Lord while he lives, or for the soul of his Excellence when he is dead. Likewise, that every Friday each one of the said sisters must recite with their arms placed across the heart, devoutly, the oration of the Pietà, that is that one which they know and can say. Likewise, that every Saturday all the aforesaid sisters, and each of them that can read and if they find themselves in the choir, must recite singing the Seven Penitential Psalms, with the litanies and orations that go directly after them; and those that do not know how to read must recite one time the Corona of the Madonna29 to the honor and praise of God and of Mary the Most Holy Virgin, for the life and the soul of that Lord. Likewise, that all the aforesaid sisters and each of them that knows how to read and not being impeded [from doing so] must recite the Office of the Madonna one

28 29

GuarComp, 210. The Corona of the Franciscans is the set of prayers said to the rosary. Alternatively, this could refer to the Corona B.M.V. Super septem verbis: Ave Mater dei ora eum pro me, composed by Ercole I d’Este (Ferrara: Laurientius de Rubeis, 1497); Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 221.

25

25

The Este and the Convent of Corpus Domini time per week, and those that do not know how to read must recite the Corona of the Madonna for the remission of the sins of the aforesaid Lord. Likewise that all the aforesaid sisters must ensure to celebrate in their church while that Lord lives, and which God will lengthily preserve, every first Friday of the month, if it is not an impeded day, in which case it will be transferred to the first following day, and after his death one time per month on the day that he will have died, a beautiful and solemn Office, making on that morning a public alms and general [distribution] of bread and wine helping the poor that will come for that, to honor God and for the remission of the sins of his Excellence. And the said Office must be celebrated by the Friars of their order which they govern them, and if it occurs that they are no longer governed by the said friars, it must be celebrated by other priests as it appears to the sisters. And the said venerable sisters, having begun to do the aforesaid things of the day for the aforesaid Lord Duke, will make  the following alms …30

Alfonso  I’s bequest ensured not only that his soul was well supported in prayer, but also that the nuns’ voices would be heard in perpetuity, regularly and frequently singing in his memory. While the document gives no detail of what kind of music they would sing, it suggests that Corpus Domini had, and would continue to have, the musical resources to provide “a beautiful and solemn Office” for years after Alfonso’s death. Corpus Domini was not, however, just a mausoleum for the Este; it was also a sanctuary. The daughter-in-law Eleonora never knew, Alfonso  I’s second wife, Lucrezia Borgia, was also drawn to Corpus Domini and the Clarissan order. Like Eleonora before her, Lucrezia Borgia used Corpus Domini as a retreat, often entering the convent for weeks at a stretch, in times of stress, illness, and sorrow, particularly after a birth or a bereavement.31 Borgia used her personal wealth to expand the Clarissans’ influence in the city by building a spacious and well-appointed convent in the newest part of Ferrara, the Terranova. In 1510 she removed twenty-two sisters from Corpus Domini and established them in the new house, San Bernardino. She did this ostensibly to provide a home for Camilla, the orphaned daughter of her brother Cesare, but almost certainly she had her own needs in mind as well. The complex, uncompleted at her death, may also have been intended to support commercial activity that would have kept Lucrezia solvent in the event of her widowhood.32 When she died in 1519, she was buried in the choir of Corpus Domini wearing the habit of a Franciscan tertiary. 30

31 32

Appendix 1.12: I-FEamcd, cartella D, no. 1, “Disposizioni testamentarie di Alfonso primo d’Este per le Clarisse del Corpus Domini di Ferrara,” 25 March 1520. The document is too fragile to handle, but is transcribed in Lombardi, Gli Estensi, 71–75. Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, 327–28. Ghirardo, “Lucrezia Borgia’s Palace,” 490–92.

26

26

Ferrarese Convents and the Este

The Musical Legacy of Caterina Vigri By the time of Lucrezia’s death, the cult surrounding Corpus Domini’s most famous daughter, Caterina Vigri, was gaining momentum; although Vigri had only died in 1463, she was well on her way to beatification, which was confirmed in 1524. Vigri was the daughter of the Bolognese envoy to Ferrara, and was raised at the court of Niccolò d’Este as a companion to Niccolò’s daughter, Margherita. In 1426, at the age of 13, Vigri joined Corpus Domini, which was then a community of Augustinian tertiaries; however, in 1432 she led a group of nuns in a request to transfer the community to the Order of Saint Clare.33 She eventually became mistress of the novices, and in 1456 she was instructed to return to Bologna to found the convent of Corpus Domini there. Detail about her musical life is found in her own writings, and in a biographical memoir, the Specchio di illuminazione, written just after her death by her lifelong companion, Suor Illuminata Bembo.34 Vigri advocated a spiritual musical practice that went beyond liturgical chant: the singing of vernacular laude or spiritual songs, either alone or with others, which helped the devoted first to absorb the message expressed in the poetry and then to externalize it in their own voices. Vigri would have acquired musical skills as a noble girl at the Ferrarese court: once a nun, she used them to compose laude, which she taught to her community. The practice continued in the convent for many years after her death. Vigri’s experience of worship was infused with aural manifestations of angelic singing, which could produce miracles. One of her most celebrated visions occurred during Mass. Just as the priest intoned the Sanctus, she felt transported out of her body and heard the angelic choir. She admitted that she became so absorbed when singing the Office that she failed to notice anything else: when asked if she had witnessed misbehavior in choir, she said she had not, adding that it was not possible both “to live with the angels, with the intention to sing psalms, and also to keep the heart on earth.”35 But outside choir, she still appears to have lived immersed in music; indeed, this is the first command she gives in the treatise she left to her sisters, the Sette armi spirituali, appropriating the words of a popular lauda: “Let each maid who loves the Lord, come to the dance singing of love; come dancing, all aflame desiring only Him who has created her, and separates those who love Him from perilous worldliness and places them in 33 34

35

McLaughlin, “Creating and Recreating Communities of Women,” 293. I-Baa, Archivio della Beata Caterina, 23/1; modern edition, Bembo, Specchio. The title of Vigri’s vita mirrors the title of an important fourteenth-century vita of Saint Francis, the Speculum perfectionis. Appendix 1.13: Bembo, Specchio, 29–30.

27

27

The Musical Legacy of Caterina Vigri the noble discipline of holy religion.”36 Bembo’s memoir gives the impression of a woman who slipped between speech and song, or prayer and conversation, or internal meditation and external oration, often without any clear sense of where one ended and the other began. But it is certain that music figured strongly in her relationship with Christ, particularly in the context of the Eucharist (receiving the Body of Christ, or Corpus Domini, had deep resonance for her community identity). Her instructions for the meditative preparation for Communion end with a passage that illustrates this ambiguity. It is not clear if she means actually to sing, rather than to just imagine singing; yet here, too, is the same immersion process she described regarding the Office: forgetting the world and desiring Heaven, which brings forth sacred song. Then the devoted soul makes her voice heard, singing before her delightful spouse the songs of Zion, the melody of which, composed of three intermingling qualities, creates the most beautiful sound: that is, the perfect forgetting of earthly things, the fervent affection for heavenly things, and some beginning of praises for the blessed spirits.37

As far as Vigri was concerned, Heaven was continually filled with song, so singing was the way to access it. In her later years she was often unwell, and during one life-threatening illness experienced a vision of Heaven, in which she saw an angel sitting before God, playing a violeta and singing the words, “Et gloria eius in te videbitur.” As she recovered, she felt compelled to imitate the angel, in an ecstatic extemporization: And she remained so joyful for several months, often saying, “Et gloria eius in te videbitur” and because she needed it … they found her a violeta. And she played it many times, it seemed as if everything melted away from her like wax does in fire, now singing, now mute, with her face to the sky.38

Vigri remained committed to the power of song until her death. In her last days she alternated between her musical devotion, singing the Office and praying silently in church. As she lay dying, she requested that her attendants sing laude, and when she had the energy, she would join in.

36

37

38

Appendix 1.14: Catharina Bononiensis, Libretto composto da una beata religiosa del corpo de cristo Sore Caterina da bologna [Le sette armi spirituali] (Bologna: Balthasar Azoguidus, 1475), [2r–2v]. Modern edition, Vigri, Le sette armi spirituali. See also Vigri, Laudi, cxi. For an account of Saint Francis and his use of dance, see Loewen, Music in Early Franciscan Thought, 30. Appendix 1.15: I-Baa, Archivio della Beata Caterina, 25/2, 198v–198r. Modern edition, Vigri, Laudi, 118–19. Appendix 1.16: Bembo, Specchio, 66.

28

28

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Vigri’s own writings and her biography work effectively to align her with Saint Francis and his use of music as both a meditative medium and a performative tool for preaching. Francis’s hagiographies credit him with the creation of devotional laude from secular song and a keen understanding of the power of music to enhance the spiritual life.39 Vigri’s miraculous encounter with the angelic violeta also has parallels in two stories about Francis: one in which he would spontaneously burst into song in praise of God, miming an accompaniment on a vielle; the other in which he had experienced an aural manifestation of a heavenly cithara, which comforted him in affliction.40 Vigri’s cult was encouraged at both Corpus Domini houses, in Bologna and in Ferrara, and her musical legacy was maintained. When Ercole  I visited the Bolognese house in 1492 to see Vigri’s relics, he heard the sisters sing double Vespers (both the Divine and Marian Offices), and afterwards was entertained by some of the sisters singing “alcune belle laude.”41 Ercole’s interest may have been strengthened by his admiration for another great figure of fifteenth-century theology and music, Girolamo Savonarola, who had praised Vigri in sermons and writing.42 Savonarola’s primary musical legacy was also the communal singing of laude, which he recommended to all his followers, both lay and religious. His interest in devotional singing may perhaps at least have been encouraged by Vigri’s reputation and her convent’s practice: the dates included in the autograph copy of his laude show that most of them were composed during his years in Bologna.43 A reciprocal admiration nurtured at the Bolognese Corpus Domini is indicated by the presence of several of Savonarola’s writings in manuscripts compiled there in the late fifteenth century.44 The Ferrarese Corpus Domini even received an endorsement of sorts from Savonarola, who wrote a published letter – On the perfection of the religious state – to Maddalena Pico, Countess of Mirandola, on the occasion of her monachization there in 1495.45 Vigri’s popularity blossomed immediately after her death, as after nearly three weeks of miracles reported at her graveside, she was exhumed and her 39 40 41

42 43 44

45

Loewen, Music in Early Franciscan Thought, 17–18. Ibid., 29–33. Appendix 1.17: I-MOas, CDR, b. 8, Siviero Sivieri to Eleonora d’Aragona, 3 January 1492. Transcribed in Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, 482. Herzig, Savonarola’s Women, 202, n. 17. Macey, Bonfire Songs, 101. Vigri, Laudi, liv, cxi. Savonarola’s lauda “Salve regina Vergin gloriosa” appears in the Bottegari Lutebook (I-MOe, Mus. MS C.311) attributed to Vigri, alongside a text that can be safely attributed to her, “Rifuti ogni diletto ed ogni piacere”; facsimile Bottegari, Il libro di canto e liuto, 12r–12v. Bottegari’s source may have assumed Vigri’s authorship because the text appears with other laude by Vigri at the end of Illuminata Bembo’s autograph of Il specchio di illuminazione. Savonarola, Oeuvres spirituelles, 48. The letter was reprinted in 1538, 1547, and 1548.

29

29

The Musical Legacy of Caterina Vigri body was found uncorrupted.46 In 1524 her convent was given permission to recite an office, newly composed by Dionisio Paleotti, on the day of her death (9 March). The office sits comfortably in the tradition of humanist retellings of saints’ lives through a combination of rhymed antiphons, hymns, responsories, and verses, and prose Matins lessons.47 Vigri’s engagement with music, both celestial and mundane, is emphasized, particularly in Lessons Four and Seven, which deal respectively with her visions of the angelic choir and of the viol-playing angel. Throughout the office, Paleotti alludes to texts and tropes associated with familiar female models:  the BVM (emphasizing that Vigri and the Virgin share a birthday, 8 September), and Saints Anne, Catherine of Alexandria, Agnes, and Clare. The Magnificat antiphon for Vespers  II  – the highlight of any saint’s office – uses these allusions to create a composite image of the ideal holy woman: O lux obedientiae, o paupertatis speculum, o gemma pudicitiae, Beata Catharina, in summi dei spetie, defixum tenens oculum, compassa tu miseriae humanae colombina, per semitas iustitiae, ad verae pacis cumulum, ad summum regem gloriae, nos transfer a ruina.48 O light of obedience, O mirror of poverty, O jewel of modesty, Blessed Catherine; As the pinnacle of the form [of woman], holding the eye’s gaze, you suffered hardships, little human dove; By paths of justice; to the destination of true peace, to the highest king of glory, you keep us from disaster. 46

47 48

Her mummified body remains on display at the convent of Corpus Domini, Bologna, and her violeta is displayed alongside her. Frazier, “Liturgical Humanism.” Officium Beatae Catharinae (Bologna: Giaccarelli, 1550), Cii(v). These same resonances surface in the text of “O gemma clarissima, Catherina virgo” a high-clef (g2c1c2c3) voci pari motet by Adriano Willaert, which first appears in I-Bc Q.19, The Rusconi Codex, 109v–110r.

“O gemma clarissima / Catharina virgo sanctissima, / Lilium mundissimum / Et mulierum speculum, / Tuis precamur meritis / Coeli fruamur gaudiis.” (O brightest jewel, Catherine, most holy virgin, Purest lily and mirror of women, We pray that by your merits we might enjoy the joys of heaven.) The manuscript dates from 1518, three years after Willaert entered Este employment, so predating the authorized Office by some years: Nosow, “Dating and Provenance.”

30

30

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Permission to use the office was renewed and extended twice in the 1520s, to include a sung mass and office at the convents of Corpus Domini and San Bernardino, in both Bologna and Ferrara, along with permission for the confessors of the four convents to recite a low mass, with her propers, at any time, at the sisters’ request.49 This tradition no doubt contributed to the musical life of Corpus Domini, although unsurprisingly, given the local and very specific nature of the commemoration, no settings of the office or the mass propers were published. In 1586 the permission was again renewed, on the basis that the practice of both recited and sung masses (“messe picole et le cantate della Beata Caterina”) had been continuous for over fifty years.50 However, the office was altered by the reformist Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti the following year so that it would “conform to the Roman breviary.” The revisions almost completely obliterated the original office, including the removal of all mention of Vigri’s musical activities.51

Suor Leonora d’Este Lucrezia Borgia’s only daughter to survive infancy, Leonora (1515–1575), followed her dead mother into Corpus Domini, but unlike her mother, she made it her permanent home. At the time of her mother’s death Leonora was four years old, left without an older female relative at her father’s court to oversee her education and to provide her with appropriate social and spiritual guidance, so her father sent her to be cared for at the convent.52 In 1523, at the age of eight, she decided she would enter Corpus Domini for good, to her father’s continuing displeasure.53 Suor Leonora received tuition befitting her noble status, which certainly included music, the classics, and literature;

49 50

51

52

53

Willaert’s motet does not indicate which of the three Catherines (Alexandria, Siena, or Bologna) it supplicates, and all three were venerated by specific convents in Ferrara, but the text’s uniqueness, as well as its intertextuality, may point to a connection with Vigri and Corpus Domini. Spanò Martinelli, Il processo, 13–15. The distinction between recited and sung (dette et cantate) masses is reiterated several times in the document; ibid., 15. The important distinction between sung and spoken practices in Franciscan theology is underlined in the Speculum perfectionis; Loewen, Music in Early Franciscan Thought, 58. Sacrorum rituum congregatione emientissimo ac reverendissimo D. Card. Fachenetto Bononiensis Canonizationis. B. Catharinae de Bononia Monialis professae Ordinis S. Clarae (Rome: Camera Apostolica, 1678), 7. For Cardinal Paleotti’s extreme views on convent music and their influence on Tridentine reform, see Monson, “The Council of Trent Revisited,” 20–22. Appendix 1.18: I-FEc, MS Classe I, n. 337, Giovanni Maria Zerbinati, Memorie, 97v. Modern edition, Zerbinati, Croniche di Ferrara, 158. Liboni, “Medicina e religione,” 121.

31

31

Suor Leonora d’Este dedications to her later in life show that she also had a keen interest in the natural sciences. Despite the order’s carefully observed rule that kept the convent officially poor, Suor Leonora’s life at Corpus Domini as a princess abbess was comfortable and privileged. Geographically close to the rest of the family residing at both the castello and the Palazzo San Francesco, as abbess she was also able to provide hospitality for family members and guests in the Casa Romei, the convent’s secular annex.54 In 1537 she was granted permission to speak to seculars, in private and without minutes, because her status meant these conversations might contain state secrets.55 In 1545 Pope Paul III gave permission for her to recite the Office from the Quiñones breviary in her own rooms with her attendants when she wished, instead of in the choir, and to dispense with her habit in times of sickness, and in summer.56 She also was given lenience from the strict rules of enclosure. She was permitted to leave the convent in August 1556 for a change of air, on the advice of her brother’s physician, accompanied by three or four servant converse; in 1568 she was given leave to visit other convents in Ferrara six times per year, accompanied by two matrone (married women) and only for the day; and in 1571 she was allowed to visit the Duchess of Ferrara after her illness.57 Suor Leonora lived her entire life semi-detached from courtly culture, and yet it is clear that she was still very much an Este princess. Like her secular female relatives, we might imagine she would have accrued musical tributes: one potential candidate, Maistre Jhan’s “Ecce amica mea,” was published in the year of the composer’s death in the Liber cantus (vocum quatuor) triginta novem motetos habet (Ferrara:  Buglhat, Campis, and Hucher, 1538; RISM 15385).58 The motet text makes subtle changes to the familiar text of Chapter 2 of the Song of Songs, which swap the gender of the speaker from the male Beloved to his Bride. Instead of the Beloved peering at the Bride through the window lattices (cancellos) of her house, she is gazing on him from behind the grate, as might an enclosed nun. At the beginning and end of the prima pars, the Beloved calls the Bride “my dove” (colomba mea). While the phrase

54

55 56 57

58

The Palazzo San Francesco, situated across the street to the north of Corpus Domini, was the Ferrarese residence of Leonora’s brother Ippolito before he left the city for Rome; Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, 25ff, 151. Lombardi, I francescani, 4:107. These details are drawn from bolle in I-FEamcd, cartella B. Lombardi, I francescani, 4:178. Ibid., 4:108–109, 113, 140. She also left Corpus Domini for an eighteen-month sojourn in another convent in Carpi after the earthquakes in 1570 and 1571; Berengan and Calore, Le custodi del sacro, 100. StrasVP, 635–40.

32

32

Ferrarese Convents and the Este derives from the biblical text, its highlighting here could signify a feminized version of the Este white eagle, the most iconic symbol of the family’s crest.59 The nun princess took an active interest in practical and theoretical music, most clearly demonstrated by her ownership of keyboard instruments, revealed in a  variety of documentary sources:  treatises, notarial documents, inventories, accounting ledgers, and letters. The earliest traces of Suor  Leonora’s musical activity date from when she was only seven years old. She may initially have been taught alongside her cousin Elisabetta, illegitimate daughter of Cardinal Ippolito I d’Este and the singer Dalida de’ Putti: expenses relating to music, including the maintenance of keyboard instruments for both girls, appear contemporaneously in the ducal accounts.60 In 1532 her father’s accounts also list paper drawn with music staves so that polyphony (libri da canto) could be copied for her.61 In 1536 the artist Tommaso da Treviso was employed to decorate a harpsichord for her, using gold leaf and friezes with grotesques (fregi a grottesche).62 In 1531 and 1532 an organ destined for Corpus Domini, decorated with carvings by Giovanni Piero da Trento and paintings by Calzolaretto and Dosso Dossi, was constructed in a workshop at the Palazzo Schifanoia.63 In 1537 another member of the Dossi family, Battista Dossi, was paid for paints to decorate an organ belonging to her.64 Suor  Leonora would probably have kept her smaller keyboard instruments in her own apartments in the convent, but at least one organ in communal use in the convent belonged to her. In 1569 a notarial document was drawn up regulating the convent’s purchase of a property, the rental proceeds of which were to cover the tuning and maintenance of the convent’s church organ.65 The document states that Suor Leonora’s brother, Cardinal Ippolito II, had set aside 200  libri marchesane for the convent to obtain a property for this specific purpose. The opening paragraph of the contract reveals that the convent church’s former organ had been one given to Suor Leonora, but she had subsequently had one made by the Cipri family at her own expense. As Corpus Domini was a strict reformist institution, no 59 60

61

62 63 64 65

This transmogrification occurs in other texts related to Este women; see StrasVP, 667. Appendix 1.19–1.22: I-MOas, CDL, Registri 282 and 300, entries dated 14 April 1522, 13 March 1523, 7 October 1525, 24 July 1526. Appendix 1.24–1.25: I-MOas, CDG, Registri 152 and 335, entries dated 4 June 1533 and 18 March 1535. Transcribed in CavicchiMJ, 15–27. Appendix 1.23: I-MOas, CDG, Registro 152 (1529–1534), c.61, 20 June 1532. Transcribed in CavicchiMJ, Appendix, 23. Cesari, “Dizionario degli artisti.” Accessed 10 June 2010. Ibid. PeveradaDoc, 168. See this chapter, n. 2.

33

33

Suor Leonora d’Este profit was to be made from the transaction; moreover, even if there was no organist among the nuns in the future, the rent would still be used to maintain the instrument. Three musicians acknowledge a musical relationship with Suor Leonora in print, two of whom – Gioseffo Zarlino and Nicola Vicentino – could be claimed among the outstanding musical figures of their time. The third, Francesco Dalla  Viola, was an important member of a family central to Ferrarese music for over a century. Suor Leonora’s interest in keyboards may explain her connection with Vicentino, erstwhile employee of her brother, Cardinal Ippolito II, and inventor of the archicembalo, the lost two-manual, split-key, fully chromatic instrument that enabled the musician to play in each of the three ancient genera. Vicentino praises Suor Leonora in his 1555 publication, L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Rome:  Barré, 1555), suggesting that he had met her, and possibly even taught her when he had been in Ippolito’s service in Ferrara: “stripped of the snares of this world, [she] has completely dedicated her present life to God … [and she] no less admirably combines the study of the theory and practice of the three genera with that of instruments and of fine literature.”66 In the early 1550s Vicentino went to Ferrara with Ippolito, who had left Rome after a serious rift with the Pope. Ippolito no longer had a permanent residence in the city, so he lodged at the Casa Romei, which gave him and his household access to Suor Leonora. Vicentino brought with him at least one archicembalo that remained in the city after his departure in the mid-1550s. While the instrument was housed in the castello in the 1580s and 1590s, it was almost certainly at Corpus Domini in the interim.67 An instromento cromatico appears in an inventory of furniture belonging to the “Cardinal d’Este,” probably dating from the early 1570s, that was in Corpus Domini.68 At some point before 1581, most likely after Suor Leonora’s death in 1575, the instrument was transported to court, and placed in the care of her niece, the Princess Leonora. Given Suor Leonora’s interest in both keyboards and 66 67

68

Appendix 1.26: VicentinoAM, 10v. Translation from Vicentino, Ancient Music, 24. Ercole Bottrigari attests to having heard Luzzaschi playing it with great skill during the 1580s and 1590s. Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 41. Faustini relates that Carlo Gesualdo praised Luzzaschi’s playing of an enharmonic instrument in 1594; Appendix 1.27: Faustini, Aggiunta, 90. Appendix 1.28: I-FEamcd, cartella D, no. 42, “Inventario delle robbe dell’Ill.mo S.r Card.le di Este che erano nel Mon.o del Corpo di Christo di Ferrara,” undated. The list was probably compiled in late 1572, after Ippolito’s death, and the Cardinal d’Este referred to is probably Luigi d’Este, nephew to Ippolito (who was known as the “Cardinale di Ferrara”). A similar, but much lengthier, inventory of the contents of the gardens and palace of Tivoli was made for Luigi, Ippolito’s joint heir, on 3–4 December 1572: Rome, Archivio di Stato, Notai del Tribunale A.C., notaio Fausto Pirolo, vol. 6039, cc. 356r–387r, www.memofonte.it/ricerche/inventari-1535-1753. html, accessed 27 November 2017.

34

34

Ferrarese Convents and the Este esoteric music theory, it would seem fitting that she cared for Vicentino’s archicembalo during her life.69 Suor Leonora’s name also appears in two publications by Gioseffo Zarlino, suggesting a lively and long-term association between the two musicians, nun and priest. The first – a non-musical treatise, the Utilissimo trattato della patientia (Venice:  Franceschi, 1561)  – is dedicated to Suor  Leonora, and was written when Zarlino was mourning his mother.70 Zarlino says their friendship was well-established, and the book may echo a shared emotional need; it emerged soon after the death of Ercole II, Suor Leonora’s brother, as significant a bereavement for her as Zarlino’s own. When the book was reprinted in 1583, unusually it retained the original dedicatory letter, although Suor Leonora had already been dead eight years. Suor Leonora remained an important figure in Zarlino’s thinking for even longer, for her name again appears in his writings in the Sopplimenti musicali (Venice: Francesco de’ Franceschi, 1588). Zarlino credits Suor Leonora with giving him the initial idea of writing the treatise, because of a question she had posed him regarding a potential correspondence between the hydraulis of antiquity and the organ: The resemblance … between the hydraulis and our organ prompted the Illustrious Lady Sister Leonora d’Este in November 1571 to ask me via Francesco Viola, my dearest friend, whether that organ was old or indeed new, and from where it took its name. Having first answered her, and prompted by this question, I decided to write the present Sopplementi, but not in the order I have chosen here, but as the thoughts came or according to the time that things were asked of me, like a wood, in which many trees are planted at random and without any order. And this was the first question that I wrote for this purpose.71

Zarlino names Francesco Dalla Viola as the interlocutor in his exchange with Suor Leonora. This is unlikely to be a mere rhetorical flourish: the relationship between Dalla Viola and Zarlino is documented from as early as the 1550s, when both men were involved in the publication of Adriano Willaert’s 69

70

71

Appendix 1.29: I-MOas, Camera Ducale, Amministrationi di principi, 1401A (Cardinal Luigi), “Inventario delle robbe [...] et notta delle robbe datte a più persone,” undated: “To the most Illustrious Madama Leonora, a chromatic instrument that was with the sisters of Corpus Domini, on commission by Signor Count Bellissario [Tassoni, Cardinal Luigi’s steward].” Princess Leonora died in October 1581. Thanks to David Gallagher for alerting me to this document. Thanks to Sam Bannon and Cristle Collins Judd for alerting me to the existence of the first edition. Appendix 1.30: Zarlino, Sopplimenti musicali, 288. For this and the above reference, see also Schiltz, “Gioseffo Zarlino,” 213. Suor Leonora’s interest in the hydraulis may have been piqued by her brother’s famous water-organ in the gardens at Tivoli.

35

35

Suor Leonora d’Este Musica nova (Venice: Gardano, 1559) on behalf of Alfonso II.72 Dalla Viola himself attests to a relationship with Suor  Leonora in the dedication of his Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice:  Gardano, 1550).73 Dalla Viola was a member of a family which had served the Este since the middle of the fifteenth century. A close contemporary of Suor Leonora, he began his employment in the cappella of Alfonso I, and passed into the service of Ippolito II, with whom he traveled to France. He eventually returned to Ferrara in 1543 joining the court of Ercole  II, and ended his career as maestro di cappella for Alfonso II, dying in 1568.74 His high status and the continued esteem in which the family held him provided Francesco with the opportunity to know, and perhaps to engage musically with Suor Leonora. Suor Leonora’s lifelong interest in keyboard instruments, which served both the convent and her own private study, and her reputed interest in musical esoterica indicate that she was more than just a musical dilettante, and that her keyboard playing involved more than just (self-)accompaniment in devotional song.75 Keyboard music, in and of itself, was not yet a welldefined genre for composition; in order to play her keyboards, she would have needed to be adept in improvisation and intabulation. Her ownership of the organ in the convent church suggests that she could also have acted as organist for services, which would have involved both extemporization and accompaniment of polyphony. Most importantly, perhaps, the possibility arises that she was also a composer, for the function of music within convent life would have given her ample opportunity, and maybe even necessity, to learn compositional skills. Vicentino’s testimony that she cultivated both “the theory and the practice of the three genera” suggests nothing less than an active pursuit of composition, for there would be few other ways in which she could develop and express her knowledge. A potential indication of her compositional activity comes from another entry in the inventory of Ippolito’s belongings stored in the convent. The list, which records only large items of furniture, includes a pietra da contrapunto – a slate for counterpoint.76 The surface of the slate was lined with staves, and could be used for teaching, intabulation, and drafting compositions  – all activities in which Leonora would have taken part.77 Given that there are no

72 73 74 75

76 77

See Owens and Agee, “La stampa.” See also Schiltz, “Gioseffo Zarlino,” 208–209. Della [Dalla] Viola, Il primo libro, ix–x. See Chapter 3. Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 159. See Chapter 3 for a consideration of Francesco Dalla Viola’s Primo libro as keyboard music. For more on keyboard music in sixteenth-century convents, see Monson, “Elena Malvezzi’s Keyboard Manuscript.” See the chapter on erasable tablets in Owens, Composers at Work, 74–107. Ibid., 89–98.

36

36

Ferrarese Convents and the Este indications that Ippolito himself was a composer or even a competent musician, nor is a pietra something one would expect him to keep in Casa Romei for use by his musicians during his relatively infrequent visits to Ferrara, it seems probable that the pietra was retained for his sister’s benefit.78 Throughout his life, Ippolito  II made regular donations to the convent, as well as payments for services such as embroidery, or simply prayers to be said on his behalf.79 All three dukes during Suor  Leonora’s lifetime  – Alfonso I, Ercole II and Alfonso II – did likewise, and further contributed to her personal as well as her musical needs.80 Of course, father, brothers, and nephew may simply have been ensuring that she was comfortable in her seclusion. Nevertheless, Suor  Leonora’s musical activities were not entirely unconnected with the convent as a whole, and whatever support the Este gave her, they also gave to Corpus Domini as a community. Moreover, a direct investment that had a positive effect on the musical life of the convent would help ensure that the musical services it supplied back to the family, in terms of the offices and masses sung for its members, were of the highest quality.

The Voci Pari Motets of the 1540s and Their Ferrarese Context Suor Leonora was musically active during a period in which there are only scant traces of nuns’ music-making, but the recent identification of a midcentury repertoire for nuns at the very least sheds light on what kinds of music she may have used, and at best may provide us with a corpus of works that could be attributed to her own hand.81 A group of publications, all dating from the 1540s, announce on their title pages that they contain polyphony written for equal voices (voci pari – with a total range spanning no more than two octaves), in contrast to the more usual full-voice disposition (voci piene – with a total range of two and a half octaves). Through their texts and their music, these pieces reveal that many of the works were intended for convent use. Within this cluster  – the materna lingua complex  – Musica quinque vocum: motteta materna lingua vocata (Venice: Scotto, 1543; RISM 15432) is 78

79 80

81

Ercole II, whose musical abilities are documented, also possessed a slate as a child; CavicchiMJ, 44. Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, 144, 155, 193, 194, 196. Between 1534 and 1535, Alfonso I and Ercole II both paid a Matteo Bonadei as a member of Suor Leonora’s famiglia; Guerzoni, “Este Courtiers Database.” There are records of Ercole II paying for a cleaner for her between 1542 and 1559 and Alfonso II paying salaries to “damigelle” for her between 1560 and 1569; Guerzoni, Le corti estensi, 27, 119. In 1571 Alfonso II also bore the cost of repairs to her rooms; Appendix 1.31: I-MOas, CS, b. 154, Suor Leonora to Alfonso II d’Este, 29 September 1571. StrasVP, 630–78.

37

37

The Voci Pari Motets of the 1540s anomalous in two important ways. First, its works are entirely anonymous and no secure attributions can be found elsewhere for them. This makes the book unique in Venetian sixteenth-century production, and presents the distinct possibility that its composer (or composers) belonged to a constituency that required or desired anonymity in the marketplace, as would be the case for both women and the nobility, and particularly for noblewomen professed in an enclosed order. Second, the collection is unprecedented in that twenty of its twenty-three motets are composed without the structural device of a cantus firmus or a canon. Only five other freely imitative five-voice voci pari works exist in contemporaneous prints, three in Nicolas Gombert’s Musica … (vulgo motecta quinque vocum nuncupata) (Venice: Scotto, 1539) and two in Jachet of Mantua’s Motecta quinque vocum liber primus (Venice: Scotto, 1539). Eight further works are included in Adriano Willaert’s Musica nova, which although not printed until 1559 was almost certainly circulating in the 1540s.82 The motets of 15432 bear a range of indications that the collection is at least predominantly of Ferrarese origin, relating specifically to a Clarissan convent dedicated to Corpus Domini. Franciscan piety, in general, is suggested by the tiny setting of “Sicut lilium inter spinas,” only 32  breves long. It almost certainly belongs to the Sicut lilium Vespers, part of a special office written in 1477 by Leonardo Nogarolo at the behest of the Franciscan pope Sixtus  IV, for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.83 Sixtus IV himself authored the prayer “Ave sanctissima Maria” for the same feast, although it was considered more appropriate for private devotion.84 Yet a central core of texts together make a potentially significant statement about the origin of the motets, as they invoke Corpus Domini (both as a feast, “Ego sum panis vitae,” which uses the monastic form of the chant, and as the Eucharist, “O salutaris hostia”), the investiture of nuns (“Veni sponsa Christi”), and both the historic and contemporaneous rules of the convent in Ferrara: the monastic Magnificat antiphons for the feasts of Saint Augustine (“Adest nobis dies celebris”) and Saint Clare (“Salve sponsa Dei”). There are further allusions to nuns and Corpus Domini in the Marian motet “Felix namque es sacra,” the opening of which appears derived from the Corpus Christi sequence Pange lingua gloriosa and which includes a

82 83

84

StrasVP, 620–30. Antiphonarium proprium et commune sanctorum secundum ordinem sancte Romane ecclesie. Summa cum diligentia revisum … per … Franciscum de Brugis (Venice: Giunta, 1504), 147v– 160r; Cavicchi, “Osservazioni.” Parts of the Nogarolo office were preserved in the Quiñones breviary; Breviarium Romanum ex sacra potissimum scriptura etc. (Lyons: Balthazard Arnoullet, 1544), 242v. Blackburn, “The Virgin in the Sun,” 184.

38

38

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Example 1.1 “Salve sponsa Dei,” anon., RISM 15432, hexachordal antiphon.

lengthy and elaborate passage invoking the Virgin’s aid for “the consecrated feminine sex.”85 Some of the works that speak most clearly to a Ferrarese context are within this group; perhaps unsurprisingly they are also those that are most obviously aligned with Clarissan worship. Only Clarissan institutions would have cause to sing the antiphon “Salve sponsa Dei,” since Clare’s feast  – although a duplex – clashes with the octave of Saint Laurence, whose commemoration otherwise took priority. The motet is unprecedented in more ways than one – not only is it the first setting of the text to appear in print, but it also uses the soggetto cavato technique in a unique way. This method of manufacturing musical material from the text, by substituting each syllable with the hexachordal tone with the matching vowel sound, was particularly admired by the Este – most readily illustrated by Josquin des Prez’s Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae, in which the short soggetto ostinato that is repeated throughout the work is derived from the Latin phrase of its title.86 The composer of “Salve sponsa Dei,” however, uses soggetto cavato to render the entire antiphon text into a cantus firmus (Example 1.1). In this way, even the least experienced novice would have been able to participate in the community’s musical commemoration of their order’s foundress in this work, by finding the note for each syllable of a familiar text through solmization. Two works have clear associations with works by Ferrarese composers. The setting of “O salutaris hostia,” conspicuously printed in high clefs, also bears clear indications of Clarissan worship; moreover, it has a particular relationship with the early output of Willaert. The Eucharistic hymn was often set to the hymn melody appropriate to the feast day. This setting uses the hymn melody from the rhymed office for Saint  Clare, Concinat plebs fidelium (Example  1.2a and 1.2b).87 Willaert also used this melody 85 86

87

StrasVP, 668. For more on Josquin’s mass and its significance for the Este, see Reynolds, “Interpreting and Dating.” The office for Saint Clare, composed by Julian of Speyer, is reconstructed in Baroffio and Kim, Iam Sanctae Clarae, from which Example 1.2a is drawn.

39

39

The Voci Pari Motets of the 1540s Example 1.2a Hymn, Concinat plebs fidelium, Office of Saint Clare.

Example 1.2b “O salutaris hostia,” anon. RISM 15432, mm. 1–14.

40

40

Ferrarese Convents and the Este as the basis for his six-voice setting, which appears first in the Vallicelliana partbooks. These are presumed to date from around 1530, suggesting that his setting dates from his years in Ferrara.88 Willaert was in Ferrara in 1525 and remained until 1527, in the household of Ippolito II.89 “Virgo Maria speciosissima” is the only motet in the book that uses the soggetto ostinato technique, another device strongly associated with the Este. It also incorporates material from a composer associated with the Este chapel in the early sixteenth century. The opening of Antoine Brumel’s three-voice “Mater, patris et filia” is embedded in its second part, quoting both music and text (Example 1.3a and 1.3b).90 The best-known example of Ferrarese soggetto ostinato, Josquin des Prez’s three-part setting of Psalm 50/51, “Miserere mei, Deus,” appears to provide the inspiration for the opening work in RISM 15432, “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus.”91 While the 15432 motet does not use soggetto ostinato, its opening subject (Example 1.4a) bears strong similarities with both Josquin’s original polyphonic subject (from which the ostinato is derived – Example 1.4b) and the ostinato of Willaert’s “Infelix ego” (example 1.4c). Willaert’s motet was composed in imitation of Josquin’s at the behest of Suor Leonora’s brother Ercole  II. It sets a meditation on Psalm  50/51 composed by Girolamo Savonarola. Josquin’s “Miserere mei, Deus” had a long and broad afterlife throughout the sixteenth century in a significant number of imitation motets. In addition to Willaert’s, many were composed by musicians who enjoyed the patronage of the Este:  Cipriano de Rore, Giovanni Pierluigi da  Palestrina, Nicola Vicentino, and Gioseffo Zarlino.92 The “Miserere mei, Deus” tradition is rooted in the Este family’s relationship with Savonarola, who brought the city of Florence into conflict with Rome at the end of the fifteenth century, culminating in his execution in 1498. Ercole I had been an admirer of Savonarola’s religious ideals, and it was this admiration that spurred him to commission the setting of Psalm 50/51. Willaert’s and De Rore’s motets, both on “Infelix ego,” were not circulated in Italy at the time of their composition in the 1540s, but were instead kept as part of the private music of Ercole II’s chapel.

88 89 90

91

92

Lowinsky, “A Newly Discovered Manuscript,” 194–96. Lockwood, “Adrian Willaert and Cardinal Ippolito I d’Este,” 87. Brumel’s motet is printed in Harmonice musices Odhecaton (Venice: Petrucci, 1501; RISM 1501). Josquin’s motet is first published in Motetti de la corona. Libro tertio (Fossombrone: Petrucci, 1519; RISM 15192). Macey, Bonfire Songs, 184–252; Schiltz, “Gioseffo Zarlino,” 203–205.

41

Example 1.3a “Virgo Maria speciosissima,” anon. RISM 15432, mm. 91–102.

Example 1.3b “Mater, patris, et filia,” Antoine Brumel, RISM 1501, mm. 1–5.

42

42

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Example 1.4a “Miserere mei, Deus,” Josquin des Prez, RISM 15192, mm. 1–8.

Example 1.4b “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus,” anon., RISM 15432, mm. 1–6.

The 15432 setting of “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus” is bound to these others not only by its melodic material, but also by its historical and religious context. “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus” sets an obscure Matins responsory and verse from the Summer Histories, taken from the Vulgate book of Judith. The text has only four concordances, only one of which originates in Italy – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s, which potentially was composed

43

43

The Voci Pari Motets of the 1540s Example 1.4c “Infelix ego,” Adriano Willaert, RISM 15569, mm. 7–12.

while he was employed by Ippolito II.93 Although Judith is a widow in the biblical story, in the Renaissance she was seen as an embodiment of both female chastity and opposition against tyranny. She was the ruler of Bethulia, Hebrew for “city of virgins,” which she led in a military resistance against Nebuchadnezzar’s general Holofernes.94 Judith was a particular symbol of the Savonarolan revolt against the Medici, and when the Palazzo Medici was taken by the revolutionaries, a bronze statue of Judith slaying Holofernes was removed and re-erected in the main square in Florence, reinscribed with the motto “Exemplum sal[utis] pub[licae]’ [an exemplar of the public good].”95 Judith also had a Ferrarese precedent as a symbol of liberation from papal tyranny. In December 1521 the Mantuan Bernardo Prosperi wrote to Isabella d’Este about the reaction to the death of Pope Leo X, inviting her to rejoice with the Ferrarese by singing the Canticle of Judith.96 Ferrara in the 1530s 93 94

95 96

StrasVP, 672–73. Judith also features as a model of womanhood in the office for the Translation of Saint Clare; Boccali, Cum hymnis et canticis, 30. McHam, “Donatello’s Judith,” 320–24. Appendix 1.32: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1247, Bernardo Prosperi to Isabella d’Este, 4 December 1521. Cited in CavicchiMJ, Appendix, 91: “Today, we have made cordial cheerfulness celebrating this day by giving thanks to immortal god for having freed from our enemies, but one cannot enjoy so much grace completely, if you want to see what you have to do[?] sing with us that beautiful canticle that was sung for Judith’s victory.”

44

44

Ferrarese Convents and the Este and 1540s was also threatened by Rome: not only was Ferrara a sovereign city only by license from the Papal States, but the Este were also under constant scrutiny by the Church because of the Protestant leanings of Ercole II’s wife, Renée of France. In 1543, the year of the motets’ publication, the Pope began an Inquisition focusing on Ferrara and the duchess’s heresy. Text and music work together in “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus” to create an appropriate plea to the Almighty from an abbess member of a ruling family under political and religious threat. Establishing the origins of 15432 in a community that saw music as a vital component of non-liturgical devotion helps to explain some of its other unusual features. The meditative value placed on music by Caterina Vigri – as an aid to communication with the Divine, and as an essential part of the soul’s preparation for the Eucharist – is suggested in the collection by a number of lengthy motets characterized by limited harmonic movement and the repetition of pitches, created by imitation at the unison in at least four, if not five, voices. For instance, at the beginning of “Suscipe verbum, virgo Maria,” the d of the opening subject is sustained across all five voices for the first seventeen breves (Example 1.5). The effect on listeners is mesmeric as the passage of musical time is suspended, but singers are also subsumed in intense concentration on music and words, potentially fulfilling Vigri’s desire for total spiritual immersion. Simultaneously rich and sparse, these works have a contemporary resonance in the Song of Songs settings by Suor Leonora’s friend Zarlino, which likewise have their origins in an order dedicated to contemplative worship.97 Most are settings of office responsories or antiphons; however, “Virgo Maria speciosissima” and “Rogamus te, beatissima virgo” set prayer texts that have no known concordances, even though their vocabulary is familiar. A third Marian motet, “Ave sanctissima Maria,” sets one of the most well-known prayers of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, its popularity perhaps at least partially due to the generous indulgences attached to it.98 These prayers centonize fragments of Marian antiphons, biblical verse, and existing meditative texts, familiar as a result of both worship and the monastic tradition of lectio divina, the regular active reading of Scripture and prayer, in which language is subsumed into the memory of the worshiper through slow and simultaneous reading aloud and meditation.99 Zarlino advocates this three-tiered practice of meditatio – lectio – oratio as the ideal method of developing and maintaining patience, thereby 97 98 99

See Judd, preface to Zarlino, Motets from 1549, 1:xiv. Blackburn, “The Virgin in the Sun,” 158. Leclercq, L’Amour des lettres, 72–73.

45

45

The Voci Pari Motets of the 1540s Example 1.5 “Suscipe verbum, virgo Maria,” anon., RISM 15432, mm. 1–17.

46

46

Ferrarese Convents and the Este conquering tribulationi (his word) in the Utilissimo trattato della patientia, dedicated to Suor  Leonora. He introduces the final three chapters, each expounding on one side of the triangle, thus: And while there are many methods that can be used, nonetheless three are most indicated. The first is to always have fixed in the memory the life and death of Christ our Saviour, and all that he did and suffered in this world for us. The second is the continuous reading of Divine Scripture, and of those books that contain the lives and deaths of the holy martyrs, confessors, and virgins of Christ. The third [is] the frequent turn to prayer, especially when a man finds himself again to be suffering.100

Oratione, the third phase, arises from the soul, instructed and enriched by the other two phases. Phrases are combined in a quasi-improvisational process that Jean Leclercq called “reminiscence”:  words that have been internalized through repeated vocalization and meditation, resurface spontaneously, not as quotation, but as the genuine expression of the speaker. In these musical prayers, as in the motets “Tribulationes civitatum” and “Felix namque es sacra,” musical antecedents are also invoked as the texts are pronounced. “Rogamus te” ruminates on the antiphons Regina coeli and Salve regina; “Ave sanctissima Maria” also incorporates the opening of Regina coeli; and “Virgo Maria speciosissima,” as we have seen, recalls Brumel’s “Mater, patris, et filia.” Textual and musical reminiscences rely on the long-term memory of Scripture, worship, and compositions, but the short-term memory is also engaged. The repetition of words, phrases, and pitches between equal voices in closely imitative polyphony keeps the brain in a constant state of simultaneous recollection and renewal, cementing the bond between the singers in their collective act of devotion. Antonio Gardano reprinted sixteen of the motets in 15432 in 1549, in a volume with almost the same title as the original, the Musica quinque vocum que materna lingua moteta vocantur ab optimis et varijs authoribus elaborata, paribus vocibus decantanda … (Venice:  Gardano, 1549; RISM  15496). He appears to have excluded some motets on commercial grounds, perhaps because they had limited liturgical use or were too long. On the other hand, the reprinted motets are heavily edited, even to the point of recomposition, in a manner consistent with the new print having been compiled from new exemplars.101 On this basis, it seems highly likely that Gardano knew the identity of the motets’ composer(s), but chose not to reveal it – as his son later did not reveal the identity of Suor Leonora’s cousin Guglielmo Gonzaga, when he printed his compositions.102 Coincidentally, in 1550 Gardano also 100 101 102

Appendix 1.33: Zarlino, Utilissimo trattato, 110v–111r. StrasVP, 660–62. Sherr, “The Publications of Guglielmo Gonzaga”; Feldman, “Authors and Anonyms,” 186.

47

47

Performance Implications produced two Ferrarese books, De Rore’s Terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci and Dalla Viola’s Primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (dedicated to Suor Leonora), the contents of both of which had been printed by Girolamo Scotto in unauthorized editions in 1548 (see Chapter 3). One cannot rule out the possibility that the princess had negotiated the republication of her music, too, complete with corrections and alterations made over the course of the decade.

Performance Implications The 1540s materna lingua complex is  relevant to the understanding of women’s music-making beyond the convent walls because the noblewomen of Ferrara were so frequently to be found keeping company with nuns. It seems inevitable that the secular women would absorb and adopt musical practices developed in the gynesocial environment of the convent, especially in the later years of the century, when the ladies serving the principal Este women became the focus of musical activity for the entire court. The repertoire provides a firm foundation for an understanding of how female-voice polyphony, both in convents and at court, developed over the course of the sixteenth century. Evidence from contemporaneous sources shows that convents that fostered advanced musical ensembles were concerned with ensuring they had the means to cover the lowest parts in polyphonic works, either by recruiting specialist singers or by using instrumental accompaniment, and frequently by using both methods.103 In some works, equal voices in the upper parts are opposed by a bass line a fifth or even a seventh below. This disposition could arise from the practice of performing or supporting the bass line with instruments, or the works could have been chosen for publication precisely because they would accommodate this method. The two cantus firmus motets in 15432, “Salve sponsa Dei” and “Hodie Simon Petrus,” both require three high voices, notated in the same clef, to sing above a simple cantus firmus and a bass voice that is largely separated from the upper voices, rarely if ever crossing with lowest voice in the upper trio. In “Salve sponsa Dei,” the bass engages motivically with the others only at the very opening of the piece, thereafter almost exclusively maintaining the roots of the sonorities; however, in “Hodie Simon Petrus” it is more mobile, sharing the responsibility for the harmonic roots with the cantus 103

See Chapter 6; also Stras, “The Performance of Polyphony,” 199–204; Lowe, Nuns’ Chronicles, 275–76.

48

48

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Example 1.6 “Hodie Simon Petrus,” anon., RISM 15432, mm. 33–40.

firmus. The upper trio voices in “Hodie Simon Petrus” are particularly intricate, their fleeting dissonances created by the addition of ornamentation to already highly melismatic lines that cross continually (Example  1.6). This disposition, a florid upper trio with two lower voices providing harmonic support, anticipates the textures created for the secular ensembles at the Ferrarese courts later in the century. Other works published in the 1540s voci pari books suggest that simultaneous or improvised ensemble ornamentation was an integral part of the musical practice in convents, either by notating the ornamentation or

49

49

Performance Implications by leaving space for it to occur. Contemporaneous writers discuss ensemble ornamentation, recommending both that singers plan where to ornament and that ornamented performances should be accompanied. The most detailed recommendations come from Nicola Vicentino: Diminutions made in the proper places and in tempo will seem good. Moreover, such diminutions should be used in more than four voices, because diminution always causes the loss of numerous consonances and the burden of many dissonances. Even though the diminution may seem smooth to inexperienced listeners, it nevertheless impoverishes the harmony. To avoid losing harmony in compositions while singers display a refined talent for diminution, it is a good idea to have such diminutions accompanied by instruments that play the composition accurately, without diminution. For harmony cannot be lost through diminution if the instrument holds the consonances for their full values.104

The crome and semicrome decorations at the beginning of “Felix namque es sacra” follow Vicentino’s rules (Example  1.7), as they make space for each other, and do not allow the vertical harmony to suffer for the loss of a vital pitch. The movement stands out against the minims and semibreves, not unlike the ornamentation for female voices seen decades later in Luzzaschi’s Madrigali of 1601. Luzzaschi’s ornamented madrigals also follow Vicentino’s advice, for the vocal parts are doubled, unornamented, in the keyboard accompaniment, and it is there we can see the textures of the polyphony before decoration, with generally very slow-moving harmonies at the cadences allowing for complex and virtuosic display by the singers. These sparse cadential structures are also present in the anonymous voci pari (c4c4c4F4) “Vidi speciosam columbam” published in one of the later books in the materna lingua set, Musica quatuor vocum que materna lingua moteta vocantur ab optimis et varijs authoribus elaborata, paribus vocibus decantanda ([identical publications] Venice: Gardano, 1549/RISM 15499; and Venice: Scotto, 1549/ RISM 15499a). It is divided into four sections by full perfect cadences, each of which is followed by a homophonic extension in semibreves and breves that abruptly halts the polyphonic flow and texture of the piece (Example 1.8). These otherwise inexplicable moments occur at points in the text that might, in a secular setting, call forth ornaments:  “super rivos aquarum” (mm.  17–22), “in vestimentis eius” (mm.  31–33), “circundabant eam flores rosarum” (mm.  41–46). Moreover, in the first cadence the Tenor is highlighted at the top of the texture; in the second, the Altus declaims the

104

Appendix 1.33: VicentinoAM, 88r. Translation from Vicentino, Ancient Music, 300.

50

50

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Example 1.7 “Felix namque es sacra,” anon., RISM 15432, mm. 1–10.

text in a rhythm slightly offset from the others; in the third, the Cantus takes the highest notes – so each of the three upper voices is given an opportunity to display.

Scotto’s Voci Pari Collection of 1563 Fourteen years after the book containing “Vidi speciosam” was published, Scotto again issued a collection of voci pari motets, the Motetta d. Cipriani

51

51

Scotto’s Voci Pari Collection of 1563 Example 1.8 “Vidi speciosam columbam,” anon., RISM 15499, mm. 15–23.

de  Rore et  aliorum auctorum quatuor vocum parium … (Venice:  Scotto, 1563 [RISM  15634]). The eight motets by De  Rore were almost certainly composed during his time of employment at Ferrara.105 Indeed, there are faint echoes of the Miserere tradition in the motet “Miserere nostri Deus omnium.” Like “Tribulationes civitatum,” the opening soggetto highlights the fifth degree by encircling it with the tone below and the semitone above (Example 1.9).106 Along with De Rore, most of the other musicians represented in the book were friends or pupils of Willaert: Antonio Barges, Costanzo Porta, Jachet of Mantua, and Gioseffo Zarlino.107 The others – Giaches de Wert, Paolo Animuccia, and Jan Nasco – each had an active relationship with one of the “main” contributors:  De  Wert with De  Rore through their presence at Ferrara; Animuccia with Porta through the patronage of the Della  Rovere, and Nasco with Barges through their employment at the duomo of Treviso. The close bonds between the composers suggest that it was not a random collection, but purposefully compiled. It may be that Zarlino’s contributions to the volume –three Lessons from the Office for the Dead  – were composed as a tribute to Willaert, who had died only

105

106

107

On these and De Rore’s other voci pari motets, see Schiltz, “De Rore’s a voci pari Motets,” 191–227. The connection between this soggetto and the Miserere tradition is supported by its use by Suor Raffaella Aleotti as the soggetto obbligo for her own setting of Psalm 56:2–3, “Miserere mei, Deus.” See Chapter 8. Bernstein, Music Printing, 639. Jachet is the only contributor who predeceased the publication, so it may be that his motet “Nos pueri tibi” was placed there as tribute to his relationship with Willaert.

52

52

Ferrarese Convents and the Este Example 1.9 “Miserere nostri Deus omnium,” Cipriano De Rore, RISM 15634, mm. 1–13.

a matter of months before the collection’s publication.108 However, the lessons could also have had uses beyond private commemoration among friends. Zarlino’s lifetime friendship with Suor Leonora and his intimate contact with the Este family might suggest a conventual use for these pieces, as part of the regular memorie sung over the remains of Este dukes, duchesses, and princesses resting in the choir of Corpus Domini. Indeed, Ercole II, Suor Leonora’s brother, had also just died in 1559, and had been interred in the convent – so her choir-nuns would have recently added to the souls they tended in their daily offices. In the same year that 15634 was published, the Council of Trent was busy debating the thorny issue of the propriety of convent music, with some 108

Schiltz and Judd, introduction to Zarlino, Motets, 1560s, xxi.

53

53

Scotto’s Voci Pari Collection of 1563 voices in favor of allowing the issue to be decided locally, and others, more vociferous, insisting that nuns should be forbidden to sing polyphony.109 The history of women’s religious communities throughout the sixteenth century is one of gradually increasing containment and restraint. A  great deal has been written about the anxieties engendered by female collective autonomy during the period, and about the Church’s attempts to control outward expressions of creativity or spirituality emanating from, or even within, convents  – particularly regarding music.110 The Council of Trent’s reforms gave new impetus to those attempts through its affirmation of the bishops’ right to retain local authority over how the Office and the Mass were conducted in their dioceses, combined with its failure specifically to protect music in its decree on nuns.111 Although the nuns might have protested that their music was to the glory of God and, moreover, had the power to attract sinners away from vice, many felt that the threat of vanity and impropriety was too great. Accordingly, some post-Tridentine episcopal reformers, notably those in Milan and Bologna, directed at least one section of their new regulations for convents to the abolition or severe restriction of the performance of polyphony, to music lessons provided by outsiders, and even to the ownership of instruments.112 Throughout most of the sixteenth century, however, Ferrara’s nuns practiced music with impunity. There was a synergy between state and Church, beneficial to both as urban expansion and political ambition required cooperation and coordination. At times this cooperation worked in harmony with the reforming tendencies of Church superiors; at others, not. For instance, the control of women was vitally important to civic and spiritual authority, and there is evidence that collaborative efforts were made on the part of one duke (Ercole II) and his bishop (Salviati) to contain women legally and physically.113 However, the bishop who held office in Ferrara during the period immediately after the close of the Council of Trent  – Alfonso Rossetti  – was perhaps less concerned with reform than

109 110

111 112 113

Monson, “The Council of Trent Revisited,” 21. For instance, see Monson, The Crannied Wall; Scaraffia and Zarri, Women and Faith; Pomata and Zarri, I monasteri femminili. Monson, “The Council of Trent Revisited,” 12–22. Ibid., 27. Ghirardo, “Topography of Prostitution,” 405; Belvederi, “I vescovi postridentini,” 360. The lending of legislative support to the monitoring and maintenance of enclosure was specifically sanctioned by the Council of Trent. See also Appendix 5.10, I-FEc, MS Antonelli 104, Provisione circa lo Andare alli Monasterii delle Monache [1560], which constitutes the prohibitions on visiting convents and penalties for infringements issued by the new duke Alfonso II.

54

54

Ferrarese Convents and the Este with maintaining good relations with the secular authorities. With the particular difficulties experienced in rebuilding the social and political fabric of the city after a terrible series of earthquakes in 1570 and 1571, it seems Rossetti was happy to allow Ferrarese religious life with all its colorful ritual, and the behavior of its clerics in all its casual worldliness, to continue as it had done before both the Tridentine Council and nature turned their world upside down.114

114

Belvederi, “I vescovi postridentini,” 364.

55

2

h

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century

If the first chapter of this book describes a musical environment heretofore all but silent to modern ears, the second revisits a musical world almost as uncharted  – that of Ferrarese secular noblewomen in the first half of the sixteenth century. The Este princesses may not have inherited their fathers’ titles but they were still heirs to a rich musical legacy, and raised to assume a particular role in the articulation of courtly musical culture. In preparing themselves for dynastic marriage and adult careers as donne di palazzo, their musical activities – centered on song and self-accompaniment – needed to embody both their nobility and their femininity. Their singing projected both princely virtue and queenly decorum, and was crucial in the family’s expression of its own identity and value.1 At the end of the century, the presence of a pair of highly educated, musically proficient, childless, adult princesses still resident at the Ferrarese court created conditions in which skilled and respectable female musical performance not only thrived, but became something considered to be worth cultivating, equal to and alongside the compositional avant-garde.

Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Noblewoman Based on straightforward readings of written and printed sources, the traditional historiography of sixteenth-century women has been determined by contemporaneous rhetoric (expressed, in the vast majority, by men) surrounding feminine virtue and women’s access to masculine creative agency.2 This is especially true of music: the moral and cultural framework for judging and reporting female musicality throughout the sixteenth century was firmly rooted in an ideal, familiar to modern readers through Baldassare Castiglione’s Il libro del cortegiano (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1508).3 1

2 3

For the concept of virtù as a specifically gendered and class-inflected practice, see Schiesari, “In Praise of Virtuous Women?” Maclean, The Renaissance Notion of Woman, 1. The role of music in The Courtier – a text that became ubiquitous to any discussion of courtly behavior almost immediately after its first publication – has been thoroughly outlined in modern scholarship; see Haar, “The Courtier as Musician.”

56

56

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara Castiglione’s close relationship with the paragon of Ferrarese princesses, Isabella d’Este, makes his descriptions of the model donna di palazzo particularly germane to understanding the musical activity of generations of Este women who came after her.4 Castiglione’s Magnifico places music among those pursuits of the male courtier of which the donna di palazzo should have sufficient knowledge in order to converse, separate from those she should to know how to do, implying that the male courtier has access to a creative musical practice denied to the lady:  “I want this lady to be knowledgeable about literature, music, and painting, and to know how to dance and play games” (emphasis added).5 This statement summarizes a discussion of pursuits suitable for women in which music figures alongside dance and fashion. A  woman’s musical activity, in other words, is similar to her dancing and her dress; not a product of her intellect, individuality, or creativity but a stylized performance of learned or prescribed behavior intended to be indicative of her inner virtues.6 These are confirmed by dignified outward display, whether that be through well-modulated and restrained singing, bodily grace in dancing, or tasteful choice of dress and deportment.7 Castiglione’s ideal noblewoman both sang and played, but she was to perform with modesty, only on request, and she was not to use flamboyant ornaments, which would exhibit “più arte che dolcezza,” more artifice or skill than sweetness. Just as in her mode of dress, the ideal noblewoman needed to maintain a clear distance between her innate, noble beauty  – as made manifest in the beauty of the voice – and the obvious effects of anything that might have enhanced it unnaturally. This comment could be seen within the ongoing sixteenth-century debate over ornamentation per se, as it appears to hinge on aesthetic as well as moral considerations. However, in the context of this speech it is clear that this musical arte also required an unseemly physical effort; “loud and rapid” ornamentation was equivalent to those masculine dance steps and “robust and manly exertions” (esercizi virili così robusti ed asperi) that would be inimical to the noblewoman’s delicate temperament. As to what and how she sang and played, and how she did so, we can only deduce by extrapolating from his other comments on music in social situations. If the only purpose of a lady’s musical performance is the modest and transparent demonstration of her noble virtue, then we may assume 4 5 6

7

Prizer, “Una ‘virtù molto conveniente,’ ” 11, 23–25, 38–41, 44. Castiglione, The Courtier, 216. Appendix 2.1: Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, I(iii)r–I(iii)v. See also, for instance, the description of Irene di Spilimbergo quoted in Lorenzetti, Musica e identità, 146. Her dancing grace, physical beauty, and vocal qualities are praised in a single sentence. Castiglione, The Courtier, 215.

57

57

Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Noblewoman that he would deem participation in vocal polyphony inappropriate, as listeners would then find it harder to focus on her voice alone. Moreover, in his summary of the lady’s ideal pastimes, since Castiglione places musica among those things (music, literature, art) that she may talk about rather than among those (dancing, playing games) that she may do, he must be using musica to imply polyphony, for this would be the only type of music that could be discussed critically in the same way as literature and painting. In any case, Castiglione preferred accompanied solo song to a polyphonic vocal performance, as the listener was better able to judge the vocal competence of the singer and to appreciate the rendition. So, the donna di palazzo should perform solo song in a manner that obscures neither the sweetness of the melody nor the text, and that draws attention to both the delicacy of her womanhood and, paradoxically, her modesty. Without the carefully crafted and expert performance of modesty framing her performance of song, the elite singer might indicate that she wanted to show off her talents unbidden – which was not acceptable for a noble of either sex – or that she wanted to be creative – an instance of virtue leading to action, and therefore not appropriate for a woman.8 However, the requirement that she wait to be asked to sing was more than simply a manifestation of good manners. Such an exchange expressed two of the important conventions of classical rhetoric, very familiar to Renaissance audiences, used to justify any performance. At first, the unwillingness to act denoted the performer’s preference for the contemplative, private sphere, which she was then only willing to forsake because of her regard for the company that made the request: the request, therefore, was necessary to bring her from a passive to an active state. The third stage in the classical sequence was to recognize the quality or utility of the subject of the performance.9 This resulted in the subordination of the performer to the performed, and the performance was not of music but of nobility; the individuality of the singer and the beauty of her voice were subsumed into the nobility they made manifest. Female modesty, then, existed within a larger understanding of the negotiating benefits of self-effacement, but these conventions themselves were already gendered. Castiglione expanded the classical rhetoric of modesty into an overarching behavioral quality he coined sprezzatura, “the art that conceals art.” Sprezzatura was necessary for the male courtier to dissimulate any evidence of effort or learning, but it was also inherently feminine by its 8

9

As Pamela Benson notes, in Castiglione’s world, “virtue is only of incidental value for a woman’s performance of her assigned role; its primary value is to make her worthy of honor and make all her deeds virtuous. The distinction between virtue that leads to actions and virtue that infuses actions is very important”; Benson, The Invention of Renaissance Woman, 82. Dunn, Pretexts of Authority, 6.

58

58

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara fundamental deceit (women being “naturally” deceitful), and by its inversion of power dynamics (the more powerless you appear, the more powerful your acts).10 Such modesty deployed by a woman, simultaneously negating and augmenting herself, would render her negotiation of sprezzatura more powerful still. A  woman, conventionally delicate by nature and unskilled by nurture, producing a highly competent musical performance, would be, within the constructed expectations of Castiglione’s court, both miraculous and profoundly disturbing. Moreover, the associations between the female voice and seduction, and between transgressive sexuality and female eloquence, ostensibly limited the degree of musical competence that she could exhibit.11 Noblewomen were doubly constrained by their obligations to know about music, yet not to practice it too well themselves – for fear of appearing not only to be trying too hard, but also appearing to be disonesta: that is, indecent or unrespectable. And yet female musical performance was part of court life, so there must have been an unarticulated understanding regarding the process whereby the noblewoman acquired her ability to perform and yet somehow remained unmotivated by and detached from her skill. There is no shortage of evidence to show that throughout the first half of the century noblewomen were routinely instructed in music, particularly in singing and playing accompaniment instruments, and that at least some were taught from notation.12 For some women in particular contexts clearly it was possible to excel and to be acknowledged for doing so. Pietro Aron’s famous list of musical women, published in 1545, although containing some names that refer to courtesans, also includes a number of prominent noblewomen, there celebrated for their ability to sing “from the book” as well as “to the lute.”13 Isabella d’Este presented herself as an ideal musician, making no attempt to conceal her appetite for musical learning.14 These examples may be exceptional: Aron’s list arises in the context of defending Italian music and musicians against unfavorable comparison with Northern Europeans; and Isabella d’Este formulated her self-image as a prince, as much as a woman. Even so, Isabella was still subject to the rhetoric of modesty. She arrived at her brother Alfonso I’s wedding to Lucrezia Borgia fully equipped with lutes and a vihuela a mano, and famously

10 11

12 13

14

Pender, Early Modern Women’s Writing, 16–35. The link between eloquence and sexuality is described in Grafton and Jardine, From Humanism to the Humanities, 37–41. For musically relevant discussions, see, for example, Brooks, Courtly Song, 191–97; Gordon, “The Courtesan’s Singing Body.” Lorenzetti, Musica e identità, 119–40. Prizer, “Una ‘virtù molto conveniente,’ ” 10–21. For the list of women, see Appendix 2.2; Aron, Lucidario in musica (Venice: Scotto, 1545), 31v–32r. Prizer, “Una ‘virtù molto conveniente,’ ” 10–21.

59

59

Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Courtesan wore a dress embroidered with her personal device, a symbolic representation of musical clefs, rests, and mensurations; but at the banquet she did not perform until she had been bidden to do so by the assembled courtiers.15 For the normative noblewoman, however, the etiquette allowed her singing to be construed as if it were without significant creative or intellectual input of her own, her feminine sprezzatura reducing her performance to the level of repetition or ritual. She may have understood how to read music, but when called upon to sing, she would not need to show it, for she would only appear to perform as she had been taught, just as if she were executing highly regulated dance steps. The song would then be only the medium, there to show that her voice was as beautiful as her face, her fingers as skilled at the lutestrings as they were at needlework, and – most importantly – that she herself was but a vessel, demonstrating her innate physical and moral worth as conferred upon her by her noble birth.

Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Courtesan Musical knowledge and skill in themselves, then, were not a problem for the elite woman; deployed according to the rules, they could enhance her reputation and status. The critical issues lay in whether her performance was inappropriately virile, or improperly manifested her knowledge; and whether it occurred in the wrong social context or without sufficient sensitivity to the possible consequences. In a different context, the reputation and status of another class of woman, the courtesan, relied on cultivating rather than obfuscating her own brilliance. For her, musical performance graced with well-executed ornamentation and the willingness to participate in polyphonic singing did not invite criticism – at least, not in isolation from any broader censure for her entire lifestyle. Away from court, but intent on creating a parallel cultural space in which she might engage on equal terms with her male patrons, the cortegiana onesta simultaneously claimed respectability (onestà), and intellectual and creative parity with the normative cortegiano.16 Highly educated and gifted performers, these women were valued for their rhetorical skill in conversation, prose, and poetry, and often were praised for their overt display of musical learning, particularly their ability in ornamentation.17 Such admiration was not simply on aesthetic or musical grounds, but intellectual, too. When a singer intentionally departed 15 16 17

Prizer, “Renaissance Women as Patrons of Music,” 192–93. Rosenthal, The Honest Courtesan, esp. 58–110. Feldman, “The Courtesan’s Voice,” 112.

60

60

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara from the established melody, using her musical learning to embellish and inflect, the song then became a medium for her own eloquence, intellect, and poetic sensibility. There is no reason to suspect that noblewomen and courtesans ever shared social spaces, yet the cultural distance between them was simultaneously great, and not so great. In Margaret Rosenthal’s view, the courtesan fulfilled a “collective need … [for] a refined yet sexualized version of the aristocratic woman.” She strove to appear as close to the noblewoman as laws would permit, but, in reality, she functioned more as the feminine mirrorimage of the cortegiano, by “appropriating the courtier’s strategies for selfadvancement.”18 In this respect, she came closer in action to what Torquato Tasso called the donna eroica, a woman – such as Isabella d’Este – entitled by her political role to cultivate and display masculine virtues, than she did to courtly women of lesser station.19 For instance, the Roman courtesan Tullia d’Aragona held her own salon in Ferrara where she was resident in the late 1530s, and where she acquired a cultural status equivalent to a most noble virtuosa, the Marchioness of Pescara, Vittoria Colonna, herself. When her presence there was reported to Isabella d’Este in Mantua, the informant expressed no malice nor surprise, only admiration for her qualities, particularly her musical prowess: Your Excellence will hear how a fine courtesan of Rome, named Lady Tullia, has arrived in these parts, who is come here to stay for a few months, or so one hears. She is very polite, discreet, wise, and blessed with the best, divine manners. She knows how to sing all motets and songs from the book, by means of notated music. In conversation she is unique, and she conducts herself so generously that there is no man nor woman in this land who is her equal, even Her Excellence the most illustrious Lady Marchioness of Pescara, who is here, as Your Excellence knows.20

Tullia included a number of eminent writers among her admirers, and published a philosophical treatise on the nature of Love in 1547, the Dialogo della signora  Tullia d’Aragona, della infinità di amore (Venice:  Giolito de Ferrari, 1547).21 She clearly was able to develop and demonstrate significant rhetorical and musical skills as part of her professional arsenal, for she was praised for her singing style, graced with gorze and diminutions.22 Isabella’s 18 19

20

21 22

Rosenthal, The Honest Courtesan, 5, 6. The relationship between nobility, divine gifts, and women’s ability to manifest masculine virtù is explored in Torquato Tasso’s Discorso della virtù femminile, e donnesca (Venice: Giunti and brothers, 1582). See Stras, “Le nonne della ninfa,” 125–29. Appendix 2.3: Servitor Apollo to Isabella d’Este, 13 June 1537. Transcribed in Luzio, “Un’avventura di Tullia d’Aragona,” 179–80. Modern edition, d’Aragona, Dialogue on the Infinity of Love. Feldman, “The Courtesan’s Voice,” 113–14.

61

61

Mid-Sixteenth-Century Musical Women: The Courtesan informant reports with enthusiasm Tullia’s ability to sing polyphony. His language – “ogni motetti et canzoni” (emphasis added) – indicates that Tullia is not just able to read music, which in itself would not necessarily be remarkable, but that she is able to sight-sing in company. Pietro Aretino famously quipped, “The whore that sings songs above, and reads polyphony below – run from her, even in bare feet” (“Puttana che vada in su le canzoni, et in sul cantare al libro, vattici scalza”); and although his equivocal language implies more than just a dual musical practice, he encapsulates these two aspects of the cortegiana onesta’s arts succinctly.23 Sight-singing al libro, or from partbooks, requires not only confidence in notation and the rules of text underlay (not an inconsiderable skill), but also a secure sense of the use of unwritten accidentals (ficta) and the way in which cadences are articulated in polyphonic structures. Moreover, being able to sing at sight is not the same as simply being able to read music. For the recreational musician, fluent sight-singing becomes most useful when making music with others; and because conventional sixteenth-century notation required a bass voice or instrument, for a secular woman to sightsing with others may have meant singing with men, rather than to them. Ensemble music-making was a collective experience, described by male writers as an intimate and often discreetly competitive game  – a precarious environment for the donna onesta. Failure to acquit herself well in the situation might invite the suggestion that she had entered the masculine collective for less than honorable reasons.24 She would have to be either above the reproach of others because of her vastly superior social position and carefully constructed persona (such as Isabella d’Este performing in her studiolo), or someone whose reputation was based on a different set of parameters. While the stylized concerto campestre of Renaissance paintings suggests that a mixed elite company making music together would not have been unusual, there are few documentary accounts from the first half of the century confirming the practice. Those that do exist almost always involve single women singing with a group of well-known and respectable musicians, at occasions held in the women’s own salons  – the fictional Selvaggia of Antonfrancesco Doni’s Dialogo della musica, or the real Polissena Pecorina and Gaspara Stampa of mid-century Venice.25 The status of these women 23 24

25

Aretino, Sei giornate, 136. When Vittoria Colonna entered into her epistolary sonnet exchange with Pietro Bembo, she did so through a mediator, Paolo Govio; Brundin, Vittoria Colonna, 26. Lisa Jardine notes that female humanists might be “received” into the masculine world of professional humanism, but only symbolically as a muse; Jardine, “ ‘O Decus Italiae Virgo,’ ” 817. Feldman, City Culture, 32–35.

62

62

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara was then, and is still, contested – were they, or were they not courtesans? – but their consummate musical skills were sufficient justification for their admirers to set aside or deflect any attempts to question their propriety. Moreover, these accounts arise predominantly in republican cities that had no ruling family, the female members of which would have had sole rights to the feminine display of princely virtue. Tullia d’Aragona’s presence in Ferrara in 1537, alongside Vittoria Colonna and at one point Isabella d’Este herself, could not help but complicate the court’s perceptions of what activities were suitable for which women, of what station, where, when, and how – no matter how enthusiastically reported by Isabella’s man. Her arrival may even have prompted a mild moral panic, for it coincided with the seemingly impromptu establishment of the convent of the Convertite and the rather hasty institutionalization of a dozen newly converted prostitutes.26 Although the normative noblewoman would continue to behave in the manner set out by Castiglione, the women of the Este – by this time a family several generations deep in a noble musical tradition – may have found the presence of the educated, intelligent, and publicly gifted cortegiana a challenge, and the new convent would have functioned as a civic reminder of what constituted true Ferrarese propriety.

The Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century Through long familiarity with the evidence, we are comfortable with the idea of female musicians at the Ferrarese court of Alfonso II d’Este in the 1580s and 1590s. However, the private and exclusive spectacle of women singing as part of regular courtly recreation was part of Ferrarese life even before the beginning of the sixteenth century. A  panegyric treatise, presented to Ercole I and probably written in the 1490s, describes the garden of the castello as a retreat for Duchess Eleonora and her ladies, where they could sit on the grass, roll up their sleeves and lift their veils, sheltering from the sun under its trees and pavilions. At times, the women would play and sing “amorosi canti” until the stars came out.27 This vignette is “at the same time less idealized, more personal, and more realistically informative” than that on offer from Castiglione, but it also presents a picture of an exclusively feminine, but secular, space where women played for their own entertainment 26 27

Ghirardo, “Topography of Prostitution,” 421–24. Appendix 2.4: Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, De triumphis religionis, Rome: Biblioteca Vaticana, Rossiani 176, 39v–40. Transcribed in Sabadino degli Arienti, Art and Life, 54–55.

63

63

Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century rather than as courtly ornaments (even if ultimately the account was written by a man, for a man).28 Eleonora’s daughter Isabella also took the patronage of music at court seriously, but she used music differently from many of her female peers. As a princess who would be expected to marry into great authority and responsibility, Isabella was allowed a broad humanist education including music; however, once married, her education became self-directed, and she had the choice of how and whether to continue her musical learning. Unusually, Isabella chose to develop skills – such as playing the viol in consort – that transcended those expected of the normative noblewoman, as she came to use music (and to justify her use of music) as an active demonstration of princely virtù. Few details of Isabella’s early musical tuition in Ferrara are extant, but it certainly included singing, keyboard playing, and, by inference, most likely lute playing as well. Very soon after her marriage and move to Mantua in 1490, Isabella wrote two letters:  one to her father Ercole  I, requesting the renewed services of Johannes Martini as her singing teacher, asking that Martini be sent to Mantua, and one to her mother, requesting that she arrange tuition for the son of one of her own musicians, whom she was sending to Ferrara.29 The letters indicate Isabella had quickly discerned that Ferrara offered a superior environment for musical education, but they also suggest that both her parents took an active role in supporting her own musical development prior to marriage. Thus, potentially both parents’ musical tastes were reflected in her own – Ercole’s intense interest in erudite polyphony, and Eleonora’s interest in song.30 Eleonora died in 1493, and when her daughter-in-law Anna Sforza died in 1497, the Ferrarese court was left without a senior female focus. But the position was filled again with the arrival of Lucrezia Borgia, who married Prince Alfonso in January 1502.31 Like her dead mother-in-law before her, Lucrezia arrived with a large Spanish and Neapolitan household, which included musicians and entertainers.32 However, unlike Eleonora and her 28

29 30

31

32

Gundersheimer, Ferrara, 253. Sabadino’s account is also reminiscent of another much earlier notice of Eleonora enjoying music with her ladies in her garden in Naples; see Blackburn, “Anna Inglese,” 243. Eleonora’s sister, Beatrice, was clearly musically accomplished, as shown by her patronal relationship to Johannes Tinctoris; Atlas, Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples, esp. 111–12. Prizer, “Una ‘virtù molto conveniente,’ ” 12, 19. Once she became a mother, Isabella took responsibility for arranging and paying for her own children’s musical education, both for her son Federico and her daughter Leonora. Ibid., 20–21. William Prizer has thoroughly outlined Lucrezia Borgia’s position as a patron of musicians and has compared it with that of Isabella d’Este; Prizer, “Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia”; Prizer, “Renaissance Women as Patrons of Music.” When her husband Alfonso became duke in 1505, he insisted that Lucrezia dismiss the foreign members of her household, who were then replaced by “native” Italians; Prizer, “Isabella d’Este

64

64

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara sister-in-law Isabella, Lucrezia’s pleasure in music seems to have been primarily vicarious, as her own performing interests were focused on dance and feste.33 Nonetheless, these interests ensured that secular song, both courtly and theatrical, was fostered in her household. During Lucrezia’s wedding festivities, two ladies, who were in the entourage brought by her cousin from Rome, sang Spanish songs with two men.34 In 1507 she employed a female singer, Dalida de’ Putti, who took part in banquet entertainments and theatrical presentations, again with male musicians.35 The servant status of these women is clearly delineated by their public performances with male companions.36 Lucrezia and Alfonso produced only one female child, Leonora, who made quite a different use of her musical education. Only four years old when her mother died in 1519, at the age of eight she formally entered the convent of Corpus Domini, where she remained the rest of her life (see Chapter 1). While Lucrezia’s death again left the court without a senior female figure, one other Este woman lived on the borders of courtly society – not at the center of the ducal court, but not wholly apart from it either. Laura Dianti, also known as Laura Eustochia or Laura d’Este, was the mistress and then (it was claimed, although no definitive proof was ever forthcoming) third wife of Alfonso I. Her status in the city was nonetheless relatively high. She had substantial wealth and property thanks to Alfonso, she kept her own small court in the Palazzo degli Angeli, and she was a generous patron to the artists and poets who gathered around her. She bore the duke two sons, Don  Alfonso and Don  Alfonsino, on whose legitimacy the Este claim to Ferrara eventually hinged. Her sumptuous funeral in 1575 was attended by her putative grandchildren, Alfonso II and Cardinal Luigi; yet despite years

33

34

35

36

and Lucrezia Borgia,” 7. This behavior was replicated by their son, Ercole II, who, over a period of years, engineered the dismissal of all the French members of his wife Renée’s household; see below. There are echoes of Lucrezia Borgia’s preferences (and perhaps also of the discord between her and Isabella) in Duchess Margherita Gonzaga d’Este’s development of the ballo della duchessa in the 1580s and her rivalry with her own sister-in-law, Lucrezia (see Chapters 6 and 7). Prizer, “Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia,” 22–23, n. 90. The two women returned to Rome with Lucrezia’s cousin, Geronima Borgia, after the wedding. Ibid., 8–11. Dalida was hired specifically as a singer: the payment record reads, “Madonna Dalida de cantore”; she later became the employee, then mistress, of Cardinal Ippolito I d’Este, bearing him two children, one of whom – Elisabetta – was brought up with Suor Leonora in Corpus Domini (see Chapter 1). Dalida performed with Bartolomo Tromboncino and two other male singers, crossed-dressed as a shepherd, in an eclogue in praise of Elisabetta Gonzaga, Isabella d’Este, and Lucrezia; Gerbino, Arcadia, 63–64. Dalida surfaces again in the vivid descriptions of the banquets celebrating the wedding of Ercole and Renée, at which she performed in a mixed ensemble of singers and instrumentalists

65

65

Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century of tacit acknowledgment of her status, she was never officially accorded the rank of duchess. Suor Leonora’s absence from court life and Alfonso I’s failure to remarry meant that for nearly ten years the only secular woman of high noble rank permanently domiciled in Ferrara was the aging and impoverished Isabella del Balzo, the exiled queen of Naples.37 It may then have been expected that when Suor Leonora’s brother, the future Ercole II, married in 1528, his wife should rise to the challenge of providing a strong – and legitimate – feminine balance to masculine court culture. The daughter of the late French King Louis XII, Renée de Valois was eighteen years old when she arrived in Ferrara. Ostensibly higher in status than her husband, she brought with her a substantial contingent of over 160 companions and attendants, including her own chapel.38 The ladies were led by Renée’s erstwhile governess, Michelle de Saubonne (also called the Madame de Soubise), with her two daughters of a similar age to the duchess: Anne, who later became Madame de Pons, and Renée de Parthenay.39 Renée and Ercole’s marriage was intended to cement an alliance between Ferrara and France, but within a year France had betrayed the Este in favor of alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor.40 From the outset, then, her welcome in the city was uneasy. In spring 1537, while she awaited the birth of her fourth child, Renée assembled a small court of her own in the Palazzo San  Francesco, physically and spiritually separated from the business of the ducal castello.41 After 1540, by which time both she and Ercole had had enough of each other’s company, she was more permanently based at her country retreat Consandolo, twenty-five miles southwest of Ferrara. Though clearly more than capable in her procreative duties  – she produced five healthy children for Ercole, three girls and two boys – she was less successful at assimilating into her husband’s culture, and positively adamant that she would not assimilate into his religious practice.42

37

38 39 40 41 42

singing madrigals and dialog; Brown, “A Cook’s Tour,” 223. Alfonso Dalla Viola composed at least some of the music for the festivities. Isabella del Balzo was the widow of Federico, king of Naples, and sister-in-law to Eleonora d’Aragona. She had left Naples in 1501 with her husband when the kingdom was invaded by the French and Spanish. She arrived in Ferrara in 1508, lodging in the Palazzo San Francesco until she died in 1533; see López-Ríos, “A New Inventory.” Renée’s chapel was subsidised by the ducal exchequer; CavicchiMJ, 62–66. BlaisRen, 53. Blaisdell, “Politics and Heresy,” 70. BlaisRen, 200. Renée demonstrated her initial willingness to embrace Italian ways by her request for Italianstyled clothes before her entry into Ferrara. However, after the open hostility that emerged between Ferrara and France in 1529, she reverted to French styles; see BlaisRen, 35–36, 46.

66

66

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara Duchess Renée maintained a small musical establishment with at least two permanent musicians:  Nicolas Olivier, tambourin and Pierre Monnet, organiste and valet de chambre.43 Monnet  also played harpsichord in her chambers, and there are dozens of payments in her accounts for wind bands, presumably engaged for the accompaniment of dancing.44 She also regularly commissioned copying of music.45 Although she was not demonstrably musically or creatively gifted, she gathered around her women who were. Anne de  Pons and Renée de  Parthenay were both noted for their literary and musical abilities.46 Anne was praised by Lilio Gregorio Giraldi, who claimed she was “proficient in all kinds of music,” and recalled the “refined and measured songs that [she] would sing with grace.”47 The sisters’ musical talents were eulogized by Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio, who honored both their singing and their playing in self-accompaniment. Anna Parthenia, Domina Ponti (Anne de Parthenay, Lady Pons) Has inter comites, nullo fucata colore, laeta oculis, auro fuluos redimita capillos, pendula cui mediis splendescit gemma papillis, nobilis Anna nites, cunctis praestantior una Parthenia, es taedas quae sola experta iugales, digno iuncta viro, nondum perpessa labores Lucinae, nec facta parens, dignissima caelo progenies, casti specimen venerabile amoris, cui doctae assurgunt modulanti carmine Musae. O felix nimium, Nymphaque beatior omni, non te donavit frustra Parnaside lauro Pheoebus, nec frustra afflavit tibi numine pectus. Tu cantu sylvasque trahis, tu flumina sistis, et tua perpetuae commendans nomina famae, demulces dulci radiantia sidera cantu, dulcia felici concondans carmina plectro. Amongst these companions, dyed with no coloring, cheerful in her gaze, her auburn hair bound with gold, with a jeweled pendant gleaming between her breasts, noble Anna, you shine, the one Parthenay pre-eminent among all, who alone have known the torches of marriage, joined to a worthy husband, but have not yet endured the

43 44 45 46 47

CavicchiMJ, 142; Guerzoni, “Este Courtiers Database.” CavicchiMJ, Appendix, 99–106. CavicchiMJ, 153–44. See Meine, “Musikalische Spuren,” 39. Appendix 2.5: Lilio Gregorio Giraldi, Historiae poetarum tam Graecorum quam Latinorum dialogi decem (Basel: Isengrin, 1545), 125.

67

67

Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century toils of Lucina nor been made a parent, offspring most worth of heaven, a venerable example of chaste love, to whom as you sing songs the Muses rise. O excessively fortunate, and more blessed than any nymph, not in vain did Phoebus adorn you with the laurel of Parnassus, nor in vain did he inspire your breast with his godhead. You by your singing make forests follow you and rivers stand still, and, commending your name to eternal renown, by your singing you soothe the shining stars, singing sweet songs in concord with your skillful lyre.

Renata Parthenia (Renée de Parthenay) His aderat, Gallae decus admirabile gentis par Veneri specie et tenero maturior aevo, Parthenia, a dominae ducit quae nomine nomen, crinibus auratis praestans, quos aurea circum fibula subnectit, radiantibus aspra hyacinthis: pingere acu doctas inter doctissima matres, marmoreaque manu vivas animare figuras, dum varias fingit deducto in stamine formas, et tenues telas distinguit murice et auro: Aonium tentare nemus, lymphasque fluentes permessi havrire, et magna cum laude sueta, et Phoebo dare vota libens, et tangere plectrum, et dulcem captare chelym, citharamque sonoram, et tenues docto percurrere pollice chordas, casta renidenti circumdata tempora lauro.48 Present with these, the wondrous ornament of the Gallic race, equal to Venus in looks, maturer than her tender years, was Parthenia, who derives her name from her mistress’s name, pre-eminent for her golden hair, which is held together by a golden band studded with radiant jacinths, the most skilled amidst skilled matrons at embroidery, and at giving soul to living figures with her marble-white hands as she creates various images in the drawn-out thread, and tricks out the fine cloth with purple and gold; and accustomed to venture on the Aonian grove, and drink the flowing waters of Permessus, to great praise, and willingly offer vows to Phoebus and touch the plectrum and take up the sweet lyre and resounding cithara, and run over the slender strings with skillful thumb, her chaste temples surrounded by gleaming laurel.

Duchess Renée began by fostering a strong feminine environment in which to educate and raise her two daughters, Anna (born 1531) and Lucrezia (born 1535). Yet in 1536 the exile of two of her closest companions, Michelle 48

Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio, De obitu divi Alphonsis Estensis (Ferrara: Francesco de’ Rossi, 1537), Diii–Diii[v]. Translations by Leofranc Holford-Strevens.

68

68

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara de Saubonne and Renée de Parthenay, was followed with the death of a third, Anne de Beauregard.49 These events coincided with the first crisis exposing Renée’s Reformist convictions, a scandal that embroiled Ferrara, France, and Rome for months, and further depleted her household of servants she trusted.50 It is unsurprising, then, that Renée welcomed Vittoria Colonna’s arrival in Ferrara in 1537. Colonna, like Renée passionately interested in religious reform (if ultimately to take a different path), would have provided a different kind of cultured model, older and more dignified than the Parthenay sisters, for the young Anna d’Este. Soon after her arrival in the city, Renée asked Colonna to stand as godmother to her next child – another daughter, Leonora – born in the summer of 1537. Colonna did not stay long in Ferrara, departing within a year, but she interacted with the court at a most intimate level. During the 1538 Carnival season, she took part in a very private entertainment, recorded in a letter addressed to Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, son of Isabella d’Este, and Ercole II’s cousin. The account gives a brief glimpse of the ways in which noblewomen contributed to the cultural life of the Ferrarese court, Colonna with her poetry, and the six-year-old Princess  Anna demonstrating that she was already acquiring the skills deemed necessary for the donna di palazzo: After dinner five sonnets of the aforesaid Lady Marchioness [Vittoria Colonna] were read, so beautiful that I don’t believe an angel of Paradise could make them more perfect. They were recited to the infinite pleasure and praise of all. Then your mother’s ladies appeared, and Lady Anna played some pieces at the harpsichord most excellently; and then Morgantino and Delia came in, and jumped and danced, and did amazing things with their tiny bodies. Then Lady Anna came out to dance, and she performed several dances in galliard style, to the infinite pleasure of the Marchioness of Pescara, the duke and everybody, and everyone made the firm resolution that if Nature herself wanted to dance this dance, she could not have done it more in time and with more grace. And thus we passed the greater part of the evening.51

Duke Ercole, Isabella d’Este and her ladies, the Princess Anna, and Vittoria Colonna were all present. Clearly the author, the Cardinal of Ravenna, 49

50

51

Clement Marot memorialized Anne de Beauregard in “De Beauregard Anne suis, qui d’enfance,” Les Oeuvres ... augmentees d'ung grand nombre de ses compositions nouvelles (Lyon: Donet, 1542), 180r. Marot been exiled from France for his Huguenot beliefs, and served as Renée’s secretary from 1534 to 1536. For details of Ercole’s long campaign for the expulsion of Michelle de Saubonne, see BlaisRen, 57–85. The crisis began with the imprisonment of a French singer in Ercole’s cappella, Jehannet de Bouchefort, who publicly demonstrated his contempt for Catholic ritual by refusing the Adoration of the Cross on Easter Sunday, 1536. Marot was among those who left as a result of the affair; BlaisRen, 87–145. Appendix 2.6: Cardinal of Ravenna to Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, 22 February 1538. Transcribed in Luzio, “Vittoria Colonna,” 32–33.

69

69

Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century Benedetto Accolti, was also there, but the Duchess Renée was absent, perhaps because she had still only relatively recently given birth. Among the performers were two professional entertainers, the dwarves Morgantino and Delia. But significantly, at this private party the main attractions were also members of the noble audience – Colonna and Princess Anna – although Colonna was afforded a more exclusive environment, for Isabella’s ladies were only permitted to enter after her sonnets had been read. Like Isabella, Colonna was a politically independent and powerful widow who chose to manifest her princely status through her creativity; but unlike Isabella she distanced herself from performance.52 At the gathering Colonna did not read her own poetry, but allowed it to be recited in her presence. This disarticulation of her creative labor from her voice and her person underscores the third stage of modesty rhetoric, the utility of the subject. Moreover, it is the poems that are praised, not Colonna herself, but in such a way that the marchioness receives an implicit acknowledgment, elevating her to supernatural status:  an angel of Paradise could not have improved them. By removing Colonna’s voice from the performance, divinity and nobility are separated from her physical womanhood, showing her to be only the conduit for the noble virtù revealed in her poetry. The treatment of Princess  Anna’s expertise contrasts in important ways with that of both Colonna and Tullia d’Aragona. Like Colonna, Anna’s performance is also praised in supernatural terms, but directly, as the divinity of kings was embodied in her person. The goddess Nature could not have executed her dance more gracefully. And although the courtesan Tullia is also praised in superlatives, in conversing and making music with her audience she surpasses only human rivals, not divine ones. The cardinal did not record who composed the pieces played by Anna, if he ever knew, and their provenance does not appear to have been important; the princess’s performance, and not what she performed, was the matter to be admired. The entire aesthetic experience is not critiqued, only Anna’s contribution; and it would appear that her royal status did not just ensure the onestà (decency) of her performance, but also raised it to the level of virtù. Anna’s youth is also relevant. It is instructive to compare the description of the private entertainments at the Medici court for Pope Pius II, which featured the newly married fourteenyear-old Bianca de Piero de’ Medici and her eleven-year-old sister dancing, playing, and singing a variety of different styles of music.53 The date of the performance was early in February 1460, just before the Carnival season was 52

53

Abigail Brundin notes that Colonna’s poetic persona was carefully crafted, and perhaps its integrity would have been compromised if it and Colonna’s real self were observed together too closely; Brundin, Vittoria Colonna, Ch. 1, particularly 25–27. See Prizer, “Games of Venus,” 3–6.

70

70

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara to begin in earnest, and it may have been among Bianca’s last performances in this manner, as she began her life as a married woman.54 Now with the burden of educating three daughters, Renée’s religious inclinations might nonetheless have prevented her from following the otherwise obvious route of sending them to her sister-in-law Suor Leonora for tuition from the nuns in Corpus Domini.55 Renée was not hostile to Suor Leonora at this time; indeed, in December 1544 Renée gave her two portraits by Girolamo da  Carpi, suggesting that, at least during the 1540s, a relationship existed between the two women that might perhaps otherwise have seemed unlikely.56 Nevertheless, the duchess resolved to have her daughters taught together at court, so Anna and her sisters, Lucrezia and Leonora, were given an elite education that included philosophy, geography, rhetoric, and the classics, as well as tuition in music and dancing.57 The Abbé of Brantôme noted in his memoir that their education had been intended to promote spiritual growth: These three girls were very beautiful, but their mother made them even more beautiful by the lovely nourishment that she gave them, in making them learn the sciences and letters, which they learned and retained perfectly, shaming other scholars, to the end that their souls were as beautiful as their bodies.58

A common trope in discussion of noble girls’ education is the notion that the study of letters was a step up from learning needlework, but it served much the same purpose in equipping them for their station.59 Middle-class women were expected to learn the domestic arts in order to run a household, but elite women were expected to use their humanist learning to arbitrate and govern when their husbands were absent. Like their great-aunt Isabella who ruled Mantua as a regent, and their aunt Suor  Leonora who managed the most prestigious convent in Ferrara, as young noblewomen Renée’s daughters needed an education that did more than keep them from being idle. But the princesses were not only expected to learn, they were also required to demonstrate their learning, just as Anna had with her dancing and playing. At the ages of twelve, eight, and five, together with their 54 55

56 57

58 59

See also Shephard, “Noblewomen and Music in Italy,” 39–40. The princesses worshipped with Renée, the two younger ones until they were forced to abjure in 1554; BlaisRen, 217. Franceschini, “Tra Ferrara e la Francia,” 75. Morata, The Complete Writings, 10. Erasmus’s writings were among the texts purchased for the classroom. The princesses’ academic tutors were all noted Protestant sympathizers: Chilean Sinapius, Celio Secondo Curone, and Francesco Porto; BlaisRen, 215–17. Appendix 2.7: Brantôme, Oeuvres complètes, 8:109–10. Grafton and Jardine, From Humanism to the Humanities, 32. See also the letter from Celio Calcagnini to Olimpia Morata, c.1541, telling her she would succeed as a scholar “if you constantly apply yourself to the study you have begun, and employ the pen instead of the distaff, books instead of linen, and the stylus instead of the needle”; Morata, The Complete Writings, 93.

71

71

Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century brothers Alfonso and Luigi, they took part in the performance of Terence’s Adelphoe in the presence of Pope Paul III in 1543: [The guests] were invited by his Excellence the Duke to a Latin comedy recited by all five of the illustrious ducal children, so excellently that it surely was stupendous and a miracle … My Lady Princess was the older of the young lovers, and the Most Illustrious Prince the other, and the second Princess Lucrezia was the Prologue, and the Lady Eleonora was a young girl [Pamphila] who was in service in the house, and even four-year-old Lord Luigi spoke a couple of lines as a slave … although the comedy was recited in private in the castello, even so there were lots of people to hear it.60

Ortensio Lando, writing in 1545, described Anna’s translations of the classics as “miraculous.”61 But she was not unique in her gifts: at some point between 1539 and 1541, Renée secured a companion for Anna, Olimpia Fulvia Morata, the daughter of professor at the university, who was engaged specifically to provide Anna with intellectual competition.62 Morata probably shared the formal tuition provided for the princesses, for she wrote to Chilean Sinapsius, one of their tutors, in 1540, “About your pupils and how they are progressing in literature, I will only remind you of that cliché, ‘No good comes from the sheep, if the shepherd’s away.’ So there is no girl who does not urgently desire your arrival, I most of all.”63 Although she was perfunctorily dismissed from court as soon as Anna was married in 1548, Morata was for a time one of the most celebrated women in Ferrara. She achieved early acclaim as a classics scholar; she was a precocious orator, able to deliver lectures on Cicero in Latin when only fourteen years old. Later she was to become an esteemed Protestant philosopher, whose Greek translations of the Psalms were set to music by her husband, Andreas Grundler.64 But there also exists a unique record of her performing music – and sight-singing, no less – in male company, at a much later period in her life: [Olympia] and her husband were escorted by guides provided by the counts as far as Hirschhorn am Neckar. At the inn there it chanced that the schoolmaster was trying out his pupils in the art of music. They weren’t doing their job very well or with any spirit and were quickly falling into mistakes in their singing. So when she saw that they were deeply embarrassed, she didn’t hesitate to come up and help the boys, to the great admiration of both pupils and teacher. I was present on many occasions

60 61 62

63 64

Appendix 2.8: Mosti, Lettera (Ferrara: n.p., 1543), B[i]–B[i]v. Franceschini, “ ‘Literarum studia nobis communia,’ ” 212. Olimpia’s father was Fulvio Pellegrino Morato, who had himself taught Anna’s uncles Ippolito and Francesco, and who was later engaged to teach Laura Dianti’s two sons, Alfonso and Alfonsino; Morata, The Complete Writings, 5, 6. Ibid., 91. Ibid., 2; 185.

72

72

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara when he told the boys that they should never forget this and urged them to keep it fresh in their memories, saying, “What? Isn’t it a wonder that once a woman sang so sweetly with you. And without even a rehearsal!”65

This brief episode shows that Olimpia was able to sight-sing, a skill she would have developed, or at least practiced, while at Renée’s court. It could be that she was educated in music, as well as the classics, alongside the princesses, and that they performed chansons for the duchess. Renée’s account books record a payment to Alessandre Milleville in 1544, “singer, for the effort of notating several books of chansons for the use and enjoyment of my Lady, and for having taught music to my lady Princesses,” and another to a harpsichord master who played for their dancing lessons.66 Princess Lucrezia, in particular, took to musical instruction, and in 1554 was given a harpsichord by her mother at the cost of 15  écus d’or.67 In Canto X of his unfinished romance, Dell’Hercole, Giraldi Cinzio elevated Lucrezia above her sisters in respect of her musical talents: S’averrà ch’ella in man la lira pigli, sembrerà Euterpe, od Erato, o Talia, che mandar fuora voci s’assottigli di rara grazia piene e d’armonia; tal ch’altra a lei non sia che s’assimigli in Grecia od in Italia nata pria, tanto sia grato il suon de le parole che appreso avrà nell’Apollinee scuole.68 When she takes the lyre in her hand, she will seem to be Euterpe, or Erato, or Talia, that sends out notes suffused with rare grace and full of harmony. No other like her in Greece or in Italy could have been born, so gracious the sound of the words she learned in the Apolline schools.

Giraldi’s poem was published when Lucrezia was around twenty years old, flattering her father but no doubt also publicly advertising the virtues of his still unmarried daughters. The entire canto is devoted to lauding the cardinal virtues displayed by a long genealogy of Este princesses, “the Isabellas and the Beatrices,” placing Anna, Lucrezia, and Leonora in the familial tradition of wise, beautiful, and conspicuously gifted women. Continuing 65 66 67 68

Andreas Campanus to Celio Secondo Curone, 13 March 1559; ibid., 203. Vendramini, “Les offrandes musicales,” 194. Rodocanachi, Une protectrice, 183. Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio, Dell’Hercole di M. Giovanbattista Giraldi Cinthio secretario dell'illustrissimo et eccellentissimo signore il signore Hercole Secondo da Este, duca quarto di Ferrara. Canti ventisei (Modena: Gadaldini, 1557), 123.

73

73

Este Women and Music in the Mid-Sixteenth Century the trajectory begun by the universal admiration of Isabella d’Este’s manifest talents, Ferrara in the mid-century had become a court at which female intellectual virtuosity was highly prized. Vincenzo Maggi compared the young princesses to Sybils, even suggesting that they put men to shame: I have heard that at the court of the Most Serene Queen of Navarre there is an academy of learned damigelle, who seem like so many young Sybils. And I know for certain that at the court of My Lady of Ferrara she nurtures a school of this kind, that makes me (for the love that I hold for my own sex) grow pale and tremble.69

As Holt Parker observes, “the court served as a central location for the noble families to display both their women and the resources that they had to lavish on these women. The display of learned women, in particular, allowed the city to boast that it had the power not merely to educate its sons but its daughters as well.”70 A  virtuosa noblewoman could demonstrate her virtù and remain respectable, as long as the credit reflected first and foremost on the court culture that fostered her, and provided her performance remained confined to elite spaces.71 Raised in an atmosphere that expected women to achieve and be noticed for it, the princesses could afford to set high standards for both themselves and, eventually, their own ladies. That Ercole II considered Anna’s learned abilities to be a projection and proof of the nobility of Este lineage is shown by his comments to his uncle, Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, expressing his desire for Gonzaga to see her performance as Panphilius in Terence’s Andria. The letter was written in 1539, when Anna was just seven years old: I would like to you to see (in private, however) a performance of a comedy, in which my firstborn daughter, Anna, also performs, and it is also in Latin, being Andria by Terence. I am sure that you will not be displeased by a girl of seven years playing Panphilo. You will say perhaps that I am a father like a cuckold, but that won’t bother me. It’s enough that I hope to make you see that my sperm is full of good spirit.72

The women on display at the duke and duchess’s courts – Anne de Pons and Renée de Parthenay, the singers; Olimpia Morata, the humanist scholar; even Vittoria Colonna, the poet  – were all virtuose, available to model the 69

70

71

72

Appendix 2.9: Vincenzo Maggi, Un brieve trattato dell’eccellentia delle donne (Brescia: Turlini, 1545), 51v. Morata, The Complete Writings, 17. See also the observations of a seventeenth-century commentator (Appendix 8.1), who noted that Ferrara was like a music academy, in which every father ensured that his children of both sexes were musically proficient. Ibid. Note that Pietro Aron’s list of courtiers and ladies who sang “a libro” and “a liuto” (Appendix 2.2) is offered in the context of countering criticism of Italian cultural achievement. Appendix 2.10: Ercole d’Este to Ercole Gonzaga, 25 March 1539. Transcribed in Franceschini, “ ‘Literarum studia nobis communia,’ ” 218.

74

74

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara highest standards of intellectual excellence to the city, the city’s visitors, and eventually to Renée’s daughters. The princesses, then, were able to project an air of cultured virginity, in readiness to take on the responsibilities of a ruling wife and mother. But here is also where the boundaries blur between the discourse of female propriety and the reality of the educated noblewoman at Ferrara: True virtuosity made her an ornament and asset to her court, but that position could never be stable, for the means by which her virtuosity became known were also the means by which – should she somehow attract the displeasure of those around her – she could be disgraced. All three of the duchess’ most gifted and favored ladies – Morata, Pons, and Parthenay – one by one were eventually driven from court: Parthenay was returned to France on grounds of her religious practice; Pons was banished together with her husband on the pretext of plotting against the duke; Morata’s ostracization was never explained – the duke and duchess simply withdrew their patronage, requested back all the gifts she had been given, and forbade her friends to speak to her.73 This pattern would surface again during the rule of Alfonso II, present in the stories of Lucrezia Bendidio Macchiavelli, Tarquinia Molza Porrina, and Anna Guarini Trotti, virtuose women who at first attracted attention, then admiration, but ultimately fell prey to mistrust, envy, and contempt.

Music for the Noblewomen of Ercole II’s Ferrara There is not much evidence of precisely what music was sung, when, and how in the secular spaces of 1530s Ferrara. The Este princesses were probably taught to play and sing from singing methods, like their great-aunt Isabella, and with the same kinds of music, the “laude, courtly lyrics, … and popular settings” that formed the repertoire of elite Italian women from at least the second half of the previous century.74 They would have had access to a range of national styles present in the music of their surroundings: the Italian frottola and madrigal as their birthright, the French chanson from their mother, and possibly even hints of the Spanish villancico inherited from the musical tastes of their grandmother, Lucrezia Borgia.75

73 74 75

Rodocanachi, Une protectrice, 93, 170, 189; Morata, The Complete Writings, 20. Prizer, “Games of Venus,” 9. Prizer has noted that Tromboncino wrote villancicos for Lucrezia Borgia; Prizer, “Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia,” 22–24. Leonard Waisman identifies a Spanish influence in the way Alfonso Dalla Viola decorates his Phrygian cadences, but discounts it, saying it was “not known to have been strong in sixteenth-century Ferrara”; WaismanFM, 103–104.

75

75

Music for the Noblewomen of Ercole II’s Ferrara The early history of the madrigal has been understood as a Florentine and a Venetian phenomenon.76 In both cities, the madrigal advanced in the culture of the learned academy, as a considered musical response to serious poetry, either already existing in the canon or composed in its image – the veneration of Lorenzo de’  Medici (in Florence) and Petrarch (in Venice), which intertwined as exiled Florentine nobility flooded Venice in the early years of the century, led to parallel and complementary developments in both cities. But the form also made a relatively early appearance in Ferrara: a  work by a musician employed at the Ferrarese court, Maistre  Jhan, was included in the first publication to use the term madrigali on its title page.77 Accordingly, perhaps the best guides to the contemporary secular repertoire most readily available in the earliest years of the princesses’ tuition are the two books of four-voice madrigals by Alfonso Dalla  Viola, the Primo libro di madrigali (Ferrara:  Buglhat, Campis, and Hucher, 1539)  and the Secondo libro di madrigali (Ferrara: Campis, 1540).78 These works appear to have been composed over a period lasting more than a decade – the very decade that saw the maturation of the madrigal into a distinct musical form with an identifiable character. Importantly, they show signs of the persistent and prescient markers of Ferrarese musical preoccupations throughout the century:  harmonic ingenuity, musical esoterica, and courtly song. Fully contrapuntal soggetto cavato composition  – in which textual syllables are matched to hexachordal ones (“Lasso, la rete che mi lega il core,” Secondo libro) – sits aside homophonic frottola-like settings (“Amor mi fa morire,” Primo libro) and more sophisticated adaptations of ballata form that merge the concerns of polyphony and song (“Nell’aspra dipartita,” Primo libro).79 Presented with these madrigals as material for performance, the princesses would have had a number of options. Many of the works in the books lend themselves to solo performance, either with simple chordal accompaniment, as would be practical for the homophonic settings, or polyphonic transcriptions adapted for plucked strings or keyboard. One such is “Amor mi fa morire,” which sets a ballata by Dragonetto Bonifacio. The form is reflected in its setting, with both text and music of the opening (the ripresa) repeated at its end. Its texture is 76

77

78 79

The literature on the early madrigal in Florence and Venice is vast and venerable, offering a variety of perspectives on literary influences and musical responses in both cities. Important contributions include Fenlon and Haar, The Italian Madrigal; Feldman, City Culture; Mangani and Rossi, “Ballata Form”; La Via, “Eros and Thanatos”; Gerbino, Arcadia. “Hor vedete madonna” (also attributed to Arcadelt) was published in the Madrigali de diversi musici: libro primo de la Serena (Rome: Dorico, 1530, RISM15302). Modern editions, Dalla Viola, Primo libro (Ferrara, 1539) and Secondo libro (Ferrara, 1540). WaismanFM, 85–87, 91–106. The ballata in all its forms is described in Harrán, “Verse Types in the Early Madrigal.” More discussion of its role in the early madrigal may be found in Mangani and Rossi, “Ballata Form.”

76

76

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara predominantly homophonic, resembling those madrigals by Verdelot arranged by Adriano Willaert for voice and lute.80 The Canto melody has a limited range, and moves mostly by step or small intervals. A  close relation to improvised or stock melodies is further implied by its repetition of melodic material for consecutive verses, beyond the formal ripresa. The bass articulates only the harmonic roots and follows the declamation of the Canto almost exactly, diverging only at cadences in order to allow the Canto freedom for syncopation and decoration. In a keyboard or lute transcription, the parts would lie easily under the fingers, with no awkward stretches or inelegant rhythms to negotiate. A piece such as this would provide ideal teaching and performing material, its repeated phrases first giving confidence, and later allowing experimentation by varying the declamation, or adding ornamentation. Despite Castiglione’s prescriptions, indeed almost because of them, we can be confident that noblewomen, when singing or playing, did in fact use ornaments, although we may also assume that part of the social skill of performance would be in judging the audience’s attitude to ornamentation, and to accommodate the approach accordingly. The earliest published ornamentation manual, Silvestro Ganassi’s Opera intitulata Fontegara (Venice:  n.p., 1535) appeared in 1535, four years before Dalla Viola’s Primo libro. It sets out a formulaic approach for learning the skill of melodic diminution, presenting a series of intervals and brief melodic phrases, to which is appended a selection of ornamental passages that might be used to decorate them. Aspiring musicians – perhaps the exiled Florentine nobles living in Venice with whom Ganassi closely associated – could learn the hundreds of formulas by rote, so that they could then apply them to melodies spontaneously, and eventually might even devise their own.81 The appearance of Ganassi’s book in the mid-1530s suggests at least a limited market for this kind of material. Simultaneously, the madrigal was becoming established as the most popular commercially available musical form. By 1540, the madrigal and diminution – in performance, at least – would have been inextricably entwined. Courtly Ferrara was unlikely to have been left behind the musical trends, and even if the princesses were not systematically taught ornamentation, they would have nonetheless absorbed the practice as part of their everyday exposure to musical culture.82 Tucked into the Primo libro near the end are two madrigals in voci pari, “Alma beat’e bella” and “Stella che fra le stelle,” that are less amenable to solo performance. “Stella che fra le stelle” has three equal upper voices, c3c3c3F4, whereas 80

81 82

Modern edition, Verdelot, Intavolatura de li madrigali. See also Brown, “Bossinensis, Willaert and Verdelot.” Fenlon and Haar, The Italian Madrigal, 66. Reflecting practice from later in the century, Vittoria di Capua commissioned Giaches de Wert to write diminutions for her daughter to learn; see Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 123.

77

77

Music for the Noblewomen of Ercole II’s Ferrara Example 2.1 “Stella che fra le stelle,” Alfonso Dalla Viola, Primo libro di madrigali (1539), mm. 16–20.

“Alma beat’e bella” uses a cleffing arrangement that doubles the inner voices, c3c4c4F4. Voci pari madrigals are not wholly uncommon in the early madrigal repertoire, and by its very nature their format could suggest more strongly the composer’s intention for an all vocal, or primarily vocal, performance.83 Typical of voci pari works, the combination of dense textures and imitative writing in Dalla Viola’s madrigals produces harmonic idiosyncrasies, such as the consecutive dissonances, a second then a diminished fourth, between Alto and Tenore at “et sol la luce” (b. 19) in “Stella che fra le stelle” (Example 2.1). The ornamentation at the opening of “Alma beat’e bella” is reminiscent of that in the five-voice motet “Felix namque es sacra” (see Example 1.7), with the recurring use of a run to embellish a falling third (Example  2.2, Alto m. 4 and Tenore m. 8). The lower two parts of “Alma beat’e bella” cross periodically, suggesting that it was not conceived as a work for ensemble with an independent instrumental bass.84 However, “Stella che fra le stelle” could easily have been performed by three female voices accompanied by a foundation instrument, as its bass line is well separated from the three higher voices and relatively disengaged from their motivic imitation. The variety of approach in Dalla Viola’s books could have provided suitable music, both solo and polyphonic, for the princesses’ learning and recreation when they were old enough to attempt them.

83 84

See the discussion in Slim, A Gift of Madrigals and Motets, 1:122–27. “Alma beat’e bella” is also found in D-Mbs Mus. MS 1501, transposed up an octave and with the rubric “a voci pari”; see WaismanFM, 524. It appears with other high-clef voci pari devotional works, including a table grace by Mailand, a motet by Francesco Porta, and a psalm setting by Orlando de Lasso, all apparently transposed up from their printed versions.

78

78

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara Example 2.2 “Alma beat’e bella,” Alfonso Dalla Viola, Primo libro di madrigali (1539), mm. 1–9.

Alfonso Dalla Viola was employed by Ercole II as his maestro di musica, and so his formal connections to Renée and her court may not have been strong. However, his first madrigal book was published by three foreigners, Buglhat, Campis, and Hucher, at least one of whom, Buglhat, had come to Ferrara in Renée’s service in 1528.85 Campis had joined Ercole’s chapel in the same year; Hucher, the engraver, was probably also French. Although it has no dedication, one paramusical aspect of the volume suggests that the publication had support from Renée’s circle. The pictorial program of the first two pages – the title page bears a woodcut depicting a blindfolded Cupid, illustrating the first madrigal “Sapete amanti perché amor è cieco” – has aesthetic significance, and indicates a certain level of care and expense taken

85

Johan Buglhat came to Ferrara in 1528 as a cleric in Renée’s entourage: Vendramini, “Les offrandes musicales,” 195.

79

79

Music for the Noblewomen of Ercole II’s Ferrara in the book’s production. However, the final folio has political significance, for it bears a large fleur-de-lis. Although this symbol of French royalty had been part of the Este heraldry since 1432, its use in isolation – that is, not combined with the Este eagle – on a print issued in 1530s Ferrara would have been an unmistakable homage to the duchess. Playful visual clues and allusions to patronage fit nicely into the Ferrarese passion for riddles and esoterica, legible only to those privy to the meaning of the symbols and their placement.86 Dedications are much more transparent, and in the decade following Alfonso Dalla Viola’s publications, two volumes of secular music were directed to Renée:  Jacques de  Buus’s Primo libro di canzoni francese a sei voci (Venice: Gardano, 1543), and Tuttovale [Tugdual] Menon’s Madrigali d’amore (Ferrara:  Buglhat and Hucher, 1548). Menon’s book will be discussed at length in the next chapter, but while Buus’s works are not Italian and may not have been written in Ferrara, their dedication to Renée makes them of interest here. Books of all kinds dedicated to women became common towards the end of the sixteenth century, but in 1543 dedications in music books were still relatively uncommon, and dedications of music to women were rarer still. Howard Mayer  Brown suggested that Buus may have been sheltered by Renée in Ferrara in the late 1530s, attracted to her court by her Protestant beliefs, although there is no documentary evidence placing him in Italy before 1541.87 Buus partially financed his book’s publication, giving him perhaps greater control over its contents.88 But it is also possible that Renée helped provide the rest of the printing costs, as a means of raising her profile as a patron of French culture, perhaps even putting herself in competition with her husband, who had also recently been the recipient of a book of popular song, the Primo libro di villotte a quattro voci of Alvise Castellino (Venice: Gardano, 1541).89 The book’s format raises some questions regarding its practical use for the duchess, her ladies, or her daughters. Six voices, and the breadth of vocal range that the format implies, are not always easily adaptable to female performance. Nevertheless, Buus may well have expected that Renée’s courtiers or the intellectuals who assembled at her villa in Consandolo would have sung the works for her. Brown showed that its contents by and large represent re-compositions and parodies of existing chansons set for fewer voices; in the 86

87 88

89

See, for instance, the elaborate visual program that suggests a connection to Renée in the chanson collection, La Couronne, published in Venice in 1536; Bernstein, “La Couronne.” An alternative interpretation is supplied in Rifkin, “A Chorus of Beasts.” Brown, “The ‘Chanson Spirituelle,’ ” 150. Lewis, “Antonio Gardane’s Early Connections,” 221. See also the comments on authors selffinancing publications in Richardson, Printing, Writers and Readers, 58–66. Castellino’s book of villotte was the only music publication dedicated to Ercole II. See Marshall, “Imitating the Rustic,” 83.

80

80

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara larger context of the chanson repertoire that contains many such “versions” and re-compositions, they may be as much a demonstration of the skill of contrapuntal elaboration, and a memorial of songs sung in the past, as they are of musical invention.90 One of Buus’s texts, “Martin estoit dedans ung bois,” is by Renée’s erstwhile secretary Clement Marot, perhaps indicating a relationship with her circle, but this text stands out from the rest in the book as it is clearly obscene.91 Its presence adds an unexpected color to any picture of Renée’s court, whether in imagining how she was meant to receive its meaning as a dedicatee and listener, or even how she might have delivered its meaning as a singer, if behind closed doors she and her ladies performed these works. There is a record of Isabella d’Este singing a lewd song and enjoying an even lewder joke in private together with male company, the Ferrarese envoy Luigi Cassola and the Archbishop of Gurk, Cardinal Matthias Lang.92 We cannot know if Renée shared her marital aunt’s taste for base humor, but it is doubtful that Buus would have risked offending her, so we can assume that he felt confident the inclusion of “Martin estoit dedans ung bois” in a public document printed in her name would not have caused her undue embarrassment.

Bertoldo di Bertoldi and Laura d’Este The year after Buus’s book was published, another of the Este women was presented with a book of madrigals:  Bertoldo di  Bertoldi da  Castelvetro’s Primo libro di madregali … a quatro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1544), dedicated to Laura Dianti, or “Laura da Este,” as her name appears in the print. Laura seems an unlikely recipient of a madrigal book. As the daughter of a hatmaker, she may well not have received a musical education in her youth, although her elevation in station might have allowed her to have lessons as a grown woman. On the other hand, her rise from obscurity to duke’s mistress might suggest she had learned the arts of the cortegiana onesta as a girl. Next to nothing is known about Bertoldi apart from his madrigal publication, although a Bertoldo di  Bertoldi from a previous generation served Borso d’Este 90

91

92

Brown, “The ‘Chanson Spirituelle,’ ” 161–67. The opening chanson, “Pleust a Dieu,” is marked “Canon in subdiapente. Quatre pauses suiveres sospirando suiveres.” “Martin était dedans un bois tailli / Avec Alix qui, par douce manière, / Dit à Martin: “Derrière ce palix, / T’amie Alix te fait d’amour prières.” / Martin répond: “Si venait par derrière / Quelque lourdaud, il nous ferait vergogne.” / “Du cul” dit-elle, “nous ferons signe arrière, / Passez chemin, laissez faire besogne!” (Martin was in a coppiced wood with Alice, who sweetly said to him, “Behind this palisade, your mistress Alice will beg you for love.” Martin replied, “If some oaf comes behind, he may bring us shame.” “At the bottom,” she said, “we’ll put a sign: Carry on, let them do their work!”) My thanks to Melanie Marshall for bringing this chanson to my attention. Prizer, “Games of Venus,” 36–37.

81

81

Bertoldo di Bertoldi and Laura d’Este and Ercole I, and there are other Bertoldis in the service of the Este later in the century.93 Nonetheless, the styling of his name on the print suggests that he may have been a minor noble from Castelvetro di Modena, and a member of Laura’s household or her circle. Bertoldi’s book would seem at first consideration to be of minimal importance both musically and culturally, as either a vanity publication by a minor noble who was unabashed about making his dilettantism public, or an attempt to curry favor with one of the wealthiest women in the region. Nonetheless, it repays a closer reading. It is typical of the small number of books originating in Ferrara during this period, setting a wide variety of textual forms, many selected, it appears, for their affective value. One is an encomium for a member of Laura’s family, another potentially the remnant of a theatrical production.94 The authors represented range from the thirteenth-century Cino da Pistoia and the fifteenth-century Serafino Aquilano, to Lodovico Ariosto and Petrarch. Often, Petrarch’s poetry appears in fragments: for instance, only the quatrains of “Lasso ch’io ardo et altri non me ’l crede” (Canzoniere, 203)  are set, and in another setting, two stanze from different poems are bolted together to form a new text. Compared to the reverential musical readings of Petrarch emanating from the Venetian academies, Bertoldi’s attitude to his texts seems almost cavalier, but it is also demonstrated in other contemporaneous Ferrarese publications, suggesting that the city’s elite had different priorities and uses for their music.95 Several works indicate that Bertoldi was, at the very least, a well-informed and progressive dilettante. He handles the new techniques of the note nere madrigal with some skill (albeit still within the context of tempo minore imperfetto, with a breve, rather than semibreve, tactus), producing settings that exploit a wide range of declamatory modes to contrasting effects.96 The opening passage of “Dolci e fresche onde chiare” – coincidentally, the book’s only conventionally scored voci pari work (c3c4c4F4) – varies the declamation rate from breves to crome in the space of a single tactus; it makes free use of 93 94

95

96

Guerzoni, “Este Courtiers Database.” One ballata-madrigal, “Virginia altiera sete e fav’altiera,” may have been written for her niece and ward, Virginia Dianti. The madrigal by Pietro Barignano, “Come havrò dunque il frutto,” is also set as a frottola by Geronimo del Lauro, published in Antico’s Fourth Book in 1517. Its earliest literary source is a theatrical manuscript, the modern editor of which argues the text was meant for inclusion in the anonymous comedy La Veniexiana; Padoan, La Veniexiana, 37. Waisman notes that this casual attitude towards the higher poetic forms is typical of Ferrarese composition in the mid-century, nowhere more evident than in the change in emphasis in De Rore’s settings once he had settled in Ferrara; WaismanFM, 361–62. This is in contrast to Alfonso Dalla Viola’s use of the technique: “The note nere madrigals of Alfonso Dalla Viola are not, however, avant-garde works. Abrupt contrasts in motion are almost entirely absent, and the music is marked by a lively continuity of flow rather than by … fragmentation and exaggerated expression”; ibid., 89.

82

82

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara Example 2.3 “Dolci e fresche onde chiare,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), mm. 1–11.

hemiola, and experiments with chains of suspensions, all in close response to the lyric Petrarchan parody (Example 2.3). The setting continues in clear sections, making further use of both rapid and slow homophonic declamation, echo effects, and close imitation in the top three voices. The text alludes to Petrarch in its opening phrase, but it, too, is sectional, with rolling internal rhymes. There is a sense that this music is not primarily for domestic recreation; its intricacies would require rehearsal to perfect, and its use of equal voices, as always, hints at a specific performing context. Laura’s position as a theatrical patron might suggest the work has its origins as part of a dramatic presentation, and certainly the sectional approach would allow for illustrative choreography.97 As such, 97

In 1564 Alberto Lollio dedicated his play Aretusa to Laura. On the title page it is noted that music for the 1563 production at Palazzo Schifanoia was provided by the duke’s

83

83

Bertoldo di Bertoldi and Laura d’Este Bertoldi’s setting may help us understand what kind of musical works could have graced Ferrarese theater in the mid-1540s, a time during which many advances were being made in drama that may well have been driving the musical agenda as well.98 While Alfonso Dalla  Viola frequently provided music for theatrical productions in the early 1540s and later in the 1550s, his imprisonment during the mid-1540s for murder meant that he would have been unavailable to Ercole for music at court, and for the many dramatic productions staged in the city during this period.99 There is no way of knowing how many of Bertoldi’s works may have been used in the theater; however, there are plenty of madrigals in the book that would have been easily accommodated in a courtly setting. One short madrigal setting, “Madonna bella sete,” uses an unusual clef combination (c1c4c4F4), which highlights the melodic top line by its distance from the accompanying voices. Another in an unusual format, c1c3c3F3, sets the opening stanza of Petrarch’s sestina “Mia benigna fortuna  e il viver lieto” (Canzoniere, 332). It also uses note nere declamation in response to the text, but with more subtlety than “Dolci e fresche onde chiare.” Bertoldi characterizes the abrupt change in mood and the agitation of the final line with a simple formal device, by setting it to the same music as the fourth line, a distinctive triadic soggetto, but precisely halving the note values (Example 2.4; Canto, m. 14 and m. 23). Mia benigna fortuna e il viver lieto, i chiari giorni e le tranquille notti e i soavi sospiri, e ’l dolce stile che solea resonar in versi e ’n rime, volti subitamente in doglia e ’n pianto odiar vita mi fanno et bramar morte. My kindly fortune and my life, so happy, the clear-lit days and all the tranquil nights, the gentle-flowing sighs and the sweet style that would resound in all my verse and rhymes – all of a sudden turned to grief and tears – make me hate life and make me yearn for death.100

98

99

100

musician Alfonso Dalla Viola, but may also have been supplemented by Giulio Fiesco. See Ariani, “Dilatazioni meliche,” 1147, n. 94; Gerbino, Arcadia, 181–90. Some of these developments are discussed in Chapter 3, in relation to Giraldi Cinzio’s tragedies. Dalla Viola, Primo libro di madrigali (Ferrara, 1539), ix. Alfonso provided music for Giraldi Cinzio’s Orbecche (1541); Angelo Beccari’s Il sacrificio (1554); Alberto Lollio’s Aretusa (1563); and Agostino Argenti’s Lo sfortunato (1567). See also Owens, “Music in the Early Ferrarese Pastoral.” Translation, Petrarca, Canzoniere, 463.

84

84

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara Example 2.4 “Mia benigna fortuna e il viver lieto,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), mm. 14–28.

85

85

Bertoldo di Bertoldi and Laura d’Este Example 2.5 “I non poria giamai,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), mm. 1–12.

“Mia benigna fortuna” is immediately followed by another Petrarch text, “I  non poria giamai” (the fifth stanza of “Poi che per mio destino,” Canzoniere, 73). That this setting is intended to be a kind of response, or even a seconda parte to “Mia benigna fortuna” is revealed by its use of the same non-standard cleffing arrangement and the reappearance of the triad, first in an oblique reference, as the opening soggetto, and then exactly at the words “imaginar, non che” (Example 2.5). In an unconventional move, Bertoldi appropriates the first phrase of the next sentence in the stanza, “Pace tranquilla senza alcuno affano,” and appends it to the tercets, creating the final line of the madrigal text. Both text and music are also repeated, giving the impression of a more formal ballatalike setting.

86

86

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara I non poria giamai imaginar, non che narrar, gli effetti che nel mio cor gli occhi soave fanno; tutti gli altri diletti di questa vita ò per minori assai, et tutte altre bellezze in dietro vanno: pace tranquilla senza alcuno affano. Never could I imagine, and no less tell about, all the effects these gentle eyes produce within my heart; all of the other pleasures found in this life I hold to be far less, and every other beauty falls behind: a tranquil peace without a single worry.101

This fragmented presentation of Petrarch’s poetry may have been designed to prompt discussion by an educated audience. It is also in marked contrast to the high Venetian style, perhaps not mocking it, but certainly making a bold gesture away from its respect for classical forms, and towards a more spontaneous, even stream-of-consciousness creativity that takes Petrarchism as a starting point rather than a destination. Like “Mia benigna fortuna,” and in contrast to “Dolci e fresche onde chiare,” many of Bertoldi’s other madrigals are economical with their melodic material, with just a handful of melodic cells providing the foundation for much of the setting. His concern with form may simply arise from a long familiarity with the frottola (he sets several texts that also exist as frottole), or – as Waisman conjectures in relation to Alfonso Dalla Viola – the possibility that when he wrote at least some of these madrigals, he was not experienced enough a melodist or contrapuntist to be able to handle a wider range of materials.102 But he could also be deliberately reflecting the practice of using stock melodies or chord progressions to perform certain standard poetic forms. Nowhere is this more evident than in his settings of stanzas from Lodovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.103 As a Ferrarese composer, it is unsurprising that Bertoldi is among the first to publish settings of the poem.104 His two settings, “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva” (XVI/2) and “Chi mett’il pie su l’amorosa pania” (XXIV/1) would not look out of place in the 1550 Roman collections of four-voice madrigals that have come to represent 101 102 103

104

Ibid., 125. WaismanFM, 64. Dedicated originally to Cardinal Ippolito I, Ariosto’s romance was first published in 1516 (Ferrara: Mazocco dal Bondeno, 1516). A second edition appeared in 1521 (Ferrara: for Giovanni Battista Della Pigna, 1521), and the much-amplified third and final revision was published in 1532 (Ferrara: for Francesco Rosso da Valenza, 1532). Haar and Balsano, “L’Ariosto in musica,” 51–78.

87

87

Bertoldo di Bertoldi and Laura d’Este a style of composition known as madrigale arioso, strongly associated with the performance of Ariosto’s romance-cum-epic. Conservative in harmonic and melodic range, Bertoldi’s Ariosto settings follow the pattern of many madrigali ariosi. Yet Bertoldi seems to have taken great care over these settings; “Io dico e dissi e dirò,” in particular, is meticulously crafted. It uses the opening soggetto as the basis of a  closed form that approximates AA’BB’A’’; where A  is the music that sets the first half of the first line “Io dico e dissi e dirò” (mm. 1–3) and B is derived (at “Se ben di se vede,” mm. 15–18) from the music that sets the second half of the first line (from the middle of the melisma on “dirò,” mm. 3–6). The final statement of A” collapses the motifs (A and C) for the first and second lines. It also contains light note nere declamation, and its closing section makes use of the rhythmic diminution also seen in “Mia benigna fortuna,” where the final line is repeated in halved note values (mm. 41–47) (Example 2.6). Although Bertoldi was neither an important figure in Ferrarese society nor, to our knowledge, a musician employed by the Este, his book is nonetheless valuable as one of the few Ferrarese musical documents to survive from the early 1540s. It may have had a very limited print run, and we can hardly be certain that it was even acknowledged at court, but its enthusiastic engagement with note nere composition and its resonances with the madrigale arioso suggest that Ferrarese music – even without the input of Alfonso Dalla Viola – was alive to, and even in dialog with, contemporaneous trends in madrigal composition from other centers.105 For an elite woman in the sixteenth century, particularly a young and unmarried noblewoman, musical activity was primarily a means of displaying her innate nobility through the beauty of her voice and the elegance of her performance, while appearing to remain unmotivated by anything other than that nobility. Yet Este daughters were raised in a culture in which they were expected to excel, and in which it was their duty to glorify their family and their city with their accomplishments. Their education served as preparation for marriage into another ruling family, but it was also a manifestation of Este magnificence. They could be prevailed upon to perform, if the request was framed correctly, so that the demonstration of their musical prowess 105

Feldman notes that Perissone Cambio’s 1547 four-voice book “included sonnets, ballate, cinquecento madrigals, and ottave rime.” She goes on to say, “not all of these had lately been linked to four-voice settings and certainly not mixed in a single volume”: Feldman, City Culture, 372. While this is certainly true for Venice, this kind of variety is the norm established by Alfonso Dalla Viola and Bertoldi, and it would be continued in Ferrarese madrigal books throughout the rest of the century.

88

88

Courtly Women and Secular Music in Ferrara Example 2.6 “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva,” Bertoldo di Bertoldi, Il primo libro di madregali ... a quatro voci (1544), Canto.

embodied the family’s investment in musical expertise as both patrons and participants. The princesses were also born during a critical phase in the development of Italian secular music, as the madrigal emerged as the predominant compositional form. Nonetheless, Ferrara’s culture was perhaps less motivated toward merging academic, literary, and aesthetic criteria than other musical centers, and the local music available to the Este women in the early 1540s served a diverse range of courtly purposes. Ferrarese musicians would continue to fashion music for the Este women, as changes, both expected and unexpected, destabilized their court environment in the late 1540s and 1550s.

89

3

h

Princesses and Politics: The Este Women and Music in the 1550s

The second half of the 1540s marked a cultural watershed for the Ferrarese court, beginning with Cipriano de Rore’s arrival in Ferrara in spring 1546.1 Already in his thirties, but not yet having held a chapel position (to our knowledge), the Flemish composer had acquired a reputation in Brescian and Venetian musical circles after the publication of his Madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Scotto, 1542), which almost certainly brought him to Ercole II’s attention.2 Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio’s almost simultaneous promotion to the position of court secretary gave ducal approval to the poet’s reimagining of classical tragedy in new works; moreover, it gave Giraldi direct access to the musical talents of the duke’s chapel, including De Rore. These developments may be seen as much as the direct result of politics as they are a manifestation of a cultural program, but they had a significant and permanent effect on the secular music, particularly song, that was fostered thereafter in Ferrara. As the princesses entered their teens, the duke’s paramount duty to his daughters – and theirs to him – was the negotiation and fulfillment of suitable and politically astute marriages, a project that required all of Ferrara’s cultural and capital resources. It all began well: an explosion of cultural activity throughout the second half of the 1540s culminated in the marriage of Anna d’Este and François, Duke of Aumale, in September 1548.3 But although the project was doomed to only partial success (Lucrezia was not to marry for another twenty years, and Leonora not at all), the cultural legacy of the Este marriage imperative of the 1540s continued into the next century. Heavily derived from Ariosto’s genealogical romance Orlando furioso, the symbolic program of lamenting abbandonate and warrior princesses remained the primary tropes of Este weddings for decades to come, and the musical consequences of De Rore’s appointment long outlasted the Este’s control of Ferrara.

1

2

3

The first payment to De Rore in the Este accounts occurs on 6 May 1546; Owens, “The Milan Partbooks,” 278–79. De Rore’s activities and publications during his early years in Italy are discussed in chapters by Bonnie Blackburn, Franco Piperno, Kate van Orden, and Massimo Ossi in Owens and Schiltz, Cipriano de Rore. The events surrounding Anna’s marriage are described in CoesterSV, 35–100.

90

90

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s

The Marriage Negotiations for Anna As the firstborn daughter of an Italian duke and a French princess, Anna d’Este had been prepared from childhood for a high-ranking marriage, in which she would fulfill her role as both political capital and the means to ensure the continuation of power. However, her family needed to secure her a husband, and evidence of the process lies in more than just letters and dispatches:  Anna was presented to potential partners both remotely and in the flesh, and through artistic representations designed to enhance the impression of her worth. As early as 1542, when Anna was barely ten years old and Alfonso barely eight, Ercole had the children’s portraits exhibited at the French court, as a prelude soliciting proposals of marriage.4 Soon thereafter, Girolamo da Carpi, a portrait artist regularly employed by both Ercole and Renée, was commissioned to create a large painting, the Venus on the Eridanus, in which the goddess is seen on the river Po in the company of three nymphs.5 Although opinion differs as to which of the female figures is meant to represent Anna, it is certain that her portrait is to be found in the painting, which formed the basis for literary and musical tributes composed in the years that followed.6 When Anna and her young siblings recited Terence’s Adelphoe in front of Pope Paul III in 1543, they were not just enacting the sophistication of their noble birthright, they were also on display.7 Ercole was keen on theatrical spectacle as a means of political propaganda, and the choice of Adelphoe (the plot hinges on the opposing characters of two boys, one raised by a disciplinarian, the other by a libertarian) could have shrewdly deflected any criticism of Ercole and Renée’s widely divergent philosophies. But more importantly, the performance allowed the aging Farnese pope to have a good look at the twelve-year-old princess, and to assess her as a prospective partner for his grandson Orazio, second son of the Duke of Parma and Piacenza.8 In recognition of her efforts, he gave her a fleur-de-lis encrusted with diamonds.9 Anna’s grace and ability stood her in good stead, but Orazio was not the match her father or her great-uncle, King François I of France, desired. Moreover, Renée’s continued and forthright embrace of Protestant teachings 4 5

6

7 8 9

Ibid., 34. In 1543 and 1544 Carpi was paid for a picture known as “La Galatea,” which has been identified with the Venus; Menegatti, “Documenti,” 225, 229. Carpi’s name regularly appears in Renée’s accounts; Franceschini, “Tra Ferrara e la Francia,” 75. For the relationships between Carpi, De Rore, Giraldi Cinzio, and Lilio Giraldi, with respect to Carpi’s portrait(s) of Anna, see Lowinsky, “Cipriano de Rore’s Venus Motet.” Appendix 2.8: Mosti, Lettera, B[i]–B[i]v. CoesterSV, 76–77. Appendix 3.1: Mosti, Lettera, B(ii)–B(ii)v.

91

91

The Marriage Negotiations for Anna complicated the matchmaking process. In 1545 negotiations began toward a marriage between Anna and the Polish Prince Zygmunt August. Anna’s portrait was sent to Cracow in March 1546 and was received with enthusiasm, but little progress was made.10 When negotiators were sent to Poland in 1547 to conclude matters on Anna’s behalf, it was discovered that Zygmunt had already secretly married a Lithuanian Calvinist, Barbara Radziwiłł. The Polish elected council, the sjem, tried to have his marriage annulled, but hopes for a resolution in Anna’s favor were abandoned toward the end of the year.11 In summer 1547 Ercole also began negotiating the marriage of Princess Lucrezia to François, Duke of Aumale, the eldest son of the Duke of Guise, and later that year her portrait was sent to the French court.12 By January 1548 Aumale had seen it and was smitten, declaring that he would marry no one but her.13 However, Ercole’s brother Cardinal Ippolito and his uncle Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga insisted that Ferrara must not be left with an unmarried older princess and urged the duke to substitute Anna as Aumale’s intended. Cardinal Ippolito consoled his brother, saying that Lucrezia was so beautiful that in six or seven years she wouldn’t think anything of it because she was and would be loved by everyone. Cardinal Gonzaga also wrote to Ercole, saying that even if he loved his daughters equally, his honor was at stake and he must marry the eldest first, and to a more prestigious husband. Ercole hesitated over the change of course, admitting to King François, “I did not care to wrong my second daughter.”14 The protracted visit of the French delegation during 1548 was punctuated with entertainments, the most noteworthy of which showcased the work of Giraldi Cinzio, Ferrara’s rising literary talent, who had been called from the university to his court appointment early the previous year. Giraldi’s new form of tragedy  – in which the seemingly inevitable dark conclusion was miraculously transformed into a lieto fine (happy ending) – was emerging as a powerful political tool for Ercole, and the new secretary-cum-impresario was commissioned to provide a new play, Gli Antivalomeni, for Anna’s nuptials. Not everything went according to plan: the first performance on 19 July was disrupted by the collapse of a portion of the seating, so a second performance was arranged for 19 September.15 Eventually, on 28  September 1548, the contract was agreed.16 The following day, Aumale’s brother married Anna in a proxy ceremony, 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

CoesterSV, 36. Labuda, Biskup, and Michowicz, The History of Polish Diplomacy X–XX C, 158–59. CoesterSV, 36. Ibid., 84. Ibid., 87–88. Lilio Giraldi, Modern Poets, xxv; Scoglio, Il teatro alla corte Estense, 96. CoesterSV, 95.

92

92

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s and the households of both duke and duchess were mobilized to finalize arrangements for the princess’s departure. Anna left Ferrara on 2 October and was accompanied by Renée as far as Mantua, where they bade a tearful farewell six days later. Anna and Aumale married in a second ceremony at Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 16  December. Although she lived until 1607, surviving two husbands, she never returned to Italy and never saw her sisters again.

Musical Echoes of the Negotiations in Early Works by Cipriano De Rore Ercole’s new maestro di cappella, De  Rore, and his new secretary, Giraldi, would have been integral to the business of keeping the Polish and French negotiators interested, entertained, and focused on their important task. Indeed, Ercole may have seen a vibrant cultural life at court as a vital ingredient in his marriage project, for he made both appointments just before he opened negotiations. The timing does not seem coincidental, given Ercole’s enthusiasm for theater as propaganda. Ercole’s erstwhile maestro di musica, Alfonso Dalla Viola, had collaborated with Giraldi before, but was in prison in the early 1540s and there is no record of when he was released.17 It may be that De Rore was chosen not only to fill Dalla Viola’s shoes in the chapel, but also as a new associate for Giraldi. However, it may also be that, in terms of courtly entertainment, Ercole wished to reclaim cultural high ground from his female relatives. Secular music in 1540s Ferrara was much more strongly associated with the patronage of Este women, and stylistically more determined by song and theatrical music than chapel polyphony; De Rore’s task may then have been to revive secular music-making for the masculine court. His earliest identifiably Ferrarese composition, the five-voice secular motet “Hesperiae cum leta suas,” is certainly more erudite than Alfonso Dalla Viola’s frottola-like madrigals.18 Although not published until later in his Terzo libro de motetti (Venice: Gardano, 1549; RISM 15498), it must date from the first months of De  Rore’s employment, or it might even have figured in the appointment

17

18

Although Alfonso Dalla Viola provided the music for Giraldi’s Orbecche in 1541, Antonio dal Cornetto wrote the music for Giraldi’s Egle, produced in 1545; Frizzi, Memorie, 4:336. Alfonso does not appear in the list of musicians for the “concerto della Comedia” provided for the children’s performance of Adelphoe in 1543; for this, his brother Francesco [Checco] played both the lira and the viol. Appendix 3.1: Mosti, Lettera, B(ii)v–[B(iii)]. Modern edition, De Rore, Opera omnia, 1959, 1:127–32.

93

93

Musical Echoes of the Negotiations process as an “audition piece.”19 The text by Girolamo Falletti praises a painting of Anna, assumed to be Carpi’s Venus on the Eridanus. Anna’s portrait was sent to Cracow in March 1546; at some point before January 1548 Falletti is known to have performed official duties for Ercole in Cracow.20 Portrait, poems, and motet may have formed a promotional package for the princess, and although one can only speculate how this artistic complex might have been used as a focal point for conversation, it clearly was prepared during this period. The only musical work unequivocally linked with Anna’s marriage and departure from Ferrara is a four-voice chanson by De  Rore, “En voz adieux, dames, cessez vos pleurs,” which is addressed to a group of ladies (of Ferrara generically, or possibly the duchess and the princesses specifically), admonishing them to cease weeping for the princess’s departure.21 The ladies respond in the second part, protesting that they cannot stop crying (les yeulx en pleurs), their words set to doleful, chromatic descents. Although De Rore was Ercole’s employee, the French text and form suggests that the chanson’s composition and performance were specifically for the benefit of Renée and her daughters. Indeed, the text disengages both Anna and her sisters from Ferrara completely, implying that their rightful home is in France. The text may even have been composed by one of the French delegation, given that by this time, most of Renée’s French entourage had either died or left Ferrara. De  Rore composed three three-voice madrigals  – “Gravi pene in amor si provan molte,” “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva” (Ariosto, Orlando furioso, XVI/1 and 2),  and “Tutto ’l dì piango e poi la notte quando” (Petrarch, Canzoniere, 216)  – which could also date from this period as they were all published in 1549. They are almost unique in the composer’s output:  De  Rore published only one other three-voice work, a quasi-instrumental contrappunto on Regina coeli.22 “Io dico e dissi e 19

20

21

22

Ercole I famously “auditioned” Heinrich Isaac and Josquin des Prez through composition; Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 225. Falletti’s oration on the death of Zygmunt I in April 1548 is published in his Orationes XII (Venice: Aldus, 1558). De Rore, Opera omnia, 1977, 8:x, score at pp. 39–43. The chanson was published in De Rore’s Primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (Ferrara: Buglhat and Hucher, 1550). See also StrasRore, 78–79. The three madrigals appear in Fantesie et recerchari a tre voci of Tiburtino (Venice: Scotto, 1549; RISM 154934). The “Regina coeli” is printed in Fantasi Recercari Contrapunti a tre voci di M. Adriano e de altri Autori appropriati per Cantare et Sonare d’ogni sorte di Stromenti, Con dui Regina celi, l’uno di M. Adriano et l’altro di M. Cipriano, Sopra uno medesimo Canto Fermo (Venice: Gardano, 1551; RISM 155116). Although they are printed non-consecutively, James Haar believes that the two Ariosto settings are two parts of a single setting; Haar, “Rore’s Settings of Ariosto,” 109. Nonetheless, the separation of closely related stanzas from the Furioso is also a feature of Tuttovale Menon’s Madrigali d’amore; see the discussion in the next section.

94

94

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.1a “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva,” Cipriano de Rore, RISM 154934, mm. 2–13, Canto.

Example 3.1b “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva,” Cipriano de Rore, RISM 154934, mm. 23–29.

dirò” had already been set by Bertoldo di Bertoldi (in his 1543 book dedicated to Laura d’Este; see Chapter 2), and it appears that De Rore used Bertoldi’s setting as a model for his first forays into setting Ariosto’s Ferrarese ottave rime. While the two works fundamentally differ in their modes and in their overall contrapuntal cast, there are some striking similarities in technique.23 Both Bertoldi and De Rore manipulate close variations of motivic material to create the impression of a closed form, creating a connection with established traditions of song recitation. Like Bertoldi, De Rore fragments and recombines his motifs, collapsing two phrases into one; his motif at the second verse, “che chi si trova,” even begins with the same melodic/rhythmic gesture used by Bertoldi (Example 3.1a and 3.1b; for Bertoldi’s Canto, see Example 2.6). De Rore’s three-voice madrigals are set for a pair of high voices supported by one an octave lower. They belong to his first years in Ferrara, years during which the Este children were in the cultural spotlight, and when the princesses were frequently present at court, more or less on display to

23

See StrasRore, 79–83.

95

95

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama the marriage negotiators who came and went. It seems possible they were composed to demonstrate Anna and Lucrezia’s musical skills, especially as the Ariostean texts affirm the merit in enduring Love’s hardships for the sake of a worthy Lady. Given the length of the negotiations and importance of the marriage to the Este, it seems surprising there is not more music specifically connected to Anna. This does not mean, however, that music played only a peripheral role in the events, or that the princess was not particularly interested in music. Among the items Renée provided for Anna’s extensive trousseau were four music books (quatre livres de haut de muzicque) bound in orange satin, as well as several others “of madrigals covered in yellow satin that she [Renée] has had rebound and covered to give to Madame, the Duchess of Aumale” (plusieurs autres livres de haut de muzicque de madrigalles couvertz de satin jaulne qu’elle avoit faictz rellyer et couvrir pour donner a madame la duchesse d’Aumalle).24 These appear to be the uppermost partbooks of a set of polyphonic books, the special materials used suggesting that Renée expected them to be for Anna’s personal use. Two publications from 1548 are strong candidates for the music these new luxurious bindings contained: Tuttovale [Tugdual] Menon’s Madrigali d’amore, published in Ferrara, and the anthology Madrigali de la Fama, published in Venice in parallel editions by both Gardano and Scotto, but exclusively containing works by Ferrarese composers.25 Despite their closeness of origin and date, these books present very different aspects of Ferrarese music:  the Fama originating in Ercole’s masculine court culture, the Madrigali d’amore a much more personal articulation of the feminine court.

The Madrigali d’amore and the Madrigali de la Fama of 1548 Like Renée, Tuttovale Menon was a Breton. Born in 1502, he settled in Correggio some time before 1521, and spent most of the rest of his life there and in Ferrara.26 He may have been in Renée’s service at some point; he does not appear in the official employment records of the Este, but a “Théodoval … who made music for Madame” (qui a fait de la musique à Madame) appears in Renée’s accounts.27 He dedicated his only extant publication, the Madrigali 24 25

26 27

CoesterSV, 98. Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore a quattro voci … (Ferrara: Buglhat and Hucher, 1548); Madrigali de la Fama a quattro voce (Venice: Scotto, 1548; RISM 15487); Madrigali de la Fama a quatro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1548; RISM 15488). Martini, Claudio Merulo, 36–37. Vendramini, “Les offrandes musicales,” 195.

96

96

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s

Figure 3.1 Title page, Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548)

d’amore, to the duchess.28 The book’s title and its symbolic program make it ideal for presentation to the new bride: its frontispiece engraving (first used on Alfonso Dalla Viola’s Primo libro de madrigali of 1539) is of a blindfolded Cupid striding confidently forth with his bow over his shoulder (Figure 3.1). The title is underscored with the motto, “Chi non conosce, et chi non segue Amore vive in amaro, et infelice muore” (Who does not know, and who does not follow love, lives in bitterness and dies unhappy). The final page bears the French royal coat of arms; a notice beneath suggests its printing was completed on 1 October 1548, the day before Anna left Ferrara (Figure 3.2), but this date may be intended to be more representative than accurate. The book is uncommonly large, with forty-eight pages containing fortyfive madrigals, all setting Italian texts. The loss of all but the Tenore partbook of the 1548 edition means it is impossible to know if there were any special rubrics in the Canto partbook that might have clarified a connection with Anna’s marriage. Assessment of Menon’s style is also hampered by the missing partbooks. However, a year later, in 1549, Scotto reprinted the book with some alterations and omissions; the Canto and Tenore of this edition survive.29 From these two parts we can see that Menon’s madrigals 28 29

Appendix 3.2: Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548), dedication. Menon, Madrigali d’amore a quatro voci (Venice: Scotto, 1549); Bernstein, Music Printing, 377– 78. Scotto slightly reordered two of the gatherings and omitted the last six works of the Buglhat

97

97

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama

Figure 3.2 Final page, Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548)

appear almost self-consciously curious, often mixing note nere vigor and dancing 3+3+2  “canzonetta” rhythms (A:  Example  3.2, mm.  16–17) with the archaic under-third cadence patterns (B:  Example  3.2, m.  14; m.  19) that characterized the Franco-Flemish style of previous generations. While not individually remarkable, these under-third cadences feature in over half of the works in the Madrigali d’amore, suggesting that they have a stylistic significance for Menon. The music may be compromised by the loss of two partbooks, but not so the texts, and through them we may better understand the book’s special purpose.30 Like other Ferrarese composers of the 1540s, Menon sets a broad range of textual forms, including incomplete texts; for instance, the setting of Petrarch’s sonnet (Canzoniere, 132) “S’Amor non è, che dunque è quel che io sento?” is missing the last terzetto. Several texts point to

30

edition (i.e. a full gathering); the reordering seems to have to do with practical considerations, including the disposition of engraved capital letters. The marriages of two of Anna’s great-aunts were commemorated with manuscript collections: Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense MS 2856 was compiled for the betrothal of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga; and the Mellon Chansonnier (Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library) for the wedding of Beatrice d’Aragona and Mathius Corvinus; Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 158; Perkins and Garey, The Mellon Chansonnier, 1:28–32.

98

98

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.2 “Ahy speranza fallace,” Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548), mm. 10–21.

the commemoration of a marriage – the work at the center of the book, “Coppia felice a cui foco gentile,” is an epithalamium.31 Another could refer to either Renée or Anna:  “Un giglio d’or e due lucente stelle” extols the beauty and princely virtues of a woman with French royal lineage, and its reference to the woman’s braids – “due treccie vaghe e belle” – could refer to the bride symbolically binding her hair. Two others have connections with Este wives. One, a thirteenth-century text by Cino da Pistoia, “Quando per gentil atto di salute,” was also set by Bertoldo di Bertoldi for Laura d’Este (see Chapter 2). The second, “Amor, amor tu sei,” is from Pietro Bembo’s Gli Asolani (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1505), which was dedicated to Lucrezia

31

This work, on a text by the Florentine poet Lodovico Martelli, is attributed to Costanzo Festa in Il secondo libro de li madrigali de diversi … (Venice: Gardano, 1543; RISM 154318) and Scotto’s reprint with the same title (Venice: Scotto, 1552; RISM 155219). Another work, “Se del mio amor temete,” is attributed to Verdelot in Il secundo libro de madrigali di Verdelot (Venice: Scotto, 1534) and in all its reprints. It is possible that the Ferrarese Madrigali d’amore had attributions printed in the Canto partbook, but there are none in Scotto’s edition.

99

99

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama Borgia, Anna’s grandmother. The remaining texts are gently amorous, humorous, and lascivious, interleaved with more spiritual poetry, such as a mother might wish for her newlywed daughter to contemplate.32 But perhaps the most striking literary feature of the Madrigali d’amore is its use of texts from Orlando furioso. Three related stanzas are strategically placed at the beginning and end of the book; two other related stanzas are tucked in the middle. The settings are not obviously musically related, so their choice and deployment seem likely to be more symbolic than the result of a compositional or performative imperative to produce a unified “cycle.” The three stanzas that bookend the work are taken from the speeches of one of the Furioso’s central characters – Bradamante, a (French) Christian noblewoman. Through her eventual marriage to the infidel Ruggiero she becomes the progenitrix of the house of Este – a destiny that is revealed to her in the romance. If the poem was significant for the Este, it was especially so for Este women, upon whom rested the obligation of continuing the family line; they were to be modern Bradamantes. Although the poem had circulated in various versions from as early as 1516, it only appeared in its final form in 1532, soon after Ercole and Renée were married. Bradamante’s character and voice were hugely expanded in the 1532 version, with the addition of her great laments at the Rocco di Tristano (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII) and during Ruggiero’s trials for her hand (Cantos XLIV and XLV) – including the three stanzas later set by Menon. It seems possible that Ariosto’s revisions – including the expansion of Bradamante’s role – were intended to instruct Ercole and Renée on the dangers of irrational jealousy, violent passion, and revenge, and the healing and ennobling properties of courtesy and caritade.33 The Madrigali d’amore opens with a setting of Canto  XLIV/61, which begins, “Ruggier, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio.” One of the best-known stanzas from the romance, and the one most readily associated with musical setting even in the 1540s, it begins Bradamante’s letter to her absent lover, reassuring him of her love and fidelity.34 However, Menon changes the first word to “Fedel,” removing the direct address and thus allowing the text to stand as a more general expression of faith:

32

33 34

Only “Quando fra i verdi colli,” which refers to a Camilla, seems at odds with the notion that the book was compiled expressly for Renée on Anna’s behalf. This work may originate in Menon’s connections with the Boiardi: one of Giulio Boiardo’s six daughters was named Camilla. See also Cavallo, The Romance Epics, 134–52; Stoppino, Genealogies of Fiction, 88–115, 149–73. Haar, “Arie per cantar,” 79.

100

100

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s

Figure 3.3 Aere da cantar stantie, penultimate page, Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548) Fedel, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio fin alla morte, e più, se più si puote. O siami Amor benigno o m’usi orgoglio, o me Fortuna in alto o in basso ruote, immobil son di vera fede scoglio che d’ogn’intorno il vento e il mar percuote: né già mai per bonaccia né per verno luogo mutai, né muterò in eterno. Faithful, I mean to remain till death just as I have ever been, and more so, if possible. Whether Love prove kind or harsh to me, whether Fortune spins me high or low on her wheel, I am an immovable rock of true fidelity, though buffeted all about by wind and sea. Never did I shift for storm or fair weather, and never will I do so.35

On the final page of the book  – after the madrigal that operates as a closing salutation to Renée, “Non fu giamai, ne fia”  – Menon inserts two aere da cantare stantie (Figure 3.3). These reciting melodies would have had continued usefulness to Anna, who at her death possessed two copies of Orlando furioso, one in Italian and one in French.36 35 36

Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 539. CoesterSV, 345–46.

101

101

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama The first  aera sets “Non avete a temer ch’in forma nuova,” (XLIV/65) from the same speech by Bradamante that opens the book. It again reads as an expression of unwavering commitment. Non avete a temer ch’in forma nuova intagliare il mio cor mai più si possa: sì l’imagine vostra si ritrova sculpita in lui, ch’esser non può rimossa. Che ’l cor non ho di cera, è fatto prova; che gli diè cento, non ch’una percossa, Amor, prima che scaglia ne levasse, quando all’imagin vostra lo ritrasse. Do not fear that my heart may ever again be cut to a new shape: your image is sculpted there beyond defacing. Beyond a doubt my heart is not of wax; if Love gave it one tap he gave it a hundred before he set to chipping it to your image.37

Below it, the second aera sets a stanza from the following canto (XLV/ 38), in which Bradamante laments her separation from Ruggiero: Se ’l sol si scosta, e lascia i giorni brevi, quanto di bello avea la terra asconde; fremono i venti, e portan ghiacci e nievi; non canta augel, né fior si vede o fronde: così, qualora avvien che da me levi, o mio bel sol, le tue luci gioconde, mille timori, e tutti iniqui, fanno un aspro verno in me più volte l’anno. If the Sun draws away to leave the days shortened, all the beauty that the earth possesses goes into concealment. The winds rage, bringing snow and ice, no bird sings, no flower or green bough is to be seen. Thus when you take your sparkling eyes off me, my gorgeous Sun, a thousand baneful fears produce in me several harsh winters in a single year.38

The Bradamante texts enclose the book in their message of constancy. They could have functioned on a number of different levels, depending on whose voice uttered them:  Renée expressing her love for her soon-to-beabsent daughter, or her loyalty to her not-always-endearing husband; or Anna herself, envoicing her fidelity to her not-yet-present husband, or her continuing devotion to her parents. 37 38

Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 539. Translated in ibid., 548.

102

102

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s The other pair of related texts comes from Canto XXIX, which tells the story of Issabella, “martyred” for her fidelity to her lover Zerbino.39 The first to appear is the narrator’s envoi for Issabella, “Vattene in pace, alma beata e bella”; four pages later, we find God’s response to the prayer, “Per l’avvenir vo che ciascuna ch’aggia.” These settings are almost unique. There is only one other sixteenth-century setting of the first stanza, and none of the second:40 (XXIX/27) Vattene in pace, alma beata e bella! Così i miei versi avesson forza, come ben m’affaticherei con tutta quella arte che tanto il parlar orna e come, perché mille e mill’anni e più, novella sentisse il mondo del tuo chiaro nome. Vattene in pace alla superna sede, e lascia all’altre esempio di tua fede. … (XXIX/29) Per l’avvenir vo’ che ciascuna ch’aggia il nome tuo, sia di sublime ingegno, e sia bella, gentil, cortese e saggia, e di vera onestade arrivi al segno: onde materia agli scrittori caggia di celebrare il nome inclito e degno; tal che Parnasso, Pindo et Elicone sempre Issabella, Issabella risuone. Depart in peace, then beautiful, blessed spirit! If only my verses had the power, how hard I should work to the limit of my poet’s art, which so refines and enhances speech, so that for a thousand years and more the world would have knowledge of your illustrious name. Go in peace to the supernal seat, and leave to others [women/ spirits] an example of your faith … In future, every woman bearing your name shall be sublime of spirit, beautiful, noble, kind, and wise; she shall achieve the mark of true virtue, and afford writers cause to celebrate the praiseworthy, illustrious name, so that Parnassus, Pindus, and Helicon shall ever ring with the name of Isabel.41

39

40 41

Issabella, a Christian, swears a vow of fidelity to Zerbino as he lies dying (Canto XIV). She is abducted by the pagan knight Rodomonte, who threatens to rape her. She tells him that if he promises not to ravage her, she will share with him a magic potion that grants protection from both fire and the sword. She tricks him into testing the magic by drinking the potion herself, and instructing him to behead her. She, of course, dies instantly. Haar and Balsano, “L’Ariosto in musica,” 66. Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 354. The missing stanza compares Issabella to the Roman Lucretia – perhaps omitted because of the potential reference to Anna’s sister. See also Regan, “Ariosto’s Threshold Patron,” 55–57, 60–64.

103

103

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama Although the settings are unrelated musically, taken together they appear intended to memorialize an Isabella important to Renée and Anna: perhaps Isabella d’Este, who had died in 1539, or even Isabella del Balzo, who had died in 1533.42 On its own, the first setting also seems compatible with the equation of marriage and death as liminal rites, perhaps a manifestation of parental grief at the loss of a daughter.43 However, an additional meaning arises from the consideration of Renée’s religious convictions, which she had so vigorously imparted to her daughters during their childhood. When regarded in this light, all but the last of these Ariostean stanzas could also have been endorsed by Renée as declarations of constancy in her Protestant faith. This reading is supported by other texts in the book. The closing encomium, “Non fu giamai, ne fia” (placed just before the aere), stresses Renée’s piety and hints at her role in protecting not just her people, but also those who had been persecuted. It portrays her as a figurehead for her faith, even to the point of interpolating Marian imagery (“porto e colonna”): Non fu giamai, ne fia di quest’alma Renea donna più santa o pia. Sia Iddio sempre laudato ch’in secolo si maligno tanto gran ben ci ha dato. O Dio santo et benigno conserva sempre questa real donna ch’è de gl’afflitti tuoi porto et colonna. There has never been, nor will there be, a woman more saintly or pious than this kind Renée. God should ever be praised, that she had given us so much good in such malign times. O Lord, holy and benign, protect this royal lady always, who is the door and column for your poor afflicted.

As the final madrigal in the book, this text makes a clear statement about both patron and composer, who implicitly includes himself in her 42

43

For Isabella del Balzo, queen of Naples, see Chapter 2. In the same year as the Madrigali d’amore were published, Giraldi issued a volume that included two verses in memory of Isabella del Balzo; Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio, Le fiamme di M. Giovambattista Giraldi Cinthio (Venice: Giolito de Ferrari, 1548), 47, 73. Similar themes are suggested by Giaches de Wert’s setting of Torquato Tasso’s “Giunto alla tomba, ove al suo spirto vivo” in his Settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1581), a wedding volume for Anna’s cousin, Vincenzo Gonzaga. For an examination of this trope in relation to Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna, see MacNeil, “Weeping at the Water’s Edge.”

104

104

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s beneficiaries. Menon may have been sympathetic to Renée’s religious views, for during the early 1540s he was engaged by Giulio Boiardo, Count of Scandiano, a member of the innermost circles at the Este court and, by repute, also a Calvinist sympathizer.44 Scotto does not include “Non fu giamai, ne fia” in his 1549 reprint. Although the whole of the final gathering is excluded, this may not just have been down to expedience, for Scotto may have feared reprisal from the Venetian authorities, who drafted their first Index of Prohibited Books also in 1549. Constancy is a theme frequently encountered in madrigal texts, and it is perhaps not surprising that a significant number of the texts in the book adopt it as their central conceit. Nevertheless, the word fede, and play on its dual connotations of fidelity and faith, stands out in other settings, particularly “Hayme che quella fede”:45 Hayme che quella fede, che mi credevo già specchio di fede, è rotta et più non s’adimanda fede. Poich’ ella è senza fede, anzi crudel nemica della fede, s’è dimonstrata a me nel romper fede, però dove sperar poss’io più fede se la medesma fede non è fede? Alas that that faith, that I thought was the mirror of faith, is broken and no longer commands faith. Since it/[she] is without faith, indeed the enemy of faith, which is clear to me in the way it/[she] breaks faith, then where can I hope to find faith, if faith itself is not faithful?

This extraordinary monorhyme poem has a straightforward amorous meaning, yet in the context of 1540s Ferrara, particularly in respect of Renée’s turbulent relationship with the Catholic Church, and even with Calvin’s inner circle (who suspected her resolve and her theology were weak), it has another highly charged and deeply ambiguous message. The object ella, ostensibly referring to the feminine “faith,” could also be a faithless woman (a cautionary rebuke to Anna, or even Renée), but it seems most likely that it refers to the Church and the Catholic faith itself.

44

45

Nugent, “Anti-Protestant Music,” 259. Menon lived most of his life in Correggio, the small principality outside Modena ruled from 1518 to 1550 by Vittoria Gambara, a kinswoman of the Boiardi who, like Vittoria Colonna, expressed her reformist views in poetry; Brundin, Vittoria Colonna, 161. Expressions of faith and fidelity are also prominent in the dedication of the book (Appendix 3.2).

105

105

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama “Hayme che quella fede” may also be placed into an equally politically charged musical relationship with another work associated with Renée  – Jachet of Mantua’s Missa sopra la fede non debbe esser corotta.46 George Nugent identified Jachet’s mass as musical evidence of the joint efforts of the Gonzaga and the Este to keep Renée within the Catholic fold.47 Both printed sources of the mass bear a line taken from Orlando furioso (XXI/2), “La fede unqua non debbe esser corrotta” (Faith must never be corrupted), a text which – in isolation, at least – seems perilously close to a proclamation of the Protestant doctrine of sola fide, or justification through faith: La fede unqua non debbe esser corrotta, o data a un solo, o data insieme a mille; e così in una selva, in una grotta, lontan da le cittadi e da le ville, come dinanzi a tribunali, in frotta di testimon, di scritti e di postille, senza giurare o segno altro più espresso, basti una volta che s’abbia promesso. A pledge, whether sworn only to one or to a thousand, ought never to be broken. And in a wood or cave, far from towns and habitations, just as in the courts amid a throng of witnesses, amid documents and codicils, a promise should be enough on its own, without an oath or more specific token.48

Renée’s short stay in Mantua in October 1548, accompanying her daughter’s final journey out of Italy, would have been an opportune moment for the commissioning and performance of Missa la fede, reclaiming the meaning of Ariosto’s text in a Catholic context. It was not published until 1555; Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga may have seen fit to sponsor it in print as a reaction to the final confrontation between Renée and her husband in 1554, during which she eventually was forced to recant.49 Although Nugent was unable to identify Jachet’s model  – which he proposed was a setting of Ariosto’s verse – he did isolate two melodic cells, recurrent throughout the mass setting, he felt certain were integral to the model. Even if Menon’s madrigal is not Jachet’s model, it is clearly based on the same material, as both phrases also recur throughout it (Example 3.3).

46 47 48 49

In Il secondo libro de le messe a cinque voci … (Venice: Scotto, 1555; RISM 15551). Nugent, “Anti-Protestant Music,” 270–82. Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 246–47. Il secondo libro de le messe a cinque voci … (Venice: Scotto, 1555; RISM 15551); see Nugent, “Anti-Protestant Music,” 278–80.

106

106

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.3 Missa sopra la fede non debbe esser corotta, Jachet of Mantua, RISM 15551, beginning of Kyrie and Osanna, Cantus; “Hayme che quella fede,” Tuttovale Menon, Madrigali d’amore (1548), Canto mm. 1–14; 34–39.

Nugent noted that Ariosto embedded the multiple meanings of “fede” in Orlando furioso – romantic/marital fidelity; familial trust; political loyalty; and religious belief – and showed how all of these could be read into Missa la fede via a single line taken from the poem. Yet all of these meanings are also embedded in Menon’s madrigal book, even more clearly articulated by its comprehensive use of Ariosto’s texts. Nugent demonstrated how Ercole II and Cardinal  Ercole Gonzaga were able to use large-scale public musical works to manifest politico-religious messages to Renée and her followers. Menon’s book shows that, even without the resources of a ducal chapel at her behest, Renée was every bit as adept as her male relatives at using music for her own political ends. Scotto’s reprint of the Madrigali d’amore sits with two other parallel publications of Ferrarese volumes from 1548 by Gardano and Scotto: Cipriano de  Rore’s Terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (RISM 15489 and 154810), and the collection called Madrigali de la Fama (15487 and 15488).50 The 50

See Lewis, Antonio Gardano, 1:30–31; 622–26; Bernstein, Music Printing, 367–68.

107

107

Madrigali d’amore and Madrigali de la Fama contents of the two Madrigali de la Fama volumes are almost identical: six madrigals by Cipriano de  Rore, nineteen by Francesco Dalla  Viola, and eleven by Francesco Manara (although Gardano’s book also includes a seventh by de Rore, “Quel foco che tanti anni,” and a twelfth by Manara, “Ma perche  ogn’hor m’attempo”). There is no clear indication to show which edition was issued first, but the book’s title might suggest that Scotto was the originating publisher, as the allegorical character Fame, which features on its title page, regularly appeared on his publications.51 He notes above the emblem that the works are “judiciously collected,” but he does not acknowledge the composers on either the title page or the index, and their madrigals are not grouped together. Gardano’s Fama is altogether more respectful of the musicians: he gives their names on the front page and in the index, and orders the contents by composer. Since all three composers were either employed by or associated with the Este court, Gardano’s careful exposition creates a stronger, identifiably Ferrarese identity for the book. If Anna had wished to carry a musical souvenir of Ferrara with her, the Madrigali de la Fama would have served her well. Yet unlike the Madrigali d’amore, the Madrigali de la Fama contains no texts with an incontrovertible association with Anna or her parents. Nevertheless, there are texts in the Fama associated with Ferrarese culture sponsored by the Este. Orlando furioso is represented by Francesco Dalla  Viola’s setting of “La verginella è simile alla rosa” (I/42), a stanza which, although extremely popular with madrigalists for the second half of the century, had not appeared in a printed musical setting before.52 “Amor scorta mi fosti,” set by Manara, is from the Atto pastorale dedicated to Lucrezia Borgia by her physician, Luca Valenziano Dertonese.53 Most telling, however, is the inclusion of the four madrigals “L’inconstantia seco han,” “Chi con eterna legge,” and “La giustizia immortale” by De  Rore, and “Felice che dispensa” by Francesco Dalla  Viola. The texts are derived (all but “La giustizia immortale” in altered form) from four of the five choruses of Giraldi’s tragedy Selene, a tale of courtly skullduggery, strategic marriages, and marital constancy.54 Although Giraldi’s Gli Antivalomeni was certainly planned and performed during Anna’s marriage negotiations, the Selene settings in the Fama suggest that this play, too, was performed at court at some point between De Rore’s arrival in 1546 and the end of 1548. 51 52 53

54

Bernstein, Print Culture and Music, 47. Haar and Balsano, “L’Ariosto in musica,” 52. Bonino, Biografia medica piemontese, 136–43. The text was published in 1532; Valenziano’s Opera volgari (Venice: Vitalli, 1532). However, the publication was preceded by at least ten years by a manuscript dedicated to Lucrezia Borgia; Roscoe, Leo the Tenth, 375. StrasRore, 83–92.

108

108

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s

Selene and Gli Antivalomeni: Giraldi’s Didactic Spectacles Giraldi Cinzio published only one of his Ferrarese tragedies himself: Orbecche (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1543), which was first produced in 1541. The rest were never intended for print, only emerging in 1583, ten years after his death, in editions curated by his son. Therefore, they are difficult to date precisely unless, as with Gli Antivalomeni and Selene, other documentary traces can be found.55 Yet, even without a chronology, the importance of his works to the development of Renaissance theater is clear. Giraldi understood that classical tragedy was didactic, but he felt the form could be invigorated as spectacle. He borrowed structural aspects from contemporary comedy, because audiences were more open to education if they were being entertained.56 Most importantly, he advocated the use of musical episodes at the end of each act, rather than just the first and fifth as in classical tragedy, thus mirroring the function of the intermedi in comedy.57 He also promoted the then revolutionary concept of a lieto fine, a happy ending to potentially tragic circumstances in which the wicked and the virtuous got their just deserts  – a device that left the moral lesson of the drama in no doubt. These innovations emerged only once Giraldi was at court, and may have been part of his solution to his employer’s demands: Ercole involved himself closely with the development of Giraldi’s plays, attending rehearsals and commenting on drafts.58 Alongside their common structural framework, Giraldi’s Ferrarese tragedies share a common theme, invariably concerning a central female character or characters in a moral examination of her royal female virtue. Giraldi rehabilitated anti-heroines such as Dido and Cleopatra by constructing them as Aristotelian tragic heroes, flawed by something that is also essential to their virtue.59 All of Giraldi’s royal women are initially deprived of their status by circumstance, but in the lieto fine they are exonerated and returned to their rightful position.60 Many of Giraldi’s plays can be read directly as apologia, showing that even a queen (or a French princess-duchess) may fall victim to false belief, and yet there were paths available for her redemption. During the negotiations of 1547–48, Ercole may have felt it necessary to put a positive slant on the princesses’ spiritual inheritance. In both Selene and Gli Antivalomeni, a queen and her daughter are subjected to terrible 55 56 57 58 59 60

Ibid., ix. Horne, The Tragedies, 36–39. Appendix 3.3: Giraldi Cinzio, Ragionamenti, 87. Giraldi Cinzio, Selene, xxviii. Lucas, “Le personnage de la reine,” 283. Ibid., 288.

109

109

Selene and Gli Antivalomeni misfortunes and their subsequent behavior is scrutinized; in both, duty – as daughter, wife, and mother – is key to the dilemmas they face and choices they make. The plays function transparently as cautionary tales, setting a public standard of behavior and decision-making for the Este princesses and their mother. Selene’s plot is typically complex, but its political message is a clear refutation of the doctrine of sola fide; for Selene, faith alone is not enough, and a happy ending can only come about through virtuous action.61 Considering how the madrigal choruses from Selene might have been incorporated into the entertainment helps an understanding of how Giraldi’s innovations worked to deliver the play’s message more effectively. The texts of the madrigal choruses differ substantially from the printed choruses, but those differences do not necessarily mean that the two versions did not coexist. Giraldi specifies the deployment of the chorus at the end of the each of five acts as a musical interlude, to signal the end of the action and to give repose to the audience; but the material for this interlude could logically have been derived from the spoken chorus.62 The madrigal texts reiterate the core message of the spoken choruses, so that the audience would be in no doubt of their meaning, and their musical settings reinforce this, by allowing for repeats and reprises of specific lines of text in a variety of ways, through strategically placed general rests, barlines, or by composed-out repeats suggesting antiphonal readings or choral responses.63 Giraldi’s blend of elements from tragedy and comedy carries the seeds of the later Ferrarese tragicomedia, but his innovations presage more intimate court entertainments, too. The chorus leader would have had to have been a competent singer as well as an actor, if he was to sing as well as deliver versi in the course of the play. He may also have been required to deliver a musical interlude alone, as a solo recitation. However, Selene’s printed dramatis personae states that the chorus was made up of the ladies of Alexandria, so the texts were intended to be sung by “women,” or perhaps more precisely men or boys dressed as women. Through the medium of Giraldi’s tragic choruses, then, the Ferrarese court would have become accustomed to viewing female figures singing solo and in ensemble, quasi-publicly and in a formal performance context, decades before the creation of the concerto delle dame. The choruses for Selene suggest an elite, small-scale performance that might have been realized in a courtly space. Gli Antivalomeni, however,

61

62 63

Osborn, “ ‘Fuor di quel costume antico,’ ” 49–66; Horne, “Reformation and CounterReformation,” 62–82. Appendix 3.3: Giraldi Cinzio, Ragionamenti, 87. See StrasRore, 91–92.

110

110

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s was performed on a purpose-built outdoor stage during the late summer of 1548. It is unfortunate but not surprising that the music for the five choruses, sung by the donne di Londra (women of London) has not survived, for the play may have been produced using a professional company, rather than the resources of the ducal chapel.64 The plot of Gli Antivalomeni is deeply convoluted, combining tropes from classical tragedy, comedy, and commedia: a double set of protagonists, forced marriages, royal children swapped at birth, misappropriated birthrights, cross-dressing, madness, lovers suffering the threat of execution, and abrogated parental responsibility.65 Moreover it has not one, but five royal women engaged in a complex set of circumstances that test their virtue in a variety of ways. The Prologue sets the scene:  At the old king’s deathbed, the adviser Nicio promises to protect his queen and princess, but instead marries them off to men of lesser status and has himself proclaimed king. The widowed queen and her daughter both give birth to a child (a girl and a boy respectively), and simultaneously Nicio’s wife gives birth to twins, a girl and a boy. The babies are swapped, unbeknownst to Nicio, so that his children grow up ignorant of their real parentage, and the ex-queen and her daughter’s children are raised as Nicio’s heirs. The two sets of children grow up and fall in love, but they may not marry because of their differing status. And only then the play begins. The two pairs of lovers are eventually united, and each end up with a kingdom to govern. The mothers (old queen, new queen, ex-princess) contribute to the action by revealing the deception when things get out of hand; they also intercede with Nicio when he has condemned his own children to death and his supposed children are threatening to commit suicide. However, Giraldi’s young princess protagonists are the real focus for the display of royal feminine virtue and the power of amore onesta, or chaste love. Both girls are given prominent lament scenes in the central act. Elbania, who was raised as a princess but who is in reality a commoner, laments the departure of her lover Emonio, who is sent into battle (and, from Nicio’s perspective, hopefully to oblivion), swearing her undying loyalty.66 Emonio’s sister Philene, who was raised as a commoner but who is in reality a princess, is loved by Uranio, Elbania’s brother. When Uranio becomes overwhelmed by passion, his madness threatens Philene’s virginity, so she and Emonio swap identities

64 65

66

Horne, The Tragedies, 102. The play’s title, Gli Antivalomeni, has two potential meanings. The Greek antiballomenoi means “those who are pitted against each other,” but the term might also mean, “the anti-nobles,” based on the vernacular word “valuomini,” meaning “gentlemen.” Thanks to Andrew Dell’Antonio, Giulio Ongaro, and Leofranc Holford-Strevens for their help in deciphering this title. Giraldi Cinzio, Gli Antivalomeni (Venice: Cagnacini, 1583), 66–67. Act III, Scene 3.

111

111

Selene and Gli Antivalomeni and she goes into battle in her brother’s place, preferring possible loss of life to probable loss of honor.67 Giraldi’s stated purpose for Gli Antivalomeni was to provide a virtuous exposition on young love, suitable for a princess’s wedding, but his own theoretical discourse  – set out in three treatises on romance, comedy, and tragedy – put in him a bind.68 He is categorical that virgins may not appear in comedy for propriety’s sake, but he also holds that the passions expressed in lament  – the form at the core of tragedy  – are not suitable for royal virgins, and the pure love of youth does not have a natural home in tragedy.69 Moreover, the purpose for all his tragedies was to promote the notion that good things follow from good behavior, and retribution follows wickedness. He therefore had both to construct the happy ending as the only natural consequence of royal virtue, and to find a way in which he could allow young female characters to enter into the play’s discourse without compromising that virtue. His solution is to allow them to lament in solitude and privacy.70 As emblems of royal feminine virtue, Elbania personifies constancy, Philene the female prince’s prerogative to virtue by action. They are by no means the first tragic heroines to be imbued with these characteristics, but they are truly innovative, for they are not mature women or wives, but unmarried girls. In the context of the Ferrarese court, however, Philene and Elbania seem also to be partial manifestations of the Este princess paradigm, Bradamante. Elbania and Philene lament alone on the stage without any recourse to another character, be it a lover or a mediator. Although Philene, the virgin warrior, recalls Bradamante in a physical sense, Elbania echoes the Bradamante texts that frame Menon’s Madrigali d’amore, the bereft heroine lamenting her loss but nonetheless asserting her unswerving loyalty to her absent partner, offering her heart and her service. Their characters will resonate in Este (and Gonzaga) wedding entertainments in future decades  – the faithful abbandonata and the maiden who faces certain death, witnessing her inevitable tragedy transformed into a happy ending.71

67

68 69 70 71

Ibid., 37–38, 72–73. Act II, Scene 2; Act III, Scene 5. Philene’s second lament also echoes the biblical Susanna, the Ariostean Issabella, and the Roman Lucretia in her determination to preserve her own honor, even at the risk of death. Modern editions of all three are found in Giraldi Cinzio, Ragionamenti. Appendix 3.3: ibid., 103–104, 107. Ibid., 107–108. These tropes also surface in the wedding entertainments in Mantua in 1608; see MacNeil, “Weeping at the Water’s Edge,” 410–15.

112

112

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s

Francesco Dalla Viola, Cipriano de Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal in the 1550s Anna’s departure in October 1548 marked the beginning of a period during which Este women stepped back from conspicuous involvement in court culture. After the wedding, any interest in cooperation between the courts of the duke and duchess diminished, moving the princesses out of the limelight as their mother withdrew further into her religious preoccupations. Accompanying Anna on her journey from Ferrara, Renée contemplated escaping Italy for good, but was prevented by Cardinal Gonzaga from leaving Mantua with her daughter.72 On her return, she dismissed Olimpia Morata from her service, depriving the younger princesses of feminine intellectual leadership.73 Renée retreated to her villa at Consandolo, where she was periodically harassed by her husband’s agents, but from where she continued to offer support and refuge for heretics and reformers. Eventually, both Ercole and Renée’s nephew, Henri II of France, lost patience with her behavior, and in 1554 they moved to persuade her, forcibly if necessary, to return to regular Catholic worship once and for all.74 On 6 September Renée was imprisoned in the castello and her daughters, now aged seventeen and eighteen, were taken to the convent of Corpus Domini, where they were entrusted to their aunt, Suor Leonora. Separation from her daughters, and then the threat of execution, proved the final straw for the duchess; after suffering nearly three weeks of constant haranguing, Renée finally capitulated, gave confession, and took communion.75 She was released, but her circumstances were changed. Her husband filled her household with informants and drastically limited her spending, so although she was never fully reconciled intellectually or spiritually with the Catholic Church, she was frightened into a lifestyle that was much more moderate. Lucrezia and Leonora were restored to her care, but with spiritual guidance appointed by the duke. Although not regularly living in Ferrara, they were still expected to participate in major court events; for instance, when Emilia Roverella di Pio married a German count, Ladislaus von Fraunberg, during Carnival 1555, the princesses and the bride dressed as Amazons for a triumphal procession.76 Only after Ercole died in 1559 72 73 74 75 76

BlaisRen, 229. Ibid., 216. Ibid., 232–87. Ibid., 270–74. Treadwell, “Restaging the Siren,” 308–309; Liechtenstein, the Princely Collections, 241–42. This triumph may be the origin of De Rore’s madrigal “Alme gentili che nel ciel vi ornaste,” addressed collectively to a group of “alme camille,” referring to the warrior maiden of the Aeneid; Newcomb, “Posthumous Cipriano,” 430–33.

113

113

Dalla Viola, De Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal was Renée finally allowed to return to France; the princesses were found apartments at the castello, and for the first time in their lives fully integrated into the ducal court. Only one Ferrarese composer, Francesco Dalla  Viola, dedicated works to an Este princess in the 1550s: his Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1550) bears a dedication to Suor Leonora.77 It claims her name on the publication would “protect” his works from any further unwarranted exploitation, referring to the madrigals in the 1548 Madrigali de la Fama that were included, substantially altered, in the new print. Francesco Dalla Viola’s position in Ferrarese musical hierarchy was perhaps even more exalted than his brother Alfonso’s: Ippolito II paid him more than he paid his Master of the Horses; his remuneration from Ercole II was significantly greater than Cipriano de Rore’s; and he was well-enough respected to have been preferred to De Rore for the post of maestro di cappella in 1559 when Alfonso  II became duke.78 The position may have been partly in recognition of Dalla  Viola’s role as editor and broker of printing privileges for Adriano Willaert’s Musica nova, acting on Prince Alfonso’s behalf in 1558 and 1559.79 If Alfonso Dalla Viola’s madrigals can be seen as representative of a Ferrarese style at the end of the 1530s, Francesco’s seem equally well placed to represent the same a decade later. Through their more self-consciously intellectual approach to text expression, the Fama versions, in particular, reveal Ferrarese courtly musical culture just as it is beginning to assimilate the effects of De Rore’s arrival. The majority of Dalla Viola’s contributions to the Fama privilege the top line with a full and expressive declamation of the text, and a greater proportion of elaborate cadential decoration and melisma than that granted to the lower voices. Some of these settings are still transparently indebted to the closed forms of the frottola and ballata, but others are through-composed and more musically responsive to the conceits of their texts. The differences in approach between Dalla Viola and his erstwhile maestro Willaert, perhaps arising from the differing musical sensibilities of the Venetian ridotti and the Ferrarese court, may be demonstrated by the way they treat the sestet of Petrarch’s “Aspro core e selvaggia et cruda voglia.” Willaert sets the entire sonnet in two parts, whereas Dalla Viola sets only the sestet, “Vivo sol di speranza, rimembrando,” as a self-contained madrigal.80 Where the Canto sings “lagrimando, pregando, 77 78 79 80

See Chapter 1. Hollingsworth, The Cardinal’s Hat, 49. See Butchart, “ ‘La Pecorina’ ”; Owens and Agee, “La stampa.” Timothy McKinney has noted there are traces of Willaert’s “theory of interval affect” in Dalla Viola’s compositions, in particular the use of major sixths or parallel major thirds to denote qualities of harshness or acerbity when setting words such as “dura” or “acerba”; McKinney, Adrian Willaert, 278–79.

114

114

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.4a “Aspro core e selvaggio et cruda voglia,” Adriano Willaert, Musica nova (1559), mm. 109–115.

amando,” Willaert sets up an astringent progression and repeats it, privileging the expressive potential of the harmony to color the whole passage (Example  3.4a). Dalla  Viola’s approach is based on a more direct use of melodic characterization, which nonetheless takes advantage of harmonic manipulation to make a point. Each word is set to a rising interval and each utterance itself rises higher in the voice; each phrase attempts a cadence, and each time it is thwarted (Example 3.4b). All of Dalla  Viola’s madrigals published in the Fama were reprinted in his Primo libro, many with alterations and corrections; moreover, he reclaims the setting of Petrarch’s “Tal’hor m’assale in mezzo ai tristi pianti” (Canzoniere, 15; sestet only), attributed to Francesco Manara in the Fama. The 1550 versions suggest substantially changed priorities: the Canto lines have had melismas excised and their ranges are more compact; the harmonic progressions are made more regular; and a more uniform, democratic approach is introduced, shifting the musical interest away from melodic expressivity and toward the mechanical craft of polyphonic composition. “Vivo sol di speranza” perhaps suffers less than others. It retains its dramatic top line and even gains an ornament, but the harmonic twist at m. 28 is gone, and the expressive spoils are shared with the Tenore, which anticipates the final leap on “amando” with an even greater leap of its own (Example 3.5).

115

115

Dalla Viola, De Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal Example 3.4b “Vivo sol di speranza, rimembrando,” Francesco Dalla Viola, RISM 15487, mm. 24–31.

Perhaps Dalla Viola was responding to De Rore’s musical influence as a master polyphonist, but more likely, he was adapting his compositions to be enjoyed by their dedicatee, Suor Leonora, in a more suitable format for her own musical interests. As Suor Leonora was passionately interested in keyboard instruments, she may well have intabulated the works for keyboard performance, using her convent’s pietra da contrapunto. She would have been less concerned about textual expression than about the counterpoint sitting easily under her fingers. Some of the previously unpublished works have an instrumental flair, featuring the dactylic rhythms of the canzona francese and strictly imitative polyphony engaging all parts simultaneously. The modifications made to the Fama madrigals bring them stylistically in line with these other works. The revisions to “Felice chi dispensa,” Dalla  Viola’s contribution to Selene, soften its harmonic

116

116

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.5 “Vivo sol di speranza, rimembrando,” Francesco Dalla Viola, Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (1550), mm. 23–30.

language and balance its tessituras, making it more suitable for the keyboard (Example 3.6). Dalla  Viola’s Primo libro, then, may be a better record of instrumental rather than vocal composition, but nonetheless it retains a distinctive Ferrarese character, with its wide range of poetic choices, from Petrarch to anonymous ballate and theatrical choruses. Some, like the reclaimed “Tal’hor m’assale” (a voci pari work with paired upper voices, c2c2c3c4) may have been chosen because they could be easily appropriated by a nun’s voice, simultaneously articulating her earthly separation from both her secular family and from her spouse in Heaven, and enclosure’s paradoxical spiritual consolation: Tal’hor m’assale in mezzo ai tristi pianti un dubbio, come posson queste membra

117

117

Dalla Viola, De Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal Example 3.6 “Felice chi dispensa,” Francesco Dalla Viola, RISM 15487 and Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (1550), mm. 25–28.

da lo spirito lor viver lontane? Ma respondermi Amor: “non ti rimembra che questo e privileggio de gli amanti sciolti da tutte qualitati humane?” Sometimes I am assailed, in the middle of bitter tears, by a doubt: how can these limbs live separated far from their spirit? But Love responds to me, “Don’t you remember that this is the privilege of lovers, to be set free from all human concerns?”

As might be expected, stanzas from Orlando furioso take pride of place. “Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori” (VI/21) opens the book, reimagining the remote paradise of Alcina’s island as the convent cloister. Bearing in mind that Suor  Leonora, too, was an Este princess, Dalla  Viola allows her to

118

118

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s ventriloquize Bradamante in her own way. Like Menon, he sets Bradamante’s expression of faith in her lover, “Ruggier, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio” (XLI/61), and he, too, alters the first word to adapt the text in a way that could bear both secular and spiritual interpretations. In Dalla Viola’s version, “Donna, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio,” the addressee is the Lady, or, for Suor Leonora’s use, the Virgin. His choice of stanza XLI/63, “A voi, Ruggier, tutto il dominio ho dato” (substituting “mio ben” for Ruggiero’s name) as the seconda parte, if sung to the Virgin or to Christ rather than to a lover, underlines the nun’s vows of obedience and stability. A voi, mio ben, tutto il dominio ho dato di me, che forse è più ch’altri non crede. so ben ch’a nuovo principe giurato non fu de questa mai la maggior fede; so nè al mondo il più sicuro stato di questo re, nè imperator possiede. Non vi bisogna far fossa, nè torre per dubbio ch’altri a voi lo venga a torre. I have submitted myself, my beloved, to your dominion, perhaps more even than others would believe. I know that greater fealty than this was never sworn to a new prince; that no kind or emperor in the world possesses his realm more securely than you. You have no need to construct moats or towers for fear that another may come to seize your throne.81

The 1550s were a turbulent decade for the Este women, so it is unsurprising that no other music books associated with them survive from this period. Instead, the Este men became more prominent than their wives and daughters in the patronage of secular music, steering the cultural focus of the court in more experimental directions. De Rore’s output, as it emerged in the late 1540s and early 1550s, gives early indications of this trend:  at the same time as he was writing theater music and madrigal trios, he was also setting the eleven stanzas of Petrarch’s canzone Vergine bella in a cycle of madrigals for five voices, his first attempts in a new, affective style that required the intense engagement of both musicians and listeners for its realization.82 Although the dedications to Este men during this period are few and the role of secular musical performance in Ercole’s court is not well understood, it is still possible to discern their keen interest in music as much as

81 82

Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 539 (alteration in italics). Feldman, City Culture, 407–26.

119

119

Dalla Viola, De Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal an intellectual pursuit as an ornament to courtly life.83 The books produced by De Rore, Manara, and Giulio Fiesco in the 1550s continue to suggest a variety of performance environments, collecting together music apparently written for plays and court occasions, as well as works written for less formal performance contexts. Nevertheless, Ercole, his brother Ippolito, and his son Alfonso seem increasingly attracted to polyphonic composition informed by aesthetic and academic rigor, reassociating themselves through their patronage with the school of musical thought that emanated from their erstwhile musical master, Willaert. The Este’s attitude to music through successive generations betrays the fascination of collectors:  music that could be appreciated not just for its sonic or text-expressive qualities, but that in some way had acquired the attributes of being exclusive or extraordinary.84 The family’s attraction to musical esoterica manifests in its interactions with Nicola Vicentino, brought to the city in the early 1550s by his employer Cardinal Ippolito II. He recorded his visits in his L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica, a complex theoretical exposition of the three genere of music of the ancients and the microtonal music they produced. In the introduction, he extols the musical learning of nearly every member of the Este family, and claims them as students of the genere.85 Ippolito clearly valued Vicentino and his music; Suor Leonora may well have kept the composer’s archicembalo in her convent long after he left Ferrara.86 Alfonso’s retention of the instrument at the castello in the 1580s suggests the appreciation of Vicentino’s ideas had not diminished even thirty years later. But Ercole, too, must have felt that a personal knowledge of Vicentino’s work would reflect well on Este magnificence. A year after Vicentino’s treatise was published, Giraldi Cinzio produced a short account of Ferrarese history, the Commentario delle cose di Ferrara (Florence:  Torrentino, 1556), in which Ercole is credited with great musical skills acquired in his youth, including a mastery of the three genere.87 The Este desire to acquire exclusive music was also demonstrated by Prince  Alfonso’s purchase of a manuscript collection of Willaert’s compositions, which he eventually had published as the Musica nova in 83

84

85 86 87

Ercole II received only one secular dedication: Alvise Castellino’s Primo libro delle villotte (Venice: Gardano, 1541). Prince Alfonso was the dedicatee of two madrigal books in the 1550s: Giulio Fiesco’s Primo libro di madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1554) and Francesco Manara’s Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1555). See Macey, Bonfire Songs, 212–13; Stras, “ ‘Al gioco si conosce,’ ” 266–69; Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 291–94. VicentinoAM, 10v. See Chapter 1. Appendix 3.4: Giraldi Cinzio, Commentario, 191–92. See also CavicchiMJ, 44, 46–47.

120

120

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s 1559.88 There is little to add to the manuscript’s story, but it is nonetheless significant in a history of music for Ferrarese women. Through its association with the exiled Florentine gentlewoman Polissena Pecorina, who sang its works with male companions in her Venice salon before selling the manuscript to Alfonso in December 1554, the collection may quite properly have been considered women’s music. Yet while the voci pari cleffing of several of its works would have been a familiar format to anyone acquainted with convent polyphony, its high rhetoric and its meticulous, academic style sit diametrically opposite the homophonic song, frottole, and villotte usually associated with courtly female performance– the forms that shaped Ferrarese secular music in the first half of the century. It seems unlikely that Alfonso purchased the manuscript with a female performer in mind; in late 1554 the Ferrarese court was distinctly lacking a female locus, with the duchess in solitary confinement and her daughters sequestered in Corpus Domini. Nonetheless, the manuscript’s provenance and reputation may have introduced, reinforced, or even normalized the notion of a woman performing music with men, making it more reputable through the association with Este nobility. It is also possible that as well as being an acquisition that elevated the young prince’s status as a connoisseur, the purchase and publication were also a rebuke to De Rore, who deliberately excluded himself from the symbolic economy of patronage by refusing to append a dedication to any of his publications. In 1557, near the end of his service at Ferrara, De Rore published two books of madrigals, his first publications since the heady years following Anna’s wedding: Il secondo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1557) and Il quarto libro d’i madregali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1557). The works in these books represent a dramatic change in De Rore’s compositional sensibilities, seeing him move from the thoroughly imitative/contrapuntal textures of the 1540s toward a partially or wholly homophonic style that emphasized the combination of melody, harmony, and declamation to articulate the meaning of the text. The shift is accompanied by a pronounced increase in his use of chromaticism – perhaps as a result of his exposure to Vicentino’s music, perhaps as a more general reflection of his patrons’ tastes for the esoteric.89 Both these attributes are enhanced by the development of a more precisely attuned rhythmic declamation of the text that reinforced and respected meaning, syntax, and the nuances of word stresses, as seen

88

89

Newcomb, “Editions of Willaert’s Musica Nova”; Butchart, “ ‘La Pecorina’ ”; Owens and Agee, “La stampa”; Fromson, “Themes of Exile.” Waisman sees Vicentino as the catalyst, rather than the instigator, of advanced chromatic practice in 1550s Ferrara; WaismanFM, 496–99.

121

121

Dalla Viola, De Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal in the four-voice settings of Girolamo Dalla Casa’s “O sonno! O della queta humid’ombrosa” and Petrarch’s “Mia benigna fortuna e il viver lieto,” and the five-voice setting of Petrarch’s “Se ben il duol che per voi, donna, sento.”90 This commitment to precise textual expression is balanced by a marked use of musical repetition, perhaps making reference to more structured traditions of song performance, such as recitation arie like those published by Tuttovale Menon, or even the Parisian chanson. Works in which all three characteristics (extended homophony, chromaticism, and musical repetition) predominate in the Secondo libro … a quattro voci, but they are present even in the Quarto libro … a cinque voci. This free combination of the arcane and the formulaic creates the impression of song that has acquired a new level of complexity and sophistication.91 For instance, in the first quatrain of “Datemi pace, o duri miei pensieri!” De Rore uses a near-identical phrase to set the rhyming second and third lines of text (B, B'), but the second half of this phrase is also clearly derived from the madrigal’s opening bars (A, A') (Example 3.7). Aspects of the Secondo libro … a quattro voci raise the possibility that De  Rore’s association with Renée continued, even during her isolation during the 1550s.92 It is not a single composer print:  although it begins with nine settings by De Rore, its major work is a fourteen-stanza setting by Palestrina of Virginia Martini Salvi’s “canzone sopra di Pace non trovo,” “Da fuoco così bel nasce il mio ardore.”93 Salvi was a Sienese noblewoman and a vocal pro-French sympathizer. She wrote an epistolary poem to Cardinal  Ippolito, who became Henri  II’s lieutenant general in Siena in 1552 after the French had captured the city from Imperial forces. She was banished when the Medici retook the city in 1555, and fled to Rome, where she is last recorded in 1571. Not only does the canzone suggest an early developing relationship between Palestrina and Ippolito, it also gives the book a distinctly pro-French slant.94 Most of the settings in the book lament lost happiness and peace, some more bitterly than others. Although this general conceit would apply to both Salvi and Renée, three openly political madrigals by De  Rore seem particularly apropos to the duchess. The book’s opening work, “Un’altra volta la Germania strida,” purports to praise Emperor Charles V, ventriloquizing a rousing speech in which he declares himself ready to crush an alliance

90 91 92 93 94

For a full analytical assessment of De Rore’s late style, see La Via, Cipriano de Rore. A more extended discussion may be found in Schick, Musikalische Einheit. The following section draws on the discussion in StrasRore, 92–102. For more on Salvi, see Eisenbichler, The Sword and the Pen, 165–214. See also Haar, “Pace non trovo.”

122

122

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.7 “Datemi pace! o duri miei pensieri!” Cipriano de Rore, Secondo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (1557), mm. 1–23.

123

123

Dalla Viola, De Rore, and the Ferrarese Madrigal between France and Germany.95 Yet Charles had been defeated in 1552 and 1554 by French forces led by Anna d’Este’s husband, now the Duke of Guise, in league with the Protestant German princes. These defeats led to Charles’s capitulation, and ultimately to the official recognition of Lutheranism in the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. Hostilities between France and Charles’s son, Philip II of Spain, reopened in 1557, however, so the placement of the work at the beginning of an openly pro-French publication suggests a blame-bypraise strategy to mock the abdicated emperor. More startling still is the conjunction of two settings of Petrarch sonnets that speak clearly to Renée’s predicament in the 1550s. “Fontana di dolore, albergo d’ira” was one of three sonnets written by Petrarch expressing his disgust for the Avignon papacy; in 1554 – the year of Renée’s crisis – they were printed by the reformist Pier Paolo Vergerio in overt criticism of Rome, and as a result almost immediately placed on a local Index of Prohibited Books in Venice.96 “Datemi pace,” which immediately follows “Fontana di dolore,” reads like an accusation by Renée against her husband, combining the language of marital and political infidelity to characterize her betrayal. While these works do not refer to Renée directly, De Rore leaves a musical clue that might have been discernable to those close to her at court: the same, archaic, under-third cadence that peppers Menon’s Madrigali d’amore. It is also present in “Chi non sa, come Amor” (placed second in the book); a variant form appears in “Un’altro volta” and in “Fontana di dolore.” Apart from in this book, De Rore uses the cadence or its variant only eight times in the rest of his secular output. All instances are in works published after his arrival in Ferrara and predominantly in works that can be associated with Renée or with France, including Anna’s motet “Hesperiae cum laeta suas” and two madrigals in the Quarto libro … a cinque voci, “Volgi ’l tuo corso alla tua riva manca” and “L’ineffabil bontà del Redentore.”97 The figure is placed prominently at the end of the first phrase of “Datemi pace,” in a gesture that is strikingly similar to first cadence of “L’ineffabil bontà del Redentore” (Example  3.8). The latter sets another stanza from Orlando furioso (XLIII/62) that reads as an admonishment to Ercole to be 95

96 97

Writing in 1574, Luca Contile suggests that the sonnet, written by Silvestro Bottigella, had been approved by Carlo V; Contile, Ragionamento di Luca Contile sopra la proprietà delle imprese con le particolari de gli academici Affidati et con le interpretationi et croniche (Pavia: Bartoli, 1574), 53r. However, Ferrara was still allied to France until 1558, when Ercole officially made peace with Spain, sealing the agreement with the betrothal of his son Alfonso to Lucrezia de’ Medici. La Monica, “Indici e controindici,” 23–24. “Volgi ’l tuo corso” depicts Prince Alfonso’s return from France in 1556; the figure decorates the words “il sinistro corno,” a specific geographical reference to the road to France; Lowinsky, “Two Motets and Two Madrigals,” 633–35.

124

124

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.8 “L’ineffabil bontà del Redentore,” Cipriano de Rore, Il quarto libro d’i madregali a cinque voci (1557), mm. 1–7.

just, and to be wary of those who would undermine Ferrara through the spread of malicious rumor: L’ineffabil bontà del Redentore, de’ tuoi Principi il senno e la iustizia, sempre con pace, sempre con amore ti tenga in abondanzia et in letizia: E ti difenda contra ogni furore de’ tuoi nimici, e scuopre lor malizia; del tuo contento ogni vicino arrabbi, più tosto che tu invidia ad alcuno abbi. May the ineffable generosity of the Redeemer, and the wisdom and justice of your princes, always with peace and always with love, keep you in abundance and in happiness; and defend you against the fury of your enemies, and reveal their malice; may your neighbors rage at your contentment rather than you envy them.

If De Rore were to have adopted the figure to represent Renée, it might have lent particular poignancy to the first phrase, which can be read as a reference to the principles of sola fide  – the unconditional gift of redemption. Coincidentally  – or not  – the language of Ariosto’s text matches that of “Datemi pace,” in that the threat comes from enemies both without and within. A putative link between Renée and De Rore in the 1550s also raises the possibility of a connection between the composer and the two remaining princesses, Lucrezia and Leonora, who, apart from their brief internment in

125

125

Traces of Ferrarese Song Corpus Domini in 1554, lived with their mother until she left for France in 1560. Lucrezia, as we have seen, was noted for her musical accomplishment, and both princesses appear in Vicentino’s list of Este family members who had “gained so much in this science as to be worthy of eternal praise.”98 Since Renée was not known to have been musically proficient and since her own household was so depleted after 1554, her daughters may have been the true beneficiaries of the Secondo libro ... a quattro voci, both as patrons and performers. In July 1559, a year after the publication of the two books, De Rore took an extended leave of absence to return to the Low Countries, intending to remain there. However, the following year he petitioned Alfonso, who had become duke in October 1559, to return to Ferrara as maestro di cappella. Alfonso refused his request, preferring instead to appoint Francesco Dalla Viola. If De Rore had incurred ducal displeasure through the publication of works composed under Renée’s influence, Alfonso’s choice might seem more understandable; it might also explain why the Secondo libro … a quattro voci was missing from the otherwise complete set of De  Rore’s publications in Alfonso’s library.99 Nevertheless, after the composer’s death in Parma in 1565, Alfonso solicited additional copies of De  Rore’s music from Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma, suggesting that he valued it more than he had been prepared to admit while the composer was still alive.100

Traces of Ferrarese Song in Giaches de Wert’s Primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci of 1561 De  Rore’s musical legacy to Ferrara has often been expressed in terms of his influence on two composers: Luzzasco Luzzaschi, who states that he was De Rore’s pupil; and more obliquely in respect of Giaches de Wert, through conclusions drawn from musical analysis. An early association between De  Wert and De  Rore at Ferrara has long been mooted.101 A  sixteenthcentury report detailing De Wert’s background suggests his first employer

98 99

100

101

VicentinoAM, 10v. See the list in NewcombMF, 1:239–40. Giraldi was also dismissed shortly after Alfonso assumed power, potentially also because he was too close to suspected dissenters; Horne, “Reformation and Counter-Reformation,” 81. Appendix 3.5: I-MOas, CPE Parma, b. 1263/3, Ottavio Farnese to Alfonso d’Este, 24 April 1566. “As soon as I received Your Excellency’s letter of the 20th I began to have Cipriano’s compositions [canti] copied, which you asked me about when I was there … and [they] should be finished in around eight or ten days.” Luzzaschi’s account of his relationship with De Rore is given in Owens, “The Milan Partbooks.” There are many discussions of De Rore and De Wert; typical among them is Chapter 3, “Wert as Inheritor of Cipriano de Rore,” in Treloar, “The Madrigals of Wert,” 106–36.

126

126

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s in Italy was Maria de Cardona, wife of Francesco d’Este, Ercole II’s younger brother.102 From around 1550, and possibly as early as 1543, De Wert was in the service of various family members of the Gonzaga of Novellara, perhaps in Rome, certainly in Novellara itself, and then in Mantua in 1552, in the famiglia of Count Francesco Gonzaga. But by the end of 1555 De Wert was in Ferrara with De Rore, for in January 1556 De Rore wrote to Count Alfonso Gonzaga to say that he had persuaded De Wert to return to Alfonso’s employment.103 De Wert may have been in Ferrara for a while: Count Francesco had been campaigning with the Imperial Army since at least the end of 1553, when troops were mobilized against Siena, and after the Battle of Marciano in August 1555, Count Francesco returned to the Imperial Court and was then immediately redeployed to Flanders.104 It seems unlikely that De Wert was in his household throughout this period. On the other hand, a letter from 1553, apparently written to Count  Alfonso by a Mantuan agent in Ferrara, enclosed copies of madrigals by both De Rore and a “M. Jacomo” – who was the bearer of the letter – with a further reassurance that said Jacomo was at his service and would do him honor.105 While the letter (which is currently lost) is not proof, it remains plausible that De Wert was in Ferrara, studying or in employment, arriving at the earliest in 1553 and leaving the end of 1555. De  Wert published two books during his time at Novellara:  the Primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Scotto, 1558) and the Primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Scotto, 1561).106 The five-voice book is dedicated to Alfonso Gonzaga. Like contemporaneous Ferrarese books, its contents are varied:  an expansive multi-part canzone; Petrarchan sonnets; a quasi-theatrical text, “S’allhor che per pigliar Laurent’ Enea”; a lascivious canzone by Agnolo Firenzuola, “O fiere aspre e selvaggie”; madrigals and ballata-madrigals.107 At the very least it suggests a familiarity with De Rore’s Secondo libro … a quattro voci, for it contains a setting of “O sonno! O della 102 103 104 105

106 107

De Wert’s biography is summarized in Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 23–72. Ibid., 36. See Fenlon, “Wert at Novellara”; Fenlon, “Renaissance Novellara.” Davolio, Memorie istoriche, 1:175–76. “I’m sending your Lordship, via this footman these madrigals of Messer Cipriano, along with one of his own, which I am sure will please you, because they are good; offering also himself [the footman] to your Lordship’s service, as he impressed on me, that he, Messer Jacomo, offers and gives himself to you, and I am sure he will do you honor.” Appendix 3.6: [Novellara, Archivio Gonzaga,] [Francesco Folonica] to Count Alfonso Gonzaga, 30 October 1553. Cited in Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 32. De Wert, Opera omnia, 1961; De Wert, Opera omnia, 1972. “S’allhor che per pigliar Laurent’ Enea” reverses the outcome of the Aeneid by granting Turnus victory over Aeneas, gained through Camilla’s superior beauty. The reference to Camilla recalls De Rore’s “Alme gentili,” and would equally correspond to the 1555 event proposed for its composition; see n. 75.

127

127

Traces of Ferrarese Song queta humid’ombrosa”; but De Wert’s early presence in Ferrara, particularly in the company of De Rore and potentially even Renée, might also explain the setting of another of Petrarch’s sonnets banned for its criticism of the Church, “Fiamma del ciel su le tue treccie piova.”108 The Primo libro … a quattro voci is dedicated to the Neapolitan nobleman Francesco Ferdinando d’Avalos, Marquis of Pescara and governor of Milan, who was married to Isabella Gonzaga, sister to Guglielmo, Duke of Mantua, and granddaughter of Isabella d’Este. Although little is known about Isabella Gonzaga, she and her brother Guglielmo probably received a musical education like the one her grandmother had arranged for her father and her aunt; Guglielmo, of course, was well known for his musical activities.109 She may have become known to De Wert when he was at the Mantuan court in the service of Count Francesco.110 After she visited Novellara in July 1556, Count Alfonso’s secretary wrote: “I forgot to say that countless madrigals by Messer Jacomo were sung before the Lady Princess, in particular his arie, and they pleased the said princess so much that she wished for copies.”111 Here Isabella was a listener, not performer, but her desire for copies of the songs may indicate that she intended to sing them herself. If De Wert had been in Ferrara until at least January 1556, then at least some of the “countless madrigals” she so enjoyed may have been written there; it is possible that the four-voice book contains at least some of the works that impressed her. The most conspicuous links to Ferrara in De Wert’s early publications are the Orlando furioso settings. De Wert set fifteen stanzas of the romance over the course of his life, of which ten were published in these first two books. This concentration may bear witness to the ubiquity of the Furioso in midsixteenth-century popular culture, but the disposition of the settings reveals something even more intriguing about how De Wert thought about setting Ariosto’s verse. The five stanzas in the five-voice book are all lamenting texts envoiced by male characters:  four stanzas of Sacripante’s lament for the loss of Angelica (“Pensier che ’l cor m’agghiacci et ardi,” I/41–44, although the first stanza is separated from the following three), and one spoken by Orlando for the same cause (“Questi ch’indizio fan del mio tormento,”

108

109 110 111

None of De Wert’s known employers had Protestant links. Only one other setting of this text survives, in Nicolò Dorati’s Primo libro di madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1549) dedicated to M. Pierfrancesco [Ricci], majordomo to Cosimo I de’ Medici and suspected Waldensian; Caponetto, La Riforma protestante, 109–11. Musical settings of the text were placed on the Index in Parma in 1580; Bujanda, Index de Rome 1590, 1593, 1596, 181–82. Sherr, “The Publications of Guglielmo Gonzaga.” Fenlon, “Wert at Novellara,” 27–29. Appendix 3.7: Novellara, Archivio Gonzaga, b. 44, Leandro Bracciolo to Alfonso Gonzaga, 26 July 1556. Transcribed in Fenlon, “Wert at Novellara”, 75.

128

128

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s XXIII/127). These five settings use fully contrapuntal textures, reminiscent of De Rore’s mature five-voice style.112 The five stanzas in the four-voice book are similarly focused on lamenting characters, but their subjects are female and their settings are not contrapuntal: one describes the tear-stained face of Olimpia (“Era il bel viso suo, quale esser suole,” XI/65) and four set speeches by Bradamante (“Ma di chi debbo lamentarmi, ahi lassa”; XXXII/21; “Il dolce sonno mi promise pace,” XXXIII/63; and a two-part setting, “Dunque baciar sì belle e dolce labbia,” XXXVI/32–33).113 An eleventh Furioso stanza set by De Wert, “Chi salirà per me, madonna, in cielo” (XXXV/1), appeared contemporaneously in the Secondo libro delle Muse a quattro voci, madrigali ariosi, published by the Roman printer Antonio Barré, in 1558. Barré introduced the term madrigale arioso on the title page of the first book of the series, the Primo libro delle Muse a quattro voci, madrigali ariosi, in 1555.114 The genre was at the height of its popularity in the late 1550s and early 1560s. Although presented as polyphonic works, by their nature madrigali ariosi are simple to perform with a single voice, the lower parts accommodated onto an instrument. As such, they provided an ideal repertoire for elite women; Barré’s 1555 book is appropriately enough dedicated to a noblewoman, with a Bradamante setting in pride of place.115 The meaning of the word arioso may change, even proliferate, over the course of the sixteenth century, but here it indicates the use (or suggestion) of pre-existing melodies, derived either from popular song or from the practice of reciting stanzas to harmonic/melodic formulas, in the composition of new works. The genre is further characterized by the “canzonetta” rhythmic style that combines units of triple and duple meter to match the meter of the verse.116 Many of the works in De Wert’s Primo libro … a quattro voci, including the Furioso settings, reflect the arioso style, yet the musical qualities of the book overall mirror those valued in Ferrara in the 1540s and 1550s: painstaking fidelity to textual meter, the expressive use of melodic range, and harmonic/chromatic tension. The first Furioso setting to appear in the book, “Il dolce sonno mi promise pace,” appropriately enough uses a closed form, AABB’, which itself carefully reflects the structure of the poem:

112 113

114 115

116

See Newcomb, “Wert: A Re-Evaluation.” The music text contains an anomaly: Ariosto’s text reads, “Ma di che [sic] debbo lamentarmi, ahi lassa.” Haar and Balsano, “L’Ariosto in musica”; Haar, “The ‘Madrigale Arioso.’ ” Barré’s own four-stanza setting of “Dunque fia ver dicea che mi convenga” opens the book, which is dedicated to Felice Orsini Colonna. Haar, “Improvvisatori”; Haar, “Arioso and Canzonetta.”

129

129

Traces of Ferrarese Song Il dolce sonno mi promise pace, ma l’amaro vegghiar mi torn’in guerra: il dolce sonno è ben stato fallace, ma l’amaro vegghiar, oimè! non erra. Se ’l ver m’annoi e ’l falso sì mi piace, non od’o vegga mai più ver in terra! se ’l dormir mi da gaudio, e ’l vegghiar guai poss’io dormir senza destarmi mai. Gentle sleep promised me peace, but bitter wakefulness plunges me back into turmoil; gentle sleep, for sure, has deceived me, but bitter wakefulness, alas, never lies. If truth is so troublesome, deception so agreeable, let me never more hear or see what is true! If sleep brings me bliss and wakefulness misery, let me never more wake from sleep.117

For all its apparent simplicity, “Il dolce sonno” nonetheless demonstrates the subtle freedoms of the arioso style. Ariosto’s literary repetitions already invoke the monotony of insomnia; De Wert adds musical devices to illustrate the oxymoron [false relation, mm.  4–5], the conceit of isolation [reduced texture, m.  4], and the emotional state [octave leap extending to a tenth, m. 6]. These work in both iterations of the opening melody (Example 3.9).118 The arioso style arises from the self-accompanied performance tradition, and many ariosi might need only two voices, one sung, the other played, for a successful rendition: for instance, the Modenese musician Tarquinia Molza is described singing the Canto of a piece while playing the Basso on the viol, working from both parts simultaneously.119 By and large, De  Wert’s harmonies could be guessed by a performer who only had access to the melody, but the false relations and even the bass line at “Ma l’amaro vegghiar” would be lost if the performer improvised, rather than transcribed, the accompaniment. Like De Rore’s four-voice madrigals, even the simplest works in De Wert’s four-voice book pull away from the notion of song as something that can be intuited by the performer; the inner voices and their disposition are essential to the rhetorical delivery of the text. Some scholars have described the Ariosto settings in De  Wert’s fourvoice book as “arie per cantar ottave.”120 In all five stanzas, almost without exception the eleven-syllable lines are set separately, divided by cadences and  rests, and they are also all predominantly homophonic, harmonized

117 118 119 120

Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 403. De Wert, Opera omnia, 1972, 15:24–25. Patrizi, L’amorosa filosofia, 24. Tomlinson, Monteverdi, 59–61; Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 75.

130

130

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.9 “Il dolce sonno mi promise pace,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 1–13.

131

131

Traces of Ferrarese Song almost exclusively by root-position chords. This suggests that they are indeed “arie” in the sense that they are song, composed out into four parts for publication, making them accessible for performance by the greatest variety of forces. However, “Il dolce sonno” is the closest any of them come to the procedure illustrated by Menon’s aere, in which the first three couplets are recited to the same melody. The others stray further from the paradigm: “Ma di chi debbo lamentarmi, ahi lassa” uses musical repetition in conjunction with transposition. The opening phrase of “Dunque baciar sì belle e dolce labbia” appears to be based on a well-known recitation melody, first matched with Ariosto’s verse in a frottola by Bartolomeo Tromboncino;121 however, it soon moves away from the reference.  And while the rhythmic cast of “Era il bel viso suo, quale esser suole” is transparently in the arioso style, it is through-composed. The emphasis on the feminine implied by these Furioso settings extends to the rest of the book, for it contains at least two further female-voiced laments: an anonymous madrigal, “Dolce e felice e sogno,” and a setting of a vernacular translation of Vergil’s lament for Dido, “Dolci spoglie, felic’e care tanto.”122 “Dolce e felice sogno” is a ballata-madrigal with unequal line lengths, and hence its musical style is intrinsically different to the Furioso settings. De Wert is much freer in the way he combines homophonic and imitative passages, and instead of using well-delineated phrases marking each line of verse, the lines often overlap. The texture is not always full, and the rate of declamation changes according to the affect of the words. Melodic madrigalisms, like the octave leap at “gridai,” are less pictorial than evocative of vocalization (Example 3.10).123 Dido’s lament, “Dolci spoglie, felic’e care tanto,” again gives the impression of arranged solo song, but the compositional response to the text is more extreme.124 The text’s affective qualities, which move the singer from grief to rage and ultimately to despair, are matched by De  Wert’s setting, with the Canto line carrying the burden of the expression. A  varied rate of declamation, varied meter, prioritizing syntax over versification at enjambments, an excursion to a remote sonority, wide vocal range, and contrasting tessituras, unusual intervals and leaps in the melody are all deployed in direct relation to the sense of the text. De Wert’s use of melisma 121 122

123

124

Haar, “Improvvisatori,” 95–96. Raffaelo Gualtieri’s translation is printed in Libro terzo delle rime di diversi nobilissimi et eccellentissimi autori nuovamente raccolte (Venice: Cesano, 1550). De Wert, Opera omnia, 1972, 15:54–56. The octave leap is a recurring gesture in his fourvoice book. Here, it foreshadows the opening bars of “Forsennata gridava: ‘O tu che porte’,” in the Ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1586). See also Treloar, “The Madrigals of Wert,” 168–69. De Wert, Opera omnia, 1972, 15:45–49.

132

132

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Example 3.10 “Dolce e felice sogno,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 24–35.

is striking, developing further the notion that melodic characterizations do not just rest in pictograms, but also in expressive gestures that mimic the vocality of orators and actors. The river of blood does not just run, but it swells; love overflows (the melisma is on the second, not the first, syllable) to resolve Dido’s anger (Example 3.11). Scholars have noted the theatricality of the laments in De Wert’s four-voice book, “Dolci spoglie” in particular, seeing them as precursors to monody.125 These claims allow the works to be imagined as solo song performed for an audience, giving the text’s speaking persona context and character. Dido’s lament already possesses a character, but not so the anonymous ballatamadrigal “Chi mi fura il ben mio?”; nevertheless, Einstein and MacClintock 125

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, 517; MacClintock, Giaches de Wert, 86; Newcomb, “Wert: A ReEvaluation,” 14, 19–20.

133

133

Traces of Ferrarese Song Example 3.11 “Dolci spoglie, felic’e care tanto,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 62–80.

134

134

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s both suggest it is theatrical in origin.126 Unlike “Dolce e felice sogno” and “Dolci spoglie,” “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” is not an explicitly gendered text, but De  Wert’s musical reading is; it may even reveal traces of a wedding entertainment: “Chi mi fura il ben mio? Chi me lo toglie, ohimè, chi m’il asconde?” Dicalo il pianto mio doglios’e rio che fatto ha nere l’hore mie gioconde. Misero, chi m’ha tolto il bel leggiadro volto, chi mi conduce a così strania sorte, che per dar vita altrui bram’io la morte! Dunque che far poss’io, Tantalo novo in mezz’alle chiar’onde,127 se non gridar, “O Dio! Chi mi fura il ben mio? Chi me lo toglie, ohimè, chi m’il asconde?” “Who steals my happiness [beloved] from me? Who takes it from me, alas, who hides it from me?” Thus speaks my sorrowful and bitter lament, which has made my joyous hours black. Wretch, who deprived me of [his] beautiful lovely face, who leads me to such a strange fate, that I long for death to give life to another! So what can I do, a new Tantalus in the midst of the bright waves, except to cry, “O God! Who steals from me my happiness [beloved]? Who takes it from me, alas, who hides it from me?”

The structure of “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” borrows from popular ballata form, in that the opening thirteen bars, text, and music, are repeated at the end.128 The first word of the seconda parte, “Misero,” does not operate as an exclamation (referring to the speaker), but as the beginning of a sentence, implying an addressee – revealing that De Wert’s speaker is an abbandonata. Moreover, read through the lexicon of double entendre, the poem indicates the speaker is a bride, “che per dar vita altrui bram’io la morte” reflecting 126

127 128

De Wert, Opera omnia, 1972, 15:37–40. Einstein says it would not have been out of place in a Tasso pastoral. MacClintock compares it to a work for an early Florentine wedding intermedio, the capoverso of which it (almost) quotes: “Chi ne l’ha tolta ohyme? Chi ne l’asconde?” by Francesco Corteccia, in which three sirens hunt for the bride, who is now lost to them. See also Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, 167–69. This line is transcribed in error in the Opera omnia, where it reads, “Tanta la nave ….” De Wert employs repeated music for repeated speech again elsewhere in his four-voice book, in his setting of Girolamo Parabosco’s ballata-madrigal, “Amor, poichè non vuole”; in both poems the repeated text functions as both ripresa and volta. Newcomb, “The Ballata and the ‘Free’ Madrigal,” 454–60.

135

135

Traces of Ferrarese Song Example 3.12 “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 30–42.

contemporary belief that orgasm (“morte”) is necessary for procreation (“dar vita”).129 Like “Dolci spoglie,” it uses the combination of slow homophonic declamation and a remote sonority to signal the change in register (Example 3.12).130 It then leads (“conducea così strania sorte”) the harmony away via a twisting chromatic melody. The placement of “Che mi fura il ben mio?” in the book might reinforce a female-voiced reading, as it is followed immediately by Ariosto’s description of Olimpia, “Era il bel viso suo, quale esser suole.” The reference to a “new Tantalus” would apply well to Olimpia, who was abandoned on an island by her faithless husband, Bireno. 129 130

See also Stras, “Non è sì denso velo,” 149–51. Note that the D# in mm. 30–31 is given to the Canto, so that its tuning would not be fixed by an instrument tuned to produce the E♭ in the Tenor at mm. 37–38.

136

136

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s Tantalus’s punishment for stealing the food of the gods was to be tied to a fruit tree in the middle of a lake in Tartarus; the fruit was always out of reach and the water would recede each time he stooped to drink. Olimpia was a married woman abandoned by her husband and so – like Tantalus – was tormented by the knowledge of what (sexual intimacy) was beyond her reach. None of the three madrigal laments is particularly wedded to homophonic textures, nor does the upper voice lead in every imitative episode, so it is difficult to demonstrate exactly why they appear so naturally soloistic. However, these and all the book’s other laments boast a coherence to the overall melodic shape that is evident even when the upper voice is silent. Another shared characteristic is the use of harmonic structures not readily reproduced from a bass part alone. “Dolce e felice sogno” and “Chi fura il ben mio?” have short passages of falling sonorities using first-inversion chords (contiguous major thirds and perfect fourths). In “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” the first-inversions combine with suspensions to make the harmony even more difficult to predict from the bass (Example 3.13, mm. 16–17 and 20–21).131 The desire to use such harmonic devices almost requires the sixteenthcentury composer to think polyphonically, for – notwithstanding the existence of keyboard and lute tablature – the most practical way to convey them accurately was in multiple vocal parts, from which intabulations could be made. Yet if these are the works that Isabella Gonzaga admired, then they existed in a fluid cultural economy, where music circulated and was transmitted orally, in loose manuscript – who knows how it was notated – and in print, performed in one form on one night, and in another on the next. The works of the  Primo libro … a quattro voci have been called composed-out versions of solo song and a “polyphonic mimicking” of solo song, but in truth they are both of these simultaneously.132 This becomes all the clearer when we consider another of De Wert’s early madrigals, “Cara la vita mia, egl’è pur vero” of the Primo libro … a cinque voci. Although not an ottava rima setting, “Cara la vita mia” begins with a gesture that instantly aligns it with the arioso traditions of solo performance. Its homophonic opening is based on the familiar melodic/harmonic formula of the Romanesca (Example 3.14).133 In 1580 De  Wert sent written-out diminutions on the madrigal to his erstwhile employer’s wife, the Countess of Novellara, Vittoria di Capua, as 131

132 133

The parallel major thirds with a stepwise motion in the bass at mm. 16–17 and 20–21 are typical of Willaert’s specific use of this “forbidden” progression to express harshness in the Musica nova; McKinney, “A Rule Made to Be Broken,” 184–86. Similar passages of parallel fourths occur in De Rore’s “O sonno”; La Via, Cipriano de Rore, 444–45. Newcomb, “Wert: A Re-Evaluation,” 19; Haar, “Arioso and Canzonetta,” 90; 101–102. See the more extended discussions of “typical” bass patterns and polyphony in Palisca, “Vincenzo Galilei”; Carter, “An Air New and Grateful to the Ear.”

137

137

Traces of Ferrarese Song Example 3.13 “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci (1561), mm. 10–22.

Example 3.14 “Cara la vita mia, egl’è pur vero,” Giaches de Wert, Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1558), mm. 1–4, Canto with reduction of lower parts.

138

138

The Este Women and Music in the 1550s she had requested music for her daughter Costanza to learn.134 Vittoria’s commission does not seem that distant from Isabella Gonzaga’s request twenty-four years earlier, nor from Eleonora d’Aragona’s, Isabella d’Este’s, and Duchess  Renée’s curation of their own daughters’ musical education. Costanza, who would have been no more than twelve years old, may have had the skills to accompany her own singing; she was a noble daughter raised in a household that valued musical learning. But De Wert would have had to send her something on which to base an accompaniment – something that only resembled the published five-voice work, which abandons homophony entirely after the opening phrase, and which would need to be simplified in intabulation in order to be played gracefully.135 Through repeated performance by Laura Peverara in the 1580s, “Cara la vita mia” eventually became one of the most celebrated works of Ferrarese musical culture.136 It may have appeared in print only in its five-voice polyphonic version, but its opening conceit and its clearest cultural manifestations are as solo song: in the education of a young girl who was being prepared for marriage, and in the repertoire of female virtuose fostered in an elite court environment. De  Wert’s Primo libro … a cinque voci and Primo libro … a quattro voci are only hypothetically Ferrarese, but there is no great stylistic distance between their works and those contemporaneously produced in Ferrara. If anything, they continue the process, seen first in the Ferrarese madrigal of the 1540s and developed further in the 1550s, of amalgamating the structural qualities of song with more complex affective compositional interventions. The presence of Bradamante and their transparent debt to arie binds them to Menon’s Madrigali d’amore; their melodic expressivity to Francesco Dalla Viola’s Fama madrigals; and their harmonic complexities to De Rore’s Secondo libro … a quattro voci. These qualities together produce a fresh, and truly dramatic, locution of the solo female voice, for both specific characters (Bradamante; Dido) and the unnamed female protagonist. With new opportunities for female actors arising in the 1560s  – encouraged, perhaps, by Ercole’s theatrical imperatives that had placed female characters center stage – and the return of the princesses to the Ferrarese court, the scene was set for a new kind of courtly song to emerge. 134 135

136

Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 123. The rules for intabulation set out in Vincenzo Galilei’s Fronimo allow simplified adaptation of the inner parts in five-voice works: “It is true that when there are more than four voices, sometimes – to avoid a great difficulty or to increase the lightness and beauty … you can leave out a few notes of the middle parts.” Galilei prefaces this discussion with an intabulation of Palestrina’s five-voice madrigal “Se tra quest’herbe e fiore,” from one of the Libro delle Muse anthologies, so aligning the practice with the madrigale arioso repertory; Galilei, Fronimo (Venice: Heirs of Girolamo Scotto, 1584), 90–92. See NewcombMF, 1:56, 126–28.

139

4

h

Actresses and Ariosto: Spectacle and Song in the 1560s

At the end of the decade, in October 1559, Alfonso II succeeded his father as Duke of Ferrara. In more than one way, his rule marked new beginnings. Relations between Ferrara and Florence, historically tense, were softened by his marriage to Lucrezia de’  Medici in July 1558, and an uneasy, but stable, peace had been established across northern Italy with the signing of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in April 1559. Closer to home, domestic arrangements were changing. The new duchess arrived at the Ferrarese court from Florence at the beginning of Carnival in 1560. Later that year, in September, the Princesses Lucrezia and Leonora were granted apartments in the castello after the departure of their mother, Renée, for France. For the first time since the Princess Anna’s marriage over a decade before, the court had a strong feminine presence. Although the Este, like many other ruling Italian families of the early modern period, had risen to prominence through military engagement, in the sixteenth century marriage was one of the principal ways in which they had secured their power on the Italian peninsula, and in times of peace this strategy took on increased importance.1 But time was running out for Ercole’s children to contribute to the family project. Alfonso’s first marriage did not last, for Lucrezia de’  Medici died in April 1561, and the need to produce a male heir meant that Alfonso had to find a new bride quickly. In 1565 he married Barbara of Austria, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. But as the decade wore on, and no heir was forthcoming from Alfonso, talk even began of finding a wife for his brother, Cardinal Luigi.2 The search also continued to find husbands for the princesses, although Leonora’s weak constitution meant that, in her case, it was neither urgent nor vigorous. Lucrezia, in her mid-twenties, was still just young enough to be considered a viable consort – and therefore a useful political tool. Marriage to Count Federico Borromeo, nephew of Pope Pius IV, was mooted early in 1560, although formal discussions did not proceed. In 1565, however, a more promising avenue opened with the Duke of Urbino, who wished to marry 1 2

Stoppino, Genealogies of Fiction, 152. Luigi became Bishop of Ferrara in 1550, at age twelve, and was made a cardinal (against his will) by Pope Pius IV in 1561; Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este, 18–21.

140

140

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s Lucrezia to his son, Francesco Maria, fourteen years her junior.3 Although they would take a further five years to complete, ultimately the negotiations were successful and Lucrezia was married early in 1570. Above all, the family needed to cement Ferrara’s claim to dynastic greatness. Apart from the procreational imperative, the first decade of Alfonso’s rule was overshadowed by his competing interest with the Medici for precedence; that is, who would become the Grand Duke by Papal and Imperial decree. Ferrara of the 1560s, then, was focused on projecting and maintaining magnificence, at a time when the northern city-states were vying for political and cultural superiority without the use of force. No longer constrained by the need to maintain a diplomatic balance between French and Imperial superpowers, Ferrara’s display of cultural wealth metamorphosed under Alfonso’s rule. Whereas Ercole sponsored Giraldi’s elite theater that spoke directly and exclusively to his court, Alfonso initially favored more ostentatious, outward-looking entertainments, the elaborate, dramatic tournaments (tornei) that reached their peak in the second half of the 1560s. While still ephemeral, these tournaments were not subject to the same theoretical foundation as Giraldi’s theater or De Rore’s music. Their purpose was in their effect, not their substance. They also required the involvement of the masculine court at all levels, from the provision of scripts, music, and mise-en-scène to the participation of dozens of courtiers in the faux-military spectacle of mounted parades. Yet at the same time, while musical status and control of musical production was still overwhelmingly a masculine domain, musical performance was beginning to take on new significance for a wider range of women. The musical discourse may have been created by male composers, but increasingly this discourse was being envoiced, and therefore influenced, by female performers. By the end of the decade, several strands of circumstance were winding together, creating the conditions for a revival, or transformation, of musical practice for the elite women of the court. This chapter examines each of these strands: a developing notion of composed song; the emerging category of the singing actress (and therefore of dramatic female song); and the socio-political role of the Este women as they passed into mature adulthood.

Berchem’s Capriccio of 1561 In 1548 the marriage of Anna d’Este was commemorated by musical and dramatic realizations of Ariostean heroines, specifically Bradamante, the 3

Ibid., 37. Soon afterwards, Borromeo married Virginia Della Rovere, who would later become Lucrezia’s sister-in-law; Pattenden, Pius IV and the Fall of the Carafa, 113.

141

141

Berchem’s Capriccio of 1561 fictional progenitrix of the Este dynasty. It would seem logical that her brother Alfonso  II’s marriage to Lucrezia de’  Medici should have been celebrated with similar manifestations; after all, he had – as Ariosto’s protagonist Ruggiero does – married the enemy. These did not happen at the time of the marriage. Even so, it is possible that Alfonso intended to mark the occasion of his return to his dukedom, and to his duchess, with a grand Ariostean gesture, which her death prevented from coming to fruition. Alfonso and Lucrezia’s wedding took place in Florence, and was a relatively low-key affair.4 Lucrezia’s mother insisted that the marriage not be consummated for two years, given Lucrezia’s youth. Alfonso had made it a condition of the marriage that he should be allowed immediately to leave his bride in Florence for an extended stay at the court of his father-in law’s enemy, the king of France, and he returned to Italy only in late 1559 upon hearing the news of his own father’s death. Alfonso had already attempted to offer his new bride – via her father – a musical gift, but it turned out to be politically misplaced. In October 1558 he presented Cosimo de’ Medici with a copy of Adriano Willaert’s Musica nova, the exclusive collection he had purchased in 1554, and which had also cost him dearly in his efforts to bring it to print.5 The offering, however, was coolly received, even rejected. It is possible that Alfonso intended the anti-Medicean and pro-Savonarolan themes contained in the Musica nova to affront his wife and his in-laws, yet the correspondence between Alfonso’s agents in Florence and Ferrara suggests Alfonso was unaware his new relations would have found his gift so distasteful.6 Moreover, at the outset of his reign, at least, he expressed strong support for the Counter-Reformation, and would have been likely to have rejected any pro-Savonarolan propaganda.7 The gift having backfired, Alfonso may have sought to present his wife with something more apropos, once she had arrived in Ferrara and begun to settle into her new life. Barely two years after the appearance of Musica nova in 1559, Antonio Gardano produced another expensive and large-scale collection dedicated to Alfonso, the three-volume Capriccio of Jachet de  Berchem.8 Although he had worked in northern Italy in the 1540s and may have solicited for employment at the Este court in the 1550s, Berchem probably did not have much say in the Capriccio’s publication,

4

5 6 7 8

For details of the wedding and Lucrezia’s reception in Ferrara, see D’Accone, “Corteccia’s Motets,” 38–45. Butchart, “La Pecorina.” Fromson, “Themes of Exile,” 474–76. Butchart, “ ‘La Pecorina,’ ” 362; Blaisdell, “Politics and Heresy,” 91–93. Primo, secondo, et terzo libro del capriccio di Iachetto Berchem (Venice: Gardano, 1561). The dedication is transcribed in Appendix 4.1.

142

142

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s for the dedication, dated 31 October 1561, was signed by Gardano himself.9 Given the size of the project, it seems highly likely that it was financed by an external commission rather than solely by the publisher. Although there is no proof that Alfonso contributed to the cost of publication, Gardano presents the collection to the duke as a “cosa di vostra ragione” – a thing or creation of the duke’s own mind. Looking closely at the program it presents, it seems eminently suitable as a message of conciliation between Alfonso and his wife. The Capriccio is an extravagant and idiosyncratic publication by virtue of its size, its commitment to creating larger narrative structures through the linking of multiple settings, and its singular textual provenance. Its madrigals are thoroughly grounded in the four-voice arioso style. Berchem was a contributor to Barré’s Muse series, and therefore familiar with the genre, but he uses its particular musical quality – the impression, if not the actuality, of polyphony derived from pre-existing melodies  – to create structural coherence across the collection.10 The Capriccio sets ninety-three stanzas from Orlando furioso, selected from Cantos I through XXXIX and arranged equally in three books. The first book begins as the romance itself begins, with the first two stanzas of Canto I. They promise to deliver chivalric tales of derring-do, and of Orlando’s insanity – if, the poet-singer says, “she, who has reduced me almost to a like condition, and even now is eroding my last fragments of sanity, leaves me yet with sufficient to complete what I  have undertaken.”11 The rest of the first book treats the story of Sacripante and Angelica, and of Orlando’s descent into madness. The second book begins to speak more directly to Alfonso and Lucrezia’s recent history, with the settings of Zerbino and Issabella’s partenze, and Bradamante’s lament for the absent and, as she mistakenly believes, faithless Ruggiero. However, it is the third book that seems to articulate the clearest correspondence with the ducal couple’s situation as they began life together in Ferrara in early 1560. Berchem’s third book opens with eight stanzas, set out of order, from Cantos XXXIV, XXXIII, and XVII. They describe an independent and defiant Italy, finally freed from the clutches of the evil French, who are characterized as harpies that snatch the food from Italian mouths. Although Ariosto’s verse purports to describe an enmity long past, more recently the French had, with military assistance from the Este, supported the Sienese rebellion against the Medici, a conflict only resolved in 1559. There follows a brief excerpt of Astolfo’s encounter with the damned soul of Lidia, condemned 9

10 11

In 1553 Berchem married a woman from Monopoli, near Bari in southern Italy, and died there in 1567. Haar, “Improvvisatori,” 99. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1.

143

143

The First Singing Ladies to eternity in the smoke that arises from Hell. Her punishment is for her cruelty to her faithful suitor, Alceste, a prince who – as Alfonso had done just after his marriage – joined the army of her father’s enemy. These stanzas would have functioned as a gentle reproach to Lucrezia, ensuring she would not treat her new husband harshly on account of any perceived betrayal. The rest of Berchem’s third book deals with Astolfo’s trip to the moon, where he recovers Orlando’s sanity and restores it to him, perhaps intended to represent Alfonso’s return to his rightful responsibilities in Italy and Ferrara. For all its astute curation of the Furioso, the Capriccio nonetheless stops short of setting any part of the final seven cantos, which tell of Bradamante and Ruggiero’s reconciliation, the obstacles to their marriage, their duel, and finally their union, which founds the great Este dynasty. Yet Gardano’s dedication to Alfonso is explicit in its presentation of the Furioso as a dynastic text, and it seems very unlikely that any work destined to commemorate an Este marriage or even just an Este patron would lack the culmination of the romance. The failure to complete Bradamante’s story within the narrative structure of the three books also begs explanation. Indeed, if the symmetry of the three books is continued into a fourth, then the total number of stanzas set would have been 124 – an auspicious number – the sum of the first eight prime numbers, the digits of which add up to seven.12 Perhaps the Capriccio was left unfinished or deliberately truncated after Lucrezia’s untimely death in April 1561. By bringing out the first three volumes, Gardano and Alfonso could have hoped for some sort of financial recompense for an abandoned venture, without drawing attention to the duke’s widowhood and his lost opportunity for dynastic expansion.

The First Singing Ladies: Lucrezia Bendidio and Tarquinia Molza When Lucrezia de’ Medici died, the balance of gender roles in the Ferrarese castello again became unstable – not the most immediate or obvious consequence of her death, but one that would have ramifications for courtly cultural life. Instead of embarking upon raising a new generation of children who would bring honor to their parents, magnificence to their state, and stability to their dynasty through their accomplishments and their marriageability, suddenly Alfonso was obliged to start all over again looking for a bride. At the same time, the Princesses Lucrezia and Leonora became the most senior women at the court, and although they possessed all the 12

On the use of number symbolism in general, and Pythagorean number theory in particular, see Raybould, Symbolic Literature, esp. 13–14.

144

144

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s necessary skills to perform this role, they did so vicariously. Moreover, they themselves remained unmarried, so they still had a responsibility to maintain the cultural capital their family had already invested in them, although as they approached their mid-twenties they were already becoming too old for the role of courtly ornament. The young girl’s prodigious accomplishments, acquired as part of her grooming for marriage, might take on an air of desperation or even indecency if practiced by an older woman. Of course, this was not the first period during which there had been an absence of younger women at the Este court: Suor Leonora had withdrawn into the convent of Corpus Domini after her mother’s death. But the presence of the princesses meant there was a female space at the court, one that presented both a necessity and an opportunity for it to be filled with virtuosic young women. Among the late duchess’s ladies-in-waiting was a thirteen-year-old girl, Lucrezia Bendidio. Although not ennobled, the Bendidio family had existed at the upper strata of Ferrarese society for many decades. From the fifteenth century on, each generation may be found in the famiglie of Este princes.13 Lucrezia was one of five daughters of Niccolò Bendidio, one of Ercole  II’s most trusted secretaries, and Alessandra Rossetti, sister of the bishop of Ferrara. She was not recalled back to the family home upon her mistress’s death, but instead transferred to the famiglia of Princess Leonora. When Alfonso remarried, she was returned to the household of the second duchess, Barbara of Austria. Upon this duchess’s death in 1572, she went back to Princess Leonora, but appears to have left her service by 1575. Lucrezia Bendidio spent nearly fifteen years in service to Este women, during which time she became a celebrated singer, but the first notice of her abilities came in the early months of her employment in Leonora’s household when she was still a young girl. During September 1561, Leonora and her ladies went with her brother Luigi to the baths at Albano, near Padua. It is presumed that during this visit Lucrezia’s talents were first observed

13

Guerzoni, “Este Courtiers Database.” Most biographies of Lucrezia Bendidio state that the family was noble, but I can find no record to support the claim. One can also look to the marriage of Lucrezia’s sister Taddea to Giambattista Guarini to show that they must still have been considered on a par with other secretarial families. The Guarini were just as well established in Ferrara as the Bendidei, and had served the Este for an equivalent period of time. Torquato Tasso names both families among the illustri of Ferrara, alongside the Macchiavelli – the family into which Lucrezia Bendidio eventually married. There were, to be sure, families higher up the hierarchy – the molto illustri Bevilacqui, Sacrati, Calcagnini, Mosti, Turchi and others – their status determined by their obligations as feudatori to the Este; Appendix 4.2: Torquato Tasso, “Il forno secondo, overo della nobiltà,” in Dialoghi, e discorsi del Signor Torquato Tasso sopra diversi soggetti (Venice: for Giulio Vasalini, bookseller in Ferrara, 1587), 128v–129r.

145

145

The First Singing Ladies by the young Torquato Tasso and other members of the Accademia degli Eterei.14 In 1567 the Eterei published its Rime, which contained several poems in praise of her singing.15 Her performance may have been in the context of her betrothal to Count Baldassare Macchiavelli, whom she was to marry during Carnival the following year. But even so, if the academicians were to have heard her sing, rather than just hearing about her singing, Lucrezia must have performed in a much more public arena than we might suppose to be usual for a girl of her station. These men were not family members, and this was not her father’s house, so it appears that Lucrezia was being used as a proxy of Este magnificence, a household commodity that reflected her mistress’s cultural and intellectual sophistication. What and how she sang is unknown. She may have sung to her own accompaniment, but she is never recorded as doing so in later years; instead, in all later descriptions of her singing she is accompanied by Luzzasco Luzzaschi. The prospect of Lucrezia singing in consort with another person playing, to an audience of older men, could have been deeply troubling for her and her family – they would have relied on the princess’s patronage to have shielded the girl’s reputation. If Lucrezia was put on display away from Ferrara, she may have also performed the same function at home in the castello. That we lack a consistent record of Lucrezia or any other young woman singing at court during the 1560s may be because of the nature of the evidence. Much of what we know about musical performance at Ferrara comes from diplomatic dispatches and letters, keeping their addressees informed of important events in courtly life, and the activities of the princesses’ households may not have registered high on their list of priorities. But we can be certain that the princesses’ famiglie would have been the premium destination for young women whose parents wished to secure an advantageous marriage for them; and the princesses’ well-attested interest in music would have provided those young women with an incentive to develop their skills. After years of negotiation and not a little frustration, Alfonso eventually married Barbara of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and sister to Maximillian  II, by proxy in November 1565. Her entry into Ferrara took place on 5 December, the day after the feast of Santa Barbara.16 The wedding celebrations were marked with a quasi-dramatic torneo  – a spectacular blend of theater, jousting, music, and pyrotechnics. Il  Tempio

14 15

16

Stras, “Musical Portraits,” 154–56. Tasso’s poems for her, composed throughout his life, are compiled and translated in Tasso, Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio. Albèri, Relazioni, 1863, 4:240.

146

146

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s d’Amore took place on 25 December in the duchess’s garden at the castello.17 Although the festival torneo had been an element of entertainment at the Este court for over a century, Il Tempio d’Amore raised the bar, for its scale and complexity demanded courtly and  professional involvement in every aspect. The plot involved witches who transformed themselves into young girls, and unworthy knights into rocks and trees, borrowing tropes from Orlando furioso, but without transparently invoking its dynastic themes. Given the importance of the marriage to the continuation of the Este, it seems strange that dynastic security did not feature strongly in the entertainment. Barbara would have to wait nearly three more years to witness her intended destiny as theater, but by the time she did, in the form of a pageant in Modena in 1568, the Este succession had gone from concern to crisis. In May 1567 Pope Pius V issued the bull Prohibitio alienandi et infeudandi civitates et loca Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, which confirmed finally that only a legitimate male heir, descended directly through the male line, could inherit the duchy.18 In eighteen months of marriage Barbara had not become pregnant, and with no prospect of a legitimate male birth from any member of the family apart from Alfonso himself, the situation for the family became grave.19 In the late autumn of 1568 Alfonso, the Duchess  Barbara, and the Princess  Lucrezia began a ducal progression through Este territory. Two events occurred within weeks of each other that, in hindsight, can be seen to have had a significant impact on the development of female singing at Ferrara. The first was a performance at a public banquet in Modena by Tarquinia Molza Porrina; the second a theatrical performance in Reggio by an unnamed actress. The combined effect on the Este siblings seems to have been an acceleration toward the point at which female vocal performance – by women recruited to court specifically on the basis of their musical prowess – became not just a facet, but the center of musical activity at the Ferrarese court. Of all the female singers of the mid to late century, Tarquinia Molza is certainly the best documented, both during her lifetime and through the agency of modern scholarship. She was born in Modena on 1 November 1542, so when she performed for the duke and his retinue in 1568, she was already nearly twenty-six years old, and had been married for eight years. Much of what is known of her early life is reported in a manuscript dialog, L’amorosa

17 18 19

Marcigliano, Chivalric Festivals, 50–52. See Kuntz, The Anointment of Dionisio, 96. Alfonso’s sterility was later attributed to a terrible jousting accident that had befallen him in France in 1556; Lowinsky, “Two Motets and Two Madrigals,” 634.

147

147

The First Singing Ladies filosofia, written by her friend and teacher, the philosopher and scholar Francesco Patrizi.20 In it, Patrizi gives details of Molza’s education before and after her marriage. Tarquinia had been allowed by her parents to undertake a humanist education with her brothers, and she was already in the process of establishing a reputation as an accomplished poet and rhetorician. But if we are to believe Patrizi, before her marriage in 1560 to Paolo Porrino, Molza had not pursued musical training beyond learning to sing poetry to arie. Nevertheless, when her talents were “discovered,” her husband permitted her to learn notation and to sight-sing.21 The freedom granted Molza by her husband may well have been exceptional, but clearly he recognized her musical potential was equal to her literary gifts. A salon began to assemble at her Modena home  – in the same vein, perhaps, as the Venetian salons of Polissena Pecorina and Gaspara Stampa  – and her singing would have enhanced its cultural status. Patrizi gives no date for the initiation of her musical studies, but since he tells us that she resumed her literary studies five years into her marriage (perhaps because it was becoming clear that she and Porrino would have no offspring), it may have been around 1565.22 Much of Patrizi’s first dialog is given over to praise of Tarquinia’s unique voice and exceptional musical prowess. She is repeatedly compared with men  – as a singer and instrumentalist, and in her knowledge of music theory – and found to surpass them in all areas.23 Her great gift, as conveyed by Patrizi, was that her natural grace and vocal accomplishment were married with a formidable intellect: “I have not seen nor heard any singer nowadays that can come close to equaling her, neither in the aforesaid elements of the beauty of the voice, nor in the discretion and judgement with which she sings.”24 News of Tarquinia must have reached the Este court, and when the progression halted in Modena, she was sought out and tested, as if she were a local curiosity. She was commanded to sing at sight with the 20

21 22

23

24

I-PAp, cod. Pal. 418. The manuscript, dated 1577, is available in a modern transcription by Charles Nelson; Patrizi, L’amorosa filosofia. Although a short contemporary account exists– Pietro Paolo di Ribera, Le glorie immortali de’ trionfi et heroiche imprese d’ottocento quarantacinque donne Illustri antiche, e moderne, dotate di conditione, e scienze segnalate (Venice: Deuchino, 1606), 325 – the first extensive biography of Molza was published in the eighteenth century;  Vandelli, “Vita di Tarquinia Molza.” Two published studies have examined both biographical and musicological evidence from Vandelli and Patrizi; Riley, “Tarquinia Molza”; Durante and Martellotti, Cronistoria. See also Stras, “Recording Tarquinia”; Stras, “Musical Portraits,” esp. 150–52. Patrizi, L’amorosa filosofia, 38. Ibid., 60. Note the correlations between Molza and Olimpia Morata, Princess Anna’s companion, discussed in Chapter 2. Key passages, including a long comparison of Molza and Hernando Bustamente, a castrato in Alfonso II’s chapel, are transcribed and translated in Stras, “Recording Tarquinia.” Patrizi, L’amorosa filosofia, 39–40.

148

148

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s duke’s musicians, and was the only one not to make a mistake: “whence the duke, with rebuke for his [musicians] praised her that he had never heard in any place a more secure part than hers.”25 But her greatest triumph came when she accompanied herself singing an unidentified setting of Petrarch’s “Hor che ’l ciel e la terra e ’l vento tace”: But there is nothing to be heard in the whole world that is more sweet, wonderful and divine, than her singing to lute accompaniment; and there is not so rough or cold a soul that would not feel the pulse moving and warming its veins, transporting the soul so completely that it would seem for certain that it was among God’s angels in Paradise. With this singing she [Molza] so amazed the Duke  Alfonso and the duchess … that as proof of this and as reward for her virtues, during the civic feasts that were being held in Modena, he always allowed her to sit at an equal station to their Highnesses, with much envy, as is obvious, from all the noble ladies and all the gentlemen present. Of this singing that was of various things, the duke’s favorite remained Petrarch’s sonnet “Hor che ’l ciel e la terra e ’l vento tace,” that for the wonder that the duke had from it, it was repeated at least four and six times.26

Patrizi’s description of Molza’s performances in Modena in 1568 is the earliest to record a woman singing in the presence of Duke Alfonso, along with an account of his reaction. Within a few years of this event, more documents provide evidence of female singers at the Ferrarese court being called upon to sing for guests. Lucrezia Bendidio and her sister Isabella are central to these accounts, although Molza reappears briefly, too. When once a young Este princess would have entertained the family and the most important dignitaries visiting the court, now ladies of a lesser rank, on the borders of elite status, were beginning to be commanded in their stead.

Singing Actresses and Ariostean Spectacle When the court left Modena, it headed east for the town of Reggio, which lies almost equidistant between Modena and Parma. There, on 2 November 1568, the ducal party witnessed a performance of Gabriele Bombasi’s tragedy Alidoro, which was followed by a spectacular pageant based on a short scene from Orlando furioso. In order to understand fully the entertainment’s importance, it is necessary to step back briefly to consider the emerging profile of female performers and the broader popularity of Ariosto’s romance.

25 26

Ibid., 38. Ibid., 42.

149

149

Singing Actresses and Ariostean Spectacle In the preface to Berchem’s Capriccio, Gardano claimed that Ariosto’s work, fed by the glory of the Este, would resound for all time.27 By the 1550s it formed the basis not only of poetic recitation and musical composition, but also of theatrical presentations, adapted in script and in improvisation. Although Ariosto initially wrote his romance for an aristocratic audience, it had become part of common European culture: “handled by the old, read by the young, of value to men, prized by women, held precious by the learned, sung by the unlearned; it stays with all in the cities, goes with all in the country, it can be seen in Spain, it is celebrated in France.”28 Such was its ubiquity in all strata of society that it was claimed that the poem was known and recited everywhere, from courts and museums, to workshops and pastures, where “crude countrywomen and coarse shepherdesses … ignorant of all else, and almost even of their own name” might sing stanzas to their flocks.29 Even those who could not read, it was said, could learn some verses by heart that they could sing to the lute (ribeca) or to the harpsichord  – although here the hyperbole becomes evident, as the harpsichord is hardly a peasant instrument.30 These descriptions have been taken as evidence of the resonance the poem had for women in particular, since their authors even deign to mention a female audience, and since the issues of literacy and learning – or lack of them – is prominent in their discourse.31 The notion of the Furioso as a “women’s poem” may be too reductive, as it presents both positive and negative female characters.32 But as such, it was also ideal material for the newly emergent figure, the professional actress, for whom it provided a great variety of complex and important characters through which she could captivate and fascinate her audience.33 In the summer of 1567, a season-long spectacle in Mantua  – the celebrated theatrical duel between Flaminia Romana and Vincenza Armani – turned popular attention to this new kind of woman, specifically

27 28

29

30 31 32

33

Haar, “Capriccio,” 130. Appendix 4.3: Francesco Caburacci, Trattato … Dove si dimostra il vero, e novo modo di fare le imprese, con un breve discorso in difesa dell’Orlando furioso di Lodovico Ariosto (Bologna: Rossi, 1580), 80. Partially transcribed in Javitch, Proclaiming a Classic, 14. Appendix 4.4: Malatesta, Della nuova poesia (Verona: Dalle Donne, 1590), 137–38. Partially transcribed in Javitch, Proclaiming a Classic, 14. Malatesta’s defense of the poem was first argued at Tivoli in the presence of Luigi d’Este in 1581; Della nuova poesia, 3. Malatesta, Della nuova poesia, 148. Javitch, Proclaiming a Classic, 11–14. See, for instance, the arguments in Chapter 1, “Openings: Ariosto’s Double-Edged Pen,” in MacCarthy, Women and Poetry in Orlando Furioso, 1–16. Nicholson, “Romance as Role Model,” 249. Professional actresses, per se, were not necessarily unknown before this time, but it is only from this point that their names are recorded with any regularity, indicating a rise in status.

150

150

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s through the medium of the Furioso.34 Both Flaminia and Vincenza were praised for their portrayals, on and off the stage, of the tropes of Ariosto’s women. They excelled not just as innamorate and tragic heroines, but also in their ability to hold their own in physical and verbal battles against each other, demonstrating a bravura and sdegno (disdain) that made them popular embodiments of Ariosto’s female warriors, Marfisa and Bradamante (who, of course, themselves duel in the course of the romance). Flaminia was described as a “stone-throwing Marfisa” defending her troupe against physical attack in a street-fight; Vincenza was noted for ability to brush off unwanted suitors with withering and emasculating contempt.35 Flaminia was singled out for her rendition of Drusilla’s laments in her troupe’s tragicomedia adaptation of Canto XXXVII. The character of Drusilla exercised the actress’s abilities to engender pity as she mourns her dead husband; ridicule at her rather inept attempt at suicide; wonder at her deceptive passivity; and terror as she unleashes her wrath and scorn at her husband’s killer as he himself lays dying.36 Vincenza, if anything, was given greater kudos for her superior musical skill in her troupe’s representations of both tragedy and pastoral. A  funeral oration written by her lover a few years later in 1570 states Vincenza’s musical accomplishments included composition and singing, both self-accompanied and in ensembles – comparable to Molza in her achievements, although clearly not in social rank.37 The duel (which was really a meta-performance for the benefit of both companies) lasted from the beginning of June until 15 July, when Vincenza’s company departed for Ferrara, leaving Flaminia’s in Mantua. Flaminia soon began preparations for a production for which Giaches de  Wert was commissioned to provide music, including a part specifically for her to sing.38 The comedy and intermedi were performed in January 1568 at the new theater in Novellara, to celebrate the wedding of Count  Alfonso Gonzaga and Vittoria di Capua. The leading figures of the Ferrarese court, including both Alfonso  II and Cardinal  Luigi, were also present.39 They would have witnessed Flaminia perhaps parodying her performances from 34

35 36

37 38 39

See the modern accounts in Henke, Performance and Literature, 85–94; Nicholson, “Romance as Role Model.” A fuller transcription of the contemporary accounts may be found in D’Ancona, Origini del teatro italiano, 2:450–54. Henke, Performance and Literature, 93. Drusilla acquiesces to marriage to her husband’s murderer, assuming the role of the dutiful woman, only to offer him a poisoned chalice (from which she also drinks) at the marriage ceremony. See also the remarks on the significance of the canto’s opening stanzas, in praise of accomplished women, in MacNeil, Music and Women, 34. Ibid., 36. The text of the entertainments was by Leone de’ Sommi: see Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 68–70. The Novellara majordomo was anxious, fearing that, “if the comedy doesn’t succeed, everyone will leave with their noses in the air, complaining about having left their Carnival in Ferrara

151

151

Singing Actresses and Ariostean Spectacle the previous summer in a tragicomic lament bemoaning her ill-treatment at the hands of her husband (before beating him herself).40 After this production was finished, Flaminia’s troupe returned to Mantua, again meeting up with Vincenza. The two actresses performed together in Mantua during the 1568 Carnival season and into the summer, although their continued high profile caused consternation for some.41 In the following months the two companies began a merger.42 It could be that their continued presence in the region during 1568 was prompted by plans to produce Alidoro, the new tragedy presented in Reggio in November – which is where we return to the tale of Duke Alfonso and Duchess Barbara’s regional progress. Despite its regional venue, the production of Alidoro was prestigious. The Ferrarese progression met a large cohort from the court of Parma, and the play was given in the presence of the ducal families from both territories. Two principal actresses were required:  the female lead and the Chorus. Vincenza’s celebrated musical abilities perhaps make her a candidate for the Chorus; a second actress more skilled in the art of tragedy would have been required to play the English princess, Cordilla – this role would have been appropriate for Flaminia. A description of the production shows how Giraldi’s choral innovations had developed into an important aspect of the entertainment. The anonymous author stresses that the choral interludes for this production were specially composed by “the most famous musicians of our age,” and claims that their expressive force rivaled that of the music of the ancients, for “much thought had been given to them by most excellent musicians, who, having looked deeply into their meaning, wrote melodies for them, imitating the words so felicitously, that one would sooner call them speeches than songs.”43 Significantly, because women were now major players in professional companies, the choral ensemble could be

40

41

42

43

with such inconvenience”; Appendix 4.5: Novellara, Archivio Storico Gonzaga, b. 44, Mantova, Leandro Bracciolo to unknown, 12 January 1568. Cited in Besutti, “Dal madrigale alla musica scenica,” 161. Paola Besutti suggests the comedy was based on the Calandrino stories from Boccaccio’s Decameron, and that Flaminia would likely have taken the role of Calandrino’s wife, Tessa; ibid., 160–62. Appendix 4.6: Giovanni Paolo de’ Medici to unknown, 5 August 1568. Cited in D’Ancona, “Il teatro mantovano,” 22. “I’m beginning to weary of staying here, because I’m bored with clowns, Venetians, and whores. Yesterday Lady Vincenza arrived with her company, who doubled up performances while it rained: but like I said, I’m fed up with it.” Henke, Performance and Literature, 95. The merged company is said to have become the Gelosi. In the decade that followed, Alfonso vigorously supported the Gelosi, who by 1573 had emerged as the duke’s favorite commedia troupe; see SolertiFer, 93. From Il Successo dell’Alidoro tragedia (Reggio: Bartoli, n.d.); transcribed in Ariani, La tragedia del Cinquecento, 2:999. Translation, Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, 202. Note also that, writing in around 1628, Vincenzo Giustiniani historically associates recitative style with female performers: “This recitative style was the usual in the plays sung by the ladies in Rome,

152

152

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s women both symbolically and physically. At times, the Chorus was joined by another woman singing in dialog; at others, a group of women sang together, accompanied by instruments invisible to the audience, in a way that ensured the words were always intelligible.44 The unnamed actress who was the principal singer was singled out for particular praise: Whatever they may have thought of it, this singing of hers was so lovely to listen to and to watch, that I think it will long be remembered and even serve as a model. For this lady had a most delicate voice, combined with a certain natural talent ruled by art and great judgment. And at the right moments whilst she was so displaying her voice, she altered the expression of her face and eyes, and her gestures and movements, to accord with the changes in meaning of the words she sang. So gently did she do this that she charmed everyone, and they feared, hoped, rejoiced or sorrowed as she wished.45

The language describing her singing closely resembles the various accounts of Tarquinia Molza’s rendition of “Hor che ’l ciel e la terra e ’l vento tace.” Both women are praised for the natural beauty of their voices, and the skill and judgment with which they sing; for their graceful gestures and facial expressions; and above all for their ability to move their spectators. Molza’s performance is known to have had a profound effect on Duke  Alfonso; it would seem highly likely that the Reggio actress’s singing would have charmed him equally. It does seem not coincidental that the pace of women’s musical development at the Ferrara court accelerated from 1569 onwards; and although the commentator could not have foreseen the future, his words seem almost prescient. This double exposure appears to mark the tipping point in the emergence of the new Ferrarese artistic direction, not just in the fanatical curatorship of female voices, but also in the crystallization of an attitude to composition and performance, a distinctly Ferrarese take on the humanist project of reviving the powers of ancient music through solo song.

44

45

as it now also is [still] in use”; Appendix 4.7: GiustinianiD, 32. Severo Bonini concurs: “what you have observed with regard to the modern style … can be heard today in some airs that are sung by women in the staged representations of Rosana, Uliva, and other similar saints”; Appendix 4.8: Bonini, Severo Bonini’s Discorsi e regole, 180. “In one song, the choir were divided, and having two women, who were the principals of the [two] parts, two verses in honor of Venus were sung two times alternating, and finally the same were repeated and sung by all the chorus, so that they, being already reiterated several times, could not but easily be understood by everyone.” Appendix 4.9: Ariani, La tragedia del Cinquecento, 2:1001. Appendix 4.9: ibid., 2:1000. Translation adapted from Pirrotta and Povoledo, Music and Theatre, 202.

153

153

Singing Actresses and Ariostean Spectacle The conclusion of the evening’s entertainment provided the two leading actresses an opportunity to demonstrate their Ariostean prowess, in a “new spectacle on an invention of the Furioso” (nuovo spettacolo [sopra un] inventione  del Furioso), staged immediately following the tragedy. It was a dramatic interpretation of the first meeting of Bradamante and Melissa (Canto III), in which Bradamante’s future as the progenitor of the Este line is revealed to her. Melissa asks if Bradamante wishes to see her descendants resplendent in arms, and proceeds – by means of incantations and an (unfortunately prophetic) earthquake – to bring forth a company of youths dressed as knights representing the Este lineage, presided over by the gods in a heavenly portal and accompanied by “angelic music and the delicate odor of amber (to imitate ambrosia)”.46 The Furioso’s contribution to the debates regarding female morality, obedience, and fidelity may have been more pertinent to Renée, Anna, and Lucrezia de’  Medici, but by the time of the Reggio performance in 1568, its procreational imperative  – dependent on Bradamante’s vigorous enactment of all three themes  – was clearly more urgent. Duchess Barbara could not have failed to take away the message of her responsibility to her new family. Some six months after the production of Alidoro and its Ariostean finale, in late May 1569, the Ferrarese court played host to Barbara’s brother, the Archduke  Karl of Austria. The visit represented Alfonso’s last attempt to garner support from the Habsburgs for his claim to the title of Grand Duke. The central cultural event of the visit was a torneo, L’Isola beata. A lengthy description by Ercole Estense Tassoni recounts not only the plot and the staging, but also – in a separate section – the tragedy that befell the dress rehearsal: four knights were drowned when a boat capsized.47 The production went ahead, but not exactly as it was given in the description. L’Isola beata was transparently based on Alcina’s island, from Canto VI of the Furioso.48 However, the plot was newly invented, involving female characters (some also based on Ariosto’s characters)  – the Enchantresses of Pleasure and Displeasure, and Displeasure’s minions the Enchantresses of Fury and Confusion – who battle for the control of a band of Ferrarese knights. The conflict is finally resolved by the intervention of Venus, who then concluded the entertainment with a long canzone in honor of the house of Habsburg. There were three principal female singing roles:  the

46 47 48

Appendix 4.10: From Il Successo. Transcribed in Ariani, La tragedia del Cinquecento, 2:1007. Tassoni, L’Isola beata (Ferrara: n.p., 1569). Marcigliano, Chivalric Festivals, 59–134. Marcigliano notes that the Florentine ambassador, Bernardo Canigiani, describes the tournament’s premise in Ariostean terms; ibid., 62., citing SolertiFer, 177.

154

154

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s Enchantress of Pleasure, Venus, and the lead Chorus. Some striking similarities with the immediate prehistory of theater in the region emerge from the description of the tournament:  the foregrounding of a pair of dueling women, one who excels in singing, the other in battle; a chorus of nymphs led by an accomplished soloist; and indeed the entire structure of the action, which was framed and narrated by alternating choruses and recitativo delivered by the Enchantress of Pleasure and her nymphs.49 The Ferrarese Giambattista Verato, one of the leading theatrical figures in the region, had the responsibility of both directing and performing in L’Isola beata; intriguingly, he was also involved in Alidoro.50 Given the match between the demands of L’Isola beata and the abilities of Vincenza and Flaminia, or even the unnamed actresses of Alidoro, it is not impossible that they were also involved, or at the very least that their influence was evident in the development of the entertainment.51 The interrelated strands seen coming together in L’Isola beata – singing actresses, female animosity, Ariostean themes, dynastic continuation  – contributed significantly to the courtly context in which the late-century Ferrarese fascination with female virtuosity arose. The changes that had taken place since the mid-1550s, when Alfonso acquired the Musica nova, are revealing. Willaert’s collection had been assembled in a milieu where some women might be accomplished, but in which the emotions they were allowed to express – in refined renditions of Petrarchan tropes – were constrained by convention. By 1569 the capabilities of female performers and audiences’ expectations of them had expanded considerably to the expert – and public – representation of a wide range of emotions and subject positions in both speech and song. This shift almost certainly was influenced by the popularity and performability of Ariosto’s women, who were strong, wise, spiteful, frivolous, forgiving, faithful, deceitful, contrite, furious, fearful, and fearsome – and who, unlike the Madonna of Petrarch and Bembo – spoke for themselves.

49

50

51

The pattern of alternating recitative and chorus is strongly reminiscent of the priests’ scene in Agostini Beccari’s Il sacrificio, with music composed by Alfonso Dalla Viola and performed by his brother Andrea in a Ferrarese production in 1554, often cited as the first notated recitative/ monody; see Owens, “Music in the Early Ferrarese Pastoral.” Marcigliano, Chivalric Festivals, 95–96. Marcigliano also suggests that Verato collaborated with the Gelosi in the first production of Tasso’s Aminta in 1573. Verato is the only professional actor taking part to be named in any document relating to L’Isola beata. Marcigliano presumes that all the speaking/singing female parts – the Enchantresses, the chorus leader, and Venus – were played by boys or young men, but there is no evidence to suggest what the sex of the performers was; ibid., 98–102.

155

155

The New “New Music”

The New “New Music” With the focus of the court so intent on Alfonso’s marriages throughout the first half of the 1560s, one might imagine his sisters waiting patiently, wondering if they would ever have the opportunity to leave their brother’s jurisdiction thanks to a marriage of their own. Although it became clear that Leonora would never be able to marry because of her continued ill health, Lucrezia held out hope that someday she would be found a husband. Nevertheless, the negotiations begun in 1565 with the Duke of Urbino to marry her to his son Francesco Maria were prolonged, partially because of her own intransigence over her dowry.52 Perhaps she presciently feared the worst, and wished to ensure her financial independence should the marriage fail. Moreover, she thrived in the cultural life available to her in the castello. She received numerous dedications of poetry, plays, and books of music during the 1560s, and leaving such a stimulating environment would have been a heavy price to pay. Two books of madrigals by Giulio Fiesco shed light on Lucrezia’s musical activities in the 1560s. Fiesco’s role at court remains unclear:  his music, like that of Bertoldo di Bertoldi in the 1540s, appears to arise in a courtly context, but his biography is otherwise undocumented. His first two publications, the Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1554) and the Madrigali … a quattro, a cinque e a sei voci (Venice: Scotto, 1563) were dedicated to Alfonso II and Luigi Gonzaga (of Luzzara) respectively. In 1567 he dedicated his Madrigali … a cinque voci, libro secondo (Venice: [Giorgio Angelieri], 1567) to Princess Lucrezia, his “most singular benefactress” (benefattrice singolarissima). Speaking in the third person, he said, “He shall consider himself rewarded for all his labors if he learns that these madrigals of his are sometime sung by you, for he could not expect any later glory or immortality that could match the honor that Your Excellency would afford them in deeming them worthy of your ears and of your voice.”53 Not all of the works were composed for the princess’s personal use, as this book – like Fiesco’s two previous publications – contains several madrigals that suggest either a theatrical or ceremonial origin.54 But the final work, “Mira secondo Re de gli altri fiumi” clearly refers to Lucrezia herself: “Mira secondo Re de gli altri fiumi / Donna del ciel che la tua Rom’honora”

52 53

54

Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este, 37. Appendix 4.11: Giulio Fiesco, Madrigali … a cinque voci. Libro secondo, dedication. Translated WaismanFM, 52. WaismanFM, 185–86, 536–49. See also Chapter 2, n. 97.

156

156

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s (“Behold the second king of the other rivers, Lady of heaven that all your Rome honors” – the second king of Rome was Numa Pompilius, whose wife was named Lucrezia). A paranomastic twist reveals that the unnamed protagonist of “Mentre per l’ampio mar de gli honor tuoi” is also meant to be Lucrezia. Since she is described as competing with the sirens Partenope and Ligeia, we may assume that she is the other siren – the “nova Sirena,” a new Leucosia (or Lucrezia): Mentre per l’ampio mar de gli honor tuoi d’ogni virtut’adorna vaghi [sic] Madonna, e co ’l tuo dolce canto onde tal hor i suoi destrier dal corso lor Febo distorna, quasi nova Sirena a gara sfidi e Partenope e Ligia, e s’altra vanto di cantar dolce diessi; e mentr’altera ritorni carca di lor spoglie ai lidi, lasso – non manc’hor sera che le lor già la tua vittoria appare che per un che nel mare stato a lor sia spento hor n’ardi tu co i tuoi begli occhi cento. While over the great sea of your honors, adorned by every virtue, you wander Lady, and with your lovely singing, for which Phoebus sometimes turns his horses aside from their course, like a new Siren you challenge to competition Parthenope and Ligeia, and any another that makes boast of sweet singing; and while proudly you come back laden with your spoils to the shores, alas – every evening now, your victory over them is already apparent, so that for one [Sun] that then disappears in the ocean, you with your eyes makes one hundred suns shine.

Fiesco’s dedication states that Lucrezia would both hear and sing these pieces, implying her appreciation of their musical worth would come from both listening to and participating in performance. Small gestures, such as chromatic inflections, ficta puns (“di cantar dolce diesis,” punning on the Latin for “sharp,” diesis) and rapid ornamental flourishes, may have provided vocal interest for Lucrezia were she to sing the top line alone, accompanying herself. But a different kind of diversion would have come in collective performance, so that pleasure could be deriving not just from singing, but from hearing these melodic features echoed in the lower voices. “Mentre per l’ampio mar” is one of several works designed to give the performers a heightened sense of communal cooperation and play. Although through-composed, it is

157

157

The New “New Music” punctuated with frequent general rests, which separate syntactical units and add logic to textural and musical variations, bringing the ensemble together in mutual cadential closure. If Lucrezia performed polyphony with other singers, we might wonder who those singers might be, who might be listening, and what her performance might then signify. In 1567 she was thirty-two years old and still unmarried. She was no longer an ornament to the family; she was its senior female representative. If she were to sing with the male members of her brother’s chapel, her performance would have been that of a prince, using the resources of the court in a projection of nobility in a similar way to her great-grandfather Ercole I or her great-aunt Isabella. If her companions were courtiers, such a situation might be considered a royal permutation of the learned salon, with Lucrezia at the center instead of Molza, Stampa, or Pecorina – less a prince than an intellectual animateur. Most of the poems in the Madrigali … libro secondo, despite their high quality, are anonymous, suggesting that they were generated in a vibrant literary environment to which Fiesco had access.55 There is a third possibility for Lucrezia’s performance of Fiesco’s madrigals:  she could have enjoyed musical recreation with her sister and their ladies  – including Lucrezia and Isabella Bendidio. In “Mentre per l’ampio mar,” Fiesco places his singer, the “nova Sirena,” in the company of at least two other female singers. Although neither the Madrigali … libro secondo nor Fiesco’s subsequent volume (dedicated to both princesses) break with the five-voice convention that doubles the tenor voice, Lucrezia had experience of the gynesocial musical environment at Corpus Domini from her earliest years, so would have been familiar with the musical practices developed to accommodate female-only performance. It is certainly possible to imagine at least some of these madrigals with only the upper parts sung. Such an approach might account for the occasional angularity of the lower parts: in “Vane speranze mie, date omai pace,” for instance, the Tenore and Basso parts at times seem curiously un-vocal, with no obvious text-related motivation for their rapid, disjunct movement (Example 4.1). These various contexts in which Lucrezia might have sung are not mutually exclusive, and they provide a meta-context for the development of the many-faceted performances by the concerto delle dame in the last quarter of the century. Lucrezia and her sister Leonora were central to courtly ladies’ activities in the 1570s; Leonora as the organizer of the first balletti in imitation of the French court, Lucrezia as an early host of documented performances by singing ladies.56 From the time of her arrival in Ferrara 55 56

WaismanFM, 427, 458. Stras, “Onde havrà mond’esempio,” 23.

158

158

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s Example 4.1 “Vane speranze mie, date omai pace,” Giulio Fiesco, Madrigali … libro secondo (1567), mm. 92–96.

in 1579, Alfonso’s third wife, Margherita Gonzaga, was placed at the head of both participatory spectacle and recreational music-making, thereby usurping the princesses’ previous roles and causing rancor between her and Lucrezia.57 This ill-will may not have been so marked had Lucrezia not already long established herself as the de facto head of cultural activity at the court. Traces of a salon-like culture surrounding the princesses in the first decade of Alfonso’s reign are perhaps most distinctly sensed in the unusual genesis of Fiesco’s last extant publication, his Musica nova a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1569). By this time, Fiesco’s reputation was sufficient to attract Giambattista Guarini:  as Fiesco recounts in the dedication to the Musica nova, the poet approached the composer with the proposition that he set some of his poetry to music, so that the completed madrigals could be presented to Lucrezia and her sister, Leonora. Guarini was married to Taddea, sister of Lucrezia and Isabella Bendidio, and had been in Duke Alfonso’s service since 1567; perhaps he wished to garner support from the princesses as well. Dedicated to both princesses, the Musica nova was published in 1569. Again, Fiesco stresses his hopes that the princesses would perform his music themselves: 57

NewcombMF, 1: 101–2. For Margherita’s involvement in the balletti, see Bosi, “Leone Tolosa.”

159

159

The New “New Music” for where can one better place any musical work than in the hands of these princesses? Not only have they achieved a high degree of excellence in this profession, but also they have favored its lovers so much that I could not say who is in greater obligation to them: music, ennobled by the greatness of Your Excellencies, or musicians, aided by your generosity.58

Fiesco’s title at first glance seems inappropriate, for although Fiesco was among the 1550s Ferrarese avant-garde who, along with De Rore, exploited harmonic complexity and textural discontinuity in the service of the text, the Musica nova works themselves do not appear to break much new musical ground.59 But the title perhaps pertains less to the book’s contents than to what the book itself represents. It contains a single madrigal and fourteen complete sonnets in bipartite settings, in itself a departure from the typical Ferrarese potpourri of textual sources and musical genres: no halfsonnets or tragedy choruses here. But more striking, its format replicates the secular contents of Willaert’s Musica nova, so prized by the princesses’ brother. Willaert’s book contains bipartite settings of twenty-four sonnets and a single madrigal; the sonnets are by a single author, Petrarch. It would seem that Guarini – or, perhaps Guarini and Fiesco together – lit upon the idea of commemorating the princesses’ patronage in a way that would emulate, and perhaps even surpass, Alfonso’s curatorship of Willaert’s Musica nova. The reputation of Willaert’s collection was inextricably bound to that of the female singer Polessina Pecorina, its previous owner and reputedly the voice for which its works were composed.60 Guarini and Fiesco created a meta-homage to Willaert and Petrarch, which celebrated the princesses not only as patrons who would protect their creations, but also as the voices that would bring them to life. Alfred Einstein signaled the “newness” of Guarini’s sonnets in his overview of Fiesco’s book, noting that their use of language allies them more to the concise epigrammatic style of the late century than to the more expansive Petrarchan world of the imagination. The texts search beneath the dignified suffering of the Petrarchan lover, and uncover outrage, spite, and disdain – or bravura and sdegno. Hints of current court culture also flicker under the surface: one refers to a “Flaminia,” another to “la Maga mia,” perhaps invoking the spectacle of L’Isola beata. In the context of a repertoire that could be exploited by virtuosity – not just vocally, but dramatically as well – Musica nova offers a breadth of emotional states at least

58 59 60

Appendix 4.12: Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova. Translation from WaismanFM, 555. Ibid., particularly 417–25; 487–506. Feldman, City Culture, 32–34.

160

160

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s equal to the laments of the Furioso’s heroines. Einstein noted, too, how Fiesco responded to the new literary aesthetic, claiming that the freely declamatory, homophonic textures of “S’armi pur d’ira, disdegnoso ed empio” foreshadow monody.61 The opening salvo defies the tactus, only settling into duple meter appropriately enough at the words, “e rende eterno” (Example 4.2). Fiesco also allows scope both for elaboration and for characterization in the upper voice, using both straightforward repetition as an invitation for ornamentation, and the fracturing of the poetic verse into shorter fragments (“nulla cur’io”) to intensify the sense of dramatic articulation (Example 4.2 mm. 16–18). Throughout Fiesco and Guarini’s Musica nova, the burden of emotional expression rests on its declamatory rhythms and harmonic juxtaposition, rather than true chromaticism. While on the one hand such apparent conservatism might be regarded as a backward step, a more restrained harmonic palette allows more freedom for instrumental involvement, so that one or more of the lines could be played rather than sung. Moreover, the combined effect of a lighter harmonic touch and a freer attitude to rhythm creates sophisticated music suitable for a variety of performing contexts, but which nonetheless demands a theatrical engagement on the part of the performers. Whether sung by a single voice or several, a sensitivity to the rhythmic setting is crucial to the appreciation of these works, for often it closely follows word stresses or mimics speech patterns. In “Lingua gelata, e per tacer bugiarda,” the poet’s inability to speak manifests itself not only in stumbling declamation that cannot settle in a meter, duple or triple, but also in line endings that fall away from the tactus (Example 4.3). Although ostensibly comparable to Menon’s Madrigali and to De Wert’s four-voice book, inasmuch as it appears to have emerged from an environment of female patronage and performance, Fiesco and Guarini’s book nonetheless has an important difference to the earlier books. Only one of its texts contains female speech, and it is reported speech: Quando leva costei gli occhi dolenti ch’infiamman di pietà ben mille cori piangendo più gl’altrui ch’i propri errori tacita, così par che si lamenti: “Bugiardo Amor, son quest’i gran contenti che promettivi ai giovenili ardori? O pensier vani, o mal graditi amori, o miei tesori a impoveri m’intenti? 61

Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, 557. See also the discussion of “Fede, che nel mio cor t’hai fatto un tempio” in Bizzarini, “L’esordio del Guarini,” 177.

161

161

The New “New Music” Example 4.2 “S’armi pur d’ira, disdegnoso ed empio,” Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova (1569), mm. 1–18.

162

162

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s Example 4.2 (continued)

Che m’habbia dato il ciel gratia e bellezza l’aver l’animo casto e ’l cor pudico che val, misera me, s’altri no ’l prezza? Fuggono gl’anni a la speranza mia il dolor mi consuma e ’l mio nemico, per non curar di me, se stesso oblia.” When she raised her sad eyes, that inflame a thousand hearts with pity, weeping more because of another’s sins than her own, she was silent, and then lamented, “Love, you liar, are these the great happinesses that you promise to young lovers? O vain thoughts, o unwanted loves, o my treasures that you wish to steal from me? Why did heaven give me grace and beauty, to have a pure soul and modest heart? What’s that worth, oh poor me, if another does not prize it? Years fly away with my hope, sadness consumes me, and my enemy, because he does not care for me, is himself forgotten.”

Fiesco’s treatment of this text recalls De  Rore’s “Da le belle contrade d’oriente,” and De Wert’s “Dolci spoglie, felic’e care tanto” and “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” by setting the speech of a betrayed or abandoned woman away from the established tonal focus of the piece.62 However, unlike De Wert’s and De Rore’s laments, “Quando leva costei” does not move to a remote region; it simply moves stepwise. Moreover, the shift is more than momentary, 62

Stras, “Le nonne della ninfa,” 145–47.

163

163

The New “New Music” Example 4.3 “Lingua gelata e per tacer bugiarda,” Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova (1569), mm. 1–10

for it destabilizes her entire speech. The tonal focus of the piece is initially established on D, but once the woman begins to sing, it shifts to C, so that the prima parte ends outside the usual modal boundaries. And although D returns as the focus in the seconda parte, C sonorities continue to subvert even after the final perfect cadence (b. 115, Example 4.4). Despite the familiarity of the text’s central trope, the inclusion of “Quando leva costei gli occhi dolenti” in Musica nova could have seemed indecorous and perhaps even a little unkind, given the princesses’ continued unmarried state; however, that Guarini remained in good standing with the Este

164

164

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s Example 4.4 “Quando leva costei gli occhi dolenti,” Giulio Fiesco, Musica nova (1569), mm. 113–119.

suggests Lucrezia and Leonora did not take offense. And in any case, by the time the book went to print, the protracted negotiations between Urbino and Ferrara were coming to an end, and Lucrezia’s long-awaited marriage was shortly to be concluded. On 19 January 1570 she was married in Ferrara by proxy to Francesco Maria Della Rovere.

A World Turned Upside Down In her marriage, Lucrezia seemed almost to parody the behavior of her male peers; in a reversal of the usual situation, her husband was nearly fifteen years younger than she. There was a tacit acknowledgment that the marriage was only for political purposes, as the matter of Lucrezia’s fecundity was openly questioned, yet both courts were obliged to treat the union as if it were a matter of great satisfaction for both parties.63 Francesco Maria arrived in Ferrara on 28 January 1570 to enjoy the festivities, if not his newly married state; although Lucrezia did her best to treat him kindly, he was reportedly unable or unwilling to reciprocate. On 9 February the court witnessed 63

The Venetian ambassador’s 1570 dispatch from Urbino states that not just the prince but also the entire court was against the marriage, fearing that Lucrezia would not be able to conceive. The duke had commanded the marriage to get his son out of a disadvantageous relationship with a lower-status Spanish woman, and the only way to avoid insulting the Spanish was to arrange a marriage with an Italian princess; Albèri, Relazioni, 1841, 5:105–106.

165

165

A World Turned Upside Down another grand torneo that revisited the themes of L’Isola beata. The new production was called Il Mago rilucente, and again it was staged by Verato, who played the central character, mediating between two sorceresses, the Witch of Pleasure and the Witch of Displeasure.64 Less ambitious than L’Isola beata, Il Mago rilucente nonetheless required the participation of the full masculine court in the tournament, and the full resources of the castello in mounting and manning the production. This performance, too, was marred by error – although not as catastrophically as L’Isola beata – when the crew misjudged their lighting cue and left the arena in darkness, leaving Alfonso to explain to Francesco Maria and Lucrezia what should have happened. The debacle of the torneo mirrored the debacle of the marriage: no sooner had Carnival finished than Francesco Maria returned to Pesaro, slighting his new wife publicly, to the disgust of the Ferrarese.65 Lucrezia remained in Ferrara, and was not expected to join her husband in Pesaro until the autumn, though in the end she did not make her ceremonial entrance into the city until January 1571, a year after her marriage.66 The dedication, to Princess Lucrezia, of Luzzasco Luzzaschi’s Primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara:  Rossi, 1571)  is dated May 1571, nearly eighteen months after the wedding. It was probably intended both to honor Lucrezia’s marriage and to serve as a parting gift.67 The book is substantial, containing thirty-two madrigals, some in two parts; Anthony Newcomb has noted that six of its texts have grief at a separation as their central conceit.68 Although impossible to assess fully due to the loss of two partbooks (in fact, the two most crucial – the Canto and Basso), Luzzaschi’s Primo libro belongs to the diverse tradition of the Ferrarese madrigal book, incorporating a range of musical styles, from near-homophonic song to fully articulated polyphony, from a complex musical parlor game to an intense spiritual madrigal.69 It also follows the trend set by Fiesco’s books, underlining the emergence of specific female musical agents by setting texts that allude to them directly or indirectly. Two texts in Luzzaschi’s Primo libro name Tarquinia Molza: one, Torquato Tasso’s “Mentre l’ardenti stelle,” is an early version of his madrigal “Tarquinia, se rimiri”; the other, “Mentre fa con gli accenti” refers specifically to Molza’s divine singing.70 Molza’s appearance in the book, not once but twice, suggests 64

65 66 67

68 69 70

Marcigliano, Chivalric Festivals, 135–37. The play on luce in the title is also evident in Tasso’s sonnet, “Questa qual è maravigliose luce,” written in honor of the wedding. Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este, 41; Carpinello, Lucrezia d’Este, 112. Piperno, L’immagine del Duca, 97. It may even have been largely printed in 1570, but production would have been held up by the earthquake in November 1570. Newcomb, in Luzzaschi, Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 4, x. Stras, “ ‘Al gioco si conosce,’ ” 265–66. Stras, “Musical Portraits,” 161–62.

166

166

Spectacle and Song in the 1560s that after her 1568 performance she maintained contact with the court. Her presence is recorded in August 1571, but she may well have been a more regular visitor.71 A third text, “I begli occhi e le chiome,” names a “Flaminia” in an earlier version, although the name is removed in Luzzaschi’s setting.72 Three further texts by Giambattista Pigna are thought to have been written for Lucrezia Bendidio: “Con voi quando partiste,” “Lieta nel suo bel volto,” and “Cosi vivo è l’amore.”73 Luzzaschi set each of these short poems relatively simply, and although it is impossible to tell if they all would have been suitable for solo performance, Anthony Newcomb calls the setting of “Con voi quando partiste” “the closest … to a simple homophonic song madrigal.”74 Two short madrigals in Luzzaschi’s Primo libro, “Lieta nel suo bel volto” and “Cosi vivo è l’amore,” share  – along with De  Rore’s “Se ben il duol  che per voi, donna, sento” and Fiesco’s “Lingua gelata”  – a central conceit that resonates with the delicious contradiction of female song in the middle of the sixteenth century: the paradoxical envoicing by the Lady of the poet’s inability to speak. In song, the Lady is given a voice along with a mandate to speak, even if the words are not hers. The ideal donna di palazzo may only sing as she is taught, be unschooled in notation, and anyway too modest to join in polyphony in mixed company; but through the offering up of madrigal books she is given permission to engage with notation, to sing, and to be known as a singer. Yet on the other hand, the popularity of Ariosto’s Orlando furioso encouraged identification with and the performance of a range of strong female characters. The development of these characters in the 1560s fostered a growing admiration for expressive and moving vocal performance by singing actresses, changing the aesthetic not just on stage, but also in the spaces where courtly women performed. Simple formulaic recitation was no longer enough; madrigal books dedicated or available to courtly women in the Ferrarese ambit contained music created expressly for them by skilled composers. A  “new” kind of dramatic singing through the mediation of female voices had been established:  women were shown to be capable performers; they had new emotions to express, and new avenues in which to express them. 71

72

73 74

Patrizi claims that Alfonso Dalla Viola was among Molza’s teachers. As Dalla Viola lived until at least 1572, a year after Luzzaschi’s book was published, it seems possible that Molza could have received instruction from him at the Ferrarese court. The version published in Annibale Coma’s Primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1568) has “E di Flaminia il dolce amato nome” instead of “E quel soave dolce amato nome”; Newcomb, in Luzzaschi, Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 4, xxxiii. Coma was a Mantuan composer, and the publication of his book coincided with the actress Flaminia’s sojourn in the city. It seems unlikely that Flaminia Romana’s fame had been erased from the Ferrarese popular consciousness by 1570, although Luzzaschi might not have felt her association with the court strong enough to warrant memorialization. Pigna, Gli amori, 154. Newcomb, in Luzzaschi, Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 4, xxviii.

167

167

A World Turned Upside Down But circumstances were about to change in Ferrara, and the ramifications for its economic, political, and cultural life were serious and longstanding. Although her departure was delayed for nearly a year, Lucrezia eventually left her life in Ferrara behind, but it seemed as if it took an act of God to persuade her to make the move. In November 1570 a violent earthquake struck the north-east of the Italian peninsula, with Ferrara at its epicenter.75 Reports of casualties ranged into the hundreds, despite evacuation having begun when the first tremors were reported. Palaces and churches were damaged and destroyed, and the aftershocks continued for many weeks afterwards. As time passed, the city fell into panic and despair. When processions and votive services did nothing to prevent the aftershocks, the Capuchin monks led the citizens in public wailing, chanting a triple invocation, “Misericordia, Misericordia, Misericordia!”76 On Christmas Day the Blessed Beatrice d’Este was heard beating out warnings for further disasters from her tomb at Sant’Antonio in Polesine.77 Many of the nobility with rural estates abandoned the city; Alfonso, however, decided to stay. The city and the court would remain in semirefugee status for nearly two years, during which they also suffered the loss of Barbara, Alfonso’s second duchess. Facing down criticism from ultracatholics, for whom the disaster symbolized divine retribution for Alfonso’s leniency toward the Jews of Ferrara and his onerous taxation of the poor, Alfonso insisted on rebuilding the city, confiscating the property of those nobles who refused to return, and vigorously pursuing repair and restoration projects. The earthquake and its aftermath provide the context for the course of Este fortunes for the rest of the century, fueling both Alfonso’s energetic commitment to making the court an unrivaled cultural center, and the Pope’s campaign to resecure Ferrara for the Papal States. The battle over Ferrara was not fought as a military campaign, but a diplomatic one: Alfonso insisting that he was still in control of a viable economic and political power, and using culture as primary means of display; the Church doing what it could to undermine civic culture and weaken its effectiveness as a community bond.

75

76 77

For a summary of the religious and political ramifications of the earthquake and its aftermath, see Guidoboni, “Riti di calamità.” Ibid., 124. Ibid., 127.

168

5

h

“Un modo di cantare molto diverso”: Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s

Throughout the sixteenth century Italian noblewomen were actively involved the convents of their city, sponsoring musical activity at, and even recruiting musical talent to, their favored houses. However, Ferrara was unique in that women not only brought musical talent and expertise into the convent, but, as the century wore on, they also brought it out again. In learning to create a new secular form of high-voice ensemble, the Ferrarese women, and the men who composed for them, could draw on their nuns’ decades of experience in adapting polyphony for equal-voice performance, of moderating and even exploiting the potential for transgressive or dissonant sonorities, of negotiating ensemble ornamentation in a limited tessitura. To this they added the Ferrarese predilection for the dramatic, the musically esoteric, and, perhaps most brilliantly, the new style of solo singing emerging from the south. By the end of the 1570s, these elements had begun to crystallize into a distinctive musical style that merged the art of singing with the practice of polyphony, and a performance style that began to emphasize the distance between musicians and audience. In 1628 the Roman nobleman Vincenzo Giustiniani summarized this moment in his Discorso sopra la musica, in a passage well known to modern scholarship: In the Jubilee year of 1575 or soon after, a style of singing arose that was very different from the one that came before [“si cominciò un modo di cantare molto diverso da quello di primo”], and was so for several subsequent [years], particularly in the style of singing with one solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, as demonstrated by one Giovanni Andrea, a Neapolitan, and by Lord Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and Alessandro Merlo the Roman, who sang with a bass range of three octaves, and with a variety of ornaments that were new and attractive to everyone’s ears. They inspired composers to write works that could be sung by many voices, as well as by one with instrumental accompaniment, in imitation of the aforementioned, and of a woman called Femia [another Neapolitan singer]; and with this greater invention and artifice they produced both songs and songs combined with notated madrigals [“Villanelle miste tra Madrigali di canto figurato”], of which we now see many by the aforementioned and by Orazio Vecchi and others. But as songs acquired greater perfection through this more skillful composition, so also every author, so that his compositions succeeded in the general taste, ensured that he advanced in the method

169

169

The Bendidio Sisters at Brescello in 1571 of composing for several voices, and in particular Giaches de Wert in Mantua and Luzzasco in Ferrara.1

While Giustiniani’s testimony could be mistrusted as the hazy memories of an old man, the passage does appear largely accurate in its assertions. He does not reveal directly how Ferrarese composers came to be influenced by the singing of the Roman-Neapolitans, but his text sits in the background of this chapter, as a contemporary guide to the way music began to move away from horizontally organized polyphony to vertically harmonized song.

The Bendidio Sisters at Brescello in 1571 The new decade began bleakly for Ferrara. After the earthquake in November 1570  – with the court dispersed, many homes and churches dangerously damaged, and more than a hundred people dead – Alfonso struggled to maintain internal civic order and external political composure, regardless of his domestic calamity. Therefore, when the Princes Rudolph and Ernest of Austria, sons of the Emperor  Maximilian and nephews of the duchesses of Mantua and Ferrara, passed through northern Italy on their way from Spain, Alfonso determined to entertain them as lavishly as he could. In late July 1571, with aftershocks still a danger and the nobility only tentatively returning to the city, Alfonso led his court to the border town of Brescello. Making a virtue of a necessity (for if he had to host the princes in tents, the location needed to be somewhere other than outside his own ruined city), there they joined the Mantuan court at a large encampment, ready to greet the Austrian contingent. In detailed correspondence to his employer, Cardinal  Luigi d’Este’s steward Giacomo Grana described both preparations and meeting, with particular reference to the demands made on Lucrezia Bendidio, now the cardinal’s mistress,  and her sister Isabella. The sisters no longer served the Princesses Lucrezia and Leonora but had passed into the famiglia of Duchess Barbara. In his first letter, Grana hints that the sisters were already a star attraction, with a well-prepared repertoire on which Alfonso could rely. Under normal circumstances, their performance would be the highlight of the entertainments put on for the Austrian princes. However, the death of their mother on 20 July put their participation into doubt:2 1

2

Appendix 5.1: GiustinianiD, 21–22. This translation is my own, and it differs enough in important ways from Carol MacClintock’s translation to necessitate inclusion: Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, 69–70. The language here closely resembles that used to describe later public performances by the concerto grande and the nuns of San Vito intended to bring civic honor to Ferrara; see Chapter 8.

170

170

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s An hour before sunrise Lady  Alessandra died, and from Bussetto came all her daughters and the bishop [of Ferrara] her brother, who blessed her and sang the Miserere over her, and among all her daughters none was so inconsolable as Isabellina, who remained with her throughout the night so that she could be there at her mother’s end … the Lady Lucrezia is well enough but distressed and she is at her father’s house. One wonders whether, even though their mother has died, the duke will want for this occasion that they attend the duchess not dressed in mourning, and that they sing those dialogs, so beautiful and well prepared, because the duke will gain from it, as it would be one of the principal honors that he could offer to these princes.3

The sisters’ brother-in-law, Alfonso Putti, also wrote on 30 July to Luigi, confirming that the duke had planned their role himself: “Even so, (forgetting what has just occurred) La Macchiavella and Isabella must sing a dialog, that the duke has had them learn.”4 Ten days later, Grana gave Luigi more details, including the specifics of the planned entertainments: The duchess is at Belriguardo [an Este summer palace] and Count Scipione went to find her and facilitate her journey with her party of ladies, and by command of His Highness to bring the Lady Lucrezia Macchiavelli, even though her mother has died; and she is not to wear mourning only for one day. The great troop at Brescello is growing every day, with gentlemen from Modena, as well as Reggio and Carpi. The most festive entertainments for these gentlemen will be the musica grande, as well as the musica appartate [the music “set apart”] – a beautiful dance by twelve ladies, and the music of the Bendidio sisters – and a meal on the barge and other tables erected on platforms in the middle of the Po on barges, that will traverse about to the music of wind instruments … I have heard that the lord duke is satisfied with the provisions made at Brescello and by the arrangements made for lodging, in particular those for the ladies, who will all be staying in a very well-appointed convent.5

The ladies arrived in Brescello on 31 July, only to be sent home again when word came that the princes, who were due to arrive on 4 August, would not reach the encampment for another few days. Eventually, however, all parties converged on 7 August, and the festivities began. Two accounts describe the entertainments on 8 August, written by Grana and by the Florentine ambassador Bernardo Canigiani:

3

4

5

See Appendix 5.2: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 20 July 1571. Partially transcribed in DurMarCron, 129. Appendix 5.3: I-MOas, CDP Putti, Alfonso Putti to Luigi d’Este, 30 July 1571. Transcribed in DurMarCron, 130. Appendix 5.4: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 30 July 1571. Partially transcribed in DurMarCron, 129–30.

171

171

The Bendidio Sisters at Brescello in 1571 [Canigiani] … they partied in a relatively select group, where the princes danced in the German and in the Italian style; there was also music by a large ensemble, numbering around sixty singers and players; and, in front of a harpsichord played by Luzzasco, Lady Lucrezia and Lady Isabella Bendidio sang, separately and together, so well and so beautifully that I do not believe one could hear better. [Grana] And when lunch was finished, with grace sung as usual by the chapel singers, they cleared the room and began dancing. The first dance was in the German style, with the drum as would be customary for the princes, who danced one with the duchess and the other with the Lady Macchiavelli, who comported herself gracefully, with modest sweetness and a beautiful manner. There were various dances for a while, and the princes danced willingly and truly … [at this point, the ladies retired to rest, and the men gambled at primiera  – a card game] … and then the ladies were summoned to dance four concerted dances that truly went well, and then they retired to a small room for the music of the Bendidio sisters, which went so well that one could not wish for better, and in particular Lady Lucrezia sang with such warmth that I have never before seen or heard. After dinner was heard … the music of the large ensemble, which went well enough … and then the room was cleared and they began to dance in the German style, played by violins … and the Lady Lucrezia danced often.6

From Grana’s account, we learn that Lucrezia – despite her recent bereavement – was not only commanded to perform, but also compelled to act as a surrogate for her erstwhile mistresses; she was second only to the duchess when it came to dancing partners for the princes. Grana assured the cardinal that Lucrezia was elegant, dressed in sumptuous garments made from a black and gold fabric that the cardinal had sent her.7 It seems she was willing to obey the letter, if not the spirit, of the duke’s orders. Her performance was eulogized by Giambattista Pigna in his sonnet “Quella che al panno d’oro e al nero velo”: Quella che al panno d’oro e al nero velo il suo duol mostra, e la sua diva serve tra le de l’Augel bianco e d’Amor serve nova angeletta sembra arder di zelo. De l’uno e l’altro suo ceruleo cielo a le saette ognor dolci e proterve 6

7

Appendix 5.5: I-Fas, AM, f. 2892, dispatch by Bernardo Canigiani, 13–14 August 1571. Transcribed in DurMarCron, 130–31, and NewcombMF, 260. Appendix 5.6: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 17 August 1571. Canigiani’s and a more limited portion of Grana’s letter are transcribed in DurMarCron, 130–31, and NewcombMF, 1:260. Appendix 5. 7: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 17 August 1571. We might infer Tarquinia Molza’s presence from an earlier passage in this letter, in which Grana refers to a “figlio de la Signora Tarquinia” who became enamored of Lucrezia; because Tarquinia had no children, this boy would have been in her famiglia.

172

172

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s l’uno e l’altro cesareo sangue or ferve visibilmente, or si tramuta in gelo. Quando di poi l’alta armonia diserra quali di quei due cor faccia rapine e come tremi il giovanetto ardore e da i corpi sien l’alme pellegrine i’canterei: ma tu ben vedi, Amore, il duro fren, che questi labri afferra.8 She, who in cloth of gold and a black veil, shows her grief, and serves her goddess, among those servants of both the white bird [the Este white eagle] and of Love, a new angel seems to burn with zeal. From one to the other, its sky-blue heaven to the arrows always sweet and obstinate, the one and the other imperial blood now burns visibly, now changes to ice. Then when she unleashes the lofty harmony, she steals their two hearts, and as young ardor trembles, and the souls leave their bodies, I would sing: “You see well, Love, the cruel rein that restrains these lips.”

Pigna gathered together his poetry for Lucrezia in a manuscript volume, Il ben divino [il ben-di-Dio], with commentaries on each poem supplied by his fellow poet-secretary, Giambattista Guarini. In another sonnet, Pigna describes how the nightingale learned his art from Lucrezia’s singing.9 Pigna’s sonnet helps locate her singing style, and therefore that which held most attraction at Ferrara in the early 1570s, in the kind of practice described in sixteenth-century ornamentation manuals that used standardized figures (giri or groppi) to decorate a simpler existing melody:10 In giri or lunghi, or scarsi, or doppi, or soli or alti, or bassi, netta voce sgorga: e con silenzio e strepito la ingorga il vostro augel, perché a me morte involi. Così la notte non con sciocchi voli, ma con canti leggiadri, fa ch’io sorga da la quiete orba di tempo e scorga ne le tenebre mie vostri due soli. Prendea da voi, mentre correva il giorno, modi dolci da usar: da voi maestra del concento che i cor ne disacerba. Tacendo voi, de le stelle al ritorno,

8 9

10

Pigna, Il ben divino, CXX. Pigna’s sonnet could not have been composed later than 1575, the year of his death. It may have been the model for Guarini’s celebrated “Mentre vaga angioletta,” also known as the “Gorga di cantatrice,” which was written in 1581 or soon thereafter. See McGee, “How One Learned to Ornament,” 1–3.

173

173

The Bendidio Sisters at Brescello in 1571 Example 5.1 “Aura soave di segreti accenti,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 6–9.

seco provar solea se gli era destra l’arte imparata, e lo stil anco serba.11 In ornaments, now long, now short, now double, now single, now high, now low, the pure voice flows: and with silence and clamour it muffles your bird, because it sends me death. Thus the night, not with foolish flights, but with pleasant songs makes me rise from the quiet sphere of time and perceives in my darkness your two suns. I took from you, while the day passed, sweet modes to use: from you, the mistress of harmony that removes bitterness from the heart. You being silent from the [appearance of the] stars to the return [of the sun], with them I used to try to show that I had learned the skilful art, and also cherished the style.

Alfonso had a ready-made repertoire for the solo female voice, and voices in dialog, in Willaert’s Musica nova. Willaert’s book was at the core of the musical heritage he had begun to build for his court, so Luzzaschi may have arranged one or more of these works for the Bendidio sisters. Alternatively, Luzzaschi’s own madrigals, thirty-two of which he had already published in May 1571, could have provided the sisters’ material. If Luzzaschi had arranged the Bendidios’ repertoire from these published works, it may have resembled those pieces in his 1601 Madrigali – the solo “Aura soave di segreti accenti,” for instance, or the duo “Stral pungente d’Amore” – which seem closer to his polyphonic madrigals of the 1570s than those of the 1590s. Of the three solo madrigals in the 1601 Madrigali, “Aura soave” most evidently retains a polyphonic complex in the keyboard intabulation, visible where the rests in the upper voice do not coincide with textual and musical phrase-endings, but allow for the polyphonic working-out of an imitative subject (Example 5.1). 11

Appendix 5.8: Pigna, Il ben divino, CCXIX. The argomento, supplied by Giambattista Guarini, reads: “He gives the reason why the nightingale sang, showing that during the day he learned the modes sung by the woman, and then practiced them at night, while he was out of her sight, to show that he knew well how to imitate her.”

174

174

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.2 “Stral pungente d’Amore,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 1–9.

The structure of “Stral pungente” is equally revealing, but in a different way. Each couplet of the text is delivered predominantly in alteration, with the concluding cadence articulated in both voices (Example 5.2). Although the text is not a dialog, the structure reflects the conventional disposition of the madrigal dialog, in which the voices alternate before a conclusion in duet (“Quando nascesti, Amore?” from Willaert’s Musica nova is a good example).12 Dialog and echo settings are plentiful in the Ferrarese madrigal, but Grana’s use of the term “dialog” to describe the Bendidios’ performance may have referred more to this manner of singing than a precise textual or musical genre. The Bendidios’ performance at Brescello made a great impact on the princes, and their singing evidently became a subject of conversation at the Imperial court. Three years after the meeting, the Ferrarese ambassador to 12

Willaert, Opera omnia, 13:103–107.

175

175

The Bendidio Sisters at Brescello in 1571 Vienna reported to Duke  Alfonso that Emperor  Maximilian  II, who had never heard them sing, had enquired after the ladies: then he said that he knew Your Excellency had in Ferrara some ladies who were great maestre, and well-rehearsed in this art, and he wanted to learn from me who they were; so, thinking he was talking about those Bendidio ladies, I overflowed with praises of their virtue, nobility, and also their beauty. He said that the music of ladies is worth nothing if it is not beautiful.13

Only two years previously Alfonso entertained the princes’ uncle Archduke  Karl with an elaborate torneo involving the entire male court, musicians, actors, dancers, scenery, and fireworks. Yet the earthquake had dramatically reduced Alfonso’s resources, and he would have needed to find a less extravagant way to manifest civic magnificence. Playing to the court’s existing strengths, he decided to steer it towards a superior musical culture that revolved around the skills of its principal assets, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and the Bendidio sisters. Luzzaschi directed both the concerto grande  – the massed ensemble of all of the court’s musical resources – and the exclusive musiche appartate, which accompanied both the duchess’s ladies in choreographed dance and the singing of the Bendidio sisters. The shift toward relying on ladies, rather than men, to provide the elite entertainment is significant: Alfonso was in conflict with many of his noble subjects, who were threatening not to return to Ferrara while tremors were still being felt, and perhaps he simply had no choice but to command his wife’s household. Nonetheless, once he had lit on this strategy and it had been shown to work, he stuck with it. This format – the concerto grande, the ladies’ dancing, and the singing of a small female ensemble  – remained more or less consistent until Alfonso’s death.14 Alfonso had learned that an entertainment based on female virtuosity was both an unusual and an effective demonstration of the superiority of Ferrarese culture. For the Bendidios themselves, the ramifications were not so universally positive. On one hand, despite the family having five daughters, none of them was required to monachize, and all were married.15 Isabella, in 13

14 15

Appendix 5.9: I-MOas, Carteggio di ambasciatori, Germania, b. 30, Renato Cato to Alfonso d’Este, 24 July 1574. Transcribed in DurMarCron, 131. The passage continues, hinting there were young women singing at the emperor’s court as well, but only in passing – the punchline concerned the sexual preferences of the Prince of Bavaria: “and on this subject he told a few pleasant stories, and particularly of Ferdinand of Bavaria his nephew, who here heard certain lovely girls singing, and His Majesty asked him what he thought, he responded immediately that if the boys of the duke his father were like them, he would want to be maestro di cappella himself, and chase away Orlando di Lasso.” DurMarCron, 15. Mistresses’ families often received financial support from rulers; the Bendidios may well have been given dowry assistance by the Este in recognition of Lucrezia’s relationship with Cardinal Luigi; see McCall, “Traffic in Mistresses,” 128.

176

176

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s particular, was elevated through marriage to Count (later Marquis) Cornelio Bentivoglio in 1573.16 On the other, Lucrezia was ultimately damaged by all the attention. After Duchess  Barbara’s death in 1572, Lucrezia was returned to the princesses’ household, ostensibly serving only Leonora, as Princess Lucrezia had already left Ferrara for Pesaro. But by 1573 her affair with Cardinal Luigi was waning. Luigi had been in Ferrara in March, but his departure for France in the summer of 1573 seems to have put an end to the liaison. Lucrezia’s letters show she was only too aware that the end of the relationship would make her vulnerable. In July she complained that serious slander had been circulating about her, and that she had suffered ill-treatment at the hands of those who previously welcomed her, particularly the secretary Pigna, who she said had been instructed by the duke not to speak to her, nor to allow his wife to have anything to do with her.17 By September she was begging her lover for a response, and the letter betrays a desperation, even the beginnings of mental illness, which became more evident in the 1580s: Therefore, I  beg you [to respond to me], if I  haven’t annoyed you by asking that you do so, and be sure that in the future I will suffer torments every night rather than write something that might give you displeasure. As for me, if it happens that I receive a similar response, I swear to you that I cannot live happily for an hour, if I am not in your favor. Write to me lovingly, as I beg you, and beseech you for the love that will never have an equal, so that I can rest easy until the time when I can clarify everything. I will also reveal to you my soul, and God will that it be soon, because I am very sure that in truth you will never have cause to deprive me of your grace, because I am nothing if not continually intent on behaving in a manner that will make you satisfied with me, and I am first and foremost resolved to spend all this winter outside [Ferrara] so that the slanderers cannot imagine anything to write to you against me.18

Her letters imply that her ostracization was on account of her relationship with Luigi, and that envy had prompted her enemies to slander her. Although the matter was resolved with apologies from Pigna, Lucrezia’s status and reputation were seriously harmed. She remained at court, but her subsequent position is unclear, for she does not appear in the list of dame and

16

17 18

Torquato Tasso commemorated the event in his sonnet “Donna se ben le chiome ho già ripiene,” the argomento of which reads, “A Isabella Bendidio in nome di Cornelio Bentivoglio.” This text was set by Giaches de Wert and published in his Settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice, Gardano, 1581), although the setting could date from the year of their marriage. Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso, 1:174–75. Appendix 5.10: I-MOas, CDP Macchiavelli, b. 734, Lucrezia Bendidio Macchiavelli to Luigi d’Este, 27 September 1573.

177

177

The Convents in the Early 1570s other household members left bequests in Princess Leonora’s will, drawn up in December 1575.19

The Convents in the Early 1570s The brave show put on at Brescello was not replicated immediately in Ferrara itself. Under the circumstances, it seems hardly surprising that little sacred music from Ferrara was published in the first half of the 1570s. Religious institutions were constrained by the cost and effort of repairing their buildings that were demolished or damaged as a result of the earthquake.20 However, during this period one Ferrarese musician, Paolo Isnardi, who would later become the maestro di cappella at the cathedral, produced books that can provide a glimpse of the music available to the city’s convents. These collections are functional, providing a body of material for a variety of liturgical uses: office polyphony and masses. By 1574 he had already published two books of masses, one each for five voices and four voices; a set of Vespers psalms “per totum annum” with three Magnificats, for four voices; and a book of Lamentations, with Benedictus and the Miserere, for five voices.21 Most importantly for convents, Isnardi’s early publications contain works expressly composed and advertised for equal voices.22 The 1569 Magnificat primi toni is composed specifically so that it can be sung either voci piene or voci pari; that is, with a Cantus part that can be transposed down an octave so that it shares the range of the Tenor. In contrast, the 1573 Missa Libera me Domine is notated in voci pari clefs (c1c3c3c4) and bears the rubric “paribus vocibus.” Despite the fact that the Altus and Tenor are notated in a clef a fifth lower than the Cantus and a third higher than the Bassus, they frequently cross with the upper voice, and never with the lowest. This careful scoring could allow the bass to be played on an instrument from the Bassus partbook alone (Example 5.3). However, when the three upper voices sing alone, as in the “Pleni sunt coeli et terra” section, any of them may sing the lowest sounding pitch (Example 5.4).

19 20 21

22

Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este, 153–56. See Appendix 1.1 for specific instances of damage still affecting convents in 1574. Missae cum quinque vocibus (Venice: Gardano, 1568); Psalmi omnes ad vesperas per totum annum … quatuor vocum (Venice: Gardano, 1569); Lamentationes Hieremiae prophetae … cum quinque vocibus (Venice: Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1572); Missae quatuor vocum (Venice: Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1573). Although maestro di cappella at the cathedral, Isnardi still had contact with musical convents: In 1593 he and Luzzaschi were given permission to enter the convent of San Bernardino to inspect the organ; PeveradaDoc, 143.

178

178

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.3 Missa Libera me Domine, Sanctus, Paolo Isnardi, Missae quatuor vocum (1573), mm. 10–14.

Example 5.4 Missa Libera me Domine, Sanctus, Paolo Isnardi, Missae quatuor vocum (1573), mm. 39–44.

In the wake of the earthquake, which destroyed prisons as well as palaces, public order was a serious concern; in the immediate aftermath, gaming was banned and Carnival festivities cancelled.23 But Duke  Alfonso and Bishop Rossetti worked together to ensure that life in the city returned to its previous flow as soon as possible, partly by turning a blind eye to mild religious indiscretions – working on feast days, or immoderate and inappropriate behavior during religious services.24 In 1574, reflecting ongoing attempts by Rome to re-establish authority in the city, Pope Gregory XIII sent an Apostolic Visitor to Ferrara, whose nominal task was to ensure that ecclesiastical reform was proceeding according to Tridentine decrees. In practice, however, a Visitation indicated that the Church wished to investigate 23 24

Guidoboni, “Riti di calamità,” 127. Belvederi, “I vescovi postridentini,” 364.

179

179

The Convents in the Early 1570s reported irregularities. The Visitor, Bishop  Giambattista Maremonti  – a vassal of the Duke of Urbino and therefore not politically neutral – made dozens of recommendations to the diocese, including the prohibition of icons (unless specifically blessed by the papal envoy), and the suppression of superstitious beliefs.25 Maremonti was particularly interested in Ferrara’s convents, and he enumerated the problems he found there:  forced monachization; interference by the ducal authorities; economic insecurity; the attrition of spiritual life. Despite regular ducal decrees regarding enclosure, setting out strict penalties, including heavy fines, banishment, or imprisonment, Maremonti was concerned about the permeability of clausura with both noblewomen having easy access to the convent and nuns having easy access to the outside world.26 He was exercised by the ownership and use of instruments other than organs, and gave very specific instructions for their eradication, down to the detail of providing a harsh and speedy timetable for their removal from the convents: Let it not be permitted at any time, neither with permission of the prelate nor in any other way, to anyone of any age, order, or sex, to approach the convents’ grates, or doors, or other places of convents in order to teach the sisters, neither to sing nor to play any sort of instrument, neither keyboard nor any other, under the penalties that come to those who go to the parlatorio without a license, and other [penalties] at the discretion of the authorities, and to the sisters the deprivation of the active and passive voice for two years, and more at the said discretion, warning all the sisters who up to now have that [musical] knowledge, that they should not use instruments other than keyboards, however not playing or singing secular songs, but only sacred things, being prohibited furthermore from possessing books of such songs or instrumental pieces unsuitable for religious persons, not making it seem a little thing that is now removed from them which was allowed after great effort, ordering them, therefore, that immediately after the publication of this, within three days all other sorts of instruments must be sent out of the convents without ever bringing them back again, under the penalty of excommunication and the loss of the passive and active voice for such time as they retain the said instruments contrary to the present prohibition, as well as their confiscation.27 25

26

27

Ibid., 365–66. For Alfonso II’s 1560 decree prohibiting secular visitors to convents, see Appendix 5.11: I-FEc, MS Antonelli 104, Provisione circa lo Andare alli Monasterii delle Monache. After the Visitation, the penalties must have become even more severe. On 9 February 1577, “Gaspar Sinibaldi, Ferrarese citizen, a rich and well-presented youth, was beheaded for having behaved too domestically with the nuns”; Appendix 5.12: GuarDiario1570, 25r. Belvederi, “I vescovi postridentini,” 373. See also Maremonti’s personal letter to Duke Alfonso, Appendix 1.1. Appendix 5.13: Decreti generali, Giambattista Maremonti, 1574; cited in Peverada, “La visita apostolica,” 354–55. The three-day timetable corresponds to a similar order given in Bologna in 1583; Monson, Nuns Behaving Badly, 33.

180

180

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s The penalties for unregulated musical activity incorporate that decreed by the Council of Trent for personal possession of any item: a two-year ban on both voting in convent elections and standing for office in the same (the passive and active voice). However, Ferrara’s nuns had to fear spiritual as well as political excommunication should they be accused of flouting the rules. For the Clarissan convent of San Bernardino, the choir of which had been so carefully regulated at the beginning of the century, the minister general of the Franciscan Order, Francesco Gonzaga, later added a further rule, equally specific regarding the penalties for singing polyphony without permission: We further command, that in the future without our permission, or that of the Provincial [bishop], no convent can use in the choir anything other than plainchant, and not polyphony, always simply and uniformly. And we believe that it is more expedient to read and psalmodize in a quiet and clear voice with the attention of the mind, than to occupy oneself with music and singing; and that whoever uses this music without such a license will do discipline in the public refectory.28

Yet Francesco Gonzaga’s word “licenza”  – permission  – reveals how Ferrara’s nuns were able to continue making music to a high standard. Occasional relaxations of the rules governing convents were negotiated locally through the episcopate, and it was normally the bishop who had the power to enforce, or ignore, the expected procedures, and to adjudicate on the propriety of music provided for liturgical use. For instance, when in 1578 the cathedral chapter decided that Paolo Isnardi’s Vespers psalms (perhaps those published with the Magnificats in 1569) were “too lascivious and not suitable to the gravity and majesty of the Church,” Isnardi protested that they had been approved by both Bishop Rossetti and the local Inquisitor.29 Rossetti’s laxity arguably instigated the Visitation, but his successor, Paolo Leoni, who held the position from 1578 until his death in 1590, was also a known music-lover.30 Near the start of his episcopate he was reminded by the Curia, in communications directed via Cardinal Filippo Boncompagni, that the terms of the Apostolic Visitor’s decree were expressions of the will of the Pope:  “And he does not want anyone to go to a convent to teach either singing or playing, or anything else, and the sisters should not play instruments other than the organ or the harpsichord, not prohibiting 28

29

30

Appendix 1.4: “Ordinazioni delle Monache de S. Bernardino di Ferrara.” Transcribed in Lombardi, I francescani, 4:285–86. PeveradaDoc, 191, n. 154. The chapter won in this case, insisting that, in future, any music Isnardi provided would also have to be approved internally. Appendix 5.14: GuarDiario1570, 82r. See also Chapter 8, in reference to Leoni’s specific affection for the convent of San Vito, and his encouragement to the Aleotti family to send their daughter there.

181

181

The Court in Recovery however that the sisters should sing in their convents if they know about music.”31

The Court in Recovery The stress of the earthquake and its aftermath took its toll, not just on the city and its churches, but on the Este themselves. The family was already depleted by the departure of Princess Lucrezia, now the Princess of Urbino, for her new home in Pesaro, in January 1571. Suor Leonora d’Este survived the initial tremors, but was removed to a convent in Carpi until danger passed.32 During 1571, as she was becoming too ill to visit the communal parlatorio, she requested that a special grille be constructed in her apartments as part of the restoration work at Corpus Domini.33 The following year, three members of the family died in quick succession:  on 19  September the Duchess  Barbara succumbed to tuberculosis, arguably hastened by exposure during the winter of 1570; on 20 November Suor Lucrezia d’Este, the natural daughter of Ercole  II, died at Corpus Domini; and four days later, Cardinal  Ippolito  II, uncle of the duke and protector of his sister Suor  Leonora, died at his villa at Tivoli outside Rome. Ippolito had been a powerful political ally for Alfonso in Rome; Barbara had been the duke’s insurance when requesting support from the Holy Roman Empire. The loss of these advocates made Alfonso vulnerable again from both the north and the south, and he spent much of the rest of the decade searching for ways to reinforce his political status. Nonetheless, two years of calamity had not dulled Alfonso’s cultural ambitions; indeed, it seems, with the appointment of Torquato Tasso to the court in 1572, Alfonso had plans to compensate for his political limitations by reinvigorating the Ferrarese tradition of theatrical innovation.34 Although opinions vary regarding the first performance of Tasso’s pastoral Aminta, the majority of scholars agree that it occurred during the court’s sojourn at the summer palace of Belvedere in 1573; and that the Gelosi, the company formed from the merger of Vincenza Armani and Flaminia Romana’s troupes, premiered the new pastoral in a production that – like the tornei of the 1560s – involved both professional actors and courtiers, although now 31

32 33 34

Appendix 5.15: “Ordini d’osservarsi alle Suore nella Città di Ferrara,” Cardinal Filippo Boncompagni to Paolo Leoni, 7 March 1579. Cited in PeveradaDoc, 125–26. Berengan and Calore, Le custodi del sacro, 100. Lombardi, I francescani, 4:112. Tasso had been in the service of Luigi d’Este from 1565, travelling with him to France in 1570. On his return, Tasso joined Alfonso’s court; DurMarPep, 119–20.

182

182

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s these courtiers were also female.35 The pastoral was produced again a few months later as part of Duke Guidobaldo’s Carnival festivities at Pesaro, perhaps as a gesture of encouragement toward his unsettled daughter-in-law, Princess Lucrezia.36 The Ferrarese court’s cultural resources were also tested the following year, when the new king of France, Henri III, traveled from Poland to France via Venice and the Po valley. Alfonso greeted the young king in Conigliano, north of Venice, on 14 July 1574. The two men spent nearly two weeks in Venice, where Alfonso convinced Henri to come to Ferrara. With no duchess to oversee the welcome, Princess  Leonora  – who had also been regent in her brother’s absence – arranged a festa at short notice, which included the same elements as seen at Brescello: the concerto grande, organized dancing, and a private concert at the king’s tavolino: “[The king] sat at a little table, in the company of the Cardinal [Boncompagni], and the sisters of the duke, where there were entertainments of excellent music.”37 There is no further detail regarding this private music or the performing forces; however, it seems unlikely, given the strength and clarity of Alfonso’s instructions before the meeting at Brescello, that Lucrezia Bendidio at the very least was not prevailed upon to sing for the French king. Princess Lucrezia’s presence at the festivities for Henri was not as a result of her  summons from Pesaro; she had been in Ferrara since at least May, when she had accompanied her uncle Don  Alfonso (the son of Alfonso  I and Laura Dianti) to Venice for the Feast of the Ascension.38 She took the opportunity to escape Pesaro whenever possible, so unhappy was her marriage to the dissolute Prince Francesco Maria. When Duke Guidobaldo died in September 1574, Lucrezia became Duchess of Urbino (henceforth “Duchess Lucrezia”); but her father-in-law’s death deprived her of protection at her own court, and she sought refuge with her brother as soon as she could, using her health as an excuse. However, rumors spread that she had returned to Ferrara for another reason: a relationship with Count Ercole Contrari, the Marquis of Vignola, that had begun before her marriage.39 Although extramarital relationships of male rulers were often acknowledged and tolerated, the same was not true of their female relatives, and the liaison would have 35

36

37 38 39

See the discussion in Stampino, Staging the Pastoral, 238–40. The arguments are also summarized in Campbell, Literary Circles, 60. Piperno, L’immagine del Duca, 227–31; Stampino, Staging the Pastoral, 51–96. Guidobaldo’s consideration of Lucrezia’s musical tastes had previously led him to attempt to retain the services of Virginia Vagnoli, a celebrated singer, who nonetheless left the court at Pesaro under a cloud of political scandal in 1571; see Piperno, “Diplomacy and Musical Patronage.” Stras, “Onde havrà mond’esempio,” 10–11; 23. Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este, 46. Appendix 5.16: GuarDiario1570, 21r.

183

183

Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection grave consequences for Ferrara in the years to come. The various accounts differ in detail, but all agree on the outcome: in the late afternoon of 2 August 1575, Contrari was summoned to the castello; his body was later removed from the ducal camere on a stretcher. The official account stated he had had an accident, but Lucrezia was not convinced, and she blamed Don Alfonso for persuading the duke to have him assassinated. After Don Alfonso’s death in 1587, her hatred transferred to his son, Cesare, so that in 1597, when Cesare was the only male heir who could have kept Ferrara in the hands of the Este, Lucrezia actively sought to have his claim (based on his putative father’s legitimacy) disproven. After Contrari’s death, the troubled duchess spent a month at the shrine of the Virgin at Loreto before returning to Pesaro. But worse yet was to befall her; by spring 1576 it had become apparent that Lucrezia was suffering from syphilis, which she almost certainly contracted it from her husband. Duke Alfonso, himself suffering from an infection that caused his teeth to fall out, sent Luzzaschi to Pesaro to cheer his sister up, to no avail. Gravely ill, her dignity irretrievably wounded, Lucrezia fled back to Ferrara in July 1576 for good.40 She moved into her old apartments in the castello, drawing her solace from music and an increasing turn to religion. For his part, Alfonso upheld his sister’s wishes to remain in Ferrara, supporting her against Urbino and the Pope. Eventually, the Church drew up an agreement, and from 1578 Lucrezia’s separation from Francesco Maria was legally sanctioned. Duchess  Lucrezia’s return to Ferrara roughly coincided with two new arrivals that would change the musical environment substantially. It may be that the Bendidio sisters – Isabella through pregnancy and Lucrezia through melancholy – could not be relied upon to perform regularly, or that the Este siblings were in need of variety. By the end of 1576, both the Neapolitan nobleman Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and the Parmense noblewoman Leonora Sanvitale were recruited to Ferrara, and were singing in Duchess Lucrezia’s apartments. Brancaccio had historic associations with the court, but Leonora was a decade younger than Lucrezia Bendidio, still in her early teens. Together they would bring expertise in the fashionable new singing style from Rome.

Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection Ferrara’s importance as a cultural center relied as much on keeping pace with external developments as on maintaining a talent base from within. Before

40

Campori and Solerti, Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este, 53–54; Carpinello, Lucrezia d’Este, 187.

184

184

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s their assimilation into the Ferrarese court, both Brancaccio and Sanvitale had been present for a number of years in the Roman cultural environment surrounding another family geographically close to, but politically distant from, the Este: the ruling family of Parma, the Farnese. Elevated to Dukes of Parma and Piacenza by Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) in 1545, the Farnese were also engaged in the struggle to develop cultural and political credibility. Brothers Duke  Ottavio and Cardinal  Alessandro Farnese both contributed to the growing stability of the dynasty: Ottavio used local diplomacy supported by military might to maintain peace in Parma and Piacenza; Alessandro was an international diplomat, accruing monumental wealth through his titles and benefices. As generations of Este brothers had done, Ottavio and Alessandro used the civilizing influence of culture as a method for retaining and developing power. With Alessandro’s Roman household as their cultural base, they formed relationships with artists and musicians there whom they might later transfer to Parma. Although Alessandro’s patronage of the visual arts is well understood, there is little record of his musical tastes.41 However, what evidence exists suggests that he and his household were very much part of the Roman musical scene in the 1560s and 1570s. Well-known figures regularly crop up in documents relating to Alessandro, noblemen and musicians who were, during and after their lifetimes, recognized as central to the development of new styles of singing and composition. Fabrizio Dentice, who with his father Luigi had fled Naples for Rome in 1547, was engaged via some sort of informal arrangement in which he was provided for permanently in the Farnese famiglia.42 Giulio Cesare Brancaccio had contact with the household in 1574; and in 1575 Emilio de’ Cavalieri assisted Alessandro by sitting on an audition panel for a new organist at the cardinal’s titular church, San Lorenzo in Damaso.43 The Merlo brothers, Alessandro and Giovanni Antonio, appear briefly in the registri in 1569–70.44 Vincenzo Pinti [Pitti/Pitto], called the “Cavaliere del leuto” in late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenthcentury sources, was in Alessandro’s employment from 1563 and stayed until the cardinal’s death in 1589.45 In his support of Dentice and Brancaccio, Alessandro followed the Roman trend of favoring Neapolitan 41

42 43

44 45

Only Alessandro’s registri survive, which contain day-to-day expenses, and in which very few musicians are mentioned; Robertson, “Il Gran Cardinale,” 4. There may have been a different ledger, as with the Farnese household in Parma, where musicians were listed. For more on Dentice, see Griffiths and Fabris, Neapolitan Lute Music, ix–xxi. Appendix 5.17: I-PAas, CFE Rome b. 373, Mutio Maffei to Alessandro Farnese, 2 October 1574. Appendix 5.18: I-PAas, CFE Rome, b. 375, the canons of San Lorenzo in Damaso to Alessandro Farnese, 24 October 1575. Niwa, “Duke Ottavio Farnese’s Chapel,” 95–96. Pesci, “Il cavaliere disvelato,” 119.

185

185

Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection music and musicians, and at some point before 1570 he was assisted by the “Cavaliere d’Aragona” (probably Don Cesare d’Avalos, brother of both Cardinal  d’Aragona, Innico d’Avalos, and the viceroy of Sicily, Francesco Ferdinando d’Avalos) in recruiting musicians to his famiglia.46 Alessandro was a crucial figure in the lives of two women who were eventually recruited to Ferrara. The cardinal had been Tarquinia Molza’s guardian until she married, and her cultural development happened in the intellectual circle that gathered under the aegis of the Farnese in Rome.47 But the cardinal’s influence had a more direct effect on the life of Leonora Sanvitale, whom the Farnese may well have identified early on as a young woman of promise for whom an excellent tactical marriage could be arranged. Born in 1558 or 1559, Leonora Sanvitale was the daughter of Giberto Sanvitale, Count of Sala, and Livia Balbiana di Belgioso. Giberto’s first career had been in Rome, in the ecclesiastical famiglia of the Farnese Pope Paul III, but after the death of his two elder brothers he left the Church to assume the family title. Leonora’s mother died soon after she was born, and Giberto married again in 1561, this time to Barbara Sanseverina (c.1550–1612), a local beauty not much older than Leonora herself. The Sanvitale were benefactors of many artists and musicians, including Francesco Mazzola (Il Parmigianino) and Fabrizio Dentice.48 A  seventeenth-century chronicle described the atmosphere in Giberto’s palazzo at Sala Baganza: And because he had lived for such a long time at the [Papal] Court, he delighted in the conversation of men of diverse professions, with whom, whether gravely disagreeing, or happily conceding, he respectably passed his time – for which in his house he received writers, musicians and soldiers, so that he could not but learn and listen to their discussions, and also enjoy the sweetest harmonies. The house was so splendid in its ornaments, that whosoever saw the double (height) rooms with their silk drapes and finest lights, such as there was at Sala, would have thought them luxurious enough for a great prince, not Giberto, Count of Sala.49

In keeping with her father’s literary interests, Leonora was given a classical education, and was noted as a poet of both Latin and Italian verse.50 Giberto and Barbara were actively involved in the arts they encouraged; 46 47

48

49 50

Niwa, “Duke Ottavio Farnese’s Chapel,” 95–96. Francesco Patrizi’s L’amoroso filosofia is one of the primary sources for information on Molza and her musical accomplishments: the events on which it is based occur in Rome in 1575, and both Fabrizio Dentice and Tarquinia Molza are interlocutors; Patrizi, L’amorosa filosofia. When he died in 1581, Dentice was in Barbara Sanseverina’s famiglia; Appendix 5.19: Ranuccio Pico, Appendice de vari soggetti Parmigiani … Aggiunte alla soprascritta appendice, etc. (Parma: Vigna, 1642), 105. Appendix 5.20: I-PAas, Sanvitale, b. 883, an anonymous chronicle (c.1600s) of the Sanvitale family. DurMarCron, 105, n. 15.

186

186

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s the madrigal books dedicated to them contain pieces that can be used as games, as well as some composed for dramatic entertainment.51 The family may well have engaged in dilettante performances, such as occurred when members of the Sanvitale and Sanseverino families were welcomed by the Rossi at San  Secondo in October 1571:  “Tomorrow we expect the arrival of Lady Lavinia and the Lady Anna [Sanseverina] of Colorno, and with the Lady  Countess of Sala. And also Lord  Giovanni Galeazzo [Sanseverino], and we will have a comedietta that will make the riverbanks laugh.”52 Poetic evidence of such entertainments comes in an anonymous, undated sonnet that praises a pair of singers, Tarquinia and Leonora, as they sing on the river’s banks: Alza, rapido Tar, l’umida fronte, e grazie al cielo e alla tua gran ventura rendi immortale, e cristallina e pura l’onda per l’alveo d’or versa dal fonte. Mira di doppio sol doppio orizzonte nell’una e l’altra angelica figura, la cui luce serena ogni ora fura all’alto carro onde cadeò Fetonte. D’odoriferi fiori ambe le sponde di mille bei color dipingi e mostra quanto sparga d’april Favonio e Flora, e dolcemente, dov’Eco risponde ninfe e pastori per l’ombrosa chiostra, s’odan cantar TARQUINIA e LEONORA.53 Raise, rapid Taro, your watery brow, and by the grace of Heaven and of your great fortune make immortal, and crystalline and pure the wave spilt by the fountain into the riverbed of gold. Look at the double sun, the double horizon of the one and the other angelic figure whose serene light every hour steals from the high carriage from which Pheobus fell. Along the banks, reveal and paint with sweet-smelling flowers of a thousand beautiful colors, and show how much springtime [April] is scattered by Favonio and Flora, and sweetly, where Echo answers the nymphs and shepherds by the shady bower, hear Tarquinia and Leonora sing. 51

52

53

There is a “Choro di Tragedia,” and a piece with a choice of clef combinations that can be sung in two different modes, in Ippolito Chamaterò’s Secondo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1569), which is dedicated to Barbara. In Giulio Renaldi’s Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Venice: Gardano, 1569) there is a madrigal dedicated to Barbara that can be sung in eight voices, or be sung as two separate four-voice madrigals. Appendix 5.21: I-PAas, Epistolario scelto, b. 14, Tommaso Machiavelli to Giambattista Pico (secretary to Ottavio Farnese), 31 October 1571. Lavinia Sanseverina was mother to Barbara and cousin to Anna; Giovanni Galeazzo was Lavinia’s brother, the count of Colorno. I-MOe, Fondo Molza-Viti, undated manuscript (sixteenth century).

187

187

Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection The Taro river runs close by San Secondo through Sanvitale lands to the west of Parma. We may assume that the two are Tarquinia Molza and Leonora Sanvitale, and since Leonora was permanently located at Ferrara after her marriage in 1576, the poem probably dates from the early 1570s. The first dated reference to Leonora’s singing comes in a letter from her stepmother to Cardinal Alessandro, written in August 1573. The Sanvitale family were on a protracted visit to Rome while Giberto was involved in litigation. They had been there at least six months when Barbara wrote to Alessandro, asking him for permission to replace Leonora’s singing teacher, Vincenzo Pinti. She noted that the girl had been making excellent progress and showed promise, but perhaps felt that she had hit a plateau: “I beseech Your Lordship therefore to allow me to dismiss, rather than commit to, the Cavaliero Vincenzo Pitti, who comes to continue the work begun to teach singing to my Lady Leonora, who will, with no little honor to you and satisfaction to me, end up in the best place possible.”54 In November the following year, Tomaso Macchiavelli wrote to Ottavio Farnese that Leonora had grown in stature, virtue and manners, with a beauty and an air so sweetly frizzante, that she could enflame, even if it were frozen, the entire kingdom of holy Love. When she accompanies her lovely voice with playing, she could inspire verse and enslave the heart, not only of M. Gianfrancesco Leone, the universally loved old poet, but also the Apollo of Belvedere.55

The correspondence reveals the close relationship between the Sanvitale and the Farnese, and the fondness of all parties concerned for Leonora. In response to a (marriage) offer by Duke  Ottavio in relation to Leonora, Giberto admitted the negotiation was close to his heart, “such is the great love that I bear for my daughter.”56 News of the family and greetings from them are frequently supplemented in the letters to the Farnese from Fabrizio Dentice. Also present in the correspondence are the Neapolitan bass Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, and a “Signor Torquato,” giving a further indication of the company they were keeping.57

54

55

56 57

See Appendix 5.22: I-PAas, CFE Roma b. 370, Barbara Sanseverina to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, 17 August 1573. See Appendix 5.23: I-PAas, CFE Roma, b. 373, Tomaso Macchiavelli to Ottavio Farnese, 17 November 1574. Appendix 5.24: I-PAas, CFE Roma b. 369, Giberto Sanvitale to Ottavio Farnese, 24 June 1573. It is assumed that Torquato Tasso, who was in Rome with Alfonso d’Este, composed the sonnet “Tolse Barbara gente il pregio a Roma” for Barbara Sanseverina during this time. The sonnet was set to music by Giaches de Wert and published in his Sesto libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1577).

188

188

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Throughout 1573 and into 1574, Giberto’s correspondence with Ottavio and Alessandro increasingly focused on the identification of a suitable husband for Leonora. It is clear that the choice was not simply his to make: Giberto referred all approaches to Ottavio, and occasionally third-party negotiators, among them the Milanese Cardinal Gianfrancesco Gambara, corresponded directly with the Farnese. Early in 1574 Gambara advised Ottavio that a decision must be taken soon (“It seems to me that the Lady  Leonora has grown so much in beauty and in stature since your Excellence left here, that it is vital to marry her off as soon as possible”), but above all he stressed the necessity of ensuring the right political match. Nevertheless, Giberto was not entirely passive; in September 1574 he wrote to Ottavio’s secretary with news and a request: The Lord Count Alfonso [Gonzaga] of Novellara came yesterday evening here to see me, because of much amity and confidence that there is between him and me, coming with good intentions in discussion of my Leonora, he assured me that [it has only been] a few days since there was the matter of giving a daughter of Lord Don Francesco d’Este to the Count of Scandiano, and also there was the matter of giving another to Count Hercolino Contrari, in a way that for now the office that he has deigned to do for my Lord Duke (having gone to Ferrara at my suggestion) could be superfluous, but I wanted to tell Your Lordship about it, asking that you let his Illustrious Excellence know all about it, because he might be able to supersede the marriage, if it seems it could be so.58

Giulio Thiene, the Count of Scandiano, was a Ferrarese vassal, the only male heir of Laura Boiardo of Scandiano and Antonio Thiene, a Paduan noble. Soon correspondence between Duke Alfonso and the Thienes began to highlight the issue of Giulio’s marriage, Laura Boiardo pronouncing in February that she and Giulio were ready to do the duke’s will.59 In spring 1575 there was a flurry of letters between Ferrara and Rome, evidently following a proposed match between Leonora and Giulio: from Cardinal Alessandro to Duke Alfonso assuring him of the Farneses’ approval for the match (“I could not today receive in any way greater favor than this of Your Highness, loving this girl not less than if she were my own”), and the Savoy ambassador to Ferrara, Count  Emilio Pozzi, to Giberto (“In truth, I  found him [Duke Alfonso] so happy with this agreement, that I have not the slightest 58

59

Appendix 5.25: I-PAas, CFI, b. 69, Giberto Sanvitale to Giambattista Pico, 19 September 1574. Don Francesco was Duke Alfonso’s uncle; his two illegitimate daughters were Marfisa and Bradamante d’Este. Contrari would not live to marry one of them, as he was murdered by Duke Alfonso in August 1575; see above. Appendix 5.26: I-MOas, CDP Thiene, b. 1383, Laura Boiardo Thiene to Alfonso d’Este, 1 February 1575.

189

189

Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection doubt that we are of the same mind”).60 Neither Giberto nor Laura seem aware of each other’s circumstances. Pozzi told Giberto that Duke Alfonso still needed to seek agreement from the Thienes, and in a postscript outlined the extent of the Thiene estate, in order to reassure Giberto that Leonora would be well provided for.61 Duke  Alfonso, Duke  Ottavio, and Giberto were all in Rome during January, so it is possible that the marriage had been proposed then, but the impetus for the negotiation, it seems, lay with neither family, but with their feudal lords. However agreeable to all parties, the negotiation was not straightforward. In spring 1575 Don Cesare d’Avalos began spreading rumors in Rome about Leonora. He claimed to have a letter written in her own hand that said he “should do everything in his power to convince her father to concede to him.”62 He even suggested they had begun a physical relationship. In fact, Giberto does hint at a prior claim to Leonora’s hand in correspondence throughout the winter of 1574/75, referring to a Milanese negotiation that he wished to terminate. By Easter, Don Cesare was calling for “damages and detriment on the house of the Count of Sala” and declared whoever married Leonora would be his enemy for life.63 To avoid further scandal, his brother Cardinal d’Aragona sent him packing back to Naples, but Giberto took the added precaution of removing Leonora and Barbara from Rome. Because of Don Cesare’s allegations, it became necessary for a Papal Court to rule on Giulio and Leonora’s union; on 24 May the Pope refused permission for them to marry. Giberto’s letters to the Farnese in this month are frantic, for he realized that if Don Cesare’s lies were believed, then Leonora’s reputation would be ruined forever. Not unreasonably, the Thiene family became deeply unsettled. They insisted on a huge increase in the dowry (from 20,000 to 30,000 scudi), with immediate payment of the extra sum; physical protection for Giulio in case Don Cesare carried out the threatened briga; and finally, an assurance from Prince Alessandro Farnese, Don Cesare’s military commander, that nothing had occurred between him and the girl. Giulio made one further telling condition: “that he wishes to see and be seen by the girl before they marry, because he wants to know that they are both satisfied with the marriage.”64

60

61 62 63 64

Appendix 5.27: I-MOas, CPE, b. 1362/95, Alessandro Farnese to Alfonso d’Este, 23 April 1575. Appendix 5.28: I-PAas, CFE Ferrara, b. 130, Emilio Pozzi to Giberto Sanvitale, 4 May 1575. Appendix 5.29: I-PAas, CFE Ferrara, b. 130, Emilio Pozzi to Giberto Sanvitale, 7 May 1575. SolertiFer, 94. Appendix 5.30: I-PAas, CFE Rome, b. 374, Cardinal Gambara to Ottavio Farnese, 14 May 1575. Appendix 5.31: I-PAas CFE Rome, b. 374, Emilio Pozzi to Alessandro Farnese, 27 July 1575. Appendix 5.32: I-MOas, CDP Thiene, b. 1381, Evangelista Baroni to Alfonso d’Este, 4 August 1575.

190

190

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Eventually, the Thienes’ demands were met:  Duke  Alfonso agreed to pay the extra dowry in order to bring the negotiations to a quick end, and Prince Alessandro gave them his personal assurance of Leonora’s virginity.65 Don Cesare withdrew his threats, the Pope gave his approval to the marriage, and a facoltà di concessa was drawn up and signed on 17 September 1575.66 Giberto thanked Duke  Alfonso on 30  October, proclaiming himself “the most consoled father that could be told or imagined.”67 Leonora’s voice is heard only once in the entire proceedings, on 9  September, in a letter to Cardinal  Alessandro expressing her heartfelt thanks for his support, and perhaps her relief that her character was still intact: I know to be so great the grace and favors that I have received from your Illustrious Lordship for the most loving protection in which you have held me, your most humble servant; that it would be too presumptuous if I wished to tell you, or to thank you, or to know how to explain the obligation that I feel to you, which to tell you in a single word is such, that all that happened that I was told by my lord father, I know first that all the blessings given to us have been from your hand.68

The marriage was solemnized in Colorno on 16 December 1575, with festivities “like the beginning of Carnival”; the newlyweds departed for Ferrara on 14 January.69 They arrived to more nuptial celebrations, which were held together with those for Bradamante d’Este and Count  Ercole Bevilacqua, coinciding with both Carnival and the arrival of the Gelosi troupe. Seven days of feasts were held in their honor, each with its particular theme for both food and entertainment.70 Leonora and her stepmother Barbara Sanseverina instantly became the prime donne of the Ferrarese court, one courtier declaring them the “favoritissime” of the duke and the Duchess Lucrezia.71 Leonora was quickly assimilated into the cultural life of the court, and by Carnival 1577 her presence was deemed so indispensable that her absence, caused by the onset of labor, was lamented even by the Florentine

65

66 67

68

69

70

71

Appendix 5.33: I-PAas, CFI, b. 76, [labeled in Giberto Sanvitale’s handwriting] “Copia della littura scritta al S.a Duca di Ferrara dal S.r Principi di Parma,” n.d. A copy of the agreement is in I-PAas, Sanvitale, b. 847/163bis. Appendix 5.34: I-MOas, CDP Thiene b. 1381, Giberto Sanvitale to Alfonso d’Este, 30 October 1575. Appendix 5.35: I-PAp, Carteggio Cardinal Farnese, c. 107, Leonora Sanvitale to Alessandro Farnese, 9 September 1575. Appendix 5.36: I-PAas, CFI, b. 76, Giambattista Pico to David Spilimbergo, 16 December 1575; Document 5.37: I-PAas, CFI, b. 77, Giambattista Pico to David Spilimbergo, 14 January 1576. The menus and arrangements for the feasts are described in Giovanni Battista Rossetti, Dello Scalco … nel quale si contengono le qualità di uno scalco perfetto … et gli ordini di una casa da principe … (Ferrara: Mammarello, 1584), 52–89. Appendix 5.38: I-PAas, CFE Ferrara, b. 131, Celio Sozzo to David Spilimbergo, 19 January 1576.

191

191

Leonora Sanvitale and the Farnese Connection ambassador, Bernardo Canigiani.72 But motherhood did not put an end to her involvement in court entertainments. By March 1577 she had been churched and had resumed her duties, for Canigiani lists her as one of the participants in a series of costumed, staged, and choreographed evening entertainments that preceded the mid-Lenten tradition of segar la monaca.73 In December of that year, Canigiani reported her singing in the apartments of Duchess Lucrezia, in ensemble with Brancaccio, Lucrezia Bendidio, and Vittoria Cybo Bentivoglio: she was in her rooms [last night] to hear Lord Giulio Cesare Brancaccio sing – in company, that is, in ensemble with Lady Lucrezia Bendidio, with Countess Leonora of Scandiano, and with Lady Vittoria Bentivoglia – who [Brancaccio] has become very prized and dear to her [Duchess Lucrezia] and the duke.74

Leonora’s marriage has been described as a love match  – the story goes that Thiene first saw Leonora in 1573 and began considering the marriage at that point.75 This cannot be true, if in 1575 Thiene would not agree to the marriage before seeing her. It seems remarkable that so many powerful men should have exercised so much in order to guarantee Leonora’s future at Ferrara: Duke Alfonso deprived his cousin of a potential husband, and the Farnese family risked serious political strife with their Neapolitan allies (and Milanese neighbors) so that the marriage could take place. It is tempting to see Leonora’s recruitment to the Ferrarese court as a means whereby Alfonso was able to secure another young female singing star. Leonora’s immediate prehistory in Rome shows she was keeping company with musicians already acknowledged as important figures. She had sung with Tarquinia Molza; she had direct access to Fabrizio Dentice, who was staying in her stepmother’s house; and through her protector Cardinal Alessandro, she may even have come across Emilio de’ Cavalieri. Most noteworthy, however, are those named directly by Giustiniani in his Discorso. Giustiniani considered Alessandro Merlo (Cardinal  Farnese’s musician) and Giulio Cesare Brancaccio (staying with Barbara Sanseverina

72 73

74

75

SolertiFer, 195. See Treadwell, “Restaging the Siren,” 310–14. The celebration involved a procession to a convent and there sawing in two the effigy of an old nun, which was followed by the distribution of refreshments made at the convent; Zuccagni-Orlandini, Corografia, 9:280. Appendix 5.39: I-Fas, AM, f. 2895, Bernardo Canigiani to Belisario Vinta, 14 December 1577, transcribed in DurMarCron, 137. Vittoria Cybo Bentivoglio was the illegimate daughter of Alberico Cybo-Malaspina, Prince of Massa and Marquis of Carrara. She was therefore sister to Suor Caterina Cybo (see Chapter 6), and future sister-in-law of Marfisa d’Este. SolertiFer, 187–89; Belli, “Eleonora Sanvitali,” 149.

192

192

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s in Rome) to be central to the development of solo song in Rome during the 1570s, practitioners of a new singing style, “with a variety of ornaments, new and lovely to the ears of everyone”; he also called Vincenzo Pinti, Leonora’s singing teacher, an “excellent player and composer.”76 Pinti would have taught Leonora the art of singing self-accompanied, and though we cannot be certain that she had the skills to emulate Brancaccio’s florid style, we can be sure that she would have witnessed it at this time.77 Although Alfonso has been considered the mastermind behind all musical recruitment to his court, Lucrezia’s input was also important. After all, the new singers first performed in her apartments, and this remained the status quo until the next decade. Not long before the negotiations for Leonora’s marriage began in earnest, Alfonso and Lucrezia had worked together in an unsuccessful attempt to bring a bass to Ferrara:  Paolo Pighino, one of the Pesaro musicians dismissed after the death of Duke Guidobaldo.78 Both Alfonso and Lucrezia were exposed to the new Roman-Neapolitan style in the early 1570s: in 1571, when Duke Guidobaldo requested the presence of Fabrizio Dentice from Ottavio Farnese specifically for Lucrezia’s entrata into the city, and later during visits to Rome.79 We have seen that Brancaccio’s eventual arrival at court brought Lucrezia as much pleasure as it did Alfonso, just as Leonora Sanvitale’s arrival had done. The recruitment of the two singers may provide evidence of a family project to bring a very specific set of musical skills to the highest, and innermost, social circle of the court.

Neapolitan Song Before the 1570s The contents of Alfonso’s library support the notion that in the mid-1570s he and Lucrezia expanded the court’s musical horizons by encouraging the Roman-Neapolitan style. The books it contains published during those years include Lodovico Agostini’s Canzoni alla napolitana a cinque voci (Venice:  Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1574); an unidentified “Napolitane a cinque voci,” possibly a reprint of Giovanni Ferretti’s Il terzo libro di 76 77

78

79

GiustinianiD, 24. Pinti was also engaged to teach the nuns of Santa Caterina dei Funari. My thanks to Noel O’Regan for the manuscript of his “Music Teaching and Practice in a Convent, and a Scandal Averted, in Late Renaissance Rome,” given at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, San Diego, 2013. Pighino eventually went to Ottavio Farnese’s chapel in Parma; Piperno, L’immagine del Duca, 110. Ibid., 100, 141–42, 303. The Neapolitan monk Geronimo Vespa – possibly through the offices of Dentice – dedicated a book of madrigals to Princess Lucrezia on the occasion of her marriage; see Vespa, Il primo libro de madrigali, 9.

193

193

Neapolitan Song Before the 1570s napolitane a cinque voci (Venice: Heirs of Girolamo Scotto, 1575); a reprint of Alessandro Romano’s Il secondo libro delle napolitane a cinque voci (Venice:  Heirs of Girolamo Scotto, 1575); and Giovanni de Macque’s Il primo libro de madrigali a sei voci (Venice: Gardano, 1576), published while the composer worked in Rome.80 Tasso’s engagement at Ferrara – and the favored status he had with both princesses – may also be seen in this context, for he carried with him both the Neapolitan cachet of his childhood, and his later experience of Roman cultural life. When, in 1584, Alfonso later tried to recruit the bass Pitio (mentioned by Giustiniani together with Merlo and Brancaccio), the Ferrarese agent in Rome was clear about the qualities he could offer: He has a good way for singing Neapolitan songs, and making up words and tunes with great relish, he makes a profession of singing bass to the lute and has the sweetest voice. I do not know yet how he is in ensemble, never having tried it; otherwise, he has a very lively mind and makes pleasing conversation.81

Pitio was able to compose specifically for singing to accompaniment; that is, in a style determined exclusively by text and melody. Similarly, Brancaccio provided repertoire for the Ferrarese ladies consisting of “various arias for sonnets, and Neapolitan-style songs.”82 The courtier-musician was expected to create music that was evidence of a “lively mind” and worthy of “pleasing conversation” – but clearly not touched by the craft of counterpoint. So what was so attractive and different about the Neapolitan style? There were two strands to Neapolitan song in the mid-Cinquecento, both sufficiently different from northern practices to be considered new and amusing:  the strophic song alla napolitane and courtly song. The popular three- or four-line strophic form, invariably with a punchline in the refrain, lent itself to extemporization, so it could have constituted the core of the courtier-musician’s social practice. Moreover, in print it was often composed out polyphonically in three or four voices, so it could also easily adapt to collective performance. Neapolitan courtly song, on the other hand, set more elevated forms of poetry, but nonetheless retained the melodic and harmonic simplicity of the strophic style. While strophic song provided the courtier with the opportunity to display wit and to participate in social 80

81

82

The contents of the Este music library are partially reconstructed in Appendix III of NewcombMF, 1:213–50. There were also “alcune Napolitane” in Luzzaschi’s private library in 1606; see Chapter 9. Wistreich, Warrior, Courtier, Singer, 206. Pitio should be distinguished from Vincenzo Pinti: The agent says that Pitio worked for Cardinal Cornaro at a time when Pinti was employed by Cardinal Farnese. Ibid., 203, 293.

194

194

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s music-making, courtly song was a medium that allowed him – or her – to demonstrate individual musical and vocal virtuosity through the use of complex ornamentation, and the paralinguistic, paramusical gestures of affect so admired as part of dramatic vocal performance. The transmission of the courtly repertoire relied more on manuscript volumes compiled for and by performers and their students.83 However, one print remains that provides clues to courtly song’s salient features: the Aeri racolti insieme con altri bellissimi aggionti di diversi Dove si cantano Sonetti, Stanze e Terze Rime collected by Rocco Rodio, and issued (in reprint) by Giuseppe Cacchio in Naples in 1577.84 The collection comprises songs and song formulas by Neapolitan and Roman-Neapolitan musicians, including Fabrizio and Luigi Dentice. Its original date is unknown, but the songs it contains date from as early as the 1550s; yet its reissue suggests that it was still in demand twenty years later as a functional guide to the repertoire. Three important features stand out: the use of simple scalic descents and ascents, as well as single-note declamation, instead of clearly defined melodies; bass lines that provide root-position harmonies without independent rhythmic movement; and a marked irregularity of declamatory rhythm, pace, and phrase lengths. The style prioritizes the clear delivery of the text over melodic invention and contrapuntal process; tension and emotional emphasis were provided by the singer through extemporaneous embellishment and gesture.85 Although Alfonso and Lucrezia’s enthusiasm for Neapolitan culture emerges in the 1570s, the northern expansion of the Roman-Neapolitan style had begun somewhat earlier in Florence. The Sienese virtuoso Scipione Della  Palla, who had been based in Naples since at least 1547 (when he performed there with Brancaccio), arrived in Florence in 1559.86 He was joined in 1565 by the fourteen-year-old Roman Giulio Caccini, who later claimed Della Palla was his mentor, calling him the “finest singer of the century.” Caccini’s first public performance came soon after his arrival, when he appeared as Psyche in the intermedi between the acts of the comedy

83

84

85

86

Cosimo Bottegari’s famous “Lutebook” is typical: fascimile edition, Bottegari, Il libro di canto e liuto. On manuscript transmission of song repertoire, see Carter, “Caccini’s ‘Amarilli, mia bella’ ”; Coelho, “The Players of Florentine Monody.” On Rocco Rodio’s publication and its significance to understanding the development of northern Italian song (particularly in relation to Florence), see Brown, “Geography of Florentine Monody,” 149–54. On its potential influence on Giaches de Wert, see Treloar, “The Madrigals of Wert,” 98–105. Brown, “Geography of Florentine Monody,” 154–58. McGee, “How One Learned to Ornament,” 4. McGee draws on the scholarship of Tim Carter and John Walter Hill for his summary: Hill, “Recitar Cantando”; Carter, “A Florentine Wedding of 1608”; Carter, “Caccini’s ‘Amarilli, mia bella’ ”; Hill, Roman Monody. Brown, “Geography of Florentine Monody,” 148.

195

195

Neapolitan Song Before the 1570s Example 5.5 “Fuggi, spene mia, fuggi,” Alessandro Striggio, from the lute transcription in Vincenzo Galilei’s Fronimo (Venice: Scotto, 1584); reduced to melody and rhythmically simplified bass line.

La  Cofanaria.87 Although his lament, “Fuggi spene mia, fuggi,” was set by a Mantuan musician, Alessandro Striggio, its style incorporates the main features of Rodio’s courtly songs:  single-note declamation, a restricted melodic range, a harmonically generated bass line, and irregular phrase lengths (Example 5.5).88 Fuggi, spene mia, fuggi, e fuggi per non far più mai ritorno. 87 88

Brown, “Psyche’s Lament,” 17–28. Example 5.5 is based on Brown’s reconstruction, which is itself based on the intabulation of Striggio’s aria in Galilei, Fronimo, 139. The bass has been simplified by eliminating some repeated notes.

196

196

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Sola tu, che distruggi ogni mia pace, à far vienne soggiorno Invidia, Gelosia, Pensiero e Scorno, meco nel cieco Inferno ove l’aspro martir mio viva eterno. You forsake me, my hope, you forsake me never to return. You alone who destroy my peace, you send to stay with me Envy, Jealousy, Concern and Scorn, in gloomy Hell, where my cruel torment shall last forever.

The absence of melody at the opening allows for an initial rhetorical flourish, but it is the treatment of the third, fourth, and fifth lines that gives most license to the performer, allowing the young Caccini to demonstrate his already formidable prowess in ornamentation. By setting “ogni mia pace” as a separate syntactical unit, Striggio allows for a contrast in cadential ornamentation and inflection between “distruggi” and “pace.” Moreover, he runs the second part of the fourth line and the fifth line together in a long phrase that begins slowly but ends rapidly, mixing duple and triple rhythms, requiring the singer to exaggerate enunciation and word stresses (“Invidia, Gelosia, Pensieri e Scorno”) to full desperate effect. Finally, the repeat of all but the first two lines permits the singer to show even more invention by varying the ornamentation further on the repeat. Striggio’s madrigal  – a female-voice lament  – illustrates the RomanNeapolitan approach in its melodic economy, its declamatory freedom, and in its opportunities for the addition of affective nuances in performance. But it also shows a more sophisticated attitude to melody than Rodio’s songs, with its sighing internal cadences. The legacy of lament in Ferrara, exemplified in the works of De Rore and De Wert in the 1550s and 1560s, relied even more heavily on compositional intervention to convey textual affect – even where, as in De Wert’s arioso settings of Bradamante texts, the conventions of the form set constraints on both melody and harmony. The project of Ferrarese musicians in the 1570s was to incorporate the style of Roman-Neapolitan courtly song into their existing practices, so permitting both composer and performer to contribute to the affective delivery of the text.

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s Establishing a benchmark for musical change at the Ferrarese court in the 1570s is difficult, for little music by court musicians remains from the first half of the decade:  Only Luzzaschi’s incomplete Primo libro (1571) and Alessandro Milleville’s Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci

197

197

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s (Venice:  Gardano, 1575)  date from these years. This is scant evidence compared to the number of books dedicated to or emanating from the court in the 1580s, when often more madrigal books would appear in a year than were published in the 1560s and 1570s combined. Nonetheless, there are still signs that Ferrarese musicians were considering elements of the Neapolitan courtly style, even before the arrival of Sanvitale and Brancaccio. Alessandro Milleville was a senior member of the Este musical establishment. Although born in France, Ferrara had been his home since 1530, when he arrived with his father, Jean, at the age of nine to join Duchess Renée’s household.89 Having been the princesses’ music tutor in their childhood, he observed the Este siblings’ abilities and tastes for the whole of their lives. His Libro primo … a cinque voci was published when he was already in his fifties, so its contents are likely to have been composed over a long period, and to be those works he valued most. The texts are predominantly spiritual, and all anonymous save one, “I vo’ cantar ogn’or per queste rive,” which is attributed in an eighteenth-century source to Barbara Cavaletta, daughter of the poets Ercole Cavaletto and Orsolina Cavaletta.90 As one might expect of a composer who worked alongside Cipriano de  Rore, Milleville often achieves affective text-setting through harmonic color and a sensitivity to contrapuntal procedure. For instance, he illustrates the words “in profondo silentio” using a falling chain of major sonorities on a cycle of fifths followed by a general rest, the strength of which is tempered somewhat by the irregular structure of the cadence (Example 5.6). However, some of the writing prioritizes textual declamation, developing further the style of Fiesco’s Guarini settings from 1569, and loosening the setting of sonnets from the privilege of polyphony. “Già mi vivea felice e tutto lieto” starts conventionally enough with a fully imitative exposition, but it soon switches to quasi-homophony, with the melody taking shape from both the meaning and the rhythm of the text; the seconda parte is entirely homophonic. Frequent general rests divide the text syntactically (not always in keeping with the formal line divisions) and the rate of declamation varies with the emotional affect of the text. For all its apparent declamatory freedom, however, there is still a sense of regularity. The homophonic passages are predominantly delivered in phrase lengths of between two and three breves; longer phrases, with slower declamation, are supported polyphonically (Example 5.7).

89 90

See the biographical notes in DurMarMS, 1:111–15. Rime scelte de’ poeti ferraresi antichi e moderni (Ferrara: Heirs of Bernardino Pomatelli, 1713), 234.

198

198

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.6 “In profondo silentio era sepolta,” Alessandro Milleville, Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (1575), mm. 1–4.

Example 5.7 “Già mi vivea felice e tutto lieto,” Alessandro Milleville, Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (1575), mm. 16–26, Canto with reduction of lower parts.

199

199

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s Example 5.8 “Già mi vivea felice e tutto lieto,” Alessandro Milleville, Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (1575), mm. 36–45, Canto with reduction of lower parts.

Moreover, although there are passages in which the declamation is on a single note or within a narrow range, Milleville can still use melody to invoke textual meaning or affect. In Example 5.7, the phrase “hor del profondo cor l’alto secreto” (now from the deep heart, the lofty secret) is painted with downwards, then upwards leaps – “l’alto” leaps twice, the second time even higher. In the seconda parte, at the words “Ma poi, ch’in vita faticos’e vile” (But in this difficult and vile life) the melody leaps a minor seventh, but monotone declamation is reserved for “senza speranza del bel viso santo” (without hope of the blessed fair face) (Example 5.8). The extended use of homophony in “Già mi vivea felice” gives it the appearance of composed-out solo song, particularly as the Basso and Canto move precisely together, the Basso always providing harmonic roots, even in otherwise polyphonic passages. Without considering the influence of Neapolitan courtly style, this unity of movement has a local precedent in De Wert’s madrigali ariosi, but Milleville’s piece differs from the earlier genre in important respects. It sets a sonnet, not a strambotto or ottava rima; it is written for five voices, not four; and its textures are more relentlessly homophonic, making frequent use of general rests rather than binding the phrases together. If anything, “Già mi vivea felice” resembles most closely the textures of Lodovico Agostini’s five-voice Canzoni alla napolitana, which had been

200

200

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s published the previous year in 1574. A cleric with a mysterious connection to the Curia (for unknown reasons, he later became a Protonotary Apostolic), Agostini had apparently spent some time in Rome, where he would have been in contact with Neapolitan musicians, before returning to his native Ferrara.91 Agostini was not yet a court composer, but his activity on the periphery of the court environment may have brought him to the attention of musicians placed more centrally. Agostini already had several madrigal publications to his name, books that show his involvement in domestic music-making, and his delight in music as an intellectual pursuit and a subject of conversation and entertainment. His earlier Musica …Libro secondo de madrigali a quatro voci (Venice:  Gardano, 1572)  – dedicated to two of Alfonso’s gentlemen, Counts Girolamo Roverelli and Enea Montecucculi – shows that he had access to courtiers, but its four-voice format puts it at odds with the entire corpus of courtly secular music emerging from Ferrara during Alfonso’s reign.92 It may be that the 1574 Canzoni were an attempt to bring his knowledge and expertise into better focus for a court that wished to cultivate Neapolitan musical chic, using the cachet of the five-voice format as a measure of his abilities.93 Although the 1574 Canzoni are self-evidently in the Neapolitan style, one work from the 1572 Libro secondo … a quatro voci shows that Agostini had already internalized its most important characteristics. These manifest in a madrigal written for paired sopranos within a high-voice voci pari scoring (g2g2c1c3), a disposition common in later canzonetta publications. But “Donna felice e bella” is not a strophic song; it is a madrigal, and its unequal line lengths already predispose the setting to a more fluid rhythmic cast: Donna, felice e bella, felice è ben ch’ogn’hora vi mira et ode con dolce favella. Ridendo in sì dolce dolcezza ancora, io che vostro son ne d’altra vorrei. Amor lo sa, che tutto scorge e vede; ne ciò celar potrei. Ahi, che mi constringe la data fede!

91 92

93

Stras, “ ‘Al gioco si conosce,’ ” 227–28. Giulio Fiesco’s Madrigali a quattro, a cinque e a sei voci of 1563, dedicated to Count Luigi Gonzaga, and Alessandro Milleville’s Le Vergine (Ferrara: Baldini, 1584), dedicated to Suor Brigida Grana, are the only other Ferrarese books containing four-voice madrigals to emerge during Alfonso’s reign. This may suggest that Ferrarese musicians no longer considered four-voice polyphony a sufficiently prestigious format for dedication to the musically sophisticated Este family. Balsano, “ ‘Solo e pensoso,’ ” 15.

201

201

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s Happy and beautiful lady, happy he who at every hour can look at you, and converse with you sweetly. Smiling I delight again in such gentle sweetness, I who am yours and would wish for no other. Love, who sees all, knows this; nor could I hide it. Ah, that I am held to my faithful vow!

Although more consistently homophonic than the duets of Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali, Agostini’s miniature nonetheless exploits the upper pair as a duo, rather than simply two voices in a uniform texture. This is seen most clearly in the imitation at m. 6, and at mm. 18–19 and 23, as the voices trade off the exclamation, “Ahi!” (Example 5.9). The arrival of Sanvitale and Brancaccio at the Ferrarese court could have triggered a new wave of musical publications, and indeed Luzzaschi and Isnardi each produced a book of five-voice madrigals during the second half of the 1570s:  Luzzaschi’s Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1576) was dedicated to Princess Leonora d’Este, and Isnardi’s Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1577) to Ippolito Della  Rovere.94 It is likely that Lodovico Agostini also published a book of five-voice madrigals in this period, as his second book for five voices is missing, presumably published between his Musica … Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Heirs of Antonio Gardano: 1570) and the Il nuovo Echo a cinque voci ... Libro terzo (Ferrara: Baldini, 1583). Isnardi’s book contains the most concrete traces of Sanvitale’s arrival. A group of pieces near the end of the book, although ostensibly unrelated, might have been placed together because they share a temporal or causal link. Two settings seem to relate to theatrical events, perhaps those mounted during the week of feasting held for Sanvitale’s wedding: one, “ ‘Gentil Elpin’, la ninfa mia mi disse” refers to a pastoral character in Tasso’s Aminta; the other, “Poi che ch’invitan le campagne,” is marked “mascherata.” These are followed by three madrigals, the middle of which sets Tasso’s sonnet “Quel labbro, che le rose han colorito,” marked “Alla Contessa di Scandiano,” which extols the wonder of Sanvitale’s lower lip.95 The madrigals that precede and follow “Quel labbro” share a distinguishing characteristic: they are written in high clefs (g2c1c2c3c4) with only a third separating each clef from the one above it. Manifestly composed for a predominance of high voices, these two works, “Mentre ch’io tengo fisse le luci” and “La bella Pargoletta” (another Tasso setting in praise of Laura Corregiara, one of Princess Leonora’s ladies), 94

95

Modern edition, Luzzaschi, Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 4. Ippolito Della Rovere, Marquis of San Lorenzo, was the cousin of Duke Francesco Maria of Urbino, and therefore related by marriage to Duchess Lucrezia. The sonnet’s argomento reads: “Loda il labro di sotto de la Signora Leonora Sanvitale, il quale è alquanta ritondetto e si sporge fuori con mirabil grazia.”

202

202

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.9 “Donna felice e bella,” Lodovico Agostini, Libro secondo de madrigali a quatro voci (1572).

203

203

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s Example 5.9 (continued)

could have formed part of a new repertoire for social singing in the highest echelons of the court. A  passage from “La  bella Pargoletta” illustrates the fluidity of Isnardi’s part-writing in overlapping tessituras, a quality already observed in his voci pari sacred music (see Example 5.4), but here deployed over five voices. Between mm. 24 and 35, the Canto, Alto, and the Quinto at some point each have the highest note in the texture; yet frequently the Tenore is higher than the Quinto, and at m. 26 the Quinto and Alto (and the Quinto again at m.  36) even briefly sing the same pitch as the Basso (Example 5.10). When Brancaccio sang with the three ladies “in conserto” in 1577, it is possible they were performing four-voice works – especially if, like Agostini’s “Donna felice e bella,” they were composed in voci pari  – for we know Brancaccio was able to sing tenor as well as bass. They may also have sung either three- or four-voice strophic songs, for these, too, often required a pair

204

204

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.10 “La bella Pargoletta,” Paolo Isnardi, Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1577), mm. 24–37.

205

205

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s or trio of high voices against a lower bass part. On the other hand, their repertoire may have included works such as “La bella Pargoletta” and “Mentre ch’io tengo fisse.” Although no tenor was named, if the part had been sung by a chapel singer whose identity was of no interest to the Florentine ambassador, his presence could have gone unnoted. Many of the madrigals in Luzzaschi’s Secondo libro may predate the advent of Sanvitale and Brancaccio, but they contain elements that suggest other aspects of the developing musical environment in Ferrara. Although the book does not use upper voices in paired clefs, there are two settings (perhaps significantly of texts depicting singers) – “Dhe, non cantar, donna gentil, ch’io sento” and “Al dolce vostro canto”  – that anticipate the duet textures of the 1601 Madrigali. “Dhe, non cantar” has a non-standard cleffing (c1c2c3c4F4), similar to Isnardi’s “La  bella Pargoletta”; however, Luzzaschi does not use it to permit such flexibility in range across the whole ensemble. Nevertheless, he does allow the upper two parts to overlap effectively, particularly during melismatic passages.96 “Al dolce vostro canto” has a more conventional cleffing (g2c2c3c3c4), and the upper voices are well separated in tessitura, but they are highlighted in a duet texture at a very precise moment, when the text refers to singing: “se quel cantar soave onesto” (if this sweet and decent singing). More generally, if the madrigal is reduced to just the two upper voices with an accompaniment, it is easy to see the quasi-dialog arrangement of the 1601 Madrigali emerge, with one voice “echoing” the other before joining together in the next verse. The end of the piece is unique in the book, and highly unusual within the repertoire, for after melismatic polyphony and a rapid triple-time section setting the words “Però se quel cantar soave onesto / udir potess’io ogn’hora / il fior de l’età nostra eterno fora” (Thus if I could hear that sweet and honorable singing always, the flower of our age would blossom in eternity), it concludes with four measures of breves resetting the final words (Example 5.11a). Although this may be seen as an illustrative device attached to the word “eterno,” it also provides the space for the kind of written-out ornamentation that pervades the 1601 Madrigali. By superimposing the ornamentation patterns taken from the later publication, a duet arrangement of the madrigal could end with an appropriately flourishing cadence (Example 5.11b). In some of the madrigals in Luzzaschi’s Secondo libro – such as “Geloso amante, apro mille occhi e giro,” a setting of one of Tasso’s sonnets for

96

A third madrigal in the book, “Al Cielo che mancheran le stelle,” also uses a non-standard combination (g2c2c2c3F3). The paired c2 voices only cross with the c3 Tenor where the partwriting demands; moreover, for most of the madrigal the Canto operates semi-independently from the lower four voices.

206

206

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.11a “Al dolce vostro canto,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1576), mm. 57–61.

Lucrezia Bendidio  – the full expressive potential is only realized in the Canto, suggesting they may have been conceived with the intention of highlighting the singer of that line – what Giustiniani called “Villanelle miste tra Madrigali di canto figurato.” Others can be regarded as composed-out solo song; for instance, the predominantly homophonic “Veggo tranquillo il mar tutto gioire” lends itself to solo performance with minimal adjustments. The book’s opening work, “Non fu senza vendetta,” although not strictly homophonic, rarely takes advantage of a full five-voiced texture.97 Although the lower voices sometimes cross, the melody is always supported by rootposition chords, and the upper voice alone has the complete text. Its overall structure would also accommodate varied ornamentation, for like “Fuggi, spene mia, fuggi,” only the setting of the first two lines (which are separated from the remainder by a general rest) is not repeated. What these pieces do not do, however, is reflect fully the characteristics of Neapolitan courtly song: the phrase lengths and declamation are relatively regular, and the melodies have ranges of an octave or more. It may be that Luzzaschi chose not to include works in the Roman-Neapolitan style in a five-voice publication, or that in the process of becoming five-voice works, 97

Modern edition, Luzzaschi, Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 4, 113–16. The text of “Non fu senza vendetta” is a madrigal by Guarini; its earliest published setting is found in Giovanni Agostino Veggio’s Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Parma: Viotto, 1575), dedicated to Ercole Varano, part of a small network of music publications associated with Leonora Sanvitale and Barbara Sanseverina; see Chapter 6.

207

207

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s Example 5.11b “Al dolce vostro canto,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1576), mm. 57–61, Canto and Alto ornamented, reduction of all parts.

any relationship they had with that style became attenuated. When selecting and preparing repertoire for public distribution, composers were likely to choose works that either had commercial value (if their primary motivation for publication was financial) or were suitable for scrutiny by other musicians and amenable to critical evaluation: that is, ones that would bring honor to both composer and patron. Giustiniani says as much when he states, “But as songs acquired greater perfection through this more skillful composition, so also every author, so that his compositions succeeded in the general taste, ensured that he advanced in the method of composing for several voices.”98 Since the Roman-Neapolitan style emphasized the performer rather than the composition, such works would not be first choice in a publication designed to flatter an Este princess. 98

Appendix 5.1: GiustinianiD, 21–22.

208

208

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s Example 5.12 “Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 18–30.

Nevertheless, the 1601 Madrigali show that Luzzaschi did indeed compose solo songs with Roman-Neapolitan characteristics, even though it is impossible to know when precisely he composed them. Its third solo madrigal, “Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?” has all the requisite features:  irregular phrase lengths; flexible rhythms and narrow-range declamation; simple melodic cells that fall and rise in fourths and fifths; a bass line that does not operate independently of the melody; the opportunity for virtuosic ornamentation (Example 5.12).

209

209

Ferrarese Courtly Music in the 1570s Example 5.13 “Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 1–7.

But “Ch’io non t’ami” also contains those compositional interventions that were so valued in Ferrarese circles, an example of song that “acquired greater perfection through this more skillful composition.”99 The opening sonorities, while all root-position, are chromatically inflected, disorienting the listener and postponing the confirmation of the tonal focus. In the following section, the melody plunges down the octave, taking the voice only momentarily out of the narrow range it has already established, at the words “E per nova speranza i t’abbandoni” (and abandon you for a new hope) in a melodic representation of vocal affect (Example 5.13). Luzzaschi also creates instability in the rhythmic delivery, exerting a composer’s control over the declamation. The rest at the beginning of the piece aligns the word stress with the duple division of the tactus (“Ch’io non t’ami …”). A few breves later, the rhythm degenerates into the familiar 3+3+2 patterns of the arioso (“che per novo desio”), but the expectations this sets up are immediately destabilized by extending the next phrase into an even more irregular 3+3+4+4 grouping (“E per nova speranza i t’abbandoni”). In this solo madrigal, then, we see how the Roman-Neapolitan courtly style was 99

Ibid.

210

210

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s adapted for Ferrarese audiences into a new style that allowed both composer and performer to contribute to the overall affective impact of the work. In March 1582 Alfonso dispatched a courtier to obtain songs directly from Naples; however, he was disappointed, for the envoy found the composition of courtly song had stalled twenty years before with the departure of the Dentices. He reported that, instead, Neapolitan society had been taken over by “madrigali a stampa” (printed madrigals), particularly those by Luzzaschi.100 This reversal seems ironic, given the lengths to which Ferrara had gone to assimilate all things Neapolitan, but perhaps it explains further why Giustiniani stressed the role of Roman musicians in the development of sixteenth-century song; for had the Neapolitans never left Naples, their music may not have cross-fertilized so effectively with other styles.

Bardi on De Rore: An Outsider’s View of the Ferrarese Musical Legacy in the 1570s This chapter began with Vincenzo Giustiniani’s explanation of how music in Italy began to change in the 1570s. Giustiniani inherited a musical vocabulary that was rooted in the contrapuntal paradigm. It is no surprise, then, that he struggled to describe how composers and performers together contributed to the development of a new way of creating, performing, and disseminating music. He clearly perceived that the period between his youth and the beginning of the seventeenth century – when what he calls la buona forma, the monodic style, solidified in print – saw a reluctance to abandon completely the intellectual values of previous generations, even while embracing the aesthetic values of the next. Whereas in the mid-sixteenth century counterpoint was the only respected mode of composition, and therefore the only type for which a critical vocabulary existed, Giustiniani marveled that during his lifetime a framework for creating and evaluating solo song as composition, not just as performance, had developed: So that a musical work might succeed in esteem, it is necessary that it be composed with the proper and true rules of that profession, as well as with new and difficult restrictions, that are not known to all musicians in general; and not just madrigals and compositions to be sung in many voices, but also counterpoint and canons, and – what seems an even greater wonder – even those arias for singing easily by a single voice.101

100 101

Newcomb, “Carlo Gesualdo and a Musical Correspondence,” 428. Appendix 5.40: GiustinianiD, 19.

211

211

Bardi on De Rore Inherent in Giustiniani’s story is a dichotomy that he sees converging during the decades after 1575: the notions of “composing for several voices” (componere a più voci) and “solo singing” (cantare a voce sola). One was an intellectual pursuit, the other a performative art, if not completely improvisatory, at least not bound to a written tradition. Giustiniani saw them coming together in Luzzaschi’s blend of the Ferrarese commitment to compositional expression with the Roman-Neapolitan emphasis on interpretation through performance. But these two strands, which he saw in retrospect as complementary, were once regarded as practically inimical. The tension between them was not to do with the contrast between light or serious, homophony or polyphony, but between art and craft; and this was reflected in how they were valued, rewarded, recorded, and discussed. When the Florentine Count  Giovanni Bardi wrote to Giulio  Caccini in the late 1570s about the nature of ancient music and good singing, the nobleman pronounced modern music to be defective and divided against itself: “I say, then, that music as practiced today is divided into two parts: one is that called counterpoint; the other we shall call the art of good singing.”102 Bardi was Caccini’s musical mentor, and the essay’s object was the reform of vocal music, not by insisting on reducing all song to a single line, but by regarding all singing as quintessentially one melody performed to a subservient accompaniment, be that provided instrumentally or vocally. Bardi’s objections to contrapuntal music arose from its propensity to obscure the meaning of the words, through the distortion of the poetic meter and the deleterious effect of several different melodic/rhythmic declamations of the same (or, woe betide, a different) text simultaneously.103 He drew parallels between the relationship of the text to the music and that of the soul to the body, suggesting that the text should operate as a kind of platonic form, whereby the music that sets it is the way the text becomes intelligible to the minds of listeners, as the body makes the soul intelligible to the natural world. Thus, when composing, you will strive above all to arrange the verse well and to make the words comprehensible, not letting yourself be led astray by counterpoint … (Keeping in mind that just as the soul is nobler than the body, so the text is nobler than the counterpoint, and just as the mind [soul] should rule the body, so the counterpoint should receive its rule from the text) … The divine Cipriano [de Rore] toward the end of his life knew well what a very grave error this was in music. Therefore, he dedicated all his energies to making the verse and the sound of 102

103

Bardi, “Discorso,” 110–11. Earlier Florentines also made this distinction, as in the polemics of Antonio de’ Pazzi in the 1540s; Nosow, “The Debate on Song,” 186ff. Bardi, “Discorso,” 112–13.

212

212

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s the words intelligible in his madrigals … not done haphazardly, for that great man said in Venice that it was the true way to compose, and had he not been taken from us by death, he would have, in my opinion, brought this genre of music of several airs to such perfection that others would have been easily able to raise it to the true and perfect condition so much praised by the ancients.104

Bardi’s comments on Luzzaschi’s teacher, De Rore, are the earliest substantial discussion of the older composer’s aesthetic aims, and the first to refer to De Rore as the “divine” catalyst whose musical insight might point to the “true way of composing.”105 Despite the Florentine’s antipathy to counterpoint, he nonetheless admired De Rore’s ability to make “the verse and the sound of the words intelligible in his madrigals” within a contrapuntal framework. He drew his examples from madrigals published during the final years of De Rore’s tenure in Ferrara, when Luzzaschi would have been his pupil.106 Most evident in these works is the way that the polyphonic complex of each madrigal  – which manifests both vertical harmonies in horizontal harmonic progression, and the overall cadential organization – is governed by the text. While none of the madrigals is written exclusively in homophonic textures, Bardi clearly felt that their articulation of the text was masterful, fulfilling his criterion of intelligibility both of individual words and phrases, and more generally of the text’s conceit(s). We might wonder, however, whether Bardi felt there was a role for a different agency in leading “music of several airs” back to music’s true and perfect form, even once De  Rore had established the ideal approach to composition. Bardi held that singers are as implicated as composers in the duty to keep faithful to the text, and again held up a Ferrarese exemplar to his protégé, saying, “Take as a model those never sufficiently praised ladies of Ferrara, whom I have heard sing more than 330 madrigals by heart – something to wonder at – without ever spoiling even one syllable. It would behoove you, if you want to garner supreme praise with your singing, to let the words be heard clearly.”107 Bardi was almost certainly speaking here of accompanied solo performance, one of the main concerns of his treatise and the most likely method by which the ladies would have sung “by heart.” And, because of the presumed date of his essay – around 1578 – he

104 105 106

107

Ibid., 114–15. See La Via, Cipriano de Rore, 25ff. The madrigals he cites are “Poiche m’invita Amore”; “Se ben il duol che per voi, donna, sento”; “Di virtù, di costumi, di valore”; “Un’altra volta la Germania strida”; “O sonno! O, della queta humida ombrosa!”; and “Schiet’arbuscel di cui ramo ne foglia.” Detailed literary-musical analyses are in Part II of Stefano La Via’s thesis; ibid., 126ff. Bardi, “Discorso,” 120–21.

213

213

Bardi on De Rore could have been referring to the Bendidio sisters, and probably Leonora Sanvitale, as well. For Bardi, there were two methods of solo singing that had interlocking imperatives. If the singer was extemporizing on a formula, he or she assumed the responsibility of composer and was required to form a melody that approximated the tonal contours of speech, the rhythm of which is governed by the text. However, if singing a composition, the singer had a duty to “perform [the] song well and punctiliously, as it was composed by its creator.”108 His advice to singers with respect to the elocution of the text, then, became advice to composers, and vice versa. Although he counseled the extemporizing singer to exploit only a limited pitch range when creating melodies or ornaments, elsewhere he assigned the rhetorical classes of low, medium, and high vocal registers to particular conceits: “For those great philosophers … understood that in the low voice resides the slow and the drowsy; in the intermediate, calm, majesty, and magnificence; and in the high, rapid blows to the ear and lamenting.”109 With regard to rhythm, he exhorted the singer/ composer to “be guided by the other [various] conceits of the words, not forgetting the nature of slow, fast and medium [pace].”110 The rhythmic declamation of the De Rore examples, particularly where the text indicates a change in mood, follows this advice. The melody’s tessitura also varies according to the textual conceit; and chromatic inflections, both in single vocal lines and in the horizontal progression of sonorities, highlight specific aspects of the text. But in addition, a solo performance of any one of these settings would need to be accompanied “as it was composed by its creator” – that is, with the vertical harmonies preserved. In many instances they contribute in an important way to the musical projection of the text’s meaning, but they are not always readily reconstructed from the bass part alone.111 Bardi’s other protégé, Vincenzo Galilei, would not have approved:  For Galilei, melodies should be restrained in range and harmonized by root-position triads.112 But Bardi was a pragmatist, and recognized that “musica delle più arie” was not going to go away. He found in De Rore a composer who gave value to polyphonic composition that extended beyond contrapuntal display; and which, moreover, added something to the delivery of a text 108 109 110 111

112

Ibid., 127–28. Ibid., 108. Ibid., 116. For instance, “Se ben il duol” and “O sonno,” contain “illegal” progressions according to Zarlino’s rules of counterpoint, with consecutive major thirds, fourths, and sixths, consecutive stepwise major sonorities, and second inversion chords. Second inversion chords also feature in “Un’altra volta la Germania strida.” See Zarlino, The Art of Counterpoint, 59–64; 190–95. See also McKinney, Adrian Willaert, 267–68, n. 53. Palisca, “Vincenzo Galilei,” 357.

214

214

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s that was not available to performances based on stock melodies or harmonic progressions. He admired De  Rore’s madrigals, not because they completely eschew polyphonic textures – which they do not – but because, while respecting the power of transparent textual elocution, they also exhibit the extra qualities that composition and polyphony permit in service of the text: enhanced melodic invention, harmonic variety, and chromatic tension. Bardi’s praise for De Rore and the Ferrarese women comes in an essay that highlights parallel pitfalls of bad practice in both composition and singing. Although he acknowledges that both complex counterpoint and ornamentation are highly valued by some musicians and audiences because of the skill required to produce them, through vanity the bad composer produces counterpoint that betrays music’s purpose, and the bad solo singer makes the text unintelligible with indiscriminate ornamentation and poor technique, “spoil[ing] nature with art.”113 Nevertheless, in Bardi’s opinion, the good composer (De Rore) created music that enhanced the poetry and made it possible for the singer to recite it simply; the good singer (the ladies of Ferrara), by performing with moderation, allowed the music to enhance her natural talents, making the combinatory effect even more powerful. Bardi’s message to the still youthful Caccini was that De Rore’s “vero modo di comporre” made the craft of composition compatible with the art of good singing, and it seems no accident that he advised the aspiring musician to emulate the practice at Ferrara, where both were being cultivated. The 1570s began disastrously for the Este:  The claim for precedence was lost to the Medici; the destruction of the earthquakes of 1570 and  1571 drained the duchy’s finances and made it politically vulnerable; the deaths of Suor Lucrezia, Cardinal Ippolito, Duchess Barbara, and then Suor Leonora depleted the family and weakened its status further; the city was subjected to an Apostolic Visitation as the Church sought new ways to put pressure on its fiefdom; Princess  Lucrezia’s longed-for marriage turned out to be calamitous. The Este siblings needed more than ever to maintain Ferrara’s cultural visibility and viability. In previous generations, elite guests had been entertained privately by the Este children, and publicly by the grand spectacle of the torneo. As neither of these options were available anymore, the notion of an entertainment, separate from the rulers themselves but still with the cachet of nobility, began to develop. Two important factors emerged: First, ladies-in-waiting were enlisted into active cultural service, to perform choreographed, formal ballets and – for a select few – to be coached in the art of virtuoso singing. Their performances required music specifically 113

Bardi, “Discorso,” 123.

215

215

Bardi on De Rore designed to accommodate multiple, equal, virtuosic voices, the traces of which may be found in the surviving publications from the period. Second, the siblings reinforced their public images as connoisseurs, expressing dynastic magnificence vicariously through their courtiers’ talents. They bought and commissioned music, imported expertise in the most advanced and fashionable styles, and vied with other courts for the services of noble musical virtuosi. The court had fostered female virtuosity before, in its every iteration since the beginning of the century, but the virtuose of the 1570s took on a different kind of role. In 1561 the thirteen-year-old Lucrezia Bendidio sang privately as part of her duties to the Princess Leonora. By 1571 she and her sister, both grown women, were required by the duke to rehearse specific repertoire for performance in front of foreign dignitaries. In 1568 Tarquinia Molza had commanded attention and respect as a solitary woman, singing the top line of complex polyphony in ensemble with the duke’s chapel; by 1577 Giulio Cesare Brancaccio was the solitary man providing bass line support to a group of virtuose female courtiers. The politically precarious negotiations that brought Leonora Sanvitale to Ferrara bear witness to the importance Alfonso and his sisters placed on recruiting the very best singers to join the elite music of their inner circle of courtiers; but the brutal treatment of the Bendidios at Brescello shows that however social this noble music-making purported to be, participation was not optional. Nonetheless, the ostensibly recreational singing of polyphonic works that made equal demands on all the voices was of a different quality to the rehearsed presentations of the Bendidio sisters at Brescello. In the 1577 conserto there may have been a distinction between those who sang and those who listened, but because singers and listeners shared a social status and the singing was a collective effort, that distinction was opaque. However, once one of their number was left alone to sing to accompaniment, the dynamic between performer and listeners changed. Again, if both singer and listeners shared roughly the same status, and particularly if the courtly protocol of urging the singer to perform was observed, the performance could have been read and received as a generous demonstration of virtù that left the listeners in courteous debt. But once a performance was commanded rather than solicited through courtly negotiation, the performers – no matter how noble – became the creatures of the commanding ruler, in reality with little more status than a paid musician.114 When Lucrezia Bendidio sang for the Duchess Lucrezia in October 1576, she was “beseeched” by her mistress, but 114

Brancaccio’s increasing reluctance to be treated like a hired musician, leading to his dismissal from court in 1583, is discussed in Wistreich, Warrior, Courtier, Singer, 239–51.

216

216

Ferrara and the New Singing of the 1570s although her performance was “most divine” and marveled at by everyone, it was just part of the evening’s entertainments, of the same status as a game of cards.115 The ruler accrued virtù and magnificence through having such virtuosity at his beck and call; the performer was left vulnerable, for their performances became an obligation, not a gift. It is this distinction that seems most significant in the development of Ferrara’s private entertainments during the 1570s. Singing ladies had always been present in the gynesocial environments of duchesses and princesses, and on certain occasions it was appropriate for young women to sing to a mixed group of their social peers. But if female courtiers were commanded to sing to outsiders (such as the German princes or the king of France) who had no interest in the women apart from as spectacle, it seems hardly surprising that their status might become ambiguous, with a potential negative impact on their reputations. For a brief moment at the beginning of the 1580s, however, those perils seemed remote, as a new influx of talent and expertise arrived with the young Margherita Gonzaga, Alfonso’s third wife.

115

Appendix 5.41: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacamo Grana to Cardinal Luigi d’Este, 7 October 1576. Partially transcribed in DurMarCron, 132.

217

6

h

Margherita’s Arrival and the Convents in the First Half of the 1580s

As the 1570s drew to a close, the Ferrarese court underwent yet another fundamental change, with the marriage of Duke  Alfonso to Margherita Gonzaga, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Duke  Guglielmo Gonzaga of Mantua, on 24 February 1579. Her arrival created a court with three women who were, despite their considerable differences in age, of equivalent rank. While it was customary for a new duchess to bring women with her, some of those women would expect eventually to be sent home, unless they were found husbands at court, and to be replaced by local women.1 The Este sisters’ famiglie were mature and already had absorbed the best and brightest of Ferrara’s noblewomen, including those – such as the Bendidio sisters – who had served the previous duchess. Margherita’s famiglia could be no less brilliant, so considerable effort and expense was invested in its creation and maintenance. This balancing of resources as a response to protocol was not without consequences. The arrival of more new women feminized the court even further; but it also set in train a rivalry between the young Duchess of Ferrara and her sister-in-law Lucrezia, the older Duchess of Urbino. Over the course of the next few years, the quality, frequency, and cultural value of female performance at the court increased dramatically, as both women maintained and developed musical ensembles. However, the cost to the duchesses was a bitter personal enmity; the cost to their ladies was to live with almost constant scrutiny focused on their musical activities, which invariably would have an impact on their personal lives. Among the many chronicles of Ferrarese court life left by Girolamo Merenda, most dating from the later 1590s, is a draft that appears to have been composed in 1592 and revised in 1596. It may serve as a reminder of what we already know of the concerto’s inception, but it also contains a few additional details about their life at court, their performance practice, and the esteem in which they were held: 1579. Coming from Mantua to Ferrara, Her Most Serene [Highness] Margarita Gonzaga, married to the Most Serene Duke Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, took in her service for her lady the Lady Laura, [daughter] of Antonio Peverara, of marriageable

1

Guerzoni, “Strangers at Home,” 154–55.

218

218

Margherita’s Arrival age, who plays the harp miraculously: and [because] the Lord Duke greatly enjoyed music, he decided to put together an ensemble of ladies and, thus, Her Most Serene [Highness] having two other ladies  – one who played the lute called Lady  Anna Guarini, a Ferrarese noblewoman, and the other the Lady Livia d’Arco, a Mantuan noblewoman who played the viol a little, His Highness decided to have them taught to sing and play much better, and so he chose two virtuosi as their teachers – one was Ippolito Fiorino, chapelmaster of His Highness, the other was Luzzasco Luzzaschi, his organist, both Ferrarese. And thus, they began every day to play music for voices and instruments[.] When they sang and played instruments, with harpsichord and a small organ in front, which were played by Luzzasco, and another large lute which was played by Fiorino, it was something most sweet to hear, inasmuch as those ladies were most beautiful and graceful, and moreover had profound memory, which astounded the world, singing and playing many things together from memory, and when they sang from books, they were joined by a bass and two other parts [by] the duke’s singers and this ensemble began to play in the year 1581, both day and night[.] In the winter they began at one hour [after sunset] and played until four, and at other times they began on the last day of April at 19 hours until 21, and this happened every day when His Highness was in town, and he and the Most Serene Duchess were always present. And when cardinals or princes came [to Ferrara] it pleased His Highness to make them listen to the ensemble. And because these ladies pleased him to demonstrate their virtues to satisfy His Highness, thus His Highness showed himself to be most loving towards them, having given all three of them husbands, and for more convenience gave rooms in court to them and their husbands[.] Lady Laura, the Mantuan, was wed to the Lord Count Annibale Turco, Lady Livia d’Arco to Lord Count Alfonso Bevilacqua, and Lady Anna Guarina to Lord Count Ercole Trotto, and to the gentlemen, their masters, a property each in [illeg]. The ensemble has existed up to this time, 1592, 17 July and [illeg are still?] favoured by His Most Serene [Highness]. Even after they were married, the ensemble continued because all three lived in court with their husbands in excellent comfort, and their husbands were Gentlemen of the Table with excellent provisions, like their wives.2

The construction of Margherita’s household and the lives of her principal ladies – Laura Peverara, Anna Guarini, and Livia d’Arco – at the Ferrarese court have been a mainstay of the musical historiography of the Italian Renaissance for over a hundred years. In particular, Margherita’s ladies, the group most widely recognized as the concerto delle dame, have been characterized as socially (and progressively) separate from Duchess  Lucrezia’s ladies of the 1570s  – no longer noblewomen exercising their courtly accomplishments but predominantly artisan-class women who had risen to their positions through their abilities and then married into the nobility to secure their position at court. However, both new biographical research on Laura Peverara 2

Appendix 6.1: MerendaVit, 8r–9v. Thanks to David Gallagher for alerting me to this text.

219

219

Margherita’s Arrival and a fuller account of Anna Guarini’s family background makes a short reconsideration necessary. Laura Peverara sang and played the harp with great skill, and was universally admired for her beauty and her musicianship. Like Leonora Sanvitale in the 1570s, Laura was a foreigner, recruited from her native Mantua to the Ferrarese court after painstaking and lengthy negotiations. She is the best known of the three ladies, having attracted the most scholarly attention through her association with Torquato Tasso. For many years it was assumed that Tasso had fallen in love with Laura in the mid-1560s, such is the emotional tenor of his poetry for her, and this in turn led scholars to believe that she was a good deal older than Margherita. However, Elio Durante and Anna Martellotti have shown that she was born in 1563, making her only a year older than the duchess, and that Tasso’s feelings for her were avuncular, not romantic.3 Additionally, they have shown she was not the daughter of an artisan, but of a minor Mantuan noble who had been tutor to the Gonzaga children.4 Also born in 1563, Anna Guarini was Ferrarese, the daughter of the poet and court secretary Giambattista Guarini.5 Her mother was Taddea Bendidio, sister to Lucrezia Bendidio Macchiavelli and Isabella Bendidio Bentivoglio, damigelle of the Este princesses and among the celebrated singers of the 1570s. The assumption that Anna was somehow less noble than her aunts must stem from her father’s employment; however, both the Guarini and the Bendidei were considered among the principal families of Ferrara, no less noble than the Macchiavelli, according to a taxonomy proposed by Tasso.6 Anna began singing with Laura upon the latter’s arrival in 1580; like Laura, she, too, was able to accompany herself, playing the lute.7 Although we know nothing of her musical education, we may assume that she was taught at least as well as her aunts, but encouraged further to develop her instrumental skills. Livia d’Arco, scion of one of Mantua’s most noble families, was the only  one  of Margherita’s women acknowledged in previous scholarship to have been socially equal to Duchess Lucrezia’s ladies. Livia may have been somewhat younger than Laura or Anna, as she was still being referred to as a putta in 1582 – she also outlived both of them by some years. Livia did not join in the duchess’s music regularly until 1582, when she had become 3 4 5

6 7

DurMarPep, 26. Ibid., 31–59. Anna’s year of birth may be gleaned from her epitaph; DurMarCron, 203. See also NewcombMF,1:260. See Chapter 4, n. 13. Anna’s sister, Vittoria, later sang for Duchess Lucrezia; DurMarCron, 60–61. See also Chapter 8.

220

220

Margherita’s Arrival proficient on the viol, and because of this it has been assumed that she arrived at Ferrara less skilled than her colleagues. Nonetheless, she may well have already been an expert singer when she left Mantua with her mistress.8 The rehabilitation of Laura and Anna to a position of nobility complicates the professionalization narrative so frequently used both to describe the concerto’s activities and influence, and to distinguish them from Duchess  Lucrezia’s ladies of the 1570s. Tasso’s taxonomy of the Ferrarese illustri also includes the Molza family of Modena, so Tarquinia Molza – the only woman to have actively played a part in Ferrarese musical culture during both periods – looks less anomalous in both eras. However, it is certain that Margherita’s ladies, including Tarquinia, were more transparently proficient as musicians, precisely because they were actively involved in instrumental performance. This important innovation aligned their practice with that of the convent ensembles, a correspondence fostered by the devotional habits of the young duchess almost from the point of her arrival in Ferrara. Margherita and Alfonso were married at the height of Carnival 1579. However, the court had been in a celebratory mode for at least a month beforehand. Prince  Ferdinand of Bavaria recorded in his journal that on 28  January he was present at a performance of the concerto grande in Duchess Lucrezia’s apartments. The following day, during a ball after dinner, he heard four ladies, one playing an instrument, the others singing together and separately, and declared he had never heard such singing.9 The notice is unique in the 1570s, in that it specifies a woman playing; we cannot know who this might be (Tarquinia Molza? Leonora Sanvitale?), but the singing ladies would at least have included the Bendidio sisters and Vittoria Cybo Bentivoglio. Five days later a private concert was held at the behest of the princes, in which these ladies took part. It is the last specific mention of any of them singing at court: Thursday evening after having danced a while, all the princes retired to the Duchess of Urbino’s salon, to where had been called all the Bendidio ladies, all the Scandiano ladies, and Lady Bradamante [d’Este], and then they closed the door, leaving all the other ladies in the cold outside, and they were each made to sing alone, and then all together, which was, as I understand, something most delightful to hear; it [the performance] having been put together earlier with the help of Mr. Luzzaschi, the Marchioness Bentivoglia, the Lady  Macchiavella, the Lady  Vittoria, the sister of Count Thiene, and Marcia, who is married to Anguillino.10

8 9 10

DurMarPep, 90. Grazioli, “I diari di Ferdinando di Baveria,” 304, n. 46. Appendix 6.2: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 413, Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, 4 February 1579; transcribed in DurMarCron, 137.

221

221

Margherita’s Arrival These few notices give only the smallest glimpse of Duchess  Lucrezia’s last weeks as the sole female patron at court; there is little other information regarding any musical events occurring before or during Margherita’s wedding, beyond general notices of balls and feasts.11 While settings exist of appropriate texts, there is no firm evidence of any music that might have been performed, although two sources suggest themselves. First, Luca Marenzio’s Sesto libro di madrigali a sei voci (Venice: Gardano, 1595), dedicated to Duchess Margherita, contains a setting of a nuptial text by Guarini, “Lucida perla, a cui fu conca il cielo,” as well as other works stylistically congruent with Ferrarese music of the early decade.12 Second, Claudio Merulo’s Primo libro de madrigali a tre voci (Venice: Gardano, 1580) comprises almost entirely settings of poetry by Ariosto, including two multi-stanza settings of Bradamante laments (Orlando furioso  XXXII/18–23 and XLV/32–39)  for two high voices. The text which opens the book, “Che pena si può dire,” is from Antonfrancesco Doni’s I marmi (Venice: Marcolini, 1552), the words of an abbandonata weeping at the water’s edge. Merulo’s whereabouts at the time of the wedding are not clear, although his connections with Ferrara in the last years of the 1570s are strong.13 Merulo’s madrigals could represent a putative Ariostean element to the wedding celebrations, which is otherwise curiously absent. When the correspondence regarding singing ladies resumes in March 1580, it is in respect of the new duchess’s desire to have Laura Peverara join her in Ferrara.14 From this point, too, the singers of the previous decade begin to fade from view. Of them all, Isabella Bendidio fared the best. Having married into the highest rank (she became a marchioness) and having proved her fecundity, her future was secure. Lucrezia Bendidio, on the other hand, had no children, and having suffered as the object of envy and malice in the 1570s, found herself unable to suppress her dismay at being passed over in favor of the new, younger singers.15 Even worse, her resentment spilled over into family quarrels that isolated her even further. When in January 1580 dowry arrangements were made for her stepdaughter Ippolita Macchiavelli’s marriage to Count Giulio Tassoni, Lucrezia found her financial security was threatened. On 5 February at a banquet held in the couple’s honor, she lost control, calling her new son-in-law franciosato (i.e. syphilitic); he retorted

11 12 13 14 15

SolertiFer, xl–lii. Bizzarini, Luca Marenzio, 206–7. Martini, Claudio Merulo, 161. DurMarCron, 137. Ibid., 144, 281. To assuage her loneliness, she adopted a child in 1582; Lazzari, “Tasso e Bendidei,” 31. The nature of this relationship is obscure: she could have supported a foundling child in her famiglia, but adoption per se was not a common procedure in the Renaissance; see Kuehn, Law, Family, and Women, 168.

222

222

Margherita’s Arrival that she was a vacca publica (a public cow, i.e. a whore). The ensuing row deepened, ending in the couple’s refusal to be married in Lucrezia’s house. Leonardo Conosciuti wrote to Cardinal Luigi that Lucrezia had wailed that her reputation was ruined and would not be consoled, crying “most grievously” (rottissimamente) and pulling the hair from her head.16 At Easter 1583, Conosciuti reported that she was seen with a crown of flowers on her forehead, “like one has seen Petrarch’s Laura depicted,” a bizarre presentation for a woman in her mid-thirties; in 1585 she left her brother-in-law, the Marquis Cornelio Bentivoglio, with a bruised arm.17 Conosciuti implied Lucrezia was unwell and in the care of her sister, having been estranged from her husband’s family. The passing of the old era was also marked by the passing of two more of the court’s principal women. The Princess Leonora, having been close to death for over three months, finally let go of life on 19 February 1581, and she was buried as she wished, without ceremony, at Corpus Domini. Much more unexpected, however, was the death of Leonora Sanvitale on 19 March 1582. On 27 January she was still present at court, “bellissima et grazissima,” although heavily pregnant.18 She gave birth to a son, Ottavio, on 8 February and had appeared well and out of danger, but barely six weeks later she was dead. In an era when correspondence regularly reports deaths and condolences without great emotion, the intensity of sorrow over Leonora’s death is touching. Her husband Giulio Thiene wrote to Cardinal  Luigi, “Having been in the pleasure of God our Lord, after the joy granted to me by the delivery of Lady Leonora, He seems very happy to deprive me of her, calling her to Him yesterday just before dawn.” The same day Duke Alfonso wrote to Barbara Sanseverina, Leonora’s stepmother, “The true love that I  bear your ladyship and the utmost affection that I  always held for the Countess Leonora, who is in glory, has made me feel the bitter blow of her death with a grief that could not be greater.”19 Leonora’s body was placed on a barge and taken to Scandiano for burial. When Thiene returned to Ferrara on 7  April, his distress was still apparent, and he shared his sorrow with everyone he met.20 16

17

18 19

20

Appendix 6.3–6.5: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 413: Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, letters dated 30 January, 5 February and 24 February 1580. Appendix 6.6–6.7: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 413/414: Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, letters dated 13 April 1583 and 16 February 1585. Appendix 6.8: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653: Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 27 January 1582. Appendix 6.9: I-MOas, CDP Thiene, b. 1382: Giulio Thiene to Luigi d’Este, 20 March 1582. Appendix 6.10: I-MOas, CDP Thiene, b. 1381, Alfonso d’Este to Barbara Sanseverina, 20 March 1582. Appendix 6.11–6.12: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 413: Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, letters dated 30 March and 7 April 1582.

223

223

Margherita’s Arrival The sad demise of Leonora Sanvitale and the gradual deterioration of Lucrezia Bendidio were still of enough interest to Cardinal  Luigi’s informants to figure in their correspondence. However, these events barely register in comparison to the daily reports of the development of the new ensemble, which had begun rehearsing a new repertoire by the autumn of 1580. Initially, Duchess Lucrezia was prepared to take her young sister-inlaw under her wing, and the first recorded performances by Peverara and Guarini took place in the older woman’s apartments. Throughout the next two years, however, performances were increasingly held in Margherita’s quarters, so that by the winter of 1582, Duchess Lucrezia, too, was beginning to feel sidelined. She began to withdraw from the occasional performance, excusing herself on the grounds of ill health.21 Margherita quickly made her personal stamp on the entertainments at court. Thirty years younger than her sister-in-law, Margherita had energy and youth on her side. Her own creative interests lay primarily in dancing, so she began sponsoring mascherate and balletti in which she and her ladies could perform both pastoral and, eventually, a new generation’s iteration of the Bradamante/Amazonian fantasy.22 These productions, while elaborate and costly enough, made best use of the court’s resources without having to look to external involvement and expense: A professional company was no longer required to make an impressive display.23 But while the absence of professional actors might have drawn the emphasis away from spoken dramatic elements, the musical stakes were rising. The representational and virtuosic qualities of both composition and performance increased. Singers were deployed in dialogs, echoes, dramatic scene, and their own physical engagement with their material became important: Gesture, facial expression, and vocal affect figure more and more in reports of the ladies’ performances. Visitors to the court at Ferrara were made aware of the ladies’ diligence – how much of their days they devoted to study, singing and playing. But it would be wrong to insist that their musical practice developed solely within the context of the castello, for throughout the 1580s when the concerto was at its prime, the duchesses and their ladies were frequent visitors to the city’s convents. Once this relationship is examined, it becomes clear that the women had access not only to their secular maestri, but also to a highly proficient, experienced, and knowledgeable cohort of cloistered maestre, 21 22 23

DurMarCron, 151. Treadwell, “Restaging the Siren”; Bosi, “Leone Tolosa”; Bosi, “More Documentation.” During the abortive attempt in 1584 to stage Guarini’s tragicomedia, Il pastor fido, Duke Alfonso wrote to Modena, then Garfagnana, looking for three youths and an older man to take acting the leading roles, knowing the chorus would be provided by courtiers; see Ferrone, Zorzi, and Innamorati, “Attori: professionisti e dilettanti,” 81–84.

224

224

Margherita’s Arrival from whom the intricacies of ensemble performance could be learned and absorbed.

Convents and Music in the 1580s During the reign of Alfonso II, the reforms of the Council of Trent instigated many changes in women’s religious communities, which began to restrict the traditional paths of patronage that had supported and encouraged convents to thrive. Ferrara had additional burdens with which to cope: the aftermaths of earthquake, famine, and the resultant economic and social upheaval. Whereas Lucrezia Borgia had built a convent to house noble daughters, Alfonso II’s wives and sisters responded to social crises through founding open institutions that cared for disadvantaged women and children. In 1572 Barbara of Austria founded the Conservatorio di Santa Barbara specifically to help girls made homeless by the 1570 earthquake.24 Duchess Margherita made a similar move in response to the great famine of 1590, founding the Conservatorio di Santa Margherita to assist those who flocked to the city looking for alms.25 These houses provided food and education for destitute young women while simultaneously protecting their honor and training them in a marketable skill that might compensate for their lack of dowry. Responding to a different kind of social problem, and perhaps as a result of her own unhappy experiences, in 1580 Duchess Lucrezia created the Oratorio di San Matteo del Soccorso, a shelter for discarded or battered wives: In the city continually arose various disorders from the discords growing between husbands and wives, from which proceeded many scandals and divorces. Applying her mind to this matter, Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, managed to establish to this effect a place apart where women in such cases could recover themselves … attracting to this place also those prostitutes who, penitent of their sins desired to lead themselves to a better life; and those who then were well grounded and stabilized passed to become nuns among the Convertite.26

While the Este women were concerned to support convents as a way of sustaining the social and economic welfare of the city, they also continued to use their favored institutions as places of repose and retreat. During their sojourns, which could last a few hours or a few days, they would have witnessed – and even requested – music made by the nuns. Although both 24 25 26

Berengan and Calore, Le custodi del sacro, 135. Ibid., 117. Appendix 6.13: GuarComp, 277.

225

225

Convents and Music in the 1580s the 1570s earthquakes and the subsequent Apostolic Visitation in 1574 might have damaged or restrained activities temporarily, musical life in the Ferrarese convents received a boost with the appointment of Bishop Paolo Leoni in 1578. Throughout the 1580s the convents were allowed to flourish in a way that may not have been possible otherwise, but Leoni’s encouragement of conventual music was not perceived as beneficial by everyone. In a personal letter written in 1584, Cardinal Michele Bonelli – known as Cardinal Alessandrino – outlined the shortcomings of Ferrarese practice: Most reverend Sir, as a brother. Our Lord [the Pope] has heard that in many convents of nuns in your city people are going to teach singing and the playing of all sorts of instruments. This cannot be other than a grave offense to ecclesiastical discipline and proper observance, beyond those other irregularities, even though they might go there with permission from the authorities. And therefore His Holiness wants you to be told that he forbids it in every way and with such grave penalties that this should not be done in the future not just in convents subject to the ordinary [the diocese] but also any other governed by the canons regular. For it is not appropriate that nuns should attend to such activities, although it is not forbidden that in these convents nuns should play the organ themselves. One among them that knows how to play can teach the others, and if there is not someone who knows how to demonstrate these arts, one can wait for some young woman wishing to become a nun, and before she enters the convent arrange for her to learn to play in the house of her father and mother, or those that feed her, and then having learnt she will be able to be accepted [into the convent] and will teach those that need it, without having to admit strangers to the grate or the parlatorio to this effect. May it please Your Lordship to execute this, and to give a report on everything you will have done. And may Our Lord God preserve you. From Rome, 1 May 1584. [I am] Your Very Reverend Lordship’s, to whom I will not refrain from adding that it is inappropriate that any instruments other than the organ should be used in convents. As a brother, Cardinal Alessandrino.27

As with many similar advisories and decrees, the discourse around nuns’ music-making post-Trent was framed by the wider discourse of enclosure. Music was now seen as a secular threat to the boundaries of the religious, rather than the means by which the sacred could exit and influence the outside. Eventually, Leoni may have been persuaded to take some action, but not in the terms required by Cardinal Alessandrino; in 1586 the Ferrarese chronicler Marcantonio Guarini mentioned another papal decree to forbid direct communication between friars and nuns, in hope of preventing scandals of which “from time to time they became accused.”28 This would 27 28

Appendix 6.14: I-MOas, GS, b. 254a, Cardinal Alessandrino to Bishop Paolo Leoni, 1 May 1584. Appendix 6.15: GuarBreve, 64r.

226

226

Margherita’s Arrival have prevented music instruction in those circumstances, and it is clear from stories, both real and imagined, that music lessons were considered to be dangerous avenues to scandal. However, we are not told whether Leoni took steps to ensure the decree was enforced.29 It seems unlikely, given his response to the activities of the nuns of Sant’Antonio in Polesine.30 In 1586 the madrine, or novices, of Sant’Antonio mounted a Carnival festa that was attended by the bishop and a visiting member of the Este family (Violante Signa, wife of Don  Alfonso d’Este). Bishop  Leoni clearly enjoyed himself, as afterwards he gave the abbess permission to allow seven women of her choosing to leave the convent for one day.31 Cardinal  Alessandrino’s suggested compromise  – that potential performers and teachers be instructed in music prior to entering the convent – was already becoming common practice across Italy, and it is not unusual to find records of girls who were given intense musical training in preparation for monachization.32 While every young noblewoman would have been expected to have some form of musical education, girls destined for the convent needed specialist skills. For one such woman, Marfisa d’Este’s sister-in-law Princess Caterina Cybo, the prospect of a busy musical life was more attractive than the idea of marriage. From childhood, Caterina had spent many months in the convent of Le Murate in Florence, with her aunt Eleonora who was a corrodian there.33 The year before Caterina entered the convent permanently, her aunt wrote to the abbess saying that the girl had developed a talent for playing the bass.34 In 1586 Caterina’s father wrote a memorandum to the abbess, setting out the conditions he wished to attach 29

30

31

32 33

34

Typical of these scandals is the story of Princess Margherita Farnese, who was married to the Manutan Prince Vincenzo Gonzaga in 1581, and divorced from him in 1583 due to her infertility. She returned to Parma and entered the convent of San Paolo, where she was allowed music lessons with a Giulio Cima. Eventually, suspicions regarding their relationship arose, and Margherita was transferred to another convent. One version of the story sees Cima fleeing Parma, but eventually being captured and executed; Mendogni, Correggio and St Paul’s Monastery, 73–74. However, a Giulio Cima who was a tenor and a harpist was active in Mantua from the mid-1580s to the 1600s. He was loaned by Vincenzo Gonzaga to the Medici in order to perform as part of the 1589 wedding celebrations for Grand Duke Ferdinando and Christine of Lorraine; see Parisi, “Ducal Patronage,” 432–33. During Alfonso’s reign, Sant’Antonio had the use of two organs, one of which was built by the Cipri family in 1551; PeveradaDoc, 169. The Cipri organ was later removed from the convent and is now in the church of the Suffragio, the sole remaining example of a sixteenth-century convent organ in Ferrara. Appendix 6.16: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 414, Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, 20 January 1586. Bowers, “The Emergence of Women Composers,” 130; Monson, Disembodied Voices, 48. A corrodian was a secular guest of the convent, often a widow, permanently or semipermanently lodged in exchange for monetary or commercial bequests. Appendix 6.17: I-Fas, CRSGF 81 – delle Murate, della Gloriosa Vergine Annumptiata, Pezzo 100/814, Eleonora Cybo to the Abbess of Le Murate, 24 August 1585.

227

227

Convents and Music in the 1580s to her dowry. Among these was the stipulation that she be able to continue to play music, “because God has given her the virtue of being able to serve in the choir both singing and playing, being in this respect gifted by Nature in the voice and the mind; she may, through greater devotion and seriousness, make use of the violone (which she knows how to play) it being difficult to find basses.”35 In the same memo, he tells the abbess that Caterina chose Le Murate above two other institutions: San Paolo in Parma (where Vincenzo Gonzaga’s ex-wife Margherita Farnese had been sent), the preference of Barbara Sanseverina, Caterina’s second cousin; and an unnamed convent in Ferrara, the preference of Marfisa d’Este – possibly San Silvestro, for it stood across the road from Marfisa’s palace.36 Caterina also wrote to the abbess, telling how her family had thought her intention to monachize had been a joke. She described an Easter visit from her father, who after dinner took her to the window to speak privately with her, first to make sure that she was serious, and second to allow her to choose her future home.37 Clearly the competition for Caterina was based not only on her musical ability, but also on her generous dowry. Caterina’s family was exceptionally rich, but most women with musical ability were not so well endowed. For families of both noble and citizen women alike, musical education made the negotiation of dowries and their daughter’s eventual acceptance into a convent of choice easier. The economic value of a musician lay not in her dowry, but in the way her labor enhanced the reputation of the convent, and hence its income from the dowries of families seeking a more pleasant life for their daughters, and from a steady stream of payments for burial and requiem rites. It is therefore unsurprising to see daughters or sisters of established musicians, who were able to train within the family, admitted to convents to augment or even lead their ensembles.38 Giaches de Wert’s daughter was 35

36

37

38

Appendix 6.17: I-Fas, CRSGF 81 – delle Murate, della Gloriosa Vergine Annumptiata, Pezzo 100/508, Memorandum from Alberico Cybo, Prince of Massa, to the abbess of Le Murate, 1 March 1586. It was perhaps the nuns of San Silvestro, or San Bernardino next door, who in 1585 inspired visiting Florentine priest Giovanni Becci to dedicate a new print of an eight-voice mass by Palestrina to Caterina’s aunt Eleonora. In his dedication, Becci thanks Eleonora for her letters of introduction to Marfisa and her husband, saying that he had the book printed so that if her niece Caterina wished to have music for two choirs, she could do so easily. Appendix 6.19: Di M. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestina [sic] una Messa a otto voci sopra il suo Confitebor a due Cori. Et di M. Bartolomeo Lo Roi Maestro di Capella del Vicere di Napoli una Messa a quattro sopra Panis quem ego dabo tibi, de Lupo (Venice: Scotto, 1585). For more on Caterina Cybo, see Lowe, Nuns’ Chronicles, 234–35. Appendix 6.20: I-Fas, CRSGF 81 – delle Murate, della Gloriosa Vergine Annumptiata, Pezzo 100/814, Caterina Cybo to the abbess of Le Murate, 24 August 1585. Craig Monson notes that in seventeenth-century Bologna, women from the Ferrabosco, Vernizzi, and Trombetti families carried musical responsibilities in their respective convents. The published composer and Camaldolese nun Lucrezia Vizzana was educated in the cloister by

228

228

Margherita’s Arrival monachized in Forlì, where she both played the organ and sang.39 In 1615, at the Ferrarese Augustinian house Sant’Agostino, the abbess attempted to avert an impending musical crisis, caused by the convent’s usual organist falling so ill that she could not perform her duties, by requesting a dowry reduction for one Caterina Bassani, the daughter of Cesare Bassani, whose father had “made her very virtuous, and in particular by having her learn to play the organ.”40 Caterina’s father had the skills to instruct his daughter to a level at which she could step in for the convent’s usual organist, so potentially he, too, was a musician – perhaps the younger brother or the son (both named Cesare) of Orazio Bassani da Cento, the virtuoso viol player who was listed as a charter member of the Ferrarese Accademia degli Intrepidi in 1601.41 Convents also found ways to provide training for promising girls, and even sought out likely candidates through contacts in the secular world. For instance, in 1582 the abbess of Le Murate was offered a girl by with a “buon basso” on approval by the mother of another nun: I have not failed to use every diligence to find you a girl with a good bass, and I have found one who, according to what my musician told me, I believe will be suitable. She will be able to sing all twenty notes [a reference to the gamut]. I understand that the girl is born of good parents, as Your Reverence can see from the enclosed note from my musician. She is very poor, and has nothing. If you would like to take her, I will keep her here in my house for one or two months, and then I will send her to you, and if you don’t want her, let me know and then you can send her back.42

In Ferrara, there may have been an ongoing program at San Vito attracting educande, like the young Vittoria  [Suor Raffaella] Aleotti, to the convent specifically for training in the technical skills needed in an all-female ensemble. Daughter of the eminent architect Giovanni Battista Aleotti, she received music lessons from Alessandro Milleville at court as a young child.43 Unusually, she was considered advanced enough to benefit from specialist training at the convent from around the age of eight: the dedication

39

40 41

42

43

her organist aunt Camilla Bombacci, and she in turn may well have trained a further generation of Vizzanas; Monson, Disembodied Voices, 50. Cristoforo Bronzini relates this information in the manuscript version of Della dignità et nobiltà delle donne, I-Fn, Magl. VIII 1525/1. Thanks to Catherine Deutsch for the reference. PeveradaDoc, 183. Both Orazio and his brother Cesare were longtime employees of Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma. Duke Alfonso repeatedly sought to employ Orazio at his own court, although he never succeeded; NewcombMF, 1:194–96. Appendix 6.21: I-Fas, CRSGF 81 – delle Murate, della Gloriosa Vergine Annumptiata, Pezzo 100/860, Ippolita Fussa Pia to the abbess of Le Murate, Florence, 20 March 1582. See the preface in Aleotti, Ghirlanda de madrigali a quatro voci, xv. Milleville had been the Este princesses’ tutor; see Chapter 4.

229

229

Este Women and the Ferrarese Convents in the 1580s of her Sacrae cantiones (Venice: Giunta, 1593) – directed to Bishop Leoni’s successor Giovanni Fontana – states that Leoni had personally encouraged her family send her to San Vito. Another avenue open to ambitious abbesses was to seek out talent already at the convent, and then to secure permission and patronage to allow that talent to flourish. A brief record in the Vatican archive shows not only evidence of this practice, but also that the Este took an active interest in the ensemble at Corpus Domini and were ready to step in to ensure its quality was maintained. In 1597, the year of Duke Alfonso’s death, his sister Lucrezia acted to increase the dowry of a conversa in order to elevate her to the status of corista.44 The letter states that the conversa, Suor Cecilia Dirughi, had been in the convent for some years already, and had been “well introduced” to music. It then requests the recipient (presumably Cardinal Alessandrino, by this time the prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars) to write to Bishop Fontana, asking him to approve Suor Cecilia’s “elevation,” permitting her to profess as a choir nun. All of this was done with the blessing of the entire convent community, and the 700 lire difference between the conversa’s dowry and one that might have been remotely acceptable for a corista was supplied by Duchess Lucrezia. Suor Cecilia must have represented a great asset to the ensemble for the noble nuns of Corpus Domini to have accepted her into their number. With Este patronage behind her, the talented young servant had the opportunity to secure a better future through her musical skill.

The Este Women and the Convents of Ferrara in the 1580s The first indication of Duchess Margherita’s interest in Ferrarese convents comes in correspondence with her brother-in-law, Cardinal Luigi, in 1581, when she wrote thanking the cardinal for clarification on the terms of licenses that allowed her to enter both the convents and monasteries of Ferrara at will.45 Luigi had interceded directly with the Pope to obtain licenses on her behalf:  Margherita recognized that permission of this kind  – not for an occasional visit but for ongoing and free access – was not a matter for the local bishop, but rather for the Pope himself to grant. Before she availed herself of her new privileges, however, she had felt it necessary to seek further guidance as to whom she could bring with her, and what they should wear.

44

45

Appendix 6.22: I-Rasv, Vescovi e Regolari, 1597, posizione 1597, lettere C–G. My thanks to Craig Monson for the transcription. Appendix 6.23: I-MOas, CS, b. 7, Margherita Gonzaga d’Este to Cardinal Luigi d’Este, 4 August 1581.

230

230

Margherita’s Arrival Luigi advised that the Pope had said she could take her ladies with her as long as they were married, and that they should wear whatever they liked in enclosure, including habits, so long as they did not wear them out into the streets. I have spoken to Our Lord to get greater clarity of his mind regarding the difficulties Your Highness had on the brief of the license given you to enter into the monasteries of nuns and of friars, and His Holiness has replied to me, that the talk of matrons used in the brief means excluding unmarried girls but other women you can bring with you … regarding dress he says that you can go in with your ordinary clothes. It doesn’t matter if they are black or colored, and if you use habits he thought it would be necessary to wear black veils like the nuns do, but you should take them off and put on other clothes so that you are not seen outside in the brown habit of the nuns.46

Margherita was seventeen years old and had been married barely two years when she made her request to Gregory  XIII. It seems curious that the Pope who had so stringently forbidden duchesses, marchionesses, and countesses from entering convents in 1575 (in the Constitution Ubi gratiae), only six years later would grant Margherita permission to enter not only female but also male religious houses.47 But perhaps by granting permission he was simply maintaining control, exerting just enough power to make it clear who was in charge, while recognizing that magnanimity would allow the convents’ and monasteries’ economies to thrive. It may seem equally curious that a  – by all other accounts  – lively teenage girl would seek the company of nuns and monks. But throughout her life Margherita exhibited a devout side to her character that intensified year on year, throughout what has otherwise been described as a golden era for Ferrara, when the court was at its most splendid and culturally successful. During Carnival 1582, some eight months after Margherita’s correspondence with Luigi, the duchess and her ladies performed one of those inversions so common during the festival, although their particular choice of burla, or practical joke, may have seemed blasphemous to some. Margherita and Marfisa d’Este (who had become her particularly close companion), together with the Bentivoglio and Scandiano ladies, and other dame and visitors to the court, paraded from one side of the piazza to another dressed in nuns’ habits “entirely masked, clothed in black complete with veils,” so well disguised that they were not recognized even by Don Alfonso d’Este,

46

47

Appendix 6.24: I-MOas, CS, b. 290, draft letter from Luigi d’Este to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 26 July 1581. The prohibition is restated in Fontana, Constitutioni et ordinationi generali (Ferrara: Baldini, 1599), 63–64. See Appendix 6.25.

231

231

Este Women and the Ferrarese Convents in the 1580s Marfisa’s erstwhile father-in-law.48 This lighthearted flirtation with the outward signs of religiosity contrasts sharply with the license request, and even more so with the duchess’s behavior four years later, when – still childless, and perhaps now resigned to her destiny – attended by her ladies on the first Sunday of Lent, she became a Franciscan tertiary, putting on “the belt of Saint Francis” after receiving the Eucharist.49 It may have seemed logical that when Margherita applied for her licenses, Corpus Domini should have been one of the institutions she had in mind, particularly as Luigi mentions the “habito bruno di monache,” indicating that she had specifically requested to enter a Clarissan house (only the Franciscan orders wear brown). Nevertheless, there are no indications anywhere to suggest that Margherita had any interest in Corpus Domini. If anything, it appears that she and Duchess  Lucrezia, had  – in their allencompassing rivalry  – partitioned the convents of Ferrara between them in terms of patronage, as effectively as they partitioned the palace. Corpus Domini and San  Bernardino were Duchess  Lucrezia’s houses, as they had been for her grandmother Lucrezia Borgia. San  Guglielmo (also Clarissan) and, later, the Augustinian institution at San  Vito were Margherita’s. This arrangement freed each of the principal members of the family to follow their own spiritual course: For instance, at Easter 1582 the duke celebrated Mass and Vespers at the cathedral, then returned to the castle for his usual entertainments; Lucrezia went to Corpus Domini to hear Vespers; and Margherita took communion and heard Matins in her own private chapel, then later in the day went to Vespers at San Guglielmo.50 Throughout Italy, convents had a special association with the celebration of Holy Week, and in particular the observance of Tenebrae, the Matins offices of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.51 The theatrical nature of the Tenebrae services may have attracted Margherita, for she realized the possibilities of hearing them in a different space when in 1584 she visited the convent of the Capuchin monks, forcing them to adapt spaces within the cloisters for her and her ladies.52 Moreover, perhaps because other forms of entertainment were discouraged or forbidden during Lent and Easter Week, the convents provided an alternative space for social congregation. The sermon engagements of Holy Week were a particular highlight 48 49

50 51 52

Appendix 6.26: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 10 February 1582. Appendix 6.27: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 414, Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, 22 February 1586. Appendix 6.28: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 18 April 1582. Reardon, Holy Concord, 156–60. Appendix 6.29: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 414, Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, 28 March 1584.

232

232

Margherita’s Arrival of the devotional calendar, and both Lucrezia and Margherita were eager to have the celebrity preachers performing at their favorite convents, as happened in 1586 when a Capuchin monk preached to the duchesses (no doubt separately) at the castello, and also appeared at both San Bernardino and San Vito: The Capuchin who waits on the duke is preaching here and there, now to the duchesses, and now to the nuns. Yesterday he preached at San Bernardino, where the Lady Duchess was, and today he will preach to the nuns of San Vito, and will hear their most beautiful and graceful ensemble.53

However, the convents did not just represent opportunities for exclusive worship. Duchess  Lucrezia seems to have treated San  Bernardino, in particular, almost like an extension of her court apartments; she is frequently noted dining with the sisters, with her retinue in tow.54 On one occasion, a large contingent from the court, including Marfisa and the Scandiano ladies, joined her after lunch to hear a sermon and stayed on to hear the nuns sing Vespers as a rainstorm prevented them from leaving the convent, keeping themselves amused meanwhile with conversation.55 Margherita also used San Vito as a supplement to the court concerto for the entertainment of her guests. For instance, on 7 December 1582 (on which afternoon Vespers for the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated), she took Ferrante Gonzaga to hear the sisters’ concerto: “Every evening he is in the Duchess of Ferrara’s apartments to hear the music of the ladies, which he commended as a most miraculous thing; and yesterday he went with the said duchess to San Vito, right into the convent, to hear the concerto of those sisters, which greatly satisfied him.”56 But it seems that Margherita intended an even more intimate relationship with the convents she chose to support. Girolamo Merenda’s description of her stresses the pious side to her nature, and reveals that, like previous duchesses, she not only visited and dined at the convents with her ladies, but also stayed overnight, sleeping there as a guest of the nuns:

53

54

55 56

Appendix 6.30: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 414, Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, 12 April 1586. Brief references abound in Conosciuti’s and Grana’s correspondence, typical of which is Conosciuti’s notice: “Our Lady Duchess still has her little fevers, as do her ladies. The Duchess of Urbino went to lunch yesterday with the nuns at San Bernardino.” Appendix 6.31: I-MOas, CDP Conosciuti, b. 413, Leonardo Conosciuti to Luigi d’Este, 5 November 1583. Appendix 6.32: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653, Giacomo Grana to Luigi d’Este, 25 April 1582. Appendix 6.33: I-MOas, CDP Cozzi, b. 443, Federico Cozzi to Luigi d’Este, 8 December 1582. Transcribed in DurMarMS, 1:45.

233

233

Este Women and the Ferrarese Convents in the 1580s This lady is a most Catholic person, and every Sunday and every feast day she goes to church to hear Vespers and Compline sung by the singers of His  Most Serene [Highness] in his court chapel, and every morning she hears two Masses (low, however) and often visits the church of the Capuchin friars … Then always during Lent every morning in the court chapel there are sermons and she is always present, and often His Most Serene [Highness] as well, and the preachers are mostly priests who have been specially engaged. And on Thursday of Holy Week she will soothe the feet of poor women, and give them completely new clothes, on this morning giving them something to eat and serving at the table. She loves[?] to go rather to the convents and to sleep and to eat according to what pleases her, and always takes six ladies with her. She also has permission to enter the monasteries of the friars with her chaplains where she hears Mass and Matins.57

We cannot easily know what went on behind closed doors, but no doubt the nuns in many of Ferrara’s convents lived rich, creative lives, fed by informal  – and potentially unsanctioned  – contact with the world outside their walls. For instance, Alessandro Milleville, who as the princesses’ childhood tutor was one of the court musicians with the most longstanding connection to female music-making, dedicated of a volume of spiritual madrigals, Le Vergine, con dieci altre stanze spirituali a quattro voci (Ferrara: Baldini, 1584), to Suor Brigida Grana, a nun at the Dominican convent of San Rocco.58 In the dedication, Milleville praises Suor Brigida’s intellect, saying that her writing (probably including the “altre stanze spirituali” mentioned in the book’s title) was “graceful beyond belief.”59 The book is no doubt the result of a commission, most likely from a member of her family, suggesting that someone cared deeply about Suor Brigida’s creative fulfillment. It is not hard to understand why both duchesses gravitated to the convents for the musical, as well as the spiritual, experience. Their recorded presence in the convent churches often coincides with the most musically rich of the offices: Vespers and – in Margherita’s case, at least – Matins. Matins responsories and antiphons make up the majority of texts set in the materna lingua books of the 1540s, as in Raffaella Aleotti’s collection of motets, and the significance of Matins for her nuns was not lost on Margherita.60 Sleeping in the cloisters, surely in guest rooms and apart from most of the community but just as surely with access to the internal church where Matins would 57 58

59 60

Appendix 6.34: MerendaIst, 150r–150v. Brigida Grana would almost certainly have been related to Giacomo Grana, Luigi d’Este’s scalco (steward or majordomo); see Chapter 5. Appendix 6.35: Alessandro Milleville, Le Vergine, dedication. See Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones (1593), xxix. Thirteen out of eighteen works in the book are drawn from Matins offices for the principal feasts of the Church.

234

234

Margherita’s Arrival be sung, she would have been able to participate as an auditor, if not as a singer, in the office that many religious felt brought them closest to God, and which was musically the most complex and mysterious.61 Moreover, while no hard evidence remains of any collaboration between nuns and damigelle, Margherita’s ladies accompanied her into the convents, experiencing all that she experienced; they heard and observed the nuns, and may even have sung and played with them. Away from the eyes and ears of any man, the women were at the very least in the position to share expertise.

Musical Practice in San Vito in the 1580s The court ensemble in the 1580s was engineered for optimum flexibility. Performing context and availability of personnel (for instance, the ladies of the court ensemble were frequently indisposed with febbre terzana  – malaria  – particularly in the autumn months) would have had an effect on the size of the group, but between them the women played a variety of foundation instruments – harp, lute, and viol – each suitable for both self- and ensemble accompaniment. Members of Alfonso’s cappella could be used to strengthen the ensemble, both instrumentally and vocally: Most frequently, Luzzaschi would be at the keyboard and Ippolito Fiorini on the lute, but there are also occasional references to male cappella singers joining with the ladies.62 Most of the convent ensembles of Ferrara are not so well documented, although we can be confident that nearly every convent in the city had a working organ, maintained by the same technicians who cared for the instruments at court, the Pagliarini/Chricci family, and by musicians of the ducal cappella.63 Nonetheless, there exist three accounts, written and published retrospectively, that provide significant detail about the practices at San  Vito, the most prominent of Ferrara’s musical convents. Ercole Bottrigari’s Il Desiderio (Venice: Amadino, 1594) gives an extensive account of the ensemble as a model of excellent musical practice, establishing that, even at the time of printing, it had been active for at least two decades. In his eponymous treatise, L’Artusi, ovvero delle imperfettioni della moderna musica (Venice:  Vincenti, 1600), Giovanni Maria Artusi also chooses San  Vito as a paradigm of ensemble performance.64 Finally, a passage in Marcantonio 61 62 63 64

See additional comments in Stras, “Ricreationi,” 50. See Appendix 6.1; also DurMarCron, 199. See PeveradaDoc, esp. 139ff. Appendix 6:36 and Appendix 8.36: Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 1594, 46–50; Artusi, L’Artusi, 1–4v. Bottrigari’s treatise is available in translation (on which the translations here are based): Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 1962. For more discussion of Artusi’s document, see Chapter 8.

235

235

Musical Practice in San Vito in the 1580s Guarini’s Compendio (Ferrara: Heirs of Vittorio Baldini, 1621) is rich with description, names, and context regarding the nuns who performed and their effect on their listeners.65 Bottrigari’s Il  Desiderio is a lengthy dialog on the pitfalls of ensemble performance, specifically focused on the issue of good intonation, and how difficult it is for large ensembles composed of keyboards, wind, brass, and stringed instruments. The passage regarding San Vito comes near the end of his treatise, and he indicates that he has been saving the best until last. He calls the convent ensemble the “most noble and high example of the musical concerts into which all sorts and divers kinds of instruments enter in the highest degree of perfection which human and earthly imperfection can achieve” who “play together with so much beauty and grace, and quietness.”66 He carries on: and finally hearing the sweetest harmony, that resounds in these angelic voices, and these instruments played with such skill and discretion … [you will see] they are undoubtedly women, and when you watch them come in … to the place where a long table has been prepared, at one end of which is found a large clavicembalo, you would see them enter one by one, quietly bringing their instruments, either stringed or wind. They all enter quietly and approach the table without making the least noise and place themselves in their proper place, and some sit, who must do so in order to use their instruments, and others remain standing. Finally, the Maestra of the concert sits down at one end of the table and with a long, slender, and well-polished wand (which was placed there ready for her, because I saw it), and when all the other sisters clearly are ready, gives them without noise several signs to begin, and then continues by beating the measure of the time which they must obey in singing and playing. And at this point … you would hear such harmony that it would seem to you either than you were carried off to Helicon or that Helicon together with all the chorus of the Muses singing and playing had been transported to that place … And if you should ever speak about this with Wert, Spontone, the Reverend Father Porta, or Merulo of Correggio – musicians properly reputed to be the principal ones of our modern music  – and several others who were in Ferrara in the same time I was there, I am most certain that they would tell you the same thing and perhaps even vouch for it more fully … It is not at all new. If I were to speak of tens and twenties of years I would not be mistaken. Because of this, in great part, one can understand how the great perfection of their concordance comes about. Neither Fiorino nor Luzzasco, though both are held in great honor by them, nor any other musician nor living man, has had any part either in their work or in advising them; and so it is all the more marvelous, even stupendous, to everyone who delights in music … 65 66

See Chapter 8 and Appendix 8.26: GuarComp, 375–76. Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 1962, 56–58.

236

236

Margherita’s Arrival That same nun who is the director of the concerto is also Maestra of all the beginners both in singing and in playing; and with such decorum and gravity of bearing has she always proceeded and continued in this office that her equals, as they are, are glad to acknowledge her and esteem her as their superior, loving and obeying her, fearing and honoring her completely.67

Perhaps because of Gregory  XIII’s frequently reiterated rule that no outsiders, particularly men, should be allowed to enter the convents for the purpose of teaching music, Bottrigari is careful to note that the musicians of San Vito were instructed by one of their own. He does not name the maestra, but implies that she had been in her position for some years; Guarini later identified her as Giulia Fiaschi, an “organist of great renown.”68 Suor Giulia was born Isabella Fiaschi in 1514 and was twice elected abbess of San Vito.69 She could just conceivably still have been the maestra active in the 1580s, when the ensemble begins to be mentioned in court correspondence, and when Bottrigari witnessed its performance.70 Bottrigari confirms that at San  Vito wind instruments (cornetts and trombones) were used in all the music for feast days, and that ornamentation was used judiciously: Those instruments are nearly always used doubled (duplicatamente) in the music, which they play ordinarily on all the feast days of the year. And they play them with such grace, and with such a nice manner, and such sonorous and just intonation of the notes that even people who are esteemed most excellent in the profession confess that it is incredible to anyone who does not actually see and hear it. And their passagework is not of the kind that is chopped up, furious, and continuous, such that it spoils and distorts the principal air, which the skillful composer worked ingeniously to give to the cantilena; but at times and in certain places there are such light, vivacious embellishments that they enhance the music and give it the greatest spirit … If I remember rightly, there are twenty-three of them now participating in this great concerto, which they perform only at certain times – for most solemn feasts of the Church, or to honor the princes, their Serene Highnesses, or to gratify some famous professor or noble amateur of music at the intercession of Fiorino or 67 68 69

70

Ibid., 58–59, 60. Appendix 8.26: GuarComp, 365. Count Alfonso and Count Giovanni Francesco Maresti, Teatro genealogico et istorico dell’antiche, e illustri famiglie di Ferrara, Tomo terzo (Ferrara: Stampo Camerale, 1708), 155. Suor Giulia is named in an Inquisition document from 1572; the record does not mention her as a musician, but it confirms her continued presence at the convent. Appendix 6.37: I-MOas, CDP Avogari, b. 60, 27 February 1572. Even though it did not appear in print until 1594, in the preface to the second edition it is made clear that this dialog was written after Bottrigari returned to Bologna from Ferrara in 1587. The list of composers also suggests that the dialog refers to experiences in the 1580s, as Bartolomeo Spontone is thought to have died in 1592.

237

237

Musical Practice in San Vito in the 1580s Luzzasco or by the authority of their superiors, but never without preparation nor in haste, nor all compositions but only, as I said about the concerto grande of the duke, those judged suitable for performance by voices and instruments together.71

Duplicatamente presents a small issue of translation:  It could mean playing in pairs or multiples, or alternatively doubling the vocal performance. Certainly, with twenty-three musicians, the San  Vito ensemble was big enough to have at least two players of each instrument, but we can be confident in reading the phrase both ways:  With so many musicians and instruments to accommodate in polyphony that normally has only up to eight parts, some or all of the parts will necessarily be doubled. Just prior to the discussion of San Vito, there is a passage describing the duke’s concerto grande that implies the excellence of that ensemble derived from their long and continuous service as a settled group, a consideration that is echoed in the assessment of the nuns’ ensemble (“because of this, in great part, can one understand how the great perfection of their concordance comes about”).72 Moreover, in the margins of his description, Bottrigari summarizes his point:  “The perfection of concord in an ensemble is born in the long association of singers and players.” Bottrigari set great store in the benefits of rehearsal, preparation, and a shared experience of musicianship, but his final observation is just as important: not every composition is appropriate for “concerted” performance, and the process whereby such a judgment is to be made must surely have involved a combination of prior experience and exploratory rehearsal by the ensemble. The 1580s saw a rapid increase in functional music available to convents, more straightforwardly adaptable to all-female use. Across northern Italy composers began to publish equal-voice settings of the offices and services most useful to convents: Compline; Vespers; requiem Masses and the Office for the Dead; and of course Lamentations and Responsories for Holy Week.73 Ferrarese composers also contributed to the trend: Paolo Isnardi added to his voci pari publications of the 1570s with a set of voci mutate Lamentations in 1584; Girolamo Belli published a complete set of Vespers psalms and hymns in voci mutate in 1585; and the Modenese Orazio Vecchi published a set of voci pari Lamentations, with additional elements of the Holy Week 71 72

73

Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 1962, 60. Bottrigari also suggests that, for very large performances, the duke’s ensemble might be expanded by “every Ferrarese who can sing and play well enough to be judged by Fiorino and Luzzasco good enough to participate in such a concert”; Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 1594, 43; Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, 1962, 52. He states several times that they only play pieces specifically composed for them by Alfonso Dalla Viola or Luzzaschi. In the margin is the summary, “Gran concerto di Ferrara non esser mai fatto all’improviso ne di ogni compositione.” See Stras, “The Performance of Polyphony,” 195–98.

238

238

Margherita’s Arrival services – the Improperium and the Stabat Mater – in 1587.74 These works were unlikely to need a great deal of arrangement, but since they were mostly liturgical and therefore intrinsically bound to the practice of alternating chant verses with polyphonic ones, they do not seem like appropriate choices for the private concerts at San Vito. Since self-contained motets or even spiritual madrigals do not exist in abundance in the 1580s voci pari repertoire, it seems most likely that they augmented their performances with the voci piene works of, say, De Wert, Spontone, Porta, and Merulo, but in arrangements that suited their ensemble.75 In the end, Bottrigari’s evidence confirms that the Este used San Vito as an extension to court entertainments: As Ferrante Gonzaga was permitted to do in 1582, Bottrigari claims that he entered the convent into a space – perhaps a designated parlatorio – where the nuns performed expressly for guests of the duke and duchess. These recitals appear to have had a similar function to the performances commanded of the concerto at the court, a deeply problematic situation in respect of Church strictures. While in the context of worship or convent recreation, the nuns could at least attribute their musical activities to the glory of God; but no matter how exclusive any performance at the behest of the duke, there would have been no justification for it in the eyes of any reform-minded representative of Rome. As the 1590s unfolded, there would be friction between Church and State regarding the status of religious life in Ferrara, which would only be resolved with the death of the duke. Aligning Bottrigari’s remarks with an understanding of what kinds of music would have been available to the nuns of the 1580s – unless expressly composed in voci pari or voci mutate – allows us to understand more about how the ensembles, at both court and convent, went about choosing and arranging their repertoire. Regardless of the overall size and composition of the ensemble, many existing polyphonic works would require arranging, in a process that identified which voice or instrument was to take responsibility for which line in the polyphony at any given point in the work; whether transposition, either of selected voices or of the entire work, was necessary, desirable, or even possible; whether the whole was to be reduced or arranged 74

75

Girolamo Belli, Psalmi ad vesperas cum hymnis et Magnificat qui possunt pari voce concini si in subdiapason cantum moduleris quatuor vocibus (Venice: Vincenti and Amadino, 1585); Orazio Vecchi, Lamentationes cum quattuor paribus vocibus (Venice: Gardano, 1587); Paolo Isnardi, Lamentationes et Benedictus quae plena parique voce, pro libitu concini possunt (Venice: Scotto; 1584). Raffaella Aleotti’s own motets – which surely formed part of the convent repertoire during her tenure as maestra – were published in voci piene format.

239

239

Musical Practice in San Vito in the 1580s further to create song or dialog; or where ornamentation, extemporaneous or not, was to be added. This may explain why the ladies of the 1580s concerto were praised for being able to sing a voci mutate and “a libro, alimproviso” (at sight, from the book), as if this were something unusual.76 Rehearsal and study would then have been used not only to advance individual musicianship or to develop new works in conjunction with composers, but also to select suitable existing works from manuscripts or prints and prepare them for performance. The ability to sight-sing accurately, especially a voci mutate, would have been invaluable in the first stage of the selection process, and it could be that the concerto’s impromptu reading sessions were precisely to try out existing works in different combinations that might later be arranged more formally. Once the process began, decisions were still more or less contingent:  what voice takes what part and how many parts were to be sung would have depended on which singers were available; whether or not to transpose, and how, would also have depended on the ranges of the singers and the capabilities of the available instruments. Provisional decisions may have needed to be modified or reversed in the light of experience; some works would respond well to some kinds of adaptation and less well to others, and inevitably some works would have been rejected. Knowing that the ladies of the 1580s concerto were at liberty to engage the nuns of Ferrara in a mutual exchange of expertise opens up new avenues for exploring the music of both constituencies during the 1580s and beyond. One of the most important characteristics that binds the 1580s women to musical nuns, and differentiates them from their predecessors, is that they were encouraged as instrumentalists. Whereas the Bendidio sisters could sing well if rehearsed, and could even sing polyphony if Brancaccio was with them, they are only ever recorded as singing to the accompaniment of Luzzaschi. The ladies of the 1580s concerto were able not only to selfaccompany, but also to contribute to ensemble performance both vocally and instrumentally. What they stood to learn from the nuns was how to vary the texture and timbre of their performances at will, and how to adapt voci piene polyphony by using transposition and instrumental accompaniment. These skills would have been invaluable in helping the women fulfill the demands of their courtly role: to play for hours, night after night, in order to soothe their mistresses or entertain the duke’s guests. 76

Newcomb offers these two passages, dating from 1582 and 1584, in translation: “Wednesday after having dined, the Duke passed a good deal of time listening to those ladies sing from ordinary music books. Even in that kind of singing the ladies are beautiful to hear, because they sing the low parts [le parti grosse] an octave higher”; “They are astounded by the singing of these ladies and by their knowledge, for the ladies sing without rehearsal every motet and every composition that they give them, however difficult these pieces may be.” NewcombMF: 1:67–68.

240

240

Margherita’s Arrival But just as important to our understanding of performance practice in the most mature era of the concerto is evidence that emerged after it had been disbanded for nearly ten years, and even long after Luzzaschi had published his Madrigali in 1601. It is necessary to disturb the chronological narrative here: from a letter written by Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga to Cardinal Montalto in 1605, we learn that Luzzaschi worked from a draft score, coaching the ladies to perform from memory.77 These two crucial factors  – the opportunity for musical dialog between nuns and court ladies, and Luzzaschi’s habitual use of skeleton scores – allow us to bring the evidence to bear from other sources to help us decode and reimagine the performance of music of the 1580s by Agostini, De Wert, and Luzzaschi himself that we only know from polyphonic prints.

77

Parisi, “Ducal Patronage,” 184.

241

7

h

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto

Margherita’s first decade in Ferrara saw a proliferation of publications dedicated to the principal figures at the court, composed both in Ferrara and far from its borders. The city’s musical reputation was growing year by year, resting in particular on the activities of the duchesses’ women.1 The years from 1581 to 1586 were the court’s most vibrant and culturally productive period, during which its literary and musical talents were focused most keenly on providing repertoire for the ladies’ performances, both in private and as part of court spectacle. The continuous activity gave rise to a series of commemorative volumes that documented and celebrated specific people and events, and which had a particular cultural currency both within the court economy and beyond it into the political world. These books were designed to honor and advertise the glories of Ferrarese music and the concerto delle dame, but nonetheless they conceal the practices that made them so glorious. This chapter examines a number of these volumes through the lenses of both documentary inquiry and realization in performance, to highlight their cultural and political significance, and to consider how Ferrarese performance practice is both reflected and obscured in their polyphonic notation.

The Commemorative Volumes of the 1580s Between the years 1579 and 1586 nine music books, in print and manuscript, emerged from the musical environment surrounding the courts of Ferrara and Mantua (Table  7.1). The two courts had been closely bound by kinship and marriage for the whole of the sixteenth century, but those bonds tightened even further with the marriage of Margherita Gonzaga and Duke Alfonso II. The first three volumes to appear – MS 220 of the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, De Wert’s Settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci and Agostini’s L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali – may seem less relevant as they are all focused on Mantuan subjects, but they provide a context for both the style and content of 1

See comments in Chapter IV and Appendix IV of NewcombMF, 1:68, 69–255.

242

242

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto

Table 7.1 Commemorative music volumes relevant to the Ferrarese concerto of the 1580s Year

Composer

Title

Dedicatee

[1579?] 1581

Various Giaches de Wert

none Laura Peverara in Mantua Vincenzo Wedding of Vincenzo Gonzaga Gonzaga and Margherita Farnese

1581

Lodovico Agostini

I-VEaf MS 220 Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1581) L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali a sei voci … Libro secondo (Venice: Gardano, 1581) I-MOe Mus F.1358

[1581–1582] Various

1582

Lodovico Agostini

1582

Various

1583

Various

[1583]

Lodovico Agostini

1586

Giaches de Wert

Madrigali … Libro Terzo. A sei voci (Ferrara: Heirs of Francesco Rossi, and Paolo Tortorino, 1582) Il lauro secco (Ferrara: Baldini, 1582) Il lauro verde (Ferrara: Baldini, 1583) Il nuovo Echo a cinque voci (Ferrara: Baldini, 1583) L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Gardano, 1586)

Commemorative focus

Guglielmo Guglielmo Gonzaga and Gonzaga Mantuan figures: Alessandro Striggio [Curzio Gonzaga?] none Leonora Sanvitale; Barbara Sanseverina; Giulio Cesare Brancaccio; [Luzzaschi?] Alfonso Summer recreation with the d’Este Gonzaga family in 1581; concerto delle dame none

Laura Peverara’s betrothal

none

Laura Peverara’s wedding

Alfonso d’Este

Ferrarese court music in toto [visit of Count Bardi and Giulio Caccini?] concerto delle dame

Alfonso d’Este

the books issued in the following years. Although it is undated, MS 220 is probably the earliest of the three, for it celebrates Laura Peverara in a Mantuan context, hence predating her transfer to Ferrara in 1580.2 Durante and Martellotti consider the possibility that the manuscript was curated at the instigation of Duke Guglielmo, whom they believe is the composer of its single anonymous madrigal. The manuscript is far from pristine, and has the appearance of an abandoned publication venture, cut short by Peverara’s transfer to Ferrara. If it represents the value Guglielmo placed on Peverara, we might better understand his opposition to her marriage to a Ferrarese vassal. Guglielmo’s famous discomfiture at being obliged to witness the concerto at Ferrara in May 1581 – when he stormed out, declaring, “Ladies? Big deal. I’d rather be an ass than a lady!” – perhaps then becomes more an expression of disgruntled despair at having lost his prima donna than disgust at her performance.3 It must then have been doubly galling for Guglielmo to see two collections for Peverara successfully assembled and issued in print by the Accademia 2 3

DurMarPep, 68–90. Ibid., 89.

243

243

The Commemorative Volumes of the 1580s degli Rinnovati in Ferrara, Il lauro secco and Il lauro verde, which honored her in betrothal and marriage in 1582 and 1583.4 MS 220, Il lauro secco and Il lauro verde all include settings by composers working outside the cities in which they were compiled, and some composers appear in all three; however, the Veronese collection includes no works by Ferrarese composers, and the Ferrarese collections none by the Veronese. Musically, too, MS  220 and Il lauro secco share an important characteristic: The majority of their works have paired altos or tenors, not paired sopranos (this cannot be said of Il lauro verde, as it has six voices, rather than five). These features matter because they indicate a certain distance from the activities of the innermost musical circle of the Ferrarese court, particularly when the books are compared to a manuscript intimately associated with that circle, the Biblioteca Estense’s Mus. F.1358. F.1358 is an exquisite manifestation of the concerto’s exclusive musicmaking.5 It contains thirty-six five-voice madrigals, four each by nine Ferrarese composers: Lodovico Agostini, Paolo Isnardi, Innocenzo Alberti, Paolo Virchi, Alessandro Milleville, Alberto Dall’Occa, Girolamo Belli, Francesco Manara, and Vincenzo Fronti. All but four set texts either by or attributable to Giambattista Guarini. The poems contain references to Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, Barbara Sanseverina, and Leonora Sanvitale, suggesting that the manuscript’s genesis cannot be any later than 1582, although it may have been completed between Sanvitale’s unexpected death in early 1582 and Brancaccio’s departure from the court in early 1583.6 Musically, it reveals the continuity between the established practices of the 1570s and the developments of the 1580s. All of the madrigals have paired sopranos, but several also have alto parts that occasionally function as a third soprano. The composers of these latter works tend to be the more experienced, including those who had already shown themselves to be comfortable with voci pari composition: Isnardi, Agostini, Milleville, and Manara. While some of the madrigals feature the elaborate decoration and imitative diminution that became emblematic of the 1580s Ferrarese style in print, others retain the combination of syllabic simplicity and harmonic invention characteristic of the Ferrarese take on the Roman-Neapolitan style. For a document that

4

5 6

See also Newcomb, “Three Anthologies.” Durante and Martellotti provocatively suggest that Il lauro secco may not have been compiled for Laura Peverara because of its overall negative tone; DurMarPep, 219. However, this contradicts their more compelling argument for seeing Agostini’s “Picciola verga e bella (“sopra il lauro secco”),” from his Madrigali … a sei voci, as a pivotal work between the two collections; DurMarMS, 1:50. The manuscript is described and transcribed in DurMarMS. The poem celebrating Brancaccio, “Quando i più gravi accenti,” is very likely to be that sent by Guarini to Duke Alfonso on 10 August 1581; see DurMarCron, 144.

244

244

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto appears so closely tied to the concerto, it seems remarkable that it includes no works by Luzzaschi; Durante and Martellotti suggest it may have been compiled in homage to him.7 One of the most striking works in the collection is Alberto Dall’Occa’s setting “Udite, amanti, udite.”8 Dall’Occa, who was either Luzzaschi’s brother-in-law or son-in-law, uses techniques that emerge clearly in the 1590s publications by his illustrious relative:  “discontinuous imitative textures, a studied avoidance of strong cadences, and … repeating small sections, perhaps transposed, with vertical arrangement of the parts altered.”9 The madrigal also features frequent general rests, again “typical … of the later Ferrarese style.”10 Saving the disrupted imitation for the peroration, for the most part these techniques are deployed within a quasihomophonic setting, colored with harmonic effects that could be further twisted by a singer’s judicious use of ficta (Example 7.1, mm. 4; 6). Note how the Alto must function both as a third soprano (mm. 10–11) and a second tenor (mm. 13–15). Girolamo Belli d’Argenta, a pupil of Luzzaschi, also composes in a manner that foreshadows his teacher’s later publications.11 His “Non miri il mio bel sole” looks both backward to the 1570s and forward to the mature style. Its opening thirteen breves exhibit the distinct characteristics of the 1570s Roman-Neapolitan style:  irregular phrase lengths; flexible rhythms and narrow-range declamation; simple melodic cells that fall and rise in fourths and fifths; a bass line that does not operate independently of the melody. Yet its final ten breves are prophetic with their spare textures and sinuous melodies, while nonetheless nodding to the recreational aspect of collective music-making with their solmization pun, sol-la on “so-la” (Example 7.2). Although the concerto’s later fame rested on the virtuosity of the ladies’ performances alone, F.1358 is testament to the durability of polyphony as a collective experience, one that could be appreciated both internally and externally, visually and aurally, by both performer and listener. The copies are clean, and were originally covered in vellum with yellow and turquoise 7 8

9 10 11

DurMarMS, 1:68. Dall’Occa’s madrigal is transcribed in DurMarMS, 2:105–8. In his will, Luzzaschi refers to Dall’Occa’s children as nepoti (nephews/nieces or grandchildren) and leaves them small bequests; DurMarMS, 1:118. NewcombMF, 1:121. Ibid., 1:120. Like Isnardi, Belli also published voci mutate sacred settings. He does not appear to have ever been employed at court, although he contributed to important Ferrarese collections, such as Il lauro secco and La gloria musicale (Venice, Amadino, 1592), and dedicated volumes to several members of the Este and Gonzaga families; see DurMarMS, 1:118–25.

245

245

The Commemorative Volumes of the 1580s Example 7.1 “Udite, amanti, udite,” Alberto Dall’Occa, I-MOe Mus. F.1358, mm. 1–15.

246

246

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.2 “Non miri il mio bel sole,” Girolamo Belli, I-MOe Mus. F.1358.

247

247

The Commemorative Volumes of the 1580s Example 7.2 (continued)

tassels, the signature binding for the concerto’s partbooks.12 The qualities of many of the madrigals make their polyphonic settings appear ineluctable: For instance, the erudition of Paolo Virchi’s “Con gli occhi molli e con le chiome sparse,” in which the second soprano voice is in strict canon with the first (marked “Canon alunison dopoi cinque pause”) is all the more impressive because of the chromatic quirks of the opening subject (Example 7.3). Moreover, their discontinuous textures and propensity for audacious harmonies suggest 12

Ibid., 1:65.

248

248

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.3 “Con gli occhi molli e con le chiome sparse,” Paolo Virchi, I-MOe Mus. F.1358, mm. 1–11.

that in performance, if fretted or keyboard instruments were employed in addition to voices, they would have most conveniently supported the polyphonic complex rather than playing a harmonic accompaniment.13 While the choice of composers in F.1358 seems to have arisen out of proximity to rather than participation in the concerto, its texts bind it closely to the court’s musico-social core, celebrating its elite membership prior to 13

DurMarMS, 2:66–70.

249

249

The Commemorative Volumes of the 1580s the Mantuan influx. Two of the encomia name their subjects: “Ama ben dice Amore” is directed towards a Barbara (Barbara Sanseverina) and “Quando i più gravi accenti” describes a performance by a bass named Cesare (Giulio Cesare Brancaccio). Another, “Come può star fierezza,” does not mention Barbara directly, but is closely related to another text by Guarini, “Dunque può star con barbara fierezza,” dedicated explicitly to Sanseverina.14 Other texts suggest their subject through the use of paronomasia. Agostini’s “Donna mentre vi miro,” which takes pride of place as the opening madrigal in the book, contains the words “O bellezza vitale,” which when enunciated reveal the name Sanvitale (“za-vitale”). Another, “Questa ch’il cielo honora” elides the words “ciel” and “honora” to create the illusion of the name “Leonora” – not incontrovertibly Sanvitale, to be sure, but still suggestive. “Amorosa fenice” refers to the “bel nome santo” of the poet’s Lady. In a similar vein, “Udite, amanti, udite” describes the adored Lady both as “l’unica fenice” and as “l’unica beatrice de la mia vita,” again paraphrasing Sanvitale’s surname.15 At the same time as F.1358 was being compiled, Giaches de  Wert and Lodovico Agostini were also preparing their 1581 volumes, De  Wert’s Settimo libro and Agostini’s L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali. Newcomb points out that De Wert’s Settimo libro is “as much a Ferrarese as a Mantuan product” because of four specific textual markers:  a stanza from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, “Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori”; a sonnet written in 1573 by Tasso to commemorate the wedding of Isabella Bendidio and Cornelio Bentivoglio, “Donna se ben le chiome ho già ripiene”; the first published setting of a stanza of Tasso’s also  newly published  Gerusalemme liberata, “Giunto alla tomba ove al suo spirto vivo”; and one of the earliest settings of Giambattista Guarini’s dialog, “Tirsi morir volea.”16 De  Wert’s Settimo libro commemorated the wedding of its dedicatee, Vincenzo Gonzaga, to Margherita Farnese in March 1581. What De Wert’s book celebrates explicitly, Agostini’s L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali does implicitly through its homage to the best of Mantua’s creativity. It opens with an 14 15

16

DurMarMS, 1:135. A further circumstance binds some of the texts of F.1358 to Sanvitale and Sanseverina. “Non fu senza vendetta” and “Amorosa fenice,” set respectively by Manara and Milleville, first appear in musical settings by Giovanni Agostino Veggio in his Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (Parma: Viotto, 1575), dedicated to Ercole Varano. In the dedication, Veggio reveals that he was introduced to Varano by Ottavio Sanvitale, Leonora’s cousin. Varano provided hospitality in Ferrara to Sanvitale’s future husband, Giulio Thiene, in 1575 while the marriage negotiations were at a critical stage. “La misera farfalla,” set by Belli in F.1358, was also set by Veggio and published in Giacomo Moro’s Gli encomii musicali (Venice: Vincenti and Amadino, 1585), dedicated to Sanseverina. NewcombMF, 1:81–83. Tasso’s epic Gerusalemme liberata, which like Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, glorified the Este lineage, was widely published in 1581, but only the edition brought out by Baldini in Ferrara in that year was authorized by Tasso himself.

250

250

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto encomium to Duke Guglielmo, which is followed by “Nasce la gioia mia,” a parody of the Mantuan nobleman Alessandro Striggio’s six-voice madrigal “Nasce la pena mia”; the book also contains a five-part canzone “in imitation” of the same work. The third and fourth works – “Tanto può de begli occhi” and “Scendete, Muse, del sacrato monte” – honor a woman named Vittoria. While no important women at the Mantuan court bore that name, Vittoria was the warrior heroine of Curzio Gonzaga’s dynastic romance Il fido amante, which was published in Mantua in 1582.17 Il fido amante purported to celebrate the Gonzaga in the same way as Orlando furioso and Gerusalemme liberata did the Este, by giving the family a chivalric past. It therefore would have had specific cultural currency during the celebration of Vincenzo’s marriage. But there may well also have been performances based on the tale as part of Vincenzo and Margherita’s wedding celebrations. The second of Agostini’s Vittoria settings, “Scendete, Muse,” has clear dramatic application and corresponds to the peroration of Il fido amante, when in the thirty-fifth canto the poet summons Apollo and the Muses.

Lodovico Agostini’s Il nuovo Echo (1583) Of all the Ferrarese music prints from the 1580s, Agostini’s Madrigali … a sei voci (1582) and Il nuovo Echo (1583) are perhaps the most revealing regarding the musical practices fostered in the court’s innermost circles, offering up a wide variety of genres:  echoes, enigmas, madrigals, dialogs, canzoni, canons, instrumental works, and concerti.18 They present music as both courtly activity and cultural adornment to Ferrara’s civic identity, accentuating the personal involvement in music production of key members of the court, as musicians, poets, composers, or listeners. Individual works are directed ad personam to the Este and the Gonzaga, and to significant musical figures:  Luzzaschi, Peverara, Anna Guarini. However, courtiers also contribute to these volumes as poets, either named (Torquato Tasso, Orsolina Cavelletta), disguised by academic nicknames, or by the ostentatiously anonymous rubric, “d’incerto autore.”19 On the outermost folio of each book, Agostini himself is honored by a pair of anonymous sonnets. By completing the circle through reciprocal dedication, the prints present a 17

18

19

Curzio Gonzaga, Il fido amante (Mantua: Osanna, 1582). Guglielmo Gonzaga is reputed to have written music to Curzio Gonzaga’s ottave; Fabbri, Monteverdi, 279, n. 4. For further discussion of Agostini’s other books, see Stras, “Al gioco si conosce”; Stras, “Sapienti pauca”; Stras, “Imitation, Meditation and Penance.” This rubric might indicate the poet is of very high rank, and therefore not inclined to reveal his or her identity; see Feldman, “Authors and Anonyms,” esp. 186.

251

251

Lodovico Agostini’s Il nuovo Echo (1583) unified picture of Ferrarese cultural life, and whoever read them was granted an official impression of the court as it wished to be seen by the outside world. Both the Madrigali … a sei voci and Il nuovo Echo were printed between the autumn of 1582 and the spring of 1583; both were issued by the duke’s official printers, although this office had changed hands between the two publications.20 Neither dedication is dated and there are conflicting dates on the front and back pages of Il nuovo Echo (1583 on the front and 1582 on the back). They are sumptuous prints with a great deal of decorative additions, including borders on every page. The two books were clearly produced to commemorate musical events at the Ferrara court during a particular season. In the dedication to Madrigali … a sei voci Agostini refers to a courtly sojourn at the Estense delizia at Marina in the summer of 1581 during which the contents were composed and performed.21 Il nuovo Echo is the more eclectic book, for it contains the greater variety of genres and poetic styles, including the rare addition of instrumental works. This diversity, together with its much more common five-voice format, may further indicate that it was intended not only to be a keepsake for the Este, but also an elegant souvenir, which Alfonso could bestow on his guests – or rivals. The copy of Il nuovo Echo that remains in the Biblioteca Estense is printed on blue paper with wide margins, suggesting it was intended as a presentation or preservation copy. The publication of Il nuovo Echo coincided with two momentous events in the musical life of Ferrara, both occurring during Carnival 1583:  the marriage celebrations of Laura Peverara, and the visit to the court of a Florentine delegation that included Count Giovanni Bardi and Giulio Caccini.22 Both of these occasions would have warranted the production of a volume such as Il nuovo Echo, and evidence of both is manifest in its pages. Ostensibly, the purpose of the Florentine visit was to permit Duke Alfonso to invest the nobleman Giovanni Antinori into the military Order of Saint Michael. The historic associations of the Order give the book a hitherto unrecognized political significance. As a knight of the Order, Alfonso had fought against Florence in the Sienese conflicts of the 1550s. Piero Strozzi, noted Florentine exile and governor of Siena during the siege, was also a member.23 The investiture may well have been part of a reciprocal softening 20

21 22 23

Agostini’s Madrigali … a sei voci was issued by the heirs of Francesco Rossi, and Paolo Tortorino “Compagni”; Francesco Rossi had been the Stampatore Ducale when he published Luzzaschi’s Primo libro in 1571. Il nuovo Echo was among the first publications issued by Vittorio Baldini once he had assumed the role; see DurMarMS, 1:44–45. Ibid., 1:31–32, 45. NewcombMF, 1:192–93, 200. Fromson, “Themes of Exile,” 475, n. 73.

252

252

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto of dynastic tension between the Este and the Medici, paving the way for the wedding of Cesare d’Este and Virginia de’ Medici in 1586. A group of three works highlights a Florentine connection, the first of which praises a Lucrezia (d’Este? de’ Medici?). They are all labeled “ad imitatione del Sig Alessandro Striggio” and are all based on the same work, “S’ogni mio ben havete” from the composer’s Primo libro de madregali a sei voci, first published in 1560, the year after Striggio joined the Medici court.24 The third, “Quando ch’io persi il core,” sets a text by the Florentine Antonfrancesco Doni, one of only three identifiably non-Ferrarese texts in the book. At least seven different performance styles may be represented in Il nuovo Echo, in which a mix of instruments and voices – both female and male – could be called upon: the “ordinary” five-voice madrigal; the echo dialog; the concerted madrigal, or concerto; recreational or participatory music-making; solo madrigal; duet madrigal; and solo song. Nearly half the madrigals in the book are fully-fledged, contrapuntal works that have no special rubric and do not suggest or are resistant to adaptation for high voices alone. The handling of the lower voices is significant in these pieces: unlike works that adapt well to (were conceived for?) solo performance, the lower voices here are more imitative, melodic, and rhythmically independent. Another distinguishing feature is their use of two tenor parts; the majority also begin their opening imitative sequence in one of the tenor voices, always notated in the c3 clef. This high tenor could well have been Agostini himself: in the Madrigali … a sei voci, there is a work (“Se voi pur MARGARITA,” dedicated to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este) that is marked “Sesta parte à beneplacito,” in which the high tenor Sesto performs an elaborate counterpoint to the two soprano voices. A  musician inextricably associated with party tricks, Agostini could have had the madrigal sung in five voices, and afterwards added his own in a repeat performance. A number of settings in Il nuovo Echo celebrate composing, performing, listening to, and simply knowing about music. Two different settings introduce a performance, by Laura Peverara, of Giaches de Wert’s five-voice madrigal, “Cara la vita mia, egl’è pur vero.” Both texts, one anonymous, the other by the Ferrarese poet Orsolina Cavaletta, make it clear that Laura was to sing accompanying herself on the harp: Poiché del vostro canto, gentil Signora, i’ vivo, fatemi gratia tanto che di quel mai non mi sia fatto nego:

24

Modern edition, Striggio, Il primo libro … a sei voci (1560), 118–22.

253

253

Lodovico Agostini’s Il nuovo Echo (1583) Deh, cantate vi prego, cantate in cortesia, “Cara la vita mia.” Because I live for your singing, gentle Lady, do me the great grace, that by which I am never diminished: Thus sing, I pray you, please sing, “Cara la vita mia.” Dal odorate spoglie sciogliete homai la mano che ’l mio voler e disvoler mi toglie; et quell’Arpa felice a cui non si disdice, stringersi col bel petto d’amor fido ricetto, togliete e con l’usata leggiadria, fateci udir: “Cara la vita mia.” From a perfumed gown, free the hand that takes my will away; and take up that happy harp (to which nothing is denied) pressed to a beautiful breast, the vessel of faith and love, and with the usual grace let us hear “Cara la vita mia.”

Both settings use the opening of De Wert’s madrigal as their starting point. The first reproduces it exactly, in all five parts, at the first iteration of the words “Cara la vita mia,” allowing the listeners the pleasure of recognition as they suddenly hear a favorite work. The second is more complex, using De  Wert’s opening melody as a soggetto ostinato, a single phrase repeated throughout in one of the voices. It is an enigma, the term Agostini uses to denote a work that is structured around a soggetto ostinato, presented as a cryptogram accompanied by a riddle that aids in finding the resolution.25 The presentation of “Dal odorate spoglie” is unusual, for the resolution is printed in full, there is no riddle, and the cryptogram is only superficially cryptic. This in itself suggests that the purpose of Agostini’s book is more representative than functional, as an aide-memoire of Ferrarese music-making. Also suggesting some form of collective authorship or engaged performance are the three short madrigals appearing on facing pages in all the partbooks: “Se voi sete il cor mio,” “Morrò poiché vi piace,” and “Se voi sete il mio cor la vita e l’alma.” Their uncomplicated eroticism sets them apart from the rest of the book, as does their extreme brevity: twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-two and a half breves respectively. The texts are anonymous, although they may not be contemporaneous with each other, as the third was set by Giulio Fiesco in his Primo libro … a quatro voci (Venice: Scotto, 25

See Stras, “Al gioco si conosce,” 221–24.

254

254

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto 1544), dedicated to Alfonso d’Este.26 It is possible that they were composed as some sort of elite game, for they share vocabulary and a central conceit. By closely paraphrasing the opening line of the first, the final text makes it clear that they are to be read together as a proposta, risposta, and contrarisposta, or even as the three sections of a single Ferrarese ballata-madrigal, each upping the literary stakes by increasing the line length by one, and intensifying the erotic stakes by moving the narrative on:27 Se voi sete il cor mio, deh, vengavi desio di darmi vita homai, e trarmi al fin di tante pene, e guai. If you are my heart, then may the desire come to you to give me life now, and finally rescue me from such pain and woe. Morrò poiché vi piace, ma aspettatevi guerra. Non comporte la terra, et il Ciel non permetta che si muora un fedel senza vendetta. I will die because it pleases you, but expect war. Earth will not bear it, and Heaven does not permit that a faithful man should die without revenge. Se voi sete il mio cor, la vita e l’alma, hor che di voi son privo chi può tenermi vivo? Deh, vita mia, se l’amorosa salma pietà trova tal’hora, tornate, ch’io non mora. If you are my heart, my life and soul, now that I am deprived of you, who can keep me alive? Then, my life, if the loving corpse finds pity sometimes, return, so that I may not die.

The settings suggest three different modes of performance, all of which hark back to the 1570s. The first, “Se voi sete il cor mio,” lends itself to a solo performance; however, the bass line is semi-independent, with a polyphonic tendency to imitation. The middle work, “Morrò poiché vi piace,” is distinguished from the outer two by its paired treble clef voices; its bass line follows one of the melodic voices throughout. The two sopranos sing in echo both at its opening and in its peroration, suggesting it may have been 26 27

Modern edition, Fiesco, Primo libro … a quatro voci (1554), 12:65–68. Newcomb, “The Ballata and the ‘Free’ Madrigal,” 429.

255

255

Lodovico Agostini’s Il nuovo Echo (1583) conceived as a duet. The final work, “Se voi sete il mio cor,” most closely resembles Agostini’s five-voice napolitane of the 1570s, exhibiting the salient characteristics of root-position bass, limited melodic range, single-note declamation, and varied phrase lengths. While also performable by one or two voices with accompaniment, its imitative opening invites ensemble performance. The protracted negotiations for Laura Peverara’s marriage and permanent transfer to the Ferrarese court concluded in late 1582, and her marriage was celebrated at Carnival 1583, contemporaneously with the publication of the Madrigali … a sei voci and Il  nuovo Echo. Agostini included three works honoring Laura in the Madrigali … a sei voci, but a more sustained tribute to the singer appears in the final section of Il nuovo Echo. Laura is referred to directly in the rubrics for the two “Cara la vita mia” imitations, and in the opening line of the text of the final madrigal in the book, “Quanto più voi LAURA gentil.” But the two works enclosed by these overt references are more subtle invocations of the virtuosa. The first, “Onde sì acerbi lai?” is an echo, the text of which extols a blonde-haired beauty, referred to as “Dea” and “Angeletta”; both of these epithets were regularly used for Laura. The second, the three-part setting of Bradamante’s lament “Come la notte ogni fiammella è viva” (Orlando furioso XLV/37–39), is the longest setting in the book. The text was already familiar as a musical subject for Ferrarese composers. The prima parte was set by Cipriano de Rore, and the seconda parte, “Se ’l sol si scosta e lascia i giorni brevi,” is the final text to appear in Menon’s Madrigali d’amore, dedicated to Alfonso’s mother Renée at the time of his sister Anna’s marriage (see Chapter 3). The terza parte, however, would have had a deeper resonance for Alfonso and Margherita:  Bradamante’s desire for Ruggiero’s warmth and her self-identification with a bird who finds herself bereft of her chicks speaks directly to Alfonso and Margherita’s need to procreate.28 “Deh torna a me, mio sol, torna, e rimena la desiata dolce primavera! Sgombra i ghiacci e le nievi, e rasserena la mente mia sì nubilosa e nera.” Qual Progne si lamenta o Filomena ch’a cercar esca ai figliolini ita era,

28

For the importance of heat to female conception, see Crawford, European Sexualities, 1400– 1800, 123. See also Stras, “Non è sì denso velo.” Newcomb notes that Alfonso “placed great faith in the prediction by a famous French astrologer that he would have an heir by his third wife after he was fifty – i.e., after 22 November 1583”; NewcombMF, 1:105, n. 2. As a general invocation of desired fecundity, it might also have been appropriate for Peverara, herself a newlywed.

256

256

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto e trova il nido voto; o qual si lagna turture c’ha perduto la compagna. “Ah, come back, my Sun, come and restore the sweet spring I long for; sweep away the ice and snow and bring peace to my heart, so clouded now and bleak.” As Procne or Philomena grieve after leaving in search of food for their little ones and returning to find an empty nest; or as the turtledove grieves who has lost her love.29

Agostini provides a blend of arioso, courtly song, and Ferrarese dramatic sensibility that honors the text’s history but makes the setting more contemporary. Much of the texture of “Come la notte” is readily reducible to solo song, with syllabic declamation accompanied by a root-position bass. Moreover, without using direct repetition, there are correlations between the three stanzas that refer to the arioso style: For instance, the first and second parts open with similar melodic shapes supported by the same harmonic progression. But there are also elements of rhythmic and harmonic “imitation” of the text that create more drama from the outset: The opening two verses are set chordally, with the 3+3+2 rhythm characteristic of the canzonetta and madrigale arioso. However, at the words “subito ch’aggiorna,” the declamation quickens to the level of semicrome and the harmony suddenly veers toward a brighter sonority with a perfect cadence on G (Example 7.4). Agostini named his book Il nuovo Echo, referring to the title of his previous publication, L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali (1581) dedicated to Duke Guglielmo. Despite the book’s title, only five of its twenty-three works are echo settings. Inspired by Ovid’s retelling of the story of Echo and Narcissus – and perhaps to a lesser extent (however important for Ferrarese poetic pastoral) by Vergil’s Eclogues  – echo texts and their musical settings burgeoned in the latter part of the sixteenth century.30 The Este were at the vanguard of this fashion; in the early 1580s their patronage elicited echo verse from Torquato Tasso and settings by Luca Marenzio.31 But Agostini was perhaps the most prolific composer of musical echoes during this period, with ten appearing in his surviving publications:  three Latin-texted works in his Canones et echo sex vocibus (Venice: Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1572), two in L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali, and five in Il nuovo Echo. Most echo settings published before the advent of canto e basso format appear as polychoral works, in seven, eight, even ten voices, with predominantly or exclusively homophonic textures. Such a format, even if performed with only the Canto and Basso partbooks for each group, would have facilitated a dramatic interpretation, 29 30

31

Translated in Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 548. Most scholarship points to Angelo Polizano’s Echo “Che fai tu, Ecco, mentr’io ti chiamo” as the work that revitalized interest in the classical Echo texts, see Galand-Hallyn, “Des ‘vers échoïques.’ ” Bizzarini, Luca Marenzio, 286–96.

257

257

Giaches De Wert’s Ottavo libro de madrigali Example 7.4 “Come la notte ogni fiammella è viva,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–5.

enabling the echo voice to be placed away from the performers of the main text. However, Agostini chooses to publish all of his echoes in a single set of voices, without a distinct group accompanying the echo. Nevertheless, traces of a straightforward harmonic canto e basso origin remain in many of them, as even in more polyphonically developed passages the Basso tends to align rhythmically with the Canto. At the center of Il  nuovo Echo is its most elaborate work, “Odi Ninfa de gl’antri  hor come io godo,” which showcases both the vocal and instrumental resources of the Ferrarese court: The vocal work is published with an instrumental intramezzo appended on the same page that could have framed the echo in performance, perhaps accompanying a dance interlude. The inclusion of the intramezzo suggests, too, that stringed instruments may have accompanied the echo section itself. The intramezzo is not the only instrumental work in the book – the second of the Striggio imitations is a Fantasia da sonar con gli istromenti – but it is unique in Ferrarese publications as it is self-evidently theatrical, a reminder of the choreographed balletti danced by Margherita’s ladies.

Giaches de Wert’s L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586): The Apotheosis of the Concerto 1584 was an important year for weddings significant to the Ferrarese court. In April, Vincenzo Gonzaga married Eleonora de’ Medici. After a first wedding in Florence, Vincenzo and Eleonora returned to Mantua for the second celebration,

258

258

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto but they left as soon as they could to join Margherita and Alfonso in Ferrara for further festivities. Livia d’Arco married Count Alfonso Bevilacqua at some point in the late spring, and Anna Guarini was married to Count Ercole Trotti on the last Sunday in August.32 The following year, another singer, musician, and poet came to Ferrara to wed: the Florentine Leonora Bernardi, who was married to Vincenzo Bellati during Carnival 1585.33 Andrea Nigrisoli dedicated his Canzonette a quattro voci (Ferrara:  Baldini, 1585)  to the groom, but the marriage was to last less than a year, for Bellati was murdered on Christmas Day, 1585.34 Bernardi apparently returned to Florence, for in 1588 she was noted as a singer in the Medici concerto, modeled off the Ferrarese ensemble.35 Once all three of Duchess Margherita’s ladies were married, the ensemble may have had difficulty with continuity, for they all became pregnant: Livia d’Arco had the first of her ten children in 1585; Laura gave birth to a daughter, Margherita, in 1585; and although their birth dates are not known, Anna Guarini had two sons by Ercole Strozzi. These interruptions were hinted at by Alfonso Fontanelli, who wrote in 1586 that the ensemble’s quality was suffering because ladies were “accumulating bellies and other such accessories.”36 Giaches de Wert’s Ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci was published in the late summer of 1586.37 Although he was maestro di cappella to Duke Guglielmo at Mantua, and at the time of the book’s publication specifically engaged in the supervision of the duke’s own compositions, De Wert revealed in its dedication that the madrigals contained in the Ottavo libro were “written for the most part in Ferrara.”38 He would have been at Ferrara in the retinue of Prince  Vincenzo, Margherita’s brother, who frequently expressed his animosity for his father by absenting himself from Mantua and prevailing on his sister and brother-in-law for their hospitality. The longest work of De Wert’s Ottavo libro, the setting of Tasso’s “Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara” (Gerusalemme liberata, XVI/43–47) was most likely composed during Vincenzo’s Ferrarese honeymoon in 1584. Vincenzo wrote to De Wert in November 1584 requesting a copy of the madrigal, suggesting that these works were tacitly considered Alfonso’s rather than Vincenzo’s or

32 33

34 35 36 37 38

Cittadella, I Guarini, 83. Tarquinia Molza’s eighteenth-century biographer, Domenico Vandelli, stated that Molza left Ferrara because of rivalry with Bernardi, although this is unlikely to be true, given that Molza left in 1589, at least a year after Bernardi; Vandelli, “Vita di Tarquinia Molza,” 15. Massa, Memorie di Ferrara, 1582–1585, 54. NewcombMF, 1:92. Ibid., 1:106. DurMarCron, 172. See Sherr, “The Publications of Guglielmo Gonzaga,” 124. For the complete dedication and a translation, see the appendix to Stras, “Non è sì denso velo,” 160–61.

259

259

Giaches De Wert’s Ottavo libro de madrigali Guglielmo’s, and were not automatically available to the Mantuan prince. Nonetheless, Vincenzo clearly regarded De Wert as his personal employee, addressing him as “musico mio,” displaying an attitude that could well have been intended to enrage Guglielmo: My dearest musico, you would do me the greatest favor if you could send me immediately a copy of the music you composed for the stanzas of Tasso that begin “Qual musico gentil ch’al canto snodi,” and I would like whatever other new madrigals of yours that you have, so that you send me lots of music.39

De Wert may have welcomed the rivalry, and indeed may have preferred Vincenzo’s  – and Alfonso’s  – patronage. He refers to Vincenzo as “l’Idolo mio” in his response (directly quoting from the requested madrigal’s text), professing that he would do anything in the world to serve Vincenzo. De Wert also had personal reasons for presenting himself at the Ferrarese court with increasing regularity in the middle part of the decade. Not only had he formed a romantic attachment with the singer Tarquinia Molza, but also his wife Lucrezia, imprisoned by the Gonzagas of Novellara in 1580 for treason, died in 1584, and a long legal struggle ensued between De  Wert and Count Alfonso of Novellara over the confiscation of her property and lands.40 Alfonso d’Este had jurisdiction over Novellara, and so De Wert spent many months appealing to him for his support. In the first flush of negotiations, De Wert was so often absent from Mantua that Guglielmo eventually wrote an exasperated letter to Alfonso asking if he was intending to offer De  Wert alternative employment, and demanding that he be sent back to Mantua for Christmas. Alfonso duly complied, but it also seems clear that he was happy to regard De Wert’s presence at the court as a kind of informal service, making the best of the opportunities that arose from his protracted difficulties. Guglielmo was on his own in his attempts to rein in his prodigal musico; far from deferring to their father’s authority, the younger generation of Gonzagas positively encouraged De Wert into the Este musical establishment. In July 1585, for instance, Vincenzo’s wife Eleonora wrote to Alfonso asking him to continue his legal support for De Wert, but also reminding him that the sooner the case was concluded, the sooner De Wert could get back to serving him, “free from worry.”41 Eleonora also shared her husband’s

39

40 41

Fenlon, Music and Patronage, 1:197. An alternate transcription of the greeting – magnifico – is given in Durante and Martellotti, “Tasso, Luzzaschi e il Principe,” 32. Antonio Gardano also addresses De Wert as magnifico; see Sherr, “The Publications of Guglielmo Gonzaga,” 123. Fenlon, De Wert: Letters, 65–68. Document 7.1: I-MOas, CPE Mantua, b. 1200, Eleonora Medici Gonzaga to Alfonso d’Este, 20 July 1585.

260

260

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto fondness for De Wert, admitting to Duke Alfonso that she loved him dearly (amandolo molto).42 The dedication of the Ottavo libro crystallizes one of the most important developments in the musical behavior of the Ferrarese court during the 1580s by posing the question: “And in what part of the world could these [madrigals] be better sung than in Your  Highness’s court, where I  do not know how to resolve which is the greater – the mastery of [those] who sing or the judgment of [those] who listen?” Here De Wert highlights the virtuosity of both performers and patrons, whose judgment as critics and connoisseurs was seen to be equal to the musicians’ mastery. The dedication also refers to the concerto, and reveals they worked closely with De Wert in the composition of the book. Several madrigals are specifically scored for three equal high voices, supported by two lower voices that are sparser in texture and only infrequently engaged in motivic generation; and although most of the remainder are scored with only two equal high voices, often the Alto forms a soloistic trio with the sopranos. Two major strands of creative intent and activity are woven together in De Wert’s book, both of which honor and engage his sophisticated patrons. The first, which includes all the three-soprano as well as some two-soprano madrigals, is heavily invested in portraying the Duchess Margherita. They name her obliquely (“Donna real” in “Questi odorati fiori”) and openly (“Margherita” in “Vener ch’un giorno avea”), and they invoke her together with images of Venus, Cupid, amoretti, flowers, hearts, eyes, and even breasts. The central work in the book, “Non è sì denso velo,” refers to the veil that was a feature of the legally prescribed dress for married Ferrarese women, yet claims no veil could conceal the Lady’s beauty. Through a web of musical and linguistic double entendre, both the poetry and De  Wert’s music seem designed to encourage Margherita and Alfonso into a state ripe for procreation.43 Placed on either side of “Non è si denso velo” are the six settings of ottave from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, including the five-part setting of “Qual musico gentil.” There are three descriptive stanze: “Vezzosi augelli in fra le verde fronde” (XVI/12), “Usciva omai dal molle e fresco grembo” (XIV/ 1), and the first stanza of “Qual musico gentil” (XVI/43). The rest, however, are direct speech, unsurprisingly spoken by female characters. Erminia’s two speeches – “Sovente allor che su gl’estivi ardori” (VII/19–20) and “Misera! non credea ch’a gl’occhi miei” (XIX/106–107) – document first her madness, 42

43

Document 7.2: I-MOas, CPE Mantua, b. 1200: Eleonora Medici Gonzaga to Alfonso d’Este, 4 May 1585. Stras, “Non è sì denso velo,” 149–51.

261

261

Giaches De Wert’s Ottavo libro de madrigali then the moment when she believes Tancredi is dying and revives him with a kiss. Armida’s speech occurs when Rinaldo is released from her enchantment and is able to flee her island, leaving her – an abbandonata – weeping at the water’s edge. It comprises four stanze of “Qual musico gentil” (XVI/44– 47) and the madrigal that follows it, “Forsennata gridava: ‘O tu che porte’ ” (XVI/40) – which although it sets a stanza that precedes “Qual musico gentil” in the epic, nonetheless functions as a coda to the longer setting. The descriptive stanze are set with evocative, full-textured polyphony, but the speeches are more fragmented. De Wert grounds these works in the principles of courtly song, foregrounding the flexible declamation of the text, making frequent use of homophony, with irregular meter and phrase lengths. The bass parts are almost uniformly responsible for the harmonic roots, even when engaged in imitation – more straightforward than it seems, given that many phrases are at least partially declaimed on single notes. Although “Qual musico gentil” and “Forsennata gridava” share these characteristics, they are distinguished from the rest of the book by their scoring: only one high voice, with no other paired voices  – c1c2c3c4F4. In a book that otherwise suggests duets and trios of soprano voices, the Armida settings seem incongruous. However, their origins in a performance context that set such great store by solo song open up the possibility that their published form represents a polyphonic working-out of a solo scena, similar to Agostini’s setting of Bradamante’s lament. Indeed, “Qual musico gentil” may not have been in its fully polyphonic form at the time Vincenzo requested it from De Wert: he uses the vague term “musica” to refer to the work, yet goes on to ask for more “madrigali” in addition to the stanzas. In her way, Armida is a synthesis of Bradamante (the princess paradigm from the time of Renée’s marriage to Ercole II) and the many rehabilitated heroines of Giraldi’s plays (the princess paradigms created for Renée’s daughters). At the beginning of the poem, she is the sorceress figure, a reincarnation of Ariosto’s Alcina, ensnaring the hero and preventing him from fulfilling his destiny. But eventually, her love for Rinaldo brings about her conversion to Christianity, so that they may fulfill their destinies together. Yet Armida and Bradamante are linked by more than simply being characters created by poets working for the Este. They are both warriors and women, leaders of men who nonetheless lament their separation from their lovers and cannot find fulfillment without them. Even more importantly, they are both necessary to their respective texts’ dynastic programs as progenitors of the Este, through the marriages that occur at the culmination of the poems – Bradamante to Ruggiero, Armida to Rinaldo. Beginning with Anna d’Este’s marriage to the Duke of Aumale in 1548, Este marriages had been occasions for new performative iterations of

262

262

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Bradamante, the legendary mother of the Este dynasty. The trope manifested itself in new settings of the texts (Menon, Berchem, Agostini, perhaps also Merulo) or theatrical representations, oblique or direct (Giraldi’s princesses; the Reggio rapprezentatione), but eventually it may have become dated. While the Ottavo libro’s publication roughly coincides with an Este wedding  – that of Cesare d’Este and Virginia de’  Medici during Carnival 1586 – it seems more likely that De Wert’s setting was intended to commemorate Vincenzo Gonzaga’s marriage to Eleonora de’ Medici in spring 1584, with Armida representing the nuptial abbandonata for a new generation, and a different branch of the family  – for the Gonzagas themselves were descendants of Ercole I via his daughter Isabella. De Wert’s Ottavo libro was not the last publication to be associated with the concerto, but in many ways it is their apotheosis, the best contemporary record of their exclusive music-making that remains. While Agostini’s books represent the full range of genres exploited at Ferrara, De Wert’s concentrates solely on the concerto itself. However, the very fact of its contemporary publication makes its testimony to practice unreliable. De Wert was obliged by both the pragmatics of publication and his professional reputation to publish these works as five-voice polyphony – anything different would have been impractical for the printer, unmarketable for the publisher, and unimpressive as a demonstration of De Wert’s compositional skill, limiting their value for both composer and patron. Moreover, Duke Alfonso was able to claim bragging rights for his unique ensemble without having to give away the secret of their success. There can be little doubt that the great majority of the book’s works could and would have been performed in a style similar to Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali, but for the time being, that performance practice would remain out of the public domain.

Traces of the Concerto’s Performance Practice in the 1580s Repertoire Aura soave di segreti accenti che penetrando per l’orecchie al core, svegliasti là dove dormiva Amore; per te respiro e vivo da che nel petto mio spirasti tu d’Amor vital desio. Vissi di vita privo mentre amorosa cura in me fu spenta: hor vien, che l’alma senta

263

263

Traces of the Concerto’s Performance Practice virtù di quel tuo spirito gentile felice vita oltre l’usato stile. Sweet breeze of secret sounds that, penetrating through the ears to the heart, awoke Love, where he was sleeping; because of you I breathe and live, since you breathed into my breast Love’s living desire. I lived deprived of life while loving care had died out in me: Now come, so that the soul might feel – by virtue of this your gentle spirit – a happy life, not as it has become accustomed.

The opening solo madrigal in Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali begins with an apposite text, which acknowledges the secrecy with which the music and the performance practice of the Ferrarese concerto had been guarded.44 The first line uses the word accenti in both its meanings, of “musical sounds” and, more specifically, “musical ornaments.” The poem’s final sentence seems carefully crafted also to convey a double meaning, not just that the musician’s voice has altered the listener’s life for good, but also, playing on sentire meaning both “to feel” and “to hear,” that the sounds it conveys are out of the ordinary (another translation might read, “now come, so that the soul might hear … something beyond the normal style”). The poem is echoed in Luzzaschi’s dedication to his new employer, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, stating that in publishing the book, he wished to revive (ravvivere) the music of the ladies, over which he had presided (cura), and which had died out (spenta) with the demise of the Este regime in 1597.45 It is hard, then, not to read this text as a personal evocation by Luzzaschi, calling back into life the glories of the concerto’s past and bestowing them on a public that had never before experienced such wondrous sounds. Luzzaschi ultimately failed in his goal, for the publication remained the only document that purported to record any aspect of its distinctive performance practice in musical notation. As such, it has been the first – and frequently the only – port of call for anyone seeking either to understand or to recreate the concerto’s sound. But while it captures the most prominent features and makes them instantly available for the reader, even one far from a keyboard and lacking in vocal ability, its limitations as a “how-to” manual are clear. Luzzaschi’s chosen format – three ornamented vocal lines with a four-voice polyphonic keyboard intabulation – suggests a single mode of performance that is well documented in all contemporaneous commentary, but is by no means the whole story. We know the ladies also sang with 44

45

The text could be by Guarini; its opening sentence paraphrases Guarini’s ballata “Aura dolce odorata,” set in F.1358 by Francesco Manara; see Durante and Martellotti, “Il cavalier Guarini,” 100. Appendix 7.3: Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), dedication. Transcribed in DurMarCron, 212–13.

264

264

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto other forms of accompaniment (single or multiple instruments, foundation or obbligato), and without accompaniment. Moreover, the nature of that accompaniment – for instance, whether or not it reproduced note for note a multi-voiced “original,” or whether it was more of a harmonic foundation – might be determined by the instruments used. They were able to sing a voci mutate, and to perform diminutions spontaneously. These practices are not present in Luzzaschi’s print, so although it offers invaluable information, it is a blueprint for only one kind of performance – one that, by all accounts, required much preparation and forethought. Even though the concerto’s performance practice was not documented during its active years, it is possible to find traces of that practice even in the published repertoire. The sound of octave transposition, indicators for instrumental accompaniment, and opportunities for diminution are embedded in the polyphony produced at court. The recognition of these elements leads to a clearer realization of how the ensemble made music, and helps to reconcile the documentary reports with the musical record.

Transposition The overall vocal range represented in the 1601 Madrigali is g–c’’’, two octaves plus a fourth. While technically it covers venti voci  – almost the whole of the gamut  – it does so an octave higher. When the ladies approached other repertoire some form of transposition, of entire pieces or selectively of individual voices, might be necessary. The practice of singing a voci mutate was well engrained in Ferrarese musical life, yet it bears the obvious complication of harmonic inversion. In his guide to singing a voci mutate, the theorist Nicola Vicentino warns particularly against the creation of second inversion chords (quarta scoperta).46 For the Ferrarese ladies, the more or less continual presence of instrumental accompaniment ensured that the bass part could be played untransposed. Yet even without this insurance, inverted harmony – or at least the impression of inverted harmony – does not seem to have worried the Ferrarese ear. Indeed, vertical reorganisation of parts is a marker of Luzzaschi’s contrapuntal style.  Sounding bass lines, with their characteristic disjunct movement in fourths and fifths, frequently appear in the highest voices in works composed for the concerto, as in the opening phrases of “Gratie ch’al poch’il ciel largo destina” from De Wert’s Settimo libro, in which the bass line sung by the Quinto in m. 2 is taken up by the Canto half a measure later (Example 7.5). The same phenomenon occurs in the three-soprano pieces of De Wert’s Ottavo libro. In “Vener ch’un giorno avea,” where the Tenore establishes the 46

VicentinoAM, 92v.

265

265

Transposition Example 7.5 “Gratie ch’al poch’il ciel largo destina,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 1–4.

bass line in measures 42–43, and then the Alto repeats it at the top of the texture (Example  7.6). But here it takes on a different vertical harmonic function, providing the thirds instead of the roots of the vertical sonorities. In theory, the chances of selective transposition creating any sort of forbidden parallelism should be remote:  Zarlino included fourths with fifths

266

266

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.6 “Vener ch’un giorno avea,” Giaches de Wert, L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 42–47.

and octaves as prohibited parallel intervals  – although he admitted they happen, saying, “it does not matter to me that many use this thing, because they are incapable and unwilling to use reason” (questa cosa è stata usata da molti, che poco mi curo, poi che non sono, ne vogliono esser capaci di ragione).47 However, parallel fourths do occur in sixteenth-century polyphony, and 47

Zarlino, Le istitutioni, 247.

267

267

Bass Lines and Accompaniment Style Example 7.7 “Usciva omai dal molle e fresco grembo,” Giaches de Wert, L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 1–4.

selective transposition might create parallel fifths. Like the sound of inverted bass lines, the sound of parallel fifths – only apparent in performance – can be found throughout De Wert’s Ottavo libro, as at the beginning of “Usciva omai dal molle e fresco grembo,” created by the intertwining of three equal soprano voices (Example 7.7).48

Bass Lines and Accompaniment Style In 1584 Alessandro Striggio wrote to Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici from Ferrara, where he and his family were guests of Duke Alfonso. In one of his many detailed letters, he enclosed a “four-voice madrigal for three sopranos,” that is, three voices with a bass line.49 He regretted he could not send the intabulation, but felt it was not necessary as Caccini could accompany from the bass alone. Fourteen years later, evidence from Vincenzo Gonzaga’s correspondence shows that Luzzaschi used skeleton scores for rehearsal and performance with the concerto.50 These documents highlight the issue of exactly how instruments were used to support the singers, and bring into question the status of the intabulated keyboard accompaniments in the 1601 Madrigali. Agostino Agazzari, writing in the early seventeenth century, 48 49 50

This phenomenon is explored in greater depth in Stras, “Non è sì denso velo,” 154–56. NewcombMF, 1:55. Parisi, “Ducal Patronage,” 184.

268

268

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto suggested that musicians who regularly accompanied singers needed the expedience of short scores, not just because of the time, effort, and expense required for intabulation, but also because intabulations are less convenient to sightread.51 Adriano Banchieri thought short score notation more useful for accompanying than a simple bass line, figured or unfigured.52 In passing, Banchieri praised the short scores of Tiburzio Massaino, who provided a bass part printed with “a part that is always singing” – not always the Cantus – in two 1607 publications, Musica per cantare con l’organo ad una, due e tre voci and the Sacrarum cantionem septem vocibus (both Venice: Raverii, 1607). In Massaino’s view, intabulation could help less skilled instrumentalists, and it could also make it simpler to provide missing vocal parts in convent performance, but it made a publication impractically bulky.53 The intabulations of the 1601 Madrigali show one way, but only one, in which a graceful, if basic, keyboard part could be fashioned from a bass line. If the intabulations were a concession to the amateur market fostered by their Roman publisher, Simone Verovio, we can see why Luzzaschi might have published his madrigals with them, rather than short scores.54 Moreover, they are wellcomposed keyboard pieces that stand alone without the vocal parts, which Giulia Nuti recognizes “have correct voice-leading and are comfortable to play.”55 Ownership of the book did not necessarily suggest the ability of the owner to perform the madrigals vocally, but the intabulation allowed even modest musicians to partake of the music while imagining the singers in their groppi, passaggi, and trilli.56 Striggio’s unnamed four-voice madrigal is all the more curious since four-voice polyphony is virtually nonexistent in the published Ferrarese repertoire after the 1550s, yet the texture he describes (three voices plus bass line) was at the core of the concerto’s practice. It is in the nature of published polyphonic vocal parts not to exceed the range of the stave; therefore, bass lines that are conceived with a range greater than around a tenth would have been divided between bass and tenor voices when articulated in a polyphonic format.57 Works written for the 1580s Ferrarese concerto often suggest a separation between two or three voices in an upper vocal texture, with the remaining lower voices less concerned with motivic 51 52 53

54 55 56 57

Agazzari, Del sonare (Siena: Falcini, 1607), 10–12. Cited in Nuti, Performance, 22. Banchieri, Conclusioni del suono dell’Organo (Bologna: Heirs of Gio. Rossi, 1609), 24–25. “I had thought of printing with this the intabulation for the greater ease of simple players, and nuns, but I changed my mind so as not to increase the volume too much, however I have placed, above the bass, a part that is always singing”; quoted and translated in Nuti, Performance, 52. NewcombMF, 1:64. Nuti, Performance, 12. Carter, “Printing the ‘New Music.’ ” See Wistreich, Warrior, Courtier, Singer, 176–77.

269

269

Bass Lines and Accompaniment Style Example 7.8 “Si come ai freschi matutini rai,” Giaches de Wert, L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 27–39.

270

270

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto material or the full enunciation of the text than with supplying the harmonic foundation. In the three-soprano works of De Wert’s Ottavo libro, for much of the time the lower two voices alternate in their support for the three upper voices, as in “Si come ai freschi matutini rai” (Example 7.8). Basso seguente parts exist from the latter decades of the sixteenth century, both in manuscript and in print; we may surmise that in the concerto’s repertoire seguente parts were created from existing polyphony, but when new works were published, a single line may have been expanded out into two vocal parts. Imogen Horsley sees the bass lines in the 1601 Madrigali as a step toward basso continuo, noting they engage in occasional imitation with the vocal lines, even while supplying the harmonic foundation.58 This characteristic crops up in the concerto’s repertoire repeatedly; as in the setting of “Se voi sete il cor mio” from Agostini’s Il nuovo Echo. The five-voice madrigal is primarily homophonic, indicating that it could easily be adapted to (or from) solo performance. The opening compares readily with Luzzaschi’s “Aura soave,” moving between imitation and homophony (note that in Agostini’s original the bass is distributed between the Tenore and Basso; the note values have also been halved to ease comparison) (Examples 7.9 and 7.10). In De Wert’s and Agostini’s madrigals, the bass line is divided between the lower voices, but if reduced to a single stave, it forms a coherent and continuous line; if the bass line in Luzzaschi’s madrigal were sung, it would have to be split, as it has a range of two octaves. We might wonder at the character and range of the bass line Striggio provided to Caccini with his four-voice madrigal. Caccini later made the distinction between accompanied singing of the top line of a polyphonic work, and the singing of a work expressly devised for a single voice and accompaniment, saying that the former cannot “move the mind” but only please the sense of hearing.59 In the 1580s concerto repertoire, it would be difficult to distinguish between the two.

Ensemble Ornamentation Luigi Zenobi’s letter to Athanasius Kircher, written just after the turn of the seventeenth century, remains essential to the understanding of Ferrarese ornamentation in the late sixteenth century.60 Zenobi was a cornett player at 58 59 60

Horsley, “Full and Short Scores,” 474–75, 498. Appendix 7.4: Giulio Caccini, Le nuove musiche (Florence: Marescotti, 1602), [A2v]. Blackburn and Lowinsky, “Zenobi.”

271

271

Ensemble Ornamentation Example 7.9 “Se voi sete il cor mio,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–5 (note values halved), voice and bass line reduction.

Example 7.10 “Aura soave di segreti accenti,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 1–5, voice and bass line reduction.

the Ferrarese court, but he also worked as a talent scout for the duke’s cappella. Zenobi lists ornamentation, vocal technique, musicianship, attitude, discernment, expressiveness, creativity, and stylistic awareness as essential measures by which a singer might be judged: not just as a soloist, but also in ensemble. The evidence from Zenobi combines with Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali to underline the extravagant nature of the concerto’s ornamentation. The skill was also evident in the Ferrarese convent choirs. Bottrigari praised the ensemble at San  Vito in the 1580s (see Chapter  6); ten years later, Giovanni Artusi also admired the sisters’ ability, particularly in vocal ornamentation: “they sing with a beautiful manner, accompanied by many

272

272

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto beautiful passages so pretty that the hearer is full of admiration” (see Chapter 8).61 The principles of ensemble embellishment, laid out by Nicola Vicentino in the 1550s, are well observed in the 1601 Madrigali: the harmony – provided by the keyboard accompaniment  – must not be disrupted, and simultaneous diminution must be coordinated.62 The art of ensemble performance, and particularly ensemble ornamentation, relies on the performers knowing when to take the lead and when to give way; as Artusi put it, “performing with their ears more than with the voice or the instruments.”63 Moreover, Zenobi makes it clear that the singer must project his or her own personality through technical command and display, but should always be aware of the function of the other parts.64 The 1601 Madrigali model this, for while much of the written-out ornamentation is identical or imitated between the voices, at cadences each voice is allowed to exhibit differently. In the closing bars of the final work, “Occhi del pianto mio,” the three sopranos first use a single ornament as a brief point of imitation; here, as in all of the three-voice madrigals, although they are written in matching clefs, only two voices ever take a point of imitation in the same tessitura, the other invariably making its entry elsewhere – usually a fourth or fifth away. Then the final flourish incorporates three different ornaments each displaying a different vocal skill:  an ultrarapid ascending and descending scale; a slightly less rapid scale, but one that ascends to a high c’’’; and finally, a figure that ends with a gruppo on g♯’’, at a greater altitude than either of the previous two (Example 7.11). Zenobi indicates that repetitions of the same phrase should be ornamented differently, and using ornamentation as a variation technique reaches its logical limits in the Ferrarese echo dialog. Giustiniani mentions echoes in his account of the concerto’s singing; Zenobi also refers to an echo technique, implying the need to be able to extemporize echo passages. Ornamented cadences feature frequently in Agostini’s echoes, offering the singers an opportunity to compete in pre-arranged ornamentation, or to extemporize even further. A comparison of Palestrina’s and Agostini’s settings of “Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?” demonstrates the Ferrarese premium on the genre: although Palestrina’s allows for a modest gruppo, Agostini’s invites a more expansive approach, particularly from the echo singer (Examples 7.12 and 7.13).65 The central work of Agostini’s Il  nuovo Echo, “Odi Ninfa de gl’antri hor come io godo,” can incorporate both extemporized and planned 61 62 63 64 65

Appendix 8.36: Artusi, L’Artusi (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1600), 3r. See Chapter 1 and Appendix 1.33. Appendix 8.36: Artusi, L’Artusi, 2v. Blackburn and Lowinsky, “Zenobi,” 99–102. Palestrina’s setting appears in De floridi virtuosi d’Italia. Il terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Vincenzi and Amadino, 1586; RISM 15899).

273

273

Ensemble Ornamentation Example 7.11 “Occhi del pianto mio,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Madrigali (1601), mm. 39–45.

274

274

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.12 “Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?”, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, RISM 15869, mm. 6–10.

ornamentation over an instrumental accompaniment (the rubric specifies, “Concerto”). Agostini provides very limited ornamentation in the two soprano parts, but it is possible to construct an ornamented version that realizes both the possibilities of echo and the playfulness of competition. The rhythmic cast of the opening phrase – which changes suddenly to triple meter at “hor com’io godo” – suggests that the opening salve, at least, would have been sung freely to a basso seguente. It could even make space for a dramatic pause before the first echo, as is implied in the rhythm grouping in the bass. The increased length of the second echo phrase suggests a more expansive ornament to fill the full semibreve (b. 6, Example 7.14a and b).66 There are points in each of Agostini’s echoes that demand forward planning of the ornamentation, when the echo voice begins a long, ornamented cadence before the primary voice has completed its own, or the primary voice enters before the echo has finished. A variety of solutions could obtain: delaying the echo ornament, creating a self-harmonizing ornament, or adjusting the echo’s ornamentation speed and style to allow for the re-entry of the primary voice (Example 7.15). Ornaments could be developed as part of rehearsal or delivered as an on-the-spot extemporization, or something in between  – identifying in rehearsal who is going to ornament where, but not precisely the notes they will sing. Experienced singers knew – as Zenobi says – or were quickly able

66

Ornaments devised by Deborah Roberts; figures are indicative of vertical harmony.

275

275

Ensemble Ornamentation Example 7.13 “Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?”, Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 5–11.

to determine where and how to ornament; those who worked together daily would have been able to develop schemes for many different cadential patterns. Nevertheless, the Ferrarese skill of ensemble embellishment overlapped with that of composition:  as Zenobi required, the concerto’s ornamentation of the parts should be “pleasing to sing … without padding [and] reach the cadences in novel and attractive ways, not by chance, or by rote, as many do, but guided by an art … and with the inspiration of a master.”67 67

Blackburn and Lowinsky, “Zenobi,” 104.

276

276

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.14a “Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri hor come io godo,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–8.

Creating the Dramatic Scena A great deal of both sacred and secular polyphony can readily be adapted to create solos, duets, and trios for high voices by transposing or adapting the lower parts to form an accompaniment and embellishing the existing upper lines with ornamental figures. However, the textural variation – where passages are delivered in reduced voices – present in the shorter polyphonic works is lost through adaptation. Yet Newcomb noted of Luzzaschi’s intabulations: “Although they present a simple intabulation of the (unornamented) vocal parts when all

277

277

Creating the Dramatic Scena Example 7.14b “Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri hor come io godo,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 1–8, ornamented with basso seguente.

three parts are active, they … [maintain] a three– to four-voiced texture, even when only one of the three vocal parts are active.”68 As such, they may reflect an arrangement practice that alternated solo passages and multi-voice textures created from the same basic polyphonic frame, perhaps mimicking the dialog paradigm evident from Willaert’s Musica nova onward. Commentators emphasize the dramatic verisimilitude of the concerto’s singing style, which would have been crucial to dialog performance. In Torquato Tasso’s poetic cycle, the Collana di sei madrigali (necklace of six madrigals), “Mentre in concento alterno” describes a performance by Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, Laura Peverara, and Anna Guarini that probably took 68

NewcombMF, 66.

278

278

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.15 “Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri hor come io godo,” Lodovico Agostini, Il nuovo Echo (1583), mm. 11–23, ornamented with basso seguente.

279

279

Creating the Dramatic Scena place during 1580 or 1581. The trio sang a musical version of a dispute between Apollo and Cupid, analogous to that recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Tasso’s text makes it clear that the performance was a dialog, with alternating phrases from the two characters, the exceptional feature of the scena being that both Laura and Anna together sang the single “role” of Cupid.69 While no musical adaptation of the Ovidian story survives, there is a dialog that would serve this unusual scoring: Cipriano de Rore’s “Amor, se così dolce è il mio dolore,” an eight-voice madrigal published in his Quarto libro … a cinque voci of 1557, therefore probably composed during De Rore’s tenure at Ferrara.70 “Amor se così dolce è il mio dolore ond’ avien ch’io ne pianga e mi lamenti? E quando son i miei desir contenti, perchè nasce nel cor dubio e timore?” “Avien che spesso la speranza more in te d’impetrar pace a tuoi tormenti: e se talor qualche dolcezza senti, pensi e riguardi nel fuggir de l’hore.” “Dunque debb’io sperar?” “Sperate, amanti, che se ben tardo pur gradisco al fine le vostre lunghe noie e i vostri pianti.” “Dunqu’ haver dev’ogni mia doglia fine?” “Havrà ma sempr’ai risi e ai dolci canti le hore del lagrimar sono vicine.” “Love, if my sorrow is so sweet, how is it that I should weep and complain of it? And when my desires are contented why is doubt and fear born in my heart?” “It happens that often hope dies in you to beg peace from your torments: and if at times you feel some sweetness, think and regard of how the hours fly.” “Should I therefore hope?” “Do hope, lovers, that however late, in the end I will appreciate your long suffering and your tears.” “Then should my trouble ever have an end?” “It will have, but always close to laughter and sweet songs, are hours of tears.”

The two speakers in the dialog are represented by two four-voice “choirs,” the lower choir (c3c4c4F4) speaking a male lover’s words, the higher (c1c1c3c4) – significantly with paired upper voices – taking the words of Cupid. While the structure of the musical work conforms to a standard dialog format, with the two interlocutors in duet in the final phrase, it is not entirely typical, for the duet occurs in the context of a repeat: the first iteration is sung by the upper choir alone, with the lower choir joining only on the second iteration. Moreover, in this second iteration the two soprano voices of the upper choir swap lines, showing them to be a duet-within-a-duet (Example 7.16). 69 70

Wistreich, Warrior, Courtier, Singer, 268–72; DurMarPep, 193–95. De Rore, Opera omnia, 4:120–32.

280

280

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.16 “Amor se così dolce e il mio dolore,” Cipriano De Rore, Il quarto libro d’i madregali a cinque voci (1557), mm. 73–104.

281

281

Creating the Dramatic Scena Example 7.16 (continued)

The upper choir may easily be reduced to an accompanied duo, the lower choir to an accompanied solo. Brancaccio had sufficient vocal range that he might have chosen to sing one of the tenor parts of the lower choir, but it seems more likely that he would have sung an ornamented version of the second choir bass. In fact, if the lower bass was the part sung, the Ferrarese fascination with echoes would also have been piqued, for the bass is the only

282

282

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto voice in the lower choir to imitate the two upper choir sopranos exactly in the peroration (Example 7.16, m. 52). De Rore’s madrigal, while a serendipitous match to the clues in Tasso’s poem, is more or less representative of any polyphonic, polychoral madrigal that could be performed without adaptation as dialog for solo voices accompanied by instruments. But another work, Giaches De Wert’s sevenvoice, polychoral setting of Giambattista Guarini’s dialog “Tirsi morir volea,” long associated with music at Ferrara in the musicological literature, makes more imaginative demands on the performer. Stylistically it conforms to the ideals of Roman-Neapolitan courtly song, with irregular phrase lengths, flexible rhythms and narrow-range declamation, simple melodic cells, and the opportunity for virtuosic ornamentation, yet it also employs Ferrarese compositional interventions: harmonically driven bass lines that nonetheless occasionally engage motivically, chromatic inflections, and the melodic vocalizations of affect. For many years scholars have pointed to the high-voice trio De Wert uses to set the words of Tirsi’s mistress (c1c2c3), equating those voices with the three ladies of the concerto – but tacitly, then, assuming that the four low voices (c2c3c4F4) setting the narrator’s (and Tirsi’s) words would have been sung by men. While this is always possible, the direct speech of the lovers – particularly as they reach the climax of their love-making  – seems tailormade for solo performance (Example 7.17).71 There are only a few steps needed to convert this work into a short dramatic scena, in which the narrator and the nymph are sung by two accompanied female voices, with both choirs reduced into one or two accompaniment groups. In the setting, the dialog between the two voices cuts off abruptly with a general pause in all parts, signaling the end of the dramatic scene and the beginning of the final, seven-voice chorus, in which all parts could be both played and sung (Example 7.18). At its simplest, a marked change in texture coinciding with the final lines of a text is characteristic of many polyphonic settings; in the secular repertoire, it correlates with the literary convention of presenting a resolution to the text’s central conceit in its concluding section. Works composed for the Ferrarese concerto occasionally indicate a change in performing forces at the end of the work. All of Agostini’s echoes, for instance, finish with a section in which the echo voice is incorporated into the full polyphonic fabric; polychoral dialogs, too, often conclude with the two interlocutors joining to

71

See also Stras, “Encoding the Musical Erotic,” 7–8; 14.

283

283

Creating the Dramatic Scena Example 7.17 “Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches De Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 35–38.

pronounce the final statement that summarizes or solves their disputation. Where the interlocutors were sung by solo voices with accompaniment, the final tutti may have been augmented by a full complement of voices on as many parts as possible. We know that male singers from the cappella from time to time joined in the concerto’s performances, and it is also possible that their regular accompanists, Luzzaschi and Fiorini, could have joined in vocally for a final chorus. A semi-theatrical performance of De Wert’s dialog raises more questions about accompaniment procedures. Agostino Agazzari advises “to avoid interfering with the singer, [the foundation instruments] must not restrike the strings too often when he executes a passage or expresses a passion.”72

72

Agazzari, Del sonare, 69. See the translation and discussion in Ashworth and O’Dette, “ProtoContinuo,” 226; 232–35.

284

284

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.18 “Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 35–41, reduced with simplified basso continuo.

285

285

Creating the Dramatic Scena Example 7.19a “Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 1–4.

Example 7.19b “Tirsi morir volea,” Giaches de Wert, Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1581), mm. 1–4, reduced with simplified basso continuo.

This advice is thrown into clearer relief when applied to the “declamatory” representation of De Wert’s Ferrarese madrigals, and this kind of adaptation emerges as a different style altogether, radically more expressive and dramatic than the polyphony from which it springs. What appears to be a homophonic declamation by the “narrator” choir takes on a more monodic, even stile recitativo profile when the bass rhythms are simplified (Example 7.19a and b). De Wert collaborated closely with the concerto, whose working practices were based on skeleton scores; there would have been no need for polyphonic partbooks, unless and until they were required for a final chorus. But in order to publish the madrigal, De Wert would necessarily have had to expand his composition into a polyphonic format, articulating the harmonies in separate texted voices and introducing fugato textures that go beyond the framework of canto e basso. The resulting seven-voice work effectively transmits the vertical harmonies and conforms to publishing conventions, but it obscures to the literal reader its inherent dramatic, soloistic qualities.

286

286

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto “Tirsi morir volea” combines short sections of Roman-Neapolitan recitation with equally short sections of more melodic Ferrarese song. De Wert returned to this style in the single madrigal of his Ottavo libro that suggests solo performance: the five-stanza setting from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, “Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara.” This time, however, the chorus comes at the beginning. The first stanza is descriptive narration, setting the scene for Armida’s lament; accordingly, it is set in fully imitative polyphony. Armida’s speech begins in the second stanza, after the introductory words (taken by the Alto), “Poi comincio:”. At this point the texture changes to sparse, syllabic quasi-homophony. The harmonic bass line is divided between the Basso and Tenore voices, but it may be easily collapsed into a basso seguente, and once so notated, passages where the rhythm might be simplified further become more obvious (Example 7.20). Here again we see the stile recitativo-like combination of recitation and song-like sections, and a bass line that moves between harmonic and motivic functions (although the short “interlude” at m.  70 could easily be cut in performance, and if it were, the Canto would finish on the tactus; it may be a product of the polyphonic composing out of the solo madrigal). The harmonic invention so admired by the Ferrarese is also present, as the tonal focus shifts back and forward between C and A. The terza parte moves even further away, ending on a perfect cadence on E, setting the words, “in loco ignoto e strano” (Example 7.21). Singing “Qual musico gentil” in this reduced fashion transforms it into a grand, theatrical lament, worthy of the great actresses of the 1560s, Vincenza Armani and Flaminia Romana. It clarifies its role as a stylistic bridge between the Bradamante laments of the mid-century and the monodic laments of the next, symbolic of the transfer of cultural and musical primacy from the Este to the Gonzaga, who – through Isabella d’Este – were its closest heirs. As Newcomb has pointed out, 1586 marked the beginning of a changed atmosphere in Ferrara, in which the shifting balances of power both in Italy and further abroad in Europe started to have an effect on the duke and his family.73 Within the next six years Alfonso’s entire political landscape would change, and the generation of leaders with whom he had shared influence and authority would disappear. In December 1586 his brother Cardinal Luigi died, followed by his uncle Don Alfonso in November 1587. His local rival, Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, died in September 1586; his father-in-law, Guglielmo Gonzaga, followed in August 1587; and his erstwhile brother-in-law, Francesco de’  Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, died 73

NewcombMF, 1:104.

287

Example 7.20 “Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara,” Giaches de Wert, L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), bmm. 49–72; Canto with basso seguente, and simplified basso continuo.

288

288

Musical Practices of the 1580s Concerto Example 7.21 “Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara,” Giaches de Wert, L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 94–97; Canto with basso seguente and simplified basso continuo.

in October 1587. The religious wars in France took members of his family from both factions: his nephews, Anna d’Este’s sons the Duke and Cardinal of Guise, were murdered by Henri III in December 1588; Henri himself, who was Alfonso’s second cousin, was assassinated in 1589. At first glance, the commemorative volumes produced in Ferrara at the beginning of the 1580s give the impression of a court full of hope and enthusiasm for its future, but in the context of the remainder of the century they seem almost self-consciously optimistic, as if their patrons, Alfonso and Margherita, knew that the court was on borrowed time. The Este chose to mask their failure to produce a new generation with the brilliance of their famiglie rather than their family, but this strategy could not continue indefinitely.

289

8

h

Ferrara’s Final Chapter: Court and Convents in the 1590s

The final decade of Alfonso  II’s reign was also Ferrara’s final decade as an independent state. As the 1580s drew to a close, it became clear that Duchess Margherita would not conceive, and that the legitimate male line of the Este would cease with Alfonso’s death. For a while, it seemed that Alfonso would secure an agreement with the Pope to legitimize the claim of  his cousin Cesare d’Este, something he had neglected for years while he still hoped he would produce an heir himself. But the deaths of both Bishop Leoni of Ferrara and Pope Sixtus V in 1590 meant that the power bases in both the region and the city began to shift. With the arrival in Ferrara of archreformer Bishop  Giovanni Fontana, and the bitter, ultimately futile conclusion of negotiations (with a rapid succession of short-lived popes) regarding the Este succession, Alfonso found himself pitted against the Church for the last seven years of his life. As famine bit the general populace in the early 1590s, Alfonso raised taxes with impunity, hoarded his lands as hunting grounds, retreated into the closed world of the inner court, and waited for his inevitable end. And yet  all he had done to enhance Ferrara’s cultural reputation did not fade. Writing fifty years later, the mid-seventeenth-century historian Agostino Faustini recounted the final years of the duke with a strong sense of the musically sounding city as some kind of harmonious whole. But the duke, who had done all he could for the continuation of the rule of Ferrara in his family, knowing that little more time was left to him, wished that which remained to pass with all sorts of reasonable satisfaction, suitable for a great prince, and truly Christian. Therefore, he recruited excellent musicians from everywhere, who served as much for the honor and worship of God in his chapel, as also in other occasions, and most importantly in the lodgings of foreign princes, among which he was believed to be above all liberally magnificent. At the example of her brother, the Duchess of Urbino, his sister, did the same, but with women, and at her every wish they sang and played, and most importantly in the days of Holy Week, in her rooms, and with the sweetest melody that could come from the breast and the mouth of a woman. This duke wished that in every convent the nuns should occupy themselves (during the time left over from the service owed to the Church) in the study of music, in which the nuns of Sant’Antonio, those of San Silvestro, and

290

290

Ferrara’s Final Chapter of San  Vito particularly succeeded, and today they are still excellent. And among these last is the  marvelously, and incredibly rare Organist (and also very old), Mother  Suor  Raffaella, daughter of Giovanni Battista Aleotti called l’Argenta, the architect. In the citizens’ houses was so much singing and playing that it seemed almost every father would make all his children into singers, and it could be said that the whole city was a single Academy, in which other than Music, every discipline thrived, including the most beautiful literature that there was in Italy.1

Placing the ducal chapel, the concerto delle dame, the convents, and the citizens themselves together in a single project, Faustini considered the duke’s patronage of music the most effective course he could have taken to safeguard Ferrara’s future, given that he had been unable to provide it with the security of an Este heir. And Alfonso appeared to have succeeded, in that his strategic investment continued to have cultural, economic and spiritual worth for the city long after his demise.

A New Paradigm and an Old Danger Faustini’s claim regarding the musical training of young Ferrarese citizens may have been hyperbole, but it bears a grain of truth. By the end of the 1580s, well-developed musical skills, above and beyond the basic level once described by Castiglione, were increasingly seen as cultural currency, helping young women to secure their futures. Musical ability could ease a girl’s passage into the convent of her choice, dowry or no dowry, but it could be just as important in engineering a coveted position at court. Where once a broad humanist education – such as that afforded in previous decades to Anne de Pons, Olimpia Morata, Leonora Sanvitale, and Tarquinia Molza  – was the mark of an exceptional young woman, a virtuosa could now have expertise in other fields. Stefano Guazzo touched upon the process of preparing young women for life at court in his Civil conversatione (Brescia: Bozzola, 1574): fathers who wish their daughters to go into royal service must teach them to “read, write, converse, sing, play, and dance.”2 He claimed he had seen impoverished girls with these attributes at court, for whom the queen (of France) had arranged great marriages even though they had no dowries.

1 2

Appendix 8.1: Faustini, Aggiunta (Ferrara: Gironi, 1646), 88–89. Appendix 8.2: Guazzo, La civil conversatione, 159v–160r. Nevertheless, he cautioned further that fathers who must marry off their daughters themselves should teach them spinning and housekeeping rather than music.

291

291

A New Paradigm and an Old Danger One of Guazzo’s friends, Annibal Guasco, sent his eleven-year-old daughter Lavinia into the service of the Duchess of Savoy in 1586.3 By the time she left home, Lavinia had mastered the abacus and the difficult chancery script necessary to be a court secretary, but she also could sing from memory and at sight, and could accompany herself on the viol and the keyboard. More impressively, she had been taught counterpoint and extemporization, and could intabulate works for both her instruments. Lavinia was very young, but it seems youth was no barrier to achievement. Indeed, her father may have pressed her through a very difficult early childhood in order that she could still have some years to excel and to earn favor at court, given that her physical future would have been uncertain once she had married and begun the dangerous business of procreation.4 Lavinia’s precocity was vital to her and her family’s continued good fortune, but even a girl born into the highest social ranks might also be pressed to achieve. In Ferrara during the 1590s, Vittoria Cybo, Princess of Massa and daughter of Marfisa d’Este and Alderano Cybo, was led along a similar path. Vittoria was born in 1588, and was still only a very young girl when she entered the household of the aging Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino. It would seem she was to take up musical responsibility in the famiglia, like her aunt Vittoria Cybo Bentivoglio had done in the 1570s. In a letter dated 8 October 1595, the seven-year-old Vittoria wrote to another aunt, the musician Suor Caterina, at the Florentine convent of Le Murate, responding to a query about her education: Excuse me for not writing in my own hand, but the courier has made it so that I  cannot do this duty as is appropriate, because he came here earlier than usual. I hope that the riddle will be solved, because my most Excellent Lady mother has engaged two maestri for me, one for reading, the other for singing and playing. And I understand well that primarily I will be doing honor to myself, but secondly to my aunt, who desires me to become a virtuosa.5

Vittoria must have been dear to the Duchess Lucrezia, for the old woman left her a generous bequest – a large set diamond worth ten thousand scudi – “in memory of the benevolence of the Serenissima [the duchess] towards Lady Vittoria and her family.”6 The Este continued to protect Vittoria in her adult life: She married Count Ercole Pepoli in 1608, but became estranged 3 4 5

6

Guasco, Discourse. See also Gordon, Monteverdi’s Unruly Women, 35–36. Guasco, Discourse, 21. Appendix 8.3: I-Fas, CRSGF 81 – delle Murate, della Gloriosa Vergine Annumptiata, Pezzo 100/ 730, Vittoria Cybo to Suor Caterina Cybo, 8 October 1595. Appendix 8.4: I-FEc, Antonelli 354, “Testamento di donna Lucrezia d’Este duchessa d’Urbino, rogato in Ferrara il 4 febbraio 1598.” Transcribed in Menegatti, “Documenti,” 264.

292

292

Ferrara’s Final Chapter from him because he offended her family in public and abused her in private. Pepoli was assassinated on the orders of Alfonso III d’Este, Duke of Modena, on Christmas Day in 1617.7 Another girl mentioned in Duchess  Lucrezia’s will was perhaps more on a par with Lavinia Guasco: Ginevra Avogadri, to whom the duchess left eight hundred scudi, but only on the condition that if she was left without protection at the duchess’s death, she should enter a convent for the remainder of her education. If she then wished to marry, or to profess in the convent, the money would be paid as a dowry; if she died, the money would go to the convent where she went to be educated; if she did not go to the convent in the first place, the legacy would be negated.8 The will is dated 4 February 1598, and from these arrangements we can deduce that Ginevra was quite young, and perhaps would have been at risk without the duchess’s protection. It is nonetheless possible that Ginevra married as poorly as Vittoria Cybo. In 1603 Ercole Cato wrote: The son of Lady Florida Mozzarella, whose uncle Lord Luigi Mozzarello chose in his infancy for his sole heir in an estate of great value (and which son is known to have grown into more of a plant or an animal than a nobleman) has proposed marriage to a sister of Suor  Lucrezia Margarita Avogara, once lady and noble singer of the Duchess of Urbino, as you know, and I’m certain that the Mozzarelli family have derived great pleasure from this, as this terrible young man (giovinaccio) was asking to marry a public concubine.9

Ginevra was one of the three Avogadri sisters who were in the Duchess Lucrezia’s service in 1590. One played viola bastarda and all of them sang and played viols; together with Vittoria Guarini, who played the lute, and the organist Vincenzo Bonizzi, they formed the duchess’s own ensemble.10 The most complete account of their activities discovered to date is in Merenda’s 1592 draft: [Duchess Lucrezia] loved music very much, and was very well versed in this profession. In 1590 it pleased her to put together an ensemble of ladies, taking into her service three young sisters, daughters of M. Alberto Avogari [sic], a Ferrarese nobleman, and in company with these was also another of the ladies of Her Most Serene [Highness] who was already in her service before the arrival of these three[;] 7 8 9

10

See Mele, L’Accademia dello Spirito Santo, 50. See Appendix 8.4. Appendix 8.5: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1263, Ercole Cato to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 7 June 1603. For a slightly different account from another of Merenda’s chronicles, see DurMarCron, 286. Vittoria Guarini – Anna Guarini’s sister – must have joined Duchess Lucrezia’s household sometime between 1585 and 1589, when she was referred to as “Lady Vittoria … who does miracles”; see NewcombMF, 1:101–103; DurMarCron, 61, 199, 279.

293

293

A New Paradigm and an Old Danger she was called the Lady  Vittoria Guarini. The other three sisters [were] Giulia, Lucrezia, and Ginevra[.] Giulia played the viola bastarda most excellently in the ensemble and sometimes played the lute. In other occasions, Lucrezia and Ginevra [played] ordinary viols and the Lady  Vittoria the lute, and they sang very well[.] Their maestro was M. Vincenzo Bonizzi, from Parma, who played harpsichord and together with this company they added two of the Duke of Ferrara’s singers, and thus they made an excellent and most beautiful ensemble, which truly was a thing worthy to be heard. And many times the Lady Duchess of Ferrara and the Lord Duke went with her ladies that sang to hear this ensemble, and thus they passed the time in these most virtuous entertainments every day, and gave great recreation to the Most Serene Lady, their patron. [This paragraph is struck through] Her  Most Serene [Highness] had the Holy Sepulchre made every Holy Saturday in her chapel, adjoining the rooms where Her Highness lived, and where she hears mass throughout the year, and she allowed everyone to come and see this Holy Sepulchre. Aside from this, all three days of the week she had the Divine Office sung in this chapel, and they sang Lamentations and other psalms, by this ensemble, and at these offices were found the principal lords and ladies of this city. And many times during the year she had sermons in her rooms and when famous preachers came to Ferrara with … Her Most Serene [Highness] [The following is in superscript above the previous paragraph] has a most beautiful small chapel adjoining the rooms where she lives, all decorated with beautiful portraits and with pictures and a great quantity of relics decorated all over with silver, and in it she hears mass every morning with her chaplains. Every Holy Saturday she has the Holy Sepulchre made, where she has sung all the evening offices, where it is allowed of every person to go every day, every morning and every evening, and invites a great crowd of nobility and many people. The evening at the Lamentations are found many ladies and lords there to hear the Divine Offices and above [illeg] to hear and enjoy the beautiful ensemble of this music. [illeg] Throughout the year when various preaching fathers arrive in Ferrara, they come to make sermons with the Duchess, where all the nobility gathers, and every day … … a great crowd of lords and ladies. And Her Highness is a lover of writers and musicians, and gives many alms to the poor and all the city will serve her willingly, that the Lord God preserve her in health. [Added at a different time:  The music finished in 1596.]11

This account presents some surprising details, not least that Margherita’s more celebrated concerto came to hear Duchess  Lucrezia’s ensemble perform. The reference to Duchess  Lucrezia’s women singing for Holy Week recalls Emilio de’  Cavalieri’s settings of the Lamentations, performed in Pisa in 1599 not just by the Medici chapel, but also by the female singers employed by the court.12 Perhaps even more intriguing, Merenda suggests 11 12

See Appendix 6.1. Italic type is used to indicate superscript text. De’ Cavalieri, Lamentations and Responsories, xxv–xxvii.

294

294

Ferrara’s Final Chapter that Duchess Lucrezia’s Holy Week music was a more public event – whereas Margherita’s ensemble was jealously guarded, Lucrezia was inclined to be more magnanimous. Merenda also gives a terminus for the ensemble of 1596. Vittoria Guarini had departed for Mantua after her marriage in 1593.13 Ginevra, as we know, was still in the duchess’s service in 1598, but Giulia had become the Countess Sessi of Rolo, and Lucrezia monachized at Corpus Domini in Ferrara before the duchess’s death.14 Like Ginevra, Suor Lucrezia received a bequest in the duchess’s will, a further hundred scudi on top of the dowry already paid to the convent.15 A fourth Avogadri girl died in horrific circumstances in July 1590. The chronicler Marcantonio Guarini recounts the murder, at the hands of her husband and his mistress, of a daughter of Galeotto Avogadri. Although he makes no mention of her musical abilities, she was also in Duchess Lucrezia’s service, and the outcome of her grisly story suggests that she was linked with the music at court.16 She was nineteen years old, “beautiful, unassuming, and of an incomparable goodness and modesty.” The husband, Paolo Emiliani, was rich with an income of around a thousand scudi per year, but the mistress, Jecoma di Berari da Manara, was up to no good – in another version of the chronicle Guarini calls her “an ugly female, aged 45.”17 Having decided to murder the girl, they poisoned her. When that did not work, they poured mercury in her ear while she slept, and then her husband placed solimano (mercuric chloride) into her vagina when they had intercourse. Even this did not kill her, so while a servant held her mouth, he pressed his knee into her chest until she died. The funeral was held immediately while her father was away, but on his return Avogadri became suspicious when his son-in-law could not look him in the eye. He went to Duchess Lucrezia, the girl’s “mistress and patron,” who ordered a magistrate, a notary, and a surgeon to go to the cathedral after nightfall to disinter the body. When they found her death had not been natural, they arrested first the servant, and then Emiliani and Jecoma. After a short trial, Emiliani was beheaded; his man and the mistress were hanged. While uxoricides are not uncommon in Renaissance music history (during the sixteenth century, Ferrara even welcomed two from beyond its borders, Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Don  Carlo Gesualdo),

13

14

15 16 17

Vittoria was married to a Mantuan nobleman, Alessandro Anguissola, on 21 February 1593. Duchess Lucrezia paid for the wedding festivities; Appendix 8.6: GuarDiario1570, 98v. In the dedication of his Alcune opere di diversi Auttori a diverse voci, passaggiate principalmente per la Viola Bastarda (Venice: Vincenti, 1626), Bonizzi said Giulia performed some of the works while in Duchess Lucrezia’s service; DurMarCron, 116–17. See Appendix 8.4. Appendix 8.7: GuarDiario1570, 80v–82r. Appendix 8.8: GuarBreve, 87r.

295

295

A New Paradigm and an Old Danger the Avogadri case is unusual, for it ends with the murderers meeting justice through capital punishment. Moreover, Emiliani’s estate was confiscated from the family and given to Luzzasco Luzzaschi.18 It is hard not to compare the situation with one fifty years previously, in which Alfonso Dalla Viola and his brother Andrea received only a few years’ imprisonment for the murder of the wife and daughter of their colleague, Jean Michel.19 Both events had an impact on the court musical establishment, and both were resolved in a way that worked to its greater benefit. The Este had no compunction when it came to preserving the honor of their own  – witness the murders of Duchess  Lucrezia’s lover and Vittoria Cybo’s husband – and we may presume that the Dalla Viola brothers acted to preserve Jean Michel’s. Accordingly, they were let off relatively lightly. But there is no hint of suspicion placed on the Avogadri girl, so the punishment extended beyond the perpetrator to his family. However, if female singers were perceived to have behaved dishonorably, the need for reparation seems to have trumped the welfare of the musical ensemble. In one of the most well-known incidents in the concerto’s history, in September 1589 Tarquinia Molza and Giaches de  Wert were banished from Ferrara when their affair was denounced. Although the original allegation was hearsay, evidence against them was gathered primarily through the interception of their correspondence and through monitoring their contact in person at Molza’s house in Ferrara.20 Both of them were widowed and approaching old age, and no one else’s honor had been impugned. However, Molza was told in strong terms that De Wert was an unsuitable liaison, and that she had disgraced her rank through her close and apparently amorous association with him. Molza was dismissed from Duchess Margherita’s service and returned to Modena; De Wert returned to Mantua, and neither of them set foot in Ferrara again. Molza was, however, still a Ferrarese vassal, and the governor of Modena was instructed to monitor her correspondence; any communication between them could then be intercepted and used to chastise her further. De Wert died in 1596, but Molza lived until 1617, maintaining her own ridotto at her home, “singing every day with the people of Modena.”21 She was made a citizen of Rome in 1600, and was buried with honor in Modena cathedral. Like Olimpia Morata before her, Molza was expelled from court with efficiency. Lucrezia Bendidio Macchiavelli was less fortunate, although we can 18

19 20 21

Luzzaschi held the land in fief, but once Duke Alfonso had died, the Emiliani family sued him, only partially successfully, for its return; see Franklin, “Musical Activity,” 71–76. Owens, in Dalla Viola, Primo libro di madrigali (Ferrara, 1539), ix. DurMarCron, 47–50, 182–85. Letter from Ferrante Estense Tassoni, governor of Modena, dated 12 October 1589; ibid., 85.

296

296

Ferrara’s Final Chapter be fairly sure she did not pay for her early indiscretions with her life. She complained repeatedly to Duke Alfonso about the slander and “malli offici” done to her by Giambattista Guarini and others.22 Her powerful brotherin-law, Marquis Cornelio Bentivoglio, would have guaranteed her physical safety, but by the 1590s she also needed financial support, for it seems the duke was determined to take anything he deemed was not hers to keep. In 1588 she had to relinquish a set of canopies that had been given to her by Cardinal Luigi. When her husband Baldassare died in 1590, her own property was subsumed in the settling of his financial affairs. In 1592 Duke Alfonso ordered that land, which he claimed had been bought by money given to her by Cardinal Luigi, be confiscated from her and given to Alfonso Trotti, who had once sold her late husband a promissory note. At this point she disappears from view, but for one mysterious reference from 1619, coming from the convent of San Vito. Writing to Enzo Bentivoglio, son of Lucrezia’s sister Isabella, a Suor Angela Raffaella refers to a “Contessa” residing at the convent who was soon to depart, saying that she wished to use the countess’s room. The room was well separated from the rest of the convent (as would befit a corrodian), and Suor Angela Raffaella was looking for a place suitable for practicing the harp, the noise of which she said annoyed the other nuns.23 If this countess were indeed Lucrezia, it would be appropriate that she should be cared for in a musical convent in her final years.

The Ferrarese Convents in the 1590s The music-loving Bishop Leoni died in 1590, having governed his episcopal flock with a light hand, at least in terms of allowing them to worship in their accustomed ways. Leoni’s successor, Giovanni Fontana, was not so soft a touch. Fontana entered Ferrara with a reformer’s zeal: Within two years of assuming responsibility he had issued no fewer than nine printed decrees, letters, revised ordinances and rules, including two new rites for the clothing and profession of novices, and the clothing and “stabilizing” of convertite.24 22

23

24

Appendix 8.9: I-MOas, CDP Macchiavelli, b. 734. Lucrezia Bendidio Macchiavelli to Duke Alfonso d’Este, 15 January 1588. Appendix 8.10: I-FEas, Archivio Bentivoglio b. 117, c. 730. Suor Angela Raffaella to Enzo Bentivoglio, s.d. (1619), transcribed in Fabris, Mecenati e musici, 361. In 1619 Enzo had only one other family member who might be referred to as “Contessa”: his sister Ginevra. Ginevra’s husband, Pio Torelli, Count of Montechiarugolo, was beheaded alongside Barbara Sanseverina and ten other conspirators by Duke Ranuccio Farnese in 1612. Ginevra and her young son Adriano (b. 1609) escaped in dramatic circumstances to her brothers’ care; Chaudon, Dictionnaire universel, 19:60, 240. She married Marcantonio Martinengo, Lord of Urago d’Oglio, in 1618, so technically would no longer have been a countess in 1619. Giovanni Fontana, Ordine da osservarsi nel vestire le novitie dell’habito monacale et admetterle alla professione nelli munisteri di Ferrara (Ferrara: Benedetto Mammarello, 1592); Ordine da

297

297

The Ferrarese Convents in the 1590s Fontana was not popular with at least some of his flock. Marcantonio Guarini, who held a position at the cathedral, complained bitterly about the new bishop, who from the start demonstrated strong-arm tactics toward the more public misbehavior committed by the Ferrarese clergy.25 Fontana’s reforms were not just directed at abuses, but also at the more theatrical customs and ceremonies that had persisted in Ferrara’s churches. In 1591 he abolished a Pentacostal rappresentazione at the cathedral, which Guarini said was a longstanding tradition involving a dove to represent the Holy Spirit, and a symbolic fire, accompanied by the choir intoning the Veni Sancte Spiritus.26 This sort of playful spirituality, so much a part of pre-Tridentine popular religious spectacle, was the target of many reformers.27 But Fontana also prevented other forms of collective worship that had strayed from the strictest observance of the Offices, such as an informal Compline sung during feasts of the Virgin Mary at the base of a popular icon situated in an accessible part of the cathedral.28 Instead, he supported forms of spectacle with a better grounding in contemporary practice, particularly the Forty Hours devotion, rubrics for which he published in 1591 and 1593.29 In 1599, soon after the reversion of Ferrara to the Papal States, Fontana was busy publishing again, this time producing two more detailed reform documents for Ferrarese convents and for the Convertite:  Constitutioni et ordinationi generali appartenenti alle Monache (Ferrara: Baldini, 1599) and the Regole et ordinationi per le Suore Convertite di Ferrara sotto il titolo di S.  Maria Maddalena, Riformate, et ampliate da Monsignor Reverendissimo Vescovo di Ferrara (Ferrara: Baldini, 1599). The Consitutioni et ordinationi generali appartenenti alle Monache laid out the expectations of the bishop, also reprinting (and in some cases, translating from Latin) previous local and papal decrees, briefs, and constitutions, particularly with regard to enclosure. The penalties for secular persons breaching enclosure were punitive (excommunication and a fine), but they were harsher still for any implicated nun. For admitting a person without a license, a nun risked excommunication

25 26 27 28 29

osservarsi nel vestire le novitie convertite, et stabilirle (Ferrara: Benedetto Mammarello, 1592). Initially, the convertite were not allowed to profess as nuns because of their pasts. The convent followed the rule of the Franciscan Third Order Regular, which did not require a vow of stability. Appendix 8.11: GuarDiario1570, 98r. Appendix 8.12: GuarBreve, 96r. Zampelli, “Trent Revisited,” 130, n. 30. Appendix 8.13: GuarDiario1570, 84r. Giovanni Fontana, Oratione delle quaranta hore, da farsi dal clero, et popolo di Ferrara, per il sacro viaggio del serenissimo signor duca nostro (Ferrara: Baldini, 1591); Oratione continua delle quarant’hore, instituita per gli presenti bisogni di Santa Chiesa, in molte chiese della città, e diocese di Ferrara; con l’indulgenza plenaria di tutti gli peccati, a che vi starà un’hora, e di sette anni, e sette quarantene, a chi vi starà piu breve tempo (Ferrara: Mammarello, 1593).

298

298

Ferrara’s Final Chapter until absolved by the Pope, three months in the convent prison, and bread and water every Friday for a year. For the same period she was “deprived of the veil.” This meant she lost the privileges of a choir nun, including the right to vote in convent elections, and had to take on the duties of a conversa: not just a physical punishment but also a social humiliation. Fontana’s constitution repeated Gregory  XIII’s ban on external music teaching twice, initially citing a fine (for the secular person) of fifty scudi: and it shall not be allowed for any person, not even a woman, to go to convents of nuns to teach them to sing polyphony, or plainchant, or to play any sort of instrument, not even the organ, under the penalty of fifty scudi; however, if a nun knows the organ, or music, she may teach other nuns, but no other instrument but the organ.30

The ban is reiterated later in the document with slightly different wording, stressing that nuns who knew how to play could teach organ and harpsichord, and if they could read music they could sing, but only within enclosure. It is stated again for a third time some twenty pages later, when the penalty is refined to include both a fine and excommunication for the secular intruder.31 There are other directives in the Constitutioni that hint at musical and performative practices in Ferrarese convents of which Fontana disapproved. Once accepted by a convent but before their formal entrance, girls were advised to obtain the plain clothing that would serve them before their investiture rite, and to abstain from dancing and “vani spettacoli.”32 Certainly the bishop did not expect them to engage in such spectacles after enclosure: rappresentazioni of any sort were prohibited, as was the wearing of secular clothing, particularly during Carnival but also at other times, under penalty of being deprived of the veil.33 The document forbade the making of bouquets of flowers intended for gifts to the friars, who still had jurisdiction over some convents. It also restated a constitution issued by Clement VIII in 1594 that banned the giving of gifts by regolari of either sex, and which further forbade any expense on any sort of spettacolo, regardless of its subject (sacred or otherwise) or the place where it was held.34 But most striking is the prohibition of the singing of the Office at places in the convent other 30 31 32 33 34

Appendix 8.14: Fontana, Constitutioni, 34–35. Ibid., 99; 177. Ibid., 29. Ibid., 22; 100. PeveradaDoc, 128, 136. Peverada further suggests that these restrictions are pertinent to Fontana’s reform of investiture rites for novices, which in some cases may have been elaborate. See also Lowe, Nuns’ Chronicles, 227–29.

299

299

The Ferrarese Convents in the 1590s than the internal church, included in a more general prohibition on public discourse with the nuns on feast days: We order that the same should be observed also on the weekdays of all the sacred times devoted to holy penitence, that is for all of Advent and Lent, during which they [the nuns] must more frequently exercise communal prayer and in particular singing the Divine Office, devoutly and distinctly according to the custom of the Holy Church, in the choir, where they are with only the invisible Angels of Heaven, but not at the ruote, doors, parlors, where they commit so many sins in relating the deeds and words of others, and with so many vain and superfluous words.35

Fontana’s reforms took some time to take effect as he incrementally assumed control, convent by convent, rite by rite, restriction by restriction. In 1610, two years before his death, Fontana established his new ideal in reformed convents, the Capuchin house of Santa Chiara, at which all singing was forbidden and in which an organ was never installed.36 But it would appear that the city’s inherent culture – and ducal priorities – hampered him at first, when a power struggle developed between him and Duke Alfonso. In 1593 the bishop was accused of persecuting a canon of the cathedral, Orazio Ariosto. Orazio was a great-nephew of Lodovico Ariosto and a favorite of the court, moving in its highest literary circles. It was rumored that this persecution was at least partly to blame for the cleric’s death.37 The following year the duke felt compelled to petition the Pope against Fontana, perhaps fearing that his actions were driven more by malice than piety.38 But even Fontana’s outward near-fanaticism had in reality to be tempered with pragmatism. Entry into convents could be permitted through licenses; occasional and temporary licenses were a matter for the bishop, although long-term or permanent leave to move freely in and out of enclosure had to be granted by the Pope.39 Before Fontana’s arrival, it seems most arrangements in Ferrara had been informal; however, from the date of his

35 36

37 38 39

Appendix 8.15: Fontana, Constitutioni, 114. PeveradaDoc, 123. The Rule, written by Fontana, specifies that “one must say the Office according to the Capuchin Friars Minor, reciting the Divine Office from the Roman Breviary … reading without singing, devoutly, with the usual chant tone of the aforementioned friars.” Appendix 8.16: Giovanni Fontana, Ordini delle Suore Capuccine del Convento di Santa Chiara di Ferrara (Ferrara: Baldini, 1610), 15. Appendix 8.17: GuarDiario1570, 101r. Appendix 8.18: GuarDiario1570, 104r. This practice had incurred the disapproval of reformers for decades: In June 1575, for instance, Gregory XIII felt it necessary to issue a revocation (in the constitution Ubi gratiae) of all existing licenses to enter women’s religious institutions, with particular reference to noblewomen. Significantly, Fontana chose to reiterate the restriction: Fontana, Constitutioni, 63–64.

300

300

Ferrara’s Final Chapter accession registers of licenses for entry into the convents were kept by the episcopal administration, providing an almost daily account of the comings and goings of outsiders. This bureaucracy signaled Fontana’s determination that such things could no longer be taken for granted, even if it did little at first to stem the flow of secular men and women into monastic communities. The registers give vital information regarding those musical services that could not be expected to be covered within the convent – particularly organ maintenance  – and so provide some measure of musical activity.40 They show how often the organs were tuned and serviced, and who was providing this labor. Throughout the years between 1590 and 1597, ducal employees entered convents to install, inspect, repair, and tune the organs, thus revealing that Alfonso’s support for the convents was not confined to alms of food, goods, and money. Most frequently, the organs were attended by one of the Pagliarini family: either Ippolito, the keeper of the instruments at the castello, his brother Domenico, or one of his sons, Alfonso or Giulio.41 But it was not just the duke’s technicians that visited the convents; his most senior musicians, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Ippolito Fiorini, also appear in the registers. Together with Fiorini, Luzzaschi visited San Silvestro in 1591, and in 1593 he received permission to inspect the organ at San Bernardino. In 1594 the ducal architect Giovanni Battista Aleotti surveyed the organ at San Vito, where his daughter Suor Raffaella was professed; three days later a carpenter was permitted to enter the convent for four days to reconstruct the organ’s case. Also present in the register are Paolo Cipri, one of a family of organ builders responsible for several convent instruments, and Paolo Isnardi, the maestro di musica at the cathedral, who had particular responsibility for the purchase and construction of the organ at San Bernardino.42 But perhaps the most surprising entry occurs on 29 October 1591, when Ercole Pasquini, organista, was licensed to enter the convent of the Convertite, S. Maria Maddalena, in order to teach two girls and one nun to play – this in spite of the repeated injunctions against such a practice.43

40

41

42 43

Lists of all the entries pertaining to the organs between the years 1590 and 1611 (i.e. during Fontana’s episcopacy) have been compiled and published; PeveradaDoc, 140–62. Ippolito was the keeper of Duke Alfonso’s instruments for over twenty years. The Pagliarini family also went by the name Chricca or Chricco, the surname most often used in ducal records; see NewcombMF, 1:169–70. They helped transport the duke’s musical instruments from Ferrara to Modena in 1601; see DurMarCron, 211–12. Peverada, “Organaria conventuale,” 266–70. Ercole Pasquini also taught Raffaella Aleotti; see discussion in next section. His appointment contrasts with the stringent approach towards the Convertite in Siena, who were not allowed any instruments, despite the city’s otherwise much more liberal attitude to music in convents; see Reardon, Holy Concord, 22–23.

301

301

The Ferrarese Convents and Civic Display Notes of courtly visits to the convents are often clustered in the first part of the year stretching from Christmas through to Easter, during Carnival, and it is no surprise that remunerations to the singers at San Vito are highest and most frequent during this time. One of the few sixteenthcentury documents from San  Vito notes payments given to the singers after performances and expenses for flowers or sweetmeats prepared for visitors; from these a few details can be gleaned.44 On 26  January 1595 Princess Leonora d’Este entered San Vito with Duchess Margherita to watch a presentacione; a year later on 1  January 1596, Alessandro d’Este visited San  Vito to hear the music, and three days later, Carlo Gesualdo did the same. Vittoria, the dowager Countess of Novellara, attended the music on Maundy Thursday (3 April) 1597, granting the convent ten scudi in recompense: one for the singers, nine for the rest of the convent. The duke’s death in October 1597 may have caused a hiatus in visitors, for the next payment to the singers does not occur until 19 February 1598, when the new Papal Legate, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, visited the convent fewer than three weeks after his arrival to take control of the city. The singers and musicians were occasionally given money, but much more frequently were rewarded with edible treats: spices such as ginger, cloves and cinnamon; eels; cherries; pinenuts; almonds; artichokes; and sugar.

The Ferrarese Convents and Civic Display Fontana’s suppression of musical activities that might bring his nuns into contact with the outside world is one side of a conflict that was played out throughout the final years of Alfonso  II’s reign. Whereas the bishop may have thought he was making concessions by permitting music-making in enclosure, Alfonso had other ideas. Throughout the 1590s there are increasing references to the nuns of Ferrara becoming involved in civic display for the benefit of visitors. There was a belief in early modern culture, not unique to Ferrara, that the state of a city’s convents both reflected and was able strongly to influence its spiritual health.45 Este patronage brought the convents of Ferrara into a kind of politicized civic service, in which – at a local level, at least, and despite the bishop’s inclinations – Church and State worked together seamlessly. The duke’s government mechanisms provided the wherewithal to maintain and police convents adequately, and to ensure that an agreed status quo was upheld. But he was also able to draw direct 44 45

PeveradaDoc, 174–79. See Strocchia, Nuns and Nunneries, 152–90.

302

302

Ferrara’s Final Chapter benefits from them, whether socially – in the care of the city’s many indigent children and women – or aesthetically and politically, as an outward dual manifestation of the city’s piety and cultural superiority. The many accounts of the concerto grande, the balletti, and in particular the private concerts of the concerto delle dame held for visiting dignitaries at the command of Alfonso II are testament to the duke’s great pride in his musical famiglia. This attitude extended into the religious ritual that accompanied state visits, as when in 1582 Cardinal Paleotti was escorted to hear Mass at the Certosa, performed by voices and instruments.46 The great feast days were also occasions for extensive musical display, sometimes involving both the court’s and cathedral’s resources. For instance, on Christmas Day 1591 the duke attended Mass at the cathedral that was sung in three choirs, with each section of the ordinary composed by a different member of the ducal cappella: This year on Christmas Day, His Highness went to High Mass as is usual every year, and this day it was sung by the bishop of Ferrara and by his [the duke’s] singers. A  mass in three choirs was sung:  the Kyrie was by S.  Ippolito Fiorini, our choirmaster; the Gloria was by M. Paolo Virchi, his musician; the Credo by M. Innocenzio [Alberti], his musician; the Sanctus and Agnus by M. Luzzaschi, his organist. The mass was played by two organs, trombones, cornetts, and other instruments accompanying the voices, and when His Highness was with Her Most Serene [the duchess] he told her he had never heard a more beautiful mass than this one.47

It would seem almost inevitable that the  Este would incorporate conventual music-making into their cultural program. The duke took a great deal of pleasure from hearing the nuns sing, and may have found their music as irresistible as he did that of his wife’s dame. In October 1592 the duke’s guests, who included Giulio Caccini, were treated with solemn (i.e. sacred) music sung by the concerto and by the duke’s cappella, and also by the nuns, “because His Highness is always at this entertainment.”48 As noted above, Duchess  Lucrezia imported convent practice directly into her own chapel:  twice in June 1589 the Florentine ambassador, Orazio della Rena, recorded that she had guests present for Vespers in her capelletta in her apartments, with the music provided by her ladies.49 46

47 48

49

Appendix 8.19: I-MOas, CDP Grana, b. 653: Giacomo Grana to Cardinal Luigi d’Este, 27 June 1582. Appendix 8.20: MerendaMem, 136r. Partially transcribed in DurMarCron, 189–90. Document 8.21: I-Fas, AM, f. 2906, Michele della Rocca to Belisario Vinta, 2 October 1592; cited in NewcombMF, 1:201; DurMarCron, 190. Caccini’s 1592 visit is treated in NewcombMF, 1:102, 193, 201–202; DurMarCron, 80–81, 190–92. DurMarCron, 181.

303

303

The Ferrarese Convents and Civic Display The seventeenth-century chroniclers of Ferrara were at pains to stress the debt owed by the convents to the former duke.50 Faustini credited Alfonso with recognizing and nurturing the nuns’ development as musicians, and noted with pride that the convents’ musical skills had not declined since the duke’s demise. And although he stated that Alfonso encouraged all convents toward music, he singled out Sant’Antonio in Polesine, San  Silvestro, and San Vito as those with the highest standards of musical performance during the duke’s reign. At San Silvestro in 1591 and 1592 there was a concentrated effort to preserve and perhaps even reconstruct the organ; a total of twentytwo licenses were granted to musicians, the ducal architect Alessandro Balbo, carpenters, laborers, painters, and an intersiatore in order to examine, tune, repair, re-install, and decorate the instrument.51 Sant’Antonio must have had a significant ensemble, for in 1606 the priest Pietro Maria Marsolo dedicated a volume of polychoral liturgical music in eight voices  – a mass, motets, and Vespers psalms for principal feasts – to the convent. He declared that the nuns would make his works complete by singing them with sweet and delightful voices, breathing life and spirit into them.52 Marsolo also refers to the healing properties of music, suggesting that the nuns’ singing would have a salutary effect on the city.53 Nevertheless, the ensemble at San  Vito continued to draw the most interest from visitors to Ferrara, so that they seem to have become almost a tourist attraction. Merenda recommended that the music of nuns at San Vito should be heard by “every gallant gentleman.”54 By the early decades of the 1600s the ensemble was well enough known that individual nuns were identified for their contributions:  Guarini singles out Cassandra Pigna and an unnamed member of the Catabene family, the “good tenors”; Alfonsa Trotti, the “singular and stupendous bass”; Claudia Manfredi and Bartolomea Sorianati, the “most delicate sopranos”; Raffaella de’ Magnifici and another Catabene, “singular players of the cornett”; Olimpia Leoni, a viol player who was also an alto who sang with “great style and a fine voice.” But the maestra, 50 51

52

53

54

Appendix 8.22: GuarDiario1598, 39r. PeveradaDoc, 158–59. In 1670 the historian Andrea Borsetti noted that the church had been enriched over a number of years, and that its musical establishment was endowed with instruments and was of a comparable standard to “altre virtuose.” Borsetti, Supplemento, 229. Appendix 8.23: Pietro Maria Marsolo, Missa motecta vesperarumque psalmi octonis vocibus (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1606). The convent’s seventeenth-century musical establishment is better documented, when it maintained an instrumental ensemble as well as an accomplished vocal group. Borsetti noted of Sant’Antonio in 1670: “These nuns have a very good choir, some of whom can be equal to the most celebrated singers, and in particular Lady Catterina Felice Radetti. They also have an orchestra of all sorts of instruments, the organist being Lady Adriana Rosselli, who accompanies their sound and harmony wonderfully”; Appendix 8.24: Borsetti, Supplemento, 21. Appendix 8.25: MerendaIst, 72v.

304

304

Ferrara’s Final Chapter Raffaella Aleotti, is accorded most praise: “the most singular, and without equal in playing the organ, who is also most learned in music.”55 Suor Raffaella was born in 1575, and entered San Vito at the age of fourteen in 1589. Her youthful publications – a book each of madrigals and motets published in 1593  – are the earliest verifiable published compositions by a nun, and the earliest sacred compositions to be credited in print to a woman.56 Aleotti’s talents had been nurtured at the convent from her childhood, but her books’ dedications attribute her compositional development to Alessandro Milleville and Ercole Pasquini; presumably Milleville before beginning tuition at the convent and Pasquini thereafter. Since Pasquini was given permission to enter Santa Maria Maddalena to teach, perhaps he fulfilled a similar role at San Vito. Aleotti was sufficiently grateful to Pasquini to pay him homage by publishing some of his own compositions in her book of motets. The publication of Aleotti’s motets may have accrued political capital to the convent: while her madrigals were dedicated by her father to Count Ippolito Bentivoglio, Aleotti herself wrote the dedication of her motets, addressing it to Bishop Fontana.57 The book was published in 1593, a year of particular animosity between Duke Alfonso and the bishop, and one in which Fontana had been unusually active in his pursuit of abuses. By flattering him with a publication, perhaps Suor Raffaella sought to dissuade him from any potential moves to curtail the convent’s musical activities. In any case, Aleotti lived through and beyond Fontana’s period of authority, and continued in her position as maestra at the convent until her death in around 1640.58 Aleotti published her motets in voci piene scoring, and in all but three of the five-voice motets the Quintus doubles the Tenor rather than the Cantus. Additionally, there are five dialogs that split into two voci piene choirs.59 55 56

57

58

59

Appendix 8.26: GuarComp, 375–76. For an overview of Aleotti’s biography before entering the convent, see the introduction (revised and expanded by Thomas Bridges and Massimo Ossi) to Aleotti, Ghirlanda de madrigali a quatro voci, xiii–xxvii. The madrigal book was published under her secular name, Vittoria, which for many years led to the belief that there were two sisters, both composers. For her years after monachization, see Thomas Bridges’s introduction to Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones, xv–xxxiv. Aleotti was herself the dedicatee of two volumes of motets published in the 1630s: Giovanni Battista Chinelli’s primo libro di motetti a voce sola…opera quinta (Venice: Vincenti, 1637) and Don Lorenzo Agnelli’s Second libro di motetti (Venice: Vincenti, 1638). In 1631 the convents of Ferrara were subject to another Visitation, during which all the grates and windows between inner and outer churches were examined. Orders for their partial or complete closure were issued: In San Vito’s case, the restrictions were not complete, still allowing for some penetration of sound. Modifications were also required for Suor Raffaella’s cell: her window, facing onto the monastery of Sant’Andrea, was fitted with bars; PeveradaDoc, 166. This list does not include the two motets by Ercole Pasquini. The book has been recorded by Cappella Artemisia, Raphaella Aleotti: Le Monache di San Vito, Tactus TC.570101 (2006).

305

305

Este Women and Ferrarese Music of the Mid-1590s While the choir boasted tenor and bass singers, the motets appear deliberately organized so that the lower voices were not always sung. Duet and trio textures are very common in sixteenth-century polyphony for four or more voices, but with instruments at an ensemble’s disposal, it is possible to highlight them in even more imaginative ways, giving rise to concertato-type textures that are more familiar from the Baroque. This can be achieved fairly simply by substituting an instrument for the lowest voice in appropriate passages; in fact, a motet performance with basso seguente would create precisely this effect, especially if the lowest parts were only sung in fully voiced sections (Example 8.1). Suor  Raffaella’s motets look forward to the new style of polyphony, alternating between a concertato group and the full ensemble. But one work looks back, showing that she was conscious of her place in Ferrara’s musical history and considered herself part of its traditions. At the center of the book is a setting of Psalm 56, verses 2 and 3, “Miserere mei, Deus.” Published almost ninety years after Josquin wrote his setting of Psalm 50/51, Suor Raffaella nonetheless situates her setting within its genealogy, for she uses a soggetto ostinato to set the words “Miserere mei, Deus.”60 Although its melodic shape rises a fifth rather than a semitone, its rhythm is identical to Josquin’s soggetto. Moreover, her motet could represent a double homage to her Ferrarese forbears, for her soggetto mirrors the opening of Cipriano De Rore’s voci pari motet, “Miserere nostri Deus omnium” (Example 1.9 and Example 8.2).

Este Women and Ferrarese Music of the Mid-1590s In 1594 the rather tired and fractious decade was enlivened by the marriage of Prince  Carlo Gesualdo of Venosa to Leonora d’Este, daughter of Don Alfonso and sister to the heir apparent Cesare. Princess Leonora had been raised to be an accomplished musician.61 She sang and played the lute, and maintained interest in patronage, even while her family was in decline.62 As was traditional for prestigious weddings, the ceremony coincided with Carnival, allowing for both extraordinary revelry and subsequent spiritual 60 61

62

See the discussion in Chapter 1. She and her sister Ippolita were taught by a succession of distinguished lutenists: Alberto Dall’Occa, Ottaviano Ongarelli, and Leonardo Maria Piccinini; DurMarMS, 1:116–17. Durante and Martellotti, “Tasso, Luzzaschi e il Principe di Venosa,” 37. The Neapolitan harpsichordist Scipione Dentice dedicated his Terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Naples: Carlino and Pace, 1598) to her, concluding the book with a madrigal “con tre canti da conserto,” on the text “Mi diedi la mia Ninfa.”

306

306

Ferrara’s Final Chapter Example 8.1 “Vidi speciosam colombam,” Raffaella Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones (1593), mm. 30–41.

refreshment. Gesualdo and his bride attended the nuns’ music at both San Silvestro and San Vito during the first week of Lent. The visits are noted by Merenda, who makes no distinction between the convents in terms of their musical quality – “one and the other, a rare thing.”63

63

Appendix 8.27: MerendaIst, 138r. Another account by Merenda of the wedding events, in which he says that both convents’ music is “truly worthy to be heard,” is translated in Watkins, Gesualdo, 50–53.

307

307

Este Women and Ferrarese Music of the Mid-1590s Example 8.2 “Miserere mei, Deus,” Raffaella Aleotti, Sacrae cantiones (1593), mm. 1–6.

Gesualdo’s sojourn in Ferrara triggered a new wave of music publications from the ducal printer Baldini, probably at least partially financed by the prince himself (most are dedicated to him), that documents a change in musical direction at the court.64 In his first publications for over a decade, Luzzaschi produced three volumes, dedicated to Gesualdo (Il quarto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara:  Baldini, 1594)), Duchess  Margherita (Il quinto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara:  Baldini, 1595)), and Duchess Lucrezia (Il sesto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara: Baldini, 1596)).65 Baldini also published four volumes of sacred music, one of which – Innocenzo Alberti’s Motetti a sei voci … libro secondo (Ferrara:  Baldini, 1594) – was dedicated to Margherita.66 Ostensibly, the court’s musical attention was becoming more focused on compositional than performative virtuosity, with Gesualdo’s heightened use of chromaticism and dissonance combining with Luzzaschi’s already established predilection for fragmented textures and vertical rearrangement, turning toward something more introspective and analytical, at musical gatherings that were more about critiquing composition than delighting in vocal dexterity. Yet Gesualdo admired the ladies’ musicianship deeply, and 64 65 66

See NewcombMF, 1:113–53. Modern edition, Luzzaschi, Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals, 2004, vols 1 and 2. She was also the recipient of Luca Marenzio’s Il sesto libro de madrigali a sei voci (Venice: Gardano, 1595); modern edition, Marenzio, Il sesto libro … a sei voci (1596). See also NewcombMF, 1:152; Bizzarini, Luca Marenzio, 286–91.

308

308

Ferrara’s Final Chapter the Ferrarese madrigals of these years would be difficult to perform without female voices in the ensemble, such is the vocal range they demand. Newcomb calls the dedication of Luzzaschi’s Sesto libro “one of the principal aesthetic manifestos of the late madrigal,” but it also must chart the development of what Giulio Cesare Monteverdi would later call the seconda prattica. Luzzaschi did not write it himself, but instead asked Alessandro Guarini, Giambattista’s son, to do so on his behalf.67 Addressing the Duchess Lucrezia, to whom Luzzaschi had also dedicated his first book of madrigals twenty-five years before, it notes that although his music had changed in its style, he remained her devoted servant. At the core of the dedication Guarini described the relationship between Poetry and Music, anthropomorphized first as sisters, then as the Lady and the one who serves her: “Mà come à nascere fù prima la Poesia, cosi la Musica lei (come sua donna) riverisce, et honora.” The dedication predates Monteverdi’s Dichiaratione by eleven years, and while its metaphors are not as clearly articulated or developed as Monteverdi’s serva/padrona relationship between words and music, there nonetheless appears to be an association between the two. Luzzaschi’s Sesto libro has not survived intact, but a handful of its madrigals were preserved later in a collected publication.68 These and the contents of the Quinto libro show that the differences in Luzzaschi’s output from the 1570s to the 1590s are more additive than transformative. There is certainly a greater freedom in his attitude to dissonance and chromaticism: whereas in the 1570s these techniques could manifest in the setting of a dark text of physical suffering such as Dante’s “Quivi sospiri, pianti, ed alti guai,” the same response is elicited in the 1590s by lighter sentiments of amorous torment.69 The poetry is also different. Gone are the sonnets and ballatamadrigals, replaced by brief epigrammatic madrigals:  in the Sesto libro, the texts set range between five and eight lines only. But in many respects Luzzaschi’s madrigals still represent a polyphonically articulated integration of the Roman-Neapolitan and Ferrarese courtly song styles. In “Cor mio, benchè lontana,” short sections of single-note recitation alternate with melodic fragments. Here again are the irregular phrase lengths and harmonically driven bass lines with space for ensemble ornamentation at the end of the syntactic phrase (Example 8.3).

67 68

69

Translation and original in NewcombMF, 1:118, 277–78. Four of its works were reprinted in the Seconda Scelta delli Madrigali a cinque voci dello Zascho Luzzaschi (Naples: Carlino, 1613). For an analysis of “Quivi, sospiri,” see Newcomb, “Luzzaschi’s setting of Dante.”

309

309

Este Women and Ferrarese Music of the Mid-1590s Example 8.3 “Cor mio, benchè lontana,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Sesto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (1596), mm. 8–14.

And yet the Ferrarese love of the esoteric and challenging emerges shortly thereafter, with the harmonic weirdness of a major sonority on F♯ (b. 21) and the semitone harshness on the word “cieca” (b. 22) (Example 8.4). The works as published demand expert musicianship and formidable technique from all five voices, yet a number of the madrigals in the Quinto libro and Sesto libro could easily be performed as duets or solos, and may have been conceived to be performed in concerto: For instance, “Ahi, come

310

310

Ferrara’s Final Chapter Example 8.4 “Cor mio, benchè lontana,” Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Sesto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (1596), mm. 21–23.

tosto passa” in the Sesto libro betrays an underlying duet texture; “Se parti i’ moro e pur partir conviene” and “Come viva il mio core” in the Quinto libro could have been dramatically declaimed by a solo voice; even the wildly chromatic “Itene mie querelle” of the Sesto libro can be sung as an ornamented trio in the style of the 1601 Madrigali if accompanied on a keyboard with split accidentals. Yet these books were collected and published in a milieu, encouraged by Gesualdo’s presence if not also his capital, that had begun again to prioritize compositional achievement, and every work in them stands up to scrutiny as finely wrought polyphony with balanced attention to all five voices. Luzzaschi’s dedications to the Este duchesses remind us that the musical environment at court was still populated by female patrons and performers, and that private music was still created in the duchesses’ apartments. There is a sense, however, that the larger events – the balletti, mascherate and feste – were in the past: the Florentine ambassador noticed even as early as 1590 that these entertainments, once so popular, were no more.70 For Margherita, this must have been hugely disappointing, for she had been intimately involved with their organization and performance. Ultimately for Margherita, perhaps even more than for Lucrezia, convent sojourns could have been a time when she, rather than her husband or her sister-in-law, dictated the kind of entertainment that she might attend. When she and Princess  Leonora  – no doubt celebrating the beginning of 70

NewcombMF, 1:108.

311

311

The Death of Alfonso, and the Devolution of Ferrara Carnival – attended the presentacione at San Vito in 1596, the two ladies were regaled with bouquets of flowers.71 Recalling the Carnival entertainment presented by the madrine of Sant’Antonio in Polesine in 1586, Margherita and Leonora were likely to have witnessed a dramatic and musical performance, morally appropriate for the season and expertly enacted by the virtuose of San  Vito.72 Two related manuscripts belonging to Margherita hint at a possible format: a book of veglie – short musico-dramatic entertainments – written by a Florentine nun was in Margherita’s possession at the time of the devolution of Ferrara, as was a (unfinished) partial copy.73 On the front page of the copy is written a perfunctory title, Ricreationi per monache, and above this, in the duchess’s own handwriting, “Questo libro si è di me, Margherita, Duchessa di Ferrara.” While it is impossible to determine whether Margherita commissioned performances of these little plays in San  Vito or any other Ferrarese convent, the existence of the book and its copy suggests very strongly that she either did or intended so to do. The scripts and instructions in the Ricreationi per monache reveal the potentially elaborate nature of convent entertainments; they are also rich with both music and musical symbolism, which may have particularly appealed to Margherita. Visually and textually sophisticated beyond any expectation grounded in the letter of Ferrarese episcopal law, they betray the cultural permeability of the convent walls, with many allusions to secular song and secular concerns. If the activities of the courtly concerto had become tarnished with time  – as is suggested in some accounts from the 1590s – the possibilities of a rich, and moreover edifying, cultural experience within the strictly feminine environment of the convent may have held more attractions for the increasingly somber and serious duchess.

The Death of Alfonso, and the Devolution of Ferrara The last legitimate heir to the Duchy of Ferrara, Duke  Alfonso, died on 27 October 1597. With his death, and in the light of his continued failure to secure legitimacy for his heir, Cesare, the city and its surrounding regions legally reverted to the Papal States. After three days of funerary spectacle and religious rites, the duke’s body was taken to Corpus Domini, where he 71 72 73

PeveradaDoc, 174. See Appendix 6.15. It is not clear how the two books ended up in the Biblioteca Estense. Although in identical bindings and both bearing the wooden stamp “B.E.” used in the time of Alfonso II –so dating from before devolution – there is nothing to reveal why Margherita left them behind, nor why the copy remained unfinished, broken off in the middle of a play. See also Stras, “Ricreationi.”

312

312

Ferrara’s Final Chapter was buried with the rest of his family. Political matters moved quickly thereafter:  Cesare d’Este made an initial attempt to impose his succession, but Pope  Clement  VIII amassed troops against the city, and excommunicated Cesare. Some citizens and nobles, tired of famine and taxation, looked to Duchess  Lucrezia, who openly supported devolution. In January 1598 Lucrezia, bitter to the end because of her treatment at the hands of her male relatives and implacably opposed to Cesare, accepted an invitation to meet with the Pope’s nephew, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini. On 12 January she formally relinquished the duchy; Cesare departed for Modena on 28 January, and the following day Aldobrandini made a triumphant entrance into the city. Just over two weeks later on 15 February, Duchess Lucrezia died, exhausted but triumphant in her revenge. She, too, was buried in Corpus Domini, “with great pomp.”74 For Anna Guarini, the death of the duke and Duchess  Lucrezia was calamitous, for it exposed her in a matter over which she had no control. In 1596 Count  Ercole Bevilacqua had become enamored of her, but then overstepped the mark.75 The Florentine ambassador Malaspina wrote home of a scandal involving poison, originally fabricated by Bevilacqua to murder both his wife Bradamante d’Este and Anna’s husband, Count Ercole Trotti.76 In order to avert further scandal, Duke  Alfonso had banished Bevilacqua and forced Trotti to swear that he would not hurt Anna. While the duke lived, Anna was safe; recalling the Avogadri case, uxoricide (if not an honor killing) was a capital offense in Ferrara. After the duke’s death, however, Trotti was free to act as he wished. He enlisted Anna’s brother Girolamo, who lured his sister away from Ferrara, and on 3 May 1598 she was brutally hacked to death by her husband and a hired accomplice. Margherita sent a heartfelt letter to Anna’s father, affirming her belief in Anna’s innocence. Trotti was condemned to death in Ferrara, but escaped to Modena where he was warmly welcomed by Duke Cesare, and given important responsibilities at the new court.77 Anna was buried in the convent of Santa Caterina Martire, where her father’s attempts to install an exonerating epitaph for her failed after intervention by Cardinal Aldobrandini.78 74

75 76

77 78

MerendaMem, 227r. Just before the duchess’s death, she called Ippolito Pagliarini to her and asked him to ensure that one of the musical instruments in her apartments, “l’Instrumento piano et forte,” was given over to Laura Peverara; DurMarCron, 201. There is no other indication to identify the instrument, but potentially it could be the archicembalo, with Merenda mistaking its chromatic qualities for dynamic ones. Lazzari, Le ultime tre duchesse di Ferrara, 276–78. Trotti was no stranger to uxoricide; his mother Michela Granzena was killed by his father Alfonso in the same palazzo; Frassoni, Dizionario storico-araldico, 585. DurMarCron, 95–96. Anna’s father eventually forgave Girolamo for his part in her murder, as recorded in a lengthy document in which Girolamo confesses to his crime and swears under oath that his sister was

313

313

The Death of Alfonso, and the Devolution of Ferrara Four days after Anna’s death, Pope  Clement  VIII made his triumphal entry into Ferrara. His visit lasted for six months, during which time his entourage were regular visitors to the convents. The Pope himself attended Mass at San  Vito at least once, on 15  July, and the experience reputedly moved him to tears. On leaving the convent he rewarded the nuns with alms amounting to 20  scudi.79 However, he also recognized the nuns’ hard work with a more regular gift of 50  lire per month for the duration of his stay, as “the sisters, who, at the insistence of cardinals, princes and other lords, gathered every day to satisfy with their singing and playing those whom they could not fail to serve.”80 At the culmination of the visit, Ferrara hosted one of the grandest and prestigious events ever to occur in the city:  the double proxy wedding of Philip  III of Spain and Margaret of Austria, and of Margaret’s cousin Archduke  Albrecht of Austria and Philip’s sister, the Infanta  Isabella. The marriages were celebrated by the Pope in the cathedral on 15 November 1598. The event brought substantial numbers of outsiders to the city, and involved many days of feasting and pageantry. Among the public displays was the passage of a fleet of barges on the Po, five of which displayed ten women playing musical instruments and singing laude for the queen.81 The day after the ceremonies, the Austrian wedding party of Margaret, Archduke Albrecht and the bride’s mother, Archduchess Maria Anna, heard Mass at San Vito, and then were permitted to enter the convent to witness its concerto outside a liturgical context. Thence the queen went to the monastery of San Vito, where she heard another ferial mass and entered the monastery, where she heard the sweetest harmony made by the nuns both by their voices and on instruments; no sweeter could easily be heard elsewhere, for those sisters excel in the art of music. [In margin: The monastery of San Vito visited by the queen. The nuns’ most sweet music].82

79 80

81

82

entirely innocent. The document was prepared for printing and signed in Venice, 27 November 1601; I-FEc, MS Antonelli 338, “Scrittura da Pace fra l’Illustre Signor Cavallierro Guarini con il Signor Girolamo suo Figliolo, la quali ci è creduta stampata.” Appendix 8.28: MerendaMem, 163r. Appendix 8.29: GuarComp, 275. Franklin, “Musical Activity,” 156. quoting in translation the Operationi e negotiati seguiti dopo la morte del Serenissimo Signor Duca Alfonso e devolutione del Ducato alla Santa Sede per tutto l’anno 1600. I-FEc, MS Antonelli, 296, fol. 19r. Appendix 8.30: La Sontuosissima entrata della Serenissima Margherita d’Austria Regina di Spagna, et del Serenissimo Arciduca Alberto d’Austria in Ferrara (Verona: Dalle Donne, 1598), 4v. This is corroborated by Merenda: “she was met by many women in the barges who, playing drums and [cymbals] made great merriment”; Appendix 8.31: MerendaMem, 170r. Appendix 8.32: MucanzioDia, 271r. Guarini hints that this was not a ferial mass, but a requiem mass for Duke Alfonso. Appendix 8.33: GuarDiario1598, 53v.

314

314

Ferrara’s Final Chapter Margaret was generous, leaving the convent with 200  ducatoni milanesi; reputedly, she was also so impressed with the maestra Raffaella Aleotti that she wished her to join her entourage, and come with her to Spain.83 Two further performances directly recalled the glories of the Este’s musical establishment, but these, too, were in a convent – and neither appear in the published accounts of the celebrations. Giovanni Paolo Mucanzio, the Pope’s majordomo, noted that both the Pope and the queen, on separate days in November, heard music at the convent of Corpus Domini, particularly from Suor Lucrezia Avogadri, formerly of the Duchess Lucrezia’s famiglia. On 6 November the Pope said a requiem mass for Duke Alfonso, for which the nuns sang: On Friday 6 November Our Most Holy Lord went in his litter to the church and convent of the Most Holy Body of Christ, where was buried Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, lately deceased, along with the other Este dukes, for the souls of which Our Most Holy Lord in person this day celebrated Mass, as he did every day in the past week for the souls of various deceased persons, beginning on Monday of this week, celebrating in his private chapel, except on this day, on which he celebrated in the church abovementioned of Corpus Domini. While celebrating these masses for the dead he wore purple vestments, since the supreme Pontiff never wears black. [In margin – the sweetest music of the nuns of Corpus Domini]. On the Pontiff ’s arrival, and while he prayed before and after Mass, the nuns of the aforesaid monastery made excellent music, especially one of them, most expert in that art, who before entering the monastery was a lady of the Duchess of Urbino lately deceased, and was singular and unique in the sweetness and melody of her voice, as all judged.84

Queen Margaret’s party also attended Corpus Domini on the same day as they went to San Vito (and heard the concerto), where “they were received by these nuns similarly with a concert not at all inferior to the first.”85 Mucanzio recorded: She also visited another monastery called Corpus Domini, where the bodies of the dukes and princes of the house of Este are buried; there too she heard sweet melody of voices, especially of a certain sister who had formerly been a lady of the Duchess of Urbino lately deceased, who sang with so great sweetness and melody of voice to the organ, than nothing further in this kind could be desired. To these monasteries, the queen gave alms with uncommon largesse.86

83 84 85 86

Faustini, Aggiunta, 180. Appendix 8.34: MucanzioDia, 236r–236v. Appendix 8.35: I-MOas, CAI Roma, Girolamo Giglioli to Cesare d’Este, 17 November 1598. Appendix 8.32.

315

315

The Death of Alfonso, and the Devolution of Ferrara Suor Lucrezia’s presence and the suggestion of an ensemble at the convent capable of performing on a par with San  Vito’s helps to explain the continuing preference for Corpus Domini as the final resting place for the Este. In fact, it would seem natural that Duke  Alfonso would wish to be buried in a place where female voices would sing for the preservation of his soul in perpetuity. That its ensemble was virtually unrecognized even during the sixteenth century should not be surprising:  If the Este were jealous of their music at court, how much more protective would they be of their private convent music, which would ensure their own spiritual wellbeing before and after death? In contrast, Queen Margaret’s visit to San Vito was reported in a number of printed accounts, which ensured that San  Vito’s reputation stood as a totemic symbol of civic pride – and an obstinate reminder of Ferrara’s glorious past. However, her presence at the convent provided a symbol of a different kind to the Bolognese music theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi, who used the “perfection” of the nuns’ music-making as a foil for all that disquieted him in the performance of modern madrigals in his essay L’Artusi, overo delle imperfettioni della moderna musica (Venice: Vincenti, 1600), published just under two years after her visit took place: At this moment, Her Majesty with many of her famiglia entered into the Convent of those most Reverend Mothers, that were more than one hundred in number. [In margin: Instruments, that are used in the Concerto of San Vito.] When finally after visiting many public places, and particular rooms, which gave Her  Majesty great satisfaction, they arrived at the place usually chosen for the Concerto, and all things being quiet, they heard with such sweetness and suavity of Harmony, cornetts, trombones, violins, viole bastarde, double harps, lutes, cornamuses, flutes, harpsichords, and voices all together at once, that truly it seemed that they were on the Mount of Parnassus, and Paradise itself had opened, and it was not a human thing. At the end, with an unbelievable silence furnished by the Concerto, there remained in the ears of the audience a rare Harmony, so much that Signor Vario turning to Signor Luca said to him, “It has been many months and years since I heard any ensemble as well unified as this one. Here one perceives a mastery, an excellence of extraordinary women, but what am I saying, ‘of women’? If my taste were the same as most men in Italy, I would not have been more satisfied, nor would I believe that I would have done more than that which these Mothers have done.”87

Artusi further declared that the nuns of San  Vito are “the most excellent, united and well-proportioned ensemble that Italy has.”88 To support his

87 88

Appendix 8.36: Artusi, L’Artusi, 1v–4v, 8v. See also Cusick, “Gendering Modern Music,” 9. Artusi, L’Artusi, 3r.

316

316

Ferrara’s Final Chapter claim, he listed eight “considerations” or qualities that he deemed necessary to an excellent ensemble: 1. that the building in which the performance takes place has excellent acoustics and is well proportioned, “resonant … [so] that it does not consume the voices and the sounds, but it nourishes them, and conserves them in its integrity, until they are perceived by the ears of the hearers.” 2. that the individual parts of the works chosen for performance are well suited to the instruments and voices, with nothing outside their natural and comfortable ranges, “which makes the ensemble easier, more united, and very much more pleasing to the listeners.” 3. that there be a proper (and optimum) distance between the musicians and listeners; the nuns achieved this because “they could [not] go further away, nor the listeners similarly, without having gone outside the Church.” 4. that the instruments themselves are of excellent quality. 5. that the performers should achieve balance through listening, playing “with their ears” rather than their voices or instruments; i.e. “it is necessary that one listens to the other, and so listening, has judgement to not overwhelm her companion, so that in the voices, as in the playing of the instruments, one may hear an equality of voices and instruments in such a sweet manner that the listeners may take from it infinite pleasure.” 6. that the compositions should be of excellent quality: here Artusi recommends Claudio Merulo, Costanzo Porta, Andrea Gabrieli, Palestrina, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, Benedetto Pallavicino, Ruggiero Giovanelli, and Giovanni Maria Nanino. 7. that instrumentalists play only the instrument on which they have most expertise; that singers sing with appropriate ornamentation and sing in the range most comfortable to them. 8. that all the instruments in the ensemble, whether “viols, violins, double harps, lutes, harpsichords and the viole bastarde,” are tuned by the same person. In the dialog, Artusi also recounted a performance at the house of Antonio Goretti on 16 November; it is at the latter his interlocutor heard – and saw  – madrigals by Claudio  Monteverdi performed by a group of unnamed singers together with Ippolito  Fiorini and Luzzasco  Luzzaschi, although he does not mention the queen in attendance. But the Roman ambassador Girolamo Giglioli reports that on the same day that she went to both San Vito and Corpus Domini, Margaret witnessed the last recorded

317

317

The Death of Alfonso, and the Devolution of Ferrara performance of the concerto as it had been constituted in the 1580s, listening for an hour to a group comprising Livia d’Arco, Laura Peverara, Fiorini, and Luzzaschi – without specifying the location of the performance.89 Three unpublished accounts, then  – from Guarini, Giglioli, and Mucanzio  – variously correlate in details that are anomalous in Artusi’s, recording both a mass at San Vito and a visit to Corpus Domini. We might consider that Artusi deliberately restricted the queen’s experience of conventual music to San  Vito for rhetorical reasons. It is also not clear whether his setting of the madrigal performance is real or fictitious; there is no corroborating evidence for a gathering specifically at Goretti’s house.90 Nor is it clear that Artusi was present at the nuns’ private performance; his description of them never includes visual elements, only aural, so it is possible that he never saw them perform. Above all, like Bottrigari before him, Artusi emphasizes the silence, before and after the performance, necessary to allow the music to have its appropriate effect; moreover, his third consideration above stresses the optimum distance between performer and audience, which to all intents and purposes is as far as possible. When Artusi goes on to criticize the madrigal performance, he does so in both visual and musical terms, decrying the facial expressions of the singers (although we may remember that other commentators, in particular Giustiniani, praise them) as much as the dissonances that give rise to them. The language he uses is morally loaded, suggesting impropriety and monstrosity in almost equal measure to the virtues of the nuns.91 There is an unexpected resonance between the manner in which Artusi characterizes these two performances and the ways in which the two female ensembles are portrayed in Ercole Estense Tassoni’s account of the 1569 torneo, L’Isola beata (see Chapter 4).92 In the torneo, the pagan nymphs of the island sing unaccompanied and with abandon, but the sacred Muses have instrumental accompaniment; the nymphs dance and sing in full view, whereas the Muses are heard, and not seen. The nymphs, servants of the Enchantress, represent false pleasure and attachment to worldly things; the Muses serve the goddess Venus, and signify the virtue of the mind, which is not corporeal and therefore invisible. The torneo’s metaphor, although based on mythical creatures, would still have resonated with an audience that considered secular women’s 89 90 91 92

Appendix 8.35. Suzanne Cusick makes this point in Cusick, “[Reply to Charles S. Brauner],” 561, n. 14. Cusick, “Gendering Modern Music,” 6–7. The hermeneutic meaning of the two ensembles is given in the essay that follows the description of the torneo. Appendix 8.37: Tassoni, L’Isola beata, 39v–40r.

318

318

Ferrara’s Final Chapter musical display (however skillful) suspicious, but the sound of women’s sacred music (contained, restrained, and invisible) reverential. Thirty years on, Artusi makes the same opposition. In the wake of Anna Guarini’s murder and the eradication of any attempt to exonerate her from guilt, any reference to the concerto would also invoke the perils of venal sin. Instead, he associates the queen – and by implication, the new order in Ferrara – with the path of virtue and excellence; by omitting her from the audience for the madrigal performance, he removes her royal sanction from what he perceives to be the errant practices of the old regime. The Pope’s departure from Ferrara at the end of 1598 coincided with an immediate and sharp reduction in the numbers of licenses granted for entry into convents. It seems clear that while the musical reputation of the convents might have afforded the Church some political gain through enhancing the city’s ability to host major events, the maintenance of convent organs was considered an imperative. But after the retreat of the Este to Modena and the conclusion of the wedding festivities, Fontana was able to get on with his intended project of convent reform unencumbered by the interference of secular rule. The convents gradually were brought from under the control of the friars and the canons regular into the hands of the bishop. This process had begun as early as 1580, when the Benedictine sisters of Sant’Antonio asked to be removed from the spiritual direction of the monks of San Benedetto, because the monks had “deviated from their rite” and were no longer providing them with appropriate guidance.93 In 1588 the Servite nuns of the Madonna di Ca’  Bianca followed.94 Once Fontana was installed, however, the process accelerated: In 1590 both the Convertite and the Augustinians of Sant’Agostino passed from the friars to the diocese. In 1597 Fontana decided to completely enclose the Convertite, who had up to that time been “free.”95 In 1598 the Augustinians of San Vito, and in 1602 the Carmelites at Santa  Lucia, were appropriated. Then in 1605 the converse of nearly all the convents – except the noblest houses of Sant’Antonio, San Silvestro and San Guglielmo – who had not previously been subject to enclosure, were ordered to remain at their convents because their presence in the streets was seen to be the cause of “disorder.”96 Marcantonio Guarini was careful to note that the city had become “dissolute” after the death of Alfonso  II, by implication not coincidentally when it had passed into

93 94 95 96

Appendix 8.38: GuarBreve, 42v. Appendix 8.39: GuarDiario1570, 73v. Appendix 8.40: GuarDiario1570, 134r. Appendix 8.41: GuarDiario1598, 111r.

319

319

The Death of Alfonso, and the Devolution of Ferrara the hands of Cardinal  Aldobrandini, and  – perhaps more significantly to Guarini – Fontana himself. Not all of the old Este court followed Cesare to Modena. Duchess Margherita returned to her birthplace, Mantua. Luzzaschi and Fiorini chose to stay in Ferrara, but while Luzzaschi took employment with Aldobrandini, Fiorini stayed opposed to the new government, writing to Margherita from time to time, complaining bitterly at the decline of the city.97 Ercole Cato, who had been in Este service since the 1560s, and who was trusted by both the old and new regimes, was Margherita’s constant informant, sending letters full of political and social news. Marfisa d’Este stayed in Ferrara and became its de facto first lady, leading the women of the city in patronizing cultural events.98 She also continued to support the convents, assuming the responsibility for arranging Easter sermons once fulfilled by the duchesses. In April 1604, for instance, she had Fra Modesto Gavazzi, bishop of Alife, preaching at San Silvestro in the presence of herself and many ladies, cavalieri, nobility, and the general populace.99 The remaining women of Margherita’s concerto, too, chose to live out their lives in Ferrara. Laura Peverara formed a relationship with Corpus Domini; in her will she specified that wished to be buried in in the convent if there was room. If no space could be found, she wished to be buried in the church of the Gesuati across the road, and there she was duly interred after her death on 4  January 1601.100 She also left the convent a large monetary bequest, 7000  scudi, although the convent was embroiled for many years afterwards in an attempt to secure the sum, owing to a dowry dispute.101 Finally, she specified that if she died before her daughter Margherita married, then she wished that Margherita should be accepted into Corpus Domini as a novice. In the end, however, Margherita herself died in 1602 before she could enter the convent.102 On 28  December 1602 Cato wrote to Duchess  Margherita with alarming news of the daughters of various of her singing ladies: I hear news that Count Carlo Strozzi might marry the last of the Bentivoglio sisters [daughter of Isabella Bendidio]. Please God that nothing sinister happens to this Lady as befell the two other intended brides of the said count, who both died during

97

98

99

100 101 102

Appendix 8.42: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1263, Ippolito Fiorini to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 28 September 1603. Appendix 8.43: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1263, Ercole Cato to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 13 November 1604. Appendix 8.44: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1263, Ercole Cato to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 12 April 1604. DurMarPep, 249. Lombardi, I francescani, 4:176. DurMarCron, 287.

320

320

Ferrara’s Final Chapter negotiations, the daughter of the Marquis of Scandiano [and Leonora Sanvitale], and recently that of the Marquis Annibale Turco [and Laura Peverara].103

Both Livia d’Arco Bevilacqua and Isabella Bendidio Bentivoglio lived past the first decade of the 1600s. Isabella contributed directly to the development of younger singers in Ferrara, Mantua, and Rome. She fostered the new Ferrarese talent, Angela Zanibetti, who then traveled to Mantua to take part in the marriage celebrations for Francesco Gonzaga and Margherita of Savoy in 1608. She also coached her son Enzo’s three sopranos in Rome, providing them with first-hand knowledge of the Ferrarese style.104 Isabella died sometime after 1610, but the exact date is not known. Livia d’Arco continued to live in Ferrara, and produced ten children with her husband Alfonso Bevilacqua before her death in 1611. Both women continued to correspond with Duchess Margherita until their deaths, writing fond and gossipy letters that reveal an ongoing mutual respect and friendship.

103

104

Appendix 8.45: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1262, Ercole Cato to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 28 December 1602. Fabris, Mecenati e musici, 39ff.

321

9

h

Afterlife in Mantua

Margherita and the Convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua The dowager Duchess  Margherita Gonzaga d’Este returned to Mantua in December 1597, bringing with her fifty carts of material belongings including furnishing, textiles, clothing, and paintings.1 The vast majority of her personal fortune, lands, and income remained in the hands of Cesare d’Este, prompting a bitter and lengthy dowry dispute that was not fully resolved until 1614. Some items were left behind in haste, including a decoration for an organ “in the form of a landscape,” although she attempted to reclaim them through her agent.2 Having been encouraged to make a swift return by her brother Vincenzo, Margherita was initially delighted to have returned to her native city. Nevertheless, she soon found she had to negotiate a relationship with another sister-in-law, Eleonora de’  Medici, who considered her a rival for power and influence over Vincenzo. She also had to form new spiritual bonds, deprived of the sanctuary she had regularly sought in Ferrara’s convents. There being no Gonzaga cardinal to turn to, in December 1600 she wrote to Cardinal Alessandro d’Este, Cesare’s brother, asking him to intercede for her with the Pope; she wished ongoing permission to hear Mass in her apartments, and for her and two of her ladies to be allowed to spend the night at the convent of San Vincenzo in Mantua, where she found “much consolation.”3 Margherita’s political position in Vincenzo’s Mantua was awkward, for she was a dowager duchess of nowhere. As a widowed Gonzaga princess, she had no ready-made function at court; she no longer had any territory to rule or even an heir to advise. Nevertheless, in the first years of the new century Margherita volunteered to take on diplomatic missions in outlying territories that needed a shrewd political input, such as restoring order at Casale in the duchy of Monferrato during 1601 and 1602.4 But often ill with 1 2 3

4

Gladen, “A Painter,” 100. Appendix 9.1: I-MOas, CS, b. 415, receipt dated 7 February 1600. Appendix 9.2: I-MOas, CS, b. 177, Margherita Gonzaga d’Este to Cardinal Alessandro d’Este, 1 December 1600. The Dominican convent of San Vincenzo was home to her niece Eleonora, Vincenzo’s illegitimate daughter by Agnes d’Argotta. Gladen, “A Painter,” 106–108.

322

322

Afterlife in Mantua malaria and faced with truly difficult negotiations, she continued to gravitate toward the sanctuary of religious life. In September 1601 she wrote to Vincenzo of finding a few hours’ comfort at a local convent after attending Vespers, before feeling ill again and having to return to her chambers.5 Throughout this period Margherita was developing another plan, which began to take shape very shortly after her arrival in Mantua and which grew in purpose as it became clear that she no longer had the energy for active political service. Tired of attempting to carve out a position of influence from within her brother’s court, Margherita chose instead to shape an entirely new space for herself. She set about creating an environment in which she could fulfill an appropriate range of roles for a dowager duchess  – civic and charitable benefactor, “major art patron, trusted political adviser, and exemplar of post-Tridentine piety” – and wield as much power as possible in a self-determined, if small, community.6 In 1599 she began the process of establishing a new convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua, purchasing property and recruiting twelve young girls to be its first inhabitants. In its initial phase, the community followed the rule of the Company of Saint Ursula, primarily an order created for the education of young women, which in practice meant a more relaxed attitude to enclosure and property. Over the next five years, however, Margherita cleverly and expertly steered the house toward its mature phase. Her plan appears always to have been for Sant’Orsola to be a Clarissan house. The Order of Saint Clare had been associated for centuries with noble families, and it espoused rigorous attitudes to devotion and obedience; once established in this more traditional rule, the convent would become a suitable place in which Margherita could shape her future. She negotiated the transfer carefully with the Pope, who saw the attraction of bringing a loose congregation more fully under Church regulation, to secure maximum benefits for herself. Margherita had spacious apartments built in the convent that were separated from the rest of the community, and she ensured that she, her family members, friends, and servants could enter and leave the convent at will, even while committing the rest of the sisters to strict enclosure. Then, in a deft move that left her family not a little bewildered, during the feast of Saint Ursula in 1603, she announced after supper in the convent that she did not intend to return to court, and requested that the rest of her belongings be transferred to her new quarters. Her confessor, Tiberio Guarini, wrote: 5

6

Appendix 9.3: I-MAas, AGCI, b.1970, Margherita Gonzaga d’Este to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 7 September 1601. Gladen, “A Painter,” 111.

323

323

Margherita and the Convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua This most religious Lady waited, and looked forward to nothing else other than the time fixed by her to make the magnanimous resolution, such that an hour seemed a million years. The awaited day of Saint Ursula came, the most solemn feast for the Congregation of Virgins, to put into effect that which she had so long before determined in her heart. Thus on 21  October 1603, without indicating anything else other than coming to hold the feast and to attend spiritual recreation with her virgins, she came from the court to the new apartments and then to the Masses and Divine Offices that were taking place all day. When in the evening everyone believed that she would have to return to her usual rooms at court, she made it understood that here with her virgins is where she wished to live and die, and she ordered that her belongings be brought to her, not having moved them before so as not to have raised suspicion of what she wanted to do. Nor did anyone know anything about this, except the Most Illustrious Monsignor Bishop; nor did I myself, however aware I was always of these matters, know the day fixed for her withdrawal. Her Most Serene brother, the Duke Vincenzo and the Most Serene Prince Francesco came there, who after many shared tears left the good Lady at the apartments and returned to court.7

Under the terms of her new rule, Margherita was not required to take solemn vows or wear a habit, but she nonetheless placed herself at the head of the community. She is occasionally referred to as abbess of the convent, but she is more frequently styled simply as madre  – not in the same sense that all nuns were madri, but as the essential parental figure to her community. There are parallels with Caterina Vigri’s relationship with her Clarissan flock at Corpus Domini:  when Margherita died, her nuns mourned her as a mother, and as the mirror in which they could see how to serve God.8 Although the buildings that formed the social and living space of the convent were purchased and adapted, Margherita had the church of Sant’Orsola newly built to an internal octagonal plan that echoed the ancient Rotunda di San Lorenzo in the center of Mantua, complete with a modern matroneum, a gallery in the outer church from which the nuns could participate in services yet remain invisible to the public. It seems surprising that little record can be found of provisions made in the church for music, beyond the mention of the commission of luxurious choir stalls for forty nuns for the internal church, at the cost of two thousand scudi.9 An organ and organ-loft are mentioned in the inventory prepared during the Napoleonic suppression, presumably 7

8

9

Appendix 9.4: GuarNar, 33v–34r. The apartments vacated by Margherita were later used for the first performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo; Besutti, “Spaces for Music,” 84–85. Ippolito Donesmundi, Dell’istoria ecclesiastica di Mantova (Mantua: Osanni brothers, 1612), 350. For Caterina Vigri, see Chapter 1. Appendix 9.5: GuarNar, 61v–62r.

324

324

Afterlife in Mantua original and from Margherita’s time.10 Moreover, in 1611 Margherita was recommended two young girls as novices, one who played violin, the other viola.11 Margherita’s taste for convent entertainments may have been undimmed, for as Guarini attests, she enjoyed “spiritual recreation” at the feast of Saint Ursula in 1603. Nevertheless, the rule agreed with the Pope in 1604 specifies that the wearing of men’s clothing (presumably for theatrical purposes), or of any lascivious garment, would not be permitted at any time, nor would ostentatious clothes, such as those worn by a bride.12 These rules may not always have been followed to the letter, but it is perhaps significant that stipulations regarding clothing were considered more important than restrictions on music-making. Despite a lack of direct evidence of organized music at the convent, Margherita clearly remained interested in music, occasionally commenting on musical matters in her letters to Vincenzo, whether reporting to him from elsewhere, or keeping him informed of performances in Mantua when he was abroad. She seems particularly helpful as a casual talent scout, tucking into a letter ostensibly written for other purposes the suggestion that a friar looking for a permanent job in the duke’s cappella did not sing very well, or that an unnamed Neapolitan woman had potential as a singer.13 She was also clearly aware of music’s powerful place in the theater of ritual. Every grand ceremony that marked a new stage in the development of the convent, from the initial procession in 1600 of her selected twelve virgins into their new accommodation, to the final consecration of Sant’Orsola’s external church in 1613 and the installation of Margherita’s own precious reliquaries, was enriched by music: trumpets and drums, instrumental concerti, processional and liturgical chant, and polyphony. In June 1608 a party of Gonzaga women attended the ceremony to mark the laying of the first stone of the new church, where they heard “trumpets, drums, musket fire, and the sweetest concerts of instrumental music, which filled the heart of the people with sweetness and inestimable happiness.”14 In February 1613 trumpets and other musical instruments led the procession that accompanied an image of the Holy Virgin from the cathedral to its new home at Sant’Orsola, where the

10

11

12 13

14

I-MAas, Archivio notarile, notaio Angelo Pescatori, b. 7110, “Inventario generale a le mobili arredi e suppellettili sagre del monastero di Sant’Orsola.” Appendix 9.6: I-MAas, AGCE Venezia, b. 1543, Bartolomeo del Calice to Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 29 October 1611. Appendix 9.7: GuarNar, 44r. Appendix 9.8: I-MAas, AGCI, b. 1970, Margherita Gonzaga d’Este to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 1600, n.d.; Appendix 9.9: I-MAas, AGCI, b. 1970, Margherita Gonzaga d’Este to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 1610, n.d. Appendix 9.10: GuarNar, 59r–59v.

325

325

Margherita and the Convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua Litany of the BVM was sung.15 At the installation of four reliquaries in May 1614, an organ recercata, in concerto with instruments, was played before the litany of the saints was sung.16 In the earliest ceremonies, which primarily took place outside, the cathedral cappella sang polyphonic settings and some of the chant, while the girls (later nuns) sang only chant. We may assume any processional music that took place outside the church was played and sung by male musicians. However, later descriptions of ceremonies within the convent church itself do not specify the personnel in the ensemble(s), so it is not possible to say whether nuns alone were involved in the singing of liturgy and the performance of instrumental music, or whether external musicians were also used. Solemn Mass was sung in the internal choir for the consecration of the outer church on 18 February 1613, but the musical forces are not specified.17 However, the following day, which was the first day of Carnival, it seems likely that the nuns were involved in at least some of the ceremonial music: On Tuesday, after this consecration, that was the day of Carnival, many masses were celebrated in the nuns’ Choir, where people continually circulated, and at around eighteen hours, the Clausura was shut all at once, at which point the sisters processed into their longed-for Choir, singing the hymn Urbs Jerusalem, and the most Reverend Mother Abbess saying the prayer of the Dedication of the Church, and of the most Holy Mother of God. After the sounding of the Trumpets, solemn music was sung, [and] the Te Deum, and it all finished with the celebration of a Mass, marking the feast with infinite signs of happiness from all the people, and from her Highness.18

In 1608, around the time the building of the external church began, Margherita petitioned the Pope for permission to participate in the Office with the nuns.19 Always careful to obtain institutional sanction for any move that might risk disapproval, Margherita clearly felt that singing the Office was not a privilege ordinarily to be granted one who had not taken solemn vows. Her request is another sign of how her spiritual life had moved on, but it is also the first indication in her long association with female musicians of any kind of musical activity of her own, a significant move away from her lifetime position as a listener to one of physical engagement with music. But Margherita was not quite yet done with polyphony, or it with her. In 1614 Placido Marcelli, a former high-ranking member of her husband’s cappella, dedicated Alessandro Grandi’s Motetti a cinque voci (Ferrara: Baldini, 15 16 17 18 19

Appendix 9.11: GuarNar, 63r–63v. Appendix 9.12: GuarNar, 70v. Appendix 9.11: GuarNar, 63v. Appendix 9.13: GuarNar, 64r–64v. DurMarCron, 99.

326

326

Afterlife in Mantua 1614) to Margherita.20 The volume is weighty with allusions to Margherita’s Ferrarese past: It was the last book to be published by the old ducal firm of Baldini and its long dedication elicits echoes of Alessandro Guarini’s dedication written for Luzzaschi’s Sesto libro, in its elaborately metaphorical exposition on the art of composition and the relationship between text and music, together with fulsome praise for Margherita’s musical judgment, and reminders of her musical and spiritual life in Ferrara.21 Marcelli’s curatorship of the volume may have been repayment in kind, for Grandi dedicated his own Primo libro de motetti a due, tre, quattro, cinque, et otto voci, con una messa à quattro (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1610) to Marcelli himself. Its printing in Ferrara, from a once-elite press that was at the end of its production period, might suggest that it was issued in a very limited run, financed by Marcelli. Its relatively conservative format (five voices with basso continuo), particularly in comparison to the volumes already published by Grandi, also suggests that it was intended as a valedictory gesture from Marcelli to Margherita. While a handful of the motets are consistently polyphonic in all five voices, demonstrating a solid command of traditional compositional procedure, the remainder uses concertato textures. What is implicit in Raffaella Aleotti’s composition is explicit here, with well-delineated solos and duets accompanied by a basso continuo alternating with choral passages. Many are also weighty with Ferrarese musical language, invoking the old preoccupations and predilections of the Este court. The fascination with canon is demonstrated in the setting of Ecclesiasticus 2: 8–11, “Qui timetis Dominum,” in which the initial exposition of the soggetto is added to with each verse, beginning with one voice, then two in canon, and ending with all five in canon. “Quam pulcra est casta generatio” contains an echo, “Ipsa laudabitur / Dabitur ei aeterna in caelo Gloria,” properly constituted in both music and text, recalling Agostini’s courtly echo settings.22 At the center of the book stands a setting of the Marian antiphon “Ave Regina caeolorum.” This motet most clearly shows its Ferrarese origins, with carefully ornamented duets that recall the imitative passaggi of Luzzaschi’s 1601 Madrigali (Example 9.1). 20

21

22

Placido Marcelli entered Duke Alfonso’s employment in 1592. He was the highest paid singer in the cappella by a margin of nearly fifty percent, earning over 45 lire a month, on a par with some of the most well-paid instrumentalists. The next most highly paid singer was Melchior Palentrotti, “one of the most famous basses of his era,” who earned just over 31 lire a month, suggesting that Marcelli’s duties were more than just singing. The court payments to singers are listed in NewcombMF, 1:162. Musica Secreta have recorded the complete book: Alessandro Grandi: Motetti a cinque voci (1614) Divine Arts 25062 (2007). See the discussion in Stras, “Considering the Performance of Grandi’s Motetti a cinque voci, 1614,” 73–93. The dedication is transcribed in DurMarCron, 215–17. It is also partially translated in Grandi, Opera omnia, 1:xxii. Stras, “Considering the Performance of Grandi’s Motetti a cinque voci (1614),” 78–82.

327

327

Margherita and the Convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua Example 9.1 “Ave Regina caeolorum,” Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 1–36.

328

328

Afterlife in Mantua Example 9.1 (continued)

The most madrigalian of the motets, “Anima mea liquefacta est,” is sharply reminiscent of the concluding madrigals of Monteverdi’s Quinto libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Amadino, 1605), with its alternating sections of solo voices and full polyphony. But it as surely intended to invoke

329

329

Margherita and the Convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua the sweet dissonances of the concerto, with chains of overlapping sevenths similar to those in “Con voi giocando Amore,” the concluding madrigal of De Wert’s Ottavo libro (Examples 9.2 and 9.3). Many of the texts in the book would have been well suited to the edification of religious women, and the majority of its works adapt easily to all-female performance. Marcelli would have been well aware of the performance practices of the concerto, and indeed of the Ferrarese nuns, so may have chosen works for Margherita specifically with her new surroundings in mind. Most obviously suitable is the penultimate work in the book, a setting of the opening verses of Psalm 66/67 sung at Lauds, “Deus misereatur nostri,” a voci pari setting for five tenors with basso continuo. Grandi’s Primo libro of 1610 contains seven four-voice motets and a four-voice mass in voci pari/mutate settings with basso continuo, so it was a format with which he was familiar. One may speculate that he was obliged to compose in voci pari as part of his duties as maestro at both the Accademia della Morte (c.1599–c.1604) and the Accademia dello Spirito Santo (c.1610–1614) in Ferrara, but the utility of the format for conventual music would not have been lost on Grandi, his publishers, Marcelli, or even Margherita. “Deus misereatur nostri” nonetheless wears the demands of the voci pari format lightly, as Grandi negotiates the text largely in short motivic fragments that are more characteristic of early seventeenth-century polyphony. Only once does he allow the properties of imitation in equal voices to create the kinds of multiple dissonances characteristic of the equal-voice repertoire of the 1540s, at the words “misereatur nostri” (Example 9.4).23 The last work in the book, a substantial setting of the Litany of the BVM, also harks back to the materna lingua repertoire, but in a different way. Although published over sixty-one years later, the opening gesture of the Litany shows that the principle of ensemble members taking turns to ornament was still current, just as it was at the opening of the setting of “Felix namque es sacra” from RISM 15432 (Examples 1.7 and 9.5). Margherita died on 6  January 1618, and was buried according to her wishes in the internal church at Sant’Orsola, dressed in a Clarissan habit.24 She left property and holdings to the convent, including a large estate known as the Poletto Veronese, the income from which was to be used to the convent’s maintenance, and to provide or supplement (convent) dowries for needy young women who were to present themselves at the convent 23 24

StrasVP, esp. 650–51. Appendix 9.14: I-MAas, Archivio notarile, b. 3968 bis. Notaio Arsenio dall’Oglio, 30 October 1615.

330

330

Afterlife in Mantua Example 9.2 “Anima mea liquefacta est,” Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 34–38.

Example 9.3 “Con voi giocando Amor a voi simile,” Giaches de Wert, L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1586), mm. 35–36.

331

331

Margherita and the Convent of Sant’Orsola in Mantua Example 9.4 “Deus misereatur nostri,” Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 13–17.

every year on Margherita’s feast day, 22 February.25 She also left a long list of material bequests to specific women, from Gonzaga princesses to individual nuns and convertite, but virtually nothing to named male benefactors. The convent remained a stable and well-respected institution for nearly one hundred and seventy years, until its suppression in 1786. Margherita’s legacy at Sant’Orsola – a gynesocial retreat and an institution devoted to the education of women, both princesses and the general populace – perhaps suggests that she never truly shared the overwhelming Ferrarese passion for music. The skill and patience with which she built her ideal environment would certainly have allowed her to create a space in which women’s music could flourish and be recognized, but she chose instead to concentrate on decoration and the visual arts. Sant’Orsola’s most famous daughter was the painter Lucrina Fetti, sister to the official court painter Domenico Fetti, and a fine portraitist, whose prominence as an artist gave her agency beyond the convent walls.26 Nevertheless, Margherita’s ability to establish female communities – whether among her ladies at play

25 26

Gladen, “A Painter,” 144–45. For a history of Fetti, and an analysis of her work and status within the convent, see Gladen, “A Painter.”

332

332

Afterlife in Mantua Example 9.5 Litaniae Beatae Mariae Virginis, Alessandro Grandi, Motetti a cinque voci (1614), mm. 1–13.

and at worship, or more formally as a congregation – allowed the women around her to make creative spaces for themselves, either virtually within the court, as with the concerto and the balletto della duchessa, or materially with the convent.

333

333

Vincenzo Gonzaga and Giulio Thiene

Vincenzo Gonzaga, Giulio Thiene, and the Fate of Luzzaschi’s Library When Margherita left Ferrara in December 1597, her deceased husband’s court was already in the process of disintegration; within months, the cultural vultures began to circle around the remains of its musical establishment. The ultimate prize to be had was the secret music of the concerto composed by Luzzaschi during his long tenure as maestro, which had been so carefully guarded in the duke’s lifetime. Two patrons in particular, Duke  Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua and Cardinal  Montalto in Rome, had designs on Luzzaschi’s library, for they each had assembled a group of female singers expressly to recreate the sound of the Ferrarese concerto.27 Luzzaschi did his best to deflect requests by responding with limited material, complying with the letter if not the spirit of the duke’s and the cardinal’s demands. In 1598 he sent Vincenzo a selection of a dozen madrigals “a uno, doi, e tre voci” which presumably was an early copy of the set that was printed in Rome in 1601.28 In December 1605 Montalto requested copies of Luzzaschi’s concerti from Vincenzo; Vincenzo responded by sending him two madrigals and promised to obtain more for him, although he never did.29 But a set of letters, written between January and March 1606 by Marquis Giulio Thiene, widower of Leonora Sanvitale and by that time Vincenzo Gonzaga’s agent in Ferrara, reveal that all was not quite what it seemed. At the same time that Luzzaschi was pleading age and infirmity as a reason not to send music to Montalto, Thiene was working hard to secure the music for Vincenzo, using every means at his disposal, financial, sentimental, and rhetorical. On 11  January 1606 Giulio Thiene wrote to Vincenzo, and in among matters of political and civic import he said: S. Chieppio has told me that Your Highness wishes copies of the music of the concerti performed by the ladies during Duke Alfonso’s life, and so that I could procure copies from Luzzasco, I spoke to him. He told me that he had already sent that which you seek to Madama Serenissima of Ferrara [Duchess Margherita], and also some to Cardinal Montalto, and he thought he had also sent some to Your Highness. But because he who copied them [Luzzaschi’s son] isn’t here right now, he doesn’t want to send you the same things. Therefore, if Your Highness could advise him which of these you already have, he can definitely copy the ones he hasn’t sent.30 27 28 29 30

NewcombMF, 1:94–95; Hill, Roman Monody, 106. DurMarCron, 286. See the discussion and transcribed letters in Parisi, “Ducal Patronage,” 136–37; 184–85. Appendix 9.15–16: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 11 and 12 January 1606.

334

334

Afterlife in Mantua Nearly two weeks later, on 24 January, Thiene wrote: S. Chieppio wrote me that Your Highness desires all the music that you have already requested from Luzzasco, without distinction of those that he might already have sent. I have therefore have given to S. Chieppio two pieces that Luzzasco already gave me, and I’m waiting to procure all those that may be had, to send to you as soon as possible.31

Five days later, on 29 January, he wrote again: You will already have had the two concerti musicali that I  sent a few days ago to S. Chieppio. I am waiting to procure all the others that may be had from Luzzaschi to send to you immediately. It is taking a long time because the usual paper isn’t suitable for this sort of thing. Luzzaschi has to make the staves himself in accordance with his needs, and so also because he doesn’t want to trust his books to anyone else, the work is not going forward except when he does it himself with one of his sons.32

At this stage, it seems that Luzzaschi was still engaging in stalling tactics. First, he tried to get Vincenzo to make a more specific request; then he blamed the delay on the need for special paper. Here is the first clue that Luzzaschi may have been using non-standard notation for his copies, as he could not use paper with proprietary ruled staves. We also begin to understand that Luzzaschi realized the cultural worth of his work, for he guarded his music jealously. One week later, on 5  February, Thiene wrote:  “I continue to press Luzzaschi for the copies of the music, and he assured me that he is being assiduous so that I will have them as quickly as possible, but the tardiness of the work is entirely down to it being solely in his hands.”33 Six days later, Thiene composed another letter, much longer this time, and almost entirely devoted to the music problem. I have not at all given up on soliciting Luzzaschi for the concerti musicali requested by Your Highness. I have discovered that the reason it’s taking so long is that there are enough to fill five complete volumes, and because other than himself, there is only one boy who can help him copy them. He does not want to trust his books to just anyone, and even when the boy copies them he needs watching, and he doesn’t want any assistance so that he can be sure that there are no errors, and also for the 31

32

33

Appendix 9.17–18: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 24 January 1606. Appendix 9.19: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 29 January 1606. Appendix 9.20: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 5 February 1606.

335

335

Vincenzo Gonzaga and Giulio Thiene jealousy that he has of these books. And I have not failed in great solicitude to permit to the said boy good courtesy in favor of this mercy that Luzzaschi has given him. It will cost twenty bolletti of this [i.e. Ferrarese] money for every two leaves of that special paper, such as the two parts I already sent to Your Highness, and that price seems steep to me, except that those that do this sort of thing and know about it have told me that it is not excessive. Finding myself at Luzzaschi’s house to solicit him, and to see the extent of the work and the small progress, considering the length of time, and the great expense, I was in mind to give him some incentive. He being now at the age that he finds himself, and being that since the death of Duke Alfonso there hasn’t been the occasion here to play these things, I believed that because they would please Your Highness, he should make good resolve to give them to you, because those works that were made for a great prince should fall again into the hands of another like him, to do him honor. He responded to me that he worried that he would incur the wrath of the Lord Cardinal Aldobrandino, who he said had already demanded them of him here in Ferrara with great insistence, and when he went to Rome, he had already made the mistake of giving them to him thinking that he would have them printed, and which he didn’t then do seeing that it would have been very expensive to do it. I gave him this reply, that he should not now give so much respect to Cardinal Aldobrandino, because he is no longer the nephew of the Pope and boss of the world like he was, and that the respect coming from the grace of Your Highness is much more considerable, to which persuasion I did not find him repugnant, so that I could not give myself to believe other than that he was about to get on with it, but I did not want more to pass before he knew Your Highness’s will, to whose esteem he should willingly comply. And also, I reasoned that it would be good for Your Highness, who has absolutely all together those things that Duke Alfonso had, and things that perhaps no one else has, and perhaps you could do that which you wanted to he who didn’t want it. And so I hope that I have included all that I could do; I cannot however ultimately confirm more than I have said.34

At this point, the two protagonists seem to have been locked in a game of manners:  Luzzaschi continued to plead the difficulty of the work, and then used a financial argument to place even greater value on the job. Thiene was suspicious of the delays, so determined to find out more. He flattered Luzzaschi, saying that his works were so wonderful that they should be in the hands of a prince who could appreciate them; Luzzaschi countered that he was worried about annoying Cardinal Aldobrandini, who clearly had some sort of interest in the works, although he seems to have disappointed the composer through reneging on a commitment to have to works published. Thiene then tried mockery  – why should Luzzaschi be so worried about 34

Appendix 9.21: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 11 February 1606.

336

336

Afterlife in Mantua Aldobrandini, given that he was no longer the nephew of the Pope? Much better to have Vincenzo as a patron. And then came the veiled threat  – of course, Vincenzo is so powerful that he could make unpleasant things happen. Finally, two weeks later, on 26  February, Thiene had better news for Vincenzo: In this matter, as was commanded me by Your  Highness, I  recently spoke with Luzzaschi about his music. He has never wished anything except that which Your Highness desires of him, but when I said this to him freely, he showed himself thus ready to give them to me, so that I believe one couldn’t desire a more manifest sign of a soul inclined to serve you. He said that Your Highness is the padrone of his things, and of himself, and so he would give you them most willingly because they could not go to a better person, and that he would have come to bring them to Your Highness himself as soon as he had understood your will, regretting however, that he had not the strength to make such a journey. There are, he said, in these five books all his works of eighteen years, and among them they amount to three hundred concerti. And he wishes that they will be put to much better use with Your Highness, confirming to me that it is much dearer to him to give them to Your Highness than to have them printed, as he has wanted to do. Touching then on the matter of your recognition for him having reached his goal, because thus you commanded me, he told me that on this he had never haggled with anyone, and that much less would he do it with you, and that he did not desire anything but your good grace, and that you know him for your true servant. But he desired, as he said, to make a new request, that Your Highness would favor him to make the negotiation very quietly, so that the Cardinal Aldobrandino would know nothing about it, because it seemed to him that he should have consideration for no other reason than that he is the Legate of Ferrara. He wished, in continuation, to give me all the said five books, so that I could send them to you, which I did not want to accept before advising you of it, so that I could have your express command about it.35

Suddenly, Luzzaschi seemed to have had a change of heart, and professed himself ready to give all of his books to Vincenzo without any recompense. His only stipulation was that the transaction should be done in secret so that Aldobrandini should not get to hear of it. But perhaps here we see the real reason why he had not wished to give up his music – he had still been thinking of having it printed, and he knew that once he had given it to Vincenzo, he would have no more right to do this. The letter also reveals the extent of Luzzaschi’s potential gift:  three hundred pieces, representing 35

Appendix 9.23: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 26 February 1606.

337

337

Vincenzo Gonzaga and Giulio Thiene eighteen years of Luzzaschi’s life – whether this was the period between 1579 and 1597, or whether in Luzzaschi’s mind it began and ended earlier. At last, on 19 March Thiene wrote to Gonzaga to tell him that the music was on its way: From Luzzaschi I  have had all the books of his music, and I  have sent them to Your Highness. There are eleven books in all, being one part of the voices that go with the bass [una parte di canti che vanno col basso], and also some canzoni napolitane; and all this he resolved also to give to Your Highness because he knows, he said, that you have ladies that sing to a bass [ha delle donne, che cantano col basso], and because also all that is his is yours. Having tried then to discover his mind regarding the recognition of this his fondness, I couldn’t extract anything from him, he not wishing to say anything else to me, except that he could not have done better than to invest in Your Highness the works all of his days.36

In this last letter we finally learn more about the music itself, but the details are confusing: Five books have become eleven. It is just possible that the additional six books included partbooks for the canzoni napolitane. Perhaps the “una parte di canti che vanno col basso” means that there were five sets of two parts each (Canti and Basso), or that the bundle included the famous book of ornamented vocal parts that Duke Alfonso had shown Alessandro Striggio in 1584.37 But since the books requires specially ruled paper, at least one of those parts probably would have been in score – either the vocal parts alone, or a short score for the keyboard. When Vincenzo initially writes to Montalto regarding the possibility of obtaining Luzzaschi’s madrigals, he reveals that Luzzaschi worked from a bozza (draft), “teaching the ladies to sing by heart.”38 Thiene also suggests that Vincenzo’s ladies are specialists in “singing to a bass,” indicating that discrete skills, not shared by every female singer, were needed in order to perform composed, rather than extemporized, courtly song. This would seem to correlate with Giustiniani’s observation that song had recently become a valued compositional genre.39

36

37 38

39

Appendix 9.24: I-MAas, AGCE Ferrara, b. 1264, Giulio Thiene to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 19 March 1606. NewcombMF, 1:55. Parisi, “Ducal Patronage,” 184. In the 1625 inventory of Duke Alfonso’s music library, there is only one entry for Luzzaschi, detailing some empty boxes that once had contained music: “Dialoghi diversi in Musica scritta à penna del Luzzasco in foglio Libri tredici… cioè i cartoni senza niente dentro”; NewcombMF, 1:232. Perhaps Luzzaschi had removed them on the duke’s death. We know from another source that Luzzaschi was familiar with handling cartelle – erasable surfaces used for drafting composition; Owens, Composers at Work, 64–65, 87. It could be that these folio books were his “drafts.” GiustinianiD, 19. See discussion in Chapter 5.

338

338

Afterlife in Mantua These few extra details about Luzzaschi’s music are, of course, precious to our deeper understanding of performance practice at the Ferrarese court and elsewhere, even if the knowledge is tinged with frustration at knowing the true extent of the repertoire that is still as lost as it was before. But the further implications of this correspondence are intriguing. Not only are we given insight into Luzzaschi’s possible practical solution to performing notation, we are left with the weighty knowledge that Vincenzo took delivery of a huge library of concerted madrigals in March 1606. Luzzaschi also conceded that Vincenzo had the right musicians for the job, and that Mantua was a suitable home for his life’s work. His library would have been handed over to Monteverdi as Vincenzo’s maestro, when presumably it became exclusive to the Mantuan court. However aware Monteverdi had been of the concerto’s repertoire and performance style before 1606, he would have become intimately familiar with it thereafter, absorbing all the older musician’s knowledge of composing for the female voice. In the context of Monteverdi’s subsequent output, it also appears that Luzzaschi’s gift freed the younger composer to concentrate on other projects; after producing two books of madrigals in 1603 and 1605, he set the form aside almost entirely until 1614.40 His Scherzi musicali (Venice: Amadino, 1607), concerted strophic songs, were a significant sideways step from his previous secular output; it could be that Luzzaschi’s library, including the mysterious napolitane, increased the appetite at court for the accompanied duet. It seems almost serendipitous, too, that Monteverdi took control of the library at just the point in his career when he began composing in earnest for the stage: in 1607 L’Orfeo and the balletto “De la bellezza le dovute lodi”; and in 1608 Il ballo delle ingrate and L’Arianna. Knowing that Monteverdi was handling the concerto’s repertoire, possibly on a daily basis, during this period also raises the possibility that their practices – and indeed Ferrarese creative culture as a whole – would have been a present force at Mantua as the court prepared for the wedding of Francesco Gonzaga and Margherita of Savoy in 1608. I  have already suggested that the marriage of Vincenzo Gonzaga and Eleonora de’ Medici had been commemorated in Ferrara with Armida’s lament “Qual musico gentil,” invoking the Ariostean abbandonnate associated with music for Este weddings past. Taken together with the fascination for Ferrarese music, this hypothesis has further implications for the genesis of the Lamento d’Arianna, the show-stopping focus of the 1608 wedding entertainments. 40

Monteverdi mentions in a letter of July 1607 that he had composed two sonnet settings for the “gentlemen singers”; these are presumably madrigals, and potentially were included in the Sesto libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice: Amadino, 1614); Fabbri, Monteverdi, 74–75.

339

339

Vincenzo Gonzaga and Giulio Thiene Rinnuccini’s libretto for L’Arianna appears already indebted to Ferrarese theater: its multiple choruses and its lieto fine show that its structure derived from Giambattista Giraldi’s courtly tragedies rather than the classical model that has a chorus only at the ends of the first and fifth acts.41 Tim Carter has argued that Arianna’s lament was interpolated into an existing five-act structure, and that the decision to do so, regardless of the anomalies it created, was probably instigated by Duchess  Eleonora herself.42 Perhaps the clear correspondences between De Wert’s Armida and Monteverdi’s Arianna originate in this request: the texts share conceits – both women, standing at the water’s edge bewailing the loss of a lover, swing from rage to despair, and finally come to their senses – and so do the composers’ responses to them.43 Monteverdi’s indebtedness to De  Wert’s madrigal has been highlighted before, but in support of a claim that he revolutionized De Wert’s existing “declamatory” techniques, sweeping aside the restrictions of polyphony. If “Qual musico gentil” were indeed a solo lament rather than a polyphonic one, it would have been a more compelling model: moreover, if Vincenzo and Eleonora knew it well as a solo work, the allusions would have had resonance for them and their family. The lamenting abbandonata framed in a tragedy with a lieto fine, a trope developed at Ferrara over the previous century, became the centerpiece of a wedding celebration in a different city. In Monteverdi’s Arianna, and in all the laments she in turn inspired, we see the afterlife of all the Ferrarese women that came before her.

41 42 43

See discussion in Chapter 3. Carter, “Lamenting Ariadne?,” 401–402. Tomlinson, “Madrigal, Monody,” 73–75.

340

341

Bibliography

Principal Manuscript Sources Ferrara, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea Merenda, Girolamo. Vite dei signori d’Este vissuti al tempo dello scrittore. Principia col card. Ippolito I, e termina col principe Cesare, 1592. Coll. Antonelli 332.

London, British Library Mucanzio, Giovanni Paulo. “Diarorum Caeremonialium Joannis Pauli Mucanti Romani J.U. Doctoris, et Caerimonarium Apostolicarum Magistri,” 1598. Add., 8451.

Mantua, Biblioteca Comunale Teresiana Guarini, Tiberio. Breve naratione e vera Historia della fondatione del Monastero di S. Orsola, c.1620. Ms. 1088.

Modena, Biblioteca Estense Autori diversi. Madrigali a cinque voci. Mus. F.1358. Guarini, Marcantonio. Breve descrittione della sua vita e delle cose ne’ suoi tempi accadute in Ferrara sino al MDXCVI, 1596. Manoscritti italiani 368 (α.M.5.18). Diario di tutte le cose accadute nella Nobilissima Città di Ferrara principiando per tutto l’Anno MDLXX sino a questo dì et Anno MDLXXXXVII, 1597. Manoscritti italiani 285 (α.H.2.16). Diario descritto da Marc’antonio Guarini di tutte le cose al suo tempo accadute nella nobilissima Città di Ferrara principiando per tutto il dì 28 di Genaio dell’anno presente 1598 sino a questo dì et anno presente, n.d. Manoscritti italiani 387 (α.H.2.17).

342

342

Bibliography Merenda, Girolamo. Istorie di Ferrara, 1596. Manoscritti italiani 132 (α.G.6.28). Memorie di Ferrara, n.d. Manoscritti italiani 354 (α.T.5.1).

Primary Sources Printed Before 1750 Agazzari, Agostino. Del sonare sopra ’l basso con tutti li stromenti e dell’uso loro nel conserto. Siena: Falcini, 1607. Agostini, Lodovico. Canzoni alla napolitana a cinque voci  … libro primo. Venice: Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1574. L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali a sei voci … Libro secondo. Venice: Gardano, 1581. Madrigali … Libro Terzo. A sei voci. Ferrara: Heirs of Francesco Rossi, and Paolo Tortorino, 1582. Musica … Libro secondo de madrigali a quatro voci. Venice:  Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1572. Il nuovo Echo a cinque voci. Ferrara: Baldini 1583. Aleotti, Raffaella. Sacrae cantiones quinque, septem, octo et decem vocibus decantandae. Liber primus. A r.s. Raphaela Aleotta Ferrariensi in monasterio rever. monialium S. Viti monaca. Venice: Amadino, 1593. Aron, Pietro. Lucidario in musica. Venice: Scotto, 1545. Artusi, Giovanni Maria. L’Artusi, ovvero delle imperfettioni della moderna musica ragionamenti dui. Venice: Vincenti, 1600. Berchem, Jachet  de. Primo, secondo et terzo libro del capriccio di Iachetto Berchem con la musica da lui composta sopra le stanze del Furioso .... A quatro voci. Venice: Gardano, 1561. Bertoldi, Bertoldo  di. Il primo libro di madregali … a quatro voci. Venice: Gardano, 1544. [Bombasi, Gabriele]. Il Successo dell’Alidoro tragedia rappresentata in Reggio alla Sereniss. Regina Barbara d’Austria Duchessa di Ferrara. Reggio: Bartoli, n.d. Borsetti, Andrea. Supplemento al compendio historico del Signor D.  Marc’ Antonio Guarini in cui si contiene l’origine, e accrescimento delle chiese di Ferrara, fino all’anno 1670, etc. Ferrara: Giglio, 1670.

343

343

Bibliography Bottrigari, Hercole. Il Desiderio overo, De concerti di uarij strumenti musicali. Dialogo di Alemanno Benelli, etc. Venice: Amadino, 1594. Buus, Jacques de. Primo libro di canzoni francese a sei voci. Venice: Gardano, 1543. Castiglione, Baldassare. Il libro del cortegiano. Venice: Aldo Romano, 1508. De  Rore, Cipriano. Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci ... novamente poste in luce. Ferrara: Buglhat and Hucher, 1550. Il quarto libro d’i madregali a cinque voci con uno madregale a sei et uno dialogo a otto … Venice: Gardano, 1557. Il secondo libro de madrigali a quattro voci con una canzon di Gianneto sopra di Pace non trovo … Venice: Gardano, 1557. De Wert, Giaches. Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice:  Scotto, 1558. Il primo libro de’ madrigali a quattro voci. Venice: Scotto, 1561. Il settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice: Gardano, 1581. L’ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice: Gardano, 1586. Faustini, Agostino. Aggiunta alle historie del Sig. Gasparo Sardi nuovamente composta. Ferrara: Gironi, 1646. Fiesco, Giulio. Madrigali … nuovamente posti in luce et corretti da Claudio da Correggio. All’Illustriss. Et Eccellentiss. Madama Lucretia Da Este. A cinque voci. Libro secondo. Venice: [Angelieri], 1567. Musica nova a cinque voci di Giulio Fiesco dedicata alle illustrissime et eccellentissime madame Lucretia et Leonora da Este. Novamente per Antonio Gardano stampata e data in luce. Libro primo. Venice: Gardano, 1569. Fontana, Giovanni. Constitutioni et ordinationi generali appartenenti alle Monache, pubblicate d’ordine di Monsig. Reverendiss. Vescovo di Ferrara, l’anno MDXCIX. Ferrara: Baldini, 1599. Galilei, Vincenzo. Fronimo:  Dialogo di Vincentio Galilei nobile fiorentino, sopra l’arte del bene intavolare, et rettamente sonare la musica … novamente ristampato. Venice: Heirs of Girolamo Scotto, 1584. Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista. Gli Antivalomeni: Tragedia. Venice: Cagnacini, 1583.

344

344

Bibliography Selene. Venice: Cagnacini, 1583. Grandi, Alessandro. Motetti a cinque voci. Ferrara: Baldini, 1614. Guarini, Marcantonio. Compendio historico dell’origine, accrescimento e prerogative delle chiese e luoghi pij della città e diocesi di Ferrara, etc. Ferrara: Heirs of Vittorio Baldini, 1621. Isnardi, Paolo. Missae quatuor vocum … Venice: Heirs of Antonio Gardano, 1573. Psalmi omnes ad vesperas per totum annum, una cum tribus Magnificat, quorum unum tum pari, tum plena voce, ut libet cani potest ... quatuor vocum. Venice: Gardano, 1569. Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice: Gardano, 1577. Jachet of Mantua. Il secondo libro de le messe a cinque voci. Venice: Scotto, 1555 (RISM 15551). Luzzaschi, Luzzasco. Madrigali per cantare e sonare a uno, doi e tre soprani, fatti per la musica del già Serenissimo duca Alfonso d’Este. Rome: Verovio, 1601. Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Ferrara: Rossi, 1571. Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice: Gardano, 1576. Sesto libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Ferrara: Baldini, 1596. Terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice: Gardano, 1582. Madrigali de la Fama a quattro voce composti novamente da diversi eccellentissimi musici con iudicio raccolti et con diligentia stampati. Fora del solito modo corretti, come a ciascuno facendone prova sara palese. Venice: Scotto, 1548 (RISM 15487). Madrigali de la Fama a quatro voci composti da l’infrascritti autori, novamente con diligentia stampati et corretti. Cypriano de Rore. Francesco da la Viola. Francesco Manara. Venice: Gardano, 1548 (RISM 15488). Malatesta, Gioseppe. Della nuova poesia, overo delle difese del Furioso, dialogo … Verona: Dalle Donne, 1590. Menon, Tuttovale. Madrigali d’amore a quattro voci composti da Tuttovale Menon, et nuovamente stampati et con diligentia corretti. Ferrara:  Buglhat and Hucher, 1548.

345

345

Bibliography Madrigali d’amore a quatro voci, composti dallo eccell. Musico Tuttovale Menon, et nuovamente stampati, et con somma diligentia corretti. Venice: Scotto, 1549. Milleville, Alessandro. Le Vergini con dieci altre stanze spirituali, a quattro voci. Ferrara: Baldini, 1584. Libro primo de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice: Gardano, 1575. Mosti, Agostino. Lettera nuova de tutte l’entrate feste giostre, comedie, e doni per la venuta di Papa Paolo III. a Ferrara cosa molto bella. Ferrara: n.p., 1543. Motetta d.  Cipriani de  Rore et  aliorum auctorum quatuor vocum parium de canenda cum tribus lectionibus pro mortuis, Iosepho Zerlino auctore. Venice: Scotto, 1563 (RISM 15634). Musica quinque vocum: motteta materna lingua vocata, ab optimis et varijs authoribus elaborata. Paribus vocibus decantanda: nunquàm antea excussa … Maximo labore et dilgentia emendata, ut patebit experientibus. Venice: Scotto, 1543 (RISM 15432). Musica quinque vocum que materna lingua moteta vocantur ab optimis et uarijs authoribus elaborata, paribus vocibus decantanda nuperrime soliciti cura recognita atque in lucem producta. Venice:  Gardano, 1549 (RISM 15496). Officium Beatae Catharinae virginis de Bononia, Ordinis Sanctae Clarae. Bologna: Giaccarelli, 1550. Rodio, Rocco. Aeri racolti insieme con altri bellissimi aggionti di diversi Dove si cantano Sonetti, Stanze e Terze Rime, nuovamente ristampti. Naples: Cacchio, 1577. Tasso, Torquato. Gierusalemme liberata, poema heroico del sig. Torquato Tasso ... Tratta dal vero originale, con aggiunta di quanto manca nell'altre edittioni. Ferrara: Baldini, 1581. Tassoni, Ercole Estense. L’Isola beata torneo fatto nella città di Ferrara per la venuta del serenissimo Principe Carlo Archiduca d’Austria. A XXV di Maggio MDLXIX. Ferrara: n.p., 1569. Veggio, Giovanni Agostino. Primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci. Parma: Viotto, 1575. Vicentino, Nicola. L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica. Rome: Barré, 1555.

346

346

Bibliography Willaert, Adriano. Musica nova. Venice: Gardano, 1559. Zarlino, Gioseffo. Sopplimenti musicali … nei quali si dichiarano molte cose contenute nei due primi volumi, delle Istitutioni e Dimostrationi … Terzo volume. Venice: Francesco de’ Franceschi, 1588. Utilissimo trattato della patientia, a tutti quelli che desiderano vivere christianamente. Del reverendo m.  Gioseffo Zarlino, da Chioza. Venice: Franceschi, 1561.

Secondary Sources and Modern Editions Albèri, Eugenio, ed. Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al Senato. Vol.  5. Venice: Società Editrice Fiorentina, 1841. Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al Senato:  Appendice. Vol.  4. Venice: Naratovich, 1863. Aleotti, Raffaella. Sacrae cantiones:  quinque, septem, octo & decem vocibus decantandae (1593). Edited by C.  Ann Carruthers, introduction revised and expanded by Thomas Bridges and Massimo Ossi. New York: Broude Trust, 2006. Aleotti, Vittoria [Raffaella]. Ghirlanda de madrigali a quatro voci. Edited by C. Ann Carruthers. New York: Broude Trust, 1994. d’Aragona, Tullia. Dialogue on the Infinity of Love. Edited and translated by Rinaldina Russell and Bruce Merry. Chicago and London:  University of Chicago Press, 2007. Aretino, Pietro. Sei giornate:  Ragionamento della Nanna e della Antonia (1534):  Dialogo nel quale la Nanna insegna a la Pippa (1536), edited by Angelo Romano. Milan: Mursia, 1991. Ariani, Marco. “Dilatazioni meliche.” In Il Cinquecento, edited by Giovanni Da  Pozzo, Vol.  2:  La normativa e il suo contrario (1533–1573). Storia letteraria d’Italia. Padua: PICCIN Nuova Libreria, 2007. ed. La tragedia del Cinquecento. Vol. 2. Turin: Einaudi, 1977. Ariosto, Ludovico. Orlando Furioso. Edited and translated by Guido Waldman. 2nd edn. Oxford World Classics. Oxford and New York:  Oxford University Press, 1983. Ashworth, Jack, and Paul O’Dette. “Proto-Continuo.” In A Performer’s Guide to Renaissance Music, edited by Jeffery  T. Kite-Powell, 225–37. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007.

347

347

Bibliography Atlas, Allan W. Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Balsano, Maria Antonella. “‘Solo e pensoso’, Fior d’ogni pensiero diviene villanella e canzonetta.” In Villanella, napolitana, canzonetta:  Relazioni tra Gasparo Fiorino, compositori calabresi e scuole italiane del Cinquecento, 11– 22. Vibo Valentia: Instituto di Bibliografia Musicale Calabrese, 1999. Bardi, Giovanni  de’. “Discorso … sopra la musica antica, e ’l cantar bene (c.1578).” In The Florentine Camerata: Documentary Studies and Translations, edited and translated by Claude V. Palisca. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989. Belli, Aderito. “Eleonora Sanvitali Contessa di Scandiano.” Aurea Parma 23 (1939): 146–54. Belvederi, Raffaele. “I vescovi postridentini nella diocesi di Ferrara e la pastorale borromaica.” In San Carlo e il suo tempo:  Atti del Convegno Internazionale nel IV centenario della morte (Milano, 21–26 maggio 1984), 345–83. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1986. Bembo, Illuminata. Specchio di illuminazione. Edited by Silvia Mostaccio. Caterina Vigri. La Santa e la Città  3. Florence:  SISMEL  – Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2001. Benson, Pamela J. The Invention of the Renaissance Woman: The Challenge of Female Independence in the Literature and Thought of Italy and England. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992. Berengan, Giuliana, and Marina Calore. Le custodi del sacro:  Viaggio nei monasteri ferraresi delle donne. Voci e silenzi. Ferrara delle donne. Ferrara: Navale Assicurazioni, 1999. Bernstein, Jane A. Music Printing in Renaissance Venice:  The Scotto Press (1539–1572). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print Culture and Music in Sixteenth-Century Venice. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Bernstein, Lawrence F. “‘La Courone et fleur des chansons a troys’: A Mirror of the French Chanson in Italy in the Years between Ottaviano Petrucci and Antonio Gardano.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 26, no.  1 (1973): 1–68. Besutti, Paola. “Dal madrigale alla musica scenica: Il ruolo degli interpreti tra teoria e prassi.” In Neoplatonismo, musica, letteratura nel rinascimento,

348

348

Bibliography edited by Piero Gargiulo, Alessandro Magini, and Stéphane Toussaint, 149– 71. Cahiers Accademia. Lucca: San Marco Litotipo, 2000. “Spaces for Music in Late Renaissance Mantua.” In The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi, edited by John Whenham and Richard Wistreich, 76–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Bizzarini, Marco. “L’esordio del Guarini ‘Poeta per musica’:  le intonazioni della raccolta Musica nova (1569) di Giulio Fiesco.” In Rime e lettere di Battista Guarini, edited by Bianca Maria Da  Rif, 173–96. Alessandria:  Edizioni dell’Orso, 2008. Luca Marenzio:  The Career of a Musician between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation. Translated by James Michael Chater. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. Blackburn, Bonnie J. “Anna Inglese and Other Women Singers in the Fifteenth Century:  Gleanings from the Sforza Archives.” In Sleuthing the Muse: Essays in Honor of William F. Prizer, edited by Kristine K. Forney and Jeremy L. Smith, 237–52. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2012. “The Virgin in the Sun:  Music and Image for a Prayer Attributed to Sixtus IV.” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 124, no. 2 (1999): 157–95. Blackburn, Bonnie J., and Edward Lowinsky. “Luigi Zenobi and His Letter on the Perfect Musician.” Studi musicali 22, no. 1 (1993): 61–114. Blaisdell, Charmarie Jenkins. “Politics and Heresy in Ferrara, 1534–1559.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 6, no. 1 (1975): 67–93. Blaisdell [Webb], Charmarie Jenkins. “Royalty and Reform: The Predicament of Renée de France, 1510–1575.” PhD, Tufts, 1969. Boccali, P. Giovanni, ed. Cum hymnis et canticis. Gaudeat Mater Ecclesia in festo sancte Clare virginis Assisiensis. Asissi: Edizioni Porziuncola, 2011. Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, MS Q19: (“The Rusconi Codex”), introduction by Jessie Ann Owens. Renaissance Music in Facsimile  1. New York and London: Garland, 1998. Bonini, Severo. Severo Bonini’s Discorsi e regole. Edited and translated by Maryann Bonino. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 1979. Bonino, Gioanni-Giacomo. Biografia medica piemontese. Turin: Bianco, 1824. Bosi, Kathryn. “Leone Tolosa and Martel d’amore  a balletto della duchessa discovered.” Recercare 17 (2005): 5–70.

349

349

Bibliography “More Documentation for the balletti della duchessa.” Recercare 20, no. 1/2 (2008): 219–31. Bottegari, Cosimo. Il libro di canto e liuto. Edited by Dinko Fabris and John Griffiths. Bologna: Arnaldo Forni Editore, 2006. Bottrigari, Ercole. Il Desiderio: Or, Concerning the Playing Together of Various Musical Instruments (1594). Translated by Carol MacClintock. Musicological Studies and Documents 9. Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1962. Bowers, Jane. “The Emergence of Women Composers in Italy, 1566–1700.” In Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, edited by Jane Bowers and Judith Tick, 116–67. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. Bradford, Sarah. Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy. London: Penguin, 2004. Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille. Oeuvres complètes de Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme. Edited by Ludovic Lalanne. Vol.  8. 11  vols. Paris: Renouard, 1875. Brisighella, Carlo. Descrizione delle pitture e sculture della città di Ferrara … (secolo XVIII). Edited by Maria Angela Novelli. Ferrara: Spazio Libri, 1991. Brooks, Jeanice. Courtly Song in Late Sixteenth-Century France. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Brown, Howard Mayer. “Bossinensis, Willaert and Verdelot: Pitch and the Conventions of Transcribing Music for Lute and Voice in Italy in the Early Sixteenth Century.” Revue de Musicologie 75, no. 1 (1989): 25–46. “The ‘Chanson Spirituelle,’ Jacques Buus, and Parody Technique.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 15, no. 2 (1962): 145–73. “A Cook’s Tour of Ferrara in 1529.” Rivista italiana di musicologia 10 (1975): 216–41. “The Geography of Florentine Monody:  Caccini at Home and Abroad.” Early Music 9, no. 2 (1981): 147–68. “Psyche’s Lament:  Some Music for the Medici Wedding in 1565.” In Words and Music: The Scholar’s View, edited by Laurence Berman, 1–27. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972. “Women Singers and Women’s Songs in Fifteenth-Century Italy.” In Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, edited by Jane Bowers and Judith Tick, 62–89. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.

350

350

Bibliography Brundin, Abigail. Vittoria Colonna and the Spiritual Poetics of The Italian Reformation. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2008. Bujanda, Jesús Martínez de. Index de Rome 1590, 1593, 1596. Index des livres interdits 9. Sherbrooke: Centre d’Études de la Renaissance, Editions de l’Université de Sherbrooke, 1994. Burney, Charles. A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period. 2nd edn. London: Payne, for the Author, 1789. Butchart, David. “‘La Pecorina’ at Mantua, Musica Nova at Florence.” Early Music 13, no. 3 (1985): 359–66. Campbell, Julie. Literary Circles and Gender in Early Modern Europe:  A Cross-Cultural Approach. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2013. Campori, Giuseppe, and Angelo Solerti. Luigi, Lucrezia e Leonora d’Este. Turin: Loescher, 1888. Caponetto, Salvatore. La Riforma protestante nell’Italia del Cinquecento. Turin: Claudiana, 1992. Carpinello, Mariella. Lucrezia d’Este:  duchessa di Urbino. Milan:  Rusconi Libri, 1988. Carruthers-Clement, Carol Ann. “The Madrigals and Motets of Vittoria/ Raphaella Aleotti.” PhD. Kent State University, 1982. Carter, Tim. “‘An Air New and Grateful to the Ear’:  The Concept of ‘Aria’ in Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Italy.” Music Analysis 12, no.  2 (1993): 127–45. “Caccini’s ‘Amarilli, mia bella:’ Some Questions (And a Few Answers).” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 113, no. 2 (1988): 250–73. “‘E in rileggendo poi le proprie note’:  Monteverdi responds to Artusi?” Renaissance Studies 26, no. 1 (2012): 138–55. “A Florentine Wedding of 1608.” Acta Musicologica 55 (1983): 89–107. “Lamenting Ariadne?” Early Music 27, no. 3 (1999): 395–406. “Printing the ‘New Music.’” In Music and the Cultures of Print, edited by Kate Van Orden, 3–37. Critical and Cultural Musicology  1. New  York: Garland, 2000. Castiglione, Baldesar. The Book of the Courtier. Translated by George Bull. 2nd edn. London: Penguin Classics, 1976.

351

351

Bibliography Cavalieri, Emilio de’. The Lamentations and Responsories of 1599 and 1600. Edited by Murray  C. Bradshaw. Vol.  3. Early Sacred Monody. American Institute of Musicology, 1990. Cavallo, Jo Ann. The Romance Epics of Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso:  From Public Duty to Private Pleasure. Toronto and London: University of Toronto Press, 2004. Cavicchi, Camilla. “Maistre Jhan alla corte degli Este (1512–1538).” PhD, Università di Bologna, 2006. “Osservazioni in margine sulla musica per l’immacolato concepimento della Vergina, al tempo di Sisto IV.” L’Atelier du Centre de recherches historiques. Revue électronique du CRH, no.  10 (2012), https://journals .openedition.org/acrh/4386. Cesari, Paolo. “Dizionario degli artisti del legno attivi in Italia,” 2006, www .paolocesari.com/dizioartistilegno.html. Chaudon, Louis Mayeul. Dictionnaire universel, historique, critique, et bibliographique. Vol. 19. Paris: Mame frères, 1812. Cittadella, Luigi Napoleone. I Guarini, famiglia nobile ferrarese oriunda di Verona: memorie. Bologna: G. Romagnoli, 1870. Coelho, Victor. “The Players of Florentine Monody in Context and in History, and a Newly Recognized Source for Le nuove musiche.” Journal of SeventeenthCentury Music 9, no. 1 (2003), www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/coelho.html. Coester, Christiane. Schön wie Venus, mutig wie Mars. Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 2007. Crawford, Katherine. European Sexualities, 1400–1800. New  York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Cusick, Suzanne G. Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court:  Music and the Circulation of Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. “Gendering Modern Music: Thoughts on the Monteverdi–Artusi Controversy.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 46, no. 1 (1993): 1–25. “[Reply to Charles  S. Brauner].” Journal of the American Musicological Society 47, no. 3 (1994): 554–63. D’Accone, Frank. “Corteccia’s Motets for the Medici Marriages of 1558.” In Words on Music: Essays in Honor of Andrew Porter on the Occasion of His 75th Birthday, edited by Andrew Porter, David Rosen, and Claire Brook, 36–73. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2003.

352

352

Bibliography Dalla  Viola, Alfonso. Primo libro di madrigali (Ferrara, 1539). Edited by Jessie Ann Owens. The Sixteenth-Century Madrigal  5. New  York and London: Garland, 1990. Dalla [Della] Viola, Francesco. Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci:  (Venice, 1550). Edited by Jessie Ann Owens. The Sixteenth-Century Madrigal 7. New York and London: Garland, 1988. D’Ancona, Alessandro. “Il teatro mantovano nel sec. XVI.” Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, no. 6 (1885): 1–52, 313–51. Origini del teatro italiano. 2nd edn. Vol. 2. 3 vols. Turin: Loescher, 1891. Davis, Natalie Zemon. Fiction in the Archives: Pardon Tales and Their Tellers in Sixteenth-Century France. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987. Davolio, Vincenzo. Memorie istoriche di Novellara e de’ suoi principi. Vol. 1. Novellara: n.p., 1825. De Rore, Cipriano. Opera omnia: Madrigalia 3–8 vocum. Edited by Bernhard Meier. Vol. 4. American Institute of Musicology, 1969. Opera omnia:  Motets for 5 voices. Edited by Bernhard Meier. Vol.  1. American Institute of Musicology, 1959. Opera omnia: Psalmi, Cantica B.M.V., Cantiones Gallicae, etc. Edited by Bernhard Meier. Vol. 8. American Institute of Musicology, 1977. De Wert, Giaches. Opera omnia: Il primo libro de madrigali a quattro voci (1561). Edited by Carol MacClintock and Melvin Bernstein. Vol. 15. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 24. American Institute of Musicology, 1972. Opera omnia:  Madrigali a cinque voci, libro primo (1558). Edited by Carol MacClintock and Melvin Bernstein. Vol.  1. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 24. American Institute of Musicology, 1961. Dunn, Kevin. Pretexts of Authority:  The Rhetoric of Authorship in the Renaissance Preface. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994. Durante, Elio, and Anna Martellotti. Cronistoria del concerto delle dame principalissime di Margherita Gonzaga d’Este. 2nd edn. Florence: Studio per Edizioni Scelte, 1989. «Giovinetta peregrina». La vera storia di Laura Peperara e Torquato Tasso. Florence: Olschki, 2010.

353

353

Bibliography “Il cavalier Guarini e il Concerto delle Dame.” In Guarini, la musica, i musicisti, edited by Angelo Pompilio, 3:  91–132. Con Notazioni. Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana Editrice, 1997. Madrigali segreti per le dame di Ferrara:  Il manoscritto musicale F.1358 della Biblioteca Estense di Modena. 2 vols. Florence:  Studio per Edizioni Scelte, 2000. “Tasso, Luzzaschi e il Principe di Venosa.” In Tasso, la musica, i musicisti, edited by Maria Balsano and Thomas Walker, 19:17–44. Quaderni della Rivista italiana di musicologia. Florence: Olschki, 1988. Einstein, Alfred. The Italian Madrigal. Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 1949. Eisenbichler, Konrad. The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena. Notre Dame, IN:  University of Notre Dame Press, 2012. Fabbri, Paolo. Monteverdi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Fabris, Dinko. Mecenati e musici:  documenti sul patronato artistico dei Bentivoglio di Ferrara nell’epoca di Monteverdi (1585–1645). Lucca:  Libreria musicale italiana, 1999. Feldman, Martha. “Authors and Anonyms:  Recovering the Anonymous Subject in Cinquecento Vernacular Objects.” In Music and the Cultures of Print, edited by Kate Van Orden, 166–99. New York: Garland, 2000. City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1995. “The Courtesan’s Voice:  Petrarchan Lovers, Pop Philosophy, and Oral Traditions.” In The Courtesan’s Arts:  Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by Bonnie Gordon and Martha Feldman, 105–23. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Fenlon, Iain. “Giaches de  Wert at Novellara.” Early Music 27, no.  1 (1999): 25–41. Giaches de  Wert:  Letters and Documents. Paris:  Éditions Klincksieck, 1999. “Music and Learning in Isabella d’Este’s Studioli.” In The Court of the Gonzaga in the Age of Mantegna: 1450–1550, 353–68. Rome: Bulzoni, 1997.

354

354

Bibliography Music and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Mantua. 2  vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. “Renaissance Novellara: Musical Life in the Gonzaga Hinterland.” Music and Letters 91, no. 4 (2010): 484–97. Fenlon, Iain, and James Haar. The Italian Madrigal in the Early Sixteenth Century:  Sources and Interpretation. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1988. Ferrone, Siro, Ludovico Zorzi, and Giuliano Innamorati. “Attori: professionisti e dilettanti.” In Il teatro del Cinquecento: I luoghi, i testi e gli attori, edited by Siro Ferrone, 81–106. Perugia: Morlacchi Editore, 2008. Fiesco, Giulio. Il primo libro de madrigali a quatro voci (Venice, 1554). Edited by Jessie Ann Owens. Sixteenth Century Madrigal 12. New York: Garland, 1996. Folin, Marco. “Sul ‘buon uso della religione’ in alcune lettere di Ercole d’Este e Felino Sandei: finte stigmate, monache e ossa di morti.” Archivio Italiano per la storia della Pietà 11 (1998): 181–244. Franceschini, Chiara. “‘Literarum studia nobis communia’: Olimpia Morata e la corte di Renata di Francia.” Schifanoia 28/29 (2005): 207–32. “Tra Ferrara e la Francia: notizie su orefici e pittori al servizio di Renée de France.” Franco-Italica 19–20 (2001): 65–104. Franklin, Harriet Apperson. “Musical Activity in Ferrara, 1598 to 1618.” PhD, Brown University, 1976. Frassoni, Ferruccio Pasini. Dizionario storico-araldico dell’antico Ducato di Ferrara. Rome: Arnaldo Forni, 1914. Frizzi, Antonio. Memorie per la storia di Ferrara raccolte da Antonio Frizzi con giunte e note del Conte Avv. Camillo Laderchi. Edited by Camillo Laderchi. 2nd edn. 5 vols. Ferrara: Abram Servadio, 1848. Frazier, Alison K. “Liturgical Humanism:  Saints’ Offices from the Italian Peninsula in the Fifteenth Century.” In The Cambridge History of FifteenthCentury Music, edited by Anna Maria Busse Berger and Jesse Rodin, 311– 30. The Cambridge History of Music. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 2015. Fromson, Michele. “Themes of Exile in Willaert’s Musica nova.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 47, no. 3 (1994): 442–87. Galand-Hallyn, Perrine. “Des ‘vers échoïques’ ou comment rendre une âme à Écho.” Nouvelle revue du XVIe siècle 15, no. 12 (1997): 253–76.

355

355

Bibliography Ganassi, Silvestro. Opera intitulata Fontegara (Venice, 1535). Edited and translated by Hildemarie Peter. Berlin: R. Leinau, 1956. Gerbino, Giuseppe. Music and the Myth of Arcadia in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Ghirardo, Diane Y. “Lucrezia Borgia’s Palace in Renaissance Ferrara.” The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 64, no. 4 (2005): 474–97. “The Topography of Prostitution in Renaissance Ferrara.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 60, no. 4 (2001): 402–31. Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista. De’ romanzi, delle comedie e delle tragedie: ragionamenti. Edited by Eugenio Camerini. Milan: G. Daelli, 1864. Selene: an Italian Renaissance tragedy. Edited by Phillip Horne. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996. Giraldi, Lilio Gregorio. Modern Poets. Edited by John N. Grant. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. Giustiniani, Vincenzo. Discorsi sulle arti e sui mestieri. Edited by Anna Banti. Florence: Sansoni, 1981. Discorso sopra la musica (1628). Edited and translated by Carol MacClintock. Musicological Studies and Documents 9. American Institute of Musicology, 1962. Gladen, Cynthia. “A Painter, a Duchess, and the Monastero di Sant’Orsola: Case Studies of Women’s Monastic Lives in Mantua, 1599–1651.” PhD, University of Minnesota, 2003. Gordon, Bonnie. “The Courtesan’s Singing Body as Cultural Capital in Seventeenth-Century Italy.” In The Courtesan’s Arts:  Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by Martha Feldman and Bonnie Gordon, 182–98. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Monteverdi’s Unruly Women:  The Power of Song in Early Modern Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Grafton, Anthony, and Lisa Jardine. From Humanism to the Humanities: Education and the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. Grandi, Alessandro. Opera omnia. Edited by Dennis Collins and Steven Saunders. Vol. 1. Münster: American Institute of Musicology, 2011. Grazioli, Cristina. “I diari di Ferdinando di Baveria.” In I Gonzaga e l’Impero: itinerari dello spettacolo: con una selezione di materiali dell’Archivio

356

356

Bibliography informatico Herla (1560–1630), edited by Umberto Artioli and Cristina Grazioli, 293–320. Florence: Le Lettere, 2005. Griffiths, John, and Dinko Fabris, eds. Neapolitan Lute Music. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 2004. Guasco, Annibale. Discourse to Lady Lavinia His Daughter. Edited and translated by Peggy Osborn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Guerzoni, Guido. “Este Courtiers 1457–1628.” Database. 2006, www.academia.edu/2925252/Este_Courtiers_1457-1628. Le corti estensi e la devoluzione di Ferrara del 1598. Modena:  Archivio storico, Comune di Modena, Assessorato alla cultura e beni culturali (Modena), 2000. “Strangers at Home. The Courts of Este Princesses between XVth and XVIIth Centuries.” In Moving Elites:  Women and Cultural Transfers in the European Court System. Proceedings of an International Workshop (Florence, 12–13 December 2008), edited by Giulia Calvi and Isabelle Chabot, 141–56. Badia Fiesolana: European University Institute, 2010. Guidoboni, Emanuela. “Riti di calamità: terremoti a Ferrara nel 1570–74.” Quaderni storici 19, no. 55 (1984): 107–35. Gundersheimer, Werner L. Ferrara:  The Style of a Renaissance Despotism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. Haar, James. “Arie per cantar stanze ariostesche.” In L’Ariosto, la musica, i musicisti:  Quattro studi e sette madrigali ariosteschi, edited by Maria Antonella Balsano, 31–46. Florence: Olschki, 1981. “Arioso and Canzonetta:  Rhythm as a Stylistic Determinant in the Madrigals of Giaches de Wert.” Giaches deWert (1535–1596) and His Time. Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation 3 (1999): 89–120. “The Capriccio of Giachet Berchem:  A Study in Modal Organization.” Musica disciplina 52 (1988): 129–56. “The Courtier as Musician: Castiglione’s View of the Science and Art of Music.” In The Science and Art of Renaissance Music, 20–37. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. “Improvvisatori and Their Relationship to Sixteenth-Century Music.” In Essays on Italian Poetry and Music in the Renaissance, 1350–1600, 76–99. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986.

357

357

Bibliography “The ‘Madrigale Arioso’: A Mid-Century Development in the Cinquecento Madrigal.” In The Science and Art of Renaissance Music, 222–38. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. “‘Pace non trovo’:  A Study in Literary and Musical Parody.” Musica Disciplina 20 (1966): 95–149. “Rore’s Settings of Ariosto.” In Essays in Musicology:  A Tribute to Alvin Johnson, edited by Lewis Lockwood and Edward Roesner, 101–25. American Musicological Society, 1990. Haar, James, and Maria Balsano. “L’Ariosto in musica.” In L’Ariosto, la musica, i musicisti:  Quattro studi e sette madrigali ariosteschi, edited by Maria Antonella Balsano, 47–88. Florence: Olschki, 1981. Harness, Kelley. Echoes of Women’s Voices: Music, Art, and Female Patronage in Early Modern Florence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Harrán, Don. “Verse Types in the Early Madrigal.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 22, no. 1 (1969): 27–53. Haynes, Bruce. The End of Early Music: A Period Performer’s History of Music for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Henke, Robert. Performance and Literature in the Commedia dell’Arte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Herzig, Tamar. Savonarola’s Women: Visions and Reform in Renaissance Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Hill, John Walter. “Oratory Music in Florence, I:  Recitar Cantando, 1583– 1655.” Acta Musicologica 51, no. 1 (1979): 108–36. Roman Monody, Cantata, and Opera from the Circles Around Cardinal Montalto. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Hollingsworth, Mary. The Cardinal’s Hat: Money, Ambition and Housekeeping in a Renaissance Court. London: Profile, 2005. Horne, P. R. “Reformation and Counter-Reformation at Ferrara:  Antonio Musa Brasavola and Giambattista Cinthio Giraldi.” Italian Studies 13, no.  1 (1958): 62–82. The Tragedies of Giambattista Cinthio Giraldi. Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 1962. Horsley, Imogene. “Full and Short Scores in the Accompaniment of Italian Church Music in the Early Baroque.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 30, no. 3 (1977): 466–99.

358

358

Bibliography Jardine, Lisa. “‘O Decus Italiae Virgo’, or the Myth of the Learned Lady in the Renaissance.” The Historical Journal 28, no. 4 (1985): 799–819. Javitch, Daniel. Proclaiming a Classic: The Canonization of Orlando Furioso. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Josephson, David. “‘Why Then All the Difficulties!’: A Life of Kathi MeyerBaer.” Notes 65, no. 2 (2008): 227–67. Kelly-Gadol, Joan. “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” In Becoming Visible: Women in European History, edited by Renate Bridenthal and Claudia Koonz, 3rd edn., 137–64. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Kendrick, Robert L. Celestial Sirens: Nuns and Their Music in Early Modern Milan. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Kuehn, Thomas. Law, Family, and Women: Toward a Legal Anthropology of Renaissance Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Kuntz, Marion Leathers. The Anointment of Dionisio: Prophecy and Politics in Renaissance Italy. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. La Monica, Alessandro. “Indici e controindici:  la polemica di Pier Paolo Vergerio contro la censura ecclesiastica.” Quaderni d’italianistica 29, no.  2 (2008): 17–28. La Via, Stefano. Cipriano de Rore as Reader and as Read: A Literary-Musical Study of Madrigals from Rore’s Later Collections (1557–1566). Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1991. “Eros and Thanatos: A Ficinian and Laurentian Reading of Verdelot’s Sì lieta e grata morte.” Early Music History 21 (2002): 75–116. Labuda, Gerard, Marian Biskup, and Waldemar Michowicz. The History of Polish Diplomacy X–XX C. Warsaw : Sejm Publishing Office, 2005. Lazzari, Alfonso. Le ultime tre duchesse di Ferrara. Florence:  Ufficio della Rassegna Nazionale, 1913. “Torquato Tasso e la ferrarese Lucrezia Bendedei.” Atti e memorie della deputazione provinciale ferrarese di storia patria, nuova serie 12 (1954): 5–32. Le Guin, Ursula K. Tales from Earthsea. London: Orion, 2002. Leclercq, Jean. L’Amour des lettres et le désir de Dieu [The Love of Learning and the Desire for God]. Translated by Catherine Misrahi. 3rd edn. New York: Fordham University Press, 1982.

359

359

Bibliography Lerner, Gerda. “Placing Women in History:  A 1975 Perspective.” Feminist Studies 1–2 (1975): 5–15. Lewis, Mary S. “Antonio Gardane’s Early Connections with the Willaert Circle.” In Music in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Patronage, Sources, and Texts, edited by Iain Fenlon, 209–26. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Antonio Gardano, Venetian Music Printer, 1538–1569. Vol.  1. New  York and London: Garland, 1988. “Twins, Cousins, and Heirs:  Relationships among Editions of Music Printed in Sixteenth-Century Venice.” In Critica Musica: Essays in Honour of Paul Brainard, 2nd edn., 193–224. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016. Liboni, Gionata. “Medicina e religione in una lettera di Antonio Musa Brasavola ad Eleonora d’Este.” Schifanoia 40–41 (2011): 119–26. Liechtenstein, the Princely Collections. New York:  Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985. Lockwood, Lewis. “Adrian Willaert and Cardinal Ippolito  I d’Este:  New Light on Willaert’s Early Career in Italy, 1515–21.” Early Music History 5 (1985): 85–112. Music in Renaissance Ferrara 1400–1505. New  York:  Oxford University Press, 2009. Loewen, Peter. Music in Early Franciscan Thought. Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 2013. Lombardi, Teodosio. Gli Estensi ed il monastero del Corpus Domini di Ferrara. Ferrara: Centro culturale città di Ferrara, 1980. I francescani a Ferrara. 5 vols. Bologna: Ed. Dehoniane, 1974. López-Ríos, Santiago. “A New Inventory of the Royal Aragonese Library of Naples.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 65 (2002): 201–43. Lorenzetti, Stefano. Musica e identità nobiliare nell’Italia del rinascimento. Florence: Olschki, 2003. Lowe, K. J.  P. Nuns’ Chronicles and Convent Culture in Renaissance and Counter-Reformation Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Lowinsky, Edward E. “Cipriano de Rore’s Venus Motet: Its Poetic and Pictorial Sources.” In Music in the Culture of the Renaissance and Other Essays, edited by Bonnie J. Blackburn, 2:575–94. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1989.

360

360

Bibliography “A Newly Discovered Sixteenth-Century Motet Manuscript at the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 3, no. 3 (1950): 173–232. “Two Motets and Two Madrigals for the Este Family.” In Music in the Culture of the Renaissance and Other Essays, edited by Bonnie J. Blackburn, 2:627–35. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1989. Lucas, Corinne. “Le personnage de la reine dans le théâtre de Giraldi Cinzio.” In The Court of Ferrara and its Patronage / La corte di Ferrara e il suo mecenatismo 1441–1598, edited by Marianne Pade, Lene Waage Petersen, and Daniela Quarta, 283–300. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1990. Luzio, Alessandro. “Un’avventura di Tullia d’Aragona.” Rivista storica mantovana 1 (1885): 179–82. “Vittoria Colonna.” Rivista storica mantovana 1 (1885): 1–52. Luzzaschi, Luzzasco. Il primo libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara, 1571), Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice 1576). Edited by Anthony Newcomb. Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals  4. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 2010. Il quarto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara, 1594) and Madrigals Published Only in Anthologies, 1583–1604. Edited by Anthony Newcomb. Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 2. Madison: A-R Editions, Inc., 2004. Madrigali: per cantare e sonare a 1, 2 e 3 soprani (1601). Edited by Adriano Cavicchi. Brescia: L’Organo, 1965. Quinto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara, 1595), Sesto libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Ferrara, 1596), Settimo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice, 1604). Edited by Anthony Newcomb. Complete Unaccompanied Madrigals 1. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 2003. MacCarthy, Ita. Women and the Making of Poetry in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2007. MacClintock, Carol. Giaches de Wert: 1535–1596, Life and Works. American Institute of Musicology, 1966. Macey, Patrick. Bonfire Songs:  Savonarola’s Musical Legacy. Oxford Monographs on Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Maclean, Ian. The Renaissance Notion of Woman:  A Study in the Fortunes of Scholasticism and Medical Science in European Intellectual Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

361

361

Bibliography MacNeil, Anne. Music and Women of the Commedia dell’Arte in the Late Sixteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. “Weeping at the Water’s Edge.” Early Music 27, no. 3 (1999): 407–17. McCall, Timothy. “Traffic in Mistresses:  Sexualized Bodies and Systems of Exchange in the Early Modern Court.” In Sex Acts in Early Modern Italy: Practice, Performance, Perversion, Punishment, edited by Allison Mary Levy, 125–36. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010. McGee, Timothy. “How One Learned to Ornament in Late SixteenthCentury Italy.” Performance Practice Review 13, no. 1 (2008). http://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/vol13/iss1/6. McHam, Sarah Blake. “Donatello’s Judith as the Emblem of God’s Chosen People.” In The Sword of Judith:  Judith Studies Across the Disciplines, edited by Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti, and Henrike Lähnemann, 307–24. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2010. McKinney, Timothy R. “A Rule Made to Be Broken: On Zarlino, Vicentino, Willaert and Parallel Congruent Imperfect Consonances.” Early Music 42, no. 2 (2014): 175–89. Adrian Willaert and the Theory of Interval Affect: The Musica Nova Madrigals and the Novel Theories of Zarlino and Vicentino. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010. McLaughlin, Mary Martin. “Creating and Recreating Communities of Women: The Case of Corpus Domini, Ferrara, 1406–1452.” Signs 14, no.  2 (1989): 293–320. Mangani, Marco, and Michaela Zackova Rossi. “Ballata Form in the Early Madrigal.” In Music Theory and Analysis, 1450–1650:  Proceedings of the International Conference, Louvain-La-Neuve, 23–25 September 1999, edited by Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans and Bonnie J. Blackburn, 149–93. Louvain-la Neuve: Départment d’histoire de l’art et d’archéologie, Collège Érasme, 2001. Marcigliano, Alessandro. Chivalric Festivals at the Ferrarese Court of Alfonso II d’Este. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2003. Marenzio, Luca. The Secular Works, VI,  Il sesto libro de’ madrigali a sei voci (1595). Edited by Patricia Myers. New York: Broude Bros., 1983. Marshall, Melanie L. “Imitating the Rustic and Revealing the Noble: Masculine Power and Music at the Court of Ferrara.” In Eroticism in Early Modern Music, edited by Bonnie J. Blackburn and Laurie Stras, 83–114. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015.

362

362

Bibliography Martini, Giuseppe. Claudio Merulo. Parma:  Ordine costantiniano di San Giorgio, 2005. Massa, Giovanni Maria di. Giovanni Maria di Massa: Memorie di Ferrara, 1582–1585. Edited by Matteo Provasi. Ferrara:  Deputazione provinciale ferrarese di storiapatria, 2004. Meine, Sabine. “Musikalische Spuren konfessioneller Spannungen an den Höfen von Renée de Valois und Ercole  II d’Este im Ferrara des 16.  Jahrhunderts.” In Feste  – Opern  – Prozessionen. Musik als kulturelle Präsentation, edited by Katharina Hottmann and Christine Siegert, 27–44. Jahrbuch Musik und Gender 1. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2008. Mele, Donato. L’Accademia dello Spirito Santo:  Un’istituzione musicale ferrarese del sec. XVII. Ferrara: Liberty House, 1990. Mendogni, Pier Paolo. Correggio and St Paul’s Monastery. Parma:  Proposte Editrice, 1996. Menegatti, Maria Lucia. “Documenti per la storia dei camerini di Alfonso I (1471–1634):  Regesto generale.” In Il camerino delle pitture di Alfonso  I, edited by Alessandro Ballarin, 3:3–340. Padua: Bertoncello, 2002. Meyer-Baer, Kathi. Der chorische Gesang der Frauen, mit besonderer Bezugnahme seiner Betätigung auf geistlichem Gebiet: 1. Teil: Bis zur Zeit um 1800. Hamburg: Breitkopf and Härtel, 1917. Monson, Craig. “The Council of Trent Revisited.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 55, no. 1 (2002): 1–37. Disembodied Voices: Music and Culture in an Early Modern Italian Convent. Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1995. “Elena Malvezzi’s Keyboard Manuscript:  A New Sixteenth-Century Source.” Early Music History 9 (1990): 73–128. Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic Art and Arson in the Convents of Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. ed. The Crannied Wall:  Women, Religion, and the Arts in Early Modern Europe. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. Montford, Kimberlyn. “Music in the Convents of Counter-Reformation Rome.” PhD, Rutgers, 1999. Morata, Olympia Fulvia. The Complete Writings of an Italian Heretic. Edited by Holt N. Parker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

363

363

Bibliography Newcomb, Anthony. “The Ballata and the ‘Free’ Madrigal in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 63, no. 3 (2010): 427–97. “Carlo Gesualdo and a Musical Correspondence of 1594.” The Musical Quarterly 54, no. 4 (1968): 409–36. “Courtesans, Muses, or Musicians? Professional Women Musicians in Sixteenth-Century Italy.” In Women Making Music:  The Western Art Tradition, 90–115. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. “Editions of Willaert’s Musica nova:  New Evidence, New Speculations.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 26, no. 1 (1973): 132–45. “Luzzaschi’s setting of Dante:  ‘Quivi sospiri, pianti, ed alti guai.’” Early Music History 28 (2009): 97–138. The Madrigal at Ferrara, 1579–1597. 2  vols. Princeton,  NJ:  Princeton University Press, 1981. “Posthumous Cipriano: Variation and Variety in Three Madrigals (1566– 76).” In Cipriano de Rore: New Perspectives on His Life and Music, edited by Jessie Ann Owens and Katelijne Schiltz, 411–48. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. “The Three Anthologies for Laura Peverara, 1580–1583.” Rivista italiana di musicologia 10 (1975): 329–45. “Wert: A Re-Evaluation of the Early Years in Particular.” Giaches de Wert (1535–1596) and His Time. Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation 3 (1999): 13–26. Nicholson, Eric. “Romance as Role Model:  Early Female Performances of Orlando furioso and Gerusalemme liberata.” In Renaissance Transactions: Ariosto and Tasso, edited by Valeria Finucci, 246–69. Durham, NC:  Duke University Press, 1999. Niwa, Seishirō. “Duke Ottavio Farnese’s Chapel in Parma, 1561–1586.” PhD, International Christian University, 2002. Nosow, Robert. “The Dating and Provenance of Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, MS  Q  19.” The Journal of Musicology 9, no.  1 (1991): 92–108. “The Debate on Song in the Accademia Fiorentina.” Early Music History 21 (2002): 175–221. Nugent, George. “Anti-Protestant Music for Sixteenth-Century Ferrara.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 43, no. 2 (1990): 228–91.

364

364

Bibliography Nuti, Giulia. The Performance of Italian Basso Continuo: Style in Keyboard Accompaniment in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007. Osborn, Peggy. “‘Fuor di quel costume antico’: Innovation Versus Tradition in the Prologues of Giraldi Cinthio’s Tragedies.” Italian Studies 37, no.  1 (1982): 49–66. Owens, Jessie Ann. Composers at Work:  The Craft of Musical Composition 1450–1600. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. “Music in the Early Ferrarese Pastoral: A Study of Beccari’s ‘Il Sacrificio’.” In Il  Teatro italiano del Rinascimento, edited by Maristella de  Panizza Lorch, 583–601. Milan: Edizioni di Comunità, 1980. “The Milan Partbooks:  Evidence of Cipriano de  Rore’s Compositional Process.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 37, no.  2 (1984): 270–98. Owens, Jessie Ann, and Richard J. Agee. “La stampa della ‘Musica nova’ di Willaert.” Rivista italiana di musicologia 24, no. 2 (1989): 219–305. Owens, Jessie Ann, and Katelijne Schiltz, eds. Cipriano de  Rore:  New Perspectives on His Life and Music. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. Padoan, Giorgio. La Veniexiana:  con versione italiana a fronte. Venice: Marsilio, 1994. Palisca, Claude V. “Vincenzo Galilei and Some Links Between ‘PseudoMonody’ and Monody.” The Musical Quarterly 46, no. 3 (1960): 344–60. Parisi, Susan H. “Ducal Patronage of Music in Mantua, 1587–1627:  An Archival Study.” PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989. Patrizi, Francesco. L’amorosa filosofia. Edited by John Charles Nelson. Florence: Felice Le Monnier, 1963. Pattenden, Miles. Pius IV and the Fall of the Carafa:  Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome. Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2013. Pender, Patricia. Early Modern Women’s Writing and the Rhetoric of Modesty. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Perkins, Leeman L., and Howard Garey. The Mellon Chansonnier. 2  vols. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1979. Pesci, Marco. “Il cavaliere disvelato:  Vincenzo Pinti, ‘nella corte di Roma detto il Cavaliere del liuto.’ ” Recercare 15 (2003): 119–47.

365

365

Bibliography Petrarca, Francesco. Petrarch:  The Canzoniere, or Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta. Edited and translated by Mark Musa. Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 1996. Peverada, Enrico. “Documenti per la storia organaria dei monasteri femminili ferrarese (sec. XVI–XVII).” L’Organo: Rivista di cultura organaria e organistica 30 (1996): 119–93. “La visita apostolica di Mons. G.B. Maremonti e l’applicazione dei Decreti Tridentini in Diocesi di Ferrara (1574–1611).” PhD, Pontificia Università Lateranense, 1967. “Organaria conventuale del Cinquecento ferrarese.” Analecta Pomposiana 33 (2008): 241–71. Pigna, Giovanni Battista. Gli amori. Edited by David Nolan and Alan Bullock. Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1991. Il ben divino. Edited by Neuro Bonfacio. Rome:  Biblioteca Italiana, 2003, www.bibliotecaitaliana.it/indice/visualizza_testo_html/bibit001552. Piperno, Franco. “Diplomacy and Musical Patronage: Virginia, Guidubaldo II, Massimiliano II, ‘Lo Streggino’ and Others.” Early Music History 18 (1999): 259–85. L’immagine del Duca. Florence: Olschki, 2001. Pirrotta, Nino, and Elena Povoledo. Music and Theatre from Poliziano to Monteverdi. Translated by Karen Eales. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1982. Pomata, Gianna, and Gabriella Zarri. I monasteri femminili come centri di cultura fra Rinascimento e Barocco atti del convegno storico internazionale:  Bologna, 8–10 dicembre 2000. Rome:  Edizioni di storia e letturatura, 2005. Prizer, William. Courtly Pastimes:  The Frottole of Marchetto Cara. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1980. “Games of Venus: Secular Vocal Music in the Late Quattrocento and Early Cinquecento.” Journal of Musicology 9, no. 1 (1991): 3–56. “Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia as Patrons of Music: The Frottola at Mantua and Ferrara.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 38, no. 1 (1985): 1–33. “Renaissance Women as Patrons of Music: The North-Italian Courts.” In Rediscovering the Muses: Women’s Musical Traditions, edited by Kimberly Marshall, 186–205. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press, 1993.

366

366

Bibliography “Una ‘virtù molto conveniente a madonne’: Isabella d’Este as a Musician.” The Journal of Musicology 17, no. 1 (1999): 10–49. Raybould, Robin. An Introduction to the Symbolic Literature of the Renaissance. Oxford: Trafford Publishing, 2005. Reardon, Colleen. Holy Concord within Sacred Walls:  Nuns and Music in Siena, 1575–1700. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Regan, Lisa K. “Ariosto’s Threshold Patron:  Isabella d’Este in the Orlando Furioso.” Modern Language Notes 120, no. 1 (2005): 50–69. Reynolds, Christopher A. “Interpreting and Dating Josquin’s Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae.” In Early Musical Borrowing, edited by Honey Meconi, 91– 110. New York: Routledge, 2004. Richardson, Brian. Printing, Writers and Readers in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Rifkin, Joshua. “Jean Michel, Maistre Jhan and a Chorus of Beasts. Old Light on Some Ferrarese Music Manuscripts.” Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging Voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis 52, no. 1 (2002): 67–102. Riley, Joanne Marie. “Tarquinia Molza (1542–1617):  A Case Study of Women, Music, and Society in the Renaissance.” In The Musical Woman: An International Perspective, 2:470–93. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. Robertson, Clare. “Il Gran Cardinale”: Alessandro Farnese, Patron of the Arts. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Rodocanachi, Emmanuel. Une protectrice de la Réforme en Italie et en France:  Renée de France, duchesse de Ferrare  (1896). Geneva:  Slatkine Reprints, 1970. Roscoe, William. The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth. London: Cadell, 1827. Rosenthal, Margaret F. The Honest Courtesan: Veronica Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth-Century Venice. Chicago and London:  University of Chicago Press, 1993. Sabadino degli Arienti, Giovanni. Art and Life at the Court of Ercole I  d'Este:  The De triumphis religionis of Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti. Edited with an introduction and notes by Werner  L. Gundersheimer. Geneva: Droz, 1972. Savonarola, Girolamo. Oeuvres spirituelles choises de Jérome Savonarole des frères prècheurs. Edited by Emmanuel-Ceslas Bayonne. Paris:  Librairie Poussielgue frères, 1879.

367

367

Bibliography Scaraffia, Lucetta and Gabriella Zarri. Women and Faith: Catholic Religious Life in Italy from Late Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press, 1999. Schick, Hartmut. Musikalische Einheit im Madrigal von Rore bis Monteverdi: Phänomene, Formen und Entwicklungslinien. Tutzing: Schneider, 1998. Schiesari, Juliana. “In Praise of Virtuous Women? For a Genealogy of Gender Morals in Renaissance Italy.” Annali d’italianistica 7 (1989): 66–87. Schiltz, Katelijne. “Cipriano de Rore’s a voci pari Motets: Sources, Context, Style.” In Cipriano de Rore: New Perspectives on His Life and Music, edited by Jessie Ann Owens and Katelijne Schiltz, 191–227. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. “Gioseffo Zarlino and the Miserere Tradition: A Ferrarese Connection?” Early Music History 27 (2008): 181–216. Scoglio, Egidio. Il teatro alla corte Estense. Lodi: Biancardi, 1965. Shephard, Tim. Echoing Helicon: Music, Art and Identity in the Este Studioli, 1440–1530. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. “Noblewomen and Music in Italy, c.1430–1520: Looking Past Isabella.” In Gender, Age and Musical Creativity, edited by Lisa Colton and Catherine Haworth, 27–40. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015. Sherr, Richard. “The Publications of Guglielmo Gonzaga.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 31, no. 1 (1978): 118–25. Slim, H. Colin. A Gift of Madrigals and Motets. Vol.  1. 2  vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972. Solerti, Angelo. Ferrara e la corte estense nella seconda metà del secolo XVI. Città di Castello: Lapi, 1900. Vita di Torquato Tasso. Vol. 1. Turin and Rome: Ermanno Loescher, 1895. Le origini del melodramma. Turin: Fratelli Bocca, 1903. Spanò Martinelli, Serena, ed. Il processo di canonizzazione di Caterina Vigri: 1586–1712. Caterina Vigri. La Santa e la Città 4. Florence:  SISMEL – edizioni del Galluzzo, 2003. Sperling, Jutta Gisela. Convents and the Body Politic in Late Renaissance Venice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Stampino, Maria Galli. Staging the Pastoral: Tasso’s Aminta And the Emergence of Modern Western Theater. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 280. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005.

368

368

Bibliography Stoppino, Eleonora. Genealogies of Fiction:  Women Warriors and the Medieval Imagination in the Orlando Furioso. New York: Fordham University Press, 2012. Stras, Laurie. “‘Al gioco si conosce il galantuomo’: Artifice, Humour and Play in the Enigmi musicali of Don Lodovico Agostini.” Early Music History 24 (2005): 213–86. “Cipriano de  Rore and the Este Women.” In Cipriano de  Rore:  New Perspectives on His Life and Music, edited by Jessie Ann Owens and Katelijne Schiltz, 75–102. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. “Considering the Performance of Alessandro Grandi’s Motetti a cinque voci (1614).” In Celesti Sirene:  Musica e monachesimo dal Medioevo all’Ottocento, edited by Annamaria Bonsante and Roberto Matteo Pasquandrea, 73–93. Foggia: Claudio Grenzi Editore, 2010. “Encoding the Musical Erotic.” In Eroticism in Early Modern Music, edited by Bonnie J. Blackburn and Laurie Stras. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015. “Imitation, Meditation and Penance:  Don  Lodovico Agostini’s Le lagrime del peccatore (1586).” In “Uno gentile et subtile ingenio”:  Studies in Renaissance Music:  Essays in Honour of Bonnie Blackburn, edited by M.  Jennifer Bloxam, Gioia Filocamo, and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, 121–28. Turnhout: Brepols, 2009. “Le nonne della ninfa:  Feminine Voices and Modal Rhetoric in the Generations Before Monteverdi.” In Gender, Sexuality and Early Music, edited by Todd Borgerding, 123–65. New York and London: Routledge, 2002. “Musical Portraits of Female Musicians at the Northern Italian Courts in the 1570s.” In Art and Music in the Early Modern Period:  Essays in Memory of Franca Trinchieri Camiz, edited by Katherine McIver, 145–72. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. “‘Non è sì denso velo’:  Hidden and Forbidden Practice in Wert’s Ottavo libro de madrigali a cinque voci, 1586.” In Eroticism in Early Modern Music, edited by Bonnie J. Blackburn and Laurie Stras, 143–73. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015. “‘Onde havrà mond’esempio et vera historia’: Musical Echoes of Henri III’s Progress through Italy.” Acta Musicologica 72, no. 1 (2000): 7–41. “The Performance of Polyphony in Early Sixteenth-Century Italian Convents.” Early Music 45, no. 2 (2017): 195–215.

369

369

Bibliography “Recording Tarquinia: Imitation, Parody and Reportage in Ingegneri’s ‘Hor che ’l ciel e la terra e ’l vento tace.’” Early Music 27, no. 3 (1999): 358–78. “The Ricreationi per monache of Suor  Annalena Aldobrandini.” Renaissance Studies 26, no. 1 (2012): 34–59. “Sapienti pauca:  The Canones et Echo sex vocibus … eiusdem dialogi (1572) of Don  Lodovico Agostini.” In Canons and Canonic Techniques, 14th–16th Centuries: Theory, Practice, and Reception History. Proceedings of the International Conference, Leuven, 4–6 October 2005, edited by Bonnie  J. Blackburn and Katelijne Schiltz, 357–80. Leuven and Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2007. “Voci pari Motets and Convent Polyphony in the 1540s:  The materna lingua complex.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 70, no.  3 (2017): 617–96. Striggio, Alessandro. Il primo libro de madrigali a sei voci (1560). Edited by David Butchart. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 1986. Strocchia, Sharon T. Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. Tasso, Torquato. Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio. Edited and translated by Max Wickert. New York: Italica Press, 2011. Tomlinson, Gary. “Madrigal, Monody, and Monteverdi’s ‘via naturale alla imitatione.’ ” Journal of the American Musicological Society 34, no.  1 (1981): 60–108. Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance. Berkeley :  University of California Press, 1987. Treadwell, Nina. Music and Wonder at the Medici Court: The 1589 Interludes for La Pellegrina. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. “Restaging the Siren: Musical Women in the Performance of SixteenthCentury Italian Theater.” PhD, University of Southern California, 2000. “‘Simil combattimento fatto de Dame’:  The musico-theatrical entertainments of Margherita Gonzaga’s balletto delle donne and the Female Warrior in Ferrarese Cultural History.” In Gender, Sexuality, and Early Music, edited by Todd C. Borgerding, 27–40. New York: Routledge, 2002. Treitler, Leo. Music and the Historical Imagination. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 1989.

370

370

Bibliography Treloar, Stephanie Lynn. “The Madrigals of Giaches de Wert: Patrons, Poets, and Compositional Procedures.” PhD, Harvard University, 2003. Tuohy, Thomas. Herculean Ferrara:  Ercole d’Este (1471–1505) and the Invention of a Ducal Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Vandelli, Domenico. “Vita di Tarquinia Molza.” In Opuscoli inediti di Tarquinia Molza modenese, edited by Pierantonio Serassi, 3–25. Bergamo: Lancellotti, 1750. Vendramini, Cécile. “Les offrandes musicales à Renée de France, fille de Louis XII.” In Histoire, humanisme et hymnologie :  mélanges offerts au professeur Edith Weber, edited by Pierre Guillot and Louis Jambou, 193–205. Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1997. Verdelot, Philippe. Intavolatura de li madrigali di Verdelotto da cantare et sonare nel lauto, intavolati per Messer Adriano (Venice, 1536). Edited by Bernard Thomas. Renaissance Music Prints  3. London:  London Pro Musica, 1980. Vespa, Geronimo. Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci di Geronimo Vespa da Napoli. Edited by Giordano Mastrocola. Florence: Olschki, 2005. Vicentino, Nicola. Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice. Edited by Claude V. Palisca. Translated by Maria Rika Maniates. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1996. Vigri, Caterina. Laudi, trattati e lettere. Edited by Silvia Serventi. Caterina Vigri. La Santa e la Città  2. Florence:  SISMEL  – Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2000. Le sette armi spirituali. Edited by Antonella Degl’Innocenti. Caterina Vigri. La Santa e la Città 1. Florence: SISMEL – Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2000. Waisman, Leonardo Julio. “The Ferrarese Madrigal in the Mid-Sixteenth Century.” PhD, University of Chicago, 1988. Watkins, Glenn. Gesualdo:  The Man and His Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. Willaert, Adrian. Opera omnia: Musica nova: 1559: Madrigalia. Edited by Walter Gerstenberg. Vol.  13. Rome:  American Institute of Musicology, 1965. Wistreich, Richard. Warrior, Courtier, Singer:  Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and the Performance of Identity in the Late Renaissance. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007.

371

371

Bibliography Zampelli, Michael. “Trent Revisited:  A Reappraisal of Early Modern Catholicism’s Relationship with the Commedia Italiana.” The Journal of Religion and Theatre 1, no. 1 (2002): 120–33. Zarlino, Gioseffo. The Art of Counterpoint:  Part Three of Le Istitutioni Harmoniche, 1588. Translated by Claude V. Palisca. Rpt. New York: Norton, 1976. Le istitutioni harmoniche (1588). Facsimile reprint. New  York:  Broude Brothers, 1965. Motets from 1549. Edited by Cristle Collins Judd. Vol. 1. Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance  145. Middleton, WI:  A-R  Editions, Inc., 2006. Motets from the 1560s:  Seventeen Motets from Modulationes sex vocum and Motetta D. Cipriani de Rore et aliorum auctorum. Edited by Katelijne Schiltz and Cristle Collins Judd. Recent researches in the music of the Renaissance 163. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, Inc., 2015. Zerbinati, Giovanni Maria. Croniche di Ferrara:  quali comenzano del anno 1500  sino al 1527. Edited by Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli. Ferrara: Deputazione provinciale Ferrarese di storia patria, 1989. Zuccagni-Orlandini, Attilio. Corografia fisica, storica e statistica dell’ Italia e delle sue isole … Supplemento. Vol. 9. Florence: Presso gli editori, 1842.

372

373

General Index

Note: The appearance of “e” after a page number indicates a music example, “f ” indicates a figure, “t” indicates a table, and “n” indicates a footnote. abbandonata, 111, 134, 162, 261, 339 as wedding trope, 10, 89, 111, 134, 262, 338 Accademia degli Eterei (Padua), 145 Accademia degli Intrepidi (Ferrara), 2n2, 228 Accademia degli Rinnovati (Ferrara), 242–43 Accademia Filarmonica (Verona), 241 actor. See under actress actress (also actor), 138, 140, 146, 149–53, 166, 181, 286 Agazzari, Agostino, 267–68, 283 Agostini, Lodovico, 10, 199–201, 240, 243, 252, 262 Canzoni alla napolitana a cinque voci, 192, 199–200 echoes of, 250, 256–57, 272, 282, 326 L’Echo, et Enigmi musicali, 241, 249–50, 256 Il nuovo Echo, 11, 201, 250–57, 270, 272 Madrigali a sei voci … libro terzo, 243n4, 250–51, 252, 255 madrigals of, 199, 249–57 Libro secondo … a quatro voci, 200 Alberti, Innocenzo, 243, 302, 307 Aldobrandini, Cardinal Pietro, 263–86, 301, 312, 319, 335 Aleotti, Giovanni Battista, 228, 300 Aleotti, Suor Raffaella (Vittoria), 6, 228, 233, 290, 300, 304, 314, 326 education of, 228, 304 Sacrae cantiones, 229 dedication of, 228 Alessandrino, Cardinal. See Bonelli, Cardinal Michele Alidoro (Gabriele Bombasi), 148, 151–52, 153, 154 Amazons, 112, 223 See also warrior, female anonymity, 37, 250 antiphon, 37, 44 Antonio dal Cornetto, 92n17 Aquilano, Serafino, 81 d’Aragona, Eleonora, Duchess of Ferrara, 62 arranging children’s education, 63, 138 convents and, 20–21, 22–23

d’Aragona, Tullia, 60–62, 69 d’Arco, Livia, 218–20, 317, 320 marriage to Alfonso Bevilacqua, 218, 258 aria, 127, 138, 147 aere da cantar stantie, 100–1, 100f3.3, 131 per cantar ottave, 129–31 See also madrigal: madrigale arioso; recitation and reciting formulas; song Aretino, Pietro, 61 Ariosto, Lodovico, 7, 81, 106 Orlando furioso (see main entry) Ariosto, Orazio, 299 Armani, Vincenza, 149–51, 154, 181, 286 musical abilities of, 150, 151 Aron, Pietro, 58 Artusi, Giovanni Maria, 6, 234, 271, 315–18 L’Artusi, 4, 234, 315 qualities of excellent ensemble, 316 critique of concerto’s performance, 317–18 assassination. See murder audience, 2, 57, 69, 76, 86, 108, 109, 132, 145, 149, 152, 154, 168, 210, 214, 215 See also listening and listeners d’Avalos, Don Cesare, 185, 189–90 d’Avalos, Francesco Ferdinando, 127, 185 d’Avalos, Cardinal Innico, 185, 189 Avogadri, Ginevra, 292–94 Avogadri, Giulia, 293–94 Avogadri, Lucrezia (Suor Lucrezia), 292–94, 314–15 Avogadri, unnamed victim of uxoricide, 294–95, 312 balletti, courtly, 157, 170, 171, 175, 182, 214 See also dance ballo della duchessa, 64n33, 223, 257, 302, 310 Baldini, Vittorio, 251n20, 307, 326 Balzo, Isabella del, 65, 103 Banchieri, Adriano, 268 Barbara of Austria, 31, 144, 146, 153, 169, 224 marriage to Alfonso II, 139, 145, 214 death of, 167, 176, 181 Bardi, Giovanni, 211, 251 composition and singing, views on, 211–14

374

374

General Index

Barré, Antonio, 128 Libri delle Muse series, 128, 138n135, 142 bass lines, 47, 77, 129, 208, 244, 254, 267–70, 285, 286, 308 basso continuo, 270, 285e7.19b, 326, 329 basso seguente, 270, 274–75, 286, 305 inverted harmonies, with, 136, 213n111, 264 root-position, 47, 194–95, 199, 255, 256, 261 See also compositional techniques: harmonization, root-position Bassani, Suor Caterina, 228 Bassani da Cento, Orazio, 228 Beauregard, Anne de, 68 Belli d’Argenta, Girolamo, 237, 243, 244 Bembo, Suor Illuminata, 27 Specchio di illuminazione, 26 Bembo, Pietro, 61n24, 98 Bendidio, Isabella, 148, 157, 183, 213, 215, 217, 219, 220, 221, 239, 296, 319–20 Brescello, performance at 169–71, 173, 174–75 marriage of, 175–76 Bendidio, family of, 175 social status of, 144, 219 Bendidio, Lucrezia, 4, 74, 144–45, 148, 157, 166, 182, 183, 206, 217, 219, 220 Brescello, performance at, 169–75 difficulties in later life, 221–22, 295–96 Luigi d’Este, relationship with, 169, 176 singing of, 144–45, 191, 213, 215–16, 239 Bendidio Guarini, Taddea, 158, 219 Bentivoglio, Cornelio, 176, 222, 296 Berchem, Jachet de, 141–43, 262 Capriccio, 141–43, 149 dedication of (by Antonio Gardano), 142, 143 Bernardi, Leonora, 258 Bertoldi, Bertoldo di, 80, 94, 98 madrigals of, 80–87 Bevilacqua, Alfonso, 218, 258, 320 Bevilacqua, Ercole, 190, 312 Boiardo, Giulio, 99n32, 104 Boiardo, Laura, 188–90 Bologna, city of, 20, 28, 53 convents. See convents, Bologna Bombasi, Gabriele. See Alidoro Boncompagni, Cardinal Filippo, 180, 182 Bonelli, Cardinal Michele (Cardinal Alessandrino), 225, 226, 229 Bonizzi, Vincenzo, 292–93 Borgia, Lucrezia, 7, 23, 63–64, 74, 98, 107 convents and, 25, 30, 224, 231 marriage to Alfonso I d’Este, 58, 63–64 Bottegari, Cosimo, 28n44, 194n83

Bottrigari, Ercole, 271 Il Desiderio, 4, 234–38 Bowers, Jane, 6 Bradamante, 99, 118, 128, 138, 140, 143, 150, 196, 223 as model for Este princesses, 10, 99, 111, 153, 261–62 laments by, 99, 101, 128, 142, 221, 255, 261, 286 See also Orlando furioso; princess paradigm Brancaccio, Giulio Cesare, 7, 10, 194, 239 at Ferrara, 183, 191–92, 193, 197, 201, 203, 215, 243, 249, 277–81 in Rome, 168, 184, 187 Brescello, town of, 169, 215 Brocadelli di Narni, Suor Lucia, 20 Brown, Howard Mayer, 6, 79 Brumel, Antoine, 40, 46 Buglhat, Johan, 78 Burney, Charles, 4 Buus, Jacques de, 79–80 Primo libro di canzoni francese a sei voci, 79 Caccini, Giulio, 211, 251, 267, 270, 302 as Psyche in La Cofanaria, 194–96 Calvinists, 104 See also Protestantism Campis, Henri de, 78 Canigiani, Bernardo, 170, 191 canto e basso format. See notation canzona francese, 115 canzona napolitana, 192–93, 199–200, 255, 337, 338 See also song: Roman-Neapolitan style canzonetta, 200 “canzonetta” rhythm, 97, 128, 209, 256 Capua, Vittoria di, 136, 150, 301 Cardona, Maria de, 125 Carnival, 68, 139, 151, 178, 182, 190, 226, 230, 301, 311, 325 as time for weddings, 69, 112, 145, 165, 190, 220, 251, 255, 258, 262, 305 Carpi, Girolamo da, 70 Venus on the Eridanus, 90, 93 Carter, Tim, 339 Castiglione, Baldassare, 55–58, 62, 290 Il libro del cortegiano, 55 See also sprezzatura Cato, Ercole, 292, 319 Catherine of Bologna, Saint, see Vigri, Caterina Catholic Church, 10, 19, 44, 104, 112, 183, 322 Index of Prohibited Books, 104, 123, 127n108 Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, 7, 229 See also Ferrara: and the Church

375

375

General Index

Cavaletta, Barbara, 197 Cavaletta, Orsolina, 197, 250, 252 “Cavaliere del leuto.” See Pinti, Vincenzo Cavalieri, Emilio de’, 184, 191, 293 Cavicchi, Adriano, 5 Chamaterò, Ippolito, 186n51 chanson, 72, 74, 79–80, 93, 121 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 121–23 chant. See plainchant Chricci, family of. See Pagliarini, family of Christmas, feast of, 18, 301, 302, 311 Cima, Giulio, 226n29 Cipri, family of, 32, 226n30, 300 Clement VIII (pope), 298 Colonna, Vittoria, 60, 62, 68, 73 comedy, 108, 109, 110, 150 commedia (also comedietta), 110, 186 commemorative volumes, 11, 97n30, 241–43, 251, 288 composition craft of, 114, 211–14 prestige in polyphonic works, 200, 207, 210, 262 compositional techniques cadences, 49–50, 61, 76, 113, 129, 174, 196, 197, 212 under-third cadence, 97, 98e3.2, 123–24 avoidance of, 114, 244 canon, 37, 80n90, 247, 250, 326 cantus firmus, 37, 38, 47–48 chromaticism, 93, 120, 128–29, 135, 156, 209, 213, 247, 307, 308 closed form, 87, 94, 113, 128 counterpoint, 75, 80, 94, 115, 120, 128, 197, 210, 212, 213, 252, 291 declamation, 76, 81, 87, 113, 120, 128, 131, 160, 194–96, 197, 199–201, 208, 209, 213, 244, 255, 256 dialog, 174, 205 (see also dialog, musical) dissonance, 48, 49, 77, 307, 308, 317, 329 echo, 82, 174, 254, 281, 326 false relations, 129 general rest, 157, 197, 199, 206, 244 harmonic progression, 114, 212, 213, 256 harmonization, root-position, 47, 76, 131, 206, 209, 213 (see also bass lines: root-position) harmony as expressive tool, 114, 120, 131, 135, 136, 159, 160, 162–63, 197, 212, 214, 244, 247, 286, 309 homophony, 49, 75, 82, 120–21, 129, 131, 135, 136, 166, 197, 199, 201, 206, 211, 244, 256 imitation (homage, parody), 42–40, 105, 140, 250, 252, 253

imitation (polyphony), 37, 44, 46, 77, 83n97, 115, 120, 131, 173, 197, 201, 254 melodic leaps, 111, 129, 131, 199 melodic range, 87, 114, 128, 131, 208, 209, 213 (see also tessitura; singing: and vocal range) melody, 114, 120, 136, 197, 214 melisma, 48, 87n105, 113, 114, 131–32, 205 meter, variation of or irregular, 128, 131, 160, 196, 205, 209 note nere, 83, 87, 97 phrase lengths, irregular, 194, 208, 244, 255, 308 repetition, 44, 46, 76, 121, 129, 131, 134, 160, 196, 206, 244, 256, 279 sectionalism, 82, 157, 160–69 soggetto cavato, 38, 75 soggetto ostinato, 38, 40, 253, 305 suspension, 82n97, 136 tactus, avoidance of, 160 tessitura, 116, 131, 168, 203, 213 (see also melodic range; singing: vocal range) textual expression, 5, 113, 114, 115, 119, 120–21, 128, 131, 151, 197, 212, 214 texture, variation of, 129, 131, 159, 276 textures, discontinuous, 244, 247, 307 transposition, 131, 244 vertical reorganization, 244, 264, 307 See also ornamentation concerto (polyphony for voices and instruments), 250, 252, 274 concertato style, 236, 305 concerto delle dame, 1–2, 109, 146, 157, 329 as instrumentalists, 218–20, 239, 293 and convents, 168, 223, 231, 234, 239 Duchess of Urbino, patronage of, 191, 219–20, 221, 289, 302 historiography of, 2–8, 218, 263, 282 in 1570s, 191, 203, 212–13, 214–16, 218, 220 (see also musiche appartate) in 1580s, 4–6, 11, 217–21, 223, 232, 234, 239–40, 241, 258, 260, 279 in 1590s, 11, 290, 293, 302, 310, 317, 319 imitations at other courts, 1, 258, 333 performance practice of, 7, 8, 11, 48, 49, 146, 168, 263–86, 329 (see also performance practice, entries for specific techniques) performance practice, evidence for, 2–3, 4, 145, 148, 217, 240, 262, 263–64, 271, 277 recruitment of, 188–90, 191, 215 singing with male singers, 191, 203, 218, 234, 279, 283, 293, 302 (see also singing, at sight) social status of, 215, 218–20

376

376

General Index

concerto grande, 170, 171, 175, 182, 228–29, 237, 302 connoisseurship, 119–20, 215, 260 Conosciuti, Leonardo, 222 Consandolo (Este estate), 65, 79, 112 Contrari, Ercole, 182–83, 188 convents burials at, 18, 21, 23–25 civic and social importance of, 14, 301–2, 303 church, 18, 233 clausura (enclosure), 13, 17, 179, 225, 318, 322 daily life 13, 15–18 entertainments in, 226, 298, 311, 324 entry into and dowries, 14, 17, 21–22, 227, 229, 329 music and, 2, 7, 9, 13, 47 as devotional practice, 26, 27, 28, 44–46 as economic benefit, 17, 21–22, 227 musical instruction in, 19, 179, 225, 226, 228, 236, 298, 300 performance practice in, 11, 47–50, 168, 220, 234–39 restrictions on musical activity, 19, 52–53, 179–81, 225, 298–99 spaces for musical activity, 179, 238, 298–99, 315, 316 musicians’ families in, 227–28 overcrowding in, 14, 20 restrictions to, 179, 225, 230, 297–98 See also organs: convents and convents, Bologna 53 Corpus Domini (Clarissan), 26, 28, 30 (see also Vigri, Caterina) San Bernardino (Clarissan), 30 convents, Ferrara 2, 10, 13–25, 177, 289–90 Apostolic Visitation of 1574, 179, 180, 225 (see also Ferrara: Apostolic Visitation) bishops’ relationship with, 19, 180, 225–26, 296–300, 318–19 civic display and, 10, 301, 313, 315 Clement VIII, visit to Ferrara of, 313–18 Este family, relationship with 9, 10, 13, 224 Convertite (Santa Maria Maddalena) (Clarissan) 14, 16t1.1, 62, 224, 297n24, 300, 304, 318 Corpus Domini (Clarissan), 13, 14, 16t1.1, 22–25, 23f1.2, 28, 30–31, 33, 64, 112, 125, 181, 222, 319 (see also Casa Romei; d’Este, Suor Leonora; Vigri, Caterina) the Este family, relationship with 14, 22–25, 70, 222, 229, 311–12, 315 music in, 32–33, 36, 52, 229, 314–15 visit of Clement VIII to, 314–15 visit of Queen Margaret of Spain to, 314, 316, 317 licenses to enter, 229, 299–300, 318 Madonna di Ca’ Bianca (Servite), 16t1.1, 318

music and, 2, 4, 6, 32–33, 36, 52, 53, 168, 225, 226, 234, 298–99, 300, 302–3, 329 refuges for the destitute, as 224, 302 San Bernardino (Clarissan), 14, 16t1.1, 25, 30, 180, 231, 232, 300 San Guglielmo (Clarissan), 14, 16t1.1, 231, 318 San Rocco (Dominican), 16t1.1, 233, San Silvestro (Benedictine) 14, 16t1.1, 21, 22, 227, 289, 300, 303, 306, 318, 319 Santa Caterina da Siena (Dominican), 16t1.1, 20 Santa Caterina Martire (Servite), 16t1.1, 312 Santa Chiara (Capuchin), 299 Sant’Agostino (Augustinian), 16t1.1, 21, 228, 318 Santa Lucia (Carmelites), 16t1.1, 318 Sant’Antonio in Polesine (Benedictine), 14, 16t1.1, 19–21, 22, 167, 226, 289, 303, 318 San Vito (Augustinian) 14, 16t1.1, 21, 231, 232, 296, 304, 306, 311, 313–17 Artusi’s account of, 4, 234, 313–18 Bottrigari’s account of, 4, 234–38 musical ensemble of, 4, 6, 228–29, 232, 234–39, 271–72, 290, 303, 315 visit of Pope Clement VIII to, 313 visit of Queen Margaret of Spain to, 313–17 convents, Florence Le Murate (Benedictine), 226–27, 228, 291 convents, Mantua Sant’Orsola (Clarissan), 322 church, construction of, 323, 324, 325 ceremonial music at, 322, 324–25 nuns’ music-making at, 325 San Vincenzo (Dominican), 321 convents, Parma San Paolo (Benedictine), 226n29, 227 Corregiara, Laura, 201 Council of Trent, 19, 52–53, 180, 224 courtesan, cortegiana onesta, 59, 61, 80 musical activities of, 59–62 Cybo, Suor (Princess) Caterina, 226–27, 291 Cybo Bentivoglio, Vittoria, 191, 220, 291 Cybo, Vittoria, Princess of Massa, 291–92 Dalla Viola, Alfonso, 86, 237 madrigals of, 75, 92, 113–14 inprisonment for murder, 83, 295 Primo libro de madrigali, 75, 96 theater, as composer for, 83, 83n97, 92, 92n17 Dalla Viola, Francesco, 34–35, 92n17, 113–18, 125 Madrigali de la Fama, madrigals in, 107, 113, 138 madrigals of, 107 Primo libro … a quattro voci, 35, 47, 113 dedication of, 35, 113–18

377

377

General Index

relationship with other musicians, 34–35, 113 Suor Leonora d’Este, relationship with, 33, 34–35, 47, 115, 117–18 theater, as composer for, 107 Dall’Occa, Alberto, 243, 244, 305n61 dance, dancing, 64, 66, 68, 72, 171, 221, 298 See also balletti, courtly dedications, 79, 118, 120, 242t7.1, 250 See also under Aleotti, Suor Raffaella, Berchem, Jachet de; Dalla Viola, Francesco; De Wert, Giaches; Fiesco, Giulio; Grandi, Alessandro; Milleville, Alessandro; Luzzaschi, Lussasco Della Palla, Scipione, 194 Della Rovere, family of, 51 Della Rovere, Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, 139, 155, 182, 192 Della Rovere, Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, 140, 155, 164–65, 182, 183 Dentice, Fabrizio, 184, 185, 187, 191, 192, 194, 210, 303, 304 Dentice, Luigi, 184, 194, 210 De Rore, Cipriano, 40, 89, 113, 115, 119, 123, 159, 162, 197, 305 De Wert, Giaches, relationship with, 125–27 Ferrara, time in 51, 92–95, 118, 120, 196, 255, 279 Bardi, Giovanni, on, 211–14 Il quarto libro … a cinque voci, 120, 121, 123, 279 Il secondo libro … a quattro voci, 120, 121–25, 126, 138 Madrigali de la Fama, madrigals in, 107 madrigals of, 92, 93–95, 107, 118, 120–25, 212–14 motets of, 51, 52e1.9, 92, 123 Renée of France, relationship with, 121–25 Terzo libro … a cinque voci, 47, 106 theater, as composer for, 92, 107, 118 Vergine bella cycle (Petrarch), 118 De Wert, Giaches, 51, 125–38, 169, 187n57, 199, 227, 235, 238, 240, 252, 339 “declamatory” style of, 285, 339 De Rore, Cipriano, relationship with, 125–27 female-voice song, composer of, 128–36, 162, 196 Ferrara, time at 126, 247, 249 Mantua, activities in 126, 127, 258 madrigals of, 125–38, 258–62, 282–86 Novellara, employment at, 126, 127 Primo libro … a cinque voci, 126, 136 Primo libro … a quattro voci, 125–38 Ottavo libro … a cinque voci, 3–4, 11, 258–62, 270, 329 dedication of, 3, 260 Settimo libro … a cinque voci, 241, 249 Tarquinia Molza, relationship with 259, 295 theater, as composer for, 150

dialog, literary, 60, 61, 146–47 dialog, musical, 65n36, 152, 170, 173, 174, 223, 239, 250, 252, 277–83, 304 See also compositional techniques: dialog; echoes Dianti, Laura (Laura Eustochia, Laura d’Este), 10, 12, 64–65, 98 as patron, 64, 80, 82 Dido, 108–9, 131–32, 138 Dirughi, Suor Cecilia, 229 Divine Office, 17–18, 293, 298–99, 323, 325 music for, 177, 237 See also Magnificat; Matins; Vespers Doni, Antonfrancesco, 61, 221, 252 donna di palazzo. See noblewomen double entendre, 134, 260 See also puns Dunant, Sarah, 11 Durante, Elio, 5, 219, 242, 244 dwarves (Morgantino and Delia), 68–69 Easter, feast of, 231 echoes, musical, 174, 223, 252, 256, 272–74 See also Agostini, Lodovico: echoes of; compositional techniques: echo Einstein, Alfred, 5, 132, 159 Emiliani, Paolo, 294 enigma, 250, 253 esoterica, musical, 22, 75, 79, 119, 120, 168, 309 See also enigma; compositional techniques: canon, soggetto cavato, soggetto ostinato d’Este, Alfonso (Don Alfonso, natural son of Alfonso I), 64, 182, 197, 286 feud with Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, 183 d’Este, Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, 21, 35, 58, 64, 65 Corpus Domini and, 23–25 d’Este, Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, 1, 10, 23, 312, 314 as patron of music, as, 8, 113, 119, 125, 155, 173, 192–93, 210, 214–16, 218, 262, 337 death of, 4, 301, 311–12, 318, 335 De Wert, Giaches, relationship with, 258 dispute with Medici over precedence, 140, 153, 214 in 1540s and 1550s, 71, 74, 90 in 1560s, 139–43, 146, 148, 150, 152 in 1570s, 64, 167, 169, 175, 176, 178, 181, 182, 183, 190, 200 in 1580s, 222, 224, 228n41, 251, 255 in 1590s, 289–90, 293, 296, 301–3 marriage to Barbara of Austria, 139, 145 marriage to Lucrezia de’ Medici, 139, 141, 142, 143 marriage to Margherita Gonzaga, 217, 241 relationship with with Church, 141, 167, 289, 299, 304 Willaert’s Musica nova, ownership of 35, 113–14, 119–20, 141, 159, 173

378

378

General Index

d’Este, Alfonso III, Duke of Modena, 292 d’Este, Cardinal Alessandro (natural son of Don Alfonso), 301, 321 d’Este, Anna (daughter of Ercole II), 8, 10, 67–71, 72, 123, 139, 153, 255, 288 as performer, 68–69, 71, 73, 95 education of, 68, 70–72 in 1540s, 93, 96, 98, 100, 101, 104, 107, 112 marriage to François de Guise, Duke of Aumale, 89, 90–92, 107, 140, 260 music books for, 95 d’Este, Azzo VII, Marquis of Ferrara, 19 d’Este, Blessed Beatrice, 19, 167 d’Este, Borso, Duke of Ferrara, 19–20, 80 d’Este, Bradamante (daughter of Francesco d’Este), 190, 220, 312 d’Este, Cesare, Duke of Modena, 183, 252, 289, 311–12, 319, 321 marriage to Virginia de’ Medici, 262 d’Este, family of, 250, 252 convents and, 9, 10, 13 dynastic program of, 10, 55, 140, 143, 146, 261 emblems of, 32, 172 succession of, 64, 140, 146, 153, 289 d’Este, Elisabetta (natural daughter of Ippolito I), 33 d’Este, Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara, 20, 21, 40, 62, 63, 80 d’Este, Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara, 23, 34, 35, 40, 44, 52, 53, 68, 73, 78, 89–91 death of, 112 musical education of, 119 patron of music, 40, 89, 106, 113 Renée of France, relationship with, 65, 90, 99, 112, 123 theater, views on 90, 92, 108, 138, 140 d’Este, Francesco (son of Alfonso I), 125, 188 d’Este, Ippolito I, Cardinal d’Este, 32, 35–36, 64n35 d’Este, Ippolito II, Cardinal of Ferrara, 31n54, 32, 40, 43, 91, 113, 121, 181, 214 Vicentino, Nicola, relationship with, 33, 119 d’Este, Isabella, Marchioness of Mantua, 7, 43, 56, 60, 62, 68, 70, 73, 103, 127, 138 arranging children’s musical education, 63n30, 127, 138 education of, 63 musical ability of, 58–59, 61, 63, 80 d’Este, Laura, see Laura Dianti d’Este, Leonora (daughter of Ercole II), 8, 10, 23, 33 as patron of music, 124–25, 157, 158, 201, 215 as performer, 71, 124–25, 159 death of, 222 education of, 70–72

in childhood and teens, 68, 72, 89, 112, 139 in middle years, 143–44, 155, 169, 176–77, 182 d’Este, Suor Leonora (daughter of Alfonso I), 8, 9, 13, 23, 30–36, 46, 52, 64, 65, 70, 112, 144, 181, 214 archicembalo, curatorship of, 33–34 as musician, 32, 35–36, 115 education of, 30–31, 33 Dalla Viola, Francesco, relationship with, 33, 34– 35, 47, 115, 117–18 Vicentino, Nicola, relationship with, 33, 119 Zarlino, Gioseffo, relationship with, 33, 34, 46 d’Este, Leonora (daughter of Don Alfonso d’Este), Princess of Venosa, 301, 310 marriage to Carlo Gesualdo, 305 d’Este, Lucrezia (daughter of Ercole II), Duchess of Urbino, 8, 10, 12, 23 affair with Ercole Contrari and his murder, 182–83, 295 as performer, 71, 72, 95, 124–25, 155–57, 159 as patron of music, 124–25, 155, 156, 191–92, 214–16, 217, 220, 223, 289–90, 292, 302, 307–8, 310 convents and, 112, 224, 229, 231–32 divorce and return to Ferrara, 183 education of, 70–72 feud with Don Alfonso d’Este, 183, 312 in childhood and teens, 67, 72, 89, 91, 112, 139 in middle years, 143–44, 146, 167, 169, 181, 182, 190 in old age, 291–94, 312 marriage to Francesco Maria Della Rovere, 140, 164–65, 214 rivalry with Margherita Gonzaga d’Este, 158, 217, 223 d’Este, Suor Lucrezia (natural daughter of Ercole II), 23, 181, 214 d’Este, Luigi, Cardinal d’Este, 33, 64, 71, 139, 144, 150, 169, 170, 222, 229–30, 286, 296 Bendidio, Lucrezia, relationship with 169, 222 d’Este, Marfisa (daughter of Francesco d’Este), Princess of Massa and Carrara, 12, 21, 226, 227, 230, 232, 291, 319 d’Este, Margherita Gonzaga, see Gonzaga d’Este, Margherita d’Este, Niccolò, Marquis of Ferrara, 26 faith (as textual conceit), 99, 101, 103–6, 111 See also Protestantism, sola fide Falletti, Girolamo, 93 famiglia (courtly household), 10, 63, 68, 92, 112, 125, 126, 144, 145, 169, 184, 185, 217, 218–20, 288, 291, 302, 315

379

379

General Index

Farnese, Alessandro, Pope Paul III, 31, 71, 90, 184, 185 Farnese, Cardinal Alessandro, 184–85, 187–90, 191 Farnese, Prince Alessandro, 189 Farnese, family of, 184, 185, 187, 188, 191 Farnese, Margherita, Princess of Mantua, 226n29, 227, 249–50 Farnese, Ottavio, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, 125, 184, 187–89, 192, 228n41, 286 Faustini, Agostino, 289, 303 febbre terzana (malaria), 234 female speech. See speech, female Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, 65, 145 Ferdinand of Bavaria, Prince, 175n13, 220 Ferrara Apostolic Visitation to, 178–79, 214 (see also convents, Ferrara) bishops of (see Fontana, Giovanni; Leoni, Paolo; Rossetti, Alfonso; Salviati, Giovanni) Casa Romei, 23, 31, 33, 36 castello, 31, 62, 65, 71, 112, 113, 119, 143, 145, 146, 165, 183, 300 cathedral of, 177, 180, 294, 297, 299, 302 Catholic Church and, 53–54, 167, 178, 214, 238, 289, 297 convents of (see main entry) devolution to Papal States, 4, 11, 311–12 ducal chapel, members of 40, 78, 89, 92, 110, 148, 157, 171, 205, 215, 233, 234, 271, 283, 289, 293, 302 ducal maestro di cappella (see Dalla Viola, Francesco; De Rore, Cipriano; Fiorini, Ippolito) earthquakes in, 10, 54, 167, 169, 175, 177, 181, 214, 224 Inquisition of, 44 Jews of, 167 musical culture of, 2, 22, 63, 76, 107, 113, 118, 152, 175, 250–51, 260, 289–90, 302, 305, 338 musical style of, 75, 113, 138, 152, 168–70, 196, 210, 211, 243, 244, 326 (see also madrigal: Ferrarese, characteristics of; singing: Ferrarese style; song: Ferrarese) noblewomen of, 7, 55, 62, 68, 157, 168, 170, 179, 217, 230, 232, 293, 319 as expressions of civic magnificence, 72–74, 143–44, 145, 215–16 Ospedale di Sant’Anna, 24 Palazzo degli Angeli, 64 Palazzo San Francesco, 31, 65 Palazzo Schifanoia, 32, 82n97 Pope Clement VIII, visit of, 312

Pope Paul III, visit of, 71, 90 theater at (see theater: at Ferrara) Ferrarini, Suor Heironima, 18 Fetti, Suor Lucrina, 331 Fiaschi, Suor Giulia, 236 Fiesco, Giulio, 83n97, 119, 197, 200n92, 253 Guarini, Giambattista, and, 158–60 madrigals of, 155–64 Madrigali … a cinque voci, libro secondo, 155–57 dedication of, 155, 156 Musica nova a cinque voci, 158 dedication of, 158 Primo libro … a quatro voci, 119n83, 253 Fiorini, Ippolito, 218, 234, 235, 236, 283, 300, 302, 316, 319 “Flaminia,” 159, 166 Flaminia Romana, 149–51, 154, 166n72, 181, 286 Florence, city of, 40, 43, 75, 141, 194, 251, 258 See also Medici, court of Fontana, Giovanni, Bishop of Ferrara, 229, 289, 296–300, 301, 304, 318–19 Fontanelli, Alfonso, 258 Francis, Saint, 28 François, Duke of Aumale (Duke of Guise), 89, 91, 123 François I, King of France, 90, 91 Fronti, Vincenzo, 243 frottola, 74, 75, 86, 113, 120, 131 Gabrieli, Andrea, 316 Galilei, Vincenzo, 138n135, 195e5.5, 213 games and play, 156, 165, 171, 178, 186, 230, 252, 253, 254, 274, 297 See also double entendre; esoterica, musical; puns, music and text Ganassi, Silvestro, 76 Gardano, Antonio, 46, 106–7, 141–42, 143, 149 Gastoldi, Giovanni Giacomo, 316 Gelosi (theatre company), the, 151n42, 181, 190 Gerusalemme liberata (Torquato Tasso), 250, 286 Armida (character), 261, 286, 338, 339 Erminia (character), 260–61 settings of, 103n43, 249, 256, 260–61 Gesualdo, Don Carlo, Prince of Venosa, 294, 301, 305, 310 Giglioli, Girolamo, 316–17 Giovanelli, Ruggiero, 316 Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista, 89, 92, 107–11, 140, 261, 262 dramatic theory of, 111 encomia for Este family members, 66 Commentario delle cose di Ferrara, 119 Dell’Hercole, 72

380

380

General Index

Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista (cont.) tragedy, innovations in, 89, 91 choral interludes, 108, 109, 151, 339 lieto fine, 91, 108, 111, 339 tragedies, 108–9 Gli Antivalomeni, 91, 107–11 Orbecche, 92n17, 108 Selene, 107–9 Giraldi, Lilio Gregorio, 66 girls, see women Giustiniani, Vincenzo, 206, 207, 210–11, 272, 317, 337 Discorso sopra la musica, 4, 168–69, 191 Gonzaga, Alfonso, Count of Novellara, 126, 127, 150, 188, 259 Gonzaga, Curzio, Il fido amante, 250 Gonzaga, Ercole, Cardinal of Mantua, 68n49, 73, 91, 105, 106, 112 Gonzaga, family of, 250, 262 Gonzaga, Ferrante, 232, 238 Gonzaga, Francesco, Count of Novellara, 126, 127 Gonzaga, Francesco, Minister General of the Franciscan Order, 180 Gonzaga, Prince Francesco (son of Vincenzo Gonzaga), 320, 323, 338 Gonzaga, Guglielmo, Duke of Mantua, 46, 127, 242, 250, 256, 258–59, 286 Gonzaga, Vincenzo, Duke of Mantua, 1, 321–22, 323, 324, 338 correspondence re Luzzaschi’s madrigals, 2, 240, 267, 333 De Wert, Giaches, and, 258–59 marriage to Eleonora de’ Medici, 257–58, 262, 338 marriage to Margherita Farnese, 103n43, 226n29, 249–50 Gonzaga, Isabella (daughter of Federico Gonzaga), 127, 136, 138 Gonzaga d’Este, Margherita, Duchess of Ferrara, 1, 7, 11, 312 after devolution of Ferrara, 319, 321, 333 as patron of entertainments, 64n33, 158, 217, 223, 310 convents of Ferrara and, 8, 224, 229–34, 301, 310–11, 321 convent of Sant’Orsola, Mantua, and, 322–25, 329–32 Ferrara, time in, 217–21, 241, 255, 260, 288, 289, 293, 307 marriage to Alfonso II, 217, 220, 241 rivalry with Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, 223, 158, 217 religiosity of, 220, 230–31, 232–33

Goretti, Antonio, 316–17 Grana, Suor Brigida, 200n92, 233 Grana, Giacomo, 169–71 Grandi, Alessandro, Motetti a cinque voci, 325–29 dedication of (by Placido Marcelli), 326 Gregory XIII (pope), 178, 229–30, 236, 298 Guarini, Anna, 74, 218–20, 223, 250 marriage to Ercole Trotti, 218, 258 murder of, 312, 318 Guarini, Vittoria, 292–94 Guarini, Alessandro, 308, 326 Guarini, Giambattista, 4, 158, 163, 172, 173n11, 219, 249, 296, 312 Fiesco, Giulio, and 158–60 “Mentre vaga angioletta” (Gorga di cantatrice), 172n9 settings of poetry, 158–60, 163, 197, 206n97, 221, 243, 282 Guarini, Girolamo, 312 Guarini, Marcantonio, 225, 236, 294, 297, 303, 317 Compendio historico, 235 Guarini, Don Tiberio, 322 Guasco, Lavinia, 291, 292 Guazzo, Stefano, Civil conversatione, 290 Guise, François de, Duke of Aumale. See François, Duke of Aumale Haynes, Bruce, 11 Henri II, King of France, 112, 121, 141 Henri III, King of France, 182, 288 Holy Week, 18, 231, 233, 289, 293–94 music for, 237, 293 (see also Lamentations, settings of ) household, courtly. See famiglia Hucher, Antonio, 78 instrumental music, 35, 75, 76, 115, 116, 250, 257, 268, 325 intabulation, 35, 76, 115, 136, 138, 173, 195n88, 263, 267–68, 276, 291 See also notation; performance practice: accompaniment, arrangement; pietra da contrapunto Il Mago rilucente, 165 See also torneo Il Tempio d’Amore, 145–46 See also torneo intermedi, 7, 108, 150 Isnardi, Paolo, 10, 243, 300

381

381

General Index

madrigals of, 201 sacred music of, 177, 180, 203, 237 Secondo libro … a cinque voci, 201 Jachet of Mantua (Jacques Colebault), 37, 51, 105–6 Jhan, Maistre, 31, 75 Josquin des Prez, 38 Miserere tradition, 42–40, 51, 305 Judith (biblical character), 42–43

dedication of, 263 intabulations in, 267–68, 276 ornamentation in, 49, 205 Primo libro … a cinque voci, 165–66, 196 Quinto libro … a cinque voci, 307–10 Secondo libro … a cinque voci, 201, 205 Sesto libro … a cinque voci, 307–10 dedication of (by Alessandro Guarini), 308, 326 Thiene, Giulio, in letters by, 2, 267, 333–38

Karl II, Archduke of Austria, 153, 175 lament (female-voice), 10, 89–91, 103, 121, 151, 160, 162, 195, 196, 286, 338, 339 De Wert, Giaches, lament compositions by 128–36, 286 Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista, dramatic laments, 110, 111 Lamento d’Arianna, 1, 103n43, 338–39 See also abbandonata; Bradamante, laments by ; Dido; Gerusalemme liberata: Armida Lamentations, settings of, 177, 237, 293. See also Holy Week: music for Lando, Ortensio, 71 Lasso, Orlando di, 77n84, 175n13 lauda, 26, 27, 28, 74 Le Guin, Ursula, 11–12 lectio divina, 44 Lent, period of, 231–32, 299, 306 Leo X (pope), 43 Leoni, Suor Olimpia, 303 Leoni, Paolo, Bishop of Ferrara, 180, 225–26, 229, 289, 296 lieto fine. See under Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista listening and listeners, 1, 44, 49, 57, 80, 118, 152, 156–57, 209, 211, 215, 235, 244, 263, 293, 325 separation of listener from performer, 127, 168, 215, 260, 316, 317 See also audience L’Isola beata, 153, 159, 165, 317 See also torneo Luzzaschi, Luzzasco, 1–2, 169, 211, 235, 237, 244, 250, 295, 300, 302, 316, 319 as director of concerto, 145, 171, 173, 175, 218, 220, 234, 239, 240, 283, 333 Lucrezia d’Este, Duchess of Urbino, and, 165, 183 De Rore, Cipriano, as pupil of, 125, 212 madrigals of, 49, 165–66, 173, 205–10, 308–10 Madrigali a uno, doi e tre soprani, 5, 7, 173, 201, 205, 208, 240, 262, 264, 310, 326 evidence of performance practice, as, 2, 263–64, 270, 271–72

Macchiavelli, Baldassare, 145, 296 madrigal, 74, 75, 88 Ferrarese, characteristics of, 75, 81, 113, 138, 159, 165, 166, 243, 244, 250, 308 madrigale arioso, 87, 128–31, 136, 142, 196, 199, 209, 256 note nere madrigal, 81 spiritual madrigal, 165, 197, 233, 238 concerted madrigal (see concerto) solo madrigal, 252 See also poetic forms: madrigal Madrigali de la Fama. See music anthologies, printed madrigalisms, 131, 132 See also compositional techniques (under individual entries) magnificence, 8, 10, 87, 140, 143, 145, 175, 215–16 Magnificat antiphon, 29, 37 settings of, 177 Magnifici, Suor Raffaella de’, 303 Manara, Francesco, 107, 114, 119, 243 malaria (febbre terzana), 234 Manfredi, Suor Claudia, 303 Mantua, city of, 63, 92, 105, 112, 219, 241, 249–50, 320, 321, 333, 338 cathedral, musicians of, 325 convents of (see main entry) theater at (see theater: at Mantua) Marcelli, Placido, 325–26, 329 Maremonti, Giambattista, 14n2, 179 Marenzio, Luca, 256 Sesto libro … a sei voci, 221 Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain, 313–16 marriage to Philip III of Spain, 313 visit to Corpus Domini, Ferrara, 314, 316, 317 visit to San Vito, Ferrara, 313–17 Margherita of Savoy, marriage to Francesco Gonzaga, 320, 338 Marot, Clément, 68n49, 80

382

382

General Index

marriage commemoration of, in text and music, 11, 97n30, 98, 140, 143, 165, 176, 243, 249–50, 251, 338 (see also wedding entertainments) as political strategy, 65, 89–91, 139, 164 Marsolo, Pietro Maria, 303 Martellotti, Anna, 5, 219, 242, 244 Martini, Johannes, 63 mascherata, 201, 223 See also dance Mass, 26 celebration of, 18, 231, 233, 293, 302, 313, 314, 323, 325 music for, 177, 237, 302, 303 Massaino, Tiburzio, 268 materna lingua complex, 36, 47, 48, 49, 329 See also music anthologies, printed Matins, 17, 42, 231, 233 music for, 233–34 See also Lamentations, settings of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, 145, 169, 175 Medici, court of, 1, 69, 252 Medici, family of, 43, 121, 252 Medici, Bianca de Piero de’, 69–70 Medici, Cosimo de’, 141 Medici, Francesco de’, 267, 286 Medici, Lorenzo de’, 75 Medici, Virginia de’, 252 marriage to Cesare d’Este, 262 Medici, Lucrezia de’, Duchess of Ferrara, 23, 153 marriage to Alfonso II d’Este, 139, 141, 142, 143 death of, 139, 143 Medici, Eleonora de’, Duchess of Mantua, 259, 321, 339 marriage to Vincenzo Gonzaga, 257–58, 262, 338 Menon, Tuttovale [Tugdual], 95, 118, 121, 123, 131, 262 Madrigali d’amore, 79, 95–106, 96f3.1, 97f3.2, 100f3.3, 111, 138, 255 1549 reprint by Scotto, 96, 104, 106 madrigals of, 97–106, 255 Merenda, Girolamo, 217, 232, 292–94, 303, 306 Merlo, Alessandro, 168, 184, 191, 193 Merulo, Claudio, 235, 238, 262, 316 Primo libro … a tre voci, 221 Milleville, Alessandro, 72, 197, 228, 233, 243, 304 Le Vergine … a quattro voci, 200n92, 233 dedication of, 233 Libro primo … a cinque voci, 196 madrigals of, 197–99 Modena, city of, 146, 295 modesty, 56–58, 69

Molza, Tarquinia, 4, 74, 150, 157, 171n7, 191, 290 De Wert, Giaches, and, 259, 295 education of, 146, 185 Ferrara, activity in, 148, 165, 220, 258n33 Modena, activity in, 146–48 Rome, activity in, 185n47 singing of, 129, 146, 147–48, 152, 165, 186, 215 Monnet, Pierre, 66 Montalto, Cardinal (Alessandro Peretti), 1, 240, 333 monody, 132, 160, 210, 285, 286 Montecuccoli, Suor Diana, 22 Monteverdi, Claudio, 1, 6, 316, 328, 338 Scherzi musicali, 338 Monteverdi, Giulio Cesare, 308 Morata, Olimpia Fulvia, 73–74, 290, 295 banishment of, 71, 74, 112 education with the Este princesses, 71–72 musical ability of, 71–72 motet, 9, 37, 60, 238 Mucanzio, Giovanni Paolo, 314, 317 murder (also assassination), 83, 183, 258, 288, 292, 295, 312 See also Guarini, Anna: murder of; uxoricide musica grande. See concerto grande music anthologies, printed Il lauro secco, 243, 244n11 Il lauro verde, 243 Madrigali de la Fama, 95, 106–7, 113 Motetta d. Cipriani de Rore et aliorum auctorum quatuor vocum parium, 50–52 Musica quinque vocum: motetta materna lingua vocata (RISM 15432), 36–47 Musica quinque vocum que materna lingua moteta vocantur (RISM 15496), 46 Musica quatuor vocum que materna lingua moteta vocantur (RISM 15499/15499a), 49 See also Barré, Antonio music anthologies, manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense Mus. F.1358, 11, 243–49 Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare MS 220, 241–43 musica appartate (private music), 170, 171, 175, 182 See also concerto delle dame: in 1570s musica secreta (of Alfonso II d’Este), 1, 2 See also concerto delle dame Musica Secreta (ensemble), 11 musical instruments, brass instruments, 235 trombone, 236, 302, 315 trumpet, 324, 325 drum, 171, 313n81, 324 keyboard instruments, 32, 63, 76, 115, 138, 173, 179, 235, 248, 268, 291

383

383

General Index

archicembalo, 33–34, 119, 312n74 hydraulis, 34 harpsichord, 32, 66, 68, 72, 76, 149, 171, 180, 218, 293, 298, 315, 316 organ (see main entry) organetto, 20 split-key, 310 stringed instruments, 235 fretted, 248 harp, 218, 219, 234, 252, 296, 315, 316 lira, 92n17 lute, 58, 63, 76, 138, 148, 149, 193, 218, 219, 234, 292–93, 305, 315, 316 vihuela a mano, 58 viol (viola), 63, 92n17, 129, 218, 220, 228, 234, 291, 292–93, 303, 316, 324 violeta, 27–29 viola bastarda, 292–93, 315, 316 violin, 171, 315, 316, 324 violone, 227 wind band (piffari), 66, 170 wind instruments, 235, 236–55 cornamuse, 315 cornett, 236, 270, 302, 303, 315 flute, 315 music publishing formats for print, choice of, 79–80, 131, 138, 193, 200, 206, 268, 285 rationales for, 81, 105, 120, 141, 159, 194, 200, 207, 268, 304 See also notation Nanino, Giovanni Maria, 316 Naples, city of, 194, 210 Neapolitan style. See singing: RomanNeapolitan style; song: Neapolitan and Roman-Neapolitan Newcomb, Anthony, 5–6, 165, 166, 276, 286, 308 Nigrisoli, Andrea Canzonette a quattro voci, 258 noblewomen, 60 as patrons, 7–8 convents and, 13, 168, 179, 230, 299n39 court households, in, 62, 138, 144–45, 148, 217 donna di palazzo, 55, 56, 57, 68, 166 donna eroica, 60 education of, 13, 58–59, 70, 87, 138 musical education in preparation for court, 290–91 musical education in preparation for marriage, 69, 87, 138, 144, 145 musical activities of, 8, 55–59, 62, 66, 87, 128, 138, 145, 166

respectability and, 55, 56, 61, 73 (see also modesty) See also Ferrara: noblewomen of Nogarolo, Leonardo, 37 notation, 2, 61, 136, 154n49, 241, 263, 334, 338 canto e basso format, 256, 257, 285, 337 short scores, 240, 267–68, 285e7.19b, 337 See also intabulation; music publishing: formats for print Novellara, 126, 127, 259 See also theater: at Novellara nuns, as instrumentalists, 228, 235–37, 268n53, 290, 298, 303, 313, 315 as singers, 13, 22, 228, 235, 298, 303, 314, 315, 325 converse (servant nuns), 16 convertite (reformed prostitutes), 14, 62, 296, 331 choir nuns, 16, 17 duties of, 15–18 investiture of, 37 musical ability as a means to becoming, 17, 225, 227–29, 290, 324 novices, 16, 226, 296 punishments for misdemeanors, 18, 180, 297–98 repertoire for, 36, 116, 227n36, 237, 316, 329 See also convents Nugent, George, 105–6 Obscenity, 80 Olivier, Nicolas, 66 organs, 34, 218, 234, 302, 321 Aleotti, Suor Raffaella and, 290, 304 convents and, 6, 19, 20, 32–33, 179, 180, 225, 228, 298, 299 at Corpus Domini, Ferrara, 14n2, 32–33, 314 at San Bernardino, Ferrara, 177n22 at San Silvestro, Ferrara, 21, 303 at Sant’Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, 226n30 at Sant’Orsola, Mantua, 323, 325 maintenance of, in Ferrara, 14n2, 300, 303, 318 d’Este, Suor Leonora and, 32–33, 35 Orlando furioso (Lodovico Ariosto), 10, 86, 89, 100, 105, 106, 127, 148, 149, 153, 166, 250 as basis for Este marriage celebrations, 99, 111, 146, 221 characters in Alcina, 153, 261 Bradamante (see main entry) Drusilla, 150 Issabella, 102, 142

384

384

General Index

Orlando furioso (Lodovico Ariosto) (cont.) Lidia 142–43 Marfisa, 150 Ruggiero, 99, 141, 142, 143 Olimpia, 128, 135–36 Orlando, 127, 142, 143 settings of, 86–87, 93–95, 99–103, 107, 117–18, 123, 127–31, 142–43, 221, 249, 255–56 women and, 149, 150, 154 See also theater: pageant at Reggio; Il mago rilucente; Il Tempio d’Amore; L’Isola beata ornamentation, 5, 56, 59–60, 76, 160, 206, 208, 214, 236, 239, 276 at cadences, 49–50, 76, 113, 272 in composition, 49, 77, 156, 243, 263, 272, 337 in solo singing, 60, 76, 136, 172, 192, 194, 196, 282 in ensemble, 48–50, 168, 205, 271–75, 308, 329 Ovid, 256, 279 Padua, city of, 144–45 pageant. See theatre and theatrical events Pagliarini, family of, 234, 300, 312n74 Paleotti, Dionisio, 29 Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da, 40, 42, 227n36, 272, 316 Pallavicino, Benedetto, 316 Papal States, 4, 11, 44, 167 Parma, city of, 125, 151, 184 convents of (see main entry) Parthenay de, Anne. See Pons, Anne de. Parthenay de, Renée, 65, 66–67, 68, 73–74 Pasquini, Ercole, 300, 304 Patrizi, Francesco, 147 L’amorosa filosofia, 146–48, 185n47 Paul III (pope) (Alessandro Farnese), 31, 71, 90, 184, 185 Pecorina, Polissena, 61, 120, 147, 157, 159 Pepoli, Ercole, 291–92 performance practice, accompaniment, 35, 47, 49, 57, 75, 77, 128, 136, 138, 145, 148, 152, 168, 205, 211, 212, 213, 215, 234, 239, 255, 257, 264, 267–70, 272, 274, 276, 282, 283, 302, 317 accompaniment, self-, 35, 55, 66, 129, 138, 145, 148, 150, 156, 187, 192, 193, 219, 234, 239, 252, 291 adaptation and arrangement, 11, 75, 76, 115, 138, 168, 173, 205, 238, 239, 270, 276–86 bass lines (see main entry) expression in performance (see under singing) extemporization, 35, 213, 291 (see also ornamentation; recitation and reciting formulas)

instrumental doubling, 237 instrumental substitution, 47, 75, 77, 157, 160, 177, 248, 304 polyphony as solo song, 129, 138, 252, 254, 270, 309–10 polyphony as duet or trio, 168, 252, 254, 260, 305, 309–10 polyphony with voices and instruments (see concerto and concertato) ornamentation (see main entry) transposition, 238, 264–67, 276 See also concerto delle dame: performance practice of; convents: performance practice in; intabulation; notation; ornamentation; recitation and reciting formulas; rehearsal Pesaro, city of, 182, 192 Petrarch, Francesco, 75, 116, 148, 154, 159 settings of poetry, 81, 83–86, 93, 97, 114, 118, 123 Peverara, Laura, 4–5, 217–20, 223, 242–43, 250, 252, 255, 277, 317, 319 marriage to Annibale Turco, 218, 243, 251, 255 recruitment to Ferrara, 221 Tasso, Torquato, and, 219 pietra da contrapunto, 35, 115 Philip II, King of Spain, 123 Philip III, King of Spain, 313 Pico, Maddalena, Countess of Mirandola, 28 Pighino, Paolo, 192 Pigna, Suor Cassandra, 303 Pigna, Giambattista, 166, 171–72, 176 Il ben divino, 172 Pitio (bass singer), 193 Pinti (Pitti), Vincenzo, “Cavaliere del leuto,” 184, 187, 192 Pius II (pope), 69 Pius V (pope), 146 plainchant, 13, 19, 26, 180, 238, 297, 298, 299n36, 324, 325 poetic forms ballata, 75, 87n105, 113, 116, 132 ballata-madrigal, 126, 131, 254, 308 canzone, 118, 121, 126, 250 madrigal, 87n105, 126, 159, 200, 308 ottava rima, 87n105, 94, 136, 199, 260 sonnet, 68, 87n105, 97, 113, 123, 159, 171, 172, 197, 199, 250, 308 polychoral works, 227n36, 256, 279–82, 303 See also dialog, musical polyphony, as practice, 10, 57, 63, 119, 136, 168, 169, 211, 213, 239, 262, 264, 276, 305, 329 in convents, 19, 35, 47, 53, 120, 177, 180, 237, 298, 324

385

385

General Index

See also composition; compositional techniques; singing: as collective experience; song: composed-out Pons, Anne de (Anne de Parthenay), 65, 66–67, 73–74, 290 Porta, Constanzo, 51, 235, 238 princess paradigm, 111, 261 See also abbandonata: as wedding trope; Bradamante; warrior, female: as wedding trope procession, 112, 324 Prosperi, Bernardo, 43 prostitute, 14, 61, 62 See also courtesans; nuns, convertite Protestantism, 44, 123 See also Renée of France puns, music and text, 22, 23f1.2, 75, 156, 244, 249 See also compositional techniques: soggetto cavato; double entendre; games and play Putti, Dalida de’, 32, 64 rappresentazione. See convents, entertainments in recitation and reciting formulas, 76, 86, 109, 121, 128, 131, 166, 193, 194, 213, 214 Romanesca, 136 See also aria: aere da cantar stantie; song recitative style (stile recitativo), 151, 151n43, 285, 286 religious orders Augustinians, 14 (see also convents, Ferrara: Sant’Agostino, San Vito) Benedictines, 14 (see also convents, Ferrara: Sant’Antonio in Polesine, San Silvestro; convents, Florence: Le Murate; convents, Parma: San Paolo) Capuchins, 231, 233 (see also convents, Ferrara: Santa Chiara) Carmelites, 14 Clarissans, 14, 16, 25, 37, 38 (see also convents, Ferrara: Convertite, Corpus Domini, San Bernardino, San Guglielmo; convents, Bologna: Corpus Domini; convents, Mantua: Sant’Orsola) Dominicans 14 (see also convents, Ferrara: San Rocco, Santa Caterina da Siena; convents, Mantua: San Vincenzo) Franciscans, 24, 37 Duchesses of Ferrara as Franciscan tertiaries, 25, 231 Laterans, 14 Servites, 14 (see also convents, Ferrara: Madonna di Ca’ Bianca, Santa Caterina Martire) rehearsal, 237, 239, 267, 274–75

Renaldi, Giulio, 186n51 Renée of France, Duchess of Ferrara, 10, 44, 78, 79, 90, 92, 93, 98, 100, 101, 112–13, 139, 153, 197, 255 arranging children’s education, 70, 138 as mother, 65, 67–68 as patron of music, 79–80, 95 De Rore, Cipriano, and, 121–25 imprisonment of, 112, 120 marriage to Ercole II, 65, 99, 123 Protestantism and, 68, 79, 90, 103–6, 108, 112 rhetoric, 55, 57, 59, 69, 213 ridotto. See salon Rodio, Rocco, 195, 196 Aeri racolti insieme con altri bellissimi aggionti, 194 Romana, Flaminia. See Flaminia Romana Romanesca. See recitation and reciting formulas Roman-Neapolitan style. See singing, RomanNeapolitan style; song, Neapolitan and Roman-Neapolitan Rome, city of, 1, 60, 121, 151n43, 168, 184, 185, 187, 191, 192, 320, 333 Neapolitan musicians in, 184–85, 200 Rore, Cipriano de. See De Rore, Cipriano Rossetti, Alfonso, Bishop of Ferrara, 53–54, 144, 170, 178, 180 Rossetti Bendidio, Alessandra, 144, 170 Roverella di Pio, Emilia, 112 Salon (ridotto), 60, 61, 147, 158, 295 Salvi, Virginia Martini, 121 Salviati, Cardinal Giovanni, Bishop of Ferrara, 53 Sanseverina, Barbara, 185–86, 222, 227, 243 Ferrara, stay in, 190 music inspired by, 249, 249n15 Rome, stay in, 187, 187n57, 191 Sanvitale, Giberto, 185–86, 187–90 Sanvitale Thiene, Leonora, 10, 183, 184, 185–92, 290, 320, 333 death of, 222 education of, 185 Ferrara, time at, 190–92, 197, 201, 220, 243 marriage to Giulio Thiene, 188–90, 191–92 music inspired by, 201, 249 recruitment to Ferrara, 188–90, 191, 215 singing of, 187, 191, 213 Saubonne, Michelle de, Madame de Soubise, 65, 67 Savonarola, Girolamo, 19, 20, 28, 40, 43 followers of, 141 scena, dramatic (vocal), 132, 223, 261, 279, 282 See also monody ; theater: music for

386

386

General Index

Scotto, Girolamo, 47, 106–7 seconda prattica, 308 sermons, 231, 233, 319 Sestola, Gerolamo da (Il Coglia), 19 Sforza, Anna, Princess of Ferrara, 21, 63 Siena, city of, 121, 126, 142, 251 Signa, Violante, 226 Sinapsius, Chilean, 71 singing accompanied (see performance practice: accompaniment) as art, 56, 211–14 as convent recreation, 26, 28 as meditation, 27, 28, 44–46 as collective experience, 57, 59, 61, 120, 156–57, 166, 203, 215, 244, 252 at sight, 61, 71–72, 147, 239, 291 courtly protocol for, 57, 215–16 delivery of text and, 194, 196, 212–13 expression and, 148, 152, 166, 194, 223 extemporization and, 35, 213 Ferrarese style, 168, 210, 212, 214, 277 from books, 58, 61, 218, 239 from memory, 212, 218, 240, 291, 337 noblewomen and, 55–59, 76, 166 (see also under noblewomen) poetic texts about, 156–57, 165, 205 respectability of, 55, 56, 61, 216, 295–96, 317–18 (see also modesty) Roman-Neapolitan style, 168, 183, 192, 194 vocal range and, 36, 76, 79, 168, 228, 264 (see also compositional techniques: melodic range, tessitura) See also recitation and reciting formulas; recitative style; song Sixtus IV (pope), 37 Sixtus V (pope), 289 skeleton scores. See notation: short scores soggetto cavato. See compositional techniques soggetto ostinato. See compositional techniques sola fide (theological doctrine), 105, 109, 124 See also faith; Protestantism Solerti, Angelo, 4–5 solmization, 22, 38, 244 See also soggetto cavato song, 57, 63, 94, 120, 121, 129, 132, 138, 140, 169, 210, 239, 252 composed-out, 131, 136, 193, 199, 206, 261, 285 Ferrarese, 10, 64, 75, 89, 138, 152, 165, 211, 256, 261, 282, 308, 337 extemporized, 193

Neapolitan and Roman-Neapolitan, 193–96, 197, 200, 206n97, 208–9, 211, 243, 244, 282, 286, 308 sacred (see laude; madrigal: spiritual) strophic, 193, 200, 203, 338 See also canzonetta; chanson; frottola; madrigal; monody ; scena; villancico; villotta Song of Songs, 13, 31, 44 sonnet. See poetic forms Sorianati, Suor Bartolomea, 303 speech, female, 99–101, 128–36, 160, 166, 260 See also lament Spontone, Bartolomeo, 235, 236n70, 238 sprezzatura, 57–58, 59 Stampa, Gaspara, 61, 147, 157 stile recitativo. See recitative style stock melodies. See recitation and reciting formulas Striggio, Alessandro, 195, 250, 252, 257, 267, 270, 337 Tasso, Torquato, 4, 5, 7, 60, 145, 181, 187, 192, 250, 256, 277 Aminta, 181, 201 Gerusalemme liberata (see main entry) Peverara, Laura, and, 219 settings of poetry, 165, 176n16, 201, 205, 249, 286 Tassoni, Ercole Estense, 153, 317 Terence, Adelphoe, 71, 90, 92n17 Andria, 73 theater, as propaganda, 90, 92, 108–9 at Ferrara, 71, 82n97, 91, 92, 107–11, 154 at Mantua, 149–50, 151 at Novellara, 150–51 convents and (see convents, entertainments in) music for, 64, 81, 82–83, 108, 109, 116, 151, 152n43, 155, 186, 194–96, 250 pageant at Reggio, 148, 153, 262 (see also Alidoro) participation in by nobility, 146, 153, 165, 175, 181–82, 186, 191, 223 theater companies/troupes, 110, 150–51, 223 See also dance; intermedi; processions; song; torneo; wedding entertainments Thiene, Giulio, 2, 249n15 Luzzaschi, Luzzasco, and, 2, 267, 333–38 Sanvitale, Leonora, and, 188–90, 191, 222 Tombesi, Sulpizio 22, 23f1.2 torneo, 140, 145–46, 153, 165, 175, 181, 214, 317 See also Il Mago rilucente; Il Tempio d’Amore; L’Isola beata

387

387

General Index

tragedy, 89, 91, 107, 108–11 See also Alidoro; Giraldi Cinzio, Giambattista tragicomedia, 109, 150, 223n23 Treadwell, Nina, 7 Tromboncino, Bartolomeo, 64n35, 131, 294 Trotti, Suor Alfonsa, 303 Trotti, Ercole, 218, 258, 312 Turchi, Annibale, 218, 320 Urbino, Dukes of. See Della Rovere, Guidobaldo; Della Rovere, Francesco Maria uxoricide, 294–95, 312 Vecchi, Orazio, 168, 237 Veggio, Giovanni Agostino, 206n97, 249n15 Venice, city of, 61, 75, 81, 104, 120, 182 Verato, Giambattista, 154, 165 Verdelot, Philippe, 76 Vergerio, Pier Paolo, 123 Verona, city of, 19, 241 Vespers, 18, 28, 231, 232, 233, 302, 322 music for, 37, 177, 180, 237, 303 (see also Magnificat) Vicentino, Nicola, 40, 119, 120, 125, 272 archicembalo, 33–34, 119 d’Este, Suor Leonora, and, 33 L’antica musica ridotto alla moderna prattica, 33, 119 rules for ornamentation, 49 Vigri, Caterina (Saint Catherine of Bologna), 20, 26–30, 323 Corpus Domini, Ferrara, and, 26 Corpus Domini, Bologna, and, 26 music and, 26–28, 44 Office of (Dionisio Paleotti), 29–30 Setti armi spirituali, 26 visions of, 26, 27 villancico, 74

villotta, 79, 120 Virchi, Paolo, 243, 247, 302 virtue (virtù), 55, 56, 57, 63, 69, 73, 108, 109, 111, 148, 215–16, 317, 318 virtuosity, 159, 194, 223, 260, 307–10 female (virtuosa), 5, 72–74, 138, 154, 175, 215–16, 228, 244, 290, 291 voci mutate, 237, 238, 239, 264 voci pari, 36, 37, 48, 49, 50, 76, 81, 116, 120, 177, 200, 203, 237, 238, 329 voci piene, 36, 177, 238, 239, 304 warrior, female, 111, 126n107, 150, 261 as wedding trope, 10, 89, 111 Waisman, Leonard, 74n75, 81n95, 86, 120n89 wedding entertainments, 10, 64, 103n43, 111, 112, 134, 145–46, 165, 201, 221, 250, 251, 262, 313, 338 See also marriage: commemmoration of, in text and music Wert, Giaches de, see De Wert, Giaches Willaert, Adriano, 29n48, 38–40, 51–52, 76, 119 Musica nova, 34–35, 37, 113, 119–20, 141, 154, 159, 173, 174, 277 Wistreich, Richard, 7 women of lower social status, 14, 64, 70, 149, 224, 329 as girls and young women, 14, 69, 290, 322 See also courtesan, noblewomen, nuns Zanibetti, Angela, 320 Zarlino, Gioseffo, 5, 40, 44, 51–52, 265 d’Este, Suor Leonora, and, 33, 34 Sopplimenti musicali, 34 Utilissimo trattato della patientia, 34, 44–46 Zenobi, Luigi, 270–75 Zygmunt August, Prince of Poland, 91

388

Index of Compositions

Note: The appearance of “e” after a page number indicates a music example, “f ” indicates a figure, “t” indicates a table, and “n” indicates a footnote. Agostini, Lodovico “Come la notte ogni fiammella è viva,” (Ariosto), 255–56, 257e7.4, 261 “Dal odorate spoglie” (Cavaletta), 253 “Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?” (Beccuti), 272, 275e7.13 “Donna felice e bella,” 200–1, 202e5.9 “Donna mentre vi miro,” 249 “Morrò poiché vi piace,” 253–55 “Nasce la gioia mia,” 250 “Odi, Ninfa de gl’antri, hor come io godo,” 257, 272, 276e7.14a, 277e7.14b, 278e7.15 “Onde sì acerbi lai?”, 255 “Picciola verga e bella,” 243n4 “Poiché del vostro canto,” 252–53 “Quando ch’io persi il core,” 252 “Quando i più gravi accenti” (?Guarini), 243n6, 249 “Quanto più voi LAURA gentil,” 255 “Scendete, Muse, del sacrato monte,” 250 “Se voi pur MARGARITA,” 252 “Se voi sete il cor mio,” 253–54, 270, 271e7.9 “Se voi sete il mio cor la vita e l’alma,” 253 “Tanto può de begli occhi,” 250 Alberti, Innocenzo “Come può star fierezza,” 249 Aleotti, Suor Raffaella “Miserere mei, Deus,” 305, 307e8.2 “Vidi speciosam colombam,” 306e8.1 anonymous works (materna lingua complex) “Adest nobis dies celebris,” 37 “Ave sanctissima Maria” (Pope Sixtus IV), 37, 44, 46 “Ego sum panis vitae,” 37 “Felix namque es sacra,” 37, 46, 49, 50e1.7, 77 “Hodie Simon Petrus,” 47–48, 48e1.6 “O salutaris hostia,” 37, 38, 39e1.2b “Rogamus te, beatissima Virgo,” 44, 46 “Salve sponsa Dei,” 37, 38, 38e1.1, 47 “Sicut lilium inter spinas,” 37

“Suscipe verbum, virgo Maria,” 44, 45e1.5 “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus,” 40–44, 42e1.4b, 46, 51 “Veni sponsa Christi,” 37 “Vidi speciosam columbam,” 49–50, 51e1.8 “Virgo Maria speciosissima,” 40, 41e1.3a, 44, 46 Belli d’Argenta, Girolamo “La misera farfalla,” “Non miri il mio bel sole” (Guarini), 244, 246e7.2 Bertoldi, Bertoldo di “Chi mett’il pie su l’amorosa pania” (Ariosto), 86 “Come havrò dunque il frutto” (Barignano), “Dolci e fresche onde chiare,” 81–82, 82e2.3, 83, 86 “I’ non poria giamai” (Petrarch), 85–86, 85e2.5 “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva” (Ariosto), 86–87, 88e2.6, 94 “Madonna bella sete,” 83 “Mia benigna fortuna e il viver lieto” (Petrarch), 83–85, 84e2.4, 86 “Virginia altiera sete e fav’altiera,” Bottegari, Cosimo, “Salve regina Vergin gloriosa” (Savonarola), 28n44 “Rifuti ogni diletto ed ogni piacere” (Vigri), 28n44 Brumel, Antoine, “Mater, patris et filia,” 40, 41e1.3b, 46 Buus, Jacques de, “Martin estoit dedans ung bois,” 80 Concinat plebs fidelium (hymn for St Clare), 38, 39e1.2a Dalla Viola, Alfonso, “Alma beat’e bella,” 76–77, 78e2.2 “Amor mi fa morire” (Bonifacio), 75 “Lasso, la rete che mi lega il core,” 75 “Nell’aspra dipartita,” 75

389

389

Index of Compositions

“Stella che fra le stelle,” 76–77, 77e2.1 Dalla Viola, Francesco “A voi, mio ben, tutto il dominio ho dato” (Ariosto), 118 “Donna, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio” (Ariosto), 118 “Felice chi dispensa” (Giraldi Cinzio), 107, 115–16, 117e3.6 “La verginella è simile alla rosa” (Ariosto), 107 “Tal’hor m’assale in mezzo ai tristi pianti” (Petrarch), 114, 116–17 “Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori” (Ariosto), 117 “Vivo sol di speranza, rimembrando” (Petrarch), 113–14, 115e3.4b, 116e3.5 Dall’Occa, Alberto “Udite, amanti, udite,” 244, 245, 249 De Rore, Cipriano “Amor se così dolce e il mio dolore,” 279–82, 280e7.16 “Chi con eterna legge” (Giraldi Cinzio), 107 “Chi non sa, come Amor,” 123 “Da le belle contrade d’oriente,” 162 “Datemi pace, o duri miei pensieri!” (Petrarch), 121, 122e3.7, 123, 124 “Di virtù, di costumi, di valore,” 212n106 ”En voz adieux, dame, cessez vos pleurs,” 93 “Fontana di dolore, albergo d’ira” (Petrarch), 123 “Gravi pene in amor si provan molte” (Ariosto), 93 “Hesperiae cum leta suas” (Falletti), 92, 123 “Io dico e dissi e dirò fin ch’io viva” (Ariosto), 93–94, 94e3.1a, 94e3.1b “La giustizia immortale” (Giraldi Cinzio), 107 “L’inconstantia seco han” (Giraldi Cinzio), 107 “L’ineffabil bontà del Redentore” (Ariosto), 123–24, 124e3.8 “Mia benigna fortuna e il viver lieto” (Petrarch), 121 “Miserere nostri Deus omnium,” 51, 52e1.9, 305 “O sonno! O della queta humid’ombrosa” (Dalla Casa), 121, 212n106 “Poiche m’invita Amore,” 212n106 “Quel foco che tanti anni,” 107 “Regina coeli,” 94 “Schiet’arbuscel di cui ramo ne foglia,” 212n106 “Se ben il duol che per voi, donna, sento” (Petrarch), 121, 166, 212n106 “Tutto ’l dì piango e poi la notte quando” (Petrarch), 93 “Un’altra volta la Germania strida” (Bottigella), 121–23, 212n106 “Volgi ’l tuo corso alla tua riva manca,” 123

De Wert, Giaches “Cara la vita mia, egl’è pur vero,” 136–38, 137e3.14, 252–53 “Chi mi fura il ben mio?” 132–36, 135e3.12, 137e3.13, 162 “Chi salirà per me, madonna, in cielo” (Ariosto), 128 “Con voi giocando Amor a voi simile,” 329, 330e9.3 “Dolce e felice sogno,” 131, 132e3.10, 134, 135 “Dolci spoglie, felic’e care tanto” (Gualtieri), 131–32, 133e3.11, 134, 162 “Donna se ben le chiome ho già ripiene” (Tasso), 176n16, 249 “Dunque baciar sì belle e dolce labbia” (Ariosto), 128, 131 “Era il bel viso suo, quale esser suole” (Ariosto), 128, 131, 135 “Fiamma del ciel su le tue treccie piova” (Petrarch), 127 “Forsennata gridava: ‘O tu che porte’” (Tasso), 261 “Giunto alla tomba ove al suo spirto vivo” (Tasso), 103n43, 249 “Gratie ch’al poch’il ciel largo destina” (Petrarch), 264, 265e7.5 “Il dolce sonno mi promise pace” (Ariosto), 128–29 “Ma di chi debbo lamentarmi, ahi lassa” (Ariosto), 128, 131 “Misera! non credea ch’a gl’occhi miei” (Tasso), 260 “Non è sì denso velo,” 260 “O fiere aspre e selvaggie” (Firenzuola), 126 “O sonno! O della queta humid’ombrosa” (Dalla Casa), 127 “Pensier che ’l cor m’agghiacci et ardi” (Ariosto), 127 “Qual musico gentil, prima che chiara” (Tasso), 258–59, 260–62, 286, 287e7.20, 288e7.21, 338–39 “Questi ch’indizio fan del mio tormento” (Ariosto), 127 “Questi odorati fiori,” 260 “S’allhor che per pigliar Laurent’ Enea,” 126 “Si come ai freschi matutini rai,” 269e7.8, 270 “Sovente allor che su gl’estivi ardori,” 260 “Tirsi morir volea” (Guarini), 208, 249, 283e7.17, 284e7.18, 285e7.19a, 285e7.19b “Tolse Barbara gente il pregio a Roma” (Tasso), 187n57 “Usciva omai dal molle e fresco grembo” (Tasso), 260, 267e7.7 “Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori” (Ariosto), 249 “Vener ch’un giorno avea,” 260, 264, 266e7.6 “Vezzosi augelli in fra le verde fronde” (Tasso), 260

390

390

Index of Compositions

Fiesco, Giulio “Lingua gelata, e per tacer bugiarda” (Guarini), 160, 163e4.3, 166 “Mentre per l’ampio mar de gli honor tuoi,” 156–57 “Mira secondo Re de gli altri fiumi,” 155–56 “Quando leva costei gl’occhi dolenti” (Guarini), 160–64, 164e4.4 “S’armi pur d’ira, disdegnoso ed empio” (Guarini), 160, 161e4.2 “Se voi sete il mio cor la vita e l’alma,” 253 “Vane speranze mie, date omai pace” (Guarini), 157, 158e4.1 Grandi, Alessandro “Anima mea liquefacta est,” 328, 330e9.2 “Ave Regina caelorum,” 326, 327e9.1 “Deus misereatur nostri,” 329, 331e9.4 Litaniae Beatae Mariae Virginis, 332e9.5 “Quam pulcra est casta generatio,” 326 “Qui timetis Dominum,” 326 Isnardi, Paolo, “‘Gentil Elpin’, la ninfa mia mi disse,” 201 “La bella Pargoletta” (Tasso), 201, 203, 204e5.10, 205 Magnificat primi toni, 177 “Mentre ch’io tengo fisse le luci,” 201, 205 Missa Libera me Domine, 177, 178e5.3, 178e5.4 “Poi che ch’invitan le campagne,” 201 “Quel labbro, che le rose han colorito” (Tasso), 201 “Questa ch’il cielo honora,” 249 Jachet of Mantua (Jacques Colebault) Missa sopra la fede non debbe esser corotta 105, 106e3.3 Jhan, Maistre “Ecce amica mea,” 31 Josquin des Prez, “Miserere mei, Deus,” 40, 42e1.4a Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae, 38 Luzzaschi, Luzzasco “Ahi come tosto passa,” 309 “Aura soave de segreti accenti” (Guarini), 173, 173e5.1, 262–63, 270, 271e7.10 “Al Cielo che mancheran le stelle,” 205n96 “Al dolce vostro canto,” 205, 206e5.11a, 207e5.11b “Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?” 208, 208e5.12, 209, 209e5.13

“Come viva il mio core,” 310 “Con voi quando partiste” (Pigna), 166 “Cor mio, benchè lontana,” 308, 309e8.3, 310e8.4 “Cosi vivo è l’amore” (Pigna), 166 “Dhe, non cantar, donna gentil, ch’io sento,” 205 “Geloso amante, apro mille occhi e giro” (Tasso), 205 “Lieta nel suo bel volto” (Pigna), 166 “I begli occhi e le chiome,” 166 “Itene mie querelle,” 310 “Mentre fa con gli accenti,” 165 “Mentre l’ardenti stelle” (Tasso), 165 “Non fu senza vendetta” (Guarini), 206 “Occhi del pianto mio,” 272, 273e7.11 “Se parti i’ moro e pur partire conviene,” 310 “Stral pungente d’Amore,” 173, 174e5.2 “Veggo tranquillo il mar tutto gioire,” 206 Manara, Francesco “Amor scorta mi fosti” (Valenziano), 107 “Ma perche ogn’hor m’attempo,” 107 Marenzio, Luca “Lucida perla, a cui fu conca il cielo” (Garini), 221 Menon, Tuttovale, aere da cantare stantie, 100–1, 100f3.3, 131 “Ahy speranza fallace,” 98e3.2 “Amor, amor, tu sei” (Bembo), 98 “Coppia felice a cui foco gentile” (Martelli), 98 “Fedel, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio” (Ariosto), 99–100 “Hayme che quella fede,” 104–6, 106e3.3 “Non avete a temer ch’in forma nuova” (Ariosto), 101 “Non fu giamai, ne fia,” 100, 103–4 “Quando fra i verdi colli,” 99n32 “Quando per gentil atto di salute” (Cino da Pistoia), 98 “Per l’avvenir vo’ che ciascuna ch’aggia” (Ariosto), 102 “S’Amor non è, che dunque è quel che io sento?” (Petrarch), 97 “Se ’l sol si scosta, e lascia i giorni brevi” (Ariosto), 101, 255 “Un giglio d’or e due lucente stelle,” 98 “Vattene in pace, alma beata e bella!” (Ariosto), 102 Milleville, Alessandro, “Amorosa fenice,” 249 “Già mi vivea felice e tutto lieto,” 197–99, 198e5.7, 199e5.8

391

391

Index of Compositions

“In profondo silentio era sepolta,” 198e5.6 “I vo’ cantar ogn’or per queste rive” (Cavaletta), 197 Monteverdi, Claudio “De la bellezza le dovute lodi,” 338 Il ballo delle ingrate, 338 Lamento d’Arianna, 103n43, 338–39 L’Arianna, 1, 338 L’Orfeo, 1, 338 Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da, “Dido, chi giace entro questa urna?” (Beccuti), 272, 274e7.12 “Da fuoco così bel nasce il mio ardore” [canzone sopra di Pace non Trovo] (Salvi), 121 “Tribulationes civitatum audivimus,” 42 Pange lingua gloriosa, 37 Regina coeli, 46 Rore, Cipriano de see De Rore, Cipriano

Salve regina, 46 Striggio, Alessandro “Fuggi, spene mia, fuggi” (Cini), 195, 195e5.5, 206 “Nasce la pena mia,” 250 “S’ogni mio ben havete,” 252 Virchi, Paolo “Ama ben dice Amore,” 249 “Con gli occhi molli e con le chiome sparse,” 247, 248e7.3 Wert, Giaches de, see De Wert, Giaches Willaert, Adriano “Aspro core e selvaggio et cruda voglia,” 113–14, 114e3.4a “Infelix ego,” 40, 43e1.4c “O gemma clarissima, Catharina virgo,” 29n48 “O salutaris hostia,” 40 “Quando nascesti, Amore?” 174