Joti Rockwell
Music 250
4-27-97
NOTE: To use the linked musical examples, the reader must use Marenzio "Madrigaux `a 5 voix" for the "Crudele acerba" examples and "Luca Marenzio: Baci soavi e cari" (cd 1515) for the "Fuggito `e 'l sonno" examples.
The Italian poet Petrarch is well known for his use of the "vulgar tongue"; though many of his
compositions were in Latin he worked primarily in Italian. His humanistic approach to poetry would later
manifest itself musically when Renaissance composers wrote in a personally expressive style. As the
composers of the High and Late Renaissance sought to convey human emotion with their music, there was
a general increase in the amount of attention given to text. This study describes various ways in which the
affect of a text is conveyed musically by Renaissance composers. Through an investigation of musical
techniques in different settings of Petrarch's sestina "Mia benigna fortuna...", one can observe how grief
and despair can be illustrated with modifications and deviations of Zarlinian counterpoint.
Petrarch's double sestina "Mia benigna fortuna" was written after Laura, a woman whom he loved
obsessively, died of a plague in 1348. Though she was married for as long as Petrarch knew her, he
coveted her and repeatedly displayed his affection to her. She always resisted his efforts since a scandalous
affair would have ruined both of their names. When she died, his "grief was extreme"- his deep love for
her could only then be satisfied upon his death [Campbell lxviii]. "Mia benigna fortuna...", one of
Petrarch's most famous poems, describes his yearning for death and makes specific mention of Laura. The
tone of the sestina is personal and its grievous, melancholy affect is strikingly evident to the reader.
In his book La Institutioni Harmoniche of 1558, Gioseffo Zarlino presents methods by which
sorrowful texts such as "Mia benigna fortuna" can be set to music. He states that:
"In so far as he can, he [the composer] must take care to accompany each word in such a way that, if it denotes harshness, hardness, cruelty, bitterness, and other things of this sort, the harmony will be similar, that is, somewhat hard and harsh, but so that it does not offend. In the same way, if any word expresses complaint, grief, affliction, sighs, tears, and other things of this sort, the harmony will be full of sadness." [Strunk 257]
His explicit mention of the connection between words and music suggests a type of expressive musical
language analogous to the vulgar language of Petrarch. Still, Zarlino is careful to insist that composers stay
within the rules of harmony and counterpoint that he sets out; if they don't, their music will be offensive
and even "barbaric". Zarlino goes on to mention specific harmonies that have different emotive
connotations:
"Wishing to express effects of the first sort, he will do best to accustom himself to arrange the parts of his composition so that they proceed with such movements as are without the semitone ... allowing the major sixth or thirteenth, which are naturally somewhat harsh, to be heard above the lowest tone of the concentus ... But wishing to express effects of the second sort, he will use (always observing the rules that have been given) such movements as proceed by the semitone or semiditone or in some other similar way, often taking above the lowest tone of his composition the minor sixth or thirteenth, which are naturally soft and sweet, especially when they are combined in the right ways and with discretion and judgment." [Strunk 257]
Without suggesting a tonal language; that is, major and minor chords and their connotations, Zarlino
makes a connection between major intervals and harsh affect, and minor intervals and "soft" emotions.
These connections follow from the uses of the tone B in hexachords- Bb is "mol" which means soft and B
natural is "dur" which means hard. Zarlino makes this connection not only in terms of the consonances
formed by the notes, but also by the dissonances formed as a result of stepwise motion. He says that
"accidental intervals"- intervals that contain sharps or flats- can serve to express his second category of
expression.
Concerning the treatment of rhythm and syntax, Zarlino states:
"... as to the observance of the rhythms, the primary consideration is the matter contained in the words ... if it is mournful, we ought to proceed with slow and lingering movements. ... [the composer] ought to take care to use the rest of the minim or semiminim (whichever suits his purpose) at the head of the intermediate points of the speech, for these have the force of commas, while at the head of the periods he may use whatever quantity of rest he chooses, for it seems to me that when the rests are used in this manner one may best distinguish the members of the period from one another and without any difficulty hear the perfect sense of the words." [Strunk 258-259]
From these comments one can again observe the importance Zarlino places on text. His specific discussion
of the use of rests illustrates his mentality that lyrics should be set within the confines of a clearly defined
musical style.
By taking into account the general aspects of Zarlino's style, one can formulate the following approach
to a musical setting of "Mia benigna fortuna..." Harmony in the piece should represent both the harsh and
melancholy aspects of the text and should thus incorporate both the major and minor sixth intervals. The
grievous nature of the text can be illustrated with semitone movement, such as phrygian cadences, and the
rhythm of the piece should be slow and deliberate. The harmony should contain carefully controlled
dissonances that result from stepwise motion and resolve to consonances; many of these dissonances
should include sharps or flats to portray the languid nature of the text. Lastly, rests and cadences should be
used in such a way as to clearly represent the syntax of the poem.
In his Madrigali a cinque voci ... libro primo of 1546, the Flemish composer Jacquet de Berchem sets
to music "Fuggito è `l sonno..." , the sixth verse of Petrarch's "Mia benigna fortuna...". Berchem's
madrigal is in general accord with Zarlino's ideas of text setting. The madrigal conveys the grief of the
poem without any jarring dissonance or irregular rhythms. The continuity between the styles of Berchem
and Zarlino is not particularly surprising since the two share a common influence: Berchem is associated
with Willaert's circle of composers in Venice and Zarlino was a pupil of Willaert.
As Zarlino suggests, Berchem's "Fuggito è `l sonno..." contains some examples of the minor sixth
being formed with the bass, such as in measure 21 with the quintus, measures 47 and 53 with the cantus,
and measures 45 and 51 with both the quintus and the tenor. A more frequently occurring interval with the
bass is the minor third, though. This interval, which also connotes grief and lamentation, forms between
the lowest voice and another voice in every measure of the piece except for measures 1, 25, and 57. A
minor third is not to be expected in these measures anyway, since there is no bass voice in measure 1 and
measures 25 and 57 contain picardy thirds. Berchem's constant use of these minor intervals suggests that
he was more concerned with portraying the sorrow of the text than conveying cruelty.
Berchem's setting also agrees with Zarlino's guidelines in that it has a slow rhythm- the piece consists
mostly of breves, semibreves, and minims. Melodic lines often move by semitone such as in the phrygian
cadences at measure 3, 9, 16, 21, 36, and 43. Also, Eb often forms "accidental intervals" with C such as
in measures 23, 24, 47, and 53-56. Though it does play an important role in the madrigal, Eb is the only
accidental in the work. Berchem clearly delineates the syntactic structure of the text by use of cadences;
there is either a phrygian, plagal, or traditional cadence at the end of each poetic line. Two plagal cadences
with picardy thirds are used to end each half of the six-line stanza.
Though Berchem's setting of "Fuggito è `l sonno..." clearly exhibits an connection between music
and textual affect, it is perhaps not in the same humanistic spirit that characterizes Petrarch's expression of
the poem itself. From the standpoint of late Renaissance compositional practice, Berchem's adhesion to
rigid formalisms results in a literal translation of the text rather than an independently expressive
representation of it. Had Petrarch failed to seek a personally expressive language to portray this text, he
likely would have written the sestina in Latin, which could scarcely have conveyed the dramatic emotion
that Petrarch's Italian does. The techniques used by composers in pieces later than Berchem's illustrate text
on many levels and give the pieces musical qualities specific to the composer.
Cipriano de Rore, another student of Willaert, strays from the conventional practice of Zarlino and
Berchem. Rore's style exhibits an increasing emphasis on the semantics of text and his treatment of
dissonance is not as restricted to that of Berchem. Alfred Einstein says of Rore, "What he wants is the
word, in its most forceful expression; for this reason his writing is in principle polyphonic, but even in his
polyphony he retains his freedom. With him there is no regularity of imitation: he is the opposite of a
formalist" [Einstein 395].
In order to portray the various emotive elements of the first two stanzas of "Mia benigna fortuna...",
Rore uses musical devices that both incorporate and violate Zarlino's "rules". Like Berchem, Rore uses
minor sixths (measures 66, 71, 75, 78, 82, 84) and minor thirds (measures 2, 7, 9, 10, 12, etc.) for a
feeling of melancholy. He also uses the major sixth to represent harshness and cruelty, but instead of
having it as a harmonic interval, he introduces it in the tenor line at measure 30 and uses the leap as a
motive through the beginning of the next section. The major sixth is certainly not suggested by Zarlino for
a melodic figure and many composers of Rore's time considered the interval to be "forbidden" [Roche 57].
The leaping major sixth is not merely a compositional accident for Rore. He first uses it on the words
"hate life" which certainly imply the harshness that the interval gives. He also uses the interval to begin the
next section of music, which contains the second stanza of the sestina. The major sixth appears on the
word "cruel." By using the interval at the end of one section and the beginning of another, Rore subtly
illustrates the syntax of the sestina. The stanzas of the sestina are connected by the rhyme scheme- the
ending word of the last line of the first stanza is the same as the ending word of the first line of the second
stanza. Similarly, Rore links the stanzas musically by having the same motive for the first word of the last
line of the first stanza and the first word of the first line of the second stanza. This approach of Rore's is
different from those that Zarlino outlines; Zarlino wants composers to clearly divide the musical phrases
with cadences and rests in order to clearly convey the text. Though Rore does not treat the syntax of the
text in this fashion, he conveys the structure of the words with motivic material in the first and second
sections.
Rore's use of chromaticism is fairly consistent with Zarlino's guidelines; his use of rhythm is not.
There are many accidentals in the piece; measures 57, 76, 78, and 84 contain both chromatically altered
and unaltered notes (such as C# and C natural in the same measure). These accidentals convey both the
languid and the cruel nature of the text. Whereas Zarlino suggests slow, constant rhythm, Rore varies the
rhythm tremendously in his setting of "Mia benigna fortuna...". Though it is clearly different than
Berchem's use of rhythm, Rore's treatment gives special reference to the semantics of the text. For
example, the nearly homophonic rhythms at measure 12 give a sense of stasis that corresponds to the
words "tranquil nights." The 3/4 section with quickly moving lines in measures 6 and 8 is used with the
words "my life, so happy." The levity of the melodies connotes the happy life and starkly contrasts the
harsh dissonant passages to follow. This is precisely the kind of contrast implicit in Petrarch's text.
The Petrarchian texts set by Berchem and Rore were also set by Luca Marenzio. Marenzio, known for
his "pastoral" style, exhibits a darker, more personally expressive style in his later works. He said in a
dedication of one of his late books that the pieces were "composed in a manner very different from my
former one in that through the imitation of the words and the propriety of the style I have sought a sort of
melancholy gravity that will perhaps be prized the more highly by connoisseurs" [Brown 357]. Like Rore,
Marenzio strays from Zarlino's rules of composition. Still, Marenzio's musical treatment is quite true to
Petrarch's texts and exhibits a humanistic quality similar to that of the texts themselves.
Marenzio's setting of "Crudele Acerba", the second stanza from Petrarch's sestina, contains musical
passages that are easily as dark and grievous as the textual ones. The minor sixth is used very deliberately
by Marenzio to give the work a languid effect and to leave the listener unfulfilled. For example, the piece
begins by forming a minor sixth between the two sopranos (example 1 ). Marenzio also leaves his first
major cadence at measure 24 incomplete by having the bass drop down a third instead of a fifth; the
interval formed between the soprano 1 and bass at this point (example 2 ) is a minor sixth.
The use of rhythm in "Crudele acerba" is generally consistent with Zarlino's prescription; it is for the
most part regular and slow. The exception occurs at measure 64 (example 3 ) on the words "cannot turn
into rhymes"; here the rhythm moves more quickly. Although this may not be generally in line with the
cruel, acerbic nature of the text, it illustrates the contrast between "heavy sighs" and "rhymes". The
harmony in the piece contains many accidentals- the C# in the alto part at measure 5 is striking because it
forms an augmented third with the soprano 1. These accidentals often correspond with semitone
movement, such as in measure 42 in the bass (example 4 ) and measure 64 in the tenor (example 3 ).
Marenzio's setting of "Fuggito è `l sonno" is different from that of Berchem. Although it also uses the
G-dorian mode, its harmony and use of dissonance is less conventional than Berchem's. As in the Rore
piece, accidentals exist in close proximity to unaltered tones, such as in measure 82 (example 5 ) and
measures 19-20. Marenzio will deny complete cadences to the listener such as in measure 93 (example 6 )
where the alto has a rest instead of the resolution of the cadence on D. He does not do this as much as he
did in "Crudele acerba"; there are many completely resolved cadences in "Fuggito è `l sonno", such as
measures 11 and 49.
In some ways, Marenzio's "Fuggito è `l sonno" conforms to Zarlino's rules. It has a fairly steady,
slow rhythm to it, though words are occasionally painted such as "sing" in the bass in measure 41.
Marenzio generally follows the syntax of the poem; a cadence exists to separate most of the lines of the
poem. A notable exception occurs at measure 74 (example 7 ), in which the soprano avoids a cadence by
leaping a fourth. The most surprising feature of Marenzio's harmony occurs at measure 103 (example 8 ),
where the soprano and tenor 1 form parallel tritones- this jarring dissonance would have been strongly
discouraged by Zarlino and it certainly does not exist in Berchem's setting. Ironically, it occurs on the
word "happy", as if to insist that the general sentiment of the piece is bitter and grievous. The only
possible origin for this dissonance occurs in measures 77-80 (example 9 ), where the alto forms a tritone
with the soprano for the first two measures and the tenor 2 and the soprano form a tritone a step down for
the next two measures. Marenzio's harmony may break Zarlino's rules, but it is this very deviance that
serves to convey the sentiment of the text; it is thus a "dissonant text" that gives rise to dissonant music.
Rore and Marenzio do not take the conventional approach to text setting that Berchem does. Unlike
Berchem, they break Zarlino's rules of melody, harmony, and rhythm, giving their pieces less of a sense
of fluid cohesion. Still, they break Zarlino's rules purely to illustrate the text; the unique compositional
devices discussed in this paper surely would not exist if the pieces did not have underlying texts. By
expanding upon conventional guidelines, Rore and Marenzio exhibit individual musical styles. Like
Petrarch's style, the expressive methods of Rore and Marenzio convey affect on a personal level; thus,
Rore and Marenzio can be considered humanists as Petrarch was.
Bibliography
Campbell, Thomas. The Sonnets, Triumphs, and other Poems of Petrarch. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, London 1859.
Strunk, Oliver. Source Readings in Music History. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. New York 1950.
Einstein, Alfred. The Italian Madrigal. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1949.
Roche, Jerome (editor) Flower of the Italian Madrigal. Galaxy Music Corporation, New York 1988.
Roche, Jerome (editor) Introduction to the Italian Madrigal. Galaxy Music Corporation, New York 1989.
Marenzio, Luca. The Secular Works. edited by Steven Ledbetter and Patricia Myers. Broude Brothers Limited, New York 1977.
Berchem, Jachet de. Madrigali a cinque voci- libro primo. edited by Jesse Ann Owens. Garland Publishing, New York 1993.
Brown, Howard M. Music in the Renaissance. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1976.
Marenzio, Luca. Ten Madrigals, for mixed voices. edited by Denis Arnold. Oxford University Press, London c. 1966.