Carlo Grossi's Cantata Ebraica

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the long delay since my last post. As I mentioned before, I was traveling out of the country and I did not return until a couple of days ago. I had a great time traveling but now it is back to business.

Today's post will begin a series of posts about Hebrew art music from the late 17th century to the late 18th century and even to the very early 19th century. When most people hear that I specialize in Jewish Renaissance and Baroque music, they immediately and almost exclusively think of Rossi. However, there is quite a plethora of non-Rossi works out there that are not as well known.

Today we will be looking at a small and little known work from 1681 entitled Cantata ebraica in dialogo composed by Christian composer, Carlo Grossi. This work is an interesting in gem in many different ways. Firstly, the work is found in a larger publication by Grossi entitled Il divertimento de Grandi, which is primarily in Italian except for this cantata found towards the end which is clearly in Hebrew. Secondly, as far as cantatas and oratorios go, this is by far one of the shortest, clocking in somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes depending on the tempi taken by the ensemble.

What is more fascinating is the history and format of this composition. Grossi was commissioned by a Jewish fraternal organization called the Shomrim la-Boker (The Watchmen of the Dawn) to compose this piece in honor and celebration of the organizations founding which coincides with the Hoshana Rabba celebrations before Shemini Atzeret during the Sukkot festival. Grossi, being a Christian was most likely unfamiliar with Hebrew (even with the popularity of Christian Hebraists during this time period), and there is evidence that one or more of the members of the fraternity assisted Grossi with the Hebrew text(s). The format of the piece is even more interesting, being set for soloist, 4 part choir, and basso continuo. The cantata exists as a musical "conversation" between the soloist and choir which represents a dramatized conversation between a "passer-by" (the soloist) and the fraternity (the choir) on the eve of Hoshana Rabba during their (the fraternity's) all-night religious vigil.

Musically, the cantata is very simple yet involved. The solo material takes up most of virtuosic and ornamented activity while the choir repeats the same simple chorus but with different texts at each refrain. It could be said that Grossi was trying to emulate the cantorial style of singing in the solo sections as there are many melismatic passages and opportunities to add period-appropriate ornamentation.

Due to its association with the Hoshana Rabba holiday, this piece is often performed on Hoshana Rabba with the text of the piece being employed as an additional piyyut (liturgical poem) as part of the prayer services and celebration of the holiday.

Below is a Youtube video of the audio of the piece:

Fino alla prossima volta!

The Role of Madame Europa

In my last post I spoke about the Rossi-Monteverdi relationship and the several historical and musical commonalities between them. As pointed out in the post as well as my term paper, one of those commonalities was a figure named Madame Europa.

Formally known as Europa Rossi, Madame Europa is just a stage name most likely derived from one of the theatrical roles she has played, the character Europa from Guarini's L'Idropica.

Scholars debate wether Madame Europa was Salamone Rossi's sister, wife, or some other relative. Regardless of the relation, she was often used as a soprano and actress in the operas of the court composers, mainly that of Claudio Monteverdi. Based on this, it could be speculated that she also sang in Rossi's choir(s) when his Hebrew works were performed in the court (but not in the synagogue).

One of Madame Europa's most well known roles was Dorilla in Monteverdi's lost opera L'Arianna. The only surviving music from this opera is Lamento d'Arianna (Arianna's Lament) which contrary to popular belief was NOT sung by Madame Europa in the original production but may have possibly been sung by her in subsequent performances of the aria itself.

It is also speculated that Madame Europa was a member of the original cast of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with a high possibility of having played the role of La Musica either in the original production or in the revival that was performed one year later. What we know for certain is that Madame Europa was one of the underlying connections between Rossi and Monteverdi.

Lamento d"Arianna has gone through a number of re-writes and editions since its first publication. Even the first publication is a blind spot since the absolute original is lost. This piece alone survives since Monteverdi was persuaded to publish the piece separately as a 5 voice madrigal which was then restored to its original solo setting years later.

Here is an excerpt from the score of the original 1614 publication of Lamento d'Arianna as the 5 part madrigal. As was common with the original publications of sheet music during this time period, each voice part was printed as a separate part book. This is the excerpt from the Canto book:

Compare the above score with the solo version edition:

Lasciatemi morire! is the most famous section of Lamento. It is often used by young singers for concerts, recitals, and auditions and can be found in multiple editions and anthologies for multiple voice types. And to think that at some point in her life, Madame Europa may have been one of the first singers to sing this piece, and most certainly the first Jew!

And lastly, here is a Youtube video of Per Passione singing the 1614 5 part edition of Lasciatemi morire!

Fino alla prossima volta!

*All scores, documents, videos, and audio clips found in this post, previous posts, and subsequent posts originate from public domain websites and/or are the original work of the author of The Italian Red Head and as such are free to be distributed and shared publicly with the permission of the author of this blog. 

The Rossi-Monteverdi Relationship

So for this post, I am deciding to do things a little differently. First of all, I will be traveling abroad from August 9-August 18 and will not have access to the internet in order to post in a weekly manner. Therefore, I will be switching my posting schedule to more often than not for the time being.

If you remember last week's post, I wrote about my experiences with Rossi at the choral festival and about the wonderful workshop I attended which resulted in a conversation about the Rossi-Monteverdi relationship. This is a topic that I have been researching and pursuing since March of this year. I have always felt intrigued about it and I finally decided to see what information I could find.

This past semester, I have been fortunate enough to have taken a class about the history of the Jews in Italy during the Renaissance and Early Baroque periods (circa 1350-circa 1650). I felt that this was right up my alley since I would finally be able to learn about the history leading up to Rossi's Hashirim Asher L'Shlomo.

Prior to the beginning of the course, I emailed the professor to introduce myself and explain my intentions for taking the course. Based on our email correspondence, the professor invited me to teach an entire unit on Rossi which included examining an original Rossi score, listening to the music, and discussing the relationship between Rossi and Leon de Modena.

We never got around to talking about the relationship between Rossi and Claudio Monteverdi other than a few passing comments here and there. It was not until the professor and I began discussing a topic for my term paper that I began to really think about it. After a short amount of time, I decided that it will become the focus of my term paper.

I am fortunate enough to label this paper as the best I have written thus far. Not only did it give me a very good grade in the course, it has already been compared to scholarly articles by top musicologists in the field by my colleagues. Certain components in the paper include:

• Biographical information of both composers
• Cross-over dates of employment for both composers at the Court of Mantua
• Examination of a critique of Monteverdi's music that refers to "dissonant sounds"
• The role of Madame Europa (a relative of Rossi)
• Musical examples that highlight similarities in both Rossi's and Monteverdi's works
• Examples of "Jewish" musical phrases in Monteverdi's work

One of the works that I speak about in my paper is entitled La Maddalena. It is a semi-sacred work that compiles 5 compositions by 4 different composers. Two of these composers are Rossi and Monteverdi. Monteverdi composed the opening ritornello and prologue and Rossi composed the closing ritornello and epilogue. Not only do both ritornelli sound very similar to each other, Monteverdi's ritornello is almost identical to the opening ritornello used in the prologue of L'Orfeo.

Here is the original section composed by Rossi:

What is not included in the above score are the two other verses which were printed below the music of the ritornello. It was up to the singers to apply the words to the tune (much like what cantors do nowadays). 

Here is the audio of the above score recorded by the Zamir Chorale of Boston. Enjoy!

Fino alla prossima volta! (Until Next Time!)

Rossi's World: A Tale of Three Ghettos

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long delay in between postings. I originally intended to post once a week but as expected, different things got in the way. Luckily in this case, it was a positive thing which gave quite a bit of material for this week's posting.

This past week from July 21 - July 25, I was in upstate New York attending the 24th Annual North American Jewish Choral Festival put together by the Zamir Choral Foundation. As a Rossi scholar, it is very relevant and important that I attend this festival each year, especially since quite a number of choral ensembles sang Rossi's Jewish music on a daily basis at this festival.

One unique feature of the festival are the daily workshops and classes offered. I have been fortunate enough to have attended classes taught by scholar Nina Lazar Sobelman on early Jewish music and Jewish musicians. At last year's festival she taught a workshop on Jewish keyboard musicians in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. This year, Nina taught a workshop on the historical influences that surrounded the composition of Hashirim Asher L'Shlomo in 1623.

Nina began the lecture with a brief overview of Jewish Italian history during this time period. She spent quite a bit of time speaking about Rabbi Leon de Modena who was the main advocate for Rossi composing and publishing his Jewish works. In this workshop, I learned that Modena himself was a musician and was responsible for opening a music school in Venice called L'Accademia. 

Nina also gave us a larger packet which I would love to share with everyone but it is intellectual property and therefore not my place to show it here. Regardless, there was one section of the packet that outlined the crossed paths of Rossi and Claudio Monteverdi while both worked in the court of Mantua. Rossi worked there from 1587 to 1628 and Monteverdi worked there from circa 1590 to 1612. 

As you can see, Rossi worked in the Court of Mantua longer than Monteverdi. However, their careers in the court co-insided during Monteverdi's tenure. It was during this time that Monteverdi composed, published, and performed his earliest surviving complete opera, L'Orfeo. 

It is my belief that Rossi and Monteverdi shared musical ideas with each other which undoubtedly would have exposed Monteverdi to Jewish musical traditions and sounds. I had the chance to speak with Nina about this privately after the workshop and she agrees that it is a very likely possibility. I showed Nina that in the score of L'Orfeo, there are a number of places that use "Jewish" phrases and I would not be surprised if Rossi was the cause. Nina enthusiastically agreed with me.

The rest of the festival was incredible. We heard the Zamir Chorale, the Zamir Chorale of Boston, the HaZamir Chamber Choir, and Western Wind perform multiple pieces of Rossi. Each performance was better than the next and I was thrilled to hear so much Rossi being performed. The "instant ensemble" in which I sang conducted by Matthew (Mati) Lazar also sang Rossi's Ein Keloheinu. This is a fantastic piece and is very challenging to sing in the affect of early music singing. Scored for 8 voices (double choir), it is my belief that Rossi composed this piece along with Adon Olam and Yigdal for 8 voices since the end of the service is when the synagogue is filled to capacity (in an ideal world)! 

As promised, here is an audio recording of Ein Keloheinu. Unfortunately it is not the whole thing but I think you will get the idea of what it sounds like:

Also, as an added bonus since I was not able to post last week, here is a video of the Toccata - Overture from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo:

Enjoy and see you next week!

Welcome! - Salamone Rossi, An Introduction

Welcome to The Italian Red Head, a new blog named after our favorite Jewish composer, Salamone Rossi! I am sure many of you are asking, "Who in G-d's name is Salamone Rossi?" and this blog will aim to answer that question as well as keeping you up to date with other Jewish music factoids of the Renaissance and Baroque, including updates on my thesis (more to come later!).

Before we delve into the life and works of Rossi, I must first tell you about how I came across him and how my fascination with him began:

Back in 2007, I was entering my sophomore year of college at the University of Miami Frost School of Music as a voice major. My very good friend, mentor, and advisor, Dr. Donald Oglesby enrolled me in the university's Collegium Musicum ensemble which specialized in the performance of early music, mostly Renaissance and Baroque choral music. Dr. O casually asked me if I was familiar with the name, Salamone Rossi. When I told him that I never heard the name before, he responded by saying that I should look him up.

That night I ran a simple Google search on Rossi and what I found nearly made me lose my mind! The results combined two of my favorite things: Jewish music and early music.

Salamone Rossi (c. 1570 - c. 1630) was considered to be the first Jewish composer to transcribe and physically notate his music using the music notation available during his time. Of course there were other composers before him, but unfortunately their scores are lost, if they even existed. Rossi's music was unique in the fact that he composed his Jewish liturgical music in the same style as his secular music which was in the typical Renaissance musical style. Rossi's music is the first known example of polyphonic choral singing in Jewish music.

Rossi composed 33 separate motets for select prayers, hymns, and psalms all in Hebrew. Another unique feature of his music lies within the publication history of the original scores. You see, back then Rossi faced quite a bit of Judaic opposition from the rabbinic leaders in Italy when trying to utilize his music in synagogues and publication. Most rabbis felt that the music sounded too closely to the music of non-Jews and the church to be allowed in a synagogue service, let alone having there be musical performance practices that might have resembled that of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem during Biblical times. Rossi was lucky to have a friend and colleague, Rabbi Leon de Modena who is now known to be one of the ancestors of the Reform movement. Modena advocated for Rossi and published a rabbinic responsum that legalized his music.

Modena also assisted in the editing of the printed music for publication. It was he who insisted that the Hebrew text be printed in its original form so as not to have any doubt to its pronunciation when being sung. As a result, the Hebrew text is printed from right to left with the music being printed from left to right (a similar process is done with some Hebrew music transcribed by Benedetto Marcello in 1724 but more on that later...). See the score below for an example:

Trying to read an original Rossi score would make anyone go cross-eyed. Of course many modern editions were done of Rossi's Jewish works and as I will be working with those editions over the course of time, I will update you on each of them. 

As a parting gift each week, I will also post an audio clip or Youtube video of relevant material for you to enjoy. Thanks for stopping by and see you next week!