A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Monodia

by William Smyth Rockstro

MONODIA. (From the Gr. μόνος, single, and ὀδή, a Song.) A term applied, by modern critics, to music written in what is sometimes called the Homophonic Style: that is to say, music, in which the Melody is confined to a single part, instead of being equally distributed between all the Voices employed, as in the Polyphonic Schools.

The rise of the Homophonic School was extraordinarily rapid. Soon after the death of Palestrina, in the year 1594, it sprang suddenly into notice; and, without having previously passed through any of the usual stages of gradual development, at once began to exercise an irresistible influence upon the progress of Art.

Giov. Battista Doni tells us, that, at the celebrated réunions which took place in Florence, about the close of the Sixteenth Century, at the house of Sig. Giov. Bardi de' Conti di Vernio, 'Vincenzo Galilei was the first who composed songs for a single voice': and, that Giulio Caccini, (detto Romano), 'in imitation of Galilei, but in a more beautiful and pleasing style, set many canzonets and sonnets written by excellent poets'; and sang them 'to a single instrument, which was generally the theorbo, or large lute, played by ^[1]Bardilla.' [See Caccini, Giulio.] The success of these early efforts was so encouraging, that the inventors of the Opera and the Oratorio were content to write the whole of their Recitatives, and even the rudimentary Arias with which they were interspersed, with no richer accompaniment than that of an exceedingly simple figured bass, in which we soon find indications of the unprepared discords first introduced by Monteverde. The use of these discords inevitably led to the repudiation of the Antient Ecclesiastical Modes, in favour of the modern Major and Minor Scales; and, these scales once established, the new system was complete. No doubt, unisonous vocal music, with little or no accompaniment, had been heard, in the Canzonetta, Villanella, and other forms of national melody, ages and ages before the birth of Galilei; and that the recognition of what we now call the 'Leading Note' as an essential element of Melody was no new thing, may be gathered from the words of Zarlino, who, writing in 1558, says 'even Nature herself has provided for these things; for, not only those skilled in music, but also the Contadini, who sing without any Art at all, proceed by the interval of the semitone'—i.e. in forming their closes. Nevertheless, whatever may have been the popular practice, it is certain that the Polyphonic Style alone had hitherto been taught in the Schools. We must understand, therefore, that those who met at the house of Bardi, though undoubtedly the first to introduce this simple music to real lovers of Art, were not its actual inventors. The latent germs of the Monodic Style must have been present wherever National Melody existed.

The following example, from Caccini's 'Nuove Musiche' (Venezia, 1602), will shew the kind of effect contemplated by the Count of Vernio's enthusiastic disciples. We need scarcely say, that the figure 14, under the last D, in the last bar but one, indicates a Dominant Seventh: but, before this Canzonetta was published, Monteverde had already printed his Fifth Book of Madrigals; he would not, therefore, be robbed of any portion of the credit universally accorded to him, even if it could be proved—which it cannot—that the Discord, in this instance, was not intended to appear as a Passing-note. The Seventh on the E, in the third bar, is, of course, a Suspension, written in strict accordance with the laws of antient counterpoint. [See Monteverde, Claudio.]

Poor as this seems, when compared with the delightful Madrigals it was intended to supplant, it nevertheless already shews traces of a new element, destined to work one of the most sweeping revolutions known in the history of Art. In exchange for the contrapuntal glories of the Sixteenth Century, the Composers of the Seventeenth offered the graces of symmetrical form, till then unknown. The idea was not thrown away upon their successors. Before very long, symmetrical form was cultivated in association with a new system, not of counterpoint, as it is sometimes erroneously called, but of part-writing, based upon the principles of modern harmony, and eminently adapted to the requirements of instrumental music: and, thus, to such slight indications of regular phrasing, reiterated figure, and prearranged plan, as are shewn in Caccini's unpretending little Aria, we are indebted for the germ of much that delights us in the grandest creations of modern Genius. [See Form, Harmony, Opera, Oratorio.]

[ W. S. R. ]

1. Giov. Batt. Doni. Op. Omn. Firenze, 1763. Tom. ii.