In his Fifth Book of Madrigals, printed in 1599, Monteverde grew bolder; and, thrusting the time-honoured laws of Counterpoint aside, struck out for himself that new path which he ever afterwards unhesitatingly followed. With the publication of this volume began that deadly war with the Polyphonic Schools which ended in their utter defeat, and the firm establishment of what we now call Modern Music. In 'Cruda Amarilli'—the best-known Madrigal in this most interesting series, we find exemplifications of nearly all the most important points of divergence between the two opposite systems, not excepting the crucial distinctions involved in the use of the Diminished Triad, and the unprepared Dissonances of the Seventh and Ninth:—
Some modern writers, including Oulibicheff, and Pierre Joseph Zimmermann, have denied that these passages exhibit any novelty of style but they are in error. Up to this time, Sevenths had been heard only in the form of Suspensions, or Passing-Notes, as in 'Stracciami pur il core.' The Unprepared Seventh—the never-failing test by which the Antient School may be distinguished from the Modern, the Strict Style from the Free—was absolutely new; and was regarded, by contemporary Musicians, as so great an outrage upon artistic propriety, that one of the most learned of them—Giovanni Maria Artusi, of Bologna—published, in the year 1600, a work, entitled 'Delle imperfettioni della moderna musica,' in which he condemned the unwonted progressions found in 'Cruda Amarilli,' on the ground that they were altogether opposed to the nature of legitimate Harmony.[1] To this severe critique Monteverde replied, by a letter, addressed 'Agli studiosi lettori,' which he prefixed to a later volume of Madrigals. A bitter war now raged between the adherents of the two contending Schools. Monteverde endeavoured to maintain his credit by a visit to Rome, where he presented some of his Ecclesiastical Compositions to Pope Clement VIII. But, much as his Church Music has been praised by the learned Padre Martini, and other well-known writers, it is altogether wanting in the freshness which distinguishes the works of the Great Masters who brought the Roman and Venetian Schools to perfection. Laboured and hard where it should have been ingenious, and weak where it should have been devotional, it adds nothing to its author's fame, and only serves to shew how surely his genius was leading him in another, and a very different direction.
Monteverde succeeded Ingegneri as Maestro di Capella at the Ducal Court, in the year 1603. In 1607, the Duke's son, Francesco di Gonzaga, contracted an alliance with Margherita, Infanta of Savoy; and, to grace the Marriage Festival, the new Maestro produced, in emulation of Peri's 'Euridice,' a grand serious Opera, called 'Arianna,' the text of which was supplied by the Poet, Rinuccini. The success of this great work was unprecedented. It could scarcely have been otherwise; for, all the Composer's past experience was brought to bear upon it. The passionate Dissonances, which had corrupted the Madrigal, and were destined, ere long, to prove the destruction of the Polyphonic Mass, were here turned to such good account, that, in the scene in which the forsaken Ariadne laments the desertion of her faithless lover, they drew tears from every eye. No possible objection could be raised against them, now. The censures of Artusi and his colleagues, just though they were, would have lost all their force, had they been directed—which, happily, they were not—against Vocal Music with Instrumental Accompaniment. The contrapuntal skill necessary for the successful development of true Church Music would have been quite out of place, on the Stage. Monteverde's bitterest enemies could scarcely fail to see that he had found his true vocation, at last. Well would it have been for Polyphonic Art, and for his own reputation, also, had he recognised it sooner. Had he given his attention to Dramatic Music, from the first, the Mass and the Madrigal might, perhaps, have still been preserved in the purity bequeathed to them by Palestrina and Luca Marenzio. As it was, the utter demolition of the older School was effected, before the newer one was built upon its ruins: and Monteverde was as surely the destroyer of the first, as he was the founder of the second.
'Arianna' was succeeded, in 1608, by 'Orfeo,' a work of still grander proportions, in which the Composer employs an Orchestra consisting of no less than thirty-six Instruments—an almost incredible number, for that early age. As no perfect copy of 'Arianna' has been preserved to us, we know little or nothing of the instrumental effects by which its beauties were enhanced. But, happily, 'Orfeo' was published, in a complete form, in 1609, and again re-issued, in 1615; and, from directions given in the printed copy, we learn that the several Instruments employed in the Orchestra were so combined as to produce the greatest possible variety of effect, and to aid the dramatic power of the work by the introduction of those contrasts which are generally regarded as the exclusive product of modern genius.
- ↑ 'Che siano cose diformi dalla natura et proprietà dell' harmonia propria et lontane dal fine del murica, ch' è la dilettatione.'
