Download - D-Scholarship@Pitt - University of Pittsburgh

cadential evasion in the lower voices. When the canto reaches the highest pitch in the piece, the
D, a relaxed cadence on D occurs between the canto and the basso. This already weak cadence
coupled with the rhythmic movement in the other voices creates only a moment of pause instead
of a climactic release. Not until the words, “anch’io” in mm. 25-26, is a rhythmically strong
cadence achieved. LaMay describes this cadence as the female speaker’s “climax,” writing, “her
[orgasm] comes at the end, almost an afterthought in the lower register of the canto voice and
without ornamentation.” 71 On this point, I would, however, like to offer an alternative
interpretation.
As I have mentioned above, LaMay argues that the most important phrase of the text is
the phrase, “ma trar non si può fuore” (it cannot be pulled out). It is this concept of unity,
sameness, or perhaps equality, which dominates the tone of the piece. The most rhythmically
active sections of the piece, the “many deaths,” which are treated in a way deemed by LaMay as
“common chattering,” illustrate the author’s meaning metaphorically. 72 It is my interpretation
that the undermining rhythms and cadences, hindering the piece from reaching climax, illustrate
the two lovers, who, in attempting to separate, to terminate their unity, both suffer. Neither can
be satisfied and so the piece, like the lovers, comes to an end that is not one of joyous release but
of temperate resolution. Having proclaimed a desire to reveal the “conceited error of men” who
do not believe that women possess the same gifts of intellect as themselves, Casulana would
perhaps use her madrigals to show the negative effects of inequality or non-cooperation between
men and women. While on a lower level the madrigal hints at a sexual encounter gone, (as
LaMay states) “soft,” on a more metaphorical level it reveals the struggle between the sexes, the
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
34