Realized Continuo Accompaniments from Florence c1600

John Walter Hill

Early Music, Vol. 11, No. 2. (Apr., 1983), pp. 194-208.

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John Walter Hill

Realized continuo accompaniments from

Florence c1600

Historical instruction books for continuo realization are plentiful, but in general they leave modern per- formers with three major problems. Beyond the inter- pretation of the figures and rules of part-writing given in nearly every one, they leave much in doubt concerning the texture, rhythm and melodic features appropriate to accompaniments. As a body, they leave many geographical and chronological lacunae, con- centrated as they are in Germany and France and in the late 17th and 18th centuries. And they are over-whelmingly written from the standpoint of keyboard practice, providing little guidance for the use of other instruments. It is a stroke of fortune (though no accident), therefore, that nearly 60 of the earliest Florentine monodies survive with both basso continuo lines and fully written-out realizations, some in lute tablature, others for keyboard, done at a time and place very close to those of their composition. These realizations give us valuable guidance for the per- formance of solo songs by Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri, and by extension, of songs by Monteverdi and other monodists and, perhaps, of portions at least of the earliest operas.

The principal Florentine manuscripts that contain these realized continuo accompaniments are: 1 Brussels, Bibliotheque du Conservatoire Royal de Musique, Codex 704 [B704], a 127-folio manuscript with 140 songs, all but one for solo voice and basso continuo. All the identified pieces are by Florentine composers. They range chronologically from Piero Strozzi's Fuor' dell'humido nido, sung by Caccini in a celebration of 1579, through excerpts from the famous Florentine intermedi of 1589, fragments of the first opera, La Dafne (Florence, ~1594-7), by Jacopo Corsi and Peri, to songs later published in Caccini's two monody collections (1602 and 16 14). The repertoire places the collection's origin in Florence. Three factors suggest that its main body, the work of Porter's copyist a, was created ~1594-1600: the latest datable com- positions are the fragments from Dafne, since we know that many of Caccini's songs were published well after they were composed, and since the same might be true

of the song by Francesco Rasi, published in 1608, which is in the manuscript; the manuscript contains nothing from Euridice or I1 rapimento di Cefalo, the operas performed at celebrations in Florence in 1600, excerpts from which would presumably have been included if it had been copied after that date; and the early versions of Caccini's songs that it contains would have been rendered obsolete by the more fully orn- amented and rhythmically detailed versions published in Le nuove musiche of 1602. In B704, 45 songs have fully realized accompaniments in Italian lute tablature, in addition to the basso continuo and vocal lines in staff notation. The other pieces have six-line staves on which the intabulated realizations were never written. Another indication that work on this manuscript was not completed is the number of errors in the tablature: although many were corrected, some remain for the modern editor to rectify. 2 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX.30 [FXIX.30], a 43-folio manuscript bearing the date 12 May 1595 and containing 36 dances and vocal compositions entirely in lute tablature without staff notation. The composers named in it are Santino Garsi (1542-1604) and one Giovanni Galletti. Concordances show that at least three of its songs are by Caccini, and another three are found anonymously in the earliest Florentine monody manuscripts, where they also have basso continuo accompaniment^.^ The date written in the manuscript is corroborated by the fact that one Caccini song in it, which appears in the 1602 Nuove musiche, seems to be a pre-publication version. The manuscript lacks a vocal line to go with the words that are written in, and even the rhythms are not notated for some of the intabulations. These songs could have been played and sung only by a musician already familiar with the pieces, presumably a Florentine musician. 3 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX. 115 [FXIX. 1 151, a keyboard manuscript of 15 folios containing 24 songs and dances. 15 items seem to be vocal compositions, including five arias for singing terze rime, sonnets and other standard textual forms.

194 E A R L Y MUSIC A P R I L 1983

Another five pieces are found also in the earliest Florentine monody manuscripts where they have only a basso continuo line as accompaniment. The only composer named in the manuscript is Santino Garsi, although concordances establish Caccini and Peri as composers of other items.3 Again, a pre- 1602 version of a Caccini song helps to date this manuscript; additional evidence is supplied by the watermarks on the paper, which seem to have been made by the same forms as those that made the paper for a household account book belonging to Jacopo Corsi in Florence and begun in 1593.4 4 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX. 138 [FXIX. 1381, a 48-folio keyboard manuscript with 23 songs and dances. Seven of these pieces have text underlaid, while another two seem, either because of the rubric 'Terza rima' or because of the title given, to be vocal compositions. One of the texted pieces is found in B704 and in two other early Florentine monody manuscripts, where a basso continuo line only is added to the vocal part5 Again the only composer named is Santino Garsi. The manuscript was once part of the library of the Tuscan grand dukes, which tends to support the hypothesis of Florentine origin.

In addition, there are two manuscripts that seem to be Florentine and have important similarities to one or more of those already mentioned, but have no known concordances in basso continuo manuscripts. 5 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX.168 [FXIX. 1681, a 58-folio manuscript containing 26 songs and dances entirely in lute tablature without staff notation. Three pieces have text underlaid, while another three have titles suggesting vocal models, including Ancor che col partire by Cipriano de Rore. One page carries the date 10 May 1582.6 The paper bears the same watermark as FXIX. 1 15 (no.3 above) and the Corsi account book (see fn.4). 6 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX.109 [FXIX. 1091, a 58-folio manuscript containing 29 titled songs and dances entirely in lute tablature. 17 of these pieces have text underlaid and another two seem, because of rubric or title, to be song accom- paniments. The manuscript was once part of the Tuscan grand dukes' library.'

There are three further manuscripts that, while not Florentine in origin, contain realizations of continuo accompaniments to the earliest monodies. They can be used for comparison. 7 Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, Mus.

ms.CS11, a 55-folio manuscript containing 132 items, mostly solo songs, with voice lines in staff notation and accompaniments in lute tablature. This collection was begun on 4 November 1574, in Munich by the Florentine Cosimo Bottegari (1 554-1 620), whose own compositions dominate the manuscript. After he returned to Florence in the early 1580s, Bottegari continued to add to the manuscript. It contains one song by Caccini and two others found in B704, also with realized accompaniment^.^ 8 London, British Library, Egerton 2971, a 37-folio manuscript of English origin, whose earliest owner was one Robius (?Robert) Downes. Along with some 20 English continuo songs by Nathaniel Giles (~1558- 1634). Robert Jones w1597-16 15) and others, and four instrumental pieces, it contains five Italian monodies withvocal line and accompaniment in French-English lute tablature. Two of these monodies (Dolcissimo sospiro and Amarilli mia bella) are by Caccini. All five are written with considerably more ornamentation than Caccini used in his printed collections. The lute accompaniments are thinner and more contrapuntal than those in the Florentine manuscripts. 9 Tenbury Wells, St Michael's College, 1018 [T1018], a mixed manuscript of 48 folios containing some ten motets arranged for solo voice and instrumental consort, another ten untexted motets for consort performance, 21 English continuo songs by Robert Johnson (~1583-1633), Alfonso Ferrabosco (1 578- 1628) and others, 30 Italian monodies by Ferrabosco, Caccini and others, with continuo accompaniment, one English partsong, and one Italian monody (Se di farmi morire), the vocal line of which is accompanied by a French-English lute intabulation somewhat more in the Florentine style than those in the preceding manu~cript.~ 10 Tenbury Wells, St Michael's College, 1019, six folios that may once have been part of the preceding item. Along with 13 English lute songs, one ascribed to John Coprario (c1570/8&1626), and three English continuo songs, it contains one Italian monody, Occhi stelle mortale by Caccini, with an intabulated lute accompaniment similar to the one in T1018. 11 Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique, Codex I1 275D, a 98-folio book of lute tablatures begun by one Raffaello Cavalcante during the 1590s. It contains a lute intabulation accompaniment to Piero Strozzi's Fuor' dell'humido nido, which Caccini sang in 1579, as mentioned earlier, a song that also survives with basso continuo accompaniment. lo

E A R L Y MUSIC A P R I L 1983 195

These manuscripts containing realized continuo accompaniments have been known to researchers in some cases since the early years of this century, but their significance has been recognized only recently; no transcription from any of the Florentine sources has been published or described until now. The Brussels manuscript (B704) was first reported by Alfred Wotquenne in 1900 (see fn. I), and Johannes Wolf, in 1919, gave its contents as 'songs with basso continuo and lute'. Wolf also listed FXIX. 109 as 'Italian songs with lute', FXIX. 168 as a lute manuscript containing songs, and FXIX.115 without comment under the heading 'Italian organ and keyboard tablature'. l1 Sig- nificantly, Wolf did not mention these sources in his chapter on scores and Generalbass. Instead, he and other writers on continuo sources and practice, from the pioneers Riemann (1 907-1 3), Kinkeldey (1 9 10) and Schneider (1918) to the authors of the major surveys between Arnold (1931) and Williams (1970). uniformly conceived of basso continuo as a figured bass part implicitly to be realized on a keyboard instrument. l2 Even Quittard's early description (1910) of members of the lute family as continuo instruments relied on

descriptive evidence without mention of musical manuscripts; the same is true of Neemann's article (1934) on the same subject. l3 Only B704 among these sources was used in Fortune's very important survey of Italian monody in 1954, though he did offer the first recognition of the significance of the continuo realizations in that manuscript: 'A few songs have survived in manuscripts with realized accompaniments: the texture of these accompaniments is always chordal. I have come across a few [printed] song-books which provide a tablature for the chitarrone, and they tell the same story.'14

The first study to present all these manuscripts as sources of monody accompaniment was William Porter's excellent dissertation of 1962. Less summary and more cautious than Fortune, he left only this evaluation: 'Undoubtedly, much can be learned con- cerning lute accompaniment from the many tablatures found in Brus., Bottegari, and Cavalcante. An adequate appraisal of these accompaniments, however, must wait for a complete transcription of all these tab- lature~."~ The complete transcription has not appeared, so that in 1970, when Joan Myers wrote about Robert

1 Ciulio CaccM, Udite. udite amanti (Le nuove musiche. 1602), from FXIX.30. E25r

--

196 EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983

13.1 Giulio Caccir. Udite, udite amanti, from Le nuove musiche (Florence. 16021, with intabulations from FXIX30 and B704

U -d i - te, u-di- te a - m a n - i i u - di - te. 6 f e - re e - r a n - t i 0 cie-lo, bstel- le A lu-na 6 so - le Don.na e don-zel- le I- - V U V - - -

Transcription of tablature, FXIX.30, rhythms added

I

Tablature, FXIX.30,

f . 2 5 ~

I *MS:l

Transcription of tablature, 8704

I I I P I r I I' I I\ I I'

Tablature 8704.p.81

I " le mie pa-ro - ie . . E s ' i ra-gion mi . . . , . do-glio Pian-ge - t ~ a l mio cor-do-glio p ian- ge - te al p- cor - do - glio

i I

ine in B704,p.81 and bass in 8704,p.81

- " - " - " - - -*MS: 2 lines

EARLY M U S I C APRIL 1983 197

- -

Dowland's realization of the accompaniment to two of Caccini's monodies, she incorrectly stated, 'unfort- unately, no written-out Italian models of the period exist for us to emulate'.16 And when Hitchcock pro- duced the first critical editions of Caccini's two printed collections, in 1970 and 1978, he did not list FXIX.30 or FXIX. 1 15 under 'manuscript versions' of the songs and used only Dowland's intabulations as models for his own continuo realizations. l7

As we shall see, Dowland's intabulations are sig- nificantly different from the early Florentine realiz- ations. Likewise unreliable as models for continuo realizations for Florentine monody are Luzzasco Luzzaschi's keyboard accompaniments to his solo madrigals (1601), as Newcomb pointed out in 1969,18 Schiitz's organ realizations transmitted by his pupil

Ex.2 Giulio Caccini Tamo mia vita, 8704, pp.9-10

I 1

IF' T'a - mo mia vi - ta, la mia

of tablature I I I F r

Tablature

* MS:I

ly - a - ve ~ a - r o- la Par che tras-for - me lie-ta - ;en-t'il co

Bernhard, and Viadana's instructions for accompanying motets-though Williams offers all three as guides.lg

The examples chosen

To illustrate the typical features of these early Florentine continuo realizations, I have chosen three examples. Caccini's Udite, udite amante (ex. 1) shows the extent of agreement between two different intabulated realiz- ations from Florentine manuscripts (B704, and FXIX.30 (illus. 1)). These realizations represent what is usual in accompaniments of simple, metrical, dance-like strophic arias within this manuscript repertoire. The harmoniz- ations in them call be compared with Caccini's figured bass as printed in 1602.

The second example, T'amo mia mita, is from B704 (illus.2). Slightly different versions of this song are

' I , . , , ca-ra vi - ta. Mi di - ce e'in que-sta so - la Si s o -

0 I

*MS: 3 lines

- - - re per far - me-ne si - gno - re

198 E A R L Y MUSIC A P R I L 1983

2 Giulio Caccini, Tamo mia vita. 8704. p.9

1 NFS:

EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983 199

Ex.3 Jacopo Peri 0 miei giomi fugaci, from Le vane musiche (Florence. 1609), with keyboard harmonization from FxIx.115

FXIX. 115. f f 9v-1Ov

"

I Oi - - me gia sei spa-ri - la Cia sen - to 0 vi - - la

/ sen - tir'- par - mi La r i -go- ro - sa trom - ba d'a-van - ti a te Giu - sto S i - gnor chia -mar --

Gia nel cor mi ri - bom - ba il fo r -mi-da - - bil suo - no. Mi - se - re - re di

200 E A R L Y M U S I C A P R I L 1983

mi - se - re - re di me. Si - gnor, S i - gnor - per - do - no.

3 Jacopo Ped 0 mta gromt fugaci (Le varie mustche. 1609). from FXKI 15. L9v

--T---- -

- l i - r I I 1 - 1 ' -+ I 1 1 0 I C A t I - t- -

' .;. - 8--"7+4-;4 %

7- t - +3~~

A . Q pttn br;~"' k A C- .K

rLC I

Y L I \ - I I C ' I

--- .(.&(___-- I

found in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX.66, and T1018 with only unfigured bass accompaniments. In the latter manuscript the madrigal is ascribed to 'Giulio Romano', that is, Giulio Caccini. This piece, never before published, is chosen to illustrate the realization of an unfigured bass and the style of accompaniments used for madrigalian songs.

The third example is a keyboard harmonization of Jacopo Peri's spiritual madrigal, 0 mieigiomifugaci, in a

presumably early version that differs in rhythm and ornamentation from the one printed in his Varie musiche (Florence, 1609). This example comes from FXIX.115 (illus.3) and, like the other pieces in this manuscript, it includes both the vocal melody and the accompaniment on two staves. Since only the incipit of the text is provided, it may have been intended for performance on a harpsichord alone. However, other pieces in this manuscript that are entirely untexted

EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983 201

seem to have been intended as accompaniments for singing, as is suggested by the rubic 'Terza rima'. The absence of full texting would therefore seem no certain indication of purely instrumental performance. Furthermore, FXIX. 138 contains similar keyboard harmonizations with melody included, but here the full texts of the songs have been written in under the music, as if to be sung. The main purpose of this third example is to show that some features of the intabulated accompaniments for instruments of the lute family are not necessarily the result only of the idiom, technique and limitations of these instruments, since they are shared by all the keyboard harmonizations in these manuscripts as well.

The instruments

The choice of instruments in this group of continuo realizations seems significant. Most by far are in lute tablature. The two most important of the manuscripts, B704 and FXIX.30, call for an instrument with up to four unfretted, diatonically tuned contrabass strings in addition to the classical six courses of the Renais- sance lute (A-d-g-b-el-a' or G-ef-a-dl-g'). Most of the intabulations require either G or A tuning (both are used in each manuscript) in order to match the voice and bass parts written in staff notation; in B704, one accompaniment would require tuning based on B, and another D tuning in order to match. But the actual, absolute pitch used in performance would have been a matter of simple agreement between singer and accom- panist, if they were indeed two individuals. The bass line is included in all these intabulations, and there is no reason to suggest that any melodic bass instrument should be added in performing these accompaniments.

Judging from the disposition of the chords and the distribution of notes in runs, these intabulations were probably made with an instrument in mind that had its first two courses tuned as on a lute, not an octave lower as some sources give for the chitarrone or theorbo. Although Banchieri in 1609 reported that the first two courses of a chitarrone could be tuned to the upper octave,20 both Spencer and Smith have recently argued that an instrument with this lute tuning and added contrabass strings ought to be called an arch- lute.2' Still, early 17th-century usage was not con- sistent, and the instrument that the Florentine in- tabulators had in mind may be no different from the one that Caccini called a chitarrone, the instrument 'more suitable for accompanying the voice, especially the tenor voice, than any other'.22

Large instruments of the lute family, whether called 'chitarrone', 'tiorba', 'arciliuto', or 'liuto attiorbato', continued to be favoured by Florentine monodists: Jacopo Peri, Francesca Caccini, Vittoria Archilei, Marco da Gagliano, Giovanni Battista da Gagliano and others accompanied themselves on them. And they continued to be the instruments of accompaniment most frequently named on the title-pages of printed monody collections through the 1 6 3 0 ~ ~ '

Texture of the accompaniments

Fortune was correct in describing these realizations as chordal. In general, all the voices in them move to the rhythm of the bass, as is most easily seen in Udite, udite amanti. The most common exceptions are places where the upper line takes instead the rhythm of the vocal line, where the bass line contains passing notes and where cadences are elaborated by suspensions, anticipations, and added sevenths over the dominant chord (e.g. Tamo mia vita, bar 7; Udite, bar 12). Other cases are rare, and ex.4 represents the extreme limit of contrapuntal texture in these accompaniments. Ex.5 shows a passage from Robert Dowland's realization of the accompaniment to Caccini's Amadlli mia bella and ex.6 the simpler one from B704, which is typical of that manuscript.

The keyboard harmonizations are really no more elaborate than those for archlute, except that the vocal melody included in them contains some ornamentation, as in 0 miei giomi fugaci. 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, which have recently been studied by Robert S t r i z i ~ h . ~ ~ As with the guitar accompaniments, these archlute realizations show very little concern about giving the upper line a distinct melodic shape. Indeed many of them are as disjunct as the two versions of Udite, udite amanti given here. In general, ease of fingering and fullness of sonority seem to have weighed more than smoothness of line in the judge- ment of these Florentine musicians. A simple, chordal texture, free of the counterpoint that Vincenzo Galilei maligned for obscuring the text and free of rhythmic complication that might inhibit the singer's sprezzatura (rhythmic freedom), was their ideal.

Parallelisms No modern editor would dare to write the parallel 5ths and octaves that confront us in the first two bars of

202 E A R L Y M U S I C A P R I L 1983

http:FXIX.30

Ex.4 Anon, Poi che'l mi0 largo pianto, B704,p.35, bars 10-15

I 0

a - sciut-ti mai que- sVoc - chl non ve - dra - i - fin-che non man-di fuo - re -I -Continuo

Tran -scription of tablature

F r Tablature

Ex.5 Robert Dowland's accompaniment to Ciulio Caccini's Amarilli mia beNa (Le nuove musiche. 1602) from A MusicalBanquet (London, 1610). no.19, bars 1 4

I A - ma- ril - li mla be1 - la, Non cre - di, o del mlo cor do1 - c e d e - S I -V

Tran-script~on of tablature

I I ' I I I

I

I r ~ F r r F F F F

Tablature

1' - 6 , D'es - ser tu pa-mor mi - o?

EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1 9 8 3 203

Ex.6 Giulio Caccini Amarilli mia bella. B704, p.46,ban 1-5

1 - A - m a - ril - li m1a be1 - la Non credi , o del mio cor do1 - ce a e - s i - o D'es - ser tu Pa-mor mi - a?-

Tran-

scrlption

of

tablature

I ~ r t F ~ r

Tablature

Tamo mia vita or in 0mieigiornifugaci, bar 6. Yet these parallelisms are found frequently in nearly every one of these Florentine realizations, whether for archlute or keyboard. It is often overlooked that even Viadana, the church musician, wrote, in 1602, 'The organ part is never under any obligation to avoid two 5ths or two octave^'.'^ Guidotti, in his preface to Cavalieri's Rap-

presentazione di anima et di corpo (Rome, 1600). says 'two 5ths are taken as occasion demands'. Caccini in his preface to Euridice (Florence, 1600). writes ' I have not avoided the succession of two octaves or two 5 th~ ' . Vincenzo Galilei, in his Dialogo of 158 1 ,26 had advised them all that two or more perfect consonances con- secutively are to be allowed when three or more parts are sounding, advice upon which he elaborates in a treatise of c1590 in this way: 'The law of modern contrapuntists that prohibits the use of two octaves or two 5ths is a law truly contrary to every natural law of singing [solo song^].'^'

Melodic relationship of accompaniment to vocal line

While the vocal line is included in the Florentine keyboard harmonizations, it is generally avoided in the archlute realizations, which for the most part remain below the vocal line if it is in the soprano range. In this respect, these Florentine archlute manu- scripts record a practice that corresponds to the earliest continuo instructions given by Viadana and Agazzari (1607).28 However, Viadana's rule that the leading note must be played in the accompaniment in the same octave in which it is sung is often ignored in these realizations. Likewise ignored is Francesco Bianciardi's (1 607) suggestion that the fullness and

r F P F I r

range of the accompaniment be varied according to the range and expression of the voice part.29

Dissonances

Generally these realizations confine dissonances to the elaboration of cadences, mentioned earlier. Un- prepared suspensions, such as that in Tamo mia vita, bar 7, are not uncommon. Even more common is the leap to the seventh. The fourth always appears with the fifth above the bass in suspensions, never with the sixth.

Choice of chord

One of the striking features of these realizations is that often a third and fifth are put above the bass note where modern editors would have written a third and

Ex.7 Giulio Caccini Dovro dunque rnorire (Le nuove rnusiche, 1602). B704. p.45,bars 1-2

I Do-vi6 dun - que mo - ri - re

Continuo

Tran-scription I ot tablature

I

I F F r I r I -"

Tablature

204 E A R L Y M U S I C A P R I L 1983

sixth. Examples of this can be found in the cadential formulas of Udite, udite amanti, bars 4 and 5, and in the first two chords in bar 1 1. The same is often found at what would have seemed to be Phrygian half-cadences, as is illustrated at the end of the first phrase in ex.6, above. In other cases a new root-position triad is used where a simple change of inversion of one triad might seem to have been implied (ex.7). On the other hand, sixths are normally used over the third and seventh degrees of major scales and when the bass descends by a whole step at cadences. In this respect these manuscripts support the instructions given by Bian- ciardi and Banchieri (1 6 1

Preference for major chords

In all these manuscripts there is a surprising preference for major triads. Not only are the thirds raised in all cadential dominant chords, but usually in all chords followed by a bass note (root) a 4th above or 5th below except when cross-relations in the voice line would result. Examples of such non-cadential raised thirds are found in T'amo mia vita, bars 2, 5 and 6. Again, this corresponds to rules given by Bianciardi and Banchieri. But further, these realizations have a raised third in the final chord of every cadence and of nearly every phrase-ending where possible. This is shown in Tamo mia vita, bars 1 and 3; and in Udite, udite amanti, bars 6.7 and 10. Occasionally internal tonic cadences in minor- mode songs end without any third, perhaps because the minor third was insufficiently consonant, while the major third would have seemed too final. In other songs open 5ths occasionally replace triads when the major third is in the voice, when a major third might have seemed too jarring (e.g. Udite,bar 2), or in place of the dominant chord in a few slow, G-Dorian songs with melancholv affect.

Treatment of passing notes in the bass

Generally, notes written as crotchets and shorter durations that are dissonant with the vocal line are left to move under sustained chords in these realizations. This corresponds with Agazzari's instructions. Only very rarely are rapidly descending basses accompanied by parallel lOths in the way Bianciardi suggests. In a few rapid passages, bass notes that might have been accompanied by chords are left to sound alone. In no case does this choice seem to be related to text expression or the range and power of the voice. Other cases of unaccompanied bass notes are octave leaps and changes of root under sustained upper voices.

Stock chords

Most printed monody collections with Montesardo's letter notation, indicating chords to be strummed rasgueado fashion on a five-course Spanish guitar, also include a table showing each of the chords in tablature, with its letter, above bass notes arranged as an ascending scale. Such a table for the archlute is found as a later addition to B704, and FXIX.30 has three of them. Oddly, however, these tables are neither com- plete nor accurate. The form of chords most commonly found in the early realizations is often replaced in the tables by a thinner or less easily fingered version of the same harmony. And when a presumably later scribe tried to apply these stock chords to realizations of songs added at the end of B704 by Porter's scribes b and c, the results were silly. Still, such a table can quite easily be assembled from the older realizations in B704 and FXIX.30. I here include one each for G and A tuning (Tables 1 and 2); they include virtually every chord used in the manuscripts. Since the early Floren- tine accompaniments are largely a series of chords adhering to the norms I have described, it is relatively easy to imitate them using these tables and making adjustments for bass motion, other inversions, and upper voice motion, especially at cadences. I have done this and heard my accompaniments professionally performed with complete success. And why not? This was evidently the way monodies were accompanied in Caccini's Florence.

A postscript on Kapsbergei's chitarrone realizations

Johannes Hieronymous (Giovanni Girolamo) Kaps- berger's chitarrone realizations of the continuo accom- paniments in his Libro primo di arie passeggiate (Rome, 16 12) represent the next chronological step after the early Florentine realizations, and they are remarkably similar to their predecessor^.^^ The instrument intended is evidentally a chitarrone with at least seven, perhaps 12 contrabass strings.33 A transcription of his accom- paniments shows that the first course of this instru: ment seems to have been tuned down an octave from a' to a , while the second course remained at the lute pitch e'. As in the Florentine realizations, the texture is overwhelmingly homophonic; independent voice movement is practically confined to cadential elab- oration. The upper voices of the accompaniments are less disjunct than in the Florentine realizations, partly because of the tuning of the first course, but it is no more melodious or contoured. In general the part- writing is somewhat smoother and the parallelisms

EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983 205

http:FXIX.30

Table 1 Chord forms found in the intabulated continuo realizations in B704 and FXIX30 with G tuning

1 0 1 % I . I A A I r I . I I I I I I1 : 2 1 3 I : ,2 1 4 : 1 ; 1 - 1 1 : 1 : 1 :

'Chords on D wlth the 3rd In the lower oc ta \e are very common In these manuscrlpts. and when the D major chord is used as the dominant in a cadence on G, the reso lu t~on of the l e a d l n ~ note 1s often found in the upper o c t a v ~ In thls connection it should be remarked that many 16th-century lutes have a n octave split on the fourth

ds wpil as ~n the i ~ f t h and s ~ x l h courses

less flagrant. The sound of the accompaniment is Kapsberger varies his textures to match the intended fuller because of the more liberal use of contrabass expression of the text. strings, the lower-octave first course, the greater In general Kapsberger's realizations make somewhat demands on left-hand technique, and the design of greater demands on the accompanist's technique, a chords using mostly adjacent courses to be strummed little more exploitation of expanded range, and al- with the thumb (as shown by the sign ' / .). Although the together a bit more polish and sophistication. To a fullness of chords seems partly governed by the speed certain extent they may be a sign of the drift away from of the bass line, there may be instances in which extreme concentration on expressive vocal declamation

206 E A R L Y M U S I C A P R I L 1983

Table 2 Chord forms found in the intabulated continuo realizations in 8704 and FXIX30 with A tuning

-. I . . .. :: .. rr. .. .. 1,s i - ! - a

*Again, as in G tuning, the possibility of an octave split on the fourth course should be considered when interpreting these chords

of the text towards greater interest in features of purely musical design and expression, a drift that is detectable generally in monody beginning in the second decade of the 17th century. But Kapsberger's accompaniments are nevertheless simpler and more discreet than those to be found in most modern performing editions. H~

Agazzari's that a in-strumentlike the archlute or chitarrone'must maintain

a solid, sonorous, sustained harmony' and that 'the consonances and the harmony as a whole are subject and subordinate to the words, not vice versa'.34

'A. Wotquenne. 'Notice sur le manuscrit 704 (ancien 8750) de la Bibliotheque du Conservatoire', Annuaire du Conservatoire Royale de Musique de BmxeNes, 24 (1900), pp.178-207: W. V. Porter jr, 'The Orinins of the Barooue Solo Sonn: a Studvof Italian ManuS~ri~tS and prints from 1590-i610' ( P ~ Ddiss.. ale u.,1962), pp.2s4-jo

E A R L Y MUSIC A P R I L 1983 207

2Porter, op cit, pp.306-7, omits reference to one of the Caccini concordances. Udite, udite amanti. The date in the manuscript was missed by both Porter and Bianca Becherini (Catalogo dei manosm'fti musicali deNa Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze (Kassel, 1959), pp. 12-1 3).

]Porter, op cit, pp.320-21: Becherini, op cit, p.50 4Florence. Archivio di Stato, Guicciardini-Corsi-Salviati, libro

409, second fascicle 'Porter, op cit, pp.322-3; Becherini, op cit, pp.59-60 6Porter,op cit, pp.310-11; Becherini, op cit, p.72: C. MacClintock,

'Notes on Four Sixteenth-Century Tuscan Lutebooks'. Journal of the Lute Society of America, 4 (1971), pp.l-8

'Porter, op cit, pp.308-9; Becherini, op cit, pp.44-5; MacClintock, op cit

'C. MacClintock, 'A Court Musician's Songbook: Modena MS C31'. JAMS 9 (1956), pp.177-92: C. MacClintock, ed., The Bottegari Lutebooh, Wellesley Edition, 8 (Wellesley. Mass.. 1956): Porter, op cit, pp.3 12-1 9

9N. Maze, 'Tenbury Ms 1018: a Key to Caccini's Art of Embellish- ment', JAMS 9 (1956), pp.61-3; H. W. Hitchcock 'Vocal Ornament- ation in Caccini's Nuove Musiche'. M Q 56 (1970), pp.389-404; N. Fortune, 'Italian Secular Song from 1600 to 1635: The Origins and Development of &companied Monody' (PhD diss., U. of Cambridge. 1954), appendix. pp.55-6. Both Tenbury 1018 and 1019 can be seen at the Bodleian Library. Oxford, where they are on indefinite loan.

loporter, op cit, pp.301-5 llJ. Wolf, Handbuch der Notationshunde. 2 (Leipzig, 19 19). pp.70,

275 12H. Riemann. Handbuch derMusihgeschichte, 211-3 (Leipzig. 1907-

13); 0 . Kinkeldey. Orgel und Klavier in der Musih des 16. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1910). pp.187-221; M. Schneider, Die Anfange des Basso Continuo undseinerBezifferung (Leipzig, 1918); F. T. Amold, The Art of Accompaniment from a Thorough-bass a s Practised in theXVIIth & XVIIIth Centuries (London, 193 1); P. Williams. Figured Bass Accompaniment (Edinburgh. 1970)

13H. Quittard, 'Le theorbe comme instrument d'accompaniment', Societe Internationale de Musique revue musicale mensuelle, 6 (1910), pp.221-37. 362-84: H. Neemann, 'Laute und Theorbe als General- bassinstrumente im 17. und 18. Jahrhunderf, ZeiBchTiftfiir Musih- wissenschaft, 16 (1934), pp.527-34

"Fortune, op cit, p.16 lSPorter,op cit, p.202 16J. Meyers. 'Caccini-Dowland: Monody Realized'. Journal of the

Lute Society of America, 3 (1970), pp.22-34 17G. Caccini, Le nuove musiche, ed. H. W. Hitchcock, Recent

Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. 9 (Madison. 1970); G. Caccini, Nuove musiche e nuova maniera di smiverle (1614). ed. H. W. Hitchcock Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. 28 (Madison, 1978)

IsAnthony Newcomb ('The Musica Secreta of Ferrara in the 1580s' (PhD diss., Princeton U., 1969), p.122) finds Luzzaschi's keyboard parts busier, with more imitation than Caccini's basso continuo accompaniments.

19Williams,op cit, 1, pp.66-7. That Viadana's organ continuo parts are different from Caccini's monody accompaniments in historical background, style, function and intent is the burden of H. H. Eggebrecht. 'Arten des Generalbasses im friihen und minleren 17. Jahrhundert', Archive f i r Musihwissenschaft, 14 (1957), pp.61-82. Bemhard's realizations have a third-hand relationship with Monte- verdi's practices, removed by time, nation and Schiitz's mediation; see J. M. Miiller-Blanau. Die Kompositionslehre Heinrich Schutzens in der Fassung seines Schulers Christoph Bernhard (Leipzig, 1926).

20A. Banchieri. Conclusioni del suono dell'organo (Bologna, 1609), p.53

2LR. Spencer, 'Chitarrone, theorbo and archlute'. EM 414 (October 1976). pp.41&17; D. A. Smith, 'On the Origin of the Chitarrone',

JAMS 32 (1979), p.458. Some of the issues treated by Spencer and

Smith have been reopened on a broader basis in F. Hellwig. 'The morphology of lutes with extended bass strings', EM 914 (October 198 l) , pp.447-54.

22Caccini,Le nuove musiche, ed. Hitchcock, p.56 231n addition to Quinard, Neemann. Spencer and Smith, cited

above, see T. Borgir. 'The Performance of the Basso Continuo in Seventeenth Century Italian Music' (PhD diss.. U. of California at Berkeley, 197 I), pp. 190-220; N. Fortune, 'Continuo Instruments in Italian Monodies', GSJ6 (1953), pp.10-13; and M. Materassi, 'Teoria e pratica del' suonare sopra 'I basso 'nel primo Seicento', I1 'Fronimo: Rivista m'mestmle di chitana e liuto (October 1979), pp.24-32.

24R Strizich, 'L'accompanimento di basso continuo sulla chitarra barocca'. I1 'Fronimo'(January 1981), pp.15-26; (April 1981), pp.8-24

2TL.Viadana, 'A benigni lenori', Centi concerti ecclesiastici (Venice, 1602). For a translation and commentary, see Arnold, op cit, pp. 1-5, 9-33, esp.18-19.

26V. Galilei, Dialogo . . . deNa musica antica et della modema (Florence. 1581); Eng. trans. in 0 . Strunk, Source Readings in Music History (New York. 1950), p.310

2'C. V. Palisca, 'Vincenzo Galilei and some Links Between "Pseudo-Monody" and Monody'. M Q 46 (1960), p.357

28A. Agazzari, Del sonare sopra 'I basso con tutti li srromenti e dell'uso lorn nel consorto (Siena, 1607); the 1609 version is transcribed in Kinkeldey, op cit, pp.216-2 1 ; Eng. trans. in Strunk op cit, pp.424-31; commentary in Arnold, o p cit, pp.67-74.

29F. Bianciardi. Breve regola per imparar' a sonar sopra il basso con ognisorted'istrumento (Siena. 1607): extensive trans. and commentary in Arnold, op cit, pp.74-80.

'OA. Banchieri. 'Dialogo musicale del R. P. D. Adriano Banchieri Bolognese con un amico suo, che desidera suonare sicuramente sopra un basso continuo in tune le maniere'. L'organo suonan'no (Venice, 21161 1); trans. and commentary in Arnold, op cit, pp.82-90

31P~rter , The later intabulations are in 8704, op cit, pp.259-70. pp.201-35; the chord table is on p.209. The tables in FXIX.30 are on ff.2-3.

I2James Forbes ('The Nonliturgical Vocal Music of Johannes Hieronymous Kapsberger (1 580-165 1)' (PhD diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1977), pp.85-91) discusses these chitarrone intabulations as evidence of the composer's harmonic style and of the harmonic structure of the arias, but not as evidence of continuo realization practice.

33Tablature symbols for contrabass strings in this collection are thefollowing:e= G,8= F,X(IO)=D, 11 =C', 14= Gsharp, and 18= F sharp.

34See fn.29. I believe that the instruments of melodic ornamen- tation, as opposed to instruments of chordal foundation, which Agazzari describes, are appropriate mostly to the realization of the continuo in ritornellos, sinfonie, dances and perhaps in choruses, ensembles and some metrical arias in operas, concerted madrigals and cantatas, oratorios and liturgical music of the early Baroque, but not in simple monodies or passages in stile ren'tativo, which evidentially require the very discreet accompaniments of a single instrument as shown in the tablatures discussed here. I wish this point had been made in G. Rose, 'Agazzari and the Improvising Orchestra', JAMS 18 (1965), pp.382-93.

208 E A R L Y MUSIC A P R I L 1983