At the end of the 16th century a divide between previous, existing and new, emerging styles of music began. The previous style was influenced by Humanist thought and sought to imitate the poetry that it was based upon. The goal of the new Rationalist musical style was to convey a particular state of mind, known as affections and passions, to the listener. The polyphonic style was giving way to a monodic style with instrumental accompaniment that had the ability to clearly express the Rationalist ideal.
Claudio Monteverdi’s madrigal Cruda Amarilli is a good example of a piece that was transitioning from the older style to the new one. It shares the polyphonic texture of past, in this case there are five parts, but has some innovations that marked a different approach. The bass part employs many more melodic perfect 4ths and perfect 5ths which illustrate a growing freedom that was achieved by using the bass line as a foundation for harmonic flexibility.
Monteverdi was also a proponent of broader expression through the use of certain dissonances that were previously forbade in the contrapuntal principles that were set by Gioseffo Zarlino in 1558. Monteverdi defended these violations by suggesting an intended expression of the text for each occurrence. Both Douglas Seaton’s Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition and K Marie Stolba’s The Development of Western Music: A History, cite the soprano’s unprepared A and F in measure 13 as a prime example of what was commonly under attack from those who sought to uphold a system that Monteverdi saw as being outdated. The text here is “Ahi lasso!” which can be translated to “Alas!”
Like other madrigals of the time, Monteverdi seems to be utilizing the technique of text painting. Evidence of this is given by his melismatic treatment on “D’amour” or “love.” Up to that point there would be nothing in the piece considered to be melismatic. All five voices sing the phrase “Ma dell’aspido sordo” (“but deafer than the asp (a snake)”) at different points of imitation, perhaps in attempt to make the text less clear as it would be if someone was hearing impaired. Another example can be found after the word “fugace” which means elusive or fleeting. This is the only time in the entire piece where all five voices have a notated rest of at least 2 beats.
Monteverdi, in defense of his defiance of the previous rules of counterpoint, devised the labels prima practica, representing the old and seconda practica, which stood for a new way of doing things. This new method was given a concise summation by Guilio Cesare Monteverdi, Claudio’s brother, who asserted that harmony must be servant of the text and not its master. (Stolba, p. 307-308) This reminded me of the Frank Zappa quote “Without deviation progress is not possible.”
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