Hearing in the
early modern age
Iberian case studies
Cristina Fernandes • Giuseppina Raggi • Susana Varela Flor
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Our History about hearing in the early modern age begins at Rua do Século, in the heart of Lisbon ...
Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (1632-1714), Deuxième livre d'orgue contenant la Messe et les hymnes de l'Église: N. 22, L’hymne de la Nativité de nostre Seigneur à Laudes “A solis ortus cardine”
CD Motets & Hymnes de l’Eglise. Les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr. Emmanuel Mandrin
Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles/Auvidis France, 1997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txyVFQFXYtQ&list=OLAK5uy_kQIR8_WiF_ALMItm1VVPReD0G8grasQc0&index=3
Justus Sustermans, Portrait of Cosimo de Médici, 1660. Florence, Pitti Palace, Galleria Palatina, Wikimedia Commons.
Gaspar Sanz – Gran Duque de Florencia
Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710), from: “Instruccion de musica sobre la guitarra española”, Libro I: Gran Duque de Florencia.
CD Sanz / Murcia: Spanish Guitar Music · Jakob Lindberg
BIS-CD-899, 2000.
While visiting the village of Vila Viçosa, the Duke was amazed by the rooms of the Music Library in the magnificent palace of the Dukes of Bragança, built by the late monarch João IV.
The painted ceilings evoked the glorious world of sound. In the Profane Music Room, Cosimo was amazed by the realism of Orpheus playing his viola, while surrounded by muses, also playing violas, as well as flutes, and harps.
Anthony Holborne (c. 1545-1602), Pavane: Bona Speranza
CD Anthony Holborne: The Teares Of The Muses 1599. Hespèrion XXI · Jordi Savall
Alia Vox, 2000.
Profane Music Room, Paço Ducal de Vila Viçosa, © J.Real Andrade / MBCB, Arquivo Fotográfico
Sacred Music Room, Paço Ducal de Vila Viçosa, © J.Real Andrade / MBCB, Arquivo Fotográfico
João Lourenço Rebelo (1610-1665), Super aspidem
CD A Golden Age of Portuguese Music. The Sixteen · Harry Christophers (dir.)
CORO, 2004
Excerpt Theatre and Music: Calderón de la Barca, La Vida es Sueño
Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico
Representation of a Comedy, 17th c., Museu de Lisboa-Palácio Pimenta.
The 18th century began with a terrible war. The Kingdom of Spain was left without a clear successor, leading to clashes between European powers. Each side sought to place its own candidate on the throne. Battles, deaths of soldiers, and cannon fire plagued Europe as a whole.
Joan Cabanilles (1644-1712)/J. C. Kerll, Batalla Imperial
CD Joan Cabanilles. Batalles, Tientos & Passacalles
Hespèrion XX · Jordi Savall (dir.)
Alia Vox, 1998
Gottfried Stein, Allegory Dedicated to the Landing of Queen Maria Anna of Austria in Lisbon (1708), Museu de Lisboa-Palácio Pimenta
Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741), Serenada in C major K.352: Fanfare ex C
Armonico Tributo Austria · Lorenz Duftschmid
CD Fux: Concentus Musico-instrumentalis (Opus primum)
Arcana, 2009
The queen's arrival brought great changes to court life in Lisbon. On the very first day, the sovereigns publicly dined to the sound of "vocal and instrumental Portuguese music according to the manner of the country". The imperial secretary recorded in his diary that the Portuguese music “Certainly, cannot please the queen as her taste is accustomed to listening to the most beautiful Italian music”.
Francisco Martins (ca. 1620/25-1680), Vilancico “Sentada ao pé de hum rochedo”
CD Villancicos de Portugal
A Corte Musical · Rogério Gonçalves
Glossa cabinet, 2021
In the following years the sovereigns organised many court performances, and little by little Italian musical culture became predominant in Lisbon, replacing the Iberian musical tradition.
Pieter Van den Berge, Johannes Quintus Lusitanorum Rex et Indiar [et] Maria Anna Lusitanorum Regis Excellens Sponsa. Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, E. 55. R.
Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747), Aria “Pur ti riveggio”CD La nemica d'amore fatta amante, Serenata a 3
Ensemble 415 · Martin Oro (contratenor), Chiara Banchini (dir.)
Zig-Zag Territoires, 2002
Domingo Antonio Velasco, Portrait of Domenico Scarlatti, c. 1738. Casa dos Patudos, Museu de Alpiarça. Public Domain– Creative Commons.
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Te Deum a 8
CD Iste Confessor – The Sacred Music of Domenico Scarlatti
The Sixteen · Harry Christophers
The Sixteen Productions Ltd, 2001
Queen Maria Anna of Austria also promoted a unique form of leisure for the female court: sailing on the Tejo from Ribeira to Belém while playing music.
Tiled panel at Palácio Melo, Lisbon. Nicolau de Freitas (attr.), c. 1730. Lisbon, Gabinete do Património Cultural – Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Central (CHULC).
According to the singer's own account, “8 musicians, Farinelli and his Majesties travelled in the falúa Real”. The frigate San Fernando y Santa Barbara, carried "the ladies, the Maids of honour" and 15 instrumentalists.”
Nicola Porpora (1686-1768), Aria for Farinelli “Le limpid onde”, opera Ifigenia in Aulide
CD Dramma. La magnifica comunità · Enrico Gasazza, Simone Kermes (soprano)
Sony Classical, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhpv8EG9xzw
José de Nebra (1702-1768), “Ay, amor, ay, Clelia mía”, from Amor aumentaelvalor, Acto I, Escena 9
CD José de Nebra. Amor aumentaelvalor
Los Músicos de Su Alteza · Luis Antonio González (dir.), Olalla Alemán (soprano)
Alpha/Sesquialtera S. L., 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYfIFhEXDQc
Carlos Seixas (1704-1742), Menuet from Sonata nº. 37
Ensemble Alletamento · Mario Braña (baroque violin), Elsa Pidre (baroque cello)
Concert given at Casa da Granja, Amarante (Portugal), 29/04/2022. Recording: Adriana Romero
Dance scene – Tiled panel at Palácio Melo, Lisbon. Nicolau de Freitas (attr.), c. 1730. Lisbon, Gabinete do Património Cultural – Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Central (CHULC).
Kellom Tomlinson, The Art of Dancing explained by Reading and Figures ... In Two Books. London: Printed for the Author, 1735, plate VI.
Francisco Zuzarte, Vista de Lisboa en se reprezenta o Palacio de Sª Magestade Fedilissima conforme estava na vespara dterumoto de 1755, 1787. Lisbon, Museo de Lisboa, Inv. MC.DES.0837.
Edited and published by Rodrigo Teodoro de Paula, based on the treatise Altissonância Sacra Restaurada by A. R. Lages (Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, MM 5999).
In 1750, when King José I and Mariana Victoria ascended to the throne of Portugal, the passion for Italian music transformed into a strong determination to build theatres in the royal palaces. Within three years, four theatres were constructed!
To do it so magnificently, they used the scenographer Giovanni Carlo Bibiena, son of the famous Francesco Galli Bibiena. In Lisbon, Bibiena built a splendid theatre: the Royal Opera House of the Tejo, which hosted sumptuous operas with stunning scenography. Neapolitan composer David Perez and iconic castrati such as Giziello and Cafarelli were hired.
Antonio Mazzoni (1717-1785), “Tu m'involasti un regno”, Aria from the opera Antigono (Ópera do Tejo)
CD DivinoSospiro · Enrico Onofri (dir.), Michael Spyres (“baritenor”)
Dynamic, 2014
image missing
Giovanni Carlo Sicinio Galli Bibiena, Scenery for La Clemenza di Tito by Antonio Mazzoni. Lisboa, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, M. 382 P.
Corrado Giaquinto, Portrait of Farinelli, c. 1746, Bologna, Museo della Musica.
In Spain, the “Reign of the Melomaniacs”, was marked by investment in the arts by Maria Barbara and Ferdinand VI, including the founding of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts de San Fernando in Madrid. The Royal Chapel and the Royal Chamber gained new importance. Farinelli directed the royal theatres, organizing impressive productions with fantastic set designs by Francesco Battaglioli and Jacopo Amigoni, and illustrious singers. His wide network of contacts included luminaries such as the librettist Metastasio.
Francesco Battaglioli, Finale of the Opera La Nitteti (libretto by Metastasio, music by Nicolo Conforto, Royal Theatre of Buen Retiro, 1756). Madrid, Academia de San Fernando.
Nicola Conforto (1718-1793), Aria “Se d'amor, se di contento”, opera La Nitteti
CD Caro Gemello. Farinelli and Metastasio
Concerto Köln · Valer Sabadus
Sony Music, 2018
On the 1st of November 1755, All Saints' Day, the city of Lisbon heard one of the most frightening sounds in its history.
For a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, the earth shook, and from within noisy tremors and thunderous sounds emerged as if the earth was in rage.
A tsunami followed and several fires broke out across Lisbon. The Tejo Opera House and the Cathedral of Lisbon were razed to the ground and their musical splendors fell silent…
After the earthquake, opera was gradually resumed and the court theatres regained some of their splendour, especially the Teatro de Salvaterra. Operas were performed there with scenographic designs demonstrating impressive visual effects by the Italian Giacomo Azzolini, as well as sophisticated theatrical machinery by Petronio Mazzoni.
La Vera Costanza, by Jerónimo Francisco de Lima, is an accurate example since it begins with a sea roaring storm.
Jerónimo Francisco de Lima (1741-1822), Overture, opera La Vera Constanza (1785), 3º mov. [storm at sea]
CD Rabbia, furor, dispetto. Sinfonie ed arie
Concentus Peninsulae · Monika Mauch (soprano)· Vasco Negreiros (dir.)
Paraty, 2015
Jerónimo Francisco de Lima was also one of the composers who wrote music for another double Iberian royal wedding. In 1785, João, the future João VI of Portugal, married Carlota Joaquina, the granddaughter of Carlos III of Spain; and Mariana Victoria Josefa married the Infante Gabriel of Bourbon, son of the Spanish sovereign.
Once again there was the “exchange of princesses” in Caia, after a procession to Vila Viçosa, which included the twenty-four trumpets and timpani of the Royal House amongst other musicians.
Cortege: Royal Band, horses, artillery + Sonata nº1 (Musical Collection of the Coach Museum, Lisbon). Edited by Rodrigo Teodoro de Paula
CD The Silver Trumpets of Lisbon And Lusitanian Music
Trumpet ensemble – Edward Tarr
Processions and Power: Music of the Portuguese Crown
Domenico Muzzi (attr.), Serenade in Madrid promoted by the Ambassador of Portugal, Marquis of Louriçal. Queluz, Palácio Nacional de Queluz, Maria Keil Collection, PNQ 3933. © PSML_Luís Duarte.
The celebrations were comprised of multiple serenades and operas favoured by the royal families and the ambassadors Count Fernan Nuñez in Lisbon and the Marquis of Louriçal in Madrid. The banquets and balls lasted until dawn, and the sounds of dance music extended into the streets, where various instrumentalists joined in the festivities.
Blas de Laserna (1751-1816), Contradanza del Aire
CD Música en tiempos de Goya
La Real Cámara · Emilio Moreno (dir.)
Glossa, 1996
Then the Superior General closed the manuscript, thus ending the brief history of the sounds of the early modern era on the Iberian Peninsula. Next week she would start reading about the sounds of the early 19th century. Those told the horror of the invasions by Napoleonic troops, the rush of the departure of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil, and the excitement of arriving in a different and tropical culture while celebrating a new soundscape.
Lundu para noite de Santa Ana
CD Lundu de Marruá (Modinhas e Lundus, Séc. XVIII e XIX). Lira D'Orfeo
Paulus digital, 2007
The Fishermen, tapestry, ca. 1692 – 1723. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Inv. BK-1968-21.
Bibliography
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Credits
| Title | Hearing in the early modern age: Iberian case studies |
| Coordination | Cristina Fernandes |
| Authors | Cristina Fernandes, Giuseppina Raggi, Susana Varela Flor |
| English proofreading | Alexander McCargar |
| Voice | Rebecca Christoforo |