alfabeto 3

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CHAPTER THREE

THE INTEGRATION OF ORAL TRADITIONS IN NORTHERN

ITALIAN SOURCES

The earliest printed sources of alfabeto song, as described in the previous

chapter, transmit a mixture of song traditions, sometimes to the detriment of their

practicality for the rasgueado guitarist. But two important publications from 1616,

Flamminio Corradi’s Le stravaganze d’Amore (Venice: Alessandro Vincenti) and

Andrea Falconieri’s Libro primo di villanelle (Rome: Giovanni Battista Robletti),

initiated a period of greater fluency in the use of alfabeto symbols. Moreover, the

style of the canzonettas appearing in these books became typical for northern Italian

song in general, especially those printed in Venice from the 1620s through the middle

of the century. In this chapter I will demonstrate that Venetian editors set alfabeto

with more attention to its practicality for the guitarists, and I will give evidence that

this practicality is the result of a renewed influence from the unwritten strummed

guitar tradition. I will also argue that this influence operates not only at the editorial

level, in the choice of alfabeto symbols, but also at the compositional level, in that

these songs tend to be composed in a style that is amenable to strummed guitar

accompaniment. It follows, therefore, that the adoption and adaptation of alfabeto

symbols in Italian canzonettas reflects an ongoing, mutual influence between an

orally transmitted performance practice and the composition and performance of

strophic chamber song with continuo notation.

In discussing the style of these Venetian alfabeto songs, as well as their

connection to strummed guitar performance practice, I will single out a few

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particularly cogent sources. These include, in addition to the Falconieri and Corradi

books already mentioned, the anthologies of Giovanni Stefani and the songbooks of

Carlo Milanuzzi. In each case these sources demonstrate both concrete connections

to the unwritten five-course guitar tradition and stylistic attributes that suggest an

influence from strummed guitar performance practice. An analysis of “Ecco l’alma

mia bella,” a song from Stefani’s first collection, will provide a concrete example of

how strummed guitar practice influenced the adaptation of three-voice polyphony for

solo voice and continuo. I will then give various examples from the larger alfabeto

song repertory that display similar musical characteristics in similar contexts.

Musical style, of course, is a complex topic, and I do not suggest that the guitar

repertory can account for every aspect of canzonetta composition. Indeed, many of

the musical attributes I will discuss can be found in pieces that precede both

repertories. But the cumulative evidence of all the connections, both direct and

inferred, between the orally transmitted five-course guitar repertory and the mid-

century canzonetta, makes a strong case for the guitar as an agent of stylistic

development in the seventeenth century.

PRACTICAL, NON-PRACTICAL, AND INTEGRATED ALFABETO

This chapter will focus on northern Italian alfabeto songbooks, in which the

editorial treatment of alfabeto contrasts with the Neapolitan and Roman “guitar

villanella” repertory described in Chapter 2. The guitar villanellas are primarily

three-voice canzonettas without continuo to which alfabeto symbols appear to have

been added by the publishers to increase salability. The role of the publisher as agent

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in applying alfabeto was first proposed by Nigel Fortune, and has been explored more

recently by Robert Strizich and Cory Gavito.1 Although chronologically close to the

original sixteenth-century dance-song repertory, these early printed canzonettas fail to

provide convincing information on strummed guitar performance. As I have argued

in Chapter 2, the impractical nature of the alfabeto in these early sources suggests that

editors added the symbols without giving much thought to whether or how

contemporary guitarists were actually playing these pieces.

Example 12, Crescenzio Salzilli’s “Deh fuggit’ incauti amanti,” will provide a

recapitulation of the “impractical” guitar villanella alfabeto usage described in

Chapter 2, for the purpose of contrast with Venetian practice. “Deh fuggit’” might at

first seem to be a valuable source of information on chordal accompaniment to

polyphonic music; as in, for example, the treatment of the cadential clash on the last

beat of measure 4, where a B-flat major alfabeto chord is added to the 6-5 clash in the

voices, and a similar occurrence with the C major chord in measure 7. The

juxtaposition of root-position and first-inversion triads does seem to be a

characteristic of early chordal accompaniment.2 But a closer investigation of “Deh

fuggit’” casts doubt on the viability of these particular guitar chords as examples of

1 Nigel Fortune, “Italian Secular Song from 1600-1635: The Origins and

Development of Accompanied Monody,” (Ph.D. diss., Cambridge University, 1953),

146-47; Robert Strizich, “L’accompagnamento di basso continuo sulla chitarra

barocca,” pts. I and II, Il Fronimo 9/34 (January, 1981): 15-26; 9/35 (April, 1981): 8-

27; Cory Gavito, “The Alfabeto Song in Print, 1610 – ca. 1665: Neapolitan Roots,

Roman Codification, and ‘Il gusto popolare’,” (Ph.D. diss., The University of Texas

at Austin, 2006), 20-22. 2 Paul O’Dette has related to me that he makes frequent use of this effect in his

continuo realizations.

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contemporary performance practice, especially when the improbably rapid harmonic

progression is taken into account. I have studied hundreds of guitar villanella sources

in an attempt to make sense of the alfabeto symbols, and the conclusion is

inescapable: in the early Neapolitan and Roman alfabeto songbooks the chord

symbols were added quickly by using a simple formula. The editors, working from

the bass choirbook part, took each bass note as the root of a triad, and an alfabeto

symbol representing that triad was placed above that bass note, usually without taking

into consideration either the demands of the instrument or the pitches in the other two

voices. In measure 6, for instance, the second, third, and fourth guitar chords create a

series of acciaccaturas in combination with the voices, which outline simple triads—

different triads than those played by the guitar. What harmonic purpose does the

resulting chain of 6-5 chords serve, in the absence of cadential motion? And why

require the effort of a full change of left-hand position at the level of the eighth note?

An adept player could certainly pull this off, but such a performer would probably

also realize that most of these chords are not the best matches for the harmonies being

sung. The printers were interested in increasing the marketability of their songbooks,

and alfabeto provided an easy way to do so. Although there was a flourishing

tradition of strummed guitar accompaniment to Italian canzonettas at the time, the

guitar villanella editors did not seem to take that into account.

But there is a marked change in the editorial attitude towards alfabeto in the

songbooks printed from c.1620 on, especially from the Venetian presses of

Bartolomeo Magni and Alessandro Vincenti. These later songbooks display an

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understanding of the practicalities of the instrument. This understanding seems to

stem from a familiarity with the unwritten guitar tradition, hence my term “integrated

alfabeto,” referring to the integration of orally transmitted performance practices.

The resulting alfabeto symbols are of more practical value for amateur guitarists who

cannot make adjustments to the printed symbols by reading the continuo line. In

addition, the songs themselves tend to be composed in a way that is more amenable to

guitar accompaniment, suggesting a mutual influence between performance practice

and composition. Although this practical alfabeto was primarily a Venetian

phenomenon, it also appears in both of Andrea Falconieri’s alfabeto songbooks, the

first of which was printed in Rome. Figure 3.1 transcribes an excerpt from

Falconieri’s “Voi sete bella ma sete crudele” as an example of the practical approach

to alfabeto that would become standard in the Venetian presses. Here Falconieri’s

alfabeto simplifies the bass voice by treating many notes as passing tones, which

largely obviates the question of chord inversion. When the bass does require an

inversion on a strong beat, as with the F major at measure 6 and the G minor at

measure 11, the editor has provided the appropriate alfabeto chord.

Roman alfabeto can also be contrasted to northern Italian usage on the basis of

a consistent difference in their treatment of the E minor and C minor chords.

Northern Italian integrated alfabeto books represent E minor with a cross symbol, a

device that dates back at least to Girolamo Montesardo’s 1606 alfabeto solo book.

Roman publishers consistently use the alphabet letter “X” for E minor, with one

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Figure 3.1: Andrea Falconieri, “Voi sete bella ma sete crudele,” excerpt, Libro primo

di villanelle (Rome: Robletti, 1616).

exception that will be discussed presently. Since the Venetian system uses “X” for a

different chord (B minor) and incorporates additional symbols, the chords from “S”

onwards are arranged differently in the two systems (see Fig. 3.2).3 Another

consistent difference between Roman and Venetian usage concerns the “L” chord. In

the Roman alfabeto charts the “L” chord is intabulated as a consonant C minor triad.

In the Venetian charts, however, the “L” chord is always intabulated with a third fret

on the second course, producing a C minor triad with the addition of a D natural

(shown as Cmadd2

in my table). This is not a typo: as I will explain below, this chord

shape represents a connection to earlier strummed guitar practice. The Venetian

3 See also Gavito, “Alfabeto Song in Print,” 90-93.

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Roman Usage: Facsimile Example, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, Libro secondo di

villanelle (Rome: Giovanni Battista Robletti, 1619)

Kapsperger’s Alfabeto with modern equivalents

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O

G C D Am Dm E F B� A B�m Cm E� A� Gm

P Q R S T V X Y Z

Fm F# B F#m Bm A Em E F

Venetian Usage: Facsimile Example, Carlo Milanuzzi, Secondo scherzo delle arie

vaghezze (Venice: Alessandro Vincenti, 1620)

Milanuzzi’s Alfabeto With Modern Equivalents

+ A B C D E F G H I K L M N

Em G C D Am Dm E F B� A B�m Cmadd2 E� A�

O P Q R S T V X Y Z & 2 RX

Gm Fm F# B E A F#m Bm G C E� Em F

Figure 3.2: Roman and Venetian Alfabeto Charts.

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charts differ amongst themselves in the inclusion of the final non-alphabetical

symbols, but these particular symbols are never used in the songs.

Before further discussion of the Venetian repertory I need to account for the

later Roman prints, which present a complication to the southern/non-practical versus

northern/practical scheme I have implied so far. Later Roman publications, from the

1620s on, display an increasing facility with alfabeto, and avoid many of the

problems I have described in the earlier repertory. Nonetheless, I would argue that

this “Roman practical alfabeto” is distinct from the contemporaneous Venetian usage.

As the following example will demonstrate, this later Roman usage is a refinement of

the “bass-note formula,” still dependent on the bass voice but taking more care with

issues of consonance and playability. By contrast, the Venetian usage relies more on

familiar harmonic and rhythmic patterns from the unwritten guitar tradition and less

on a strict observance of the continuo. My categories are presented, with sources

arranged chronologically within each category, as Table 3.1. This table may serve as

a reference for the following exposition.

For an example of practical alfabeto in a later Roman print I have reproduced

Stefano Landi’s “O begl’occhi di Sole” from Il secondo libro d’arie musicali (Rome:

Giovanni Battista Robletti, 1627) (see Example 13). Although it is a Roman print,

the alfabeto follows the continuo quite efficiently, for the most part avoiding

problems with playability and consonance. The slow harmonic rhythm is already

suited for chordal accompaniment, but where the bass contains quarter notes (mm. 13

and 16) they are treated as passing tones in the guitar. Unlike the earlier guitar

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Table 3.1: Alfabeto Songbooks Arranged by Alfabeto Usage

Chart 1

Venetian usage / “Integrated alfabeto” sources (functional)

1616 Falconieri, Andrea. Libro primo di villanelle (Rome: Robletti)

1616 Corradi, Flamminio. Le stravaganza d’amore (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)

1618 Caccini, Francesca. Il primo libro delle musiche (Florence: Pignoni)

1618 Stefani, Giovanni. Affetti amorosi (Venice: Alessandro Vincenti)

1619 Falconieri, Andrea. Musiche libro sexto (Venice: Magni)

1620 Stefani, Giovanni (comp) Scherzi amorosi (Venice: Vincenti)

1621 India, Sigismondo d’. Le musiche libro quarto (Venice: Vincenti)

1622 Guazzi, Eleuterio. Spiritosi affetti libro primo (Venice: Magni)

1622 Marini, Biagio. Scherzi, e canzonette (Parma: Viotti)

1622 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Primo scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Magni)

1622 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Secondo scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Vincenti)

1622 Vitali, Filippo. Arie a 1. 2. 3. voce (Venice: Magni)

1623 Ghizzolo, Giovanni. Frutti d’amore libro quinto (Venice: Vincenti)

1623 India, Sigismondo d’. Le musiche libro quinto (Venice: Vincenti)

1623 Manzolo, Domenico. Canzonette (Venice: Vincenti)

1623 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Terzo scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Vincenti)

1623 Stefani, Giovanni (comp) Concerti amorosi (Venice: Vincenti)

1624 Berti, Giovan Pietro. Cantade et arie (Venice: Vincenti)

1624 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Vincenti)

1625 Miniscalchi, Guglielmo. Arie libro primo (Venice: Vincenti)

1626 Grandi, Alessandro. Cantade et arie libro terzo (Venice: Ziotti)

1627 Aldigatti, Marc’Antonio. Gratie et affetti amorosi (Venice: Magni)

1627 Miniscalchi, Guglielmo. Arie libro secondo (Venice: Vincenti)

1627 Obizzi, Domenico. Madrigali et arie libro primo (Venice: Vincenti)

1628 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Sesto libro delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Vincenti)

1628 Sabbatini, Pietro Paolo. Il sesto [libro] (Bracciano: Fei)

1628 Tarditi, Orazio. Amorosa schiera d’arie (Venice: Vincenti)

1630 Miniscalchi, Guglielmo. Arie libro terzo (Venice: Vincenti)

1633 Pesenti, Martino. Arie a voce sola libro secondo (Venice: Vincenti)

1634 [various] Arie de diversi (Venice: Vincenti)

1634 Valvasensi, Lazzaro. Secondo giardino d’amorosi fiori (Venice: Magni)

1635 Fontei, Nicolo. Bizzarie poetiche (Venice: Magni)

1635 Marini, Biagio. Madrigaletti libro quinto (Venice: Magni)

1635 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Ottavo libro delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Vincenti)

1636 Fontei, Nicolo. Bizarrie poetiche libro secondo (Venice: Magni)

1636 Pesenti, Martino. Arie a voce sola libro terzo (Venice:Vincenti)

1636 Sances, Giovanni Felice. Il quarto libro delle cantate (Venice: Vincenti)

1641 Ziani, Pietro Andrea. Il primo libro di canzonette (Venice: Vincenti)

1643 Milanuzzi, Carlo. Nono libro delle ariose vaghezze (Venice: Vincenti)

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1644 Busatti, Cherubino. Settimo libro d’ariette (Venice: Busatti)

1646 Tarditi, Orazio. Arie a voce sola (Venice: Vincenti)

Chart 2

Roman usage / “Guitar villanella” �� Roman functional alfabeto

1610 Kapsperger, Girolamo. Libro primo di villanelle (Rome)

1612 Montesardo, Girolamo. I lieti giorni (Naples: Gargano and Nucci)

1613 Giaccio, Orazio. Armoniose voci (Naples: Carlino)

1616 Salzilli, Crescenzio. Amarille libro terzo (Naples: Nucci)

1616 Salzilli. La sirena libro secondo (Naples: Gargano and Nucci)

1618 Giaccio. Laberinto amoroso (Naples: Gargano and Nucci)

1619 Kapsperger. Libro secondo di villanelle (Rome: Robletti)

1619 Kapsperger. Libro terzo di villanelle (Rome: Robletti)

1619 Rontani, Rafaello. Le varie arie musiche libro terzo (Rome: Soldi)

1620 Landi, Stefano. Arie a una voce (Venice: Magni)

1620 Olivieri, Giuseppe. La pastorella Armilla (Rome: Soldi)

1620 Rontani. Le varie arie musiche libro quarto (Rome: Robletti)

1620 Rontani. Le varie arie musiche libro quinto (Rome: Robletti)

1620 Vitali, Filippo. Musiche libro terzo (Rome: Soldi)

1621 (various) Giardino musicale (Rome: Robletti)

1621 (various) Raccolta di varii concerti musicali (Rome: Robletti)

1622 (various) Vezzosetti fiori (Rome: Robletti)

1623 Giamberti, Giuseppe, et al. Poesie diverse (Rome: Soldi)

1623 Kapsperger. Libro quarto di villanelle (Rome: Soldi)

1623 Rontani. Le varie musiche libro primo (Rome: Robletti)

1624 Aranies, Juan. Libro segundo de tonos y villancicos (Rome: Robletti)

1627 Landi, Stefano. Il secondo libro d’arie musicali (Rome: Robletti)

1628 Crivellati, Domenico. Cantate diverse (Rome: Robletti)

1630 Kapsperger. Libro quinto di villanelle (Rome: Masotti)

1632 Kapsperger. La fiori libro sesto di villanelle (Rome: Masotti)

1640 Kapsperger. Libro settimo di villanelle (Rome: Bianchi)

1650 Sabbatini, Pietro Paolo. Prima scelta di villanelle (Rome: Mascardi)

1650 Sabbatini. Prima scelta di villanelle a due voce (Rome: Mascardi)

Guitar

villanella

(nonfunct

Roman

functional

alfabeto

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Chart 3

Alfabeto text sources / links to the vernacular tradition

Printed sources:

1618 Romano, Remigio (comp.). Prima raccolta di bellissime canzonette

(Vicenza?)

1620 Romano. Seconda raccolta di canzonette (Vicenza)

1622 Romano. Terza raccolta (Vicenza)

1623 Romano. Nuova raccolta (Venice)

1626 Romano. Residuo alla quarta parte (Venice)

1627 Millioni, Pietro. Prima scielta di villanelle (Rome)

1628 Fedele, Giacinta. Scelte di villanelle (Vicenza)

1640? Pesori, Stefano. Lo scrigno armonico (?Mantua, n.d.)

Manuscript sources cited in this chapter:

I-Fn Ricc. 2793 Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana Ms. 2793

I-Fn Ricc. 3145 Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana Ms. 3145 olim 3643

I-Fn Finaly 175 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Ms. Fondo Landau-

Finaly Mus. 175

I-Fn Magl. 143 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Ms. Fondo

Magliabechiano,classe XIX, codice 143

F-Pn Espanol 390 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Español 390

I-Rvat Chigi 200 Rome, Vatican Library, Chigi L VI 200

villanellas, which treat every bass note as the root of a triad, the alfabeto in Landi’s

piece observes inversions and suspensions. The sharp six figure in measure 2, for

instance, is accommodated by the E major alfabeto symbol, and the alfabeto in

measures 4-5 actually corrects the erroneous “4 3” continuo figures, which should

read “7 #6.”

It is important for purposes of comparison with Venetian usage to note that

the Roman editor set the 7-#6 suspension in measure 4 as two separate alfabeto

chords. As we will see, the Venetian approach relies much less on exact observance

of continuo harmonies and much more on established chord patterns from the alfabeto

solo repertory, in which cadential suspensions are added to the chord patterns in the

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form of embellishments to the basic chords. The use of two chords in Landi shows

the care with which the triadic alfabeto chords have been accommodated to the

continuo line. This reliance on the continuo line, rather than on the guitar dance-song

tradition, allows declamatory, through-composed pieces like “O begl’occhi di Sole,”

which are not as stylistically close to the dance-song tradition, to be successfully

adapted for strummed guitar performance with alfabeto symbols. In most alfabeto

songbooks such pieces are given without alfabeto, which tends to be reserved instead

for strophic canzonettas with strongly accented metrical settings. In many cases, this

choice is made explicit on the title page; for instance, in Domenico Crivellati’s

Cantate diversi (Rome: Robletti, 1628) the title reads “with tablature for the Spanish

guitar in those [pieces] that are most appropriate.”4 In Crivellati’s book the alfabeto

songs are all triple meter, strophic pieces, with dance-like rhythms, while the through-

composed pieces (presumably the “cantatas” of the title) are given without alfabeto.

This association between alfabeto and the light, dance-like triple meter songs

that dominate the Venetian canzonetta repertory suggests a link to the dance-song

tradition from which the strummed guitar performance practice sprang, and thus an

integration of the earlier oral repertory. The two basic determining features of this

“integrated alfabeto” style are: (1) the use of functional alfabeto which simplifies the

bass line by omitting passing tones, observing inversions, and using the kind of

practical, playable chord progressions found in the alfabeto solo dance sources; and

(2) the use of a dance-song style of composition that is inherently amenable to guitar

4 “Con l’intavolatura per la chitarra Spagnola in quelle più approposito.”

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accompaniment. Basso continuo lines in these pieces often use one note per harmony

in combination with recurring rhythmic patterns to create strong harmonic periods

that are easily adapted to strummed guitar performance. In such pieces, there is little

need to simplify the bass line to make the alfabeto functional, since the compositional

conception is already so close to the guitar tradition. The alfabeto dance-song

tradition, a legacy of sixteenth-century oral performance practices (as described in

Chapter 2), is characterized by short periodic structures created by recurring chord

patterns in combination with particular strum patterns. Similar short-term periodic

structures created by harmonic and rhythmic means are also characteristic of

Venetian canzonetta composition. While the five-course guitar tradition cannot

account for every aspect of mid-seventeenth-century canzonetta composition, there is

substantial evidence that performance practices associated with the guitar had a direct

influence on the Venetian canzonetta.

ASPECTS OF MUSICAL STYLE IN VENETIAN CANZONETTAS

Before detailing the evidence specific to the guitar I will describe the Venetian

canzonetta style in more detail, drawing especially on the work of Roark Miller and

Silke Leopold.5 Both of these authors mention the connection between the guitar and

Venetian canzonettas, but neither directly addresses the extent of the guitar’s

influence on composition and performance. They do, however, describe stylistic

markers common to Venetian song, which, as I will argue, proved to be fertile ground

5 Silke Leopold, Al modo d’Orfeo: Dichtung und Musik im italiensiche Sologesang

des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts (Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 1995), and Roark Miller, “The

Composers of San Marco and the Development of Venetian Monody,” (Ph.D. diss.,

University of Michigan, 1993).

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for the interaction between orally transmitted performance practices and notated

composition.

In Silke Leopold’s study of Italian secular solo song in the seventeenth

century she makes a case for a new compositional style beginning in the second

decade of the century and featuring strong harmonic periodicity. These harmonic

periods are reinforced by small-scale melodic sequences. In Leopold’s analysis, this

style was the result of an effort to accommodate a new trend in Italian lyric poetry

initiated by Gabriello Chiabrera’s 1559 collection Maniere de’ versi toscani. With

this publication Chiabrera introduced into high art poetry verse forms that had

previously only been used in popular dance and carnival poems. This “Chiabreran

reform” spurred composition of texts that broke from the “Classical” forms of

canzone, sonetto, and ottava, which were restricted to endecasillabo and settenario

lines. Chiabrera’s lyric poetry used shorter syllable counts and avoided enjambments

between lines, with the result that each line was emphasized as an independent

metrical unit.6 Leopold sees the small-scale, clearly defined periodic structures

characteristic of Venetian solo chamber song in the early seventeenth century as a

direct response to the new lyrical forms. According to Leopold, a period of

experimentation in the first two decades of the century gave way to the clear, periodic

structures of solo song in the 1620s and 30s.

Roark Miller also describes Venetian song in this period, and he argues for a

distinctly Venetian repertory in which texts, melodies, and sometimes entire pieces

6 Leopold, Modo d’Orfeo, 47-54.

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were borrowed, imitated, and adapted by composers familiar with each other’s work.

Like Leopold, Miller points out the prevalence of small-scale periodic structures in

these Venetian canzonettas. His use of the term “melodic-rhythmic pattern” in

describing these structures underscores their similarity to the strummed guitar

repertory, and Miller in fact proposes that some of these formulaic patterns may have

derived from unwritten repertories.7 Miller points out that although this

compositional style fits well with the lyric forms of the day, the relationship between

text and music was mutual, in that many of the canzonetta texts seem to have been

written with the new compositional style in mind, sometimes by the composers

themselves.

Leopold also refers to small-scale periodicity in her analysis of Carlo

Milanuzzi’s “E pur partir,” a song from his Primo scherzo delle arie vaghezze

(Venice: Alessandro Vincenti, 1622).8 Leopold focuses on the text, in which

recurrent tronco line endings emphasize the independence of each line. I will develop

Leopold’s analysis further by pointing out the interrelationship of melody and rhythm

in Milanuzzi’s setting. “E pur partir” is an example of what I call a “modular”

compositional style, which is based on small, sequenced melodic and rhythmic

motives that mirror the formal structure of the text. This modular approach is

consistent in Milanuzzi’s nine books of canzonettas and is a common feature in the

integrated alfabeto repertory in general.

7 Miller, “Development of Venetian Monody,” 297-302.

8 Silke Leopold, “Remigio Romano’s Collection of Lyrics for Music,” Proceedings of

the Royal Musicological Association 110 (1983), 51.

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A closer look at “E pur partir,” which appears here as Example 14, reveals the

modular compositional style in action.

Milanuzzi, “E pur partir” from Primo scherzo delle arie vaghezze

E pur partir 5t

Dovrò da te 5t

Lidia che se’ 5t

Mia vita e’l cor 5t

Senza morir? 5t

Ahi dolor. 4t

Ma come lasso 5

Movrò’l mio passo 5

Se sol da te. 5t

Ha spirto, e moto il piè. 7t

The quinario tronco lines are set to a consistent rhythmic motive, which, in its basic

form, is h h h R; various melodic variations create short “modules” that are altered,

transposed, and rearranged as needed. The first module (“E pur partir,” mm. 1-2), a

conjunct arch that rises a fourth and descends via a small melisma on the last syllable,

returns slightly modified for “Mia vita e’l cor” (mm. 7-8). The second module

(“Dovrò da te,” mm. 3-4) is a variation of the first module with a melodic inversion

and slight elaboration of the final melisma. For the third line, “Lidia che sè,” the

second module is transposed up a step. Module three, “Senza morir,” (mm. 9-10) is

an adaptation of module two, with a rhythmic alteration and a change in melodic

contour. Milanuzzi finishes the A section with a curt three-note module appropriate

for both the quaternario tronco line and the sorrowful sigh “Ahi dolor.” In this

particular text the metrical contrast mainly stems from a switch to piano endings for

the seventh and eighth line and a reversion to tronco for the last two lines. Milanuzzi

reinforces this metrical contrast by beginning the B section with a stepwise melodic

143

line that connects, rather than separates, the lines of text (mm. 13-17). A stepwise

ascending bass line reinforces the sense of connection. The cadential progression on

B-flat in measures 15-16 does not even mark the end of a line: occurring on the

penultimate syllable of “movrò’l mio passo,” it leads the ear on to the next line, “se

sol da te.” Only here, where the tronco endings return, does Milanuzzi bring back the

melodic and rhythmic motive from module one, but this time in melodic inversion

(m. 18; compare to m. 2). The last line is set to an extension of module two, which

not only fits the longer syllable count (settenario tronco) but provides a melisma

appropriate to the word “moto.”

The superficial similarity between Milanuzzi’s modular style and the short,

periodic harmonic-rhythmic structures of the alfabeto dance-song repertory has led

Roark Miller to suggest a connection to popular song, as already mentioned. And

given the existence of certain evidence that Milanuzzi was personally familiar with

the alfabeto repertory, a closer look at this similarity is warranted. Carlo Milanuzzi is

one of the few alfabeto song composers to make an explicit statement confirming his

agency in assigning alfabeto. In his Primo scherzo he includes the following message

to his readers: “I admit that, in many places, I have altered the chords for Spanish

guitar with respect to the bass continuo, because when these ariette are accompanied,

the Spanish guitar gives a different effect from that of the Chitarrone or Spinetta. In

making these alterations I seek to give greater charm to the music.” 9 This is a rare

9 “Avvertendovi, che per esser vario l’affetto, che rende il Chitarrone, ò Spinetta, da

questo della Chitarra alla Spagnola nel sonar queste Ariette, in molti luoghi hò variata

la Notta nella ditta Chitar[r]a dà quella, che è assignata nel Basso fondamentali, posta

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indication that a composer has taken a personal interest in the insertion of alfabeto

symbols. Milanuzzi further demonstrates his affinity for the strummed guitar

repertory by including alfabeto solo dance movements for guitar in his second and

third books, which therefore mirror the layout of many alfabeto manuscripts. His

example was followed in 1627 by Marc’ Antonio Aldigatti, whose Gratie et affetti

amorosi (Venice: Bartolomeo Magni, 1627) also pairs printed songs with alfabeto

solo dances.

Furthermore, Milanuzzi’s songs seem to have circulated in manuscript form

prior to being printed, and although these manuscripts do not survive, there is good

reason to believe that they included alfabeto symbols. This evidence, which is clearly

outlined in an article by Roark Miller, consists of song concordances between

Milanuzzi’s printed books and a series of alfabeto-text anthologies collected by

Remigio Romano.10

In some cases, Romano’s version of a song preceded

Milanuzzi’s into print, and therefore must have been based on a pre-existing

manuscript. Romano used only alfabeto symbols and text, and Miller has therefore

determined concordances by reference to the alfabeto. In the case of the Milanuzzi

pieces, Romano’s alfabeto is an exact match, while in the case of pieces by other

composers, such as Giovan Pietro Berti, Romano’s alfabeto differs from the later

printed version. Miller concludes that Romano took advantage of Milanuzzi’s

manuscripts, which already contained alfabeto, and copied that alfabeto directly. In

per gli’altri stromenti, il tutto fatto per dargli maggior vaghezze.” Translation from

Leopold, “Remigio Romano’s Collection,” 53. 10

Roark Miller, “New Information of the Chronology of Venetian Monody: The

‘Raccolte’ of Remigio Romano,” Music & Letters 77 (1996): 22-33.

145

the case of the pieces by Berti and others Romano seems to have been forced to create

an alfabeto accompaniment of his own.

My own investigation of the Romano concordances confirms Miller’s

findings. I have found that the only practical problem with Romano’s versions of

Milanuzzi’s songs involves text repetitions, which Romano omitted, presumably to

save space. For this reason his alfabeto stops where the text does, often leaving out

the final iteration of a line and therefore the final harmonic pattern, so that the pieces

sometimes end on a chord other than the final. This only happens with the Milanuzzi

texts, which are otherwise the most effective of Romano’s alfabeto settings, again

suggesting that Romano (or whoever was responsible) was copying the alfabeto

directly from an original example containing alfabeto, and stopped copying where the

text stopped. As Miller points out, the alfabeto appearing in Romano’s versions of

songs by Berti and others is much less functional, suggesting that is was added by

reference to an original containing only the notated melody and continuo line.

ALFABETO DANCE-SONG IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Milanuzzi’s apparent familiarity with the alfabeto dance-song repertory may

have aided him in creating and navigating the new style of Venetian solo song

described by Miller and Leopold. As discussed in Chapters 1 and 2, the practice of

strumming the five-course guitar as an accompaniment to dance and song goes back

to the sixteenth century. This practice and the repertory associated with it survived

into the seventeenth century, as evidenced by numerous manuscripts containing what

I have called “alfabeto solo” and “alfabeto text” notation. In the former, dances for

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solo guitar are notated using a series of alfabeto symbols, sometimes with lines

indicating up- and down-strokes of the right hand. In alfabeto-texts, which often

appear in the same manuscripts, the only fully notated musical parameter is the

progression of chords represented by alphabetical symbols above a song text. Thus

melody, rhythm, meter, and tempo are all left to the performer’s memory and/or

ingenuity.

Alfabeto solo dances are themselves sometimes given texts or titled with song

incipits, suggesting that an interrelationship between song and dance survived from

the sixteenth century into the seventeenth, and that strummed guitar performers relied

on a repertory of commonly known melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic patterns. In my

studies of alfabeto-text and alfabeto solo sources I have found many references to

what were apparently well-known melodies, provided as clues about musical

parameters that are otherwise unnotated. In Remigio Romano’s collections of song

texts, for instance, certain texts are introduced by reference to other, better-known

texts for the melody. “Fermeve su, o subiante,” which appears without alfabeto (thus

with no musical notation whatever) in Romano’s Seconda raccolta (Vicenza: Angelo

Salvador, [1618]), is introduced with the phrase “Musical canzonetta on the melody

that begins ‘Altro non è’il mio amore.’”11

A song beginning “Altro non il mio

amore” can be found in Giovanni Stefani’s Affetti musicali, with staff notation as well

as alfabeto, and probably represents Stefani’s own version of this well-known piece.

11

“Canzonetta di Musica sopra l'aria, che incomincia ALTRO NON E'IL MIO

AMORE.” Remigio Romano, Seconda raccolta di canzonette musicali (Vicenza:

Angelo Salvadori, [1618]).

147

Alfabeto solo dances were also sometimes given the title of contemporary songs.

Among the dances for solo guitar in Giovanni Ambrosio Colonna’s Intavolatura della

Chitarra alla spagnola (Milan: Gariboldi, 1637), for example, are the titles “Aria

sopra Pargoletta Bella,” “Aria sopra Vaghi rai,” and “Gagliarda sopra Poiché vuol

Amor.” Colonna’s book consists entirely of alfabeto symbols with no texts or

musical notation, but I have traced some of these titles to the alfabeto song repertory.

More than one alfabeto song text begins “Vaghi rai,” for instance—Orazio Tarditi’s

Arie a voce sola (Venice: Alessandro Vincenti, 1646) contains a setting of “Vaghi rai,

pupille ardenti” that matches Colonna’s alfabeto in broad outline. Colonna’s “Poiche

vuol Amor” chord progression matches the alfabeto for the song “Quella bell’amor,”

which I have found in three contemporary alfabeto-text manuscripts, suggesting a

generally understood model that contains both melodic and harmonic components.12

The text “Poiche vuol Amor” also appears (without alfabeto) in Romano’s Prima

raccolta, under the instruction “NEW MATERIAL to sing on the melody that begins

Quella bella Amor, &c.”13

The title “Poiche vuol Amor” thus refers to various

musical parameters, just as the ciaccona and folia do in surviving sixteenth century

sources, in which they sometimes appear as melodies, sometimes as texts, and

sometimes as harmonic and rhythmic patterns.

12

I-Fn Finaly 175f.35v; I-Fn Magl. 143 f. 56v; I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 55r; “Quella

bell’Amor” is also listed in the index to Stefani’s Affetti amorosi, but is missing from

the copy I studied. 13

“NUOVA MATERIA per cantar sopra l'aria, che incomincia, Quella bella Amor,

&c.” Remigio Romano, Prima raccolta di canzonette musicali ([Vicenza]: Angelo

Salvadori, 1618).

148

As in the sixteenth century, musicians in the seventeenth century seem to have

been relying on well-known (and therefore unwritten) melodic, rhythmic, and

harmonic patterns. But in contrast to the sixteenth century, seventeenth-century

publishers were beginning to find an economic advantage in this unwritten repertory.

Many of the sources mentioned in the previous paragraphs were printed, and the

market for pedagogical materials related to the guitar included students from a wide

range of economic backgrounds.14

The stage was thus set for an integration of

strummed guitar into solo song with continuo, and there was ample incentive to

provide editions that would be of practical value to the amateur guitarist as well as the

trained musician.

FROM GUITAR VILLANELLA TO SOLO CONTINUO SONG: THE CASE OF

“ECCO L’ALMA MIA BELLA”

The alfabeto songbooks of Giovanni Stefani provide an invaluable perspective

on the boundary between the written and unwritten repertories. Stefani’s songs are

for solo voice, with both alfabeto and continuo given as accompaniment; in this they

are like many other Venetian songbooks from the 1620s and 1630s. But Stefani’s

books are anthologies, containing arrangements of pieces that in many cases

originally appeared in the guitar villanella repertory as three-voice polyphonic

canzonettas. As I will argue, his arrangements are modified from the originals in

ways that reflect the influence of strummed guitar performance practice, and therefore

provide examples of how such pieces were adapted by solo singer-guitarists in the

early seventeenth century. Alfabeto symbols might be said to overlap the boundary

14

See Gavito, “Alfabeto Song in Print,” 104-8.

149

between written and unwritten repertories, since they appear both in manuscripts that

directly reflect the unwritten tradition and in printed sources of fully notated vocal

polyphony. The link between Stefani’s songbooks and the unwritten guitar tradition

is strengthened by concordances to alfabeto-text manuscripts; that is, manuscripts

with song texts and alfabeto symbols but no other musical notation. The song “Ecco

l’alma mia bella” appears with varying incipits in all three of the above-mentioned

formats: as a three-voice villanella, as a manuscript alfabeto-text, and as a solo song

with continuo. This piece therefore provides a case study in how similar pieces might

have been performed by contemporary singer-guitarists. And, since Stefani’s

arrangements so closely resemble later, newly composed strophic canzonettas, the

process whereby solo singer-guitarists adapted polyphonic canzonettas also appears

to have influenced contemporary Italian canzonetta composers. In turn, these mid-

century Italian canzonettas premiered the periodic approach to melodic and harmonic

structures that provided a foundation for composition at the turn of the eighteenth

century, as argued by Silke Leopold, who called this one of the most far-reaching

developments in the history of music.15

It therefore seems that Stefani’s simple

arrangement of “Ecco l’alma mia bella” can be mined for information on the origins

of some of the fundamental forms of the common practice period repertory.

The earliest extant version of “Ecco l’alma mia bella” appears in Orazio

Giaccio’s Armoniose voci (Naples: Carlino, 1613), as a three-voice guitar villanella,

where it is titled “Ecco Lidia mia bella” (see Example 15). The Giaccio print

15

Leopold, Modo d’Orfeo, 286-87.

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includes alfabeto, but set in the earlier, non-practical style typical of the guitar

villanella repertory. Stefani’s version reduces the voices to one part, adds a continuo

line, and uses more of what I call “practical alfabeto.” In addition, Stefani’s version

introduces some metrical changes that I will trace to the unwritten guitar tradition.

Another version of this song, titled “Ecco Clori mia bella,” can be found in an

alfabeto-text manuscript, reproduced here as Figure 3.3. The alfabeto is a rough

match for Stefani’s version, suggesting a connection to Stefani’s arrangement.

Although I’m comparing versions here, it is not essential that Stefani knew this

particular manuscript; I have found alfabeto-text versions of “Ecco Clori mia bella” in

at least four manuscripts.16

These manuscripts have been dated by James Tyler to c.

1600-1620.17

If Tyler’s dates are accurate, then “Ecco [insert name here] mia bella”

may have circulated in alfabeto-text form prior to Stefani’s print, but later than

Giaccio’s three-voice version. The differing incipits also suggest an oral transmission

for this piece, as do the other textual discrepancies and the variety in the alfabeto

symbols. Stefani himself may have relied on a general familiarity with oral

performance practice rather than any specific manuscript source.

In any case, the similarities between these sources imply a connection

between Stefani’s arrangement and the unwritten guitar tradition. Certain aspects of

Stefani’s arrangements, such as practical alfabeto, frequent triple-meter cross-

rhythms, and small scale periodic structures, are also prominent in the hundreds of

16

See Table 3.2, p.174 below. 17

James Tyler and Paul Sparks, The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to

the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 78-80.

151

Pas[sacaglia] G C D G

Dm A Dm A D

Ecco Clori mia bella

G C Dm G

deh venite a vedella

Dm A Dm A D

come viene vezzosa

B� E� F B�

tutta liet’ Amorosa

B� E� G C

con bel seno di fiori

C F F B� D Gm

è c’invit’ è c’invit’agl’Amori

Figure 3.3: “Ecco Clori mia bella,” Alfabeto-text manuscript song. Florence,

Biblioteca Riccardiana Ms. 2793 f. 32v.

newly composed canzonettas from the integrated alfabeto repertory, suggesting that

an imitation of solo guitar performance practice was a basic part of canzonetta

composition in the early to mid-seventeenth century. Since Stefani’s arrangements

allow for comparison with earlier, three-voice versions, they provide specific

information on how guitarists adapted three voice villanellas for solo performance.

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For example, Stefani’s melodic line answers the question of how a three-voice

texture might be adapted for a single singer. In comparing Stefani’s arrangement,

which is transcribed as Example 16, to Giaccio’s original (Ex. 15), we see that rather

than choosing between the upper two voices Stefani has created a composite of them.

Stefani’s A section begins with an ornamented version of Giaccio’s upper voice, but

at measures 9-11 Stefani’s melody briefly moves to Giaccio’s middle voice; Stefani

seems to be choosing the most conjunct melodic line possible (with the corollary that

the range is as restricted as possible.) The resulting line is easy to sing and flexible in

terms of voice type (the restricted range giving both male and female voices a good

chance of finding a comfortable octave transposition.) Such a simple melody also

provides a suitable template for improvisational variation. In fact, this vocal line

seems like a perfect starting point for the kind of semi-improvised performance

implied by alfabeto-text manuscript sources.

Stefani’s alfabeto differs significantly from Giaccio’s, and these differences

can in part be explained in terms of practicality for the guitarist. True to the earlier

Neapolitan usage, Giaccio’s editors have provided almost every bass note with an

alfabeto symbol, resulting in chord changes on every beat at some points, as well as

guitar chords that clash with the vocal harmonies. Harmonic rhythm is also an issue

with Giaccio’s setting, as it is in most other non-practical alfabeto sources. The

metrical backbone of Giaccio’s song is provided by the relationship between the text

accents and the notated meter, rather than by a harmonic rhythm reinforced by the

bass voice. But the harmonic rhythm in the guitar is dependent on the bass voice and

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is therefore in a somewhat arbitrary relationship to the basic harmonic structure of the

piece. The alfabeto in the first phrase, for instance, measures 1-4, sets up a harmonic

rhythm that is inconsistent throughout the piece, as seen by comparison with

measures 4 and 5, where at least three harmonies in the voices are represented in the

guitar only by a change to C major. The B natural in the canto I on the first beat of

measure 5 is missed entirely, and the C major alfabeto chord itself clashes with the A

in the canto II. But these problems should not be seen as entirely a matter of

incompetent editing. The editors were in a sense attempting the impossible by adding

triadic harmonies to this texture using only the bass as a guide. The rhythmic

propulsion in Giaccio’s piece is provided not by a regular progression of triadic

harmonies but by the metrical regularity of the text accents. While in the strummed

dance-song repertory metrical emphasis is an inseparable part of the guitar’s

strumming patterns, in Giaccio’s song the guitar chords cannot reinforce the meter

and follow the bass line simultaneously.

Stefani deals with this problem by creating a bass line that does follow the

general harmonic outline of the piece. In the course of reducing the texture to one

voice with continuo, Stefani bridged the divide between the guitar villanella and the

guitar dance-song. In fact, Stefani’s continuo line appears to have been influenced

more by the demands of the guitar than by Giaccio’s original bass voice.

Stefani’s practical alfabeto and his composite, simplified vocal line all fit with

what would be expected from a guitarist performing in the oral tradition. In addition,

Stefani’s exclusive reliance on IV-V-I patterns at cadences is a link to the guitar

154

dance-song tradition, as becomes especially apparent when considered in combination

with certain rhythmic alterations. For example, the fourth line of the piece, “par che

sia tutt’ amori” reveals marked differences between Stefani and Giaccio’s settings. In

Giaccio’s version, measures 13-16, the alfabeto, following the bass voice, outlines, on

C, a �VII-�III-i-V-I progression. The same phrase in Stefani, at measures 16-19, is

simplified to IV-V-I. This IV-V-I pattern would be familiar to any guitarist

acquainted with alfabeto, since almost every alfabeto guitar tutor and many alfabeto

manuscripts begin with a set of what are there referred to as passacaglias; that is, I-

IV-V-I patterns beginning on each letter of the alphabet. The link between these

early passacaglias and functional tonal progressions has been studied by Richard

Hudson and Thomas Christensen; Margaret Murata has also devoted a recent article

to them.18

These alfabeto passacaglias provide a clue to another important aspect of

Stefani’s arrangement, namely the frequent hemiolas and cross-rhythms at cadences.

Such syncopated triple-meter rhythmic figures are a standard feature of dances from

the alfabeto solo repertory, common to passacaglias, sarabandas, canarios, folias, and

gagliardas, which often incorporate harmonic changes accented by downstrokes on

the second beat. A guitarist familiar with the alfabeto dance repertory might naturally

18

Richard Hudson, “The Concept of Mode in Italian Guitar Music during the First

Half of the 17th

Century,” Acta Musicologica 43 (1970): 163-83; Thomas

Christensen, “The Spanish Baroque Guitar and Seventeenth-Century Triadic Theory,”

Journal of Music Theory 36 (1992): 1-42; Margaret Murata, “Guitar Passacagli and

Vocal Arie,” in La monodia in Toscana alle soglie del XVII secolo, edited by

Francesca Menchelli-Buttini (Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2007).

155

tend to imitate these rhythmic figures in song accompaniment, especially when

performing from memory in a semi-improvised setting. Such an accompaniment

would include cross-rhythms at cadences and duple subdivisions in a triple meter

setting, which is exactly what we find in Stefani’s setting of “Ecco l’alma mia bella.”

For example, see Figure 3.4A for an alfabeto solo passacaglia which incorporates a

rhythm very similar to Stefani’s final cadence; notice the series of chord changes on

beat two in Stefani. Extended alfabeto solo passacaglias often incorporate additions

to the basic IV-V-I chord pattern; Figure 3.4B reproduces such a passacaglia from

Foscarini’s 1629 guitar tutor. In Foscarini’s passacaglia, the chord changes in the

first phrase create a series of implied duple subdivisions within the triple meter,

which can be compared to the duple subdivisions in Stefani, measures 4-7. In fact,

this phrase of the Stefani gives the impression that the overall triple meter has been

temporarily suspended, which could also be an imitation of the metrically ambiguous

alfabeto-text version. In “Ecco l’alma” such cross-rhythms are not necessary for text

setting, as proven by Giaccio’s version, in which the settenario fits well in straight

triple meter. Rather, Stefani’s hemiolas and syncopated rhythms are a reflection of

the guitar dance-song tradition which takes precedence here over Giaccio’s rhythm.

A final connection to the dance song tradition is evident in Stefani’s use of an

idiosyncratic fingering for the so-called “L” chord, which is found in measures 6 and

21 of “Ecco l’alma mia bella.” This particular fingering, although not triadic, is

commonly indicated in alfabeto solo sources, and is very likely to have originated in

the unwritten tradition. I will describe the “L” chord in more detail below; for the

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A) Syncopated cadential figure

B) Implied duple meter

Figure 3.4: Cross-Rhythms in Alfabeto Solo Passacaglias Compared to Stefani.

present discussion it will suffice to say that the non-triadic harmony which I have

indicated as C minor (add 2) was used by alfabeto guitarists both because it is easier

to play than the consonant chord shape and because it adds a non-chord tone, D, that

creates a pleasing harmonic effect in the context of a G minor cadential figure. It

appears as the standard chord for C minor in the alfabeto solo manuscript repertory,

with consonant C minor chords, when used at all, designated by special symbols.

157

Further evidence for a link between Stefani’s anthologies and the unwritten

strummed guitar tradition will be given below in the context of the other integrated

alfabeto sources. This link offers a new way to look at the continuo line in solo

canzonettas. While most of Stefani’s arrangements cannot be traced back to an

earlier source, many of those that can are derived from the three-voice villanella

repertory, and, like “Ecco l’alma,” are altered in ways that accommodate the amateur

singer-guitarist. In Stefani’s arrangements, the apparent relationship between

alfabeto and continuo, in which alfabeto functions as an interpretation of the

continuo, is thus turned on its head. Instead of the alfabeto symbols being a

realization of the continuo line, the continuo line seems more like a realization of the

alfabeto; that is, a bass line that reinforces harmonic and rhythmic characteristics

from the guitar tradition. And Stefani’s anthologies, all three of which were popular

enough to merit reprinting, appeared in Venice in the vanguard of a vast repertory of

light, strophic canzonettas for solo voice with continuo. This repertory was itself the

arena for experimentation in melodic and harmonic structures that would come to

define later developments in cantatas, operas, and concertos.

THE FIRST INTEGRATED ALFABETO SOURCES: FALCONIERI AND

CORRADI

The preceding exposition of “Ecco l’alma mia bella” argues for a direct

influence from strummed guitar performance practice on the editing and composition

of Venetian canzonettas in the mid-seventeenth century. But my exposition so far has

focused only on a few sources; what of the rest of the Venetian repertory? The

evidence in the Venetian repertory at large falls into five basic categories: 1) personal

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statements by composers regarding the use of alfabeto; 2) concordances between

printed canzonettas and alfabeto-text manuscripts; 3) the explicit use of dance-songs,

such as the ciaconna and folia, whose origins are connected to the five-course guitar

tradition; 4) the use of practical alfabeto that relies on standard chord progressions

from the dance-song repertory; and 5) a compositional style that reflects the guitar

dance-song tradition. This last category concerns resemblances between

compositional style and performance practice, and thus cannot by itself prove a

connection to the guitar. But given that these stylistic developments consistently

appear with the other, more direct connections to the five-course guitar tradition,

there is good reason to deduce a correlation. The direct evidence is already apparent

in the first two books in my “integrated alfabeto” category, both of which appeared in

1616.

Falconieri’s Libro primo di villanelle (Rome: Giovanni Battista Robletti) is a

clear departure from the non-practical guitar villanella repertory. Falconieri’s

alfabeto is functional in terms of playability and consonance, and the pieces

themselves are composed in a manner that accords well with strummed guitar

performance. A connection to the strummed dance-song tradition is most explicit in

“O vezzosetta non mi far morire,” which is titled “aria per la ciaccona” (see Ex. 17).

Under the music is an empty staff titled “Intavolatura per la Chitarra Spagnola,”

which would seem to be an opportunity to include an alfabeto chart. Perhaps Robletti

did not have the tools necessary to print the chart; the only other Robletti print to

include an alfabeto chart is Kapsperger’s 1619 Libro secondo di villanelle, and in that

159

case it is engraved on the last page. In one of the surviving copies of Falconieri’s

book the “O vezzosetta” chart has alfabeto chord tablature added by hand to the

empty staff lines; this chart has been reproduced by Dinko Fabris.19

“O vezzosetta” is one of the earliest fully notated settings of the ciaccona,

which before then had primarily appeared in alfabeto solo guitar sources. The

recurring harmonic formula typical of the early ciaccona is given by a simple

continuo line moving in half notes.20

A similar compositional approach is evident

elsewhere in the volume; many pieces not explicitly labeled as such show clear

affinity with chord patterns from the alfabeto solo repertory. “Rimirate luci ingrate,”

for example, is, like many alfabeto solo dances, in binary form with a ritornello (see

Ex. 18). As in “O vezzosetta,” the continuo in “Rimirate” moves in half and whole

notes, outlining harmonies that are easily translated into alfabeto using the chords that

begin the standard alfabeto chart (the alfabeto symbols in “Rimirate” are restricted to

“+ A B C D E G”).

While Falconieri did not add any statements about alfabeto in his works, a

notational peculiarity in his Libro primo raises the possibility that he had a personal

involvement with the alfabeto editing. Of all the Roman alfabeto sources,

Falconieri’s Libro primo is the only one to use a cross symbol rather than an “X” for

the E minor chord. As discussed above, the use of the cross symbol is otherwise

exclusive to Venetian sources. As I have argued in Chapter 2, the addition of alfabeto

19

Dinko Fabris, Andrea Falconieri napoletano (Rome: Torre d’Orfeo 1987), 89. 20

My thesis cannot account for the D major harmony in measure 2; this may simply

be a misprint.

160

in the Roman sources was probably the work of an editor, rather than a composer.

But the cross symbol, appearing without explanation in Falconieri’s print, might be

the work of Falconieri himself, which would explain its appearance here, uniquely

among all the other volumes printed by Robletti. As a lutenist, Falconieri was

familiar with fretted instruments, and many of his works appear in alfabeto

manuscripts, as Dinko Fabris has pointed out.21

A personal role in setting alfabeto

would also help explain the marked differences in Falconieri’s alfabeto usage as

compared to Robletti’s other prints.

Falconieri’s book is also the earliest I have seen to use repeated alfabeto

symbols; that is, to print the same symbol twice without any intervening symbol. The

standard procedure in Neapolitan and Roman prints was to mark only the first

appearance of any particular harmony, leaving it to the player to decide how many

times that chord should be played. In Falconieri’s book, however, as in many of the

other integrated alfabeto prints, one often finds adjacent repetitions of an alfabeto

symbol; see, for instance, the F major and G major chords in “Rimirate” (Ex. 18, mm.

3 and 13). Although this method requires more pieces of type (and is thus potentially

more expensive and time-consuming), it increases the practicality of the alfabeto

notation, since the alfabeto symbols can provide a sense of the rhythm, as they do in

many of the alfabeto solo dance books. Montesardo’s Nuova inventione, for example,

indicates rhythm with repeated alfabeto symbols (see Fig. 3.5). In Montesardo’s

book the symbols below the horizontal line represent strummed downstrokes and

21

Fabris, Andrea Falconieri, 89.

Figure 3.5: Three Alfabeto Solo Galliards with a Suggested Transcription of the

Source: Girolamo Montesardo,

Marescotti, 1606); my transcription. Up

direction.

those above the line upstrokes, with relative note values indicated by upper

lower

repeated chords, is usually enough to convey the rhythm and meter of each dance.

The repeated alfabeto symbols in Falconieri offer similar information to a singer

guitaris

alfabeto symbols than to the continuo line.




direction.


lower-case alfabeto; the metrical emphasis created thereby, in combination with the



guitarist familiar with the oral tradition, who might be paying more attention to the






case alfabeto; the metrical emphasis created thereby, in combination with the



t familiar with the oral tradition, who might be paying more attention to the



Source: Girolamo Montesardo, Nuove inventione d’intavolatura









Nuove inventione d’intavolatura

Marescotti, 1606); my transcription. Up- and down








Nuove inventione d’intavolatura

and down-strokes are indicated by stem







Nuove inventione d’intavolatura (Florence:

strokes are indicated by stem






161

Figure 3.5: Three Alfabeto Solo Galliards with a Suggested Transcription of the First.

(Florence:

strokes are indicated by stem

those above the line upstrokes, with relative note values indicated by upper- and



The repeated alfabeto symbols in Falconieri offer similar information to a singer-


161

First.

162

Repeated alfabeto symbols can also be interpreted as a link to alfabeto-text

notation, in that metrical emphasis is being produced by a combination of text accent

and chord symbols rather than the notated meter. In an alfabeto-text source, of

course, there is no notated meter, and a performance from such a source may be

assumed to have an improvisatory quality in keeping with the notation. In that case

the musical rhythm would result from the strummed guitar chords in combination

with the text accents. As I have already discussed in relation to Silke Leopold’s text-

based analysis of the printed canzonettas, the integrated alfabeto texts tend to be

broken into small, strongly accented phrases, which contribute to the creation of

small-scale rhythmic periods. In the case of an alfabeto-text song, this process occurs

with no need for notated meter.

In the case of Falconieri’s alfabeto songs, the metrical emphasis implied by

the text and the alfabeto sometimes works against the notated meter. Like Stefani’s

version of “Ecco l’alma mia bella,” Falconieri’s songs tend to manipulate metrical

emphasis in a triple-meter setting, suggesting the same freedom from notated meter

that would characterize a performance relying solely on text and chord symbols.

Although such a performance might not be “free” in the manner of early monody, in

which text declamation trumps all, it would be “free” in the manner of strummed

guitar dance-songs, in which the overall metrical organization (duple or triple) can be

altered by adjusting the pattern of weak and strong beats. For example, in an alfabeto

solo dance such as the Montesardo gagliarda described above, the metrical emphasis

might be adjusted by altering the relationship between up- and down-strokes on the

163

guitar. In an alfabeto-text song the metrical emphasis might be adjusted by

combining the text accents with typical rhythmic patterns from the solo repertory; we

saw a version of this process in Stefani’s setting of “Ecco l’alma mia bella.”

In “Rimirate,” Falconieri avoids the most obvious correspondence between

musical accent and text accent. The metrical scheme of the “Rimirate” text is simple

and strongly defined:

Rimirate, 4a

Luci ingrate, 4a

il dolor de la partita. 8b

Mio partire 4c

à morire, 4c

ogni belli aita aita. 8b

The repeated quaternario would fit quite smoothly into triple meter if the first two

syllables were set to an upbeat: q q |h h q q | h h

3 |1 2 3 | 1 2

Rĭ-mĭ-rá-tĕ Lŭ-cĭ_in-grá-tĕ.

Falconieri, however, chose to begin on beat two, creating an emphasis on beat three

for the first two measures, which is brought back into alignment by beginning the

ottonario on beat two of measure three:

q q h| h q q h | h d q | d q q q | w h

2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3

Rĭ-mĭ-rá-tĕ Lŭ-cĭ_in-grá-tĕ, íl dŏ-lór dĕ lă păr-tí- tă.

It is unlikely that this metrical displacement is the result of incompetent text setting,

given the ease with which quaternario and ottonario can be set in triple meter.

Falconieri’s setting is rather a method of creating musical interest by juxtaposing

musical and textual meter, and as such it partakes of the same metrical freedom

164

afforded by alfabeto-texts. The repeated alfabeto symbols (such as the F major

chords in m. 3) allow the singer-guitarist to proceed according to text emphasis and

alfabeto, which combine to indicate metrical emphasis in a similar manner to the

stroke marks and repeated chord symbols of the guitar solo sources.

Repeated alfabeto symbols can also be found in “Cara è la rosa e vaga” from

the same volume (see Fig. 3.6 and Ex. 19). In this case, the repeated alfabeto

symbols occur in the context of a common chord pattern from the alfabeto solo

repertory. The opening alfabeto pattern is the standard passacaglia on “g”; one of

many such examples can be found in Montesardo’s Nuove inventione (see Fig. 3.7).

The second alfabeto pattern (“o o i i c”) can be found, in a slightly different rhythmic

setting, in a Fantinella for solo guitar from I-Fn Magl. XIX 143 (see Fig. 3.8). Rather

than using repeated alfabeto symbols, as in Montesardo, this manuscript indicates up-

and downstrokes by a combination of lines appearing under each alfabeto symbol:

vertical lines indicate strokes, with those above the horizontal line being upstrokes

and those below being downstrokes. The “Fantinella” moves from an expanded

passacaglia pattern on “g” to the same “o i c” cadential pattern found in “Cara la

rosa.” In the “Fantinella” the “o i c” cadence is emphasized by repeated downstrokes

on “o” and “i” (seen in boxed areas of Fig. 3.8). In “Cara e la rosa,” Falconieri

repeats the “o” and “i” symbols, creating a similar rhythmic emphasis on the same

cadential pattern.

Figure 3.6: Andrea Falconieri, “Cara è la rosa e vaga,” from

(Rome: Robletti, 1616), Excer

Figure 3.7: Alfabeto Solo Passacaglia on “g” with Suggested Transcription. Source:

Montesardo,




Montesardo, Nuove inventione




Nuove inventione


(Rome: Robletti, 1616), Excerpt with Transcription.


Nuove inventione.


pt with Transcription.


Figure 3.6: Andrea Falconieri, “Cara è la rosa e vaga,” from Libro primo di villanelle

pt with Transcription.


Libro primo di villanelle


165



165



Figure 3.8: Alfabeto Solo “Fantinella” with Sug

Magl. XIX 143, f.26.





Figure 3.8: Alfabeto Solo “Fantinella” with SugFigure 3.8: Alfabeto Solo “Fantinella” with Suggested Transcription. Sgested Transcription. S

gested Transcription. Source: I

166

ource: I-Fn

166

167

Flamminio Corradi’s Le stravaganze d’Amore (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti,

1616) is the earliest Venetian alfabeto print, appearing when the elder Vincenti was

still alive, and with Falconieri’s Libro primo constitutes the earliest of the “integrated

alfabeto” sources. Like Kapsperger, Corradi included theorbo intabulations in his

book, and even before analyzing the alfabeto symbols one can discern a different

approach to accompaniment on the basis of these intabulations. Kapsperger’s theorbo

parts tend to recreate the three-voice texture of the villanellas, and his pieces for solo

voice are also intabulated with implied polyphony in the theorbo; this

accompanimental style was discussed in Chapter 2. Corradi’s theorbo parts, by

contrast, are much more chordal; “O di Euterpe il dolce canto,” Example 21, is

typical in this regard. This chordal accompanimental style, of course, bears a close

resemblance to what the alfabeto chords would look like if they were intabulated. It

also suggests a link between Corradi’s style and various manuscripts of Florentine

monody that contain lute accompaniments of a decidedly chordal nature. These

manuscripts have been studied by John Walter Hill, James Tyler, and Victor Anand

Coelho, who agree that a chordal style of accompaniment to solo song was

developing in Italy in the late sixteenth century.22

Hill, whose article covers eleven

22

John Walter Hill, “Realized Continuo Accompaniments from Florence c.1600,”

Early Music 11/2 (1983): 194-208; Tim Carter, “Caccini’s ‘Amarilli, mia bella:’

Some Questions (and a Few Answers),” Journal of the Royal Musical Association

113 (1988): 250-73; Victor Anand Coelho, “The Players of Florentine Monody in

Context and History, and a Newly Recognized Source for Le Nuove Musiche,”

Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 9/1, http://sscm-jscm.press.uiuc.edu/v9/

no1/coelho.html; James Tyler, “The Role of the Guitar in the Rise of Monody: The

Earliest Manuscripts” Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 9/1 (2003),

http://www.sscm-jscm.org/jscm/v9/no1/Tyler.html.

168

such manuscripts, writes “It is primarily only the inclusion of the bass part and some

variety of chord voicing that distinguishes the archlute accompaniments from the

strummed, rasgueado guitar accompaniments to monodies.”23

While strummed

guitar may not be the sole influence on this accompanimental style, the appearance of

more practical alfabeto in this context is suggestive, especially when considered with

the other links to the strummed guitar tradition in Corradi’s book.

For instance, Corradi’s book contains the first of the Venetian alfabeto charts

that would become standard for the integrated alfabeto repertory. As I will discuss

below, the Venetian editors appear to have relied on a common template for printing

these charts, gradually noticing and correcting the typographical errors in the original

template. The alfabeto charts are thus a sign of the homogeneity of the Venetian

alfabeto editorial procedures, and Corradi’s chart, as the first known printed example,

makes the best candidate for an original template. One of the distinguishing features

of Venetian alfabeto usage concerns the fingering of the “L” chord, a harmonic

peculiarity that was most likely adopted from orally transmitted performance practice.

Corradi’s chart (see Fig. 3.9), unlike Montesardo’s and Kapsperger’s, intabulates the

C minor chord shape with a non-chord tone—a D on the second course, third fret (this

is the “3” on the second line from the bottom under the “L” shape in the chart), the

same fingering mentioned previously in the discussion of Stefani’s anthologies. It

might be thought that this is no more than one of the misprints common to tablature

notation; this dissonant “L” shape, however, is reprinted in all the integrated alfabeto

23

Hill, “Realized Continuo Accompaniments,” 202.

169

Figure 3.9: Alfabeto Chart from Flamminio Corradi, Le stravaganze d’Amore

(Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1616).

170

charts, as well as in some manuscripts (see Fig. 3.10, a handwritten alfabeto chart

from a manuscript that has been dated to c. 1610-1620).24

A line of text printed

above Corradi’s alfabeto chart makes it plain that the dissonant “L” shape is not only

intentional but primary: “When in this present work of mine, in the alfabeto for

Spanish guitar, this .L. marked with two dots is found, this new sign will designate

the [chord] here:” after which a consonant C minor chord shape is intabulated under

the “new” sign “.L.”25

This remarkable instruction imparts two vital pieces of information: first, that

Corradi had a role in assigning the alfabeto (the instructions being given in first

person, as in Milanuzzi’s book), and second, that the dissonant C minor shape was

considered to be the standard fingering. The latter conclusion rests on the following

considerations: although at 1616 Corradi’s chart was the first to emerge from the

Venetian presses, the consonant C minor shape is referred to as “new,” requiring an

addition to the alfabeto chart. The need for an addition suggests that the rest of the

chart was standardized, with the “new” shape being an innovation on the part of

Corradi or his editor. Since, however, this is the first printed alfabeto chart to use the

“standard” dissonant “L” chord shape, the question arises, from what did this

“standard” usage derive?

24

I-Pn Espanol 390; see Tyler, Guitar and Its Music, 90. 25

“Quando voi ritrovarete nella presente mia Opera nello Alfabetto per la Chitara alla

Spagnola questo •L• segnato con li detti due punti, significara tal segno novo, la

presente Chiave.”

171

Figure 3.10: “Lettere della chitarra spagnuola”: Alfabeto Chart from F-Pn MS

Espanol 390 with Non-triadic “L” Fingering.

A reasonable answer can be found in the oral tradition that preceded,

paralleled, and influenced Corradi’s book, the tradition evident in the contemporary

manuscript chart already cited (Fig. 3.10). As we have seen, both Falconieri and

Corradi’s books evidence a familiarity with the strummed guitar repertory and an

effort to accommodate players who were familiar with alfabeto. The decision to use a

172

new sign for the consonant C minor shape betrays an assumption that such musicians

would be more familiar with the dissonant shape.

The dissonant “L” shape, the only alfabeto chord in the standard chart to

incorporate a non-triadic tone, owes its existence to the interaction between the

physical layout of the guitar and the standard tonal spaces of seventeenth-century

song. G is by far the most common final tonality in the repertory; as discussed in

Chapter 2, this is one reason why the alfabeto alphabet begins with G major (that is,

“A”). In the alfabeto solo repertory the sets of passacaglia patterns, one for each

letter of the alphabet, were the primary means of learning and organizing

combinations of chords around a central tonality. The passacaglia on “O,”

therefore—“O L C O”—is one of the most common chord progressions in the

repertory, and is the context in which one is most likely to use the “L” chord. A look

at the guitar fretboard reveals the utility of the dissonant “L” shape in this context: the

third finger can remain on the same fret for the entire progression. In addition, if a 4-

3 suspension is added to the dominant chord, the dissonant “L” shape provides two

fingers in common between the pre-dominant chord and the suspension (see Fig.

3.11). This particular fingering for a 4-3 suspension is documented in another

integrated alfabeto source, Biagio Marini’s Scherzi, e canzonette (Parma: Anteo

Viotti, 1622), in which Marini indicates (again by means of dots added to the standard

alfabeto symbols) fingerings for various cadential suspensions (see Fig. 3.12). Like

Corradi, Marini specifies a consonant “L” shape as an addition to the standard chart,

Figure 3.11: The “L” Chord on the Fretboard in Cadential Patterns on G.

standard “O L C A” cadential pattern.

specified by Marini’s alfabeto chart.











standard “O L C A” cadential pattern. Below, “O L .C. C A” cadence on G as


, “O L .C. C A” cadence on G as



173

Figure 3.11: The “L” Chord on the Fretboard in Cadential Patterns on G. Above,


173

174

Figure 3.12: Alfabeto Chart from Biagio Marini, Scherzi e canzonette (Parma: Viotti,

1622), with Boxed Areas Showing the “L” Chord, the “.C.C A” Cadence and the

“New” C Minor Chord.

175

designating it with an asterisk and calling it a “new” symbol: “the star is a new

letter.”26

Corradi’s songs use both forms of the “L” chord, and he is careful to specify

the consonant shape when the C minor is not functioning as a pre-dominant. “Filli

mia pena mi date” is transcribed as Example 20. A look at the facsimile excerpt in

Figure 3.13A (containing the end of the C section on the text “O mia Filli o mio

tesoro / Dat’aita ch’io mi moro”) reveals both forms of the “L” chord used in close

proximity. In the “H G H .L. G” progression over “O mia Filli o mio tesoro,” the

“.L.” chord functions as a pre-dominant in a I-V-I-ii-V progression on B-flat major

(see also the transcription, Ex. 20 mm. 11-13). In the “L C A” progression over

“Ch’io mi moro” the “L” chord is a subdominant in a progression on G major, and

thus a candidate for the dissonant “L” shape (see Ex. 20 mm. 14-15). The

progression on the preceding line, “Poiche m’uccidete a torto” (Ex. 20 mm. 7-9 and

Fig. 3.13B), is an interesting case: the dissonant “L” chord is used in the context of a

B-flat major progression (“H L G H”) in which the canto II voice has a 7-6

suspension over the continuo E-flat. Therefore, the harmony contains a D, the same

non-chord tone that appears in the dissonant “L.” The “H L G H” progression,

however, is not a common fingering in the alfabeto solo repertory. The “L” chord in

this case responds to the specific musical setting, rather than a harmonic stereotype

from the guitar tradition. This distinction is reinforced by the theorbo intabulation,

26

“La Stella è lettera nova.”

176

A)

B)

Figure 3.13: “Filli mia pena mi date,” Flamminio Corradi, Le stravaganze d’Amore

(Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1616). A, C section excerpt. B, B section excerpt.

177

which contains the note D in the above-mentioned “H L G H” progression (see Ex. 20

m.8). But when the dissonant “L” shape recurs in measure 14 as a pre-cadential

chord in G the theorbo omits the non-chord tone, which is lacking in the voices as

well; its presence in the alfabeto stems from standard strummed guitar practice rather

than the specific notated harmonies.

In sum, Corradi’s book contains a first-person reference to alfabeto, chordal

accompaniment in the theorbo, practical alfabeto usage including repeated alfabeto

symbols, and an alfabeto chart which suggests familiarity with the unwritten tradition

in the use of the “L” chord. In light of these connections to the guitar tradition,

certain stylistic features of Corradi’s songs might be reassessed in terms of that

tradition, specifically his predilection for strong cadential patterns in the continuo.

Many of Corradi’s continuo lines resemble the type of repetitive, small-scale

periodicity found in strummed guitar dances such as the passacaglia and ciaccona.

“O di Euterpe il dolce canto,” (Ex. 21), for instance, begins with a progression in G

major, measures 1-3, that is immediately repeated in measures 4-6. The repetition is

rounded off with a cadence to G in measure 7; the repeated pattern thus ends on the

dominant, “I-IV-V-vi-IV-V.” This short, repeated pattern is typical for alfabeto solo

dances; the ciaccona, for instance, is commonly notated in manuscript sources with a

symbol representing a repeat after the dominant, as seen in Figure 3.14A, where the

repeat is indicated by the symbol “#.” When the player has finished repeating,

however, the tonic chord is necessary to complete the piece, and is given after the

repeat symbol and without stroke marks: see the “A” (G major) symbol in Figure

178

A) Ciaccona from I-Fn Ricc. 2793 with suggested transcription

B) Corradi, “O di Euterpe il dolce canto,” Le stravaganze d’Amore (Venice: Vincenti,

1616), opening chord progression and transcription

Figure 3.14: Chord Patterns in Corradi, “O di Euterpe il dolce canto.”

179

3.14A. Although Corradi did not imitate the specific rhythmic structure of the

ciaccona in this piece, his use of short, repeating chord patterns would be familiar to

any guitarist who had studied alfabeto solo dances, and raises the possibility that

Corradi relied on his own familiarity with alfabeto practice when composing these

guitar-friendly continuo lines.

THE ANTHOLOGIES OF GIOVANNI STEFANI AND THE UNWRITTEN

TRADITION

The previous discussion of Stefani’s “Ecco l’alma mia bella” suggested an

influence from strummed guitar performance on the song arrangements appearing in

his three anthologies. These songbooks, appearing in Venice in the period directly

following the publications of Falconieri and Corradi, display similar connections to

orally transmitted guitar performance; namely, concordances with alfabeto-text

manuscripts, the use of practical alfabeto, the appearance of the ciaccona and folia,

the idiomatic use of the “L” chord, and pieces written in an improvisatory style. In

addition, many of Stefani’s arrangements mirror the Venetian canzonetta style

displayed by composers such as Carlo Milanuzzi, suggesting that this style resulted

partly from the integration of the strummed guitar tradition.

Perhaps the clearest demonstration of the connections between Stefani’s

anthologies and the unwritten tradition is found in the many concordances between

Stefani’s arrangements and manuscript sources. John Walter Hill has already made

this argument, backed up in his case with concordances to manuscripts related to the

musical circles around Cardinal Montalto in Rome. Noting the agreement between

the alfabeto chords and the notated versions, Hill writes: “The number of such

180

concordances . . . demonstrates that guitar-chord tablatures are normally performing

materials for solo songs whose melodies have been memorized by the singer.”27

I

have found further manuscript concordances with Stefani’s anthologies, primarily in

Florentine sources. Since my study mainly concerns the printed repertory, I have not

examined all of these manuscripts, but even the small sample I have studied reveals a

significant connection to Stefani’s books (see Table 3.2). The concordances listed are

both musical and textual, the musical portion being established by a similarity

between the alfabeto in the manuscript and the alfabeto in the printed source that is

too close to be coincidental.

Table 3.2

Alfabeto-Text Manuscript Concordances with Stefani’s Anthologies

Manuscripts Surveyed:

Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana Ms. 2793 (I-Fn Ricc. 2793)

Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana Ms. 3145 olim 3643 (I-Fn Ricc. 3145)

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Ms. Fondo Landau-Finaly Mus. 175 (I-Fn

Finaly 175)

Florence, Biblioteca Nazional Centrale, Ms Fondo Magliabechiano, classe XIX,

codice 143 (I-Fn Magl. xix 143)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Español 390 (F-Pn MS Espanol 390)

Rome, Vatican Library Chigi L VI 200 (I-Rvat Chigi 200)

Stefani Concordances

Stefani Anthology Incipit Manuscript Concordance

Scherzi amorosi Amerai tu il mio core I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 44v

27

John Walter Hill, Roman Monody Cantata, and Opera from the Circles around

Cardinal Montalto (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 171.

181

Affetti amorosi Altro non è il mio cor I-Fn Ricc. 3145 f. 86v

Affetti amorosi Bella filli crudele I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 24r; I-Fn Finaly

175 f. 26v; F-Pn MS Espanol 390

f. 28r

Concerti amorosi Ecco l’alma mia bella I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 54v; I-Fn Ricc.

2793 f. 32v;28

I-Fn Finaly 175 f.

32v

Scherzi amorosi Fuggi fuggi dolente core29

I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 39v;30

I-Fn

Finaly 175 f. 31v

Affetti amorosi La mia Clori vezzosa31

I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 41r

Scherzi amorosi Perche taci cor mio I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 60v

Affetti amorosi Piu non ho non ho cor io I-Fn Ricc. 2793 f. 52r

Concerti amorosi Rompa lo sdegno le dure catene I-Fn Ricc. 3145 f. 96v

Concerti amorosi Voi partite sdegnose I-Fn Magl. xix 143 f. 55r; I-Fn

Finaly 175 f. 59v

Affetti amorosi Vuestra belleza senora I-Rvat Chigi 200 f. 24r

As in the Falconieri and Corradi books, the alfabeto in Stefani’s anthologies is

more practically oriented than that in the earlier Roman and Neapolitan sources, and

much of that practicality stems from a reliance on simple chord patterns similar to the

passacaglias that are featured so prominently in the alfabeto solo repertory. We have

seen such alfabeto patterns already in his arrangement of “Ecco l’alma mia bella,”

and similar passacaglia patterns are common throughout the integrated alfabeto song

repertory. The practical nature of Stefani’s alfabeto is best observed in those pieces

with potentially unwieldy continuo lines. In “Poiche la crud’è fera,” for instance,

Stefani does not seem to have altered the continuo line at all, instead relying on

28

Variant text: “Ecco Clori mia bella.” 29

This text is given as an alternate lyric for “Torna, torna ostinato core”; the alfabeto

concordances are determined by reference to the music for “Torna, torna.” 30

In this case the text is not provided with alfabeto overlay; however, an alfabeto

passacaglia matching the tonality of the Stefani setting is given. 31

The text printed under Stefani’s music is “La mia Clori amorosa”; the song is listed

in the index, however, as “La mia Clori vezzosa,” which is also the way it appears in

I-Fn 2793.

practi

guitarist (see

voice and continuo “version” contrasts with the voice and guitar “version

leg

in contrapuntal dialogue. If an alfabeto editor were to figure this piece using the

“bass

eight no

A)

B)

excerpt

C)

Figure 3.15: Chord Patterns in Stefani Showing Alfabeto Independence.

practical alfabeto placement to simplify the continuo line into basic harmonies for the

guitarist (see


leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari” from the


“bass-note formula” common to the Roman and Neapolitan editions, giving each

eight note in the bass its own chord, the result would be awkward and infelicitous.

A) “Poiche la crud’è fera,”

B) “O leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari,”

excerpt

C) “Se rivolg’ in me serene,”


cal alfabeto placement to simplify the continuo line into basic harmonies for the

guitarist (see Fig. 3.15A).


giadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari” from the


note formula” common to the Roman and Neapolitan editions, giving each

te in the bass its own chord, the result would be awkward and infelicitous.

“Poiche la crud’è fera,”

“O leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari,”

“Se rivolg’ in me serene,”



). The result is a dual conception of the piece, in which the


giadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari” from the




“Poiche la crud’è fera,” Concerti amorosi

“O leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari,”

“Se rivolg’ in me serene,” Concerti amorosi



The result is a dual conception of the piece, in which the


giadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari” from the Affetti




Concerti amorosi (Venice: Vincenti, 1623), excerpt

“O leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari,” Affetti amorosi

Concerti amorosi, excerpt





Affetti, the continuo engages the voice




(Venice: Vincenti, 1623), excerpt

Affetti amorosi (Venice: Vincenti, 1618)

, excerpt





, the continuo engages the voice





(Venice: Vincenti, 1618)


182



voice and continuo “version” contrasts with the voice and guitar “version.” In “O






(Venice: Vincenti, 1618)

182



(Venice: Vincenti, 1618),

183

Instead, Stefani again relies on simplified harmonic patterns (see Fig. 3.15B and Ex.

22). In “Se rivolg’ in me serene” from the Concerti (Ex. 23) the repeated vi-IV-V-I

patterns in the alfabeto are even more prominent, to the point of showing

independence from the continuo line; see (Figure 3.15C). In this case the strummed

guitar accompaniment suggested by Stefani’s alfabeto relies as much on common

passacaglia-style patterns as it does on the original continuo part.

Stefani’s books also contain explicitly titled examples of the ciaccona and

folia, two forms that, as discussed in Chapter 1, have their origins in the unwritten

strummed guitar dance-song tradition, and the alfabeto patterns used by Stefani

mirror those found in alfabeto manuscript sources. It is striking that these dances

make their first appearance in the printed alfabeto song repertory in the same sources

that use practical alfabeto and show other signs of the assimilation of unwritten guitar

traditions. The “dance-song” style, as described in Chapter 1, relies on small-scale

harmonic patterns performed with strongly accented rhythms, often in triple meter

and containing syncopated rhythms such as hemiolas: the ciaccona and folia are

prime examples of a larger repertory of such pieces.

In Stefani’s Affetti amorosi the text “Laurette mia quando m’accese” is set in

this dance-song style, and syncopated rhythmic patterns are apparent in the

positioning of the alfabeto symbols but not in the continuo notation. As shown in

Figure 3.16, the repeated “H” symbol and the placement of the “M” and “G” symbols

contribute to an emphasis on beat two that is much less evident in the continuo line.

Figure 3.16: Alfabeto Independence in “Lauretta mia quando m’accesse,” arr. Stefani,

Excerpt with Transcription.

In this “Lauretta mia” recalls “Se rivolg’ in me serene,” where, as discussed above,

the alfabeto

“Laurette mia” also provides a more specific link to the oral tradition: on the facing

page, above the remaining stanzas of text, the singer is told “these words may also be

sung to the melody of th

however, it is assumed that the reader will know how to play the folia and be familiar

with the process of matching texts to abstract chord progressions.

is titled as such. “Alma mia dove ten vai” from the

Folia,” and as if to highlight the connection to the Spanish dance

32




the alfabeto placement



sung to the melody of th



“Bella questa mio core,” also from the



32

“Queste parole si possono Cantar sopra l’Aria della Folia.”




placement suggests a certain independence from the continuo line.



sung to the melody of the Folia.”










suggests a certain independence from the continuo line.



e Folia.”32

The melody given, obviously, is not a folia;















“Bella questa mio core,” also from the Affet












Affetti, is a fully notated ciaccona, and

is titled as such. “Alma mia dove ten vai” from the Scherzi is labeled “Aria della











, is a fully notated ciaccona, and

is labeled “Aria della

Folia,” and as if to highlight the connection to the Spanish dance-song tradition is


184









is labeled “Aria della

song tradition is

184





given an alternate text in Spanish. The continuo

follows

thereof, can be found in almost every alfabeto solo dance compilation. Richard

Hudson has sketched out this harmonic framework, which he re

folia” to distinguish it from the later seventeenth

mia dove ten vai” deviates slightly from this framework: the tonic chord in measure 3

is delayed until the third beat and appears in major; a

11. The final cadence is set with the “L C A” passacaglia pattern (Cm

major), with the “L” chord on the third beat of the antepenultimate measure. The

same modifications to the folia framework can be found i

the manuscripts with musical concordances to Stefani’s books (see Fig. 3.18). In this

manuscript

followed by a

“O” (G minor) the same tonality as the Stefani song. This

among other embellishments the specific alterations to the framework seen in “Alma

mia”: the tonic returns in major mode on an offbeat after the

dominant chord (mm. 2 and 10 in Fig. 3.18

the “L” chord (m.14). As with “Ecco l’alma mia bella,” in “Alma mia” the continuo

seems to be based on the alfabeto, rather than the other way around.

Fig


follows the standard folia progression (see Ex. 24). This progression, or variants










manuscript “simple folias” (

followed by a







Figure 3.17: Folia Outline. Source: Richard Hudson,


the standard folia progression (see Ex. 24). This progression, or variants










“simple folias” (

followed by a folia sminuita







ure 3.17: Folia Outline. Source: Richard Hudson,












“simple folias” (folias [sic]

folia sminuita (that is, a folia pattern embell












folia” to distinguish it from the later seventeenth-







[sic] semplice)

(that is, a folia pattern embell




dominant chord (mm. 2 and 10 in Fig. 3.18B), and the final cadence is prepared by




given an alternate text in Spanish. The continuo line in “Alma mia dove ten vai”




-century folia (see Fig. 3.17). “Alma


is delayed until the third beat and appears in major; a similar figure occurs in measure



same modifications to the folia framework can be found in I-


) are given in a few tonalities,

(that is, a folia pattern embellished with extra chords) on

“O” (G minor) the same tonality as the Stefani song. This folia sminuita



), and the final cadence is prepared by



ure 3.17: Folia Outline. Source: Richard Hudson, Folia, xviii.

line in “Alma mia dove ten vai”



Hudson has sketched out this harmonic framework, which he refers to as the “earlier

century folia (see Fig. 3.17). “Alma


similar figure occurs in measure

11. The final cadence is set with the “L C A” passacaglia pattern (Cmadd2


-Fn Ricc. 2793, one of


are given in a few tonalities,

ished with extra chords) on

folia sminuita


mia”: the tonic returns in major mode on an offbeat after the first and second




, xviii.

185

line in “Alma mia dove ten vai”



fers to as the “earlier




add2-D major-G


Fn Ricc. 2793, one of


are given in a few tonalities,


includes


first and second



185

fers to as the “earlier




G





A)

B)

Figure 3.18: Rasgueado Folia Pattern in Stefani’s “Alma mia”.

from I

“Alma mia dove t’en vai” from Giovanni Stefani,

1620)

is also used in Stefani’s anthologies, and like Corradi

A)

)


from I-Fn Ricc


1620).

The idiosyncratic fingering for the “L” chord found in Corradi and Falconieri



icc. 2793 with suggested transcription.





2793 with suggested transcription.





2793 with suggested transcription.





2793 with suggested transcription. B, Harmonic fr

“Alma mia dove t’en vai” from Giovanni Stefani, Scherzi amorosi


is also used in Stefani’s anthologies, and like Corradi and Marini, Stefani c

Figure 3.18: Rasgueado Folia Pattern in Stefani’s “Alma mia”. A, “Folia sminuita”

Harmonic framework of

Scherzi amorosi (Venice: Vincenti,


and Marini, Stefani c

186

, “Folia sminuita”

amework of

(Venice: Vincenti,


and Marini, Stefani creates his

186

(Venice: Vincenti,


reates his

187

own symbol for use when a simple C minor triad is needed: “The letter K has been set

in many places in these Canzoni with the following sign above it [a.5.] and is played

at the fifth fret for better consonance, in place of the letter L, and in a similar manner

to the letter G [a.5.].”33

The consonant C minor shape, in this case, is formed by

fingering a “K” chord three frets higher; that is, so the third and fourth fingers are on

fret five, thus “at the fifth fret” (see fig. 3.19). Since a move up the neck by two frets

equals a whole step, the B-flat triad created by the regular “K” fingering becomes a C

minor triad. Coincidentally or not, this is the same fingering specified in

Kapsperger’s Libro secondo for the “L” chord (Kapsperger’s chart, in keeping with

Roman usage, does not include the dissonant form at all). It should be noted that

Stefani’s notation of “a.5.” is at odds with other alfabeto sources, which tend to use a

numeral to designate the position of the first finger, which in this case is on the third

fret, not the fifth.

Certain of the pieces in Stefani’s anthologies are notated in a manner that

suggests a semi-improvised style. In some cases, especially those with the most

concrete connections to the strummed guitar tradition, Stefani’s notation might best

be interpreted as one instantiation of a piece that would vary from performance to

33

“S’ave fisce, che la lettera K posta in molti luoghi delle Canzoni con il presente

segno sopra K [a.5.] si fa a cinque tasti per miglior consonanza, in luoghi della lettera

L usata per il piu in tali luoghi, & simile della lettera G [a.5.],” Giovanni Stefani,

Affetti amorosi (Alessandro Vincenti, 1618), 1. In this passage the “a.5.” notation

appears above the alfabeto symbols “K” and “G”.

Figure 3.19: “K” (B

Barred at the Fifth Fret).

performance. In others, the n

with tempo and ornamentation. The most obvious examples of the latter are pieces

with sustained harmonies in the bass and recitational melodic formulas, which

suggest a freely declaimed performance

monody; John Walter Hill has stressed the role of the five

this style, which he terms the

more detail in Chapter

monody and alfabeto manuscripts, as well as an apparent resemblance between

Roman monody as notated and strummed guitar as

mio tormento e la mia pena” from Stefani’s

written in a recitational style.

characteristics with a more direct connection to the five

ottave siciliane

34

possibile modello per il basso continuo dello stile recitativo?” in

Spagnola35

Figure 3.19: “K” (B








more detail in Chapter





But there are other pieces in the


ottave siciliane

34

Hill, Roman monody


Spagnola, edited by Giulia Veneziano (Florence: Alinea Editrice, 2003).35

Hill, “L’Accompagnamento

Figure 3.19: “K” (B-flat Minor, Barred at the First Fret) and “K a.5.” (C Minor,








more detail in Chapter 2, is built on manuscr







ottave siciliane, a genre of dialect song

Roman monody, 67


, edited by Giulia Veneziano (Florence: Alinea Editrice, 2003).

“L’Accompagnamento

flat Minor, Barred at the First Fret) and “K a.5.” (C Minor,

performance. In others, the notation itself implies a performance that takes liberties





this style, which he terms the stile recitativo

, is built on manuscr




written in a recitational style.35



, a genre of dialect song

67; Hill, “L’Accompagnamento



“L’Accompagnamento rasgueado


otation itself implies a performance that takes liberties



suggest a freely declaimed performance in the style of Roman and Florentine


stile recitativo.34

Hill’s case, which was discussed in

, is built on manuscript concordances between Roman



mio tormento e la mia pena” from Stefani’s Affetti amorosi

But there are other pieces in the Affetti that combine these


, a genre of dialect song that appears exclusively in alfabeto guitar

; Hill, “L’Accompagnamento



rasgueado,” 45-46.





in the style of Roman and Florentine

monody; John Walter Hill has stressed the role of the five-course guitar tradition in


ipt concordances between Roman


Roman monody as notated and strummed guitar as performed

Affetti amorosi as an exa

that combine these

characteristics with a more direct connection to the five-course guitar: these are the

that appears exclusively in alfabeto guitar

; Hill, “L’Accompagnamento rasgueado



46.






course guitar tradition in




performed. Hill cites “Amor e il

as an example of a piece

that combine these stile recitativo

course guitar: these are the


rasgueado di chitarra: Un

possibile modello per il basso continuo dello stile recitativo?” in Rime e Suoni alla


188






course guitar tradition in




. Hill cites “Amor e il

mple of a piece

stile recitativo

course guitar: these are the


di chitarra: Un

Rime e Suoni alla

188

mple of a piece

189

sources.36

Ottava siciliana performance with guitar accompaniment seems to have

been cultivated as an improvisatory genre for guitar and solo voice as a conscious

imitation of “authentic” folk music, both in Rome and northern Italy.37

Three pieces

in Stefani’s Affetti musicali are labeled “arie siciliane”: “Non ardu chiu non ardu,” “Si

ben mustru di fora tutto yelu,” and “Ingrata disleali.” Similarities among these three

are consistent with what might be expected from written-out examples of an

improvisational formula. The basso continuo lines for “Si ben mustru” (Ex. 25) and

“Ingrata disleali,” although notated at different pitch levels, are almost identical.

“Non ardu” is shorter; while the other two siciliane repeat the entire fourth line, “Non

ardu” repeats only the last half of the line. In addition, the interior cadences in “Non

ardu,” although similar in outline to the other two pieces, follow a different tonal

scheme.

The continuo lines in these three siciliane share a notational peculiarity

involving rhythmic discrepancy between the voice and the continuo at cadences: the

precadential notes in the continuo are too long for the vocal line, so that the continuo

cadence happens after the vocal cadence. At some of these points the printer has even

taken pains to “overlap” the parts by tying continuo notes across the barline. Oscar

Chilesotti, in his transcription of this volume, assumed that the continuo lines were in

error, correcting the continuo so that the resolution of the cadence coincides with the

36

Ottavio Tiby, “Il problema della ‘Siciliana’ dal Trecento al Settecento,” Bollettino

del Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani 2 (1954): 245-70. 37

Gavito, “Alfabeto Song in Print,” 164-67.

190

voice.38

Chilesotti’s assumption is supported by the alfabeto, which follows the

voice, rather than the continuo, therefore “correcting” the faulty durations in the

continuo (see Fig. 3.20). Like other pieces from the integrated alfabeto repertory, the

alfabeto in these pieces displays a certain independence from the notated continuo. In

the case of the siciliane, earlier notated versions are restricted to alfabeto symbols and

text, suggesting that in Stefani’s arrangement the alfabeto was the primary version,

and the continuo lines were (perhaps carelessly) constructed for this print.

The fact that in two of the three siciliane the alfabeto is transposed upwards

by a fifth is also worthy of mention, although its ultimate significance is elusive.

Chilesotti assumed that a guitar with a capo at the fifth fret was intended.39

No

explicit evidence of capo use on the five-course guitar exists, and it would be

awkward to place one on the fifth fret of an instrument whose neck only encompasses

ten frets. The vocal range in “Non ardu” is somewhat low (a-a'), so the transposing

alfabeto may be a way of bringing the piece up to a more comfortable range.40

“Ingrata disleali,” however, which also contains transposed alfabeto, has a vocal

range (f#'-b') consistent with the rest of the pieces in the book, and would not

therefore seem to be a candidate for transposition. And if the vocal range was the

38

Stefani, Affetti amorosi, Oscar Chilesotti, ed. (Milan: Ricordi, 1886), 53. 39

Stefani, Affetti amorosi, Chilesotti, ed., 53. The alfabeto as printed in “Non ardu”

and “Ingrata disleali” sounds a fifth higher. A guitar with a capo at the fifth fret

would sound a fourth higher, so that the chord shapes would be brought back to the

pitch level of the printed music. 40

Doizi de Velasco, in his 1640 guitar treatise, refers to a Spanish convention of

notating vocal music a fifth below sounding pitch (Nuevo modo de cifra para tañer la

guitarra (Naples: 1640), 21; quoted in Alejandro Vera, Música vocal profana en el

Madrid de Felipe IV: el Libro de Tonos Humanos (1656) (Llieda: Institut D’Estudis

Ilerdencs, 2002), 160.

“Non ardu chiu non ardu co m’ardia”

“Si ben mustru di fora t

Figure 3.20

Vincenti, 1618), Excerpts (cont. on next page).


“Si ben mustru di fora t

Figure 3.20: Ottave siciliane



“Si ben mustru di fora tutto yelu”

Ottave siciliane



utto yelu”

Ottave siciliane Settings from Stefani’s



Settings from Stefani’s


Settings from Stefani’s Affetti amorosiAffetti amorosi (Venice:

191

(Venice:

191

“Ingrata disleali”

Figure 3.20:

rea

lines at the more comfortable pitch? An intriguing second possibility is the use, when

performing

The tuning for the four

intervals of the five

would fit perfectly if played on the smaller instrument.

rep

instrument known as the vandola, and mentions that if the first string is ignored the

41

tonos y

(ca. 1561

Sección de Música Antigua, Diputación Provincial, 1989), 91. 42


Figure 3.20: Ottave siciliane

reason for transposed alfabeto, a question arises: why not simply print the notated


performing siciliane

The tuning for the four

intervals of the five


reprint of Juan Amat’s


41

A similar suggestion has been made regarding Juan Aranies’s

tonos y villancicos

(ca. 1561-1631): Vida y obras musical

Sección de Música Antigua, Diputación Provincial, 1989), 91. 42

Bermudo’s tuning chart is reproduc


Ottave siciliane

son for transposed alfabeto, a question arises: why not simply print the notated


siciliane, of a smaller guitar

The tuning for the four-course guitar given by Bermudo, for instance, mirrors the

intervals of the five-course guitar a fourth higher; in other words, Stefani’s alfabeto


rint of Juan Amat’s Guitarra española



villancicos (Rome: Robletti, 1624): see Luis Robledo,

1631): Vida y obras musical

Sección de Música Antigua, Diputación Provincial, 1989), 91.


Ottave siciliane Settings from Stefani’s



, of a smaller guitar

course guitar given by Bermudo, for instance, mirrors the

course guitar a fourth higher; in other words, Stefani’s alfabeto


Guitarra española



(Rome: Robletti, 1624): see Luis Robledo,

1631): Vida y obras musical



Settings from Stefani’s



, of a smaller guitar-like instrument that sounds a fourth higher.




Guitarra española includes a section on the Spanish




1631): Vida y obras musical (Saragossa: Intituciòn Fernando el Católico,


Bermudo’s tuning chart is reproduced as Figure 1.4 above, p. 18.

Settings from Stefani’s Affetti amorosi



like instrument that sounds a fourth higher.



would fit perfectly if played on the smaller instrument.42

An eighteenth

includes a section on the Spanish




(Saragossa: Intituciòn Fernando el Católico,


ed as Figure 1.4 above, p. 18.

Affetti amorosi , cont..



like instrument that sounds a fourth higher.



An eighteenth-century



A similar suggestion has been made regarding Juan Aranies’s Libro segundo de

(Rome: Robletti, 1624): see Luis Robledo, Juan Blas de Castro



ed as Figure 1.4 above, p. 18.

192

, cont..



like instrument that sounds a fourth higher.41



century



Libro segundo de

Juan Blas de Castro


192


41

193

five-course chord symbols may be used and will sound a fourth higher.43

While there

is no reason to suppose that the eighteenth-century vandola has anything to do with

sixteenth-century Sicily, the anonymous addition to Amat’s treatise is evidence that

chord symbols were sometimes adapted to other strummed instruments by means of

transposition. Further evidence may well be available in manuscript sources of the

ottave siciliane repertory.44

One of Stefani’s songs suggests a connection to the commedia dell’arte, an art

form consisting partly of musical improvisation by solo singers, sometimes

accompanying themselves on guitar. In his Affetti amorosi Stefani includes an

arrangement of “Altro non è’il mio cor.” This text has been mentioned above in

relation to the strummed dance-song tradition, where it sometimes appears as the title

of alfabeto solo dances. “Altro non è’il mio cor” is also referred to in Remigio

Romano’s Seconda raccolta di canzonette musicali (Vicenza: Salvador [1618]),

which contains the song “Fermeve su, o subiante” written in the voice of the

commedia dell’arte actor Scapino (see Table 3.3).

Table 3.3

“Fermeve sù,” Seconda raccolta di canzonette musicali, Text and Translation

Fermeve sù, ò subianti, 7 a

Acquieteve, ò ignoranti, 7 a

Ande à subiar à Lio 7 b

Stamegne maledette, 7 c

Bulli da tre gazzette, 7 c

Treve in rio. [5] d

Stop, O whistlers!

Give up, O ignoramuses,

Go to whistle at the shore,

Evil little goat-skins!

Two-bit hustlers,

Throw yourselves into the river.

43

Juan Carles Amat, Guitarra espanola complete facsimile edition edited by Monica

Hall (Monaco: Chantarelle, 1980), 55-56. 44

For a bibliography of 17th century sicilana sources, see Dario Lo Cicero, “Nuove

fonti per la siciliana seicentesca,” in Ceciliana per Nino Pirrotta, edited by Maria

Antonella Balsano and Giuseppe Colisani (Palermo: Flaccovia, 1994), 111-24.

194

Sei tali, che ne sprezia, 7 e

I no sà che a Venezia 7 e

Scapin se tien à mente, 7t f

Chi è bravo, e chi e poltron, 7t g

Chi è ricco, e chi è guidon, 7 g

E chi è insolente. 5 f

O quanti tien subià, [etc.]

Che da tena i non hà;

E se i tir a` l sò conto

I hà’ l mantel d’ Istà,

E’l zipon ripezzà

Con el cul’onto.

Chi è nassù nobilmente

No può esser’ insolente;

Ma che ze vagabondo

De manco no puol far

De no se far nasar

Da tutto el Mondo.

Però concludo, e digo,

Che i varda che nemigo

Scapin no so dichiara;

Perche’l canterà el nome,

El vestir, e’l cognome,

In la Chitara.

You are those, who despise us

who don’t know that in Venice

Scapino remembers

who is strong, and who is lazy,

who is rich, and who is wicked,

and who is insolent.

O how many are whistling,

who should not be;

And if they know their business

they have their summer coats

patched [?]

with the greasy backside.

He who is noble born,

May not be insolent;

But the vagabond

Cannot help but be

Or be made fun of

By all the world.

But I conclude, and say,

Take care not to proclaim

yourself Scapino’s enemy;

for he will sing your name,

your clothing, and your surname.

with the guitar.

Romano refers the reader to “Altro non è il mio Amore” for the melody (there

is no musical notation given). Although these texts are very different in subject

matter their poetic structure is similar (see Table 3.4). “Altro non è il mio cor’” can

also be found as an alfabeto-text in I-Fn Ricc. 3145. Scapino the character was the

creation of actor Francesco Gabrielli, who was known for his collection of unusual

instruments (including the guitar). His Infermità, testimento, e morte (Verona: 1638)

contains the famous “aria di Scapino” as an alfabeto-text alongside an alfabeto solo

ciaccona.45

Romano’s anthologies have other references to Scapino: “Contend’ in sto

45

Anne MacNeil, Music and Women of the Commedia dell’Arte in the Late Sixteenth

Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 24-30.

195

mio pett’” from the Primo raccolta is titled “Scapinata,” and “Ve prego cara sia”

from the Terza raccolta is titled “Amante spagnuolo barcelletta di Scapino comico

celebro.” The “aria venetiana che cantiva scappino” alfabeto solo dance from I-Fn

Ricc. 2793 has been mentioned already; an additional alfabeto solo connection can be

found in Giovanni Ambrosio Colonna’s Intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnuola

(Milan: 1620) which contains a dance titled: “Aria alla Piemontesa Cantata dal

Virtuoso Signor Francesco Gabrielli detto Scapino.”46

Table 3.4

Versification for “Fermeve su” and “Altro non è il mio Amore”

“Fermeve sù,” (Romano

Seconda raccolta)

“Altro non è il mio Amore”

(Romano Prima raccolta)

Fermeve sù, ò subianti,

Acquieteve, ò ignoranti,

Ande à subiar à Lio

Stamegne maledette,

Bulli da tre gazzette,

Treve in rio.

7 a

7 a

7 b

7 c

7 c

[5]d

Altro non è’l mio Amore,

Che desir, e dolore,

Ciascun piange al mio pianto,

Ma chi languir mi fà,

Sorda com’Aspe stà

S’io piango è canto.

7 a

7 a

7 b

7t c

7t c

5 d

“Altro non e’il mio cor”

(Stefani Affetti)

Altro non è il mio cor

Che desir e dolor

Ciascù pianga il mio canto

Che chi languir mi fa

Sorda com’aspe sta

S’io piango o canto.

7t a

7t a

7 b

7t c

7t c

5 d

All the above instances point to an understanding of the oral strummed guitar

repertory on the part of Stefani and his editors. The ciaccona and folia, both of which

have their origins in the oral tradition, are prominently included in his settings. In the

case of “Altro non è’il mio cor,” Stefani has provided a musical setting of a piece

46

Gary Boye, “The Baroque Guitar: Printed Music from 1606-1737,”

http://www.library.appstate.edu/music/guitar/home.html.

196

that had previously only been mentioned in the context of a performance from

memory and/or improvisation, at least according to surviving sources; this is also the

case with his ottava siciliane settings. In the case of those songs for which a previous

setting exists, Stefani seems to have relied on the unwritten guitar tradition in making

his arrangements. In songs like “Ecco l’alma mia bella” the very basso continuo lines

themselves may have been created by reference to the strummed guitar version. In

songs like “O leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari,” as described above, Stefani used

a pre-existing continuo line but applied the alfabeto in a manner that suggests

familiarity with the alfabeto solo dance repertory.

It is with this evidence in mind that the stylistic features of Stefani’s

arrangements can be related to the dance-song repertory as well as to the

contemporary repertory of Venetian solo song. The two most obvious of these

characteristics are a modular compositional style based on small-scale melodic,

harmonic, and rhythmic periods, and a proclivity for metrical ambiguity, especially

the suggestion of duple subdivisions within a notated triple meter.

Stefani’s songs often include hemiolas or other metrical rearrangements at

cadences, a trait common to guitar dances such as the sarabanda and folia. Emphases

on offbeats in triple time are prominent in the alfabeto repertory in general; the

tension between performed and notated meter is seen in the ciaccona pattern, which

emphasizes beat two, and in many alfabeto solo passacaglias, as well as dances such

as the canario and nizzarda. In many cases Stefani’s text accents, which are

reinforced by the physical placement of the alfabeto symbols on the page, create

197

metrical patterns with a certain independence from the notated continuo line. The

connection between the printed text and the printed alfabeto as a means for conveying

meter would be familiar to anyone used to singing from alfabeto-text manuscripts,

where text and alfabeto are the only means of notating meter. “Amor diletto,” from

the Scherzi, is rife with this kind of rhythmic play (see Ex. 26): the text accents are

allowed to create a consistent duple meter against the notated triple, an effect similar

to Falconieri’s treatment of “Rimirate.” This metrical displacement is especially

apparent in the first two lines, the second of which is a sequence of the first:

(notated meter): 3 | 1 2 3 |1 2 3 |1 2 3 |1 2

(implied meter): 2 | 1 2 |1 2 |1 2 |1 2 |1 2 [3]

Ă- |mòr dĭ- lèt- |tŏ Giò- |ià dĕl pèt-| tŏ47

The B section starts off in triple meter (“Ecco ti il core / Prendi lo amore,”

mm. 9-11), but the cadence on “amore” (m. 11) brings the duple meter accent pattern

back into play, only to be resolved at the end of the stanza. In another similarity to

“Rimirate,” “Amor diletto” allows certain of the repeated line lengths (in this case

quinario) to fall in sync with the notated rhythm, as if to show how simply it could be

done—the last two lines (“Fanne che voi / arder lo poi”) are set twice: their first

iteration (mm. 12-16) repeats the rhythmic pattern from the A section, but their

repetition (mm. 17-20) fits exactly into four measures of triple time.

The “modular” compositional style of Milanuzzi and other Venetian

composers is also very much in evidence in Stefani’s settings. Milanuzzi, who was

one of the most prolific of the integrated alfabeto composers, includes a setting of the

47

The accent on the second syllable of “gioia” is agogic.

198

text “Ahi che morir mi sento” in his Quarto scherzo (Venice: Vincenti, 1624),

credited there to Francesco Monteverdi. Stefani’s 1623 Concerti amorosi contains a

setting of the same text in a similar style. Cory Gavito has pointed out that the third

line is nearly identical in both settings (see Fig. 3.21).48

It is conceivable, however,

that this musical correspondence could have come about incidentally, given the

prevalence in this repertory of short melodic/harmonic motifs that are associated with

textual accents. The descending three-note motif found in this case on the line “Ti

curi poco del” is a common way of negotiating tonic-dominant harmonic progressions

with anapestic texts in the integrated alfabeto repertory. Gavito finds another,

“hidden correspondence” between Stefani and Falconieri’s settings of “E viver e

morire,” which consists of the same motif. Given the number of concordances

between Stefani’s settings and alfabeto-text sources, some of these motifs may have

been borrowed by Stefani from the alfabeto-text tradition in general rather than from

any specific printed source. While the mechanics of alfabeto-text performance are

unclear, it is easy to imagine a performer using a repertory of short melodic motifs,

each appropriate for certain poetic meters and cadential patterns, to realize a melody

that fits both the versification and the harmonic structure provided by the alfabeto-

text. The resulting “modular” melodic style would resemble not only Stefani’s

arrangements but also newly composed works of Venetians such as Milanuzzi.

“Giovinetta vezzosa” can serve as a case study for the realization of a melody

according to such a semi-improvised “modular” process. This piece appears in

48

Gavito, “Alfabeto Song in Print,” 140-41.

199

Figure 3.21: “Hidden Correspondences” in Stefani (cont on next page). Above, “Ahi

che morir mi sento,” two versions.

200

Figure 3.21 (cont.) “E viver e morire,” two versions, excerpts. Source: Gavito,

“Alfabeto Song in Print,” 141, 134.

Stefani’s Scherzi amorosi (Venice: Vincenti, 1620) and as an alfabeto-text in

Romano’s Terza raccolta (Vicenza: Salvador, 1620). Romano’s alfabeto conforms to

Stefani’s print exactly (although the placement is somewhat off, as is the case with

many of Romano’s alfabeto-texts). Romano and Stefani may have both had access to

the same lost original; the publication information for the 1620 print of the Scherzi

201

amorosi was not available to me, as I only had access to the 1622 reprint, and cannot

therefore tell which book appeared first that year. In any case Stefani’s musical

setting conforms to what one might expect from an alfabeto-text performance (see

Ex. 27). Each line has its own melodic outline built from motifs that match the

versification, and the entire piece can be analyzed as a written-out example of how a

performer might have realized a canzonetta from an alfabeto-text source using a

repertory of small melodic and rhythmic motifs.

“Giovinetta vezzosa,” Versification

Giovinetta vezzosa 7 a

Che d’Amor hai ferito il petto e’l core 11 b

Lascia, lascia il tuo Amore. 7 b

Mentre non puoi veder l’Amante 9 c

Lascia d’Amor le pene tante. 9 c

In comparing the musical setting of the two settenario lines, we see that both rely on

stepwise eighth-eighth-quarter motifs for setting the anapestic accent patterns and

preparing a cadential descending half note figure (see Fig. 3.22A). In the case of the

third line, the figure has been changed only by inverting the first melodic motif. The

endecasillabo and novenario lines present the performer with more syllables to be

packed in before the final cadential figure. In both cases the first four syllables are

set to ascending conjunct eighth notes, thus dealing with the first half of the line; the

melody then leaps downward to begin another ascending motif which in each case is

tailored to the syllable count, providing arrival on a strong beat for the penultimate

syllable (see Figs. 3.22B and C). The second novenario is a melodic and harmonic

sequence of the first (see Fig 3.22C).

A)

B

C

Figure 3.22: “Giovinetta vezzosa,” Arr. Stefani,

1620), Modular Structure.

A) Settenario Module

B) Endecasillabo Module

C) Novenario Modules



Settenario Module

) Endecasillabo Module

[mm. 3

) Novenario Modules



) Endecasillabo Module

[mm. 3-5]



Figure 3.22: “Giovinetta vezzosa,” Arr. Stefani, Scherzi amorosiScherzi amorosi

Scherzi amorosi (Venice: Vincenti,

202

(Venice: Vincenti,

202

203

In this way one might perform a canzonetta-style text using melodic motifs

based primarily on syllable count. Accomplished rasgueado performers might not

even need alfabeto symbols above the text, instead matching the versification of each

line to a memorized repertory of melodic and harmonic motifs; in fact, many of the

alfabeto-text sources include texts without alfabeto—of the hundreds of texts in

Romano’s anthologies only a handful include alfabeto.

ORALITY AND VENETIAN SOLO SONG: THE WIDER REPERTORY

A unique relationship between unwritten guitar practice and canzonetta

composition is evident throughout the integrated alfabeto repertory in general. The

use of practical alfabeto, the primacy of textual accents in rhythm and form, a

“modular” compositional format relying on short, adaptable motifs, and the

prevalence of lively cross-rhythms in triple meter characterize most of the northern

Italian sources to a greater or lesser degree. The more direct connections to the

alfabeto repertory, such as practical alfabeto, the “L” chord, the use of passacaglia,

folia, and ciaccona patterns in the continuo, also consistently appear in these

collections. In adapting the new textual forms of the seventeenth century, Italian

composers sought new means for creating short, related harmonic and metrical

sequences, and the alfabeto solo repertory provided a fertile source.

The editors, especially Alessandro Vincenti and Bartolomeo Magni, also

appear to have contributed to the accommodation of strummed guitar performers.

This is especially evident in their consistent inclusion of alfabeto chord charts,

usually facing the first page of music. Although these editors obviously relied on

204

previous volumes for models of the charts, there is evidence that the editors were

becoming increasingly familiar with the alfabeto system, as seen in the correction of

typographical errors over time. The first Venetian chart, printed by Giacomo Vincenti

in Flammino Corradi’s Le stravaganze d’amore (1616), followed Montesardo’s 1606

Nuove inventione, including the final, non-alphabetical symbols. The only difference

between the two charts is the use, in Corradi’s book, of the precadential form of the

“L” chord. In 1619 Bartolomeo Magni brought out Andrea Falconieri’s Musiche. .

.Libro sexto, with an additional symbol at the end of the chart (a third-position B-flat

major chord symbolized as “B9”). Although these non-alphabetical symbols were

never used in the songbooks, they were punctiliously reproduced by other editors: the

publisher of Biagio Marini’s 1622 Scherzi, e canzonette (Parma: Anteo Viotti),

following Magni’s chart but apparently lacking the stamps to print the symbols, went

so far as to write out “con,” “ron,” and “bus” in their place (see Fig. 3.12, above).

Bartolomeo Magni’s chart for Milanuzzi’s first book (1622) introduced the “scala per

musica” tablature as part of the alfabeto chart. The harmonic implications of this

development will be discussed in Chapter 5; however, it is pertinent here to observe

that the typographical errors in Magni’s scale (in the tablature for the F major chord

in the “scala per B durus” and the D minor chord in the “scala per B molle”) persisted

in the alfabeto charts of both Magni and Vincenti. Vincenti’s 1627 chart for

Guglielmo Miniscalchi (Arie libro secondo) corrects one of these misprints, and

Vincenti’s chart for Domenico Obizzi’s Madrigali et arie libro primo that same year

corrects both of them.

205

I have referred to the concept of “independent alfabeto,” in which the alfabeto

symbols suggest a performance that differs somewhat from the printed continuo line,

both in relation to Falconieri and Stefani’s pieces. Many further examples are

available in the integrated alfabeto repertory. As with Stefani, an independent

alfabeto conception is most apparent in those pieces with an active continuo line,

where too strict attention to the bass notes would complicate the guitar chords.

Although the triple meter, “dance-song” style, with clear harmonic progressions

outlined in the bass, is the most common in the repertory, an active, “walking bass”

appears almost as frequently. It is here that the independence of the alfabeto from the

continuo asserts itself most obviously, to the point of inverting the “guitar villanella”

formula: in the Venetian usage, the alfabeto at times follows the vocal line and

ignores the harmonies suggested by the more complex continuo lines. In such cases

the alfabeto tends to follow the passacaglia pattern that best accommodates the voice.

While these symbols may or may not represent the “wrong” harmony, it seems clear

that reference to passacaglia patterns rather than analysis of notated voices became

the prevailing standard in applying vertical harmonies to the solo voice and continuo

texture.

“Amarillide vezzosa,” for example, appears in Giovanni Ghizzolo’s Frutti

d’Amore (Venice: Vincenti, 1623) (see Ex. 28). This songbook is closely connected

to the other Venetian composers. Many of the texts are concordant with Milanuzzi,

who provided the dedicatory sonnet for the volume; the first piece, “Questa cruda

206

m’ancide,” is close enough to Milanuzzi’s setting to suggest a common model.49

“Amarillide vezzosa” is built on a walking bass line that moves in steady quarter

notes and can be analyzed unproblematically in G major. The melodic line is built on

a simple rhythmic formula based upon the recurring short-short-long-short (˘ ˘ ́ ˘)

accent pattern of the text:

Ămăríllĭdĕ vĕzzósă 8 a

Ămŏrósă 4 a

Lĕggiădréttă tŭ t’ăscóndĭ 8 b

Sŏl tră fróndĭ 4 b

Ĕ cŏn céntrŏ_e mĭllĕ nódĭ 8 c

Tŭ cĭ léghĭ tŭ cĭ_annódĭ. 8 c

The alfabeto harmonies are restricted to basic harmonic progressions, simpler

than those of the walking bass line. In the B section, the alfabeto consists entirely of

chords from the basic passacaglia on “A,” which consists of the chords “A,” “B,” and

“C” (thus, G major, C major, and D major) (see Fig. 3.23). The “C” chord (D major)

on the downbeat of measure 6 is significant: the alfabeto here follows the passacaglia

pattern even though the bass note B suggests a B minor harmony. The bass-note

formula of the Roman usage has been superseded by a connection between the voice

and the alfabeto that relies more on guitaristic idioms than a realization of the

continuo line.

Ghizzolo was a composer, not an arranger, and I do not suggest that

“Amarillide” is a printed version of an alfabeto-text song in the manner of Stefani’s

arrangements. What I am suggesting is that Ghizzolo adopted as the basis for his

49

Leopold, Modo d’Orfeo, 206-8; Leopold includes transcriptions of both settings

(minus the alfabeto) as example XXIV in vol. 2, 46-47.

208

fugge mi strugge,” like Stefani’s “O leggiadri occhi belli, occhi miei cari,” is written

in a duet texture in which the continuo engages in contrapuntal interplay with the

voice (see Ex. 29). The continuo entry in the first measure imitates the vocal line at

the fifth below, and explicit imitation returns at measure 22. Miniscalchi, or whoever

was responsible for adding the alfabeto, made no attempt to accommodate this

continuo line. Instead the alfabeto provides a steady strumming pattern, one chord

per beat (the breve, or dotted whole note), with an upbeat strum where a harmonic

change is made explicit in the vocal line. At some points the alfabeto diverges

completely from the harmony suggested by the continuo, as in the Ghizzolo piece. In

the first measure, for instance, the alfabeto A major ignores the G in the continuo. As

in the guitar villanella repertory, this “clash” results from the imposition of vertically

conceived harmonies onto horizontally conceived melodic lines. But unlike the

standard “guitar villanella” alfabeto procedure, the vertical conception (i.e., the

alfabeto) is independent from the bass line and incorporates a consistent rhythm into

the harmonic plan governing the alfabeto. In the opening measure the vocal part

obviously outlines an A major triad, and, in keeping with a practical harmonic

rhythm, one chord is assigned. In the B section the standard passacaglia pattern on A

minor, “D E F I” (A minor-D minor-E major-A major) takes precedence over the

continuo line, which creates a contrapuntal cadence—the two voices approach the

consonant D-A fifth by stepwise motion—but not a harmonic one: there is no leading

tone, as both voices approach the fifth by whole step (see Fig. 3.24, end of the third

staff, and Ex. 29, mm. 19-21). The alfabeto conception in this case is the more

210

In Orazio Tarditi’s Amorosa schiera (Venice: Vincenti, 1628) alfabeto

independence is quite marked: in at least three pieces the alfabeto ignores the

continuo in favor of passacaglia progressions. “Un sol bacio per pietà” (Ex. 30)

contains the omnipresent “A B C A” passacaglia (I-IV-V-I in G major) in measures 5-

6, ignoring a C# in the continuo (m. 5 b. 3). “Languendo mi stò” ignores a deceptive

cadence in the continuo on the phrase “Schernisce mia fè,” (see Ex. 31, mm. 15-16),

and “E pur convien’” (Ex. 32) sets a walking bass line to passacaglia sequences, not

for the sake of slowing the harmonic rhythm, but often with a one-to-one

correspondence to continuo notes, only with different harmonies. In fact, at “E per

dolor” (m. 12), a dotted half-note in the continuo is given three alfabeto symbols,

which follow the vocal line with their roots a third below the vocal notes.

Much of the integrated alfabeto repertory, however, is written in a style that

accommodates strummed guitar so smoothly that little editorial attention is needed to

create practical alfabeto. The “dance-song” style, which consists of clear harmonic

and rhythmic periods in triple time, has already been described in regards to

Falconieri, Corradi, Stefani, and Milanuzzi’s works. Further examples can be found

in Domenico Obizzi’s Madrigale at aria a voce sola (Venice: Alessandro Vincenti,

1627), which mixes dance-song style arias with through-composed madrigals. Only

the strophic arias are given alfabeto, and in these the alfabeto displays the

characteristics common to the integrated repertory. The practical nature of the

alfabeto is evident in the use of transposed alfabeto symbols: nine of the pieces are

given alfabeto transposed up by a whole step; in each case, transposition allows the

211

guitarist to avoid the “H” and or “M” chords, which require an uncomfortable first-

fret bar. While these chord shapes are by no means unusual or unplayable, the

transposition creates in each case a chord more appropriate for the amateur or

beginning player. Obizzi’s compositional style also evokes the dance-song repertory:

he uses a consistent dance-song rhythmic gesture involving hemiolas in the vocal part

against accents on the second beat in the continuo. The alfabeto is carefully placed to

match the continuo rhythm, thereby emphasizing the cross-relation between the

compound duple continuo and the simple triple vocal part. “Hor che vicin mi sento”

(Ex. 33) is one of many such examples in Obizzi’s book; the alfabeto placement is

especially obvious here in that the second chord appears before the next note of the

voice (see boxed areas in Fig. 3.25).

Obizzi’s use of ciaccona and passacaglia bass lines underscores the

connection to oral traditions in his aria settings. “O sospiro amoroso” is discussed by

Silke Leopold and appears (without alfabeto) in her volume of transcriptions.

Leopold recognizes the B section as a ciaccona, and describes the structural unit of

the A section as a “cadential formula.”50

I would describe it simply as an alfabeto

passacaglia; the hemiola pattern that Obizzi uses here is common to the alfabeto solo

passacaglia repertory.51

Obizzi’s passacaglias center on three common alfabeto

symbols: “B” (“B G A B”), “A” (“A B C A”), and “D” (“D E F D”) (see Fig.

50

Leopold, Modo d’Orfeo, 262, transcribed in vol. 2, 88. 51

Richard Hudson, The Folia, the Sarabande, the Passacaglia, and the Chaconne:

The Historical Evolution of Four Forms That Originated in Music for the Five-course

Spanish Guitar, vol. 3, Passacaglia (Neuhausen-Stuttgart: American Institute of

Musicology, Hanssler-Verlag, 1982), xv-xvi.

212

Figure 3.25: Domenico Obizzi, “Hor che vicin mi sento,” Facsimile with Boxed

Alfabeto.

3.26A).52

Anyone who had played through the first four passacaglia sequences from

any of the numerous alfabeto solo sources would be familiar with these; for example,

52

The “C” (D major) chord used in the pattern over “petto,” second stave, contradicts

both the passacaglia pattern and the notated vocal line. This may represent a

reversion to the bass-note formula on the part of the editor, or may be a simple

misprint.

213

A)

B)

Figure 3.26: Rasgueado Patterns in Domenico Obizzi, “O sospiroso amoroso,”

Madrigale at aria a voce sola (Venice: Vincenti, 1627) (cont. on next page). A,

Obizzi A section, facsimile. B, Rasgueado passacaglias from Giovanni Ambrogio

Colonna, Intavolatura di chitarra spagnuola (Milan: Dionisio Gariboldi, 1637),

facsimile in Biblioteca Musica Bononiensis (Bologna: Forni) v. 182.

214

C)

D)

Figure 3.26: Rasgueado patterns in Domenico Obizzi, “O sospiroso amoroso,”cont.

C, Obizzi B section, facsimile. D, rasgueado ciacconas from I-Fn Ricc. 2793, f. 13v

and 11v.

the passacaglias from Colonna’s 1637 alfabeto solo book in Figure 3.26B contain

identical patterns. The B section of “O sospiroso” is equally user-friendly, consisting

215

ciaccona patterns on “B” (“B A D G A”) and “A” (“A C + B C”); see Figure 3.26C.

These patterns are common to the alfabeto solo repertory, as seen by two examples

from a contemporary alfabeto manuscript (Fig. 3.26D). The fourth alfabeto symbol

of each ciaccona sequence in Pesenti’s setting has been carefully placed in order to

follow the rhythmic pattern; see, in Figure 3.26C, the “DG” on “(Zefi-)retto,” the

“+B” on “lieve,” and the “DG” on “(taci-)turno.”

Ciaccona and passacaglia patterns persist in the alfabeto song repertory into

the 1630s. They are prominent, for instance, in Martino Pesenti’s songbooks from

1633 and 1636. In “S’io non raggiro il piede,” Example 34, from his Arie a voce sola

libro secondo (Venice: Alessandro Vincenti, 1633), a recitational A section in

common time (mm. 1-9) is followed by a ciaccona B section (mm. 10-38) and a C

section in cut time with an active bass (mm. 39-44). The ciaccona pattern serves both

as an ostinato and a ritornello in the B section; the four-measure pattern occurs four

times in G major and four times in C major. The alfabeto editor adheres to the

standard I-V-vi-IV-V pattern and uses repeated alfabeto symbols to reinforce the

rhythmic pattern. Pesenti is also notable for incorporating the “passacaglia” in the

later sense of the word; that is, as a descending tetrachord ostinato bass. “O dio che

veggio,” from the 1633 print, is titled “Cantata sopra il passacaglio.” It is a “cantata”

in the sense that is through-composed and divided into contrasting sections. In this

case, recurring triple meter passacaglia sections link declamatory, duple-time

sections. The alfabeto pattern “C I F I” (D major-A major-E major-A major) which

harmonizes the descending tetrachord does not appear in passacaglias from the

216

alfabeto solo repertory, and must be considered a harmonization of the bass line. In

fact, the editor has altered the third chord of the sequence when necessary to fit the

melody (see Fig. 3.27).53

A smaller-scale use of the descending tetrachord

passacaglia also appears in Pesenti’s “Filli non t’amo piu,” a piece printed by

Alessandro Vincenti in the anthology Arie de diversi autori (Venice: 1634), where the

passacaglia again functions as a refrain (see Ex. 35).

The oral tradition of song and dance accompanied by strummed guitar cannot

account for every aspect of Venetian chamber song in the mid-seventeenth century,

but it does supply one facet of this rich and varied repertory. The simplicity of the

musical parameters in these canzonettas belies their stylistic complexity, which

reflects an interaction between “high” and “low” involving culture, printing

techniques, and music theory. Composers like Berti, Milanuzzi, and Marini were

trained and skilled in the contrapuntal style necessary for sacred music, and made

their living in part by the systems of patronage that had been in place for centuries.

But the bourgeoning market for printed canzonettas provided a slightly different

avenue for musical creativity, one in which a certain artful imitation of “low” styles

was a necessary part. Driven in part by the changing economic and cultural

landscape, these composers combined the rhythmic, chordal style of the alfabeto

dance-song with the lyrical, contrapuntal Italian song tradition, creating a rich mix

53

See also Leopold, Modo d’Orfeo, 282-86 and example LVII in vol. 2, 123-28.

217

Figure 3.27: Martino Pesenti, “O Dio che veggio,” Arie a voce sola libro secondo

(Venice: Vincenti, 1633), Excerpt with Transcription.

that would sustain further developments in harmony and form. In this way the

guitarists’ pliable approach to musical seduction became part of the monumental

edifices of the common practice period repertory.

Documents

alfabeto 3