Armidoro, Oristeo e altri principi giardinieri sulle scene dell’opera veneziana nel Seicento

The subject of aprince dressing as a gardener to approach his beloved is dear to the European theatrical tradition: the model of Don Duardos by Gil Vicente (1562), reprinted in El rincipe viñador by Luis Vélez de Guevara (1668), is also used in French theatre, which proposes a variation in Le Prince déguisé by Georges de Scudery (1636), partly based on the novel Grisel y Mirabella by Juan de Flores (1524). This subject was later integrated into 17th century Italian theatre, starting with Venetian opera. This essay analyses in particular some works produced in Venice in the middle of the century, starting with Il prencipe giardiniero by Benedetto Ferrari (1644), whose subject anticipates first L’Oristeo (1651) by Giovanni Faustini and Francesco Cavalli, and Laurindo by Gio. Andrea Moniglia, written in 1657 and printed as Il principe giardiniere under the name of Giacinto Andrea Cicognini starting from 1664.

The Porous Grate

There were several reasons why the nunneries found it necessary to hire male music teachers. While in most cases new nuns learned plainchant from the older members of the choir, in certain situations outside expertise was required. Novices also required training in singing their portions of the rituals of clothing and profession, a role often carried out by secular professionals. The nunneries also housed young women resident students, whose studies, in addition to languages and comportment, sometimes included vocal or instrumental music. Teachers for these various purposes included G. B. Volpe, Giovanni Rovetta, Bartolomeo Barbarino, and Francesco Cavalli. All of these activities involved potentially dangerous interactions between the nuns and unrelated men, so the civil and ecclesiastical authorities attempted to maintain close control, if necessary arresting and trying men, including the organist Giovanni Pichi, who violated procedures.

Marsilio Ficino, Francesco Cavalli e a música como remédio para o desgosto amoroso

Neste artigo, o filósofo Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) e o compositor Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) são apresentados como pertencentes a um e ao mesmo universo discursivo, no qual música, amor e imaginação cumprem um papel fundamental. A teoria do amor Neoplatônica de Ficino exerce uma função central em sua filosofia. Ele define o amor como o desejo pela beleza. Coisas belas, como a música harmoniosa, inspiram a alma com amor. Quando a música é adequadamente apreciada, o amante se distancia do mundo sensível, foca sua atenção em sua alma e, com isto, encontra seu fim último em Deus. Contudo, se a alma ama de modo impróprio e se fixa na beleza sensual da música, o resultado é a doença amorosa. Assim, para Ficino, o uso adequado do amor e da música repousa no âmago da felicidade humana. Um eco secularizado desta teoria pode ser ouvido na ópera Artemisia, de Cavalli.

Censoring Eliogabalo in Seventeenth-Century Venice

Analysis of the opera Eliogabalo in its various incarnations, from the perspective of Venetian society and politics at the time, reveals a veiled story of censorship and dissimulation. The first version of the opera, set by Francesco Cavalli in 1667, was hastily abandoned in favor of a new treatment by Giovanni A. Boretti on a libretto by Aurelio Aureli, which managed to retain telling traces of its predecessor. The subsequent fate of this second version, variously rewritten and performed around Italy until 1687, confirms the ideological controversy that always seemed to surround this opera and the influence of theater owners and others over its content, providing an insight into the nature of Venetian operatic patronage.

Signifying Nothing: On the Aesthetics of Pure Voice in Early Venetian Opera

Operas written in Venice in the 1640s feature surprisingly long melismas often setting seemingly insignificant words, in opposition to (although concurrently with) traditional madrigalisms. This magnification of pure voice over word meaning is consistent with the aesthetics presented by members of the Venetian Accademia degli Incogniti, known for its pro-opera stance. In previously unexplored works the academicians advocate the controversial concept of Nothing as an all-embracing phenomenon. This includes language, in which the Incogniti emphasize sound as independent from meaning-a claim with significant consequences for music aesthetics. The academy's emblem articulates a parallel discourse on voice through visual means. By musical means, passages from works by Barbara Strozzi, Claudio Monteverdi (an oft-discussed melisma in Poppea, I, 6), and Francesco Cavalli also articulate Incogniti aesthetics. In elaborating their ideas the academicians relied upon a work that indeed presented a manifesto for sheer vocality, L'Adone (1623) by Giovanbattista Marino, an academy member. The Incogniti's Marinist aesthetics was to dominate the rest of the century until its object, pure voice, came under sharp criticism by members of yet another academy, the Arcadia.