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Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno: Four Case-Studies in Determining Italian Poetic-Musical Genres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Carolyn Gianturco
Carolyn Gianturco*
Affiliation:
University of Pisa
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Extract

Throughout most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a three-act structure prevailed in Italian opera. Spoken plays in Renaissance Italy had been in five acts, a structure which was maintained both when music was inserted into them (as in Guarini's Il pastor fido of 1584) and, later, when they were set entirely to music (as was Rinuccini's Orfeo of 1600). Whereas spoken plays generally continued to follow a five-act structure, the favola in musica soon assumed a different, three-act structure (T. de Cupis's Eumelio of 1606 set by Agostino Agazzari and Ottavio Corsini's Aretusa of 1620 set by Filippo Vitali were among the first to be in three acts) and this remained the norm until the 1770s.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Musical Association , Volume 119 , Issue 1 , 1994 , pp. 43 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Royal Musical Association

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Footnotes

A first version of this paper was read at King's College, London, on 4 March 1992 with the title ‘An Attempt to Distinguish between the Italian Poetic-Musical Genres of Sacred and Moral Cantata, Sacred and Moral Opera, and Oratorio’, the section dealing with Handel's Roman treatment of the text was presented at a meeting of the International Musicological Society in Madrid on 7 April 1992 as ‘Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno A Question of Genre’.

References

1 Pier Jacopo Martello [also Martelli], Della tragedia antica e moderna (1715), Saggi critici e satirici, ed Annibale S Noce, Scrittori d'Italia, 205 (Bari, 1963), 187–316 (pp 283–4) The translation here and elsewhere is my own For a translation of Martello's entire essay see Weiss, Piero, ‘Pier Jacopo Martello on Opera (1715) An Annotated Translation’, Musical Quarterly, 66 (1980), 378–403Google Scholar

2 Librettos are to be found in I-Rc, catalogued respectively Comm 58/4, Vol Misc 1904/16 and Coram 317/2Google Scholar

3 Libretto in I-Rc Comm 58/1Google Scholar

4 Rolland, Romain, ‘La première représentation du San Alessio de Stefano Landi en 1632, à Rome, d'après le journal manuscrit de Jean Jacques Bouchard’, Revue d'histoire et de critique musicales, 2 (1902), 29–36, 74–5Google Scholar

5 Libretto in I-Rc Comm 355/2Google Scholar

6 Cavalieri's preface ‘A’ Lettori' to his printed score is very informative as to the genre of the work For a list of facsimile editions see Donald J Grout, A Short History of Opera (2nd edn, New York and London, 1965), 733Google Scholar

7 Librettos in I-Rc catalogued respectively Comm 11/2 and Comm 464/2Google Scholar

8 Vol i, 3–4Google Scholar

9 Ibid, 8Google Scholar

10 Spagna names the three sections of an Aristotelian drama which an oratorio must contain (ibid), but their explanation is mineGoogle Scholar

11 Poetica toscana all'uso dove con brevità, e chiarezza s'insegna in modo di comporre ogni poesia [] et anco per musica, 90Google Scholar

12 Spagna, Oratoru, 4ffGoogle Scholar

13 Winton Dean and Anthony Hicks, ‘Handel’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London, 1980), viii, 83–140 (p 112)Google Scholar

14 Distinctions between the cantata and the aria are discussed in my article ‘Cantate dello Stradella in possesso di Andrea Adami’, Chigiana, 39, new series 19 (1988), 125–54Google Scholar

15 Crescimbeni, Giovanni Mario, Commentarj intorno alla sua volgar poesia, i (Rome, 1702), 240Google Scholar

16 Sébastien de Brossard, Dictionaire de musique (Amsterdam, 1703), the quotation is from the 3rd edn ([1718]), 15Google Scholar

17 This is the basic plot of many Christmas cantatas For some examples, see those presented before the Pope in 1691, 1695, 1700, 1709–11, 1715, 1719, 1721, 1723–4, etc. listed in Appendix 1 of my ‘Cantate spirituali e morali, with a Description of the Papal Sacred Cantata Tradition for Christmas 1676–1740’, Music and Letters, 73 (1992), 1–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18 Serafini al nostro canto (Rome, 1707), libretto in I-Rc Vol Misc 615.Google Scholar

19 La fuga dal secolo di S Antonio Abate (Venice, 1746), libretto in I-Rc Misceli. Dramm A 27/3Google Scholar

20 Insegnatemi a morire, set to music by Cesti Cantatas by Antonio Cesti and Giovanni Legrenzi, selected and introduced by David Burrows and Stephen Bonta, The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century, 6 (New York and London, 1986), no 5Google Scholar

21 Orsini, Lelio, Ogni nostro piacer quanto è mendace', set to music by Marazzoli Cantatas by Marco Marazzoli, selected and introduced by Wolfgang Witzenmann, The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century, 4 (New York and London, 1986), no 15.Google Scholar

22 Le gare tra La Sapienza, e La Santità (Rome, 1708); libretto in I-Rvat Misceli. B.51 (int 13) 23 La Pace e La Discordia (Rome, 1710), libretto in 1-Rc Voi Misc. 1245/10Google Scholar

24 Dialogo fra La Sapienza, e L'Amore (Rome, 1712); libretto in I-Rvat Misceli. B 51 (int 41)Google Scholar

25 Dialogo fra La Vita e La Morte (Rome, 1710); libretto in I-Rc Voi Misc 2048/26Google Scholar

26 Smither, Howard, A History of the Oratorio, i, The Oratorio in the Baroque Era (Chapel Hill, 1977), 4, and iii, The Oratorio in the Classical Era (Oxford, 1987), 5Google Scholar

27 Ibid., iii, 5Google Scholar

28 I was aided in my discovery of relevant librettos by existing catalogues, the most fruitful being Laura Cairo and Piccarda Quilici, Biblioteca teatrale dal ‘500 al ‘700, la raccolta della Biblioteca Casanatense, 2 vols (Rome, 1981), containing 4,351 titles, Paolo Guasconi, ‘L'oratorio musicale a Firenze dalle origini al 1785’ (laurea dissertation, University of Florence, 1978–9), containing 375 titles, Minana Belardi, ‘L'oratorio musicale del ‘600 e ‘700 a Santa Maria Corteorlandini a Lucca’ (laurea dissertation, University of Pisa, 1973–4), containing 203 titles, Arnaldo Morelli, ‘Il Theatro spirituale ed altre raccolte di testi per oratorio romani del seicento’, Rivista italiana di musicologia, 31 (1986), 61–143, containing 369 titles, Ariella Lanfranchi and Enrico Careri, ‘Le cantate per la Natività della B V., un secolo di musiche al Collegio Nazareno di Roma (1681–1784)’, Handel e gli Scarlatti a Roma, ed Nino Pirrotta and Agostino Ziino (Rome, 1987), 297–347, containing 71 titles; Claudio Sartori, I libretti italiani dalle origini al 1800 (Cuneo, 1900-), in progress Collections of poets' librettos were also useful, such as Spagna, Oratorii, and Sebastiano Lazarini, Sacra melodia d'oratorii musicali (Rome, 1678)Google Scholar

29 Aristotle, Poetica, ed Diego Lanza (Milan, 1987), 135, which is the beginning of Chapter 6 of the originalGoogle Scholar

30 See Crescimbeni's definition of ‘cantata’ in his Commentarj, i, 240, cited above. Salvadon, Poetica toscana, also separated operas and oratorios, considered to be ‘drammi’, from ‘cantate’ (he discussed operas in Chapter 7, cantatas in Chapter 8 and oratorios in Chapter 10) De Brossard, Dictionaire, 15, similarly presented the cantata simply as a succession of recitatives and arias, not as a real dramaGoogle Scholar

31 Libretto in I-Rli 171 H 1(8) and score in I-Rvat Ottoboni 3392Google Scholar

32 Libretto in I-Re Misc Dramm. A 28Google Scholar

33 The poet is not known, nor is it known if Lulier composed the cantataGoogle Scholar

34 Many subjects are treated in both oratorios and sacred cantatas Another example is Cantata per l'assunzione della Beatissima Vergine (Rome, 1703, libretto in I-Rli 171 H 1(10)) and Il regno di Maria Vergine assunta in cielo Oratorio (Rome, 1705, libretto in I-Rli 171 H 1(11)), which have the same characters (Sposo, Sposa, Amore, Eternità) but do not share text Once again the oratorio is a drama, whereas the cantata is notGoogle Scholar

35 Crescimbeni, Commentarj, i, 257, idem, L'istoria della volgar poesia (3rd edn, Venice, 1730–1), i, 313, and Spagna, Oratorii, i, 3Google Scholar

36 For a chronology and description of this 65-year tradition, see my ’ Cantate spirituali e morali‘Google Scholar

37 Sources for several librettos of sacred cantatas are given in ’ Cantate spirituali e morali‘Google Scholar

38 Commentarj, i, 258, and L'istoria, i, 313–14Google Scholar

39 These are mentioned in Smither, A History of the Oratorio, i, 203Google Scholar

40 Michael Talbot and Colin Timms, ‘Music and the Poetry of Antonio Ottoboni (1646–1720)’, Handel e gli Scarlatti a Roma, 367–438, no 74, Dal seggio luminoso, ove col ciglio (p 412)Google Scholar

41 ' Cantate spirituali e morali, 11–12Google Scholar

42 Della storia e della ragione d'ogni poesia, ii, 334Google Scholar

43 Studies devoted to the Handel settings (that is, specifically to the music) are Ludwig Finscher, ‘Il Trionfo del Tempo’, Gottinger Handeltage 1960, 8–16, Walter Siegmund-Schultze, ‘Der Triumph der Zeit und Wahrheit’, Festschrift zur Handel-Ehrung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1959 (Leipzig, [1959]), 29–42, and J Merrill Knapp, ‘Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo 1707, 1737, and 1757’, American Choral Review, 34 (1982), 39–47, also see Zanetti, Emilia, ‘Haendel in Italia’, L'approdo musicale, 12 (1960), 37–40, particularly the last section, Richard Alexander Streatfeild, ‘The Granville Collection of Handel Manuscripts’, The Musical Antiquary (July 1911), 208–24, esp. p 218, and Winton Dean, Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques (London, 1959), 17 and 589Google Scholar

44 Since no libretto for Handel's Roman setting has come to light, the summary was made from the extant scores These are in GB-Lbl R M 19 d 9 and D-MÜs 1896 and 1914a (on this score see Ewerhart, Rudolf, ‘Die Händel-Handschriften der Santini-Bibliothek in Münster’, Händel-Jahrbuch, 6 (1960), 113–16 The score is printed in G F Handel's Werke, ed. Friedrich Chrysander, xxiv (Leipzig, 1866)Google Scholar

45 Copies of the libretto of Il trionfo del Tempo, e della Verità (London, 1737) are in the James Hall Collection of Princeton University (no catalogue number assigned) and the University of California, Berkeley (ML48. C586 Case X) A copy of Il trionfo del Tempo nella Bellezza ravveduta (Rome, 1725) is in I-Rc Vol Misc 865/1. I have come across no libretto for Handel's performance of 1757, but The Triumph of Time and Truth (London, 1758) is in GB-Lbl 1344 n 18Google Scholar

46 No full score has been published of the 1737 version, and the extracts published by Chrysander in G F Handel's Werke, xxiv, do not offer all the necessary music Complete manuscript scores are in GB-Lbl Egerton 29S4, R M. 19.f 1 and R.M 18 c.8, ff. 2–124, as well as D-Hs M.A 1060, a conducting score Handel's autographs of the new sections are divided between GB-Lbl R M 20 f 10 and Cfm MS 251, pp 9–26 GB-Lbl R.M. 19.d 9 is probably a copy of a Roman version marked up by Handel for 1737. GB-Lbl R M 19.e.5 is an instrumental part. I am extremely grateful to Anthony Hicks for having supplied me with detailed information on sources and their whereabouts.Google Scholar

47 For the score, see G F Händel's Werke, ed Chrysander, xx (Leipzig, 1865)Google Scholar

48 It was originally the scene for Apollo and chorus beginning with his ‘Non tardate, Fauni, ancora’ in Handel's serenata Il Pamasso in Festa (London, 1734), here simply given new wordsGoogle Scholar

49 ‘La stessa sera [Thursday], nel Nobile Colleggio dementino de PP della Congregazione Somasca, dall'Eminentissimo Signor Cardmale Benedetto Pamfilj Protettore del medesimo, alla presenza degl'Eminentiss Sig Cardinali Otthoboni, Scotto, S Agnese, Cienfuegos, S Matteo, Colonna, Origo, Marini, Alberoni, e Albani, ed oltre, delli Sig Ambasciatori di Portogallo, e Venezia, del Sig. Duca di Gravina Orsini, e Sig Marchese S Giorgio, essendovi anche moltissima Prelatura, e Nobiltà Romana, e Forastiera, fu fatto cantare un Nobilissimo Oratorio a quattro voci, posto in Musica dal Sig Carlo Cesarmi, (stampato, e abbellito di vaghissimi rami), intitolato, Il Trionfo del Tempo nella Bellezza ravveduta, quale riuscì assai sontuoso, si[a] per la squisitezza delle voci, che lo cantarono, che per la vaghezza dell'apparato, e copiosità de lumi nella sala del detto Colleggio ’ Lina Montalto, Il dementino 1595–1875 (Rome, 1939), 148, says that James, the Great Pretender, his wife and six princesses attended performances at the Collegio dementino during carnival 1724, 1725 and 1726. If he was such a regular guest of the school, it is possible that he was also present at the performance of Cesarini's work.Google Scholar

50 Unfortunately, no score has yet been foundGoogle Scholar

51 Librettos are in I-Fr 227 34 and listed in Sartori, I libretti italiani, no 18658, respectively.Google Scholar

52 On Pamphili, see Montalto, Lina, Un mecenate in Roma barocca, il Cardinale Benedetto Pamphilij (Florence, 1955), and Il dementino, 41, 175–6, also Renato Bossa, ‘Corelli e il Cardinale Benedetto Pamphilj Alcune notizie’, Nuovissimi studi Corelliani (Florence, 1982), 211–22 Crescimbeni praises Pamphilli's literary skills and patronage of poets in Le vite degli Arcadi illustri, iv (Rome, 1727), 165, and Commentarj, i, 257Google Scholar

53 Il dementino, 174–5.Google Scholar

54 See Marx, Hans Joachim, ‘Die Giustificazioni della Casa Pamphilj als musikgeschichtliche Quelle’, Studi musicali, 12 (1983), 121–87, for payments which regard CesarmiGoogle Scholar

55 Knapp, ‘Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo‘, 40Google Scholar

56 Marx, ‘Die Giustificazioni‘Google Scholar

57 Kirkendale, Ursula, ‘The Ruspoli Documents on Handel’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 20 (1967), 222–73Google Scholar

58 Ibid., 243ffGoogle Scholar

59 Marx, ‘Die Giustificazioni‘, bill no 172Google Scholar

60 [John Mainwaring], Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frederic Handel, to which is Added a Catalogue of his Works, and Observations on them (London, 1760), 65Google Scholar

61 Ibid., 127.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., 153Google Scholar

63 Young, Percy M, The Oratorios of Handel (London, 1949), 36, comes to my conclusion when he writes. ‘The work, described as an oratorio but in truth a morality in masque form, was Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno’. Although Anthony Hicks, in his programme notes for Christopher Hogwood's recording of Handel's La resurrezione, does not deny that Il trionfo is an oratorio, he also recognizes that it is ‘effectively a large-scale cantata on an allegorical subject‘Google Scholar

64 Marx, ‘Die Giustificazioni‘, 129Google Scholar