Music As We Know It

Jacqueline du Pré

Probably, we would simply pass by this talented medieval composer, if he was not mentioned in the Chantilly Codex - the pivotal music manuscript of the 14th century that is considered to be one of the monuments of medieval music. His name was Johannes Cuvelier. Up to this day Johannes remains an enigma as we don’t know nothing about him before 1372 and after 1387. We don’t know the dates of his birth and death, and only by guess think that he was born in Tournai, France.

However all those rare bits of information that we possess present us an unusual for those times educated man who had big success as a composer, statesman and a poet. He also wrote biographical books, because history mentions him for the last time when he finished a manuscript about an opportunistic conqueror Bertrand du Guesclin. He was definitely a councellor of the French king Charles V, as old documents state that he was the “diseur” and “faiseur” of the monarch.

The famous Chantilly codex preserved only some of his musical works that were composed in the elaborate, elitist style known as the ars subtilior. These early French musical compositions are eccentric, whimsical, extravagant; it contains the widest diversity of emotion.

This famous medieval composer who was born in Toledo in 1221 and died in 1284 in Seville had become one of the most outstanding intellectuals of the Middle Ages. From 1252 Alfonso X king of Castile, Leon and Galicia was not just a distinguished composer, musician, poet and writer. He also created advanced code of laws, founded universities of Salamanca and Toledo, gained considerable fame in astronomy and established Castilian as a language of higher learning. His scientific achievements earned him a nickname throughout Europe - people of different nations called him El Sabio, which means “The Wise”.

Alfonso X commissioned or co-authored numerous works of music during his reign. Yet, the most important of his works is the vast compilation Cantigas de Santa Maria (”Songs to the Virgin Mary”). Luckily for us, The Cantigas collection is one of the largest musical treasures that survived from the Middle Ages. It consists of about 420 poems that are for the most part on miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary.

A famous medieval composer Jacob Senleches was also known as an excellent harpist. He developed many rhythmic and notational innovations in a medieval style known as as the ars subtilior. We are aware of his creative period that lasted from 1382 through 1395 through some scant information and a small number of transmitted exquisite compositions. However, up to this day, specialists consider Jacob as one of the central personalities of ars subtilior.

He was possibly born in the French town of Senleches and served at the court of Eleanor of Castile. One of the survived composition tells us that he laments her death in 1382 and resolves to seek his fortune in other countries. Later we find him at the service of Cardinal of Aragon Pedro de Luna. And the last written record about him came to us from a supplication to the Roman pope Benedict XIII. In this document Jacob Senleches was asking for the benefice attached to a parish church in the diocese of Cambrai.

There are some famous composers whose heritage has been ignored and neglected for a long time. It happened to the best music creators like J.S. Bach and others.  Something similar happened to Dieterich Buxtehude, whose name and creations faded in the past.  Yet, today specialists recognize him as the most important German composer of the mid-Baroque period. 

As with many other baroque composers, we know little about his life. His date of birth is still disputed but, generally, specialists agree that it was around 1637. Although Dieterich spent most of his life in Germany, he seems to be born in Denmark and always considered himself Danish.  

Known as the genius composer who influenced later generations of followers, including Bach, Hendel and even Gustav Maller, Buxtehude became reknown at his times as a virtuoso musician as well. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries as an accomplished organist and lutenist. 

Most of his life he was an organist of the famous protestant church Marienkirche in a free imperial city of Lubeck.  This envious position gave him relative freedom in his musical career and considerable creative latitude. He wrote in a wide variety of vocal and instrumental idioms, in addition to the standard organ repertoire, which are frequently performed during church services and recitals today. 

Due to his efforts, evening church concerts Abendmusik sponsored by local businessmen came into prominence. They were paid for and, thus, free for the general public.  Dieterich Buxtehude always performed there with organ and orchestrated a gigantic variety of vocal music as well.  It is interesting to note that in 1926 Marienkirche church in Lubeck renewed this tradition, so people can listen to  Abendmusic in the present days. 

The fame of Buxtehude grew and soon the crowds of young musicians and composers from all over Europe would gather to listen to his Abenmusic. Among them were Hendel, Bach, Telemann and Mattheson. Dietrich became a model for them and an influential figure.  J.S. Bach who was then a twenty year old lad walked over two hundred miles to Lubeck just to meet Dietrich and hear him play. He spent in Lubeck almost three months going religiously to each Abendmusik in Marienkirche. 

Hendel and Mattheson met Buxtehude a couple of years before his death in 1707. They quickly hit it off and got along so well, that Dieterich even offered to retire and appoint one of them as a new Marienkirche organist. There was only one stipulation - the future organist would have to marry his eldest daughter.  Apparently Dieterich’s daughter was not a beauty, as two famous composers refused and hastily left Lubeck within one day after their arrival.

It is hard to find the exact historical category for famous Italian composer Gregorio Allegri. He was born in 1582 in Rome, he mostly lived there throughout his life and died in 1652.  Roman composers of that time were stilistically conservative. Chronologically, this was the shining time of Baroque music, but most Roman composers created music closer to the late Renaissance music.  This is why Allegri’s compositions present an exotic mixture of both these two styles. 

 

Gregorio was not only the composer, he was a Catholic priest as well.  Most of his compositions are related to sacred music which helped him to get noticed by Pope and obtain a prestigious appointment in the choir of the great Sistine Chapel. 

His most celebrated composition is Miserere mei Deus based on the Biblical Psalm 50.  For centuries choir has been performing it annually during Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel.  The Miserere is also one of the most prominently recorded example of late Renaissance music as well.  This work is surrounded by mystery too because Vatican forbade its distribution or copying under the treat of excommunication.

However it did not stop the attempts to procure an illegal copy.  The teenage composer Mozart who visited the Rome in 1770 heard Miserere twice and transcribed it from memory.  Mozart’s copy was later obtained and published in England but only showed the basic music without all ornamentation for which it was famous.

There were many composers who claimed to invent a new musical genre - the opera. But, possibly the true inventor was an Italian composer Jacopo Peri. He was born in Rome in 1561 and studied music in Florence. Then he worked in a number of churches as a singer and an organist until he landed a great job at the famous Medici court.He became rather popular there growing from the position of the first tenor and organist to the pedestal of a famous composer of the court madrigals and music for plays. His style of music writing is ranging from the late Renaissance to early Baroque music.

Jacopo Peri would probably spent his life by writing incidental music for the court but in the 1590s he got acquainted and became friends with Jacopo Corsi, who at the time was the leading patron of music in Florence.

Soon they found that they share common interests. They both were living in the transitional period between the Renaissance and Baroque styles and thought highly of Greek and Roman works. In fact, they felt so strongly about the ancient art that they hold it in higher esteem than contemporary art.

The urge to return to the times of antiquity made our two composers full of desire to recreate Greek tragedy the way they understood it. They created the music and invited then popular poet Ottavio Rinuccini to write a text. At the end of their labors a first opera Dafne was born in 1597, which did not survive to our days.

Obviously, this joint work had some success because Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini started creating their second work that they named Euridice. Unlike Dafne, Euridice survived to the present day. We can see that it was a far cry from ancient Greeks understanding of the classical tragedy. Yet, during the development of both operas they introduced first recitatives and arias as the integral part of the play.

Eruidice was first staged on October 6, 1600. Jacopo Peri created a number of other operas and more pieces for court entertainment. However, he quickly went out of fashion while the star of the young reformist composer Claudio Monteverdi rose up and began to shine. Peri quietly died in 1633 in Florence, and his death was hardly noticed by any of his fellow citizens.

Even now, nobody stages Peri’s operas. His operatic style is looked upon as some kind of musical curiosity. However we are all indebted to him, because his influence on young Baroque composers was immense and, after all, he was the inventor of the opera.

 

 

Giulio Caccini, one of the earliest great Baroque composers was a very unusual and extraordinary man. His contribution to music and to the development of music history is invaluable.  Giulio acquired his tremendous fame as a composer of innovative solo songs that were a gigantic step from Renaissance music. He was great music teacher that trained dozens of famous musicians who started singing in this new baroque style. One of them sang in Orfeo which was first opera created by the composer Monteverdi.

Giulio Caccini is credited as one of the founders of the genre of opera and an extremely influential creative force of new Baroque music. He was of not of noble origin and was born in 1551 in the family of a simple carpenter in Rome. Five years later his brother Giovanni was born who was destined for fame too as he would become a famous sculptor and architect.

Young Gulio played lute, viola and the harp but his greatest talent was tenor singing that impressed influential family of Medici who brought him to their court in Florence.  He had various engagements there including participation in entertainments like intermedi - one of the precursors of the opera. Gulio sang at the weddings and statesmen meetings accompanying himself on the viol.

He belonged to the close circle of humanists who dedicated their lives to recovering lost masterpieces of antiquity.  We know that Caccini toured Italy too. He visited Rome where music school was still very conservative, yet his singing and music started changing the direction of music there too.

However, with all the mix of intellect and talents, Giulio Caccini was a simple human being easily motivated by greed, jealousy and envy. He also played a terrible part in the tragedy related to the family of Medici.

Pietro, one of the sons of Cosimo Medici married his first cousin Eleonora di Garcia de Toledo.  In the marriage she was having an a love affair. Caccini notified Francesco Medici who became next Duke of Tuscany about the adultery.  Pietro killed Eleonora and then murdered her imprisoned lover Bernardino Antinori.

Caccini was also highly competitive using all means for his career advancement with Medici family. He was the main reason why great composer Cavalieri was kicked out of Florence. He also prohibited his singers to participate in the production of the rival composer Jacopo Peri who is often named as the inventor of the opera.

Giulio Caccini died in Florence in 1618 but he left us another great genius - his daughter Francesca.  She grew to become a famous composer like her father. In fact, Francesca is the most famous and influential female European composer in any genre, between Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century and the 19th century.  Francesca Caccini was also responsible for creating the first opera by a woman composer.

In my previous blog entries I promised to continue telling you about lost in the history famous composers of the transitional era.  Although, they were extremely popular at the late medieval times, their heritage either vanished throughout the years or brought us some minimal but significant evidence about their talents.

Fate played one of the most peculiar tricks on famous Italian composer of the late medieval times Giovanni Mazzuoli. In fact I found during my web analytics research that there was the second name assigned to him  - Giovanni degli Organi.  Giovanni Mazzuoli was famous not only as a composer but also as a great musician organist  during his life from around 1360 till 1426.

Giovanni learned to play the organ from his father Niccolo. The latter trained his son while he was also serving as an organist of the church of Orsanmichele until 1376.  Thanks to his gift and intensive training, Giovanni was handed over the very same position after the death of his father in 1379.  He also played the organ in several other churches and cathedrals and taught his son Piero as his father did. Pieró assisted Giovanni during his last years of service.

When we say, that Giovanni was a famous composer we actually telling a little white lie.  None of his works reached our times. There are several works attributed to him, but specialists can not claim them his for sure.  So, how can serious web analysts judge his works and write his name to posterity?

An important source of medieval Italian music - Squarcialupi Codex -  is the illuminated manuscript compiled in Florence, Italy in the early 15th century. It consists of  216 parchment folios. Most of them are well-preserved and they are, in fact, in a great condition. There is a large section in Squarcialupi Codex dedicated exclusively to the musical pieces created by Giovanni Mazzuoli. The section is marked out under his name and a portrait is presented at his head. But for unknown reasons, the pages are blank. There is absolutely no music written there. All pages are decorated around the edges but left blank otherwise.

Another Italian manuscript San Lorenzo discovered not so long ago does contain his musical compositions.  Unfortunately, the paper of the manuscript is in such poor condition that the pages with Mazzuoli music are essentially unreadable.  Curiously, though, his son Piero Mazzuoli, who also created music is also included in this manuscript. And over a dozen of his musical pieces survived. Basically, this is one of the rare cases when a great composer is best remembered for the absence, rather than the presence of his musical compositions.