traditions were gratefully followed, even late into the 17th, by a few loyal disciples, whose line closed with Gregorio Allegri, in 1652. These, however, were but the last devoted lovers of an Art which ceased to live within a very few years after the death of the gifted writer who brought it to perfection. With the age of Palestrina, the reign of true Polyphony came to an end. But it took firm root, and bore abundant fruit, during his lifetime, in many distant countries; and the Schools in which it was most successfully cultivated were those which most carefully carried out the principle of his great reform.
VII. The Flemish descent of The Venetian School is even more clearly traceable than that of its Roman sister; notwithstanding the well-known fact that Italian Musicians were employed in the service of the Republic, long before the time of Dufay. For, though the Archives of S. Mark's prove the existence of a long line of Organists, stretching back as far as the year 1318, when the office was held by a Venetian, described as Mistro Zuchetto,[1] we meet with no sign of the formation of a School, before the third decad of the 16th century, by which time the Art of the Low Countries had made its mark in every city in Europe. This circumstance, however, reflects no discredit upon the earlier virtuosi, whose extempore performances upon the Organ, though famous enough in their day, left, of course, no permanent record behind them. Even the first Maestro di Cappella, Pietro de Fossis—a Netherlander, of high reputation, who was presented with the appointment, together with that of Master of the Choristers, in 1491—seems to have been less celebrated as a Composer, than as a Singer. At any rate, since no trace of his productions can now be discovered, either printed or in MS., the title of the Founder of the School justly devolves upon his successor, Adriano Willaert, than whom a stronger leader could scarcely have been found. Born, at Bruges, in 1480[2] and received as a pupil, first, by Okenheim, and afterwards, in Paris, by Josquin des Prés—or, as some imagine, by Mouton—this great representative of Flemish genius succeeded De Fossis, as Maestro di Cappella, in 1527, and, during thirty-five years of unwearied industry, enriched the Library of S.Mark's with a magnificent repertoire of Masses, Motets, Psalms, Canticles, and other Ecclesiastical Music, besides delighting the world with innumerable Madrigals, Canzonets, and other sæcular pieces, among which his 'Villanellæ Neapolitanæ,' à 4, stand almost unequalled for prettiness and freedom. His style presents all the best characteristics of the Later Flemish School, tempered by a rich warmth which was doubtless induced by his long residence in the most romantic city in the world. Unfortunately, though many volumes of his works were published during his lifetime, but few have been reproduced in modern Notation. A Motet, à 4, will, however, be found at p. 474, vol. ii. of Hawkins's History. [See Willaert.]
Willaert's successors in office were, Cipriano di Rore, who held the appointment from 1563 to 1565; Zarlino, (1565–1590); Baldassare Donati, (1590–1603), and the last great Master of the School, Giovanni dalla Croce, who was unanimously elected in 1603, and died, after five years service, in 1609. These accomplished Musicians, together with Andrea Gabrieli, who played the second Organ from 1566 to 1586, and his nephew, Giovanni, who presided over the first from 1585 to 1612, proved themselves faithful disciples of their venerable leader, cultivating, to the last, a style which combined the rich Harmony of the Netherlands with not a little of the melodic independence which we have described as peculiarly characteristic of the best Roman period. Upon this was engrafted, in the finest examples, a certain tenderness of manner, in which Croce, especially, has scarcely ever been surpassed. Still, it is always evident that the harmonious effect is the result of the Composer's primary intention, and not, as in the greatest works of the Roman School, of the interweaving of still more important melodic elements; a feature which is well illustrated by comparing the extract from the 'Missa Papæ Marcelli,' given at vol. ii. page 230, with the following fragment from Andrea Gabrieli's 'Missa Brevis.'
VIII. THE EARLY FLORENTINE SCHOOL, though far less important than that of Venice, is not destitute of special interest. A gorgeous MS., once the property of Giuliano de' Medici, and still in excellent preservation, contains Compositions by no less than seven Florentine Musicians of the 14th century. Many works of antient date are also extant, in the collections of Petrucci, and other early printers. The beauties of these are, however, entirely forgotten, in those of the more celebrated School, founded by Francesco Corteccia, who, in the earlier half of the 16th century wrote some excellent Church Music, and a number of beautiful Madrigals, the style of which differs, very materially, from that cultivated in other parts of Italy, assimilating, indeed, far less closely to the character of the true Madrigal, than to that of the Frottola—a lighter kind of composition, more nearly allied
- ↑ One of Mistro (=Magister) Zuchetto's successors, Bernardo di Stefanino Murer, who held the appointment from 1445 to 1459, is accredited with the invention of the Pedal-board. (See Caffi, i. 62.) Ambros calls him Bernhard der Deutsche, and gives 1470 as the date of his discovery (iii. 433).
- ↑ Or, according to Ambros, in 1490.
