Giulio Caccini

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Giulio Romano Caccini (born October 8, 1551 in Rome ; buried December 10, 1618 in Florence ) was an Italian composer , singer , singing teacher and instrumentalist who lived at the interface of the late Renaissance to the early Baroque and was involved in the development of opera.

Life stations

The Roman Giulio Caccini was accepted into the boys' choir of the Cappella Giulia at a very young age . John Walter Hill suspects "with a high degree of probability" that Caccini started there as a 5-year-old (1556) and sang the role of the psyche in an intermediary to La Cofanaria after a month in Florence . From October 1564 to November 1565 he was a singing student of G. Animuccia in Rome. In 1565 he sang in wedding interviews with Francesco I de 'Medici and Johanna von Österreich . His other teachers include Scipione delle Palle from Siena (singing and lute playing).

Hill cites April 29, 1566 as a certain date for his permanent presence at his main place of activity, the court of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de 'Medici in Florence. Florence was at that time one of the most important cultural centers in Italy. In 1579 and 1589 Caccini was again involved as a singer-soloist and instrumentalist in wedding intermedia at the court of the de 'Medici family (→ intermedia for La pellegrina ). Caccini played the lute, chitarrone and double harp and is shown in one picture as the player of the Lira da Braccio . As a member of the Camerata Florentina , which had its meetings in the Palazzo of Giovanni de 'Bardi , he was credited with a large part in the invention of a new kind of singing, monody, which led to opera.

As a successful singing teacher, Caccini taught his (second) wife Margherita della Scala (the first, Lucia - also a singer - died soon after the birth of their eldest daughter), as well as his daughters Francesca and Settimia , and his son Pompeo, and with them they formed a famous singing ensemble who went on concert tours to the French royal court in Paris (September 1604 to June 1605).

His no less important brother was the sculptor Giovanni Battista Caccini (* 1556 in Rome, † 1613 in Florence).

Monody and figured bass

Giulio Caccini is considered to be one of the inventors of monody , a new type of soloistic chant that served the sense of word and text. The singing voice was only accompanied by a figured bass instrument. This new type of accompaniment by a keyboard or lute instrument gave singing and all music a solid harmonic support. This started the so-called figured bass age . The new affective way of singing was particularly cultivated and developed in the house of Giovanni de 'Bardi. Bardi came from the family of the Counts of Vernio in Florence, and his palazzo became the center of attention for poets, musicians and scholars. Caccini took part in the discussions of the so-called Bardic Circle from the 1570s ; he claimed to have invented the style recitativo .

Caccini composed many of his solo chants with the accompaniment of a theorbo . In his main work, Le nuove Musiche , he included arias and madrigals as examples for composition and solo performance with basso continuo .

Le nuove Musiche

Title page of Le nuove Musiche (1601)

The foreword to this vocal pedagogical work and its collection of examples are the first to provide technical explanations for virtuoso singing. It is one of the earliest singing courses. Caccini writes in it:

"Since I have now convinced myself that productions in the sense of our day bring about no other pleasure than that which is granted to the ear alone through harmony, that the mind cannot be moved without understanding the words, the thought came about, a kind of song, to a certain extent like a harmonious speech, in which I displayed a certain noble contempt for the song, occasionally touched upon a few dissonances, but let the bass rest, except where, according to common usage, I played it with the tones of the I wanted to use the middle voices executed by instruments to express any affect for which they alone are useful. "

Most of Caccini's solo madrigals and arias are for a high voice (soprano or mezzo-soprano), but there are also some pieces for bass. The madrigal Amarilli mia bella based on a text by Guarini became particularly popular : it was instrumental arranged by Peter Philips in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and by Jacob van Eyck , and can still be found today in many collections and programs with so-called "Arie antiche" . In contrast to the touching and expressive simplicity and simplicity of this piece, most of the other songs require of Caccini, such as its sophisticated setting of Petrarch -Sonetts Tutto 'l di piango or cast in a variation form Torna, deh, torna of Rinuccini with her artistic ornamentation written down to the smallest rhythmic detail, in addition to great expressiveness and depth, a safe and good singing, breathing and coloratura technique , and above all a very precise study and knowledge of his style .

Important interpreters of Caccini works in concert and / or in recordings are (were) Montserrat Figueras , Roberta Invernizzi , Tania d'Althann, Catherine Bott , Guillemette Laurens , Johanette Zomer and Cecilia Bartoli, among others .

Caccini and the Opera

Caccini's name is primarily associated with the creation of the opera. From the beginning he belonged to the circle of the Camerata Fiorentina , a society of musicians, poets and scholars, where he was valued primarily as a practical musician. As people of the Renaissance , they wanted to revive ancient theater and the theatrical music of the Greeks. He thwarted the premiere of the opera Euridice (1600) , written by Jacopo Peri , by singing the corresponding passages from his own opera instead of Peri's music. In the same year he completed his own Euridice , which he gave to print before Peri (first performed in 1602, libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini , 1562–1621). Overlooking the then development of opera and Caccini printing units for vocal art Giulio Caccini is considered one of the inventors of the recitative style , and the Monodie and one of the earliest representatives of the "arioso style" of the bel canto prepared.

Works

Musical works

  • La Dafne, begun in 1595, lost, unexplained
  • L'Euridice , opera, printed in 1600, first performance in 1602 with his daughter, the composer Francesca Caccini , as a soloist.
  • Il Rapimento di Cefalo, Intermezzo for voice and basso continuo, collaboration, 1600. Parts of it printed in Le nuove musiche
  • Madrigals and arias for a voice and basso continuo in Le nuove Musiche (Florence 1601), and in Le nuove musiche e nuova maniera di scriverle (Florence 1614). Facsimile edition by SPES (studio per edizioni scelte), Archivum musicum 13, Florence 1983.
  • Numerous arias and canzonets in Bibl. Naz. Florence

The setting of the Ave Maria , ascribed to Caccini , which only contains the words "Ave Maria", is now part of the repertoire of many singers and choirs. The composition, which is also available in innumerable arrangements for instruments, actually comes from the pen of the Russian guitarist, lutenist and composer Vladimir Fyodorowitsch Wawilow (1925–1973).

Theoretical works

  • Le nuove Musiche. Florence 1601, several editions.
  • Fuggilotio Musicale. Venice 1613.
  • Le nuove musiche e nuova maniera di scriverle. Florence 1614.

Discography

  • Euridice ; Ensemble Scherzi Musicali, directed by Nicolas eighth , 2009, Ricercar RIC 269
  • Giulio Caccini: Le nuove musiche, with Montserrat Figueras , Hopkinson Smith , Robert Clancy, Xenia Schindler, Jordi Savall , 1984 harmonia mundi / 2011 Sony Music
  • Giulio Caccini: Madrigali, Arie & Canzoni, Accademia Claudio Monteverdi: Tania d'Althann (soprano & harp), Paolo Cherici, Hans Ludwig Hirsch, 1984/2003 Arts Music
  • Caccini: Dolcissimo sospiro - Arie e Madrigali (+ instrumental diminutions by Bassano , Merulo and others), Roberta Invernizzi , Accademia Strumentale Italiana, Alberto Rasi, Divox 2003
  • Giulio Caccini: Nuove musiche (+ Piccinini : works for theorbo ), Johannette Zomer, Fred Jacobs, 2004 Channel Classics

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ According to John Walter Hill, Caccini's father asserted the citizenship of the city of Florence for himself, from which it can be explained that G. Caccini sometimes called himself a Roman, sometimes a Florentine.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John Walter Hill:  Caccini, Giulio. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 3 (Bjelinski - Calzabigi). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1113-6 , Sp. 1531–1535 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ↑ Caccini, Giulio . In: Wilibald Gurlitt (Ed.): Riemann Musiklexikon . 12th, completely revised edition. People part: A-K . Schott, Mainz 1959, p. 264 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  3. ↑ Oliver Schupke: The early history of the opera. Student thesis Berlin.
  4. ↑ Danielle Roster: Francesca Caccini. In: Approaches IX to seven women composers. 1998, p. 11.
  5. ↑ Amarilli, di Julio Romano. Volume I, No.LXXXII, p. 329 ff.
  6. ↑ Il Rapimento di Cefalo . In: Wilibald Gurlitt , Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Ed.): Riemann Musiklexikon . 12th, completely revised edition. Tangible part: A-Z . Schott, Mainz 1967, p. 319 .
  7. ^ Federico Ghisi:  Caccini, Giulio. In: Friedrich Blume (Hrsg.): The music in past and present (MGG). First edition, Volume 2 (Boccherini - Da Ponte). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1952, DNB 550439609 , Sp. 609–612, here Sp. 610 (= Digital Library Volume 60, pp. 11082–11086).
personal data
SURNAME Caccini, Giulio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Caccini, Giulio Romano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1551
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH buried December 10, 1618
Place of death Florence