With Passionate Voice: Re-Creative Singing in Sixteenth-Century England and Italy

345 Pages·2014·33.886 MB·English

by  Robert Toft

WITH PASSIONATE VOICE

WITH
PASSIONATE
VOICE
Re-Creative Singing in Sixteenth-Century
England and Italy
Robert Toft
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Toft, Robert.
With passionate voice : re-creative singing in 16th-century England and Italy / Robert Toft.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–938202–6 (hardback)—ISBN 978–0–19–938203–3
(pbk.)—ISBN 978–0–19–938204–0 (electronic text)—ISBN 978–0–19–938206–4
(online file) 1. Vocal music—England—16th century—History and criticism.
2. Vocal music—Italy—16th century—History and criticism.
3. Singing—England—History—16th century. 4. Singing—Italy—History—16th century.
5. Vocal music—Interpretation (Phrasing, dynamics, etc.) 6. Performance practice
(Music)—History—16th century. I. Title.
ML1620.2.T64 2014
783'.01409031—dc23
2014003118
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
About the Companion Website ix
Introduction 1
An Age of Rhetorical Persuasion 2
PART 1: PREPARING THE TEXT
Words Appropriately Fitted to the Notes 17
PART 2: ELOCUTIO: FINE WORDS AND MUSIC
Every Trope, Every Figure 43
PART 3: PRONUNCIATIO: SINGING ELOQUENTLY AND
ACTING APTLY
1. The Art of Vocal Delivery 81
All the Senses Satisfied 84
v
vi Contents
Accent and Emphasis 98
Pronouncing Distinctly 109
Figures and Passionate Ornaments Made Manifest 109
2. A Garden of Embellishment 124
Divisions 125
Graces 164
Part Songs 171
3. Action 182
PART 4: PASSIONATE AYRES PRONOUNCED
1. The Prosopopoeia in England 201
John Dowland, “Sorrow stay” 206
John Dowland, “In darknesse let mee dwell” 217
2. Affetto cantando and Consort Singing in Italy 227
Giulio Caccini, “Deh dove son fuggiti” 227
Claudio Monteverdi, “Baci soavi e cari” 240
Appendix 259
Understanding Learned Compositions 259
The Addition of Sharps and Flats 273
Glossary 307
References 317
Index 325
Acknowledgments
I first became interested in researching the performance of sixteenth-century song a
number of years ago as a lutenist who, like the singers I accompanied, had begun to
search for historically secure ways of turning mute manuscripts and prints into pas-
sionate musical declamation. This quest took me on a long and rewarding journey
to root my approach to performing lute songs within the musical culture of the late
Renaissance, and along the way I incurred innumerable debts. I would like to thank the
pioneering performers who dared to venture onto that murky bog we now call histori-
cally informed performance, for without their concerts and recordings, I never would
have been drawn to this music. I would also like to express my gratitude to all those
singers with whom I have worked for their willingness to embrace historical princi-
ples, especially since our approaches to performance usually conflicted with modern
thinking. Many years ago, the late Robert Spencer generously shared his research with
me, and over the past few years, I have benefited greatly from discussions with Jacob
Heringman, Robert Meunier, and John Potter.
I have been most fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach a large number of
students, and the courses and master classes I have given provided me with the sort of
workshop a researcher of performing practices needs. Beyond Western University, my
home base, I would like to thank, in particular, Emma Kirkby and Nicholas Clapton
(Dartington International Summer School), Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb (Schola
Cantorum, Basel), Jacob Heringman and Peter Seymour (University of York), Paul
Elliott (Early Music Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington), Deborah Kelleher and
Kathleen Tynan (Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin), Mary O’Neill (University of
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Birmingham), and Daniel Taylor (University of Toronto) for giving me an opportunity
to work with some of their students.
This book is based on my earlier study of English lute song, Tune thy Musicke to thy
Hart: The Art of Eloquent Singing in England 1597–1622 (University of Toronto Press,
1993), long out of print, and draws on some of the material I published in Aural Images of
Lost Traditions: Sharps and Flats in the Sixteenth Century (University of Toronto Press,
1992); “An Approach to Performing the Mid 16th-Century Italian Lute Fantasia,”
The Lute, The Journal of the Lute Society 25 (1985); and “Limitations of Meaning: Text
and Context in Monteverdi’s ‘Baci soavi e cari’ (1587)” in The Sounds and Sights of
Performance in Medieval and Renaissance Music: Essays in Honour of Timothy McGee,
ed. Brian Power and Maureen Epp (Ashgate, 2009). All passages have been used with
permission of the publishers.
Except for the correction of obvious errors, the music examples faithfully represent
the sources from which they were taken, especially with regard to note values, textual
punctuation, spelling of words, and diacritical marks. All translations, unless stated
otherwise, are my own, but Marinella Lacchini (Milan) generously helped me with
several aspects of sixteenth-century Italian. Specific pages in period sources are cited
in the following manner: Sancta Maria 1565: I, 25, fol. 74v, in which the numerals after
the colon indicate part, chapter, and folio or page number.
About the Companion Website
www.oup.com/us/withpassionatevoice
Oxford University Press has created a password-protected website to accompany With
Passionate Voice: Re-Creative Singing in Sixteenth-Century England and Italy, and the
site contains demonstrations of some of the principles discussed in the book (user-
name: Music3; password: Book3234).
The annotated scores housed on the site illustrate how singers might complete the
creative process the composer began by realizing Renaissance notation from within the
musical culture of the sixteenth century. Readers are encouraged to use these scores, as
well as recordings that will eventuate, in conjunction with the book, as a starting point
for their own explorations of the old methods of interpretation/re-creation.
ix