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Review: Papal Patronage under Urban VIIIAuthor(s): Iain FenlonReviewed work(s):

Music and Spectacle in Baroque Rome: Barberini Patronage under Urban VIII by FrederickHammond

Source: Early Music, Vol. 24, No. 3, Early Music from Around the World (Aug., 1996), pp. 497

498Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128264

Accessed: 07/10/2008 22:09

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Bookreviews

Iain Fenlon

Papalpatronageunder UrbanVIIIFrederickHammond,Music andspectaclen BaroqueRome:Barberinipatronageunder UrbanVIII

(Yale University Press, 1995), ?25

FrederickHammond s Music and spectacle n BaroqueRome s a welcome additionto the growingliteratureon

musicin RomeduringthepontificateofMaffeo Barberini,

who took the title of UrbanVIII in 1623.As both pontiffand the head (in both economic and political terms) of

one of the most powerful amilies n the city,Urban spat-

ronageof the arts

operatedn the

comparativelyomestic

sphereof the household and the officialenvironment of

theVatican.At the QuattroFontane, he newfamilypalaceon the slopes of the Quirinale on the city s outskirts

(illus.i), theatmospherewasone of enlightenedcultureon

the patternof the Renaissanceprince,a model advocated

by the literatureof manners and one which was, by this

time,deeplyembedded n the traditional urriculumof ar-

istocratic education. The tone is nicely caught by the

Venetianambassador,AlviseContardini,who wrote: he

[Urban]loves life; in the morning he discussespleasant

things, mainlypoetry;and he delights n hearinghis Latin

compositionsset to music . This image of the temporal

princeas the key to Urban smotivationshelps to explainhis approachnot only to the arts,but also to publicaffairs

anddiplomacy.AsLeopoldRanke erselyputsit: Clement

VIIIwasgenerallyound busiedin the studyof StBernard,

Paul V in that of Justinianof Venice;but the table of

UrbanVIII was covered with the newestpoems, or with

plansof fortifications.

Theprivate ideof thisequation,the musicaladjunct o

the newestpoems , survivesin the comparatively mall

repertoryof settings of Urban s own poetry by Vitali,

DomenicoMazzochiandKapsberger.Morefamously, t is

immortalized in Andrea Sacchi s allegoricalportraitof

Pasqualini thefavourite ingerof Urban sbrother,Cardi-

nalAntonio),castin the role of shepherdcaught n the act

of being crowned with the traditional aurelwreathby a

lyre-carryingApollo. As the direct consequencesof en-

lightenedpatronage his does not addupto much; n prac-tice it wasreallyUrban snephewCardinalFrancescowho

set both tone and styleof the Barberinimusicalestablish-

z 7 0. -, -luc -

1 QuattroFontane, he Romanpalazzoof the Barberini

ment at the QuattroFontane.Placed under the direction

of VirgilioMazzochi,this groupincludedKapsbergernd

Frescobaldi(whom Francesco skilfully retrieved from

Mediciservice).For his part,CardinalAntonio wasalso a

majorparticipant; e supported inanciallya successionof

virtuoso composer-performers,ncludingVitali, Sances,

Marazzoli and Luigi Rossi, though in practicemany of

these men divided their careersbetweena number of dif-

ferentemployments.One of the most fascinatingdetailsof

Hammond sbook, the culmination of many years work

on the Barberininterestin music, is his painstakingre-

construction of how the networksof powerfulcardinals

operated,allowingthem to achieve fine artistic(and pub-

licity-attracting)results,often for a comparatively mall

outlay.Forexample,when Frescobaldi eturned romFlo-

rence, it was through Cardinal Francesco s ntervention

that his salaryat the CappellaGiuliawas increased.Simi-

larly,StefanoLandi,who,althoughnot technicallya mem-

berof anyBarberini ousehold,servedboth Urbanandhis

nephews,was imposed on the CappellaPontificiaby the

pope as an alto castrato, his fee paid by Cardinal

Francesco; e was also givenadditionalwork at the cardi-

nal s titularchurch. As exercisesof powerthese were cer-

tainly patronalactions;whetherthey were enlightened ,

or were evenprimarilymotivatedby artisticconcerns, s a

separatequestion.The repertorial consequences of Barberini domestic

patronageof musicians, nevitablyand inextricablynter-

twined with the family s activities in other spheres of

Roman musical ife, arenotable.Nevertheless,a principalfocus of the family s nterest n the artswas theirability o

EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1996 497

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formpartof a richlyevocativelanguagecapableof under-

scoringthe advantagesand specialcharacteristics f Bar-

berini rule. No one who has steppedinside the palaceat

theQuattroFontanecan everforget heoverwhelmingm-

pressionof splendour,of magnificentia nd munificentia,characteristic rincelyvirtueswhichwere ashighlyvalued

in 17th-centuryRome astheyhad been at the court of Leo

X. At the centre of the architectural cheme, magisterialevenby Romanstandardsof the time (it involved,atvari-

ous stages,Maderno,Borromini and Bernini),stands the

centralpalacebuilding.Thisin turnhouses,at its physicalcentre, the magnificentsalone whose ceiling frescoes,byPietro da Cortona, place a relentless emphasis on the

powerand achievementsof the Barberini, ndparticularlyof Urbanhimself,guidedby DivineProvidence the dom-

inating presence of the centralpanel). Symbolicallyand

strategically lacedabove the major public receptionarea

of the palace, Cortona s complicatedand visually over-

powering allegoryprovidesa neat synthesisof a dynastic

vocabulary hat Urban s artisticadviserswere to call on

elsewhere n buildingand decorative chemesboth privateandpublic.

It was while Cortona sceiling frescoeswere still being

completedthat planswere laid to produceLandi ssacred

opera II Sant Alessio n Cardinal FrancescoBarberini s

anteroomadjoiningthe salone.The firstperformance, n

1632, was to set the pattern for subsequent Barberini

operas, not least through the employment of Giulio

Rospigliosi as librettist. Only two were published, II

Sant Alessiotselfand Erminia ulGiordano, textinspired

by Tasso s Gerusalemme iberataand set to music by

MichelangeloRossi.As Hammond astutelyremarks, the

presentationof a chivalricepic ratherthan a saint s life

reflected he secularside of the Barberiniprogram-their

pretensionsto the style of the Renaissanceprinces,their

military ambitions, and their ascension to the Roman

baronialnobility .In termsof propaganda,however, t was

IISant Alessio,xpandedwith a new prologuethat places

greatemphasison the themeof submission o thepowerof

Rome and on the old commonplaceof the triumphof the

newcityoverthe greatnessof itspaganpredecessorof clas-

sical antiquity,that received more attention. Performed

in this new version at the Quattro Fontane in 1634,the

de-luxeillustrated corewasavailablebythe followingJuly

(for the not inconsiderablesum of loo scudi, as one of

Hammond s many new archivalreferencesreveals).As a

piece of book production,the Sant Alessiocore is in the

traditionof Monteverdi sL Orfeo r, to cite an example

closer to home, the Roman La catena d Adoneof 1626.

formpartof a richlyevocativelanguagecapableof under-

scoringthe advantagesand specialcharacteristics f Bar-

berini rule. No one who has steppedinside the palaceat

theQuattroFontanecan everforget heoverwhelmingm-

pressionof splendour,of magnificentia nd munificentia,characteristic rincelyvirtueswhichwere ashighlyvalued

in 17th-centuryRome astheyhad been at the court of Leo

X. At the centre of the architectural cheme, magisterialevenby Romanstandardsof the time (it involved,atvari-

ous stages,Maderno,Borromini and Bernini),stands the

centralpalacebuilding.Thisin turnhouses,at its physicalcentre, the magnificentsalone whose ceiling frescoes,byPietro da Cortona, place a relentless emphasis on the

powerand achievementsof the Barberini, ndparticularlyof Urbanhimself,guidedby DivineProvidence the dom-

inating presence of the centralpanel). Symbolicallyand

strategically lacedabove the major public receptionarea

of the palace, Cortona s complicatedand visually over-

powering allegoryprovidesa neat synthesisof a dynastic

vocabulary hat Urban s artisticadviserswere to call on

elsewhere n buildingand decorative chemesboth privateandpublic.

It was while Cortona sceiling frescoeswere still being

completedthat planswere laid to produceLandi ssacred

opera II Sant Alessio n Cardinal FrancescoBarberini s

anteroomadjoiningthe salone.The firstperformance, n

1632, was to set the pattern for subsequent Barberini

operas, not least through the employment of Giulio

Rospigliosi as librettist. Only two were published, II

Sant Alessiotselfand Erminia ulGiordano, textinspired

by Tasso s Gerusalemme iberataand set to music by

MichelangeloRossi.As Hammond astutelyremarks, the

presentationof a chivalricepic ratherthan a saint s life

reflected he secularside of the Barberiniprogram-their

pretensionsto the style of the Renaissanceprinces,their

military ambitions, and their ascension to the Roman

baronialnobility .In termsof propaganda,however, t was

IISant Alessio,xpandedwith a new prologuethat places

greatemphasison the themeof submission o thepowerof

Rome and on the old commonplaceof the triumphof the

newcityoverthe greatnessof itspaganpredecessorof clas-

sical antiquity,that received more attention. Performed

in this new version at the Quattro Fontane in 1634,the

de-luxeillustrated corewasavailablebythe followingJuly

(for the not inconsiderablesum of loo scudi, as one of

Hammond s many new archivalreferencesreveals).As a

piece of book production,the Sant Alessiocore is in the

traditionof Monteverdi sL Orfeo r, to cite an example

closer to home, the Roman La catena d Adoneof 1626.

These volumes were not primarily ntended to facilitate

performanceof what was, after all, a unique and elitist

entertainment. On the contrary,their primary purposewas to providetestimonyto the opulence and splendourof the event itself and to virtues of the patronresponsiblefor

bringing

it into

being.

In this sense, the score of II

Sant Alessio erives at least some of its power end effec-

tiveness from its participationn a languageof self-glorifi-cation.In the end it was via opera (andthe engravingsof

feste given duringthe Roman carnival eason)rather han

throughsacred music that the Barberini ent out its mes-

sagesof dynastic superiority o the wider world. It is this

sense of the place of music within a wider context that

providesthe operatingframework or Hammond s book.

Basedon an impressivecommand not only of the Bar-

berini archivesbut also of recentscholarship n a number

of contingentfields,Music and spectaclen BaroqueRome

will need to be studied carefullyby anyone interested in

the culturalconsequencesof 17th-centuryRomanpolitics.

lain Fenlon

Trent-its place in musical historyMusicae societf nellastoriatrentina,

ed. RossanaDalmonte

(Trento:EdizioniUCT,1994),L130,000

For most readersof Earlymusic the name of Trent is

invariably ollowed by the word codices , a conjunctionthatquicklybrings o mind the largestand most important

collection of 15th-centurypolyphonicmusic to have sur-

vived. These seven manuscripts,of various origins and

datesand containinga vastrepertory panningthe first75

yearsof the century,werefirst identified(or at least six of

them were) by Haberl,who discussedthem in his classic

study of Dufaypublishedin 1885.Subsequentlyremoved

to Vienna,where they were studied by Adlerand others,

they werejoined shortlyaftertheir returnto Italyat the

end of the FirstWorldWarby a seventh manuscriptbe-

longingto the same set. Althougha greatdealof work has

been done on the Trentmanuscripts n the centuryor sosincethesepioneeringenquiries,muchremains o be clar-

ified;of the more than 1,800 compositions in the collec-

tion, of whichoverhalfaresettingsof the Ordinaryof the

Mass (Gloria settings predominate), many anonymous

worksremainto be identified,and manyvexed questions

of datingand functionpersist.

These volumes were not primarily ntended to facilitate

performanceof what was, after all, a unique and elitist

entertainment. On the contrary,their primary purposewas to providetestimonyto the opulence and splendourof the event itself and to virtues of the patronresponsiblefor

bringing

it into

being.

In this sense, the score of II

Sant Alessio erives at least some of its power end effec-

tiveness from its participationn a languageof self-glorifi-cation.In the end it was via opera (andthe engravingsof

feste given duringthe Roman carnival eason)rather han

throughsacred music that the Barberini ent out its mes-

sagesof dynastic superiority o the wider world. It is this

sense of the place of music within a wider context that

providesthe operatingframework or Hammond s book.

Basedon an impressivecommand not only of the Bar-

berini archivesbut also of recentscholarship n a number

of contingentfields,Music and spectaclen BaroqueRome

will need to be studied carefullyby anyone interested in

the culturalconsequencesof 17th-centuryRomanpolitics.

lain Fenlon

Trent-its place in musical historyMusicae societf nellastoriatrentina,

ed. RossanaDalmonte

(Trento:EdizioniUCT,1994),L130,000

For most readersof Earlymusic the name of Trent is

invariably ollowed by the word codices , a conjunctionthatquicklybrings o mind the largestand most important

collection of 15th-centurypolyphonicmusic to have sur-

vived. These seven manuscripts,of various origins and

datesand containinga vastrepertory panningthe first75

yearsof the century,werefirst identified(or at least six of

them were) by Haberl,who discussedthem in his classic

study of Dufaypublishedin 1885.Subsequentlyremoved

to Vienna,where they were studied by Adlerand others,

they werejoined shortlyaftertheir returnto Italyat the

end of the FirstWorldWarby a seventh manuscriptbe-

longingto the same set. Althougha greatdealof work has

been done on the Trentmanuscripts n the centuryor sosincethesepioneeringenquiries,muchremains o be clar-

ified;of the more than 1,800 compositions in the collec-

tion, of whichoverhalfaresettingsof the Ordinaryof the

Mass (Gloria settings predominate), many anonymous

worksremainto be identified,and manyvexed questions

of datingand functionpersist.

498 EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 199698 EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1996