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User:Gerda Arendt/Brian

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This is a collection of sources and sketches for Vespro della Beata Vergine by Claudio Monteverdi, collected in a sandbox and kindly passed by Brianboulton.

Brian's sources for the Monteverdi Vespers edit

Books edit

  • Whenham & Wistreich: The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi:
*p. 16: "His church music is frequently ceremonial and festive, with a cross-over into secular styles founded on soloistic display" (Pryer)
*pp. 24–25: On the form in which the Vespers were published in 1610 (vocal and instrumental part-books etc.) (Carter)
*pp. 72–73: The Vespers and M's visit to the pope in October 1610 (Bowers)
*p. 143: Evidence that M was composing church music in Mantus prior to 1610 (Kurtzman)
*pp. 145–47: Gives the full title and dedication - close ties of the work with the Gonzagas - the introductory Response is based on the toccata that opens 'Orfeo & is understood to be a Gonzaga family entrance piece. Another account of M's Rome visit. "He composed far more in the field of church music than he ever published". Details of possible early perfs: May 1611, Christmas 1911 (reservations) (Kurtzman)
*pp. 147–54: Account and analysis, esp from p. 150. (Kurtzman)
*pp. 155–61: Analysis of the "Laetatus sum". (Kurtzman)
*p. 264: "Even comples music, e.g. the Vespers, is made up of a relatively linited set of generic tech. elements wh. wd have been familiar to top-level musicians". (Wistreich)
*p. 269> "The setting of the words "Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth" for two and then three tenors in the Vespers suggeasts that the sacred concerto wd not have sounded out of place alongside a madrigal perf. in a private room of the palace; indeed, the title page of the Vespers declares the concertos to be 'suited to the chapels or chambers of princes'." (Wistreich)
  • Redlich, Hans: Claudio Monteverdi, Life and Works.
*p. 20–21: Pub. of Vespers in 1610 and M's trip to Rome
*p. 24: "the downright revolutionary Vespers of 1610..."
*p. 50: "With M's Vespers the operatic orchestra, recitativo ana arioso for the first time invaded the precincts of eclesiastical music".
*p. 119: Vespers is one of the three major collections of M's church music, the others being Selvae morale..." of 1641 & the posthumous Missa e salmi
*p. 122: M took the manuscript to Rome hoping it might be instrumental in interesting the pope in his own career.
*p. 126-30: a general analysis of the Vespers Music
*pp. 147 and 156-60: An account of Redlich's 1934 edition of the Vespers
  • Arnold and Fortune: The Monteverdi Companion (1968)
*pp. 122–25: Vespers music not a particular novelty & not particularly popular in M's lifetime. The 1610 Mass was more successful, not "The Vespers music that has fascinated the 20th century". "Nevertheless, the mixture of elements is unique to Monteverdi..." (Arnold)
*p. 177–78: "A point that has been overlooked in the efforts of some writers to prove that the vespers psalms of M's 1610 collection were the most revolutionary church compositions of the time is that these psalms have at times a faint connection with the learned style of the mass ... The vespers psalms are not essentially ultra-progressive large scale church music [but] rather, a synthesis betw. the boldness of M's madrigal and operatic writing and a late 16thC type of stile antico. (Jerome Roche)
*p. 186–87: [in the Selva morales mass] The intermittent working of plainsong canto fermo into the top part ... is more consistent with the practice of the previous century than his attempt to graft it on to seconda prattica music as in the 1610 Vespers where its use militates against modernity of style." (Roche)
*p. 190: "duality of style" – ancient and modern. (Roche)
  • Palisca, Claude V.: Baroque Music
*pp. 57–58: "Several of the works do not fail to reflect the new tendencies in secular music, but the collection is generally conservative. This was probably in derefernce to the pope, whose chapel was strongly bound by tradition. Nevertheless, the contents are indicative of a ferment in religious music no less seething than that experienced by secular music." A brief discussion of the Vespers music follows.
*p. 99: "Composers in Italy early abandoned attempts to combine the concerted and recitative styles with plainsong themes; it took a Monteverdi to bring off such an experiment in the Vespers and Magnificat of 1610".
  • Gardiner, John Eliot (1990). Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della beata vergine (Media notes). Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon. pp. 17–22. Digital stereo 429 565-2.
  •  Y Whenham, John: Monteverdi's Vespers (1610). Cambridge Music Handbooks [1] (limited pages online)
*pp. 6–10: M's 1610 pub. contains mus for Mass & Vespers, the 2 services of the RC liturgy That were most frqu. supplied w. elab mus settings in late 16/early 17thC Italy.
Definition of Vespers: The evg service of Vespers was one of seven Offices (or Hours services) celeb. every day in Catholic religious communities dg the Renaissance. Like all the Offices its central fn was the siging of psalms (usually 5) culminating with the Magnificat.
Only the text of the opening & closing versicles & responses, and the Magnificat, were constant features in all celebs of Vespers. The other texts varied acc. to the specific day of the Church Calendar.
At all Vespers of the BV the 5 psalms were those found in M's 1610 pub: Ps109 Dixit Dominus; Ps112 Laudate pueri; Ps121 Laetatus sum; Ps126 Nisi Dominus; Ps 147 Lauda Jerusalem. The Office hymn was Ave maris stella. For Second Vespers the 5 Psalms were 109 & 112 plus "Credite", "In convertendo" and "Dominus probasti me".
Plan of Tridentine Vespers Service
Versicle1 and Response1 → Doxology → Alleluia → Antiphon1 → Psalm 1 → Antiphon2 → Psalm 2 → Antiphon3 → Psalm 3 → Antiphon 4 → Psalm 4 → Antiphon5 → Psalm 5 → Scripture reading → Hymn → Versicle2 → Response2 → Antiphon → Magnificat → Antiphon → Closing prayers
(Monteverdi uses a series of motets to serve as antiphons: Nigra sum (from S of Solomon); Pulchra es (Sof S); Duo Seraphim; Audi coelum; Sonata sopra Sancta Maria.)
Vespers in their entirety use a total of 15 psalms, so composers (e.g. Gastoldi) cd produce polyphonic settings for the whole yr. M's 1610 coll. had more limited usefulness, though its sequence of psalms was appropriate not only for feastsof the BV but of other holy women, and individual items wd have had a wider currency still.
The other variable elements (versicles, responses, antiphons) might be common to several feasts.
6 classes of feast in descending order of importance. The more important, the more elaborate the music. "Simplex" would require plainsong only:
  1. Duplex 1 classis
  2. Duplex 2 classis
  3. Duplex maius
  4. Duplex
  5. Semi-duplex
  6. Simplex
*pp. 13–17: The simplest form of polyphonic substitute for the plainsong psalm tones, widely used in 16C italy, was the falsobordone, a chordal setting wh. in its early stages incorporated the psalm tone itsel, usually in the uppermost voices or th tenor..
In performance, verses of the psalms set if falsobordone wd. prob. have alternated w. verses sung in plainsong
There was a veritable explosion of publication of falsobordone settings betw. 1580 and 1620: "The entire reason for singing sacred texts ... is that the words might be comprehended by all..."
Rome seems to have been the main centre of embellished falsobordone (use by M's contemporary Vidiana). it is this type of free falsobordone w. extended cadences that M employs in Dixit Dominus ... In their strict adherence to psalm tones and the bipartite structuref the psalm verse, M's 1610 psalm & Magnificat settingsd all be said to be falsobordone writ large.
M's 1610 Vespers plan with vocal/instr. forces (basso continuo added in all cases):
  1. Dominum ad adiuvandum: 6 voices + 6 instrumental lines
  2. Dixit Dominus: 6 + 6
  3. Nigra sum: 1 voice
  4. Laudate pueri: 8 voices
  5. Pulchra es: 2 voices
  6. Laetatus sum: 6 voices
  7. Duo Seraphim: 3 voices
  8. Nisi Dominus: 10 voices
  9. Audi coelum: 6 voices
  10. Lauda Jerusalem: 7 voices
  11. Sonata sopra...: 1 + 8
  12. Ave maris stella: 7 + 5
  13. Magnificat: 7 + 6
  14. Magnificat (alt) 6 voices
Question: What, if any, liturgical fn is served by the motets & Sonata sopra - the "sacred concertos"? The sacred concertos are non-liturgical & a no. of writers have taken the view thatthey did not warrant incl. in a Vespers service. M implied that they might serve at least a quasi-lit function & that the coll. as a whole was intended as a liturgical and artistic entity.
One solution has been to replace the concertos with antiphons with Marian associations that match M.s psalm settings (Stevens 1966 - see Gramophone article)
*pp. 20–21

Articles edit

Websites edit

  • (seen, edition) [2] re Fitzpatrick's edition 2010. Explanation concerning instrumentation: "The instruments play wherever Monteverdi specifically wrote for them, but, in addition, doubling parts have been included in the psalms, the hymn, and the certain places in the Magnificat, using orchestration of the editor's choice. The intention is to make sensible use of the forces available - something that (arguably) Monteverdi would have done in any actual performance."
  • (seen, CD review comparing) Good music guide: The scene shifts to 1976. John Eliot Gardiner releases his first recording of the Vespers. Gardiner's philosophy is to bring ancient music into the 20th century. This recording uses orchestrations, tempo variations and choral effects that are familiar to todays audiences. It is a rich, exuberant work. His main rival is Andrew Parrott's recording. Parrot's philosophy is completely different. His is a researched rendition that aims to recreate completely the liturgical mass of 1610. The vocal parts are solo, the orchestration is sparse, the instruments original. A landmark recording, but in completely different style. Praised for its clarity and authenticity, but critisized for its lack of life. Finally, we come to rest in 1992 and the recording featured here, Gardiner's second recording of this work. While he has certainly matured, his philosophy stays the same. This is a gorgeous performance, still on the theatrical side, but controlled, balanced.
  •  Y Music Web Discussion of the 3 Gardiner recordings (1974, 1989 and 2014)
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