Monteverdi was commissioned to set to music Rinuccini's "Lamento d'Arianna" for the celebration of the wedding of the Duke's son. Even though he had been very sick and back in his father's house in Cremona to rest, he completed the opera in 1608. Unfortunately, all of the opera but Ariadne's lament is lost. Then in 1614, Monteverdi completed a five-voice madrigal setting of the same verse, and published it in the Sixth Book of Madrigals. Even though madrigals were considered out of date by 1614, "Lamento d'Arianna" for five voices is a masterpiece in which the new ideas developed in the monody is reworked back into a madrigal setting. Tomlinson claims that "a musical speech of unprecedented oratorical eloquence" (p. 125) is created in Ariadne's lament for a solo voice by "subtler melodic formulas attuned to fleeting poetic parallelisms," "declamatory rhythms [that] are loosened to approach more closely the changing cadence of stylized stage speech," "dissonances and unexpected harmonic turns. . .embodied as Monteverdi seeks more and more incisive emotional characterization," "flexible sequences [and] an array of repetitive structures to convey an equally wide rang of poetic formulations" (pp. 124-25). Of all these techniques, I will focus on the last one, on Monteverdi's use of sequences and repetitive structures to reflect the parataxis in Rinuccini's verse, and see how Monteverdi translates the musical language for solo voice into one for polyphony.
In verses 4 and 5 of the first section, for solo voice, he makes the parataxis into a sequence. Emotion in verse 5 is heightened by the bigger leap of perfect fifth instead of perfect fourth, and the longer note value of dotted half and a quarter note for "gran mar-" instead of dotted quarter and an eighth for "dura" (mm. 11-14, p. 161: example 1). In the five-voice setting, the first time verse 4 is set, the alto has the melody, but at fifth below the original pitch (mm. 4-8, p. 2: exapmle 2). Both verses 4 and 5 start with one voice singing the first four notes, and then the other voices enter: this happens again for the second time the verse appears. The second time, Soprano has the melody at original pitch. After the first voice starts the verse, all the remaining four voices enter, thus making the phrase more dramatic. Overall, in effect, Monteverdi has set the paratactic verses 4 and 5 into four steps of emotional heightening in the five-voice setting, instead of two steps in solo-voice setting.
Monteverdi makes use of the number of voices to reflect the heightening of emotions in Rinuccini's verses. The verses of interest are included in verses 1 through 6 of the second part.
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1 O Teseo, o Teseo mio, |
Oh, Theseus, oh my Theseus-- |
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2 sì che mio ti vo'dir, ché mio pur sei, |
for I still call you mine, since mine you are |
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3 benché t'involi ahi crudo, agli occhi miei; |
although you steal away (cruel!) from my eyes-- |
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4 volgiti, Teseo mio, |
turn back, my Theseus, |
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5 volgiti, Teseo, o dio! |
turn back, Theseus, (oh, God!), |
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6 volgiti indietro a rimirar colei . . . |
turn back to look again at her . . . |
In the solo-voice setting, verse 1 of the second part is set to a sequence (mm. 1-3, p. 162: example 3). In the polyphonic setting, (aside from the obvious fact that Monteverdi integrates the solo melody into the canto line,) each sequence is made into an imitation (mm. 1-6, p. 4: exapmple 4). The first "O Teseo" is made into two points of imitation, and the next "o Teseo mio" is made into five points of imitation. Each time, the voice that starts the phrase has the melody in the original pitch, and then the canto comes in later with the melody in the original pitch. Thus we hear the original melody twice. Similarly the sequence of verses 4-5 in the polyphonic setting, is made more intense by the increased number of points of imitations (mm. 11 (p. 5)- 3 (p. 6): example 5). In verse 4, Monteverdi uses two points of imitation, and in verse 5, five points of imitation, and each time, we hear the melody twice, once in the voice entering first and then in canto. When Monteverdi integrates the sequence of a solo melody into a polyphony, he does so by using imitation in each sequential phrase, with the second phrase with more points of imitation. Thus he heightens the impact of the phrases. "O, Dio" also comes in at five different points in time. This time just a quarter note after the previous one, and then they become homophonic at "Dio" (mm. 1-3, p. 6: example 6). Within verse 5, he heightens the emotion toward the exclamation by shortening the time between the entrances of voices.
Monteverdi repeats verse 6 in the five voice setting (mm. 3-9, p. 6: example 7). The first time, only three voices sing, with the quinto voice singing the melody starting on b' rather than on e", with a varied interval. The second time, all five voices sing, with the canto singing the melody at the original pitch. Although Monteverdi keeps the same harmonic structure (in both settings, the bass moves from F# (D major sonority) to E (E major sonority)), he varies the speed of declamation of the verse. Canto has the melody, with "-die-" syllable of "indietro" , and "-le-" of "colei" elongated. All the other voices have "-die-" syllable shortened to a dotted eighth note. There is a contrast of note values: one is made longer, and the others are shortened. The repetition of verse 6, which is not in the solo-voice setting, is given an crescendo effect by the increased number of voices.
In the parallel structure of verses 12-13, Monteverdi uses a sequence in the solo-voice setting (mm. 2-3, p. 163: example 8).
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12 se tu sapessi, o Dio |
if you knew, o God |
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13 se tu sapessi, ohimè! come s'affanna |
if only you knew, alas, how troubled |
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14 la povera Arianna, |
is your poor Arianna |
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15 forse, forse pentito |
perhaps, perhaps repentant |
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16 rivolgeresti ancor la prora al lito |
you would turn your prow back towards these shores |
He makes verse 13 more dramatic than verse 12 by starting verse 13 on a higher note, and using a bigger leap for "ohimè." "O dio" in verse 12 gets a leap of diminished fifth, and "ohimè" in verse 13 gets a leap of minor seventh. In the polyphonic setting, Monteverdi uses the same melody in canto. The melody reaches the highest point in verse 13, but the overall texture is thinned down toward verse 16 (mm.7 (p. 8) - 9 (p. 9): example 9). Verse 12 has five voices, then in the first half of verse 13, bass drops out, then alto drops out in the second half, then tenor in verse 15. Monteverdi achieves the decrescendo effect by using not only the melodic shape, but also the number of voices.
In verse 17 through 24 of the polyphonic setting, Monteverdi gives the paratactic phrases (vv. 17-18, 19-21, 22-24) a crescendo effect by making the phrases more homorhythmic than the one before (mm. 9 (p. 9)-end of p. 11: example 10).
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17 Ma con l'aure serene |
But with gentle breezes |
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18 tu te ne vai felice et io qui piango; |
you happily depart, while I weep here; |
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19 a te prepara Atene |
for you Athens prepares |
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20 liete e pompe superbe, et io rimango |
happy festivities in splendor, while I remain here |
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21 cibo di fere in solitarie arene; |
on there deserted shores, the prey of wild beasts; |
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22 te l'uno e l'altro tuo vecchio parente |
you shall happily clasp to your breast |
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23 stringerà lieto et io |
both your aged parents, while I |
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24 più non vedrovvi, o madre, o padre mio. |
shall never again see you, O Mother, o my Father |
Verse 17 starts in three points of imitation, verse 19 in two, and verse 22 starts homorhythmically. In verse 23, "ed io. . ." also starts homorhythmically.
Just by looking at the first two sections of the lament of Ariadne, it is clear that Monteverdi makes use of the five voices to dramatize the already very dramatic lament. While the pitch of the melody and the harmonic structure of the lament stay the same in polyphonic setting, Monteverdi achieves the dramatizing effect by increasing or decreasing the points of imitations and the number of voices.