Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Cummings’s history of music in Florence over a five-hundred-year period is a work of brilliant synthesis, bringing together in one place a vast array of
sources that few readers could otherwise hope to access, much less encompass. Music in Golden-Age Florence, 1250–1750 succeeds in its author’s goal of raising Florentine accomplishments in music to a status comparable to that enjoyed by the city’s extraordinary achievements in arts, letters, and science, and in so doing it becomes a compelling argument for why music should be integrated into interdisciplinary considerations of Florentine culture. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find this a highly readable narrative of this great city’s vibrant musical life during the medieval and early-modern periods.” * Blake Wilson, Dickinson College *
“Whether one is studying human endeavors in the areas of humanism, architecture, painting, or literature or evaluating musical inventions such as the Renaissance madrigal, opera, or pianoforte, the city of Florence emerges as a location in which pioneering work was valued. In the book’s opening pages, Cummings situates readers in the city’s buildings, streets, and public squares, then encourages readers to imagine the music heard in those spaces during past centuries. Cummings not only explores both well- and lesser-known musical genres and works but also introduces the individuals who commissioned, performed, and listened to music. This book is a valuable resource for historians of all stripes, whether musicologists, art historians, or scholars of Italian literature. It can also serve as a useful guide for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the history of this much visited and beloved city.” * Kelley Harness, University of Minnesota *
Table of ContentsPreface
Book the First
Music in Late-Medieval Florence: The Duecento and Trecento
Music and the Ecclesiastical and Political Organization of the Late-Medieval City
The Duecento
1 * Church and State in Florence circa 1300
Santa Reparata/Santa Maria del Fiore
Palazzo della Signoria
Music at Santa Reparata/Santa Maria del Fiore
The Duecento
Lauda Instrumentalists of the Signoria
The Trecento
2 * Secular Polyphony: The Beginnings of the Florentine Tradition
The Social Context of Performance
Johannes de Florentia (fl. ca. 1351)
3 * Secular Polyphony: Francesco Landino and the Central Florentine Tradition
Ser Gherardellus de Florentia (†1362 or 1363)
Donatus de Florentia and Laurentius Masii de Florentia (†1372)
Francesco Landino (†1397)
4 * Secular Polyphony: The Gallicization of Florentine Musical Culture
Some Florentine
Kleinmeistern: Magister frater Egidius, Magister Guglielmus frater, and Corradus
Andreas de Florentia (Andrea di Giovanni) (†1415)
Some Florentine
Kleinmeistern Redux: Bonaiutus Corsini and Andrea Stefani
Paulus de Florentia (†1436)
5 * Music in Communal Worship and Civic Life
Liturgical Polyphony
The Trecento
Lauda The Herald of the Signoria
Book the Second
Music in Renaissance Florence I: The Quattrocento
Aristocracy Emulated: The De Facto Medici Regime
6 * The Medici Regime and the Public Ecclesiastical Institutions
Nicolaus Zacharie and the Professionalization of Composing and Performing
The Consecration of the Cathedral of Florence
The Musical Establishments Stabilized
Heinrich Isaac
7 * Tradition and Innovation in Sacred Music
Tradition: Music for the Liturgy
Tradition and Innovation: The Quattrocento
Lauda Innovation: The
Sacra Rappresentatione 8 * Heralds, Knights, and Carnival Revelers
Tellers of Tales
Medieval Chivalric Tradition Reimagined
Florentine Carnival and the
Canto Carnascialesco 9 * Music and Domestic Life: The House of Medici
Occasions for Music-Making
The Patrons, Their Musicians, and Their Music
The Musical Sources
Varieties of Music-Making
10 * Girolamo Savonarola and the Medici in Exile
Theocratic Censure
The Medici in Exile, 1494–1512
Book the Third
Music in Renaissance Florence II: The Cinquecento
Aristocracy Achieved: The De Jure Medici Regime, Family as Country, and “Florentinism”
11 * The Medici Restoration: The Florentine-Papal Tandem
The Restoration
Composers in Medici Service
Music in Private Medici Settings: Instrumental Music
12 * A New Institution, a New Technology, a New Genre: The Madrigal
Wellsprings of the Madrigal: The Chanson
Wellsprings of the Madrigal: The
Canto Carnascialesco and
Trionfo, the
Lauda, and Solo Song
The Earliest Madrigals
Florentine Academies and Madrigals for the Theater at Midcentury
Intimate Settings: Isabella de’ Medici, Solo Song, and the Polyphonic Madrigal
Intimate Settings: The Florentine Madrigal after Midcentury
13 * The Church
The Reconstitution of the Polyphonic Chapels
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation
The Cinquecento
Lauda and
Sacra Rappresentatione Intermedi Sacri e Morali and Music in Religious Communities for Women
14 * Medici Pageantry, 1539–1589: “L’état, c’est moi”
Book the Fourth
Music in Florence in the Baroque Era
Cross-Genre Influences: Monody, the
Stile Recitativo, and the
Stile Concertato in Florentine Music of the Seicento and Early Settecento
15 * Opera in Florence, Act 1: The Florentine Aristocratic Phase
Academic Theories Applied
The Beginnings of Opera
Widening Applications of the Innovations
The Meaning of Baroque
16 *
Intermedio I: Music in Religious and Dynastic Ritual
Religious Ritual: A Cappella and Concerted Vocal Music
Religious Ritual: Music for Organ
Dynastic Ritual (“L’état, c’est moi”): The Equestrian Ballet
17 * Opera in Florence, Act 2: The Pan-Italian Phase
A New Institution: The Opera House
Beginnings of the Pan-Italian Phase:
La finta pazza A Native Attempt at a Venetian-Style Opera:
Celio Venetian Imports:
Ipermestra A Distinctively Florentine Tradition of Comic Opera:
Il potestà di Colognole Venetian Imports:
Ipermestra, Redux
The Baroque Aesthetic on Full Display:
Ercole in Tebe, L’Orontea, La Dori 18 *
Intermedio II: Devotional and Convivial Uses of Music
Devotional: The
Lauda Reimagined:
Canzonette Spirituali Devotional: The Oratorio
Convivial: Ballet Entertainments
Convivial: The Seicento Madrigal
Convivial: The Seicento Cantata
Convivial: Instrumental Genres
Convivial: The Invention of the Piano
19 * Opera in Florence, Act 3: The Pan-European Phase
Opera in Arcadia? The Halting Adoption of Reform Principles—
Griselda Grand Prince Ferdinando and a Restitution of Aristocratic Opera
The Reopening of Teatro della Pergola
Vincer se stesso è la maggior vittoria, or
Rodrigo Opera in Arcadia: The Fuller Adoption of Reform Principles—
Catone in Utica The Settecento Cantata
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Color illustrations follow page 000.
