Dallapiccola Words and Music.pdf

Words and Music in Nineteenth-Century Italian OperaAuthor(s): Luigi DallapiccolaSource: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Autumn - Winter, 1966), pp. 121-133Published by: Perspectives of New MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/832391 .Accessed: 28/10/2014 16:09

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WORDS AND MUSIC IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN OPERA

LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA

ABOUT THIRTY years ago, when I was asked by Edward J. Dent whether I knew any Italian treatise describing the principles of the compo- sition of arias in Italian opera, I had to answer in the negative. Now, however, I believe that there existed at least a tradition for composing arias, one perpetuated orally and by example.

I should like to consider here what the poetic quatrain offered to the composer of the Italian melodrama as a basis for the construction of operatic forms, with specific reference to arias, ariosi, and cavatinas.

In La Traviata, in the scene where Alfredo reveals his rage at his sup- posed betrayal by Violetta, these lines occur:

Ogni suo aver tal femmina Per amor mio sperdea: Io cieco, vile, misero, Tutto accettar potea.

The range of the voice in the first line is a major sixth and in the second a major seventh. In the music, no significant metrical differences between the two lines are evident; in the second, however, the melody has a slight tendency to move upwards. It is in the third line that the tragedy is most clearly implied, and an emotional crescendo is brought about here by a discontinuous and agitated declamation that is matched by an appropriate accompaniment. The fourth line is accompanied by a decrease in excitement (one entirely independent of the actual musical dynamics). (See Ex. 1)

At this point it might be interesting to see how Verdi solved his compo- sitional problem when the librettist expanded a quatrain by two lines. This happens, for example, in the Quartet in Rigoletto. The Duke starts:

Bella figlia dell'amore, Schiavo son de' vezzi tuoi, Con un detto sol tu puoi Le mie pene consolar.

* 121.


PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

The music of this quatrain is almost precisely in accordance with the formal scheme described above: there is no melodic difference between the first and second lines, in both of which the melodic range is a major sixth; a climax is reached in the third line, where the voice spans an octave, and a diminuendo follows in the fourth line.

La Traviata (Finale secondo) Allegro sostenuto

Alfredo - -,[r? -.I40. 1.

0 - gni suo aver tal fern - - - mi-na

per a - mor mio sper - de - - - a: Io cie-co, vi-le,

mi - - - se-ro, tut - - to ac-cet-tr po-te - -

7x Ex. 1

Verdi also sets the two lines that the librettist has added: Vieni e senti del mio core II frequente palpitar,

but for the sake of the musical structure he makes his own emendation by repeating the third and fourth lines of the stanza, so that the original six lines have grown to eight. And although Verdi holds to the traditional scheme in the initial quatrain, he now feels compelled, with eight lines at his disposal, to regard lines five and six as the climax of the two quatrains,

. 122 *


COLLOQUY AND REVIEW

or, in other words, to treat the entire passage as a quatrain of two-line pairs. Indeed, while the voice in the crescendo of the first quatrain reaches the high Ab, it goes to high Bb in the over-all climax, and the diminuendo is accomplished with the repetition of the third and fourth lines from the original quatrain.

S a, . I Lb-A

Al Bel-la fi-gliadel-l'a - mo - - re schia-vo son de've-zi tuo - -

co- i Bonun detto;un det-to sol tu puo - - i le mie pe-ne, le mie pe-ne con-so-

- lar. CVieni e sen ti delmio co - re il fre-quen -te pal- pi-

4P J^ -1 r IN, -rYI it - tar o- - - I on un detto,un.det-to

sol tu puo - - - i le mie D

pe-ne, le mie pe-ne con-so - lar.

Ex. 2

In Leonora's cavatina in Act I of II Trovatore, the text consists of two ten-line stanzas. There is a structural innovation here: lines five and six form a kind of insertion. The big emotional crescendo occurs in the penultimate line, and the diminuendo in the last.

i " ' Y F r i ! quando so-nar per l'a - e-re in - fi-no al-lor si mu

- - to,

? =,. I , I F --.a -- -

i- 48,

Ex. 3

The same ten-line construction, including the inserted fifth and sixth lines, is to be found in the aria "D'amor sull'ali rosee," in the last act of the same opera.

123


PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC I should like to reemphasize that the emotional crescendo is normally

found in the third line (in a four-line stanza) or in the third pair of lines (in an eight-line stanza). It is almost too well known that the reason for many changes in the original text of Italian operas lies in the vanity of singers. Even though I am, in principle, against modifications, I wish to underline a case where the modification is quite preferable to the original text.

In Manrico's aria "Ah si, ben mio, coll'essere" (II Trovatore: third act), the last quatrain is repeated two times; in the printed score there is only one change: in section A. Although the first time the highest note is Db, the second time the climax is reached at Eb. And because of that there is no doubt that Bb (instead of Ab) in section C is perfectly, indeed, in- finitely more beautiful than in the original version. Unfortunately I was not able to learn when this modification became a part of performance practice. It is certain, in any case, that it underlines once again the im- portance of the third section, the real keystone in the construction of the aria in Italian opera. The performer, on his part, cannot establish the prin- cipal tempo of the aria without taking this third section into account (Ex. 4).

The emotional crescendo is created through rhythmic animation, through harmonic surprise, or through the upward movement of the vocal line. Frequently, of course, the final result is achieved through the col- laboration of two or three such elements; only rarely does a fourth, such as a striking instrumental idea, take part. I shall return to this point later, with reference to a passage in Otello.

Especially interesting treatment of the climax is found in "0 qual soave brivido" in Un Ballo in Maschera: the beginning of the third pair of lines is underlined by a fermata. In this case there is also a coda, but one which, based entirely on word repetition, is completely independent of the poetic- musical form of the quatrain.

Although the quotations so far have been from operas by Verdi, the formal scheme I have described is to be found also in Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. In Mathilde's aria ("Selva opaca") in the second act of William Tell, for example, the climax is effected by harmonic means. And the classic example of Italian melody, "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma, completely confirms the same principle. Here, with regard to duration, the first line contains sixteen times the unit of three eighth-notes, and the second fifteen (including the rests, of course). The third line contains no less than twenty-two times the same unit--and the concluding line, "senza nubi, senza vel," only four!

Nor does Verdi abandon this traditional scheme in the works of his last period. In evidence I adduce a single example from the first act of Otello. The climax of the so-called "tempest scene" (where chorus and orchestra are marked ff, tutta forza) sets the following lines:

S124


C-r

CR.

Manrico _ _ - dim. dolce

Ia IVOF M wig II) i l . i1

Fra que - glie-stre-mlv-

ne - ii- ti a tej pen-sier ver - ra, ver-ra, e so - lojn cel pre - ce--der -ti la mor-tea me par - r,

A B C D

Execution : .6

o - loJn ciel pre-I I i --- I dim.

Fra qL-e- t ev

Fta que -glive-stre-miva-

ne - li-ti a te.Jl pen-ster ve - rl, ver-rl, e so -

lo. ctel pre - ce-der -ti la mor-to me par

- ABI

Ex. 4



Dio, fulgor della bufera! Dio, sorriso della duna, Salva l'arca e la bandiera della veneta fortuna! Tu, che reggi gli astri e il Fato! Tu che imperi al mondo e al ciel, Fa che in fondo al mar placato posi l'ancora fedel.

Here we find a greater formal variety than in the previously quoted examples. Nevertheless, one can still recognize the emotional crescendo in the third of the quoted lines ("Tu, che reggi," etc.). It is produced after an initial mf, by harmonic means and by two unexpected cymbal crashes on weak beats, marked soli (i.e., "with solistic function"; see p. 26 of the full score).

Further evidence of Verdi's intentions can sometimes be gathered by a comparison of initial sketches with final versions. The first rough version of "La donna e mobile" is such a sketch, obviously written in haste. In the final version (known to us from a complete manuscript), the music for the first and second lines corresponds with that of the first scribbled notation. The music for the third line, however, is completely different in the two cases; in the early version it deviates from the formal scheme. It lacks all rhythmic excitement, there are no possibilities of harmonic surprise, and its vocal line, instead of pushing upward, descends.

8F a) b) C)

I I ' c Ex. 5

Regardless of whether there existed a literary tradition that, consciously or unconsciously, determined the aria-form in Italian melodrama, there are certainly an immense number of closed quatrains in poetry (i.e., quatrains ending with a full stop) -an immense number of rhymed quatrains in Italian and French, from Dante to Baudelaire-in which the second line merely continues the first, increasing the emotional level but little. The climax appears in the third line; and in the last, the conclusion brings diminishing intensity.

This analogy certainly deserves consideration. From numerous examples I shall choose only a few. From Dante:

Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare La donna mia quand'ella altrui saluta, Che ogne lingua deven tremando muta, E gli occhi non Pardiscon di guardare.

In the following example, from Petrarca, notice the last word in the third line: salita (participle of the verb salire-to ascend, to rise) a verb denoting ascent.

126


COLLOQUY AND REVIEW

La bella donna che cotanto amavi Subitamente s'6 da noi partita, E, per quel ch'io ne speri, al ciel salita; Si furon gli atti suoi dolci e soavi.

From Victor Hugo: Ruth songeait et Booz dormait: l'herbe etait noire; Les grelots des troupeaux palpitaient vaguement; Une immense bonte tombait du firmament; C'etait l'heure tranquille oh les lions vont boire.

Here, the descent implied by the verb tomber (to fall down) is canceled by the adjective immense and by the noun firmament.

Finally, in Baudelaire:

C'est la mort qui console, helas!, et qui fait vivre; C'est le but de la vie et c'est le seul espoir Qui, comme un elixir, nous monte et nous enivre, Et nous donne le coeur de marcher jusqu'au soir.

Notice in the third line two verbs suggesting ascent: monter (to climb, to rise) and enivrer (to enrapture) -not to speak of the noun elixir.

On the other hand, could not the melodrama-the best kind of popular theatre-have developed, gradually and unknown to its creators, from a primitive art form of similar type? The section of the thirteenth-century mystery play, The Play of Daniel, in which the hero explains to the King the significance of Mane, Thechel, Phares, cannot fail to strike the hearer by its structural resemblance to an aria in a melodrama.

Daniele I.E

O p=T= Ip,

, ad

Et MA -NE di - cit Do - mi -nus, Est tu - i re - gni ter - mi - nus. E - A B

A' . 1 i/ I I- -CKEL li- bran si - - gni - fi - cat Quae te mi-no- rem in - di -cat. PHA -

C

I I I (segue) - REs. nec est di - - vi - si - o, Re - gnum trans-por - tat a - - . (segue)

iQui sic sol-vit la --ten-ti - a Or --ne - tur ve-ste re- gi - a. D

Ex. 6

Now, it is by no means the case that the principle of the emotional climax as the penultimate section of a musical quatrain belongs exclusively

. 127 ?


PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC to the aria in Italian opera. The same principle is at work in other music as well, although it functions in a different way. The first name that comes to mind is that of

Schubert--especially Schubert in his more popular vein,

rather than the composer of Nacht und Triiume, which is constructed quite differently. (I might note here that Alban Berg emphasized the "instrumental" character of the voice in Schubert's Lieder.) Beethoven also should be mentioned in this connection. One of the most thoroughgoing examples of his use of these principles is the theme of the rondo in the Sonata Op. 90. Indeed, according to Schindler, Beethoven called this rondo "Con- versations with the Beloved." It is a dramatic scene, then, without a stage.

Busoni relates that an intelligent music critic, just as an experiment, conceived the idea of adding words to the first violin part of a Mozart string quartet, and that he gave the part to a soprano to sing. Busoni tells us that, upon going into the room where the experiment was taking place, he had the clear impression "of being in the middle of a performance of a Mozart opera."

What is the origin, then, of the characteristics we have noted as pe- culiar to the Italian melodrama? They stem, it seems to me, from the fact that the Italian opera composers of the nineteenth century disregarded all tradition relating to purely instrumental music. They seem to have conceived the emotional crescendo in the third section of the musical quatrain almost as the result of theatrical necessities-as a theatrical gesture.

In evidence I adduce two examples that are almost identical in melody, yet totally different in effect: on the one hand, a passage from Mozart's Violin Concerto in A major; on the other, a passage from Lucia di Lam- mermoor. In the first case, the third and fourth sections develop according to the logic and rules of purely instrumental style; in the second, the de- velopment of these sections obeys the demands of the stage. (See Ex. 7.)

So far, I have restricted my discussion to the structure of the aria in the melodrama as a musical quatrain, and to the analogy between quatrains in music and poetry. Now I should like to broaden my field and explain how Verdi applied the same principle of organization to a large form, such as the trio in Act II of Un Ballo in Maschera.

Let us first look at the libretto. Each singer presents a stanza of eight lines (or rather of four couplets). In both the original and the modern editions of the libretto, which doubtless follow the original manuscript, the characters appear in the following order: Amelia, soprano; Riccardo, tenor; Renato, baritone. It is rather startling to note that Verdi, in setting this trio to music, changed the succession of male voices as fixed by the librettist: he transferred the entrance of the baritone from third to second place, and that of the tenor from second to third. This observation should help us to realize the extraordinary clarity of purpose with which Verdi set to work: Riccardo, the tenor, is now entrusted with the climax of the trio, while to the three stanzas of the librettist are added a fourth and a fifth-as

S128


COLLOQUY AND REVIEW Mozart A u

-.4.a Ml,,, =

#*ILMN FF i 1 F IIBI A A j I I \ r - Co-me ro- - sa i na -ri - di - - -ta, Es sa

A tI sta fra mor tee vi - - - ta, Io son

{Ii7rI DH! -

vin .

to son corn - mos - - - so, ta moin-

1 1 F2 gra --ta, t'a - mo, ta-mom -grata, t'a moan - or -gra - - ta, t'a - mo, t'a- mo in - grata, t'a - - - mo an - cort.

Ex. 7

a musical reprise and coda, respectively. In the reprise each singer partici- pates in such a way as to repeat the words assigned him before: the soprano and the baritone repeat all of the words; the tenor, only a few. Verdi, with his exceptionally acute feeling for stage effect, could not fail to see that the feeling of guilt (almost a guilt complex!) expressed by the tenor here represented the true climax of the piece.

This trio has been called "beautiful" and "magnificent." Many people are satisfied with such characterizations. The trio will remain "beautiful" and "magnificent" even after my attempt at structural analysis, for analysis can take nothing away from the esthetically perfect nor, on the other hand, can it contribute anything to the esthetically imperfect. Viewing such an achievement as this trio-listening to it, more than a hundred years after its appearance, with modern ears (the only ones I consider valid), and reading it with modern eyes (again the only valid ones) -we shall become aware of various points heretofore overlooked. Consequently, I will not hesitate to speak of macrostructure and microstructure, although such terms have originated only in recent years and have been employed chiefly

0 129 ?



in the analysis of contemporary music. I should like to remind you of a famous phrase of the doctor angelicus, St. Thomas Aquinas, on the elements of beauty: "Ad pulchritudinem tria requiruntur: integritas, conso- nantia, claritas." Thus: integrity, or unity of the whole design; consonance, or equilibrium of the parts; clarity, or expression of significant content.

Let us now proceed to the examination of the macrostructures of the design. (See the chart on the following page.) In the first stanza, each of the microstructures a, b, c, d, corresponds to four measures of music; the fifth corresponds to the eight measures of the codetta. (A codetta of the same length will be found at the end of the second and fourth musical stanzas. One should not forget, in this connection, that, like the reprise mentioned above, the codettas and the coda are not derived from the libretto. They are of purely musical significance--the singers only repeat words previously sung.)

Amelia: Odi tu come fremono cupi Per quest'aura gli accenti di morte?

The voice range is D-A (with Bb di volta). The same pattern appears in the second microstructure:

Di lassil, da quei negri dirupi Il segnal de' nemici parti.

Here the melodic line begins to swing upward: in place of the fifth D-A, we have the fifth F-C. The third microstructure:

Ne' lor petti scintillano d'ira E gia piomban t'accerchiano fitti

represents, as always, the apex of the first stanza. Three elements contribute to this effect: the extension of the vocal range to the high F; a dynamic crescendo followed by a decrescendo; and, as if this were not enough, surprising accents on weak beats in two horns, violas, and cellos. Microstructure d:

Al tuo capo gia volser la mira, Per pieta, va, t'invola di qui

represents the conclusion of the quatrain-couplet and, compared with the previous section, an emotional diminuendo. Amelia's high A should not deceive us: it is basically a resolution which does not weaken in the least the effect of the high F, the vocal climax of microstructure c. One might even consider this high A as completely independent of the three subsequent A's that are repeated almost like cries of anguish (in the codetta). (The vocal score, even in the first edition, which must be assumed to be based on the original manuscript, shows no accent on the first A. But the three subsequent A's and their parallels in the following stanzas are given accents.)

S130


c*o

A Climax of the piece Son colui che nel cor lo fere. d) Innocente, sfidati li avrei:

Or d'amore colpdvole fuggo.

Ah, I'amico tradito ho pur io... c)easu 561)

Che minacciano il vivere mio? b)

In

- no - cen - te sf -

Traditor, congiurati son essi La pieta)

del Signore su lei (N.B. In the orchestra score it Posa ialetde, protegga su

le reads sciagurati, not congiuratil) d,

b)/ D Reprise

d) a) Va, ti salva, del popolo b vita d) Questa vita che getti cosi C) C

c) Soprano, Tenor and Baritone a 3.. (Baritone solo) Codetta Codetta

Climax of A and B ) Va, i salva, o che varco all'uscia b) Soprano and Baritone a 2.

(Baritone and Soprano a 2) Qui tra poco serrarsi vedra.. a) a)

b)Allo scambio del detti esecrati Ogni destra la daga brandA

a) Fuggi, fuggi, per l'orrida via c) d) Sento l'orma dei passi spietati: Co da

d) Al tuo capo gi .volser la mira.,. b)

Per piett, va, t'invola di qui. Codetta Climax of the first stanza. The a) voice arrives at the high F:" dynamic crescendo followedbya decrescendo: accents on the weak beat assigned totwolHorns, to the Violas, and to the Violoncellos.

) Nei lor petti scintillano d'ira, E giA piomban, t'accerchiano fitti...

Di lassi, da quel negri dirupi

-

b) I1 segnal dei nemici partI.

) Odi tu come fremono cupi Per quest'aura gli accenti di morte?

Chart 1


PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC The second stanza is given to Renato, the baritone. It is, in form,

identical to the first: the variant in the two final lines can only be ascribed to the necessity of arriving at the dominant at the end of the stanza. Nevertheless, in spite of this similarity, it should be noticed that the soprano adds her own part, an octave above the baritone, in the fifth and sixth lines, i.e., in microstructure c. The resultant musical differentiation is sufficient to yield a higher degree of intensity-as it were, a double emotional crescendo. (The soprano again joins the baritone in order to give greater force and luster to the words "Va, va, va" of the codetta.)

The third stanza brings us to the climax of the entire trio:

Traditor, congiurati son essi Che minacciano il vivere mio? Ah, l'amico ho tradito pur io.... Son colui che nel cuor lo feri.

Each of the microstructures a, b, c, d, corresponds here to two measures. In contrast to the previous stanzas, where each pair of lines is linked through the musical setting, here each individual line is marked off by an eighth-rest. Here, then, is one element that contributes toward the triple emotional crescendo within this section. Two more will be added. Since the first three lines are based on A, C, and E, respectively, while the fourth begins on F, the necessary upward swing is strictly observed. Furthermore, the conclusions of the first three are emphasized through highly expressive insertions ("Ah, fuggi-Ti salva-Va, fuggi") derived from the end of the climax (microstructure c) of the first stanza.

Now, without even a rest, the tenor continues with lines five and six, which constitute the climax of the third stanza and also of the entire trio. After reaching the high A on the first syllable (In-nocente), the vocal line gradually descends. This also marks the beginning of the emotional diminuendo, both of the macrostructure and of the microstructures. (It is the only passage in the piece that Verdi has marked poco allargando, col canto.)

Let me now count the measures of the stanzas, in order to clarify their proportional relations. The first comprises 24 measures; the second, 24; the third, for dramatic reasons the briefest, 16 (there is no codetta); the fourth, 24; and the coda, 23. On the last chord of the coda there is a fermata; and, as we know, in Verdi's time it was customary to double the note values to which this sign applied. Thus we can properly assign 24 measures to the coda as well. All told, then, there are 112 measures. The tenor's line "Innocente, sfidati li avrei," the climax of the third stanza and of the whole piece, begins exactly with m. 56 and thus stands in the center of the entire trio. To me this seems extraordinary, the more so since Verdi could hardly have planned such a miracle of proportions; he must have conceived and carried it out intuitively.

S132


COLLOQUY AND REVIEW We are now approaching the conclusion of the trio. The fourth stanza

is musically identical with the first. But the first eight measures of this reprise (corresponding to the first four lines of the stanza) are set for two voices (soprano and baritone) rather than for a single voice as before; and in lines five and six (climax: microstructure c) the tenor also enters. Thus three voices appear in the fourth stanza, corresponding to the two voices in the parallel passage in the second.

The concluding section of the piece consists of the 23 (+ 1) measures of the coda-that is, of the sum of the measures of the three codettas of the first, second, and fourth stanzas. This coda is a mere conclusion, and, in character, rather ordinary. The word ordinary is not meant in a deroga- tory sense: I am simply trying to explain a dialectic and stylistic procedure characterizing a whole period. To deny this would be just as foolish as to call the 29 measures of C major at the end of Beethoven's Fifth Sym- phony "too long," or the ottava rima of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso "monoto- nous," or the proportions of the Wagnerian opera "exaggerated."

Listen now, if you can, to the entire scene of which this trio is the culmination. Un Ballo in Maschera is the last opera that Verdi called a melodramma. In this scene one can find, in condensed form, many of the conventional elements of the form. But the composer's genius, the "genius of the dramatic accent," according to Busoni's beautiful characterization, has surmounted the incredible situation, the absurd language, the lame syntax, the pathos of the formalistic style of the Italian melodrama.

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