Sally Eileen Norman, Ph.D. 1994

Advisor: James Haar

Dissertation Title: Cyclic Musical Settings of Laments from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso

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Dissertation Abstract:

The publication of Ariosto’s Orlando furioso in 1532 provided a rich text source for madrigal composers during much of the sixteenth century and beyond. About 730 settings by over 150 composers have survived, at least in part. For musicians, the most popular sections of the poem were the laments; those portions where a character steps out of the action to speak directly to the reader about his or her unhappiness concerning the loss (or perceived loss) of a love. This study analyzes twenty-four cyclic musical settings of eight such laments from the Furioso, including works by Berchem, Gabrieli, Merulo, Nicoletti, Rossetto, and Wert, spanning the years 1554 to 1588. 

After a brief overview of the poem and the range of musical settings from it, Chapters 2 through 7 examine each cycle in detail, looking particularly at modal manipulations and text/music relationships. Chapter 8 offers concluding observations about the works and Volume 2 provides a critical edition of nine of the cycles previously unavailable in modern edition. The most impressive aspect of the musical settings addressed in this study is their rich diversity of style, in contrast to the somewhat generic nature of the texts. These styles include arioso, note nere, declamatory, canzonetta, highly dramatic, and didactic canonic styles. Despite this diversity, some general trends can be seen in the sample. First, like madrigal cycles in general, these cycles experience heightened modal manipulations, both for structural and expressive reasons, as the century progresses. This is particularly true in the longer laments which include narrative portions. Second, as a group the cycles reflect the lamenting character of their texts both through modal associations (a marked preference for Mode 2) and melodic signatures (the widespread use of a group of related lament arie, based on the descending stepwise span of a fourth). Finally, there is a strong tendency for composers to pay tribute to the oral reciting traditions of the Furioso by using archaic formal repetitive patterns and various melodic formulas in their musical structures.