Music in the Seventeenth Century / Edition 1

by Lorenzo Bianconi, David Bryant

Overview

The seventeenth century was a period of profound change in the history of music. In this volume Lorenzo Bianconi considers the radical developments of the century as long-lived musical traditions died out and others were created in response to new social functions. This period saw, for example, the flowering of the polyphonic madrigal and its subsequent decline in favour of a new concertato style, the rise of the basso continuo and the growth of purely instrumental composition. Most importantly it saw the rapid rise and persistent growth of a new genre of immeasurable significance: opera. In examining the plurality of coexistent musical styles Lorenzo Bianconi also discusses the socio-historical and cultural aspects of seventeenth-century music history: the opening out towards rational modes of scientific enquiry and theoretical speculation; the social position of the musician in the age of the first theatrical and musical entrepreneurs; the decline of Italian music publishing and the spread of the market to northern Europe. In considering these problems Lorenzo Bianconi presents a fresh picture of musical life in the seventeenth century, taking, like other books from the Italian series Storia della Musica, a broadly contextual approach.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521269155
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/26/1987
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.54(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Italian versification: a note Steven Botterill; Part I. The Early Decades: 1. The seventeenth-century madrigal; 2. Giovan Battista Marino and the poesia per musica; 3. Music for solo voice; 4. Claudio Monteverdi before 1620; 5. The 'crisis' of the seventeenth century; 6. 'Concerto'; 7. Monteverdi after 1620; 8. The classification of styles; 9. Scientific thought and musical theory; 10. Theory and practice; 11. Musical publicity; 12. Music publishing and music collecting; 13. Social condition of the musician; 14. Instrumental and dance music; Part III. Sacred Vocal Music: 15. Music in the Catholic liturgy; 16. Catholic devotional music; 17. The music of the lutheran Church: Heinrich Schütz; 18. Sacred music as music of the State: France and England; Part IV. Opera: 19. The historiography of opera; 20. Opera before 1637; 21. The Venetian theatres; 22. The diffusion of opera in Italy; 23. Formal and dramatic convention; the lament; 24. Opera in German-speaking lands: Vienna and Hamburg; 25. The tragédie lyrique: Jean-Baptiste Lully; 26. Theatrical music in England and Spain.