ITALY (MUSIC.) 



189 



church songs and hymns adapted to the four authen- 

 tic modes of the Greeks, and appointed psalmists or 

 precentors. Gregory the Great, in the sixth century 

 enlarged the choral song by the plagal modes. From 

 this time] singing-schools were multiplied, and much 

 was written upon music. The most important in- 

 ventions for the improvement of music generally, we 

 owe to the eleventh century, and particularly to the 

 Benedictine Guido of Arezzo, who, if he did not 

 invent the mode of writing musical notes and the use 

 of the clef, improved and enlarged them, determined 

 the exact relations of the tones, named the six tones of 

 the scale (see Solfeggio) , and divided the scale into hex- 

 achords. In the thirteenth century, the invention of 

 music in measure was spread in Italy, dependent up- 

 on which was that of counterpoint and figured music. 

 Instruments were multiplied and improved in the four- 

 teenth and fifteenth centuries. Many popes favoured 

 music, particularly vocal, and consecrated it by their 

 briefs ; yet the ecclesiastical ordinances restrained 

 the independent developement of music. Much 

 instruction was given in singing in the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, and not entirely by monks. Music acqufred 

 the rank of a science, and vocal music in coun- 

 terpoint was developed. In the sixteenth century, 

 we discover distinguished composers and musicians 

 Palestrina, composer for the chapel of pope Cle- 

 ment XL, whose works possess great dignity and 

 scientific modulation, and his successor, Felice Ane- 

 rio, Nanino da Vallerano, who, together with Giovanni 

 da Balletri, were considered as distinguished musi- 

 cians ; also the celebrated contrapuntist and singer, 

 Gregorio Allegri, and the great writer upon har- 

 mony, Giuseppe Zarlino, chapel-master at Venice. 

 Music at Rome and Venice was cultivated with the 

 greatest zeal. Hence it went to Naples and Genoa; 

 and all Italy, Schubert says, was soon a loud-sound- 

 ing concert-hall, to which all Europe resorted to hear 

 genuine music, particularly beautiful singing. In the 

 seventeenth century, we meet with the first profane 

 music. The first opera was performed at Venice 

 1624, at first with unaccompanied recitatives and 

 choruses in unison ; it spread so quickly, that the 

 composers of spectacles were soon unable to supply 

 the demands of the people, and from forty to fifty 

 new operas appeared yearly in Italy. This caused 

 great competition among the Italian musicians. Thus 

 the peculiar character of the Italian music, not to be 

 changed by foreign influence, was developed the 

 more quickly, because this species was cultivated 

 independently, and unrestrained by the church. Al- 

 ready, in the middle of the seventeenth century, 

 when the music of the theatre was continually ad- 

 vancing, simplicity began to give place to pomp and 

 luxuriance, and the church style to decline. Music 

 (says Schubert) united the profane air of the drama 

 with the. fervour of the church style, and this was 

 the first cause of the decline of the latter. Let us 

 now consider the principal periods of the former. 

 Vocal music must have been first ; it was regulated 

 by the discovery and improvement of instruments ; 

 thence arose the simple, grand church music of the 

 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; with it' various 

 forms of national song were developed. On the 

 stage, the higher style of music flourished indepen- 

 dently. Here the Italian, without much attention 

 to the poetical part of the performance, which was, 

 indeed, only the hasty work of a moment, followed 

 his inclination for melody and sweet sounds, which 

 appears even in his language. All the southern i 

 nations show a great sensitiveness, and melody is to I 

 them as necessary as harmony to the inhabitants of 

 the north ; but to no nation so much as to the Ital- 

 ians, whose beautiful climate and happy organiza- 

 tion for song (Italy produces the most beautiful alto 



and tenor voices few bass) made melody their chief 

 aim in their musfc. On the other hand, the simpli- 

 city of melody degenerated into effeminacy and luxu- 

 riance, from the time when vocal music developed 

 itself independently, and the voice, but little sup- 

 ported by the instrumental music, began to be 

 cultivated like an instrument; when, instead of 

 poetical expression and truth, mere gratification of 

 the ears, not deep emotion, but a momentary excite- 

 ment, and a rapid change of tones, with the avoid- 

 ance of all dissonance, were principally desired; when 

 music began to predominate over poetry, which first 

 took place on the stage, and thus the musical part 

 of the performance obstructed the improvement of the 

 dramatic and poetic. This taste spread over other 

 countries so much the more easily, as Italian music 

 had advanced, by rapid strides, far before that of the 

 rest of Europe, as appears even from the predomi- 

 nance of Italian terms in musical language. This 

 artificial developement of the song was promoted by 

 the introduction of soprano singers on the stage, 

 which destroyed the possibility of poetic truth in 

 dramatic representation. The voice was cultivated 

 to the highest degree by means of the numerous con- 

 servatories and singing schools. To this was added 

 the great encouragement and the extravagant rewards 

 of distinguished singers (Farinelli purchased a duchy); 

 the great opportunities afforded for singing (as every 

 place of consequence in Italy had its theatre, and 

 many had several); besides which, music is an essen- 

 tial part of the service of the Catholic church, and 

 castration was permitted ad honorem Dei, as a papal 

 brief expresses it. The excessive culture of the 

 voice must necessarily lead to the treatment of it as 

 an instrument, to the neglect of poetical expression. 

 Instrumental music, too, in this case, necessarily 

 becomes subordinate. Instrumental music should not 

 indeed overpower the song, as is the case in much of 

 the French and German music ; but in the Ital- 

 ian music, the composer is almost restricted to 

 showing off the singer, and cannot develope the ful- 

 ness and depth of harmony which depends upon the 

 mingling of consonance and dissonance. This is 

 the reason why the masterpieces of Mozart have 

 never entirely satisfied the Italians. Among the best 

 composers, since the seventeenth century, are Giro- 

 lamo Frescobaldi, Francesco Foggia, Bapt. Lully, 

 the celebrated violinist and composer Arcangelo 

 Corelli. To the singers, of whom the most were also 

 composers, belong Antimo Liberati, Matteo Simon- 

 elli, both singers in the chapel of the pope. In the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century, Ant. Caldara 

 was distinguished. He increased the effect of the 

 singing by the addition of instruments, but his style 

 partook much of the theatrical. There were, besides. 

 Brescianello, Toniri, and Marotti. In the middle of 

 this century, Italian music, especially theatrical, 

 flourished, particularly at Naples, Lisbon, and also 

 in Berlin. This has been declared by some the most 

 brilliant period of Italian music. There are some 

 distinguished instrumentalists in Italy, as the organist 

 Scarlatti and Martinelli, the violinist Tartini (who, 

 even in the theory of his instrument, was distin- 

 guished, and established a school, which was devoted 

 particularly to the church style), Domenico Ferrari, 

 Geminiani, Ant. Lolli and Nardini, scholars of Tar- 

 tini, also the player upon the harpsichord and com- 

 poser, Clementi, in London, and Paganini. Among 

 the composers of the eighteenth century, are men- 

 tioned Traelta, who, through his refinements, injured 

 the simplicity of composition ; Galuppi, distinguished 

 by simple and pleasing song, rich invention, and good 

 harmony ; Jomelli (q. v.), who gave greater im- 

 portance to instrumental music ; Maio; Nic. Porpora, 

 the founder of a new style of singing, distinguished 



