Music and poetry in seventeenth century Rome: Settings of the canzonetta and cantata texts of Francesco Balducci, Domenico Benigni, Francesco Melosio, and Antonio Abati

This study develops three themes. It sketches a cultural history of Rome from approximately 1620 to 1660, investigates the background of the principal genres of vocal chamber music, canzonetta and cantata, and explores the relationship between music and text in settings of works by the four poets listed in the title. Chapter 1 sketches the intellectual world of early Seicento Rome. It recounts how in the 1620s circumstances conspired to reconcile Counter-Reformation Catholicism with innovations in science, philosophy, and literature, and how a new wave of repression in the early 1630s ended this reconciliation, with chilling consequences for the rest of the century. The chapter closes with a look at the place of vocal chamber music in seventeenth-century Rome. Chapters 2 and 3 explore the canzonetta, a strophic poetic genre popularized by Gabriello Chiabrera around 1600. Chapter 2 shows how Chiabrera\u27s dialogues on the canzonetta, written after trips to Rome in the 1620s, are related to the city\u27s cultural ferment, and how they help us understand the relation between music and poetry in settings of such texts. I emphasize how Chiabrera and others argued that the genre was suitable for a wide range of expression. Chapter 3 grounds these observations with specific examples, showing how the poetry of Francesco Balducci and Domenico Benigni was used by composers in sensitive and varied settings. Chapters 4 and 5 provide an analogous look at the cantata. Chapter 4 explores the background of the genre, clarifying the difficult issues surrounding its origins and terminology, and uncovering relationships between it and other literary and musical genres. Chapter 5 looks at specific examples, turning to settings of poetry by Benigni and Francesco Melosio. The extravagances of Melosio\u27s style and their larger implications are dealt with in Chapter 6. It examines the dialogues and satires of Antonio Abati, who criticized the shortcomings of music and musical poetry, showing how his musical poetry avoids the imperfections he decried. I end with a look at larger issues, showing how Abati anticipated the wide-ranging critiques of Italian culture that were to appear in the second half of the seventeenth century