Companion to Baroque Music by Julie Anne SadieReview by: Carolyn GianturcoNotes, Second Series, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Jun., 1993), pp. 1431-1433Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/899374 .

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Book Reviews Book Reviews

ing several aspects of Parisian liturgical and musical practice while she is at it. "The Notation of Fractio modi," by Norman E. Smith, is a meticulous study of a vexed aspect of modal notation; it proffers sig- nificant new arguments concerning the re- lationship between sine littera and cum littera castings of the "same" musical lines. In "Rhythm in Early Polyphony," Richard L. Crocker explores some of the musical ele- ments involved in the generation of a rhythmic flow in polyphony before the ad- vent of the modal system in the latter part of the twelfth century. Assuming that "we have everything we need of a documentary nature [to address the question of rhythm in early polyphony] or at least, given the conditions of early polyphony, everything we could reasonably expect" (p. 147), Crocker takes the hypothesis of an isosyl- labic recitation of medieval chant as the point of departure for his inquiry, explor- ing the applicability of this declamatory principle to the polyphony of St. Martial and the Codex Calixtinus, including their more florid settings. He finds interesting remnants of such a mode of performance in the earliest layers of Notre-Dame orga- num. His conclusions do, in fact, explain a number of seemingly anomalous situa-

ing several aspects of Parisian liturgical and musical practice while she is at it. "The Notation of Fractio modi," by Norman E. Smith, is a meticulous study of a vexed aspect of modal notation; it proffers sig- nificant new arguments concerning the re- lationship between sine littera and cum littera castings of the "same" musical lines. In "Rhythm in Early Polyphony," Richard L. Crocker explores some of the musical ele- ments involved in the generation of a rhythmic flow in polyphony before the ad- vent of the modal system in the latter part of the twelfth century. Assuming that "we have everything we need of a documentary nature [to address the question of rhythm in early polyphony] or at least, given the conditions of early polyphony, everything we could reasonably expect" (p. 147), Crocker takes the hypothesis of an isosyl- labic recitation of medieval chant as the point of departure for his inquiry, explor- ing the applicability of this declamatory principle to the polyphony of St. Martial and the Codex Calixtinus, including their more florid settings. He finds interesting remnants of such a mode of performance in the earliest layers of Notre-Dame orga- num. His conclusions do, in fact, explain a number of seemingly anomalous situa-

tions in the organa, not just in the melis- matic organum purum, but also in the more strictly modally conceived tripla. And, al- though Crocker does not consider this as- pect of the repertory at any length, his con- clusions bear on the interpretation of conductus rhythm in no small measure as well.

Two articles discuss aspects of style in ars nova France and trecento Italy: Sarah Full- er's "Modal Tenors and Tonal Orientation in Motets of Guillaume de Machaut," and Kurt von Fischer's "Text Underlay in Landini's Ballades for Three Voices." Two others reconsider long familiar questions: Alexander Blachly, "Some Observations on the 'Germanic' Plainchant Tradition," and Shai Burstyn, "The 'Arabian Influence' Thesis Revisited." Finally, Anne Bagnall Yardley examines "The Marriage of Heaven and Earth: A Late Medieval Source of the Consecratio virginum." (This carefully edited volume, with excellent plates and nicely engraved music examples, has the identical format and page disposition in its Current Musicology form.)

EDWARD H. ROESNER

New York University

tions in the organa, not just in the melis- matic organum purum, but also in the more strictly modally conceived tripla. And, al- though Crocker does not consider this as- pect of the repertory at any length, his con- clusions bear on the interpretation of conductus rhythm in no small measure as well.

Two articles discuss aspects of style in ars nova France and trecento Italy: Sarah Full- er's "Modal Tenors and Tonal Orientation in Motets of Guillaume de Machaut," and Kurt von Fischer's "Text Underlay in Landini's Ballades for Three Voices." Two others reconsider long familiar questions: Alexander Blachly, "Some Observations on the 'Germanic' Plainchant Tradition," and Shai Burstyn, "The 'Arabian Influence' Thesis Revisited." Finally, Anne Bagnall Yardley examines "The Marriage of Heaven and Earth: A Late Medieval Source of the Consecratio virginum." (This carefully edited volume, with excellent plates and nicely engraved music examples, has the identical format and page disposition in its Current Musicology form.)

EDWARD H. ROESNER

New York University

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

Companion to Baroque Music. Com- piled and edited by Julie Anne Sadie. Foreword by Christopher Hogwood. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991. [xviii, 549 p. ISBN 0-02-872275-2. $50.00.]

The rather curious format of Julie Anne Sadie's Companion to Baroque Music, once it is understood, proves both logical and practical. She has wisely decided that the period should not be approached so much chronologically as according to its various aspects and problems, and that these must be understood first and foremost geo- graphically. "Places and People," "Baroque Forces and Forms," and "Performing Prac- tice Issues" are therefore the main divisions of the book.

The "curious" aspect is in the first sec- tion. As Sadie says in her introductory "A Short Explication," she has "attempted to present music and musicians in terms of

Companion to Baroque Music. Com- piled and edited by Julie Anne Sadie. Foreword by Christopher Hogwood. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991. [xviii, 549 p. ISBN 0-02-872275-2. $50.00.]

The rather curious format of Julie Anne Sadie's Companion to Baroque Music, once it is understood, proves both logical and practical. She has wisely decided that the period should not be approached so much chronologically as according to its various aspects and problems, and that these must be understood first and foremost geo- graphically. "Places and People," "Baroque Forces and Forms," and "Performing Prac- tice Issues" are therefore the main divisions of the book.

The "curious" aspect is in the first sec- tion. As Sadie says in her introductory "A Short Explication," she has "attempted to present music and musicians in terms of

their social, temporal, and topographical contexts" (p. xv), and to this aim offers essays (on "Places") in alternation with re- lated biographical entries (on "People"). She believes that "by isolating traditions of music-making-composers and their proteges-within a geographical hierarchy, we can make a fresh set of comparisons" (p. xvi), which in turn "also points up the phenomenon of 'centres of excellence'- violin making in Cremona, brass instru- ment making in Nuremberg, organ build- ing in North Germany, publishing in Amsterdam and London, singing in Fer- rara, Florence and Mantua, string playing in Bologna, Milan and Paris, and opera in Venice, Naples, Dresden and Hamburg" (p. xv). The "places" she has singled out are the usual (Italy, France, Northern Europe, Central Europe) as well as the not-so-usual in books on Baroque music (the British Isles, the Low Countries, the Iberian pen- insula and its New World colonies), and

their social, temporal, and topographical contexts" (p. xv), and to this aim offers essays (on "Places") in alternation with re- lated biographical entries (on "People"). She believes that "by isolating traditions of music-making-composers and their proteges-within a geographical hierarchy, we can make a fresh set of comparisons" (p. xvi), which in turn "also points up the phenomenon of 'centres of excellence'- violin making in Cremona, brass instru- ment making in Nuremberg, organ build- ing in North Germany, publishing in Amsterdam and London, singing in Fer- rara, Florence and Mantua, string playing in Bologna, Milan and Paris, and opera in Venice, Naples, Dresden and Hamburg" (p. xv). The "places" she has singled out are the usual (Italy, France, Northern Europe, Central Europe) as well as the not-so-usual in books on Baroque music (the British Isles, the Low Countries, the Iberian pen- insula and its New World colonies), and

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NOTES, June 1993

she has assigned each essay to a specialist of that area: Michael Talbot provides "An Italian Overview"; Sadie herself con- tributes "Paris and its Environs"; Geoffrey Webber writes on "German Courts and Cit- ies"; Susan Wollenberg on "The Austro- German Courts"; Peter Holman on "Pri- vate and Public Music" (in the British Isles); Louise K. Stein on "The Spanish and Por- tuguese Heritage." I believe these are the best historical-geographical overviews I have ever encountered, and they indicate how fully aware musicologists are today of the need to explore the background of a society-not only in general but also in suf- ficient detail with regard to its politics, re- ligion, and economics-in order to evaluate its music. In these relatively brief essays (ten to fifteen pages each), musical tradi- tions are of necessity treated broadly, though the authors adduce specific exam- ples by way of documentation. Composers are mentioned here mainly in connection with genres since more specific features are given in the biographical entries; one ex- ception is Jean-Baptiste Lully, about whom Sadie writes at length, but then the history of French Baroque music is so often syn- onymous with Lully that it would have been impossible to exclude him.

Together with the results of recent re- search by the authors themselves-and by previous scholars called upon to support traditional points of view-one also finds less familiar insights in these essays, such as Stein's comments that "the full-blown European Baroque style reached Spain as a self-conscious importation or adaptation, not as the invention of native artists," and grandiose court productions "were Ba- roque in their effect, although their music was not especially 'Baroque' in character" (p. 330); and as Holman's provocative af- firmation (followed up in a convincing de- fense) that "mid- 18th-century England probably had the richest musical life of any European country at the time" (p. 261). Each essay is furnished with a helpful map of the area discussed.

Biographical entries by Sadie follow each essay. They are given according to appro- priate region or city, and include "those composers and musicians who flourished [in that place] during the period 1600- 1750"; occasionally "Itinerant Musicians" appear in a separate entry. For the most

part they are written in a lively style, with- out the dryness that can result when space demands brevity. Of course it is impossible to verify all the biographical data, but the details I have checked have proven accu- rate. Only in the case of Alessandro Stra- della did I find the usual and incorrect "legend-biography" (including an errone- ous birthdate) that since 1982 I have tried to correct ("Alessandro Stradella: A True Biography," The Musical Times 123 [1982]: 756-58; "La famiglia Stradella: Nuovi doc- umenti biografici," Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana 16 [1982]: 456-66; Cantatas by Alessandro Stradella. The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century [New York: Garland, 1987]; with Nino Pirrotta, "Alessandro Stra- della," Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti [Turin: UTET, 1988]; with Eleanor McCrickard, Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682): A Thematic Catalogue of His Compositions [Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pen- dragon Press, 1991]).

In the second section of Companion to Ba- roque Music, "Baroque Forces and Forms," there are three essays. The initial one is exceptional for two reasons. First, because it addresses "Voices," a subject enormously important in a period whose music all grew out of the desire recitar cantando and yet one frequently bypassed except for a few token lines on the castrato. Second, because the author, Nigel Rogers, is so knowledge- able and understands the subject as a re- searcher, singer, teacher, and conductor of Baroque music. "Instruments" are the sub- ject of the next essay by Jeremy Montagu, again a specialist, the curator of The Bate Collection of Historical Instruments in Ox- ford. He offers very clear technical descrip- tions of Baroque instruments and thereby makes a complicated subject accessible. Sandra Mangsen writes on "Forms and Genres," rendering her broad knowledge especially of instrumental music and its lit- erature most evident. It would have been useful to have shown the extremely close connection that exists between poetic form and musical form in vocal music (and this would have encouraged her, for example, not to continue to associate the da capo form with Alessandro Scarlatti but to see it, rather, as an offshoot of a refrain struc- ture in poetry that was mirrored in the music of many-and earlier-composers). Her music examples are sufficiently long

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Book Reviews Book Reviews

enough both to allow one to understand her points and also to realize what the mu- sic itself is like.

The last section of the book is dedicated to "Performing Practice Issues." It too has three essays, opening with Howard Schott on "National Styles"-a difficult subject ad- mirably covered. However, of necessity, what he writes overlaps with the essays on instruments, voice, ornamentation, and au- thenticity. One understands the need to in- clude the subject separately, but perhaps allowing Schott to do a longer and more thorough exposition would have been bet- ter. "Ornamentation" is David Fuller's contribution to this section. With humor and experience he explains that although "the naked score must somehow be fash- ionably clothed" (p. 417) one cannot always be sure how. He then interprets Pier Francesco Tosi's treatise on vocal music, going on to indicate the many problems that still perplex performers of instrumen- tal Baroque music.

The last contribution to the Companion is Stanley Sadie's excellent "The Idea of Au- thenticity." He admits that "authenticity must in the last resort always be elusive" (p. 435) and discusses the problems one en- counters when searching for it with regard to text, notation, ornamentation, basso con- tinuo, the size of forces, the instruments and voices themselves, and so forth. He also provides a brief overview of the history and aesthetic of the "authenticity move- ment." Sadie ends on an optimistic and en- couraging note for those tired of the strug- gle. He is certain that "the appeal of hearing the music as the composer in- tended it is a powerful one" and that the search for adequate expressive and tech- nical means to do so is "one of the most exciting and horizon-widening develop- ments in late-20th-century music-making" (p. 445).

The succeeding pages offer a useful year-by-year chronology related to the "Places and People" section of the book, in which significant musicians' births, deaths, appointments, and the like are listed and where, under a city or region, details of important publications, first performance, and so forth are given. A "Selective Bib- liography of Recent Books in English" con- cludes the volume, balancing Christopher Hogwood's foreword at the other end.

enough both to allow one to understand her points and also to realize what the mu- sic itself is like.

The last section of the book is dedicated to "Performing Practice Issues." It too has three essays, opening with Howard Schott on "National Styles"-a difficult subject ad- mirably covered. However, of necessity, what he writes overlaps with the essays on instruments, voice, ornamentation, and au- thenticity. One understands the need to in- clude the subject separately, but perhaps allowing Schott to do a longer and more thorough exposition would have been bet- ter. "Ornamentation" is David Fuller's contribution to this section. With humor and experience he explains that although "the naked score must somehow be fash- ionably clothed" (p. 417) one cannot always be sure how. He then interprets Pier Francesco Tosi's treatise on vocal music, going on to indicate the many problems that still perplex performers of instrumen- tal Baroque music.

The last contribution to the Companion is Stanley Sadie's excellent "The Idea of Au- thenticity." He admits that "authenticity must in the last resort always be elusive" (p. 435) and discusses the problems one en- counters when searching for it with regard to text, notation, ornamentation, basso con- tinuo, the size of forces, the instruments and voices themselves, and so forth. He also provides a brief overview of the history and aesthetic of the "authenticity move- ment." Sadie ends on an optimistic and en- couraging note for those tired of the strug- gle. He is certain that "the appeal of hearing the music as the composer in- tended it is a powerful one" and that the search for adequate expressive and tech- nical means to do so is "one of the most exciting and horizon-widening develop- ments in late-20th-century music-making" (p. 445).

The succeeding pages offer a useful year-by-year chronology related to the "Places and People" section of the book, in which significant musicians' births, deaths, appointments, and the like are listed and where, under a city or region, details of important publications, first performance, and so forth are given. A "Selective Bib- liography of Recent Books in English" con- cludes the volume, balancing Christopher Hogwood's foreword at the other end.

In sum, Companion to Baroque Music is now the best text on the period for spe- cialists and novices alike, as well as a useful guide for enthusiasts. There has long been need of a "better" book than those cur- rently available: Manfred Bukofzer's Music in the Baroque Era (New York: Norton, 1947) is thoroughly outdated; Claude Palis- ca's Baroque Music (3rd ed. [Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991]) is too short; Lorenzo Bianconi's Music in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), in addition to confining itself to a century rather than to a period, dis- cusses only Italian vocal music. Sadie's ap- proach to the task, not alone but in com- pany with others, proves itself exemplary. Moreover, the volume is attractive, is en- hanced with thirty illustrations, and is not prohibitively priced. Another commenda- tion: it does not waste time on that un- fruitful discussion about whether one should use the term "Baroque" with regard to music.

CAROLYN GIANTURCO Universitd degli Studi di Pisa

Observations on the Florid Song. By Pier Francesco Tosi. Translated by Mr John Ernest] Galliard. Edited with ad- ditional notes by Michael Pilkington. London: Stainer & Bell, 1987. [x, 93 p. ISBN 0-85249-674-3 (pbk.). $16.50.]

A History of Bel Canto. By Rodolfo Celletti. Translated by Frederick Ful- ler. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. [218 p. ISBN 0-19-313209-5. $59.00.]

Pier Francesco Tosi's treatise originally appeared in Italian in 1723 as Opinioni de'cantori antichi e moderni, and John Ernest Galliard's translation of it came out in 1742; there is, further, a facsimile of its second English edition of 1743 that dates from 1926 (London: William Reeves). Michael Pilkington justifies its reemergence in these terms: "This treatise should ... be regarded as an authoritative guide to the late 17th and early 18th century in all mat- ters of embellishment and interpretation: to the baroque style proper. It is the sing- er's equivalent of C. P. E. Bach's The True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments ... and Quantz's On Playing the Flute.... Most

In sum, Companion to Baroque Music is now the best text on the period for spe- cialists and novices alike, as well as a useful guide for enthusiasts. There has long been need of a "better" book than those cur- rently available: Manfred Bukofzer's Music in the Baroque Era (New York: Norton, 1947) is thoroughly outdated; Claude Palis- ca's Baroque Music (3rd ed. [Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991]) is too short; Lorenzo Bianconi's Music in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), in addition to confining itself to a century rather than to a period, dis- cusses only Italian vocal music. Sadie's ap- proach to the task, not alone but in com- pany with others, proves itself exemplary. Moreover, the volume is attractive, is en- hanced with thirty illustrations, and is not prohibitively priced. Another commenda- tion: it does not waste time on that un- fruitful discussion about whether one should use the term "Baroque" with regard to music.

CAROLYN GIANTURCO Universitd degli Studi di Pisa

Observations on the Florid Song. By Pier Francesco Tosi. Translated by Mr John Ernest] Galliard. Edited with ad- ditional notes by Michael Pilkington. London: Stainer & Bell, 1987. [x, 93 p. ISBN 0-85249-674-3 (pbk.). $16.50.]

A History of Bel Canto. By Rodolfo Celletti. Translated by Frederick Ful- ler. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. [218 p. ISBN 0-19-313209-5. $59.00.]

Pier Francesco Tosi's treatise originally appeared in Italian in 1723 as Opinioni de'cantori antichi e moderni, and John Ernest Galliard's translation of it came out in 1742; there is, further, a facsimile of its second English edition of 1743 that dates from 1926 (London: William Reeves). Michael Pilkington justifies its reemergence in these terms: "This treatise should ... be regarded as an authoritative guide to the late 17th and early 18th century in all mat- ters of embellishment and interpretation: to the baroque style proper. It is the sing- er's equivalent of C. P. E. Bach's The True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments ... and Quantz's On Playing the Flute.... Most

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