The Acoustic Analysis of Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza

In the history of theatre buildings, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza by Andrea Palladio is often regarded as the archetype of the evolution of spaces for drama and music in modern European culture. Even within the specific subject of architectural acoustics, the Olympic Theatre represents a sort of symbolic beginning of a new era, since the main idea which led to its realisation, that is, the transformation of the Greco-Roman theatre into a closed volume, started to pose problems that had previously been unknown or neglected due to the completely different sound-propagation processes experienced in the open-air theatres of antiquity. This chapter focuses on the recent campaign of acoustic measurements carried out by the author in the Teatro Olimpico. Among the results discussed are the long reverberation time and low clarity, which make the hall more suitable for music than speech.

Queen Christina of Sweden as a Patron of Music in Rome in the Mid-Seventeenth Century

Following her abdication, Queen Christina of Sweden took up residence in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome from 1655. She had already developed a keen interest in music, gained from tuition from a French dancing master, and playing the star role in the ballet The Captured Cupid in honour of her mother's birthday in 1649. Christina's arrival in Rome was marked by performances in her honour in the Palazzo Barberini and Palazzo Pamphili of specially commissioned works by contemporary composers Marco Marazzoli and A.F. Tenaglia, and by her favourite Giacomo Carissimi. Inspired by the chamber music proportions of the cappella of the Collegio Germanico, many of Carissimi's secular arias were composed for his royal Swedish patron. After two years in France, Christina returned to Rome, where she took up residence in the Palazzo Riario on the Janiculum. Inventories record her musical instruments and describe the contents of the Great Hall in which concerts were held.

Caccini’s Stages: Identity and Performance Space in the Late Cinquecento Court

Celebrated performer Giulio Caccini's life as a court musician throws light on the ways in which the soloist formulated and reformulated his/her own identity in order to fit within each of the spaces used for music. Tracing the documented performances associated with Caccini, one can map them onto a continuum of spaces from the most public to the most private. Caccini's successful passage into the more intimate spaces required him to re-form himself as the inheritor of the century-old tradition of the intimate vocal improvvisatori, a stylistic and physical transformation that was, in a sense, his life's work. This performative conception of his musical work is a potent reminder of the ambiguous status of solo song at the beginning of the Seicento, perched between the abstract space of the printed score and the traditional space of the court chamber.

Spaces for Music in Sixteenth-Century Paduan Courts

This chapter is dedicated to a particular culture relating to the way one might ideally lead one's life in line with ancient practices and views. The trend in question, which developed in Padua in the first half of the Cinquecento, was promoted by such humanists as Pietro Bembo, Alvise Cornaro and Marco Mantova Benavides. Exceptional connoisseurs of the mores and values of antiquity, these intellectuals personally supervised and directed the building of their homes. Following the model of Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, the complexes of these Paduan residences comprised dwelling areas, pavilions, large gardens and the installation of fountains, statues and rare plants. Inspired by literary sources, the ideal of recreating the ‘ancient’ way of life, in which music played a crucial role, was revived.

The Lute: An Instrument for All Seasons

During the sixteenth century in Italy, the lute became the most important musical instrument in secular settings, whether as a solo instrument or for voice accompaniments and ensembles. By the early seventeenth century, the growth of monody encouraged the addition of neck extensions to strengthen the bass lines, eventually leading to the introduction of the theorbo or chitarrone. While these larger instruments became popular in theatres and even churches, the traditional lute, with an increased number of courses, remained the pre-eminent solo instrument within smaller, more intimate spaces, especially in France.

Women on the Edge: The ‘Saletta delle Dame’ of the Palazzo Salvadego in Brescia

Form and content give rise to the question of function in the Saletta delle Dame of the Palazzo Salvadego. It is a uniquely decorated space in which frescos cover the four walls, treating the viewer to an all-round vista of the countryside. Mediating between illusion and reality are eight life-size depictions of women in contemporary dress, whom, set in pairs behind a fictive balustrade, focus their attention towards the centre of the room. In the vaulted ceiling are painted musical instruments, suggesting a possible use for this space. The decorative effect is unlike any other room from this period. This chapter explores the imagery of the Saletta and considers its function within the broader context of frescoed Italian Renaissance rooms.

Music in the French Domestic Interior (1500–1600)

This chapter considers music-making and the material culture of music in the French domestic interior (1500–1600) with the primary aims of outlining the field; discussing the context for entertaining, particularly in châteaux; as well as investigating the kind of music-related objects found in houses. Châteaux and other élite domestic settings often housed vibrant households, with music as a key part of inhabitants' leisure activities. From services in the chapel to banquets in the great hall, music was a common feature of privileged life. The chapter falls into two halves. First, it discusses the use of inventories in investigating music in châteaux, looking at the range of documents available dating from the sixteenth century, their limitations and, finally, the evidence they offer. Secondly, it takes the grande salle as a case study and examines the use of music as entertainment in this space.

Introduction: Music-making in Domestic Space

The introduction sets the forthcoming chapters in the broader context of musical life in Early Modern France and Italy, with reference to existing scholarship on the subject. The occasions and locations in which musical performance took place are outlined, and the scope of the book is defined, stressing the close connections between France and Italy. A growing number of studies of secular music-making consider the social and ideological framework for performance, but usually without serious consideration of architectural settings. Yet these were crucial to the acoustic quality of the performance, for both players and listeners. The chapter therefore underlines the need for an interdisciplinary approach, to establish the background for the study of the emergence of the permanent theatre.

‘With tempered notes, in the green hills and among rivers’: Music, Learning, and the Symbolic Space of Recreation in the Manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, α.F.9.9

How did the frottola inhabit Renaissance palazzi? One almost recoils from placing this unsophisticated music within the system of austere symbols that aristocratic interiors had to convey. This apparent contradiction, however, may offer precious insights on the status of music at the turn of the sixteenth century. This chapter describes the layout and content of a Paduan frottola source, MS Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Alpha.F.9.9, and the context in which it originated. The contrast between the highly learned framework and the more vernacular content of this manuscript arguably reflects the tension between humanistic standards required of music and a secular repertory just beginning to adjust to a new role. Only later would music be able to develop the vocabulary for a fruitful dialogue with literary and artistic humanism.

The Role of Music in the Venetian Home in the Cinquecento

This chapter considers the role of music and dance in the definition of identity by families and individuals in Renaissance Venice, with particular reference to the use of domestic space for music-making. The integration of music into its social and architectural context is discussed in terms of the class identity of different groups. The contexts range from domestic entertainment to family festivities such as marriages. The chapter goes on to explore the kinds of music-making in different spaces in the Venetian dwelling, in terms of the size and loudness of the instrument; the type of music performed; and the size, function and decoration of the room. During the sixteenth century, increasingly specialised rooms were created for music-making, often linked to theatrical performance and/or dance. In parallel, the employment of professional musicians by elite families began to supersede amateur participation on important festive occasions.