In this regards it is interesting to read the thought of the conductor and pianist Gianandrea Gavazzeni (1909-1996) who writes:
«What is central, dominant, what comes before everything, is not the drama, is not the theory and neither the dramatic feeling. But language, the essential constitution of how was manifested the voice of a man, the voice of a culture.»1
The rediscovery of the past and the awareness of the contemporary music innovation characterized the Italian music renovation after the opera. All the music that came after had his seed in the brave footsteps of the musicians of the 1880's generation.
A few years later both Giorgio Federico Ghedini (1892-1965) and Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968), who represent the bridge between the old and the new generation, continued to set their work on this lucky combination of old and new. Ghedini (who will be Monteverdi's teacher at the Conservatory of Milan) mainly looked at Frescobaldi/ Monteverdi and Stravinsky/Hindemit while Castelnuovo-Tedesco was inspired by folk-popular melodies and the Gregorian style in addition to the elegant language of Ravel.
It is interest to notice how after just few years the relationship music-text changed radically, getting farer from the melodramatic style, and evolving to a new dimension that enhances the meaning of the words with a delicate research of colors in the accompaniment and still a careful accentuations of the words in music, in an aesthetic that recalls the seconda prattica (recommended listening: Ballata dall'esilio by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco).
The new generation of musicians born after 1900 such as Goffredo Petrassi (1904-2003) and Luigi Dalla Piccola (1904-1975) kept going on the renovating process of Italian music with the difference that they had an innate and instinctive consciousness of the European music background who the generation of Malipiero, Pizzetti, Casella, and Respighi had to fight to collect and know. They have in common with them the interest for the voice, soloistic and in choir, and the vocal writing is this time in a perfect balance between old (restoring the taste for the polyphony and the early baroque value of the text put in music, inspired to the seconda prattica) and new (the European symphonic context and the coloristic research plus all the stimulus of the new musical languages of Stravinsky, Bartòk, Debussy, etc...). This new vocality have almost nothing in common anymore with the 19th -century vocality but seems more to be a modern rebirth of the dramatic madrigal for voices and instruments, of the tradition of Monteverdi.2
Of vital importance is the influence of the dodecaphonic language that in Italy found his vocal humanization.
Quite touching are these few lines by Massimo Mila that in his Breve storia della musica (Torino, 1963, pg. 440) compares the integration of the dodecaphony inside the Italian strong vocal tradition with the advent of the Flemish counterpoint in the 16th century:
Now that dodecaphony has been spread impetuously also in Italy after the war, it is more and more evident that this is the repetition of an historical phenomenon already happened in the 16th century, when Italy welcomed the complicated counterpoint technique elaborated by Flamings and, without weakening it, she tempered and smoothed it gently, giving it kindness in art and bending it to the necessities of an increased expressiveness and an efficient vocal writing. Today we talk about “contrappunto all'italiana” to indicate the humanization that Italians have worked of the dodecaphonic technique and the modern polyphony, introducing their instinctive vocal knowledge. 3
2. A bridge between old and new
2.1 The rediscovery of Monteverdi at the beginning of the Italian 20th-century, starting from Malipiero
The Italian composers of the 1880 generation such as Respighi, Pizzetti, Malipiero, and Casella, had a very difficult task because although the melodramma was waning after the appearance of Verdi, the audience was still very affectionate to opera. From here comes the necessity to search for new musical languages and refresh the musical taste. Each of them found his own new personal language facing at the same time the unpopularity of those people who looked at them as “those who took away the opera from Italians”. But for them, it was not a matter of musical genres but of musical languages, that anyway were often celebrating the voice. Alfano, Respighi, and Pizzetti inspired by the innovative enthusiasm of Strauss and Debussy built their compositions around a dense harmony and a complexity of instrumentation, while Malipiero and Casella preserved a constant interest for the contemporary music evolution and at the same time for the Gregorian chant, that they developed in a new language able to free the rhythm from the tactus and connecting it to the words. All of them never went in the atonal world but they all accepted a larger tonality, following the polytonal harmony in addition to the interest for counterpoint, the declamatory style of the last opera's of Giuseppe Verdi (Otello and Falstaff) and the folk singing (not comparable to the impact that it had in Hungary, Spain, and Slavic countries). It is interesting to see also how all of them developed a taste for pure and dissociated colors, that will find the highest growth later with Berio, Nono, and Maderna.
It is important to observe how Debussy, Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Schönberg have been essential for the new Italian music such as Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Frescobaldi, and Scarlatti. But Monteverdi's music has been buried, together with the 16th-century polyphony, by the 17th and 18th-century melodramma, so it is not a coincidence that all these composers and many after them wrote so many pieces for voice. The theatrical world continued to fascinate them, in a way that had nothing to do anymore with the melodramma but was closer to an idea of “theatre of sounds” that we will see better expressed in Berio and his contemporaries (Nono and Maderna were students of Malipiero). Noteworthy the huge work of Malipiero who not only copied and edited Monteverdi's entire work (1926-1940) but he studied him deeply with the purpose and the honest desire to understand and reach the heart of his music. At the same time, he made him known to his contemporaries and to those who came after, including us, always with a lot of respect for the value of his writing and with an equally respectful idea about the choices in performance (especially about the continuo) who were inevitably connected to the seconda prattica.
«Il più martoriato fra tutti i grandi musicisti fu ed è tuttora Claudio Monteverdi […] Fino al quinto libro dei madrigali (1605) nulla si deve toccare, basta rendersi degni di comprendere il primo Monteverdi. La musica religiosa va rispettata pure quando, come nei Vespri della Beata Vergine certi accenti meravigliosi, ma un po' melodrammatici, possono tentare l'incauto elaboratore a sottolinearli con sconcertanti anacronismi.»4
«The most misinterpreted and injured composer was and still is Claudio Monteverdi [...]Until the fifth book of madrigals (1605) nothing has to be touched, it is enough to be worthy of understanding the first Monteverdi. The religious music has to be respected even when, like in the Vespri della Beata Verdine, some beautiful but a bit melodramatic accents, can induce the imprudent interpreter to underline those with shocking anachronisms.»
In his Salmo IX for choir and orchestra (1936). it is possible to find this concept further enriched with religious content, intensively expressed
(5.20''-5.57'')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1bJ7iL7pAI
Talking about singing challenges, the humoristic choirs a cappella Nonsense (1952) can be seen as Petrassi's modern version of madrigals.
Intersting his Lamento d'Arianna (1936)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugD03_1_Bbg
With the Milan Institute of musical phonology of Rai (1955-1983), we are witnessing the overlay of electronic music with the singing. Founded by Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna, the studio was created to produce experimental electronic music and soundtracks for film and television (it will be the model for the 2012 film Berberian Sound Studio) representing another European facility for experimental electronic music with the Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDRin Cologne, the Groupe de Recherches Musicalesin Paris and the American Columbia University Computer Music Center.
“The Institute of Musical Phonology is the outcome of the matching between music and the possible new means of analyzing and processing that sound has” Luciano Berio
The Institute had been also the nest of Berio's compositions in collaboration with Cathy Berberian such as Omaggio a Joyce (1958) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS6tv50YGWg) and Visage (1961) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmMJV-NrQrA).
If composers before the foundation of the Phonology Institute were leading a process of transformation of the voice which started with a rejection of the operatic/lyrical vocality in favor of a vocal clarity closer to the instrumental writing, now in this precious and prolific collaboration between Berio and Berberian we assist at the concretization of the use of the voice as a land of infinite sound possibilities, that will have been analyzed in the third chapter.
In his precious words it is possible see how Malipiero was respectful to Monteverdi and his music but it is also interesting to see that he was looking at him with very human eyes, expressing also his doubts:
«... In molti casi Claudio Monteverdi cambiò le parole riducendo la stessa composizione da profana a religiosa. Senza ammettere la profanazione nell’arte è però in contradizione con se stesso; se, come egli vuole, la musica deve essere schiava delle parole, come può adattarsi la stessa musica a due differenti poesie? ».5
«...In many cases, Claudio Monteverdi changed the words reducing the same composition from profane to religious. Without admitting the profanation of art, he is though contradicting himself; if, as he wants, the music is servant of the text, how can the same music be adapted to two different poems?».
But later in 1967 he will write:
«Forse Claudio Monteverdi trasformando l'umanissimo “Lamento d'Arianna” in “Pianto della Madonna” ha dato il cattivo esempio, ma il dolore tiene sempre aperte le porte di tutti i paradisi»6
«Maybe Claudio Monteverdi gave a bad example transforming the very human Lamento d'Arianna in Pianto della Madonna, but pain always keeps open the doors of all paradises.»
Here he gives informations about the sound and color of the orchestra that should be created in Monteverdi's operas:
«I melodrammi non si reggono se non si purificano poeticamente. Infine Claudio Monteverdi sofferse di una esagerata idiosincrasia orchestrale (lacuna comprensibile dato il dominio che la voce umana esercitava su di lui) perciò per far rivivere l'Orfeo, Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria e l'Incoronazione di Poppea, è necessario creare sonorità istrumentali che corrispondano alle preferenze timbriche che egli rivela nei brevi suoi ritornelli e sinfonie.»7
«Melodrammi cannot be handled without a poetical purification. And Claudio Monteverdi suffered from an exaggerated idiosyncrasy (understandable leak considering the power that the human voice was having on him); thereby to bring back to life Orfeo, Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria and l'Incoronazione di Poppea, it is necessary to create instrumental sonorities that correspond to the color preferences that he reveals in his short ritornelli and sinfonie.»
2.2 New musical languages after the melodramma: the voice as the main focus
Starting from this important work of study and knowledge of the 17th-century Italian music, Malipiero (1882-1973) set up his work as composer upon melodic writing, vocal in nature, but combined, when appropriate, with large tonal freedom and frequent recourse to ancient musical modes. The vocal nature becomes the main focus of his writing and his intent feels almost directed to the transformation of opera into a series of songs:
Il vagabondo, from Sette Canzoni (1918-19)
suggested fragment (1.38''-2.55'')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZgTLh8uzi4
Even if he had been an independent composer against the current, he had in common with the composers of his time (Casella and Pizzetti for instance), the incredible ability to invent a new language with which they have led an important work of liberation from theatrical conventions, because with Verdi it's come to a «fatal identification of opera with a closed-form and the drama with a declamation style sired to the word»8
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) better than anybody else, tried to fight this pre-conception. He was the librettist of almost all his works because he thought that music and text should be born from a unitary creative action. He developed a vocal style built on declamato (spoken/recited) and with special attention at the accents of the words.
In this Fragment from La prigioniera, Second of Tre liriche da camera 1926 we can also here in addition to what has been described above, a recall to folk music especially in the use of the violin.
suggested fragment (4.24''-5.10'')
We can still hear in the vocal writing a connection with the operatic world, but it is important to notice at the same time that our understanding is influenced by the singers vocality which at that time (the recording is from 1955) were still interpreting, even the chamber music repertoire, with a very pronounced belcanto, better-saying opera, taste.
The relationship with the vocal melody and the instrumentations is refined and very well organized and gets free from the old voice+accompaniment formula.
Great value had his compositions for choir, among them for its beauty the Messa da requiem per sole voci (1922). It is possible to hear from the very beginning (Kyrie) the recovery of the Gregorian and the refined writing, even here, respectful of the words accentuations:
suggested fragment (0'-1.00')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rInPdARnYw
In the early works of Luigi Dalla Piccola it is possible to hear a big interest in the eastern folk music and at the same time the influence of madrigal language:
Cori di michelangelo il giovane (1933-36)
(0.00''-0.54'')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b21YVwM9zDg
The interest for the voice has shown also in his Partita (1930-1932), a mainly instrumental where the voice is involved in the last piece Naenia (IV). Here we can admire an incredible taste in the use of timbre and colors of the instruments (that reminds Stavinsky especially in the use of the oboe) and the delicate and smart integration of the voice in the instrumental texture. It is still possible to hear in the orchestra strong moments of romanticism.
IV. Naenia from Partita (1930-1932)
8.24'' 9.19''
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d3HQGJVx4k
With Tre Laudi per soprano e 13 strumenti (1936-37) he starts to adopt the dodecaphonic language
(10.08''-11.17'')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnDagoOxAk
I canti di prigionia for choir and instruments (1938-41) represent the highest moment of raffinate integration of the voice in the beauty of the color texture:
(2.23''-3.15'')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bONMAW9z-As
In 1941 Dalla Piccola transcribed Monteverdi's Ritorno di Ulisse in patria and from this moment his music seems to be contaminated by an ancient purity, coupled with a full adherence to dodecaphony, as we can hear in Liriche Greche (1942-43), this first one composed on a text by Saffo, and later in opera Ulisse (1968).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsxWZN5WXns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_aUxcjSYrc
With the same interest for the vocal writing but this time with a very strong spiritual nature, is the music of Goffredo Petrassi, as we can hear in his Coro dei Morti for male voices, 3 pianos, brasses, double bass and percussions (1941), quite shocking for the intensity of the emotions that evoke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQkmm7pGmeM
Here the male voices are treated like “instruments who say words”. The voice is naked of any decoration or aesthetic affectation but it is purely used as a color, to be expression itself. This could sound like a contradiction with the idea introduced at the beginning of this research that exalts the recovery of Monteverdi's seconda prattica where the music is servant of the text, but it is precisely this loss of lyrical connotation in the voice that gives finally space to a deeper meaning of the text (in this case the Dialogo di Federico Ruysch e le mummie by Giacomo Leopardi) which in many compositions of this period finds his expression in the intensity of colors and sound richness. The singer here doesn't have any chance of flaunt off her vocal virtuosities, even if this music is very challenging to sing for many reasons because it implies a quite demanding study process for the singer who is required to approach the music and the text with religious devotion and a clean mind, free of vocal preconceptions.
Malipiero also explored the delicate subject of alterations, as he wrote between 1930 and 1967. Alterations in Monteverdi's music concerned the single note preceded by alteration and it is clear that too many pages have been misinterpreted. The consequence is a lack of expressivity in music and a flattening process concerning the continuo.
«La decadenza dei cantori, che dedicandosi sempre con maggior successo al melodramma non riuscivano piú a intonare la mia musica, mi costrinse ad adottare pure in alcuni madrigali del VI libro, il basso continuo, un sostegno armonico istrumentale sempre più necessario, tant'è vero che dal VII libro in poi lo si trova in tutte le mie opere e se non lo presentai realizzato, è perché non volevo che il clavicembalo o l'organo, diventassero parti reali, il loro compito si limitava ad accompagnare, improvvisando gli accordi corrispondenti «al numero», sommessamente, per non disturbare il solista, cantante o istrumentista, non importa.»9
«The decadence of singers who dedicated with growing success to the melodramma could not sing in tune anymore my music, forced me to adopt even in some madrigals of the 6th book, the basso continuo, an increasingly necessary instrumental harmonic support, so much that from the 7th book on, it is possible to find it on all my works and if I didn't present it as continuo realization it's because I didn't want the harpsichord or the organ to become real parts; his duty was limited to accompany, improvising the chords corresponding to the figure, quietly, to not disturb the soloist, singer or instrumentalist, it doesn't matter».
Here he comments an Orfeo that he saw before 1918 and he describes how the continuo in Monteverdi should be realized:
«Non riesco a capire come un sia pur pseudo musicista, scegliesse allora (e le cose oggi rion vanno meglio di prima) un'opera di Monteverdi, riducendola irriconoscibile. La musicologia è forse un istituto di bellezza a rovescio? Naturalmente non si deve dimenticare che il guaio principale deriva dal basso continuo, istituito nel XVII secolo, sul quale si devono improvvisare gli accordi-sostegno, semplici accordi senza ornamenti contrappuntistici e appunto per questo quasi automaticamente sottointesi.»10
«I cannot understand how even a pseudo-musician could choose at that time (and today things are not better) to play an opera by Monteverdi transforming it in something hard to recognize. Is perhaps musicology a reverse beauty salon? Clearly, it shouldn't be forgotten that the main trouble comes from the basso continuo of the 17th century on which supporting chords have to be improvised, simple chords without contrapuntal ornamentations and for this reason, they should be almost automatically implied.»
«Dal basso continuo nacque una fonte di guadagno per gli elaboratori. A parte questa precisazione, per pubblicare e rendere possibili il riascolto di Claudio Monteverdi, alcuni interventi sono necessari, ma andrebbero realizzati soltanto da coloro che sono veramente riusciti a penetrare lo spirito monteverdiano apparso come una nuova stella all'alba del barocco, rimanendone immune.»11
«The basso continuo represented a source of income for many players. Apart from this clarification, some interventions applied to his music are necessary to publish and make possible to listen to Claudio Monteverdi again, but these operations should be realized only from those who are truly able to penetrate the spirit of Monteverdi, which appeared as a new star in the baroque sunrise, remaining immune to it.»