The Italian Cantata in Vienna

Entertainment in the Age of Absolutism

Lawrence Bennett

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780253010346
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Historia y crítica de la música

A history of music for the imperial court "from a professor, choral director, and professional tenor who has studied Viennese cantatas for half a century" (Lowell Lindgren, Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Lawrence Bennett provides a comprehensive study of the rich repertoire of accompanied vocal chamber music that entertained the imperial family in Vienna and their guests throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The cantata became a form of elite entertainment composed to amuse listeners during banquets or pay homage to members of the royal family during special occasions. Concentrating on Baroque cantatas composed in the Habsburg court, Bennett draws extensively on primary source material to explore the stylistic changes that occurred within the genre in the generations before Haydn and Mozart. "An important book. It deserves to be warmly welcomed not only by scholars but also by performers of Baroque vocal chamber music." — Early Music "Shed[s] light on an important yet seldom-discussed repertory, written by someone whose expertise is unquestionable." — Music and Letters "By taking multiple analytical approaches, Bennett establishes an overall understanding while also demonstrating how individual composers approached the genre.... Recommended." — Choice "An important tool for understanding the context in which cantatas were composed and performed, and in which the Hapsburgs' important music collection... was created." — Notes "A wealth of new information... from a scholar who writes clearly and perceptively, and who has devoted decades of attention to the material." —Steven Saunders, Charles A. Dana Professor of Music, Colby College

1

Introduction

Cantiam, cantiamo un poco

e in armonie canore

passiam gioconde l’ore

di questo lieto dì.¹

—Antonio Draghi, Lo specchio, 1676

THE ROLE OF MUSIC IN THE DAILY LIVES OF THE HABSBURGS

Thus begins Antonio Draghi’s cantata entitled Lo specchio, composed for the birthday (18 November) of the Habsburg empress dowager Eleonora (1628–86) in 1676. Widow of the emperor Ferdinand III (1608–75), Eleonora herself sang these opening lines, and she was joined in the performance by four aristocratic ladies of the court. The sheer delight in singing celebrated in these verses encapsulates the Habsburg family’s deep affection for the art of music. From the time of Maximilian I (r. 1493–1519), music had held a special place in the daily lives of the imperial family. Once the Habsburgs established the home of their empire along the Danube River in Vienna early in the seventeenth century, their fondness for music grew in a grand crescendo. In Habsburg lands throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, music could be heard everywhere: in cathedral and palace, monastery and church, summer garden and private imperial chamber.

For Ferdinand and his successors—Leopold I (1640–1705), Joseph I (1678–1711), and Charles VI (1685–1740)—music was not just a pastime, it was a passion. As patrons they dueled with other European monarchs for the most gifted composers, singers, instrumentalists, librettists, and theater designers of their age. Countless poets and composers glorified their names in music. As collectors, they amassed vast libraries of music manuscripts and prints that can be viewed today in the Musiksammlung of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna. Professional scribes were hired to prepare beautiful archival copies of music performed for the entertainment of the imperial family and their guests; these manuscripts form the nucleus of the music libraries named for the emperors.

But the Habsburg interest in music was not limited to patronage. As youthful heirs to the imperial throne, Ferdinand, Leopold, Joseph, and Charles received thorough training in music. All four tried their hand at composition.² Ferdinand and Leopold proved to be the most talented and prolific. Only a few works by Joseph have survived, and none of the compositions by Charles is extant.³ The emperors also participated often in performances of works at court. Ferdinand danced in court festivities and took part in equestrian ballet. Leopold was proficient on both harpsichord and flute; a fuller appreciation of his historical place as a composer and patron of music is given in chapter 2 of this book. Joseph, too, played the flute and performed with other family members for special celebrations. Charles excelled on the harpsichord and is known to have directed performances from the keyboard.

Other members of the Habsburg family played prominent roles as patrons and performers. Notable among these are Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614–62), brother of Ferdinand III, who took the lead in drawing Italian musicians to the Habsburg court and assembled his own vast collection of manuscripts, as well as the empress dowager, who not only sang but also joined Leopold Wilhelm in his efforts to foster a Viennese literary academy where music was often heard. The daughters of Emperor Leopold, Archduchesses Maria Elizabeth and Maria Anna, and of Charles, Archduchesses Maria Theresia and Maria Anna, delighted the court with their singing. The future empress of Austria, Maria Theresia, was especially esteemed for her fine soprano voice.

The Habsburgs’ growing appetite for music required a constant supply of large and small vocal works with instrumental accompaniment. For grand occasions such as a coronation, birthday, or wedding, court composers provided elaborate operas with brilliant scenic effects, epitomized most spectacularly by Antonio Cesti’s Il pomo d’oro, performed for the seventeenth birthday of Empress Margaret Theresa (1651–73) in 1668, or by Johann Joseph Fux’s Costanza e fortezza, composed for the coronation of Charles VI as king of Bohemia and for the birthday of Empress Elizabeth Christina (1691–1750) in 1723. Ample opportunities for dramatic music were provided during Carnival season, followed by Lent, when dramatic oratorios replaced secular performances. A special type of Viennese oratorio, the sepolcro, was reserved for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday of Holy Week. A plethora of more modest sacred and secular vocal works, including Italian cantatas, could be heard throughout the year.

During the period 1658–1711 the cantata and related works served as a source of elite entertainment for the imperial rulers and their guests. Many cantatas provided amusement during banquets and academic meetings. Others paid homage to members of the Habsburg family for birthdays, name days, and special occasions such as a military victory and even a coronation. Using the age-old topic of love—especially the unrequited type—poets provided an endless supply of alluring texts set to music by composers favored at court and performed by singers who learned well the technique of charming an aristocratic audience. With regard to the cantatas with love poetry, the degree of seriousness varied considerably: some texts were frivolous, others merely playful, still others earnest. No doubt the emphasis on jealousy and infidelity reflected the promiscuous practices of an age that boasted a Louis XIV of France, a Charles II of England, and a Joseph I of Austria. At academic meetings topics of love were often intertwined with questions of social etiquette. Filippo Vismarri (1635–1706?) composed a handful of cantatas based on moral topics, following a tradition dating back more than a century. Several longer texts of occasional cantatas also portrayed heroes of mythology and ancient history but in grand terms clearly aimed at flattering the honorees.

THE SCOPE OF THE BOOK

This study focuses on the evolution of the Italian cantata in Vienna during the reigns of emperors Leopold I and Joseph I. It highlights those cantatas that were specifically written for performance at the imperial court by composers who held appointments there. Rather than concentrating on the cantatas of a single composer, I have chosen to examine the cantatas of many composers active in a single city over a period of more than fifty years. The vast majority of these cantatas are concentrated in just two libraries: the Musiksammlung of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, both in Vienna.⁴ Vienna is a particularly apt choice for such a study because the wealthy Habsburgs were able to attract exceptionally talented musicians who served them over long stretches of time. Many composers and performers came to Vienna as young men and remained in the service of the emperors throughout their entire careers. In short, the music-loving Habsburgs provided the kind of professional encouragement and financial support that created a stable environment. To be sure, wars and the plague often interrupted the usual schedule of performances and delayed payments to musicians, but after each period of financial stress the Habsburgs resumed their vast outlays for music, a trend that declined dramatically after the death of Charles VI in 1740.

THE SECONDARY LITERATURE

In 1920 Jakob Torbé completed a pioneering study of the cantata in Vienna, “Die weltliche Solokantate in Wien um die Wende des 17./18. Jahrhunderts.” Torbé’s dissertation offers many stylistic insights. However, it almost completely lacks documentation, musical background, and historical perspective. In some respects Torbé’s list of composers and sources is too complete: while men such as Legrenzi, Lotti, Gasparini, and Mancini dedicated works to Habsburg emperors, present research indicates that they never resided in Vienna. Moreover, Torbé does not include important sources preserved not only in Austria but also elsewhere in Europe. In deciding to consider only solo cantatas with continuo accompaniment, Torbé omitted a significant number of ensemble cantatas and works with obbligato instruments. Because the period 1700–1711 witnessed a major increase in the use of obbligato accompaniments, such cantatas take on added significance. In short, the pieces included by Torbé represent only a small percentage of the total output of cantatas composed in Vienna during the years 1658–1711.

Sixty years after Torbé’s dissertation, I completed a study of early eighteenth-century cantatas written for Vienna, “The Italian Cantata in Vienna, c.1700–c.1711.” In this dissertation I considered one hundred chamber cantatas, some with obbligato instruments, others with basso continuo accompaniment only. At that time I decided not to include four grand cantatas, but these works are discussed in this book. Since I began work on my dissertation in the 1970s, a remarkable number of scholars have contributed books, articles, and editions that have greatly enriched our knowledge of the Viennese cantata repertoire. Here I name only a few: Lowell Lindgren, Hermine Williams, Brian Pritchard, Herbert Seifert, and Theophil Antonicek. Their work and my own continuing research have made it possible to create a much fuller understanding of the cantata’s importance to the musical life of the Habsburg court during the age of absolutism.

CANTATA TERMINOLOGY

No study of the Italian cantata can long avoid complex questions of terminology. Like the words sonata and concerto, the term cantata was used by several generations of baroque composers writing in a wide variety of styles and working in many European courts. Composers did not apply the term with great consistency, sometimes used hybrid terms, and often omitted genre designations altogether. David Burrows has indicated, for example, that none of the Cesti pieces that present-day scholars refer to as cantatas was actually given the designation cantata in a manuscript prepared during the composer’s lifetime.⁵ In the most basic terms, the cantata in Vienna during the years 1658–1711 can be described as a secular vocal composition with an Italian text intended for one or a few solo singers accompanied by continuo instruments only or by continuo and a few concertato instruments. The cantata consists of several contrasting sections; contrast is achieved not only through structural variety but sometimes also by changes in voicing and instrumentation. Viennese cantatas are essentially chamber music; this is reflected by the limited overall dimensions and by the usually modest forces required to perform them. Most cantatas were performed in intimate surroundings such as private rooms in the imperial residences, which were ideally suited to chamber music. These cantatas were not conceived of as elaborate theatrical compositions and did not include scenery, costumes, or detailed dramatic representation.

Giovanni Valentini (1582/83–1649) probably became the first composer in Vienna to use the indication di camera for a printed collection of vocal pieces when it appeared in the title for his Musiche di camera in 1621. A tradition of accompanied vocal music intended specifically for performance in private chambers thus existed in Vienna from the early reign of Ferdinand II. Later Viennese composers such as Bertali, Sances, and Vismarri continued to use descriptive markings such as di camera and per camera. After the death of Joseph I (1711) Viennese composers wrote an increasing number of unusually long ensemble cantatas that require groups of soloists and richly varied instrumental accompaniment. Thus, for example, Francesco Conti’s cantata allegorica titled Fermate i vostri passi (1720) and Antonio Caldara’s cantata a quattro soprani titled Il giuoco del quadriglio (1734) stretch the limits of pure chamber music and approach the realm of the one-act opera. For such pieces Caroline and Efrim Fruchtman have suggested the helpful term grand cantata, a suggestion that has been adopted in this study.⁶ Large numbers of grand cantatas were not composed until the reign of Charles VI; I have located only four such pieces from 1700 to 1712: Carlo Badia’s La Pace e Marte supplicanti avanti al trono della Gloria (1701); Marc’Antonio Ziani’s L’Ercole vincitor dell’invidia (1706); A. M. Bononcini’s La Fortuna, il Valore e la Giustizia (1706); and Badia’s Il sacrificio di Berenice (1712). These pieces are from four to nine times as long as an average cantata from the early eighteenth century; they require from three to five singers accompanied by a small orchestra; and they have rudimentary dramatic plots. Thus, in addition to its normal role as pure chamber music, the cantata in Vienna gradually also assumed a more grandiose function, often associated with specific celebrations such as name days. Since the expanding role of the cantata is central to an understanding of the evolution of the genre in Vienna, both types—the chamber cantata and the grand cantata—are discussed here.

Also considered are ten accademie by Giovanni Battista Pederzuoli, two by Antonio Draghi, and two by Marc’Antonio Ziani. The designation accademia, like so many seventeenth-century terms, seems to have been used in Vienna in different ways over an extended period of time. Thus, the Florentine ambassador to Vienna reported having heard what he called a sung accademia about Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel in March 1659.⁷ The text of this early work seems to place it closer in spirit to the oratorio than the cantata. Later accademie are exclusively settings of secular poetry. Closely resembling contemporary Viennese cantatas, these accademie follow an Italian practice of presenting in music philosophical debates about love and general questions of life. Exactly when composers began to set such discourses to music is unclear, but a tradition of holding verbal debates on themes about love at academic sessions had existed in Italy at least since the early seventeenth century. Such debates were held, for example, at the meetings of the Accademia degli Unisoni, founded by Giulio Strozzi at Venice in 1637.⁸ During the second half of the seventeenth century, the term accademia came to refer not only to a formally constituted body such as the renowned Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna (or to a less formal gathering such as the ones that took place in Rome and Modena, where poetic and musical entertainments were provided for visiting dignitaries) but also to a composition performed for an academic meeting. William Klenz indicates that vocal compositions such as cantatas were cal...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Bibliographical Abbreviations
• List of RISM Sigla
• The Italian Cantata in Vienna
• 1. Introduction
• Part I The Cantata in Vienna, 1658–1700
• Part II The Cantata in Vienna, 1700–1711
• Appendix A. Index of Cantata Text Incipits and Sources
• Appendix B. Catalogue Raisonné of Viennese Cantata Sources
• Appendix C. Texts of Arias Analyzed in Chapters 10–12
• Notes
• Editions and Bibliography
• Index