Benedetto Pallavicino
Encyclopedia
Benedetto Pallavicino was an Italian
composer and organist of the late Renaissance
. A prolific composer of madrigal
s, he was resident at the Gonzaga
court of Mantua
in the 1590s, where he was a close associate of Giaches de Wert
, and a competitor of his considerably more famous contemporary Claudio Monteverdi
.
He was born in Cremona
in either 1550 or 1551. While little is known about his early life, a mid-17th century document by Cremonese writer Guiseppi Bresciani indicates he served as an organist at several churches in the Cremona region while young, and it is possible he studied with Marc' Antonio Ingegneri, the same man who was the teacher of Monteverdi. His older brother Germano was also a prominent local organist. The Gonzaga family employed Benedetto at Sabbioneta beginning in 1579 and probably lasting until 1581, first as a singer, and in 1583 he began service with the Gonzagas in Mantua, a musical center of immense importance in the last decades of the 16th century; he stayed there for the rest of his life. While there he associated with some of the most famous composers of the last two decades of the 16th century, people such as Giaches de Wert, Francesco Soriano
, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
, Francesco Rovigo
, Alessandro Striggio
, and Claudio Monteverdi. His relationship with Monteverdi, in particular, was to become one of considerable animosity.
A letter of 29 October 1583, preserved in the Biblioteca Comunale in Mantua, is the earliest surviving documentation of his service to the Gonzaga family. While in their service – first for Guglielmo Gonzaga, and then for Vincenzo, when Guglielmo died in 1587 – he made periodic trips to Venice in an official capacity, to examine singers at St. Mark's, and to supervise musical publications (since Venice was the center of music printing at the time, and other cities such as Mantua depended on their services). In 1589, likely dissatisfied at his low pay at the Gonzaga court, Pallavicino began seeking other employment, such as the position of maestro di cappella at Verona Cathedral
; he was, however, unsuccessful, as the position went to Giammateo Asola
.
In 1596, on the death of renowned composer Giaches de Wert
, he was finally appointed to the premier musical position in the Gonzaga establishment, the maestro della musica, a position he was to retain until his own death in 1601, at which time it was given to Claudio Monteverdi, his most bitter rival. The preference of Pallavicino over Monteverdi for the post is unsurprising, considering that Monteverdi at the time had none of Pallavicino's popularity, and was only in his twenties, while Pallavicino was in his mid-forties; and Pallavicino had served the Gonzaga family for a long time. That considerable animosity existed between the two composers has been inferred from contemporary writings, particularly the exchange of letters following Giovanni Artusi
's famous attacks on Monteverdi's style in 1600 and 1603, as well as the habit both men had of taking madrigals written by the other, and "improving" them.
In his later years, for which documentation is scant, he received support from the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona, an organization founded about sixty years before, with whom many other earlier composers had been associated, including prominent musicians such as Jan Nasco
, Vincenzo Ruffo
and Marc' Antonio Ingegneri, the teacher of Monteverdi. In September 1601 there is a note in the Mantuan archives indicating that Pallavicino pleaded for a debt to be forgiven, as he had children to support, and many other debts, and he died in the next month. His death certificate lists "fever" as the cause, and his age at death as 50, thus establishing his birth year as either 1550 or 1551. According to Alfred Einstein, he spent the last years of his life as a monk of the Camaldolese
order of Benedictines.
Benedetto Pallavicino had a son named Bernardino; the similarity of their names, and apparent continuation of Benedetto's publishing activities, caused many musicologists to believe he lived well into the 17th century, until the discovery of his death notice, which gave a precise date. His son was a monk of the Camaldolese order of San Marco, and published several volumes of his father's work posthumously, including his seventh and eighth book of madrigals.
Unlike Monteverdi, for whom it was a defining characteristic of his polyphonic madrigals, Pallavicino generally ignored the possibilities for dramatic characterization inherent in the texts he set, especially in his earlier books. This was the period in which the precursors of opera were being written, and one of the prominent madrigalian trends was to take dialogue, monologue, or straight narrative texts and set them with appropriate characterization. In this respect he was a conservative. Yet he also experimented with unprepared dissonance in precisely the way which Artusi so fiercely criticized Monteverdi – and remained on the list of composers which that famous reactionary critic considered to be exemplars of correct polyphonic practice – but most likely because Artusi had never heard his last books of madrigals.
The ten books of madrigals show a gradual absorption of the styles of other composers in the orbit of the courts of Mantua and Ferrara, particularly Wert. In the first book, Pallavicino wrote mostly in an imitative style similar to that of previous generations of composers, and related to the polyphonic style of sacred music. By the fourth book, Pallavicino was experimenting with sudden and extreme contrasts of texture rhythm, devices later taken to an extreme in the works of Carlo Gesualdo
, but seen earlier in Wert. The influence of Luzzasco Luzzaschi
is also evident in this book, particularly in the virtuosic writing for high female voices, including ornamentation and voice exchange
techniques reminiscent of the music being composed for the famous three singers, the Concerto delle donne
, of Ferrara.
It is in his sixth book of madrigals, published in 1600, the year traditionally (and arbitrarily) marking the end of the musical Renaissance, that his shift to the new style of the seconda pratica is most prominent. The madrigals, mostly based on texts by Giovanni Battista Guarini
– by far the favorite poet of madrigal composers of the time – are written in a largely homophonic
and declamatory style which is highly attentive to text accentuation and rhythm. It is also in this book that he uses some of the musical devices that were to make Monteverdi famous, such as the unprepared dissonance that so horrified Artusi, as well as previously forbidden melodic intervals such as diminished fourths; he also exploits cross relations for expressive effect. Curiously, he also frequently uses the interval of the falling sixth, a characteristic of Monteverdi's – though which learned it from the other is uncertain.
, motet
s, and psalm settings, Pallavicino shows the influence of the Venetians, with large, spatially-separated choirs, and he often wrote music for relatively large forces. He published books of motets for 8, 12, and 16 independent voices. These compositions are mainly homophonic in texture, aiming more for effect through alternation of sonority than counterpoint, a characteristic of the Venetian polychoral style
.
His masses are for four to six voices, and in the conservative polyphonic style of the High Renaissance; they use the parody
technique, and some are based on motets by Lassus
and Giaches de Wert.
It is not known which churches he wrote his music for; the church where he worked, Santa Barbara, contains no mention of his compositions in their archives, and it has been suggested that he may have written them for other churches in Mantua, such as San Andrea and San Marco.
While Pallavicino was respected by most of his contemporaries, his achievement had been completely overshadowed by that of Monteverdi, at least until the last decades of the 20th century, during which the musical culture of cities such as Mantua and Ferrara has received considerable study, and Pallavicino's originality has again been appreciated.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
composer and organist of the late Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
. A prolific composer of madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s, he was resident at the Gonzaga
House of Gonzaga
The Gonzaga family ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708.-History:In 1433, Gianfrancesco I assumed the title of Marquis of Mantua, and in 1530 Federico II received the title of Duke of Mantua. In 1531, the family acquired the Duchy of Monferrato through marriage...
court of Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
in the 1590s, where he was a close associate of Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal...
, and a competitor of his considerably more famous contemporary Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
.
Biography
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
in either 1550 or 1551. While little is known about his early life, a mid-17th century document by Cremonese writer Guiseppi Bresciani indicates he served as an organist at several churches in the Cremona region while young, and it is possible he studied with Marc' Antonio Ingegneri, the same man who was the teacher of Monteverdi. His older brother Germano was also a prominent local organist. The Gonzaga family employed Benedetto at Sabbioneta beginning in 1579 and probably lasting until 1581, first as a singer, and in 1583 he began service with the Gonzagas in Mantua, a musical center of immense importance in the last decades of the 16th century; he stayed there for the rest of his life. While there he associated with some of the most famous composers of the last two decades of the 16th century, people such as Giaches de Wert, Francesco Soriano
Francesco Soriano
Francesco Soriano was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most skilled members of the Roman School in the first generation after Palestrina....
, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi , was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. He is known for his 1591 publication of balletti for five voices.-Career:Gastoldi was born at Caravaggio, Lombardy...
, Francesco Rovigo
Francesco Rovigo
Francesco Rovigo was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance, active in Mantua and Graz.-Life:Nothing is known of his life prior to 1570, when he went to Venice, already 29 or 30 years old, to receive a musical education with the renowned organist and composer Claudio Merulo of...
, Alessandro Striggio
Alessandro Striggio
Alessandro Striggio was an Italian composer, instrumentalist and diplomat of the Renaissance. He composed numerous madrigals as well as dramatic music, and by combining the two, became the inventor of madrigal comedy...
, and Claudio Monteverdi. His relationship with Monteverdi, in particular, was to become one of considerable animosity.
A letter of 29 October 1583, preserved in the Biblioteca Comunale in Mantua, is the earliest surviving documentation of his service to the Gonzaga family. While in their service – first for Guglielmo Gonzaga, and then for Vincenzo, when Guglielmo died in 1587 – he made periodic trips to Venice in an official capacity, to examine singers at St. Mark's, and to supervise musical publications (since Venice was the center of music printing at the time, and other cities such as Mantua depended on their services). In 1589, likely dissatisfied at his low pay at the Gonzaga court, Pallavicino began seeking other employment, such as the position of maestro di cappella at Verona Cathedral
Verona Cathedral
Verona Cathedral is a church in Verona, northern Italy.It was erected after two Palaeo-Christian churches on the same site had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1117. Built in Romanesque style, the cathedral was consecrated on September 13, 1187...
; he was, however, unsuccessful, as the position went to Giammateo Asola
Giammateo Asola
Giammatteo Asola was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance...
.
In 1596, on the death of renowned composer Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal...
, he was finally appointed to the premier musical position in the Gonzaga establishment, the maestro della musica, a position he was to retain until his own death in 1601, at which time it was given to Claudio Monteverdi, his most bitter rival. The preference of Pallavicino over Monteverdi for the post is unsurprising, considering that Monteverdi at the time had none of Pallavicino's popularity, and was only in his twenties, while Pallavicino was in his mid-forties; and Pallavicino had served the Gonzaga family for a long time. That considerable animosity existed between the two composers has been inferred from contemporary writings, particularly the exchange of letters following Giovanni Artusi
Giovanni Artusi
Giovanni Maria Artusi was an Italian theorist, composer, and writer.Artusi was one of the most famous reactionaries in musical history, fiercely condemning the new style developing around 1600, the innovations of which defined the early Baroque era...
's famous attacks on Monteverdi's style in 1600 and 1603, as well as the habit both men had of taking madrigals written by the other, and "improving" them.
In his later years, for which documentation is scant, he received support from the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona, an organization founded about sixty years before, with whom many other earlier composers had been associated, including prominent musicians such as Jan Nasco
Jan Nasco
Jan Nasco was a Franco-Flemish composer and writer on music, mainly active in Italy. He was the first director of the Veronese Accademia Filarmonica, and his writings, particularly a group of letters he wrote to the Academy in the 1550s, are important sources of information on performance...
, Vincenzo Ruffo
Vincenzo Ruffo
Vincenzo Ruffo was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the composers most responsive to the musical reforms suggested by the Council of Trent, especially in his composition of masses, and as such was an influential member of the Counter-Reformation.Vincenzo Ruffo was born at...
and Marc' Antonio Ingegneri, the teacher of Monteverdi. In September 1601 there is a note in the Mantuan archives indicating that Pallavicino pleaded for a debt to be forgiven, as he had children to support, and many other debts, and he died in the next month. His death certificate lists "fever" as the cause, and his age at death as 50, thus establishing his birth year as either 1550 or 1551. According to Alfred Einstein, he spent the last years of his life as a monk of the Camaldolese
Camaldolese
The Camaldolese monks and nuns are part of the Benedictine family of monastic communities which follow the way of life outlined in the Rule of St. Benedict, written in the 6th century...
order of Benedictines.
Benedetto Pallavicino had a son named Bernardino; the similarity of their names, and apparent continuation of Benedetto's publishing activities, caused many musicologists to believe he lived well into the 17th century, until the discovery of his death notice, which gave a precise date. His son was a monk of the Camaldolese order of San Marco, and published several volumes of his father's work posthumously, including his seventh and eighth book of madrigals.
Music and influence
Pallavicino was famous mainly for his secular music, in particular his madrigals, of which he wrote ten books, the last two of which were published posthumously by his son. In addition to his madrigals, he also left a small body of sacred vocal works. Either he wrote no solely instrumental music, or none has survived.Madrigals
His madrigals use from four to six voices, and show the influence of several of the prominent stylistic trends of the time. There is a gradual progression from an early dense imitative and polyphonic style, to one making use of most of the trends current at Mantua and Ferrara, including the seconda pratica style of declamatory writing, which was one of the musical characteristics defining the beginning of the Baroque era.Unlike Monteverdi, for whom it was a defining characteristic of his polyphonic madrigals, Pallavicino generally ignored the possibilities for dramatic characterization inherent in the texts he set, especially in his earlier books. This was the period in which the precursors of opera were being written, and one of the prominent madrigalian trends was to take dialogue, monologue, or straight narrative texts and set them with appropriate characterization. In this respect he was a conservative. Yet he also experimented with unprepared dissonance in precisely the way which Artusi so fiercely criticized Monteverdi – and remained on the list of composers which that famous reactionary critic considered to be exemplars of correct polyphonic practice – but most likely because Artusi had never heard his last books of madrigals.
The ten books of madrigals show a gradual absorption of the styles of other composers in the orbit of the courts of Mantua and Ferrara, particularly Wert. In the first book, Pallavicino wrote mostly in an imitative style similar to that of previous generations of composers, and related to the polyphonic style of sacred music. By the fourth book, Pallavicino was experimenting with sudden and extreme contrasts of texture rhythm, devices later taken to an extreme in the works of Carlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
, but seen earlier in Wert. The influence of Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Luzzasco Luzzaschi was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi spent the majority of his life in his native city.As a pupil of Cipriano de Rore, Luzzaschi developed...
is also evident in this book, particularly in the virtuosic writing for high female voices, including ornamentation and voice exchange
Voice exchange
In music, especially Schenkerian analysis, a voice exchange is the repetition of a contrapuntal passage with the voices' parts exchanged; for instance, the melody of one part appears in a second part and vice versa...
techniques reminiscent of the music being composed for the famous three singers, the Concerto delle donne
Concerto delle donne
The concerto delle donne was a group of professional female singers in the late Renaissance court of Ferrara, Italy, renowned for their technical and artistic virtuosity. The ensemble was founded by Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, in 1580 and was active until the court was dissolved in 1597...
, of Ferrara.
It is in his sixth book of madrigals, published in 1600, the year traditionally (and arbitrarily) marking the end of the musical Renaissance, that his shift to the new style of the seconda pratica is most prominent. The madrigals, mostly based on texts by Giovanni Battista Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.- Life :He was born in Ferrara, and spent his early life both in Padua and Ferrara, entering the service of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in 1567...
– by far the favorite poet of madrigal composers of the time – are written in a largely homophonic
Homophony
In music, homophony is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords. This is distinct from polyphony, in which parts move with rhythmic independence, and monophony, in which all parts move in parallel rhythm and pitch. A homophonic...
and declamatory style which is highly attentive to text accentuation and rhythm. It is also in this book that he uses some of the musical devices that were to make Monteverdi famous, such as the unprepared dissonance that so horrified Artusi, as well as previously forbidden melodic intervals such as diminished fourths; he also exploits cross relations for expressive effect. Curiously, he also frequently uses the interval of the falling sixth, a characteristic of Monteverdi's – though which learned it from the other is uncertain.
Sacred music
In his sacred music, which consists of massesMass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
, motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s, and psalm settings, Pallavicino shows the influence of the Venetians, with large, spatially-separated choirs, and he often wrote music for relatively large forces. He published books of motets for 8, 12, and 16 independent voices. These compositions are mainly homophonic in texture, aiming more for effect through alternation of sonority than counterpoint, a characteristic of the Venetian polychoral style
Venetian polychoral style
The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation...
.
His masses are for four to six voices, and in the conservative polyphonic style of the High Renaissance; they use the parody
Parody mass
A parody mass is a musical setting of the mass, typically from the 16th century, that uses multiple voices of another pre-existing piece of music, such as a fragment of a motet or a secular chanson, as part of its melodic material. It is distinguished from the two other most prominent types of...
technique, and some are based on motets by Lassus
Orlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance...
and Giaches de Wert.
It is not known which churches he wrote his music for; the church where he worked, Santa Barbara, contains no mention of his compositions in their archives, and it has been suggested that he may have written them for other churches in Mantua, such as San Andrea and San Marco.
Influence and modern appraisal
Pallavicino's music was popular at the time, and printed and reprinted after his death, in both Venice and Antwerp; his popularity is attested by the numerous reprints and copies of his madrigals, especially in anthologies, in locations as far away as England. Indeed, he was second only to Marenzio in the English Tregian Manuscript, which contained 100 of his madrigals, and his music appears in at least 20 separate English sources.While Pallavicino was respected by most of his contemporaries, his achievement had been completely overshadowed by that of Monteverdi, at least until the last decades of the 20th century, during which the musical culture of cities such as Mantua and Ferrara has received considerable study, and Pallavicino's originality has again been appreciated.