The aesthetic changes which took place in Italy around 1600 had
a lasting influence on the course of music history. In secular music
the monodic principle as propagated by Giulio Caccini was soon adopted.
In sacred music it took a little while until it was applied. Some
composers were quick to compose music in the
stile nuovo, although
most continued to write in the
stile antico as well. Among
the earliest exponents of the monodic style in sacred music were Ludovico
da Viadana, Giovanni Croce and Giovanni Francesco Anerio. The little-known
Stefano Bernardi also belongs to this echelon; his
Motetti in cantilena
a quattro voci which are recorded here complete, were printed
in 1613.
Bernardi was born in Verona and was a singer in its cathedral. He
spent some time in Rome in order to improve his musical skills. For
some time
maestro di cappella in one of Rome’s churches,
he returned to Verona in 1611. He was appointed
maestro di cappella
of the cathedral and
maestro di musica at the Accademia Filarmonica.
He remained there until 1622. In his later years he moved to Salzburg
where he participated in the creation of the music for the consecration
of the cathedral in 1628.
His output includes a treatise on counterpoint and a number of collections
of sacred and secular music. Among them is op. 5 which is the subject
of this disc. The title needs some explanation. The word
cantilena
also appears in the title of a publication by Croce,
Sacrae cantilene
concertate which was printed posthumously in 1610. Marco Materassi,
in his liner-notes, explains: "In this case,
cantilena indicates
a particular application of the concerto style consisting in the alternation
of solo episodes (for one or more voices) and sections of '
ripieno',
for the most part acting as a ritornello". This way the composers
- Croce and Bernardi - link up with the Venetian
cori spezzati
principle. The soli are the first choir, the
tutti the second.
In Bernardi's motets and psalms we hear a constant alternation of
episodes for solo voices and tutti passages. The latter are sometimes
supported by the instruments, playing
colla voce but also adding
ornaments to the various vocal lines.
The collection comprises twenty vocal pieces, on texts from the Bible
- mostly the book of Psalms - and liturgical and traditional texts.
In addition there are six instrumental items, referred to as
canzoni
on the title page, but called
sonate in the partbooks. They
are for all sorts of instruments; here they are played on cornetts
and sackbuts, the main instruments in ecclesiastical music at the
time.
The
raison d'être of the monodic principle was attention
to the text and its expressive qualities. In this respect Bernardi's
motets fail to make a lasting impression. Some of them are rather
good - for instance
Paratum cor meum - and now and then one
notices some eloquent text expression - such as
battaglia figures
in
Estote fortes. On the whole though I was not impressed by
these compositions. The performance doesn’t help either: the
singers all have very nice voices which are perfectly suited to this
repertoire. However, dynamically what we hear is rather flat and there
is far too little ornamentation. The instruments playing with the
tutti add more ornaments than the singers. The delivery should also
be of a more declamatory character, in line with the ideals of Caccini.
The best parts are the tutti episodes in the vocal items. The sonatas
are also nicely played.
It seems to me that this is a disc for those who have a more than
average interest in the music of this period in history. It sheds
light on an intriguing aspect of early 17th-century liturgical music.
The booklet omits the lyrics; they can be downloaded from the Tactus
site, but it only offers Italian translations. The sources of the
texts are given, and one may find a number of them on the internet,
with an English translation.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track listing
Sonata VI in sinfonia [2:12]
Nativitas gloriosae [1:45]
Benedictus Deus [2:13]
Estote fortes [1:17]
O pretiosum [2:08]
Sonata III [1:43]
Haec dies [1:29]
Gaudeamus omnes [1:27]
Super omnia [1:38]
Exultate iusti [2:01]
Sonata IV [1:40]
Voce mea [2:08]
Isti sunt [1:27]
Hodie Christus [2:17]
Invocavi [2:25]
Sonata V [1:50]
In te Domine [2:31]
Viri Sancti [1:55]
Anima nostra [2:29]
Salvum me fac [1:50]
Sonata II [1:37]
Paratum cor meum [3:06]
Cum jucunditate [2:04]
Osculetur me [2:05]
Gustate et videte [2:10]
Sonata I [1:26]
