Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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560 SONG
very loosely and indiscriminately employed, i
But speaking generally, stornelli are lively
songs of love, canzoni and ewnsonette narrative
songs, and canto is a generic term applicable to
almost any form. Modern composers generally
nse the word melodia for a lyric song (Lied).
A strong claim to the title of eanti popolari
'
may he advanced in favour of the popular
melodies taken from operas. Ambros tells us
that during the l7th and 18th centuries,
*
'
favourite couplets ' ' from operas, which at first
had nothing in common with the folk-song
beyond being melodious and simple, acquired
by degrees a place similar to that held by the
Volkslied in Germany.* And the immense
popularity of operatic tunes in Italy during the
lastcentury cannot surprise us when weremember
the theatre is an ubiquitous institution there,
and that the quick ear of the Italian instantly
catches melodies with a distinct rhythm and
an easy progression of intervals.' Having regard,
therefore, to the wide diffusion of the opera
and its influence on all classes during nearly
three centuries, it is reasonable to conclude
that it may have checked the normal development
of songs, and perhaps helped to obliterate
the traces of old traditional tunes. It will be
seen later that the exactly contrary process
took place in some northern countries, where
in order to make their operas popular, composers
introduced favourite folk-songs or
dances, or indeed whole operas were based on
national melodies.
The so-called cavii nazionali belong to a
period commencing about the year 1821. They
have all been inspired by the political movement
of the last century for the regeneration of Italy.
Their tone is naturally warlike, but the melodies
are ultra-simple and rather weak. The most
celebrated of them are : Addio, mia bella ;
'0 dolce piaoer, goder liberty' ;
'
'
Daghela avanti
unpasso';* 'InnodiMameli' ; Tratellid' Italia';
'
Inno di Garibaldi,
La bandiera tricolore ;
and Air armi ' ' by Fieri. The years in which
Italy has been most deeply stirred by struggles
for independence were 1821, 1848, and 1859,
and all the songs whose names have just been
cited can be traced to one or other of those
revolutionary periods.
For many important forms of both vocal
and instrumental music we are primarily and
especially indebted to the Italians, but as
1 Canzune is the Sicilian equivalent of rUpetto, and ciuri of Ktornello.
The children's songs in Italy are very numerous, and are
usually called Sinne-Nanne or JVane in Venice. Busk, op. cit. p, 47.
3 Orloff recounts how an aria from an opera by P. Cafaro (born
• 1706), Belle luci,' was for half a century the best-known and most
widely-sung song all over Italy ; the melody was even painted on
china and embroidered on robes (^Moi mjr VHiitaire dc lamwkque
en Jtalie, i. 293). Seealso the account of the popularity of Ficcinnl's
opera La Cecchina ' ' in the Oa/ord niitory of JAwzc, vol. 6, TM
riermeee Period, p. 97, W. H. Hndow.
3 The chorus of an opera Is frequently chosen from amongst the
workmen and labourers of the place where It is performed ; and
thus even difficult choruses may be heard In the streets and suburbs
of towns which possess a theatre.
4 This is an adaptation of Italian words to ' Partant pour la Syrie,'
and was probably made during the war of 1820, In which France
assisted Italy to liberate herself from the yoke of Austria.
6 A ballet-song written by P. Glorza In 18fS8.
regards the art-song proper we owe them little.
From the latter part of the 17th to the early part
of the 19th century, the canzoni, and canzonelte
da camera exhibited neither merit nor improvement.
Several collections were published at
intervals, yet apparently they attracted little
attention. Many were of a religious tendency ;
not hymns but canzoni spiribvudi e morali, as
they were called. Even when the canzoni
makrigaleschi were reduced to two voices (as,
for instance, those by Benedetto Maroello, published
at Bologna in 1717) they continued to
be essentially polyphonic, one voice imitating
the other.
During the 18 th century the lyric poet Metastasio
exercised a certain effect on vocal music,
and many of his ariette were set by contemporary
musicians ; but his influence was not lasting,
A little later, a few inferior composers, such as
Asioli, Barni, Federici, Blangini, and Romagnesi^
(all born in the second half of the 18th
century) turned their attention to song- writing,
and published quantities of ariette, cansonette,
rondi, notlumi, and romanze, but they were
too weak to stand the test of time, and such
popularity as they may once have kiiown has
been brief and fleeting. In fact, few Italian
composers of merit ever deemed it worth while
to bestow pains on this kind of work ; to write
an opera was their natural ambition, and on
this they concentrated their powers.
'
With all
the best talent devoted to the service of the
Church or the theatre there was little room
left for the more solitary and self-contained
expression of lyric feeling.'' Nor was there
any demand for lyric songs. Just as the
' couplets ' and favourite tunes from the operas
supplied the people with many canti popolari,
the aria and cavatina provided the vocal pieces
which the educated classes preferred. If we
look through the work of Paisiello, Gimarosa,
Mercadante, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, and other
celebrated composers of opera, very numerous
examples of the above-mentioned miscellaneous
kinds of songs may be
found, but none evince
any serious thought. They were obviously
thrown off in leisure moments, and now they
are never heard of. An exception, however,
must be made in favour of Eossini, some of
whose songs have fine melodies and interesting
accompaniments. 8 Among song -writers who
lived nearer our own time Gordigiani, Mariani,
and Giordani are undoubtedly the best for simple
melodious songs.^ They wrote in the true
Italian style, with the utmost fluency and
sentimentality.
8 These last two oomposeis were better known in Paris than In
their own country.
7 W. H. Hadow, OstfOrdBist. of itufic, v. 325.
^ See for example 'La Kegata Veneziana,' Vfo. 2, where the
rhythmical figure lu the left band represents the regular movement
of the oars, whilst the right hand has continuous legato passages
in double notes.
'^
Rossini o!\ce aptly summed up the Italian ideal of a song ; ' II
diletto dev' essere la basa e lo scopo dl quest' arte— Melodiasenipllce
—Kitmo chlaro.'