G. F.

Anerio (1567-1630) and the Roman School

Author(s): Graham Dixon
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 121, No. 1648 (Jun., 1980), pp. 366-368
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/961197
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 G. F. Anerio (1567-1630) and the Roman School
Graham Dixon

(a 6) uses thematic material derived from the plainsong of

The 350th anniversary of the death of Giovanni Francesco
the Te Deum, a verse of which serves as the title of the
Anerio' is unlikely to generate a great deal of excitement
in the musical world. Yet this does seem an appropriatemass. Despite the fact that this is not used as a cantus fir-
moment to reassess the achievement of that Roman com- mus, the long notes at the opening of the Sanctus, based
poser. In recent years the works of men such as Monte- appropriately on the plainsong of the words 'Sanctus
verdi and the Gabrielis have become reasonably well Dominus Deus Sabaoth' in the Te Deum, momentarily
known both from recordings and live performances. A less suggest such treatment. In keeping with tradition an extra
happy fate has befallen their Roman contemporaries, who voice is added in the Agnus Dei to form a canon at the 4th.
have remained in comparative obscurity. This mass is however relatively uncomplicated when con-
The textbook view of Roman music has hardly changed trasted with the Missa 'Quem dicunt homines'6 (a 5) which
since the 1940s when Bukofzer wrote that 'Whilst Venice contains two-part canons in each movement at various in-
was the centre of progress in sacred music, Rome was thetervals, and a double canon in the Agnus Dei. It is a work
bulwark of traditionalism'2 - thus stating his belief thatof great constructional skill, serving to show that such
after Palestrina Roman music had suffered from a periodsevere organization of material was not forgotten by the se-
of inertia. An examination of Anerio's works shows that cond decade of the seicento. His Missa della Battaglia7 (a
music in Rome did not cease to progress stylistically dur-4) derives its name from the harmonically unsophisticated,
homophonic music with many repeated notes which
ing the early Baroque but that, while conservative features
remained, there was a general move in favour of more ad-makes up the Gloria (ex. 1) and the Credo. The remainder
vanced styles often associated with music in the north. Ex. 1

This study will treat a number of works from his 12 S.

A. AI IVrI
liturgical publications representative of various facets of
his output. T. v
Anerio's musical training as a putto cantore under B. b-

Palestrina in the Cappella Giulia between 1575 and 1579 Et in ter-ra pax ho- m
indicates that from an early age he was familiar with the
polyphonic ecclesiastical style of the day. He seldom chose
to employ this idiom in his own works, but his reverence
for Palestrina can be seen in the publication of 1619,3 in
which he added continuo parts to three Palestrina masses.
He arranged one of these, the Missa Papae Marcelli, for of the mass, whil
four voices to bring it into line with the preferred scoring sists of smoothly
of the day.4 His own masses for four to six voices' were ad unisonum' of
published in 1614 and show the reluctance of Roman After leaving t
composers to write masses in anything but the traditional strong links wi
polyphonic style. Though published with a 'Bassus ad religious orders
organum' part these masses are traditional; based on pre- ted to the minor
existing material, save for the Missa brevis, they are the diaconate an
unified by means of head-motifs (each movement opening number of impor
with similar material) and observe the convention of apparently succ
reduced sections at the 'Christe', 'Crucifixus' and Lateran in 1603,
'Benedictus'. The large-scale Missa 'In te Domine speravi'Verona in 1608, w
Verona he publish
of 1609. In its inclusion of motets for one to three voices
'For biographical studies of G.F. Anerio see Grove 5 (1954), MGG (1949 - 51) and he shows a whole-hearted adoption of the small-scale
Dizionario biografico degli italiani (1961)
medium as pioneered by Viadana at the beginning of the
2Music in the Baroque Era (New York, 1947), 68
3Messe a quattro voci (Rome, 1619: RISM 1619')
4ed. in Two Settings of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, ed. Busch (Madison,
Wisc., 1973) 'Rome, Biblioteca Casatenense, Mus. 286
mMissarum . . . liber primus (Rome, 1614) 'Messe a quattro voci (1619)

366

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century. Though weighted in favour of two-part writing, Anerio's next publica
it was the first Roman publication to include solo motets Rome as maestro of t
among other music. Its outstandingly progressive idiom That year saw the pub
could be partly attributed to his presence in Verona where most important featu
he could have met Stefano Bernardi, a native of the town litanies themselves,
and a composer well versed in the expressive styles of the Domini Dei (a 8), the e
Veneto. Dulcis amor Iesu for soprano and bass, though not concertato. This histor
representative of the volume, shows a very advanced succession of equal-voice duets, which lead into a
response to an affective text. In setting this series of polychoral concluding section, 'ave sancta virgo'. Its
Christ-directed sentiments he used abrupt, rather man- 'Bassus ad organum' part is essential for its provision of a
nered changes of mood: while the opening phrase is long foundation for the reduced sections. Though the term
and drawn-out, 'sagittis tuis' moves forward in rising 'concertato' is not used in his other publication of 1611,
quaver runs, and 'Ah mi Iesu' is a protracted sigh, ex- Motectorum liber secundus, this contains many motets
pressed by means of poignant diminished 4ths (ex.2). which include a selection of vocal groupings, mainly in
Ex. 2 response to personification within the text. For instance,
S, in Dixerunt discipuli (a 5), which describes the appearance
te) I Ah ni le - - - - su tra
of Christ to Thomas, Christ's words are set as a soprano
Cte)
duet and Thomas's as a tenor solo. A more developed use
B.
of this idiom is found in his Ghirlanda di sacre rose of
Ah ni le -- -- -- . .su tra 1619; many of its items are sectionalized, some with as
many as six short movements. One of the most extended is
B.C. ..- Hostes Herodes (a 5) for the Epiphany which includes two
solos, a duet and sections for four and five voices, all with
(be) continuo.
In 1613 Anerio became the maestro of the small Jesuit
church of S Maria dei Monti in Rome.8 In the year of his
(he)
A,
appointment he published a further volume of mainly
small-scale motets;9 a volume of stile antico motets with
'Bassus ad organum';10 and, displaying his concern for
Clearly Anerio refused to be bound bythe convention
liturgy, a setand
of Vesper antiphons for the entire
sought rather to step forward into a new liturgical
sphereyear,of musical
Antiphonae seu sacrae cantiones.
expression far removed from that of the 1614record
A diarist's masses.
of Anerio's first sung Mass, celebrated
Even the more conservative Tres pueri for three sopranos
in the Gesfi after his ordination in 1616, indicates that
from the same volume is progressive in its usestyle
another of of
anwriting
ABB was current in Rome besides the
structure and in its chordal, vertically conceived texture.
small-scale and the concertato idioms: 1
The solo motets of the 1609 volume owe much to the style
On 7 August Giovanni Francesco Anerio celebrated his first
of the polyphonic motet. When it was reprinted
sung Mass inin
the1620
Church of Gesti ... An infinite number of
Anerio had realized his failure to exploit
peoplefully theall the musicians of Rome divided into
came to hear.
possibilities of the solo voice and rewrote all the
eight solo
choirs items
in that church; this was without a doubt a thing
in a more idiomatic style, with ornamentationnever heard
and before.
a more
Apart from
decisive use of rhythm, as in the Cantabo the eight
Domino forlitanies of 1611, Anerio himself
published nothing
soprano solo (ex.3). In spite of such innovatory writing for polychoral forces. There remains
however in manuscript
Anerio was no enfant terrible; he continually enjoyeda 12-part mass, in which Anerio
patronage from the most respectable offoreshadows the large-scale
ecclesiastical in- music of the 'colossal Baro-
stitutions. que'. Entitled Missa Constantini, 1 it clearly dates from
Ex. 3 his period at the Polish court between 1624 and 1630,
(a) i6o9 version
where he served Zygmunt III (whose wife was called
Konstancja). It is polychorally conceived with some con-
trapuntal movement in the choirs during the sections with
B.C.
Can- ta . bo Do-mi-no i can less extended texts. Reduced sections also occur, such as

(b) I620 version

8Little information is available about his time there as much material from the ar-
chives is lost.
S.
'Moiectorum ... liber tertius (Rome, 1613)
Can-ta bo Do - - mi-no In "0Sacri concentus ... liber primus (Rome, 1613)

]'G. Gigli: Diario Romano (1608-1670), ed. Ricciotti (Rome, 1958), 37

, 3 56 '2Bologna, Museo Civico, R. 29
367

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the 'Crucifixus' and the 'Benedictus' for SSAT, marked 'a
voci pari'. The basso continuo knits together the large
number of voices, by providing them with a firm basis.
Anerio died in Graz on his return journey from Poland
to Italy, and was buried there on 12 June 1630.13 He was
no isolated character among his Roman contemporaries;
in fact his use of small-scale, concertato and polychoral
writing was typical of his age, as was his retrospective use
of the prima prattica for mass composition. An examina-
'3H. Federhofer: 'Ein Beitrag zur Biographie von G.F. Anerio', Die
Musikforschung, ii (1949), 210
tion of his works forces us to abandon the notion that
Rome was impervious to progressive stylistic techniques
after Palestrina's death and to accept that, while Palestrina
was greatly revered, the idiom in which composers chose
to write was no mere imitation of the ecclesiastical style of
the previous generation. It is surely time, as we note the
350th anniversary of Anerio's death, to rediscover his
works and those of the other Roman contemporaries of
Monteverdi, which have long been overlooked and whose
historical position scholars and performers alike have
misinterpreted.

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet are giv-

ing the premieres of new quartets by the

Matthews Brothers, Composers Matthews brothers this spring: David's

no.3 at York University (7 May) and
Colin's no.1 at the Aldeburgh Festival
Christopher Rowland (7 June). Christopher Rowland is the
leader of the Fitzwilliam Quartet.

op.3 for orchestra is a complex and intense serial piece, in-

One might be forgiven for imagining that David (b 1943)
and Colin Matthews (b 1946) were twins. It is not that
fluenced by Peter Maxwell Davies. A period of dissatisfac-
their musical personalities could be confused, but rather tion and inertia followed and the only piece to emerge for
that the paths their careers have taken are remarkablytwo years was Ceres op.4 in 1972, a 'process piece' for nine
parallel even for brothers. Both had early piano lessons, instruments with an obvious debt to Steve Reich. But to
soon neglected, both read classics at Nottingham Univer- define the eclecticism is not to deny these pieces their in-
sity, and neither had formal composition lessons until dividuality. It would seem a natural development for a
they had graduated. Their teens had been a period of self-,
young composer to explore every vital path.
or rather joint, discovery: first Beethoven and Wagner, the The great leap forward for Colin Matthews came with
impact of Mahler in his centenary year, then the Secondthe Fourth Sonata op.6 which won him the 1975 Scottish
Viennese School and Stravinsky. National Orchestra's Ian Whyte Award and national
Colin Matthews spent a further two years at Not-recognition. The piece plays for 30 minutes and, although
tingham studying composition with Arnold Whittall, but 'processes' fill out its detail, its structure emerges in three
since 1969 both brothers have lived mainly in London. continuous sections represented as I, Intensification; II,
Their enthusiasm for Mahler led to an invaluable relation- Complexity; III, Simplification. It is not without
ship with Deryck Cooke, and for more than a decade they significance that the composer sub-titled the work 'Green
collaborated with him on the performing version of and Gold and Blue and White' for much of the score
Mahler's Tenth Symphony. They both took composition delights in scintillating instrumental textures. Colin Mat-
lessons, Colin with Nicholas Maw, David with Anthony thews describes its climax, 'Complexity', as a nightmare
Milner. Donald Mitchell was a great encouragement at where motifs are tossed around the orchestra in a violent
Faber, providing copying work and introducing them to maelstrom reinforced by a battery of percussion.
Britten and Tippett. Since 1972 Colin has worked with The nocturnal imagery is defined further in his Night
Imogen Holst on the collected edition of her father's Music op.10 (1976 -7) for chamber orchestra. The colours
music and was amanuensis to Benjamin Britten during the are deliberately sombre: low woodwind and brass, divided
composer's last years. David has recently published a cellos and violas with violent brass and timpani interrup-
monograph on Michael Tippett. tions, yet not unrelenting, for shafts of light (high wood-
In many ways the early 1970s were years of experimen- wind) shine through the grim lattice. The great strengths
tation for Colin Matthews, responding to diverse in- of both these orchestral pieces is that the colours and jux-
fluences and refining his own creative impulses. His Cello tapositions are always dramatically apposite, the music is
Sonata op. 1, written under the watchful eye of Maw, is a evocative without being sentimental and plangent without
controlled lyrical essay deliberately disciplining his more being excessive; and the harmonic control of serial and ex-
indulgent musical urges. By contrast, Praeludium (op.2a) treme dissonant elements is masterfully underpinned by a
for orchestra (first performed by the BBC Northern SO inlatent monotonality.
1972) is a vivid and extrovert score, full of bold brass fan- If David Matthews's development through the 1970s
fares and stirring string sonorities. The Second Sonata has not embraced so many, varied styles, it is because he
368

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