Words and Music in Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera

Author(s): Luigi Dallapiccola

Source: Perspectives of New Music , Autumn - Winter, 1966, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Autumn -
Winter, 1966), pp. 121-133
Published by: Perspectives of New Music

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/832391

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 /(6-L(0

WORDS AND MUSIC

IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN OPERA

LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA

ABOUT THIRTY years ago, when I was asked by E

whether I knew any Italian treatise describing the princip
sition of arias in Italian opera, I had to answer in the
however, I believe that there existed at least a traditio
arias, one perpetuated orally and by example.
I should like to consider here what the poetic quatrai
composer of the Italian melodrama as a basis for the
operatic forms, with specific reference to arias, ariosi, an
In La Traviata, in the scene where Alfredo reveals his
posed betrayal by Violetta, these lines occur:

Ogni suo aver tal femmina

Per amor mio sperdea:
Io cieco, vile, misero,
Tutto accettar potea.
The range of the voice in the first line is a major sixth an
major seventh. In the music, no significant metrical diffe
the two lines are evident; in the second, however, the me
tendency to move upwards. It is in the third line that th
clearly implied, and an emotional crescendo is brough
discontinuous and agitated declamation that is matched by
accompaniment. The fourth line is accompanied by a d
ment (one entirely independent of the actual musica
Ex. 1)
At this point it might be interesting to see how Verdi solved his compo-
sitional problem when the librettist expanded a quatrain by two lines. This
happens, for example, in the Quartet in Rigoletto. The Duke starts:

Bella figlia dell'amore,

Schiavo son de' vezzi tuoi,
Con un detto sol tu puoi
Le mie pene consolar.

* 121.

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

The music of this quatrain is almost precisely in a

formal scheme described above: there is no melodic difference between the
first and second lines, in both of which the melodic range is a major sixth;
a climax is reached in the third line, where the voice spans an octave, and
a diminuendo follows in the fourth line.

La Traviata (Finale secondo)

Allegro sostenuto

Alfredo - -,[r? -.I40. 1.

0 - gni suo aver tal fern - - - mi-na

per a - mor mio sper - de - - - a: Io cie-co, vi-le,

mi - - - se-ro, tut - - to ac-cet-tr po-te - -

7x

Ex. 1

Verdi also sets the two lines that the librettist has added:

Vieni e senti del mio core

II frequente palpitar,
but for the sake of the musical structure he makes his own emendation by
repeating the third and fourth lines of the stanza, so that the original six
lines have grown to eight. And although Verdi holds to the traditiona
scheme in the initial quatrain, he now feels compelled, with eight lines at
his disposal, to regard lines five and six as the climax of the two quatrains
. 122 *

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 COLLOQUY AND REVIEW

or, in other words, to treat the entire passage as a quatrain of

pairs. Indeed, while the voice in the crescendo of the first quatra
the high Ab, it goes to high Bb in the over-all climax, and the di
is accomplished with the repetition of the third and fourth lines
original quatrain.

S a, . I Lb-A

Al Bel-la fi-gliadel-l'a - mo -

co- i Bonun detto;un det-to sol tu

- lar. CVieni e sen ti delmio co - re il fre-quen -te pal- pi-

4P J^ -1 r IN, -rYI it
- tar o- - -D I on un detto,un.det-to sol tu p

pe-ne, le mie pe-ne con-so - lar.

Ex. 2

In Leonora's cavatina in Act I of II Trovatore, the text consists

ten-line stanzas. There is a structural innovation here: lines five and six
form a kind of insertion. The big emotional crescendo occurs in the pe-
nultimate line, and the diminuendo in the last.

i " ' Y F r i !

quando so-

? =,. I , I F --.a -- -
i- 48,

Ex. 3

The same ten-line construction, including the inserted fifth and

lines, is to be found in the aria "D'amor sull'ali rosee," in the last a
the same opera.
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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

I should like to reemphasize that the emotional cres

found in the third line (in a four-line stanza) or in the t
(in an eight-line stanza). It is almost too well known t
many changes in the original text of Italian operas lie
singers. Even though I am, in principle, against modi
underline a case where the modification is quite preferab
text.

In Manrico's aria "Ah si, ben mio, coll'essere" (II Trovatore: third act),
the last quatrain is repeated two times; in the printed score there is only
one change: in section A. Although the first time the highest note is Db,
the second time the climax is reached at Eb. And because of that there is
no doubt that Bb (instead of Ab) in section C is perfectly, indeed, in-
finitely more beautiful than in the original version. Unfortunately I was
not able to learn when this modification became a part of performance
practice. It is certain, in any case, that it underlines once again the im-
portance of the third section, the real keystone in the construction of the
aria in Italian opera. The performer, on his part, cannot establish the prin-
cipal tempo of the aria without taking this third section into account (Ex.
4).
The emotional crescendo is created through rhythmic animation,
through harmonic surprise, or through the upward movement of the vocal
line. Frequently, of course, the final result is achieved through the col-
laboration of two or three such elements; only rarely does a fourth, such as
a striking instrumental idea, take part. I shall return to this point later,
with reference to a passage in Otello.
Especially interesting treatment of the climax is found in "0 qual soave
brivido" in Un Ballo in Maschera: the beginning of the third pair of lines
is underlined by a fermata. In this case there is also a coda, but one which,
based entirely on word repetition, is completely independent of the poetic-
musical form of the quatrain.
Although the quotations so far have been from operas by Verdi, the
formal scheme I have described is to be found also in Rossini, Donizetti,
and Bellini. In Mathilde's aria ("Selva opaca") in the second act of
William Tell, for example, the climax is effected by harmonic means. And
the classic example of Italian melody, "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma,
completely confirms the same principle. Here, with regard to duration,
the first line contains sixteen times the unit of three eighth-notes, and the
second fifteen (including the rests, of course). The third line contains no
less than twenty-two times the same unit--and the concluding line, "senza
nubi, senza vel," only four!
Nor does Verdi abandon this traditional scheme in the works of his last
period. In evidence I adduce a single example from the first act of Otello.
The climax of the so-called "tempest scene" (where chorus and orchestra
are marked ff, tutta forza) sets the following lines:

S124

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 Manrico _ _ - dim
Ia IVOF M wig II) i l . i1

Fra que - glie-stre

A B C

C-r

CR.
Execution : .6
o - loJn ciel p
I

---
Fra qL-e- t ev

Fta que -glive-stre-miva- ne - li-ti a te.Jl pen-ster ve - rl, ver-rl, e so - lo. ctel p
Ex. 4

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

Dio, fulgor della bufera! Dio, sorriso della duna,

Salva l'arca e la bandiera della veneta fortuna!
Tu, che reggi gli astri e il Fato! Tu che imperi al mondo e al ciel,
Fa che in fondo al mar placato posi l'ancora fedel.

Here we find a greater formal variety than in the previously quoted ex-
amples. Nevertheless, one can still recognize the emotional crescendo in
the third of the quoted lines ("Tu, che reggi," etc.). It is produced after an
initial mf, by harmonic means and by two unexpected cymbal crashes on
weak beats, marked soli (i.e., "with solistic function"; see p. 26 of the full
score).
Further evidence of Verdi's intentions can sometimes be gathered by a
comparison of initial sketches with final versions. The first rough version
of "La donna e mobile" is such a sketch, obviously written in haste. In the
final version (known to us from a complete manuscript), the music for
the first and second lines corresponds with that of the first scribbled
notation. The music for the third line, however, is completely different in
the two cases; in the early version it deviates from the formal scheme. It
lacks all rhythmic excitement, there are no possibilities of harmonic sur-
prise, and its vocal line, instead of pushing upward, descends.

8F
a) b) C)

I I ' c
Ex. 5

Regardless of whether there existed a literary tradition that, consc

or unconsciously, determined the aria-form in Italian melodrama, the
certainly an immense number of closed quatrains in poetry (i.e., quat
ending with a full stop) -an immense number of rhymed quatr
Italian and French, from Dante to Baudelaire-in which the secon
merely continues the first, increasing the emotional level but litt
climax appears in the third line; and in the last, the conclusion b
diminishing intensity.
This analogy certainly deserves consideration. From numerous exam
I shall choose only a few. From Dante:
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare
La donna mia quand'ella altrui saluta,
Che ogne lingua deven tremando muta,
E gli occhi non Pardiscon di guardare.
In the following example, from Petrarca, notice the last word
third line: salita (participle of the verb salire-to ascend, to rise) a
denoting ascent.
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 COLLOQUY AND REVIEW

La bella donna che cotanto amavi

Subitamente s'6 da noi partita,
E, per quel ch'io ne speri, al ciel salita;
Si furon gli atti suoi dolci e soavi.

From Victor Hugo:

Ruth songeait et Booz dormait: l'herbe etait noire;
Les grelots des troupeaux palpitaient vaguement;
Une immense bonte tombait du firmament;
C'etait l'heure tranquille oh les lions vont boire.
Here, the descent implied by the verb tomber (to fall down) is canceled by
the adjective immense and by the noun firmament.

Finally, in Baudelaire:
C'est la mort qui console, helas!, et qui fait vivre;
C'est le but de la vie et c'est le seul espoir
Qui, comme un elixir, nous monte et nous enivre,
Et nous donne le coeur de marcher jusqu'au soir.

Notice in the third line two verbs suggesting ascent: monter (to climb
to rise) and enivrer (to enrapture) -not to speak of the noun elixir.
On the other hand, could not the melodrama-the best kind of popula
theatre-have developed, gradually and unknown to its creators, from
primitive art form of similar type? The section of the thirteenth-century
mystery play, The Play of Daniel, in which the hero explains to the King
the significance of Mane, Thechel, Phares, cannot fail to strike the hearer
by its structural resemblance to an aria in a melodrama.

Daniele I.E O p=T= Ip, , ad

Et MA -NE di - cit Do - mi -nus, Est tu - i re - gni ter -
A B

A' . 1 i/ I I-
-CKEL li- bran si - - gni - fi - cat Quae te mi-no- rem in - di -cat. PHA -
C

- REs. nec est diI -I -

I vi
(segue)
- si - o, Re

iQui sic sol-vit la --ten-ti - a Or --ne - tur ve-ste re- gi - a.

D

Ex. 6

Now, it is by no means the case that the principle of the e

climax as the penultimate section of a musical quatrain belongs e

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

to the aria in Italian opera. The same principle is at w

as well, although it functions in a different way. The fir

to mind is that of Schubert--especially Schubert in his

rather than the composer of Nacht und Triiume, which
differently. (I might note here that Alban Berg emp
mental" character of the voice in Schubert's Lieder.) Bee
be mentioned in this connection. One of the most thoro
of his use of these principles is the theme of the rondo
90. Indeed, according to Schindler, Beethoven called
versations with the Beloved." It is a dramatic scene, the
Busoni relates that an intelligent music critic, just
conceived the idea of adding words to the first viol
string quartet, and that he gave the part to a soprano t
us that, upon going into the room where the experimen
he had the clear impression "of being in the middle of
Mozart opera."
What is the origin, then, of the characteristics we
culiar to the Italian melodrama? They stem, it seem
fact that the Italian opera composers of the nineteenth
all tradition relating to purely instrumental music.
conceived the emotional crescendo in the third section of the musical
quatrain almost as the result of theatrical necessities-as a theatrical
gesture.
In evidence I adduce two examples that are almost identical in melody,
yet totally different in effect: on the one hand, a passage from Mozart's
Violin Concerto in A major; on the other, a passage from Lucia di Lam-
mermoor. In the first case, the third and fourth sections develop according
to the logic and rules of purely instrumental style; in the second, the de-
velopment of these sections obeys the demands of the stage. (See Ex. 7.)
So far, I have restricted my discussion to the structure of the aria in the
melodrama as a musical quatrain, and to the analogy between quatrains in
music and poetry. Now I should like to broaden my field and explain how
Verdi applied the same principle of organization to a large form, such as
the trio in Act II of Un Ballo in Maschera.
Let us first look at the libretto. Each singer presents a stanza of eight
lines (or rather of four couplets). In both the original and the modern
editions of the libretto, which doubtless follow the original manuscript, the
characters appear in the following order: Amelia, soprano; Riccardo, tenor;
Renato, baritone. It is rather startling to note that Verdi, in setting this
trio to music, changed the succession of male voices as fixed by the libret-
tist: he transferred the entrance of the baritone from third to second place,
and that of the tenor from second to third. This observation should help
us to realize the extraordinary clarity of purpose with which Verdi set to
work: Riccardo, the tenor, is now entrusted with the climax of the trio,
while to the three stanzas of the librettist are added a fourth and a fifth-as

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 COLLOQUY AND REVIEW

Mozart

#*ILMN FF i 1 F

A u -.4.a Ml,,, =
IIBI
A A
j I I \ r -

Co-me ro- - sa i na -ri - di - - -ta, Es sa

A tI

sta fra mor tee vi - - - ta, Io son

{Ii7rI DH! -

vin . to son

1 1 F2
gra --ta, t'a - mo, ta-mom -grata, t'a moan - or
-gra - - ta, t'a - mo, t'a- mo in - gra- ta, t'a - - - mo an - cort.

Ex. 7

a musical reprise and coda, respectively. In the reprise each singer par
pates in such a way as to repeat the words assigned him before: the so
and the baritone repeat all of the words; the tenor, only a few. Verdi
his exceptionally acute feeling for stage effect, could not fail to see tha
feeling of guilt (almost a guilt complex!) expressed by the tenor
represented the true climax of the piece.
This trio has been called "beautiful" and "magnificent." Many p
are satisfied with such characterizations. The trio will remain "beautiful"
and "magnificent" even after my attempt at structural analysis, for analysis
can take nothing away from the esthetically perfect nor, on the other hand,
can it contribute anything to the esthetically imperfect. Viewing such an
achievement as this trio-listening to it, more than a hundred years after
its appearance, with modern ears (the only ones I consider valid), and
reading it with modern eyes (again the only valid ones) -we shall become
aware of various points heretofore overlooked. Consequently, I will not
hesitate to speak of macrostructure and microstructure, although such
terms have originated only in recent years and have been employed chiefly

0 129 ?

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

in the analysis of contemporary music. I should li

famous phrase of the doctor angelicus, St. Thoma
ments of beauty: "Ad pulchritudinem tria requiruntu
nantia, claritas." Thus: integrity, or unity of the wh
or equilibrium of the parts; clarity, or expression of s
Let us now proceed to the examination of the ma
design. (See the chart on the following page.) In
of the microstructures a, b, c, d, corresponds to fou
the fifth corresponds to the eight measures of the c
the same length will be found at the end of the secon
stanzas. One should not forget, in this connection,
mentioned above, the codettas and the coda are n
libretto. They are of purely musical significance--the
words previously sung.)
Amelia: Odi tu come fremono cupi
Per quest'aura gli accenti di morte?

The voice range is D-A (with Bb di volta). The sam

the second microstructure:

Di lassil, da quei negri dirupi

Il segnal de' nemici parti.

Here the melodic line begins to swing upward: in place of the fifth D-A,
we have the fifth F-C. The third microstructure:

Ne' lor petti scintillano d'ira

E gia piomban t'accerchiano fitti

represents, as always, the apex of the first stanza. Three elements con-
tribute to this effect: the extension of the vocal range to the high F; a
dynamic crescendo followed by a decrescendo; and, as if this were not
enough, surprising accents on weak beats in two horns, violas, and cellos.
Microstructure d:
Al tuo capo gia volser la mira,
Per pieta, va, t'invola di qui

represents the conclusion of the quatrain-couplet and, compared with the

previous section, an emotional diminuendo. Amelia's high A should not
deceive us: it is basically a resolution which does not weaken in the least
the effect of the high F, the vocal climax of microstructure c. One might
even consider this high A as completely independent of the three subse-
quent A's that are repeated almost like cries of anguish (in the codetta).
(The vocal score, even in the first edition, which must be assumed to be
based on the original manuscript, shows no accent on the first A. But the
three subsequent A's and their parallels in the following stanzas are given
accents.)

S130

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 A Climax of the piec
Son colui che nel cor lo fere. d) Innocente, sfidati li avr
Or d'amore

Ah, I'amico tradito ho pur io... c)easu 561)

Che minacciano il vivere m

Traditor, congiurati
(N.B. In the son essi
orchestra La pieta)
score it Posa
reads sciagurati, not congiuratil) d,
delialetd
Signo
b)/

Va, ti salva, del popolo b vita

d) a)
d)(Baritone
Questa vita chesolo)
getti cosi C) C c) Sopran
Codetta Co
Climax of A and B ) Va, i salva, o che varco all'uscia b) Sop
(Baritone and Soprano a 2) Qui tra poco serrarsi vedra..
c*o
b)Allo scambio del detti esecrati
Ogni destra la daga brandA

a) Fuggi, fuggi, per l'orrida via c) d)

Sento l'orma dei passi spietati: Co
d) Al piett,
Per tuo capo git'invola
va, .volser la
di mira.,. b)
qui. Codetta
Climax of the first stanza. The a)
voice arrives at the high F:" dy-
namic crescendo followedbya de-
crescendo: accents on the weak
beat assigned totwolHorns, to the
Violas, and to the Violoncellos.

) Nei lor petti scintillano d'ira,

E giA piomban, t'accerchiano fitti...

b) I1 segnal dei nemici partI.

Di lassi, da quel negri dirupi -

) Odi tu come fremono cupi
Per quest'aura gli accenti di morte?

Chart 1

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

The second stanza is given to Renato, the bariton

identical to the first: the variant in the two final lines
to the necessity of arriving at the dominant at the
Nevertheless, in spite of this similarity, it should
soprano adds her own part, an octave above the bariton
sixth lines, i.e., in microstructure c. The resultant mus
is sufficient to yield a higher degree of intensity-a
emotional crescendo. (The soprano again joins the b
give greater force and luster to the words "Va, va, va"
The third stanza brings us to the climax of the entire

Traditor, congiurati son essi

Che minacciano il vivere mio?
Ah, l'amico ho tradito pur io....
Son colui che nel cuor lo feri.

Each of the microstructures a, b, c, d, corresponds here to two measures.

In contrast to the previous stanzas, where each pair of lines is linked
through the musical setting, here each individual line is marked off by
an eighth-rest. Here, then, is one element that contributes toward the
triple emotional crescendo within this section. Two more will be added.
Since the first three lines are based on A, C, and E, respectively, while the
fourth begins on F, the necessary upward swing is strictly observed.
Furthermore, the conclusions of the first three are emphasized through
highly expressive insertions ("Ah, fuggi-Ti salva-Va, fuggi") derived
from the end of the climax (microstructure c) of the first stanza.
Now, without even a rest, the tenor continues with lines five and six,
which constitute the climax of the third stanza and also of the entire trio.
After reaching the high A on the first syllable (In-nocente), the vocal
line gradually descends. This also marks the beginning of the emotional
diminuendo, both of the macrostructure and of the microstructures. (It is
the only passage in the piece that Verdi has marked poco allargando,
col canto.)
Let me now count the measures of the stanzas, in order to clarify their
proportional relations. The first comprises 24 measures; the second, 24;
the third, for dramatic reasons the briefest, 16 (there is no codetta); the
fourth, 24; and the coda, 23. On the last chord of the coda there is a
fermata; and, as we know, in Verdi's time it was customary to double
the note values to which this sign applied. Thus we can properly assign
24 measures to the coda as well. All told, then, there are 112 measures.
The tenor's line "Innocente, sfidati li avrei," the climax of the third stanza
and of the whole piece, begins exactly with m. 56 and thus stands in the
center of the entire trio. To me this seems extraordinary, the more so
since Verdi could hardly have planned such a miracle of proportions; he
must have conceived and carried it out intuitively.

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 COLLOQUY AND REVIEW

We are now approaching the conclusion of the trio. The fou

is musically identical with the first. But the first eight measure
reprise (corresponding to the first four lines of the stanza)
two voices (soprano and baritone) rather than for a single voice
and in lines five and six (climax: microstructure c) the tenor als
Thus three voices appear in the fourth stanza, corresponding
voices in the parallel passage in the second.
The concluding section of the piece consists of the 23 (+ 1)
of the coda-that is, of the sum of the measures of the three
the first, second, and fourth stanzas. This coda is a mere conclus
in character, rather ordinary. The word ordinary is not meant i
tory sense: I am simply trying to explain a dialectic and stylistic
characterizing a whole period. To deny this would be just as
to call the 29 measures of C major at the end of Beethoven's
phony "too long," or the ottava rima of Ariosto's Orlando Furios
nous," or the proportions of the Wagnerian opera "exaggerated."
Listen now, if you can, to the entire scene of which this t
culmination. Un Ballo in Maschera is the last opera that Ve
melodramma. In this scene one can find, in condensed form, ma
conventional elements of the form. But the composer's genius, t
of the dramatic accent," according to Busoni's beautiful chara
has surmounted the incredible situation, the absurd languag
syntax, the pathos of the formalistic style of the Italian melodr

S133

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