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ISSN 0076-1526
. 1983, ( | Kt : Volume XVI
; Hh
of the Lute Society of America, Inc.
Edited by James Meadors
COMMUNICATIONS:
SANTIAGO DE MURCIA AND FRANCOIS LE COCQ
Monica Hall 3
FRANCOIS LE COCQ’S INFLUENCE ON
SANTIAGO DE MURCIA: PROBLEMS WITH
DATES, SOURCES, AND RECOMPOSITION
Craig H. Russell 7
ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF WILLIAM LAWES'S
SUITE FOR TWO LUTES
David Buch 2
LUTENISTS IN RENAISSANCE VENICE:
SOME NOTES FROM THE ARCHIVES
Jonathan Glixon 15
SOME LUTES IN PARIS MUSEUMS, PART 1
Joe Dugot 27
ANGELO GARDANO'S BALLETTI MODERNI
AND ITS RELATION TO CESARE NEGRI'S
LE GRATIE D'AMORE
Charles P. Coldwell 57
G. G. KAPSBERGER IN ROME, 1604-1645:
NEW BIOGRAPHICAL DATA.
Victor Coelho 103
EQUTE SOCIETY
of America, Inc.G. G. KAPSBERGER IN ROME, 1604-1645:
NEW BIOGRAPHICAL DATA*
Victor Coelho
I
In January of 1651, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, an Italian lutenist
of German descent, died in Rome at the age of seventy-one.! "I! Tedesco
della tiorba,” as he was called in Italy—a sobriquet that reflected Kaps-
berger’s northern origins as well as the instrument that brought him
fame—had come to the Eternal City shortly after 1604, where for the next
four decades he enjoyed a distinguished career equalled by few musicians
of his time. He became a friend and colleague of men more famous than
he, notably the reigning Pope Urban VIII Barberini and his nephews
(who were his patrons), musicians like Girolamo Frescbbaldi, and the
theorists Athanasius Kircher and Giovanni Battista Doni. His Prints
contain grandiloquent dedications provided by many prominent erudi¢i
of seventeenth-centary Rome, and nearly all contemporary theorists
ranked Kapsberger among the greatest and most innovative performers
they had seen. Kapsberger’s achievements were eloquently summed upin
Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis of 1650:
‘wish co thank the Fondation des Treilles, Provence, France, and in particular its direc-
tor, Mme. Anne Gruner Schlumberger, for generous support during the preparation of this
article. Research for this project was also supported by a grant from the Gladys Krieble
Delmas Foundation.
‘Unless distinguished otherwise, the word “lutenise” is used here in a generic sense, to
describe a player on all lute instruments, including the lute, chitarrone, and liuto attiorbeto,
103Nobilis musicus Hieronymus
Capspergerus Germanus, innumer-
abilium sere qual scriptorum,
qua impressorum voluminum
musicorum editione clarissimus,
qui ingenio polies maximo, ope
aliarum scientarium quarum peri-
tus est, musicae arciana feliciter
penetravit. Hic est, cui posteritas
debet omnes illas elegentias har-
monicas, quas strascinos, morden-
tias, gruposque vulgo vocant in
Noble musician Hieronymus
Kapsberger Germanus, author of
innumerable writings and distin-
guished musical publications,
who with his superb genius and
other scientific skills in which he
was expert, successfully penetrat-
ed the secrets of music. He is the
one to whom posterity owes all
those elegant graces, which are
called strascini, mordenti, and
gruppi, to speak unclassically,
Tiorba ac Testudine . . . applied to the siorba and lute ...2
Kircher's description draws attention to the three fundamental rea-
sons behind Kapsberger’s success. First and not unimportantly, Kaps-
berger was a nobleman—or so he thought—a fortunate circumstance of
birth that he used to his best advantage. Secondly, Kapsberger was a pro-
lific composer whose “distinguished musical publications” fall into prac-
tically every category of music that was in vogue duting the early Baroque:
monodies in the stile rappresentativo, strophic airs and villanelle, madri-
gals, guitar music, dances and sinfonie for instrumental ensemble, operas,
and sacred works in the stile moderno. Kapsberger's central musical pro-
duction is, of course, his remarkable output for the tiorba. Indeed, Kaps-
berger was the most important Italian lutenist of the seventeenth century,
a composer whose innovations stimulated Italian interest in the chitarrone
as a solo instrument. The psychological dimensions of Kapsberger’s art
reveal his acute attunement to Baroque passions: ambiguous, often irra-
tional musical ideas are mixed in with traditional techniques, resulting in
a highly dramatic style that is present in the works of no other lutenist of
Kapsberger’s generation. Finally, Kapsberger's large output—over 150
surviving pieces preserved in printed and non-printed sources—constitutes
over half of the extant chitatrone repertory?
Today, Kapsberger's music is undoubtedly familiar to lutenists, yet the
impact of his music has been minimized by modern scholarship. We know
nothing about the sources of Kapsberger's style, nor of the influence he
2Achanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis (Rome, 1650), p. 986. On Kircher, see Ulf
Scharlau, Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) als Musikschriftsteller (Marburg, 1969). All
translations in this article are mine unless cited otherwise.
°This cotal is less than half of Kapsberger’s entire output for chitarrone. Leone Allacci
(Apes Urbanae [Rome, 1633], pp. 159-60) lists three books in print and three books in
manuscript “which Kapsberger is preparing for publication.” Allacci’s list is published in
its entirety in Johann Walther's Musikalisches Lexicon, oder musikalisches Bibliothek
(Leipzig, 1732), pp. 335-36.
104had on other musicians of his day. More importantly, the neglect of naps-
berger’s music has barricaded the main avenue of approach towards an
investigation of the entire Italian lute culture of the seventeenth century.
Lying at the root of this problem is the absence of a penetrating biogra-
phy of the composer—a necessary prerequisite for any serious study of
Kapsberger’s music. Some twenty years ago, Paul Kast assembled a con-
vincing, if somewhat speculative biography by examining the information
contained in the prefaces and dedications to Kapsberger's printed works.’
Despite Kast's efforts, Kapsberger’s history remained little more than a
series of bursts in compositional activity, followed by curious lacunae in
his output. Recent investigations of Italian archives, however, have un-
earthed new documents that illuminate some of the details of Kapsberger's
life. This material, seen within the context of the patronage institutions
that governed cultural life in seventeenth-century Rome, provides suffi-
cient information to reconstruct Kapsberger’s tife.© The purpose of this
article, then, is threefold: to furnish a comprehensive documentary biog-
raphy of Kapsberger from his arrival in Rome ca. 1605 up to his death in
1651; to examine Kapsberger’s relationship to the rich cultural milieu
within which he worked; and to lay the groundwork for future studies of
Kapsberger’s music, and by extension, for a primary investigation of the
lute and chitarrone repertory of seventeenth-century Italy.
In researching the life of Kapsberger, one is at once confronted with
two obstacles: 1) reports of an enigmatic, repellant personality, and, 2)
lack of sufficient documentation to ascertain the value of these claims. As
to the source of the negative charges, the finger can be pointed squarely at
the seventeenth-century Florentine theorist Giovanni Battista Doni.
Doni had known of Kapsberger’s music since at least 1626, for in the
spring of that year he wrote to Mersenne extolling the virtues of Kaps-
berger’s work, and promising to send the French theorist copies of Kaps-
berger's Poematia et Carmina of 1624 (Doni’s letter is translated further
on in this study). Doni’s comments are all the more interesting since he
“These subjects ate discussed in Victor Coelho, "Il Tedesco della tiorba and the Role of
the Lute and Chitacrone in the Toccatas of Frescobaldi,” in Frescobaldi Studies, ed. A. Sil-
biger (forthcoming), and in the expanded "G. G. Kapsberger ‘della tiorba’ et I'influenza
livtistica sulle Toccate di Frescobaldi,” in the Asti del Convegno Internazionale di Studio
su Frescobaldi ed il suo Tempo, Ferrara, 1983, (forthcoming).
>Paul Kast, “Biogeaphische Notizen iiber Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger aus den
Vorreden zu seiner Werken,” Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und
Bibliotheken 40 (1960), pp. 200-211; see also Kast's “Tracce Monteverdiane e influssi
Romani nella musica sacra del Kapsberger,” Rivista Italiana di musicologia 2 (1967), pp.
287-93,
The bibliography on seventeenth-century patronage is immense. I refer the reader to
Alexander Silbiger's excellence bibliography in his “The Roman Frescobaldi Tradition,”
Journal of the American Musicological Society 33 (1980), pp. 44-45, to which should be
‘added, Frederick Hammond, "Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, Patron of Music,” Studi Mu-
sicali 12 (1983), pp. 53-66.
105too was patronized by the Bacberini, and thus had first-hand experience
with Kapsberger and his music. Yet, it was during this association—and
for reasons that are unclear—that Doni’s feelings cooled drastically towards
Kapsberger, changing from respect and admiration to bitterness andeven
animosity. in his treatise De Praestantia mustcae veteris libri tres (1647),
Doni levels against Kapsberger a variety of attacks, describing him as
boorish, conceited, and opportunistic.”
In the story that has tarnished Kapsberger’s reputation ever since,
Doni claimed that Kapsberger, with the help of a bishop whom he co-
erced, tried 0 introduce his own music into the Sistine Chapel services
as a replacement to the music of Palestrina, which Kapsberger allegedly
cited as being “rude” and “inelegant” in its treatment of Latin text. Kaps-
berger apparently succeeded in his plan, but when the singers were handed
Kapsberger's music, they showed solidarity to Palestrina and refused to
sing anything else. Finally, Doni continues, the singers were ordered to
sing Kapsberger’s mass, but they did so in such an out-of-tune fashion that
Palestrina’s music was quickly restored. Doni apparently felt chat Kaps-
berger’s music lacked the erudite qualities that characterized the true
musical imitations of the ancient Greek manner:
Nam si Donium nostrum audi- For, if we heed our Doni, the whole
mus, tota haec modulandi ratio,
quam Symphoniasticam ipse
vocat, quae Palilogiis, ac Polylo-
giis passim exuberat, barbara pror-
sus planeque incondita censenda
est, quaeque nullo modo repurgari
possit, nisi ad vivum refecetur.
Quod si Capispergius cus intel-
lexisset, nec talern suscepisset
provinciam, nec se Cantoribus
deridendum praebuisset, qui vel
palam ipsius melodias concinere
detrestabane; vel eas de industria
sic corrumpebant, ut ingratae paen-
itus tum Principis, tum astanti-
um auribus acciderent.
system of music which he indeed
calls Symphoniastic and which
abounds here and there with Pah-
Jogia and Polylogia, is to be revered
as foreign and thoroughly un-
founded, and which cannot be
clarified except to be cut to the
quick. If Kapsberger had grasped
this, he would not have undertaken
such a provincialism nor held
himself up to the ridicule of the
singers, who either disliked sing-
ing his melodies, or deliberately
distorted them, with the result
chat it was thoroughly unwelcome
to the ears of the Pope as well as
of the bystanders.*
Doni’s libel appears to be a classic case of calumny; it was later refuted
by the Palestrina biographer Giuseppi Baini, who failed to find any record
*Doni's remarks are summarized in Wilhelm Ambros, Geschichte der Musik, vol. 4
(Leipzig, 1878), p. 126.
8G. B. Doni, De praestantia musicae veteris libri tres (Florence, 1647), pp. 98-99.
106of the incident in the Sistine Chapel archives. Unbeknownst to Baini, but
supporting his general conclusion, are records in the Libri di Ponti chat
document two occasions on which Kapsberger’s music was sung at the
Sistine Chapel. In December of 1626, a mass by Kapsberger was per-
formed without incident—which, at any rate, proves Doni's story to be
untrue—and the following year, another Kapsberger mass was sung in
the presence of the Pope, “because he wanted to hear it,” after which
Kapsberger “thanked all the Holy Singers for the favor they had done for
him.”
Doni’s story appears now to be an exaggeration, yet Doni succeeded in
his attempe to discredit Kapsberger in ways he never imagined. His story
was resurrected in important musical histories over the next three centu-
ries, Hawkins was the first toopen the coffin, when he paraphrased Doni's
entire story about Kapsberger in his widely read A General History of the
Science and Practice of Music of 1776." Hawkins made no attempt to
verify Doni’s claims. Almbst two centuries later, Ambros redrew Doni’s
character sketch of Kapsberger and amplified his cemacks for an even
larger musicological audience. Predictably, Ambros called Kapsberger a
“bragging charlatan” who achieved success by his noble status and his
“pushy and self-conscious behavior.""? In addition, Ambros called Kaps-
berger's monodies “unbelievably poor.”">
Convinced of the accuracy of Doni and Ambros, Nigel Fortune called
Kapsberger an “inferior craftsman” and his songs “inept trifles, just like
all the other aits composed in Rome—bungling and unmelodious.”4 Was
Fortune only drawing on Ambros’ earlier statement that Kapsberger's
monodies were “no worse and no better than the average work of the
°Giuseppe Baini, Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi
da Palestrina (1828) ept. (Hildesheim, 1966). pp. 353ff.
“Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Capella Sistina Diario (CSD) 46, “Libro delle
Puntature 1626," fol. 45v: “Il Decembre venerdi . .. Dopo loffitio venne il S.' Protettore
Cardinal Biscia Mos." Ciampoli, Sige.’ Paolo Alaleone Maestro di Ceremonie per sentir
una Messa composta dal Sig.’ Gio: Geronimo Kapsperger, essendosi avisati cucti li franchi,
accio venessero fi cantata presente med.° Compositore ..." CSD.47 (1627), fol. 21v:"
menica di Pentecuste 23. Maggio, N'S. tenne Capella a Monte Cavallo alla presenza det
IL” Card." et furno n° 24 Canto messa il Card." Pio et fu messa novella sermonegio un
seminarisca et furno presenti tutti li ss. Compagni serventi, si cantd la messa del s.’ Gio:
Girolimo Kasperger alias detto il Todesco della Tiorba et questo fu fatto perche NS. la
volse sentire finito la messa il 4° s' Kasperger sali a choca ringratio ructi iss. Cantori del
favor che gli havevano fatto
Sic John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (1776; ept
of 1873 edition Graz, 1969), p. 427
BAmbros, Gerchichte, p. 125.
Ambros, Geschichte, p. 131
‘Nigel Forcune, “Italian Secular Song from 1600 to 1635: The Origins and Develop-
mene of Accompanied Monody” (Ph.D. diss., Universicy of Cambridge, 1954), p. 192.
107inferior monodists of the time”?! The views expressed by the triumvi-
rate of Doni, Ambros, and Fortune formed the basis for Wolfgang Witz-
enmann’s lukewarm appraisal of Kapsberger in the New Grove.'6
Clearly, then, Kapsberger lived and died by the Roman monody—at
least he did if we accept the statements by Ambros, Fortune, and Witzen-
mann at their face value. This view is difficult to reconcile with the ap-
plause Kapsberger’s vocal music received during the seventeenth century.
In 1628, Giustiniani wrote that Kapsberger “excelled” in a new manner of
recitative-style singing “with newly invented melodies and ornamenta-
tion.”!7 Kircher echoed Giustiniani, and even hailed Kapsberger as Mon-
teverdi's successor for his compositions in chis genre:
There was once Claudio Monte-
verdi among the most celebrated
Fuit hoc styli genere cum primis
celebris olim Claudius Monte-
verde, uti eius Ariadne ostendit,
eum secutus Hieronymus Caps-
pergerus varia edidit stylo recitativo
que summo cum iudicio & peritia
composita, ac certe dignissima
sunt quae Musici imitentuc.
in this kind of style, as he showed
in his Ariadne; Hieronymus Kaps-
berger followed him who published
various books in recitative style,
composed with excellent skill and
taste, and is certainly most worthy
of being imitated by musicians.'*
Since the bulk of what Doni, Ambros, Fortune, and Witzenmann had
to say about Kapsberger’s music is at best offensive, the tradition derived
from their writings may have much to do with Kapsberger’s current ne-
glect. There is no hard musical evidence to corroborate the damaging
remarks by these writers, and one should probably accept Giustinianiand
Kircher as the most reliable critics. One is on somewhat shakier ground in
assessing Kapsberger’s personality. Doni apparently had some personal
disagreement with Kapsberger, as he did with Frescobaldi; this would ac-
count for the rancor in his comments. Yet there may be more than a
grain of truth in what Doni had to say, since other witnesses also alluded
to Kapsberger's aloofness and somewhat uncourtly manner. These com-
ments, which seem to be related to Kapsberger's exploitation of his noble
standing, will be clarified in the following biography. .
‘Ambros, Geschichte, p. 129.
'“The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, vol.9 (London,
1980), pp. 800-801.
"Vincenzo Giustiniani, Discorsi sopra la musica de" suoi tempi (1628), tans. Carol
MacClintock in Musicological Studies and Documents 9 (American Institute of Musicol-
ogy, 1962), p. 77
“Kircher, Musurgia Universalis, p. 994.
“For Doni’s impressions of Frescobaldi, see Frederick Hammond, Girolamo Frescobal-
di: His Life und Music (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 85-86.
108I
Giovanni Girolamo was born in Venice around 1580 to parentsof noble
German origin. His birth date is established by his death certificate, dated
17 January 1651, which states that he died “in about his seventy-first year.”20
Little is known about Girolamo’s parents other than that his father, Gug-
liemo (Wilhelm) Kapsberger, was a military official:employed by the
House of Austria.2! He may have come to Italy as an ambassador in the
decades following the German advance on the terraferma in the 1520s,??
Nothing is known of his son’s life until the appearance of Girolamo's Libro
primo dintavolatura di chitarrone in 1604, his first and only Venetian
print. For its novelty as the first printed book of chitarrone music, and
‘because it contained a short but valuable list of avertimenti for the player,
the Libro primo was perhaps the most popular Italian lute o chitarrone
tablature of the seventeenth century. In fact, the book seems to have been
in use for at least the next rwenty years, since transmissions of its repertory
appear in manuscripts copied as late as 1627.23 His reputation undoubtedly
enhanced by the success of this maiden work, Kapsberger left Venice for
Rome shortly after 1604, perhaps lured by the prospect of securing pet-
manent employment.
Kapsberger’s Rome during the first decade of the seventeenth century
was a bustling and diversified city in the adolescence of a spectacular re-
newal in its urban, economic, and cultural life. Ic was a different Rome
than existed a century before; even a native centenarian might not have
recognized his city were it not for the ancient monuments and traditional
church ceremonies. In 1500, Rome held little interest for a newcomer. Its
roads were cramped and deformed, its monuments in need of restoration,
and civic pride was at an all-time low. Its Renaissance had not yet arrived,
20See Paul Kast, “Biographische Norizen zu rémischen Musikern des 17.Jahthunderts,”
Anulecte Musicologica | (1963), pp. 47-48, for a tcanscription of Kapsberger's death no-
tice, Kast wrote that he was able co confirm the date and place of Kapsberger's birth, bur
he cited no document. My own search through the Bu/tesim covering the years 1560-1590
at the Archivio di Stato in Venice produced no birth certificate ot baptismal record for
Kapsberger. The records for the year 1580, however, are incomplete.
2The only informacion about Kapsberger's father is contained in Marcantonio Stradel-
la’s preface to the Libro primo di mudrigali (Rome, 1609), which states. ".. la qual bene
appaleso il Colonello Gugliemo suo padre al mondo, mentre servi con tanto valore ¢ sede
Vimperio di Casa d’Auseria.”
20n the foreign campaigns in Italy, see Lauro Martines, Power and Imagination: City
States in Renaissance Italy (New York, 1979), pp. 277-96.
*Concordances are contained in the following maauscripts: Modena, Archivio di Stato,
Ms. Ducale Segreto Busta IV, fascicle B, fols. 21v-22; Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Res.
Vind. ms. 30, fols. 21v, 25; and Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Barberini Lat. 4145,
fols. 4-9.
See Francis Haskell’s excellent Patrons and Painters: Art and Society in Baroque Italy,
revised edition (New Haven, 1980), pp. 24-30.
109as Partner says, “Rome was only a large medieval village smelling of cows
and hay.”?> Quite the opposite is true of the same city almost a century
later. Under Pope Sixtus V (1585-90), Rome made a phenomenal urban
recovesy: the city's churches were connected by a network of roads; major
thoroughfares replaced weedy alleys; and most important of all, the com-
pletion of Michelangelo's magnificent dome of St. Peter's provided the
symbol of growth and prosperity that had been missing for so long.
Like Venice, Rome was an international center. Prominent among the
non-Italians was the largest German population of any city south of the
Alps. Since the fourteenth century, powerful German families such as the
Fuggers from Augsburg had been important in the development of the
Roman economy. They integrated many of their compatriots into the
merchant class.?° Rome had its own fondaco dei tedeschi—the German
merchant center—where young Germans could acquire a knowledge in
the trade of goods and in Italian book-keeping. A good liberal arts educa-
tion was also available to eligible northerners through the German College
in Rome.” Of special importance is the large number of German lute
builders who settled in and around Rome during the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries.*® Vaccaro has remarked with respect to French lute
music that lute makers usually settled close to lute players, since the two
often worked together.?’ The significant presence of lute makers in seven-
teenth-century Rome, then, may indicate that Rome began to rival Venice
as a centex of lute activity, and that this shift in focus may have attracted
Iutenists like Kapsberger to Rome.
Above all, Rome offered the artist or musician, the poet or scientist, the
chance to work for one of the city's wealthy patrons. Rome's emergence
as the center of the Baroque spirit in Europe was due to the wealth and
tastes of its powerful families. These included the Bentivoglio, the Aldo-
brandini, and the greatest patrons of themall, the Barberini. Kapsberger's
trip, then, was a well-calculated investment. The promise of artistic pa-
tronage, combined with the presence of a large and influential German
community and the close proximity of lute players and builders, promised
Peter Partner, Renaistance Rome 1500-1559 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1979), p.4.
26On Germans in Rome, see Partner, Renaissance Rome, pp. 76-77; also Barbara Mc-
Clung Hallman, “Practical Aspects of Roman Diplomacy in Germany, 1517-1541," Journal
of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 10 (1980), pp. 193-206. For a list of Germans in
Rome, sce Friedrich Noack, Das Deut schtum in Rom, 2vols., (Seuttgart, 1927). Kapsberger
is strangely absent from Noack’s alphabetical list.
See Thomas Culley, “The Influence of the German College in Rome on Music in Ger-
man-Speaking Countries During che Sixteenth and Seventcenth Centusies,” Analecta
Musicologica 7 (1969), pp. 1-35.
These are listed in Luisa Cervelli, “Brevi note sui liutai Tedeschi attiva in Italia dal
secolo XVI° al XVII,” Analecta Musicologica 5 (1968), pp. 299-337.
Jean-Michel Vaccaro, La Musique de luth en France au XVI siécle (Paris, 1981), pp.
56-57.
110Kapsberger the rich dividends he was hoping for. He was not disappointed.
No record exists of Kapsberger’s first Roman activities, but it is clear
that he was soon patronized by members of both the prominent Jesuit
and artistic communities. His initial Roman prints, the Libro primo di
madrigali (1609) and the Libro primo divillanelle (1610), appeared through
the efforts of the poet Francesco de Zazzara and members of the knightly
Orderof St. Stephen. Where and how Kapsberger met these first patrons
of his is not altogether clear. One strong possibility is that the poet Zazzara
was chiefly responsible for Kapsberger's first Roman successes. Attracting
a patron was a complex process for an artist or musician; it required a pre-
cise knowledge of the politics and the formalities of each institution3°
Success depended on the attist's employment of a competentintermediary,
or sponsor, usually from the artist's home town. He could be a friend,
perhaps, or a member of the church, but above all he must be someone
with connections—what we today call an “agent.” Zazzara contributed
dedicatory poems for Kapsberger’s 1604 Venetian print as well as for
three of the first five Roman prints. He appears to have been involved in
the publication of Kapsberger's Libro primo in Venice, and then to have
travelled with Girolamo to Rome, where he acted as his impresario!
Thus, Kapsberger’s use of Zazzara in this capacity was a fairly typical pro-
cedure. At any rate, Kapsberger's status as a nobile alemano—a distinction
not without considerable weight in the class-conscious Rome of Clement
VUlI—should have ensured the swift publication of his works. It undoubt-
edly helped him gain entry to the various Roman academies.
While Kapsberger’s contacts and distinguished family background
(with an equally impressive coat-of-arms) certainly facilitated his absorp-
tion into the center of the Roman musical scene, it was his record as a
brilliant performer that proved to be most important. Kapsberger’s ex-
tant lute and chitarrone works show that he must have been an extraor-
dinary virtuoso of superior technique. Kapsberger's music also appears in
the ewo central manuscript sources of chitarrone music (Modena, Archi-
vio di Stato, Ms. Ducale Segreto Busta IV, fascicle B; and Paris, Biblio-
theque Nationale, Rés. Vmd. Ms. 30 (see Plate 1), suggesting that his
390 the methods used in Rome to attract patrons, see Haskell, Patrons and Painters,
pp. 1-23.
311f chis hypothesis is correct, it may not have been the only occasion in which Kapsberger
employed his Venetian contacts to furcher his carces. The Archivio diStatoin Venice (Bat-
tesimi 6, 1533-1641) lists che baptismal record of an M. Priuli on 25 November 1581, who
may be the same Michel Priuli who collected the works for Kapsberger's Libro terzo di
chitarrone (Rome, 1626). In addition, a Michel Priuli is listed in che Archive's Indice dell’.
Archivio del Conv dei P.P Augustinians di S. Stefano in Venezia, no.95, 112, which may
have some bearing on Kapsberger’s close association with the Roman order of St. Stefano.
11193 Us, 2) Tard
PWA ‘sIYy aeuoneNy enbayionqig ‘seg wos; JaBs1aqsdey Aq [asuass09]
“8 ‘193 ‘OE "SIN" 2 : 2
112ptints enjoyed a wide circulation? With a rising public image and a dis-
tinguished list of publications, it was only a matter of time before Kaps-
berger began his climb up the patronage ranks of the powerful Roman
families in search of the largest rewards.
One of these families was the Bentivoglio, a centuries-old, powerful
Ferratese family who came to Rome around 1600. The nucleus of the
family consisted of two extremely well-bred brothers, Guido and Enzo,
both of whom possessed a love of music and art. Their opportunities came
in 1598 when Duke Alfonso II d’Este of Ferrara died without an heir and
the city was brought under direct papal command. The eldest brother
Ippolito challenged the change of rule by supporting a dubious claim to
the duchy, but Guido and Enzo, with brilliant careers in front of them,
sympathized with the new order and were rewarded with the best the
papacy could offer. Guido began 2 splendid career with the chtirch in Rome,
and became one of the city's greatest patrons of the arts. Enzo, the states-
man of the family and the wealthiest of the brothers, initially stayed in
Ferrara as an ambassador but remained active in Roman cultural events.
By 1609, he too was in Rome, where with his brother he exerted 2 profound
influence on Roman music.?
Lute music was never far away from the Bentivoglio household. While
living in Ferrara, the brothers were undoubtedly familiar with Alessan-
dro Piccinini and his family of lutenists, all of whom worked for Duke
Alfonso II.4 When the Ferratese court was dissolved in 1598, Piccinini
also left Ferrara, and, according to Newcomb, “all evidence’ indicates that
Alessandro Piccinini was, like Frescobaldi, pact of the Bentivoglio music
establishment in Rome from its inception.”3° In addition, documents
show that Enzo Bentivoglio had contact with nearly all che other impor-
tant lutenists that were active in Italy during the early seventeenth century,
2Since the Modena manuscript is dated to the year 1619, the six Kapsberger pieces it
contains that are transmitted in no other source might be concordant with Kapsberger's
lost Libro secondo di chitarrone (Rome, 1616). Similarly, che two unique pieces in the
Paris manuscript, dated 1626, might be concordant with either the Libro secondo ot the
Libro terzo (Rome, 1626), which has been missing for some years. (A modern edition of
these two manuscripts, edited by this author, is forthcoming.) In addition, concordances of
Toccatas 2 and 5 from Kapsberger's Libro primo di lauto (1611) appear in the manuscript
Perugia, Archivio di Stato, Archivio Fiumi-Sermartei della Genga (1974) VIII,H.2, pp.90,94.
530n the patronage activities of the Bentivoglio, see Hammond, Girolamo Frescobaldi,
pp. 12-46; also Haskell, Patrons and Painters, pp. 48-50.
On the Piccininis in Ferrara, see Anthony Newcomb, The Madrigal at Ferrara 1579-
1597, vol. 1 (Princeton, 1980), pp. 166, 179; a succinct account of the Piccininis’ lives ap-
pears in Lucio de Grandis, "Famiglie di musicisti nel’ 500: | Piccinini, vitacol liuto,” Nuova
Rivista Musicale Italiana 12 (1982), pp. 226-32.
Anthony Newcomb, “Girolamo Frescobaldi 1608-1615," Annales Musicologiques 7
(1964-1977), p. 140.
113including the Cavaliere del Liuto, Pietro Paolo Melii, and Giovanni Kaps-
berger.
Kapsberger's rapport with the Bentivoglio is documented by excerpts
from two letters sent by Vincenzo Landinelli in Rome to Enzo Bentivo-
glio in Ferrara. The first letter, dated 3 November 1610, establishes Kaps-
berger’s association with the Bentivoglio family, and it illuminates some
of the more controversial aspects of Kapsberger’s personality:
Questa mattina gli ospiti di Enzo
This morning, Enzo’s guests, who
giunti a Roma per le feste di can-
had arrived in Rome for the festi-
onicazione di S. Carlo sono andati
a vedere maneggiare li cavalli da
Michele Cavallaverio al Coliseo, €
val of the canonization of San Carlo,
went to the Coliseum tosee Michele
Cavallaverio manage his horses,
Poi sono stati a pranzodal S' Card.
le Bevilacqua; e per lor tratteni-
mento ha fatto sonare 11 Todesco
dalla Teorba, al qu.le ha dato tanti
titoli che se n’@ retornato a casa
gonfio altramente né havena ce-
nato, pretendenda di essere Gentil
huomo e di né voler cenare se nd
Gentil huomini et accademi
and afterwards they went todine at
the home of Sig. Card. le Bevilacqua.
And fos their entertainment, he
had Il Todesco dalla Teorba per-
form, to whom [Bevilacqua] had
given so many compliments, that
[Kapsberger] went home with a
swollen head, having not as much
as eaten, pretending tobe a noble-
man and not wanting to eat if no
other noblemen of accademici
were present. , 37
It is impossible to judge the extent of Kapsberger's relationship with
Enzo Bentivoglio from this letter. It seems clear, however, that Kaps-
berger’s activities were a subject of some interest to Enzo, and that both
he and Landinelli were familiar with Kapsberget’s music. This is con-
firmed in Landinelli’s letter of 2 January 1611, in which he assures Enzo
36 wish to thank Mr. Dinko Fabris of Bari, Italy, for drawing my attention to these docu-
ments, Mr. Fabris is currencly engaged in a comprehensive study of the Bentivoglio mate-
rial. Further evidence of the Bentivoglio family's interest in lute music is given by the
so-called “Bentivoglio lute book,” San Francisco State University Library, Frank V. de
Bellis Collection, M2.1.M3, which carries the inscription "cominciato al 5 agosto 1615,”
and which seems to have been owned by Ascanio Bentivoglio, from the Milan branch of
the Bentivoplio family. For a study of the manuscript and a thematic index, see Gustave
Reese, “An Early Seventeenth-Cencury Italian Luce Manuscript at San Francisco,” io Es-
says in Musicology in Honor of Dragan Plamenac on His 70th Birthday, ed.G. Reese (Pitts-
burgh, 1969), pp. 253-79.
Ferrara, Archivio di Stato, Archivio Bentivoglio, M. 9-55, .524v. Documents show that
Piccinini remained in Rome through 1610, and, ia fact, played a concerc only ewo weeks
after Kapsberger’s performance on 3 November. (See Newcomb, "Girolamo Frescobaldi
1608-1615,” pp. 138-41.) It seems almost certain, then, that Kapsberger and Piccinini
had contact during this time.
114that "Girolamo dalla Teorba promised to give me the buco [sonate?] that
you wanted so that you will be able to send it on Satucday."3* Could this
indicate Enzo's desire to have an early copy of Kapsberger's Libro primo
dintavolatura de lauto of 1611?
Kapsberger took a wife, the Neapolitan Gerolima di Rossi, shortly
before 1609. At least three children were the products of this marriage.
Baptismal records survive for two daughters, Clarice Vittoria (born 1619)
and Livia (born 1621).*° The identity of the third child, a son named Filip-
po Bonifacio, is revealed in the preface he wrote to his father's Christmas
cantata, I Pastori di Bettelemme of 1630.4 According to Kast, Filippo may
have been born around 1610.” As Kapsberger's reputation grew during
these years, so did the demand for his services as a composer. His com-
missions even came from Florence, where Kapsberger's Maggio Cantata
was performed in the Palazzo Pitti during the 1612 Carnival.3 Kast spec-
ulates that this commission may have come through Kapsberger’s associ-
ation with the Order of St. Stephen.“4 Other patrons during this time
included the military “knights” of the Order of St. John, represented by
Jakob Christoph Andlau, who wrote the preface to Kapsberger's Libro
primo di arie passegeiate of 1612. Firmly established as a Roman com-
poser, Kapsberger composed steadily for the nexc twelve years, publishing
two more books of villanelle (1619), a book of motets (1612), instrumen-
tal dances (1615), sinfonie (1615), solo lute and chitarrone music (1616,
s8Acchivio Bentivoglio, M9-58, c. 30-30v: ". .. IS" Girolamo dalla Teorba mi ba pro-
messo di darne le buco che desidera per poterle mandate sabatto, ¢ bacia a VS. Hlls.ma
Je mani .
The approximate date of Kapsbergec’s marriage can be deduced by the appearance of
an additional coat-of-arms on his escurcheon on the title page of the Madrigali of 1609.
“Rome, Archivio del Vicariato, Parcochia di San Lorenzo in Damaso, Battesimi 7, fol.
50v (15 March 1619); Clarice Vitcoria nata di 5 fig.a del sig. Gio: Gerolimo Kapsberger
Todesco et della sig.re Gerolima de Rossi Napolirana s{ua] m{ oglie] di S. Cecelia bat{tez~
zat}a de! so| pra}d| ecto Comp. Mons.r Gio: Batta. Porta Comasco et la sig.ta Clarice Fos-
sana Romana; fol. 108r (23 Nov. 1621): Livia nata li 20 fig.del s Gio. Gironimo Kapsberger
Todesco, et della Gironima s.m. par. S, Cecilia batta’ da D. Gasparo Patr.I'lll mo S.D. Ver-
ginio Cesarini, et Livia Mamma.
41", offerisco a VS. Iilustrissima il presente Dislogo del Signor Giulio Rospigliosi con
fe musiche di mio Padre ...” This preface also reveals chat Kapsberger's son was employed
in the service of Cardinal Francesco Barberini. Ic is reprinted in Lorenzo Bianconi, "Wei-
tere Erginzungen zu Emil Vogels ‘Bibliothek der gedruckten weltlichen Vocalmusik ial-
iens, aus den Jahren 1500-1700" aus Italienischen Bibliotheken,” Analecta Musicologica
#9 (1970), pp. 167-68.
Kast, "Biographische Notizen iiber Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger,” p. 210.
See Angelo Solerti, Musica, ballo drammatica alla Corte Medices dal 1600 al 1637
(Florence, 1905 rp. New York, 1968), p. 64
“"Miglicherweise hat ihm iibrigens die Freundschaft der beiden Angehorigen des
Toskanischen Ordens vorn Heiligen Stefan den Auftrag 2u der Maien-Kantate 1612 fir
den Florentiner Hof eingebracht,” quoted from Paul Kast, "Biographische Notizen iber
Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger,” p. 205.
1151619—both lost), and the Jesuit drama, the Apotheosis seu Consecratio
SS. Ignatii et Francisei Xaverii (1622).
Most of Kapsberger’s performances during these years were probably
held within the confines of the academies.** These institutions can be
divided into two kinds. In the loosest and most general sense, an “acade-
my" was nothing more than an occasional gathering of artists, musicians,
and scholars who were joined together by common interests, Their meet-
ings were essentially soisées that included displays of music and perhaps
even poetry. Kapsberger, like most of Rome's elite, organized his own
acagiemies that he held in his house. They were described as “arnong the
most marvelous in Rome."47
There also existed a more formal type of academy that was a rigidly
planned institution of learning. A continuation of the great humanistic
academies of the sixteenth century, these institutions uswally had a liter-
ary, philosophical, or scientific scope, though by the seventeenth century
academies for the study of fine arts had also come into existence. A major
difference between these and the less formal academies was their isola-
tion from the public. Cochrane notes that this type of academy “made no
pretense of instructing or edifying their fellow citizens,” but addressed
“only a select elite,"#* A common activity in these academies was the pre-
sentation by a member of an original work—a musical composition, a
short lecture, compendium, or poem, for example—to the academy elders
for their review (critica) of it. These works were rarely returned to the
author, but became the property of the academy. Kapsberger was a fre-
quent performer at one such academy, the Accademia degli Umoristi in
Rome. As Umoristi member Filippo Nicolini states in the preface to
Kapsberger’s 1611 lute book:
“The Apotheosis receives # lengthy discussion in James Forbes, “The Non-Liturgical
Vocal Music of Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger” (Ph.D. diss., University of North Caro-
lina—Chapel Hill, 1978), pp. 248-451
“6For a general background on academies, see Edmond Strainchamps, “New Light on
the Accademia degli Elevati of Florence,” Musical Quarterly 62 (1976), pp. 07-35; see
also Allan Adlas, “The Accademia degli Unisoni: A Music Academy in Renaissance Peru-
gia,” in Essays in Honor of Martin Bernstein (New York, 1977), pp. 5-24. Anindispensable
reference tool is Michel Maylender, Storie delle Accademie d'Italia, 5 vols., (Bologna, 1926-
30); also useful is Eric Cochrane's Tradition and Enlightenment in the Tuscan Academies
1690-1800 (Chicago, 1961).
€ nostra Accademia? Dove la Musica,e le Muse in sibel commertio di tanta virtiye
2, sanno hora mai nominar le Casa sua tra le maraviglie di Roma” (from Pietro
Camillo Beccaria's preface to Kapsberger’s 1615 Ball)
“Cochrane, Tradition and Enlightenment, p. 22.
116Questi_sono le compositioni che
V. Sig™ per suo gusto, et per.ob-
ligar la nostra Accademia in di-
verse occasioni ha composte le
quali perche da me particolar-
mente furon raccolte, come quello
che partialmente stimo tutte le
cose sue; essendo 4 me tutto gior-
no di diversi amici richiesti e per
far che nell’ Accademia con mag-
These are the compositions which,
"Your Lordship, out of your taste
and to oblige our Academy on
diverse occasions, you have pro-
duced, and I have collected with
great care, as one who hasastrong
predilection for all your works;
for lam asked every day by various
friends to see that in our Academy
they are more readily kno’
gior commodita si conoschino ...
Characteristically, the Umoristi’s control over Kapsberger's work is
very much in evidence: Nicolini goes on to say that the pieces that he has
selected for publication “are not for everybody, but only for our academy.”
‘Around 1619, Kapsberger was also patronized by the Accademia degl'Im-
perfetti of Rome, as suggested by the dedications written by Imperfet-
ti members Francesco Porta and Cesare Quaglieti in the Libro terzo di
villanelle.
By 1623, Kapsberger was indisputably one of Rome's premier musi:
cians. He was certainly one of the busiest, having published fourteen
works since his arrival in the city. Within another year Kapsbecget’s sta-
tus would be augmented even further, for in August of 1623 che Pope's
crown changed heads for the second time in only three years, and Maffeo
Barberini was crowned Pope Urban VIII.
mM
During Urban’s twenty-one-year pontificate (1623-1644), the ele-
ments that governed most Renaissance papal courts—economic, politi-
cal, and financial power, combined with unlimited spiritual authority—
were intensified on all levels.‘? By reconciling his own humanistic ideals
of aesthetic beauty and learning with financial extravagance, driving
ambition, and nepotism, Urban created a coust that was itself a work of
art. What mainly set this court apart from others was Urban’s magnifi-
cent patronage of the arts, Urban was himself a highly accomplished poet
who wrote in Italian, Latin, and Greek. Throughout his career—first as
papal nuncio, then as cardinal—he moved in a circle of artists, writers,
scientists, and poets whom he liked to entertain in the academies he held
in his house. Urban’s role as patron, then, began long before he became
Pope.
“The most detailed account of Urban’s reign is in Ludwig Freiherr von Pastor, The
History of the Popes, tcans, Dom Ernest Graf (London, 1938), vol. 29.On Urban and his
nephews as patrons, and for a detailed examination of the cultural climate of the cime, see
Haskell, Patrons and Painters, pp. 24-62.
117The splendors of Urban's reign were also due to the efforts of his neph-
ews, Francesco and Antonio Barberini. In a daring display of nepotism,
Urban raised both of them to the rank of cardinal—Francesco in 1624,
Antonio in 1627—in defiance of a papal bull forbidding the elevation of
more than one nephew at any time. But in view of the magnificent flower-
ing of culture as a result of this action, who can argue against Urban's
unbridled display of power? Both nephews were as adept in cultural pur-
suits as their uncle; both had impeccable taste; both were vigorously active
patronage of artists and poets; and both maintained first-rate mu-
tablishments.5°
‘apsberger’s name first appears in the Barberini payment books in
February of 1625. The reasons behind his appointment to the papal court
migkt be found in an ambitious project realized by Kapsberger some
months earlier. In April of 1624, the Roman publisher Luca Antonio
Soldi brought out Kapsberger’s recitative-style settings of Pope Urban’s
Poematia and Carmina, a collection of Latin verses and paraphrases writ-
ten when Urban was a cardinal. The full title of the work reads: POEMA
TIA ET / CARMINA / Composita / a / MAFFAEO BARBERINO / OLIM
S.R.E. CARD. / Nunc autem / URBANO OCTAVO. PON / Musicis
modis aptata / Jo. Hieronymo Kapsperger / Nobilis Germano. / VOLU-
MEN PRIMUM. (POEMATIA ET / CARMINA / Composed / by / Maf-
feo Barberino / formerly Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church / but now /
Pope Urban VIII / adapted to music by / Jo. Hieronymus Kapsberger /
Noble German / Volume one.) That this work was intended as a tribute
to Urban is evident from its title page (see Plate Il). The figure (but not
the likeness) of the Pope stands in the middle of the engraving, behind
the three bees of the Barberini arms. Encircling Urban’s escutcheon are
the symbols that distinguish the Pope’s coat-of-arms from those of his
nephews: the tiara, the keys of St. Peter, and the undiffecenced field. Oth-
er Barberini symbols, fire and laurel, are represented on the top of the
right and left columns, respectively. Flanking the Pope ate two virtues
bearing gifts—poetry on the left and music on the right—to symbolize
the union of these two arts in the Poematia. Finally, Kapsberger is repre-
sented by the chitarrone on the side of the virtue music.
Like countless other artists and musicians who flocked to Rome daring
this time, Kapsberger was no doubt anxious to attract the attention of the
Barberini, and ar first glance it appears that he wrote the work for this
reason. But an even closer look at the title-page indicates that the composer
3*See Frederick Hammond, "Girolamo Frescobaldi and a Decade of Music in Casa Bar-
berini 1634-1643," Analecta Musicologica 19 (1980), pp.94-124, See also Henri Pruniéres,
“"Les musiciens du Cardinal Antonio Barberini,” in Mélanges de Musicologie offerts aM.
Lionel de la Laurencie (Pais, 1933), pp. 117-22.
nsCARMINA
Compofita
OLIM SR E-CARD.
Nunc autem j
BANO OCTAVO: pom
H| Muficis modis aptata 1 :
Plate II Title-page of the Poematia et Carmina, 1624, (Paris, Bib-
liotheque Nationale)
19may already have been in some favor with the new papal family.>' The
appearance of the Pope's coat-of-arms and the words Volumen Primum
suggest that Kapsberger’s settings were intended not simply to attract the
attention of the new Pope, but to be part of a larger agreement between
the cwo parties. We may even suspect that Urban was aware of Kaps-
berger's desire to set his poetry to music, and perhaps selected the poems
himself. Moreover, in setting the Poematia and Carmina, Kapsberger was
articipating in a social action that was well understood, even encouraged,
Usban—namely, flattery. It thus appears that the Poematia of 1624
it least partially responsible for Kapsberger's employment by the
rberini.
The Poematia et Carmina became one of Kapsberger’s best-known
works, winning him more widespread acclaim. It was, along with a second
setting in 1633, one of the few,works that were still in demand after Kaps-
berger’s death. [ts favorable reception is borne out by Doni'’s letter to
Mersenne, in which Doni praises the work and its composer, and even
apologizes to Mersenne for not having sent him a copy sooner. Indeed,
the work—written in a fairly conservative recitacive style, sprinkled with
occasional arioso passages—fits perfectly with Doni’s ideal of “a vocal
line that imitates ordinary speech but that is nevertheless varied and ari-
oso” which he postulated in his Lyra Barberina»4 Doni's letter, translated
below, is important not only for its description of the Poematia, but also
for the glimpse it offers into some of Kapsberger's activities during his
first years with the Barberini:
Having arrived in Rome, I discovered that you have not been sent the music
which I was entrusted to send you in Paris. It is for this reason, so that you
are not frustrated in yout expectations, and so I do not break my promise,
that Ishould like to send you the entire book of Odes by ous Holy Father, set
°tExactly where and when Kapsberger may have had previous contact with che Barberi-
ni is difficult co pinpoine. The most likely setting would have been the Accademia degli
‘Umoristi, since summary of the academy's membership afcec 1608 includes the names of
Maffeo, Francesco, and Antonio Barberiai. Kapsberger, as we showed earlier, was associat-
ed with the Umoristi axound 1611. The membership list also includes the names of others
who were employed by Pope Urban and his nephews: Giovanai Ciampoli (secretary to
Urban), Virginio Cesarini (Maestro da Camera to Urban), Jules Cardinal Mazarin (Maes-
tro da Camera wo Antonio), Doni, and the poets Giacomo Cicognini, Otcavio Tronsarelli,
and Giulio Rospigliosi. The list is published in Maylendec, Storie delle Academie, vol. 5,
pp. 375-80.
StAljacci (Apes Urbanae, pp. 159-60) lists a second volume published in 1633, and 3
third that existed in manuscript.
S3Sce che holdings of the reprint company, the Firma Franzini, in Othmar Wessely,
“Der Indice der Firma Franzini in Rom,” in Beitrige zur Musikdokumentation Franz
Grasberger zum 60. Geburstag (Tutzing, 1975), p. 471.
* 4“Trattato della musica scenica,” in Lyra Barberina (Florence, 1763), Il, p. 25; quoted in
Claude Palisca, Baroque Music (Englewood Cliffs, 1968), p. 115.
120to music by that Author of whom I spoke to you in Paris. He is eruly a knowl-
edgeable man in his profession and is not without erudition, besides being
extremely polite, very articulate and cordial, and in his music teaches to. ob-
serve carefully the meaning of the words, and to adapt, as one should, its
modulations ¢o one another, purging as much as possible the affectation
and corruption in singing that is practiced, for the most part, by modern
musicians and singers, knowing that these ornaments and endless roulades
[desgoisemens\ are pleasing more to the ignorant public than to those that
are pleased by things that are more settled and orderly. This is why you will
never find these pieces full of affectations, but rather a melody that is pure
and simple and well constructed, as I advocate, and of which you will be the
better judge. He has often had the honor of having his pieces sung in the’
chamber of His Lordship, often being at the Palace as well, with the Secre-
tary of Briefs of His Lordship, who is an avid lover of leatned people and
good musicians. He also plays the cheorbo very well, of which he is consid-
ered the finest master that we have in Rome . . °*
Iv
Kapsberger was employed in the service of Cardinal Francesco Batberi-
ni, with whom he remained—albeit on a non-exclusive basis—until the
Barberini fled Rome in 1645-46 Detailed information regarding the
activities and make-up of Francesco’s household between 1623 and 1643
is preserved in an unusually complete collection of more than four thou-
sand documents housed at the Archivio Barberini in the Biblioteca Apos-
tolica Vaticana in Rome. The documents consist chiefly of payment records,
*sCorrespondance du P. Marin Mersenne religieux minime, 1, ed. Cornelis de Waard
(Paris, 1945), pp. 437-38. Letter from Doni to Mersenne, March or the beginningof April,
1626: "Mon Reverend Pere. Ftant arrive a Rome j'ay trouve qu'on ne vous avoit point en
voyé ces pieces de musique que j'avois commis de Paris. C’est pourquoy 4 ce que vous ne
soyez frustré de vostre esperance et que je ne manque de ma promesse, je vous ay voulu
envoyer tout le livre des Odes de nostre S. Pere, mis en musique par cest Auteur dont je
vous ay parlé a Paris Lequel est veritablement scavant homme en sa profession et qui ne
manque d’erudition, estant au reste personage fort poli, bien disant et accort, et qui pro-
fesse en ce qui concerne la musique d'observer bien la force des paroles et d'accomoder
comme il faut ses modulations 4 icelles, fuyant tant qu'il est possible ‘affectation et ces
corruptions du chant qui se prattiquent pour la plus part par ces modernes musiciens et
chantées, scavoir est ces fredonnemens et desgoisemens de voix qui agreeront plucot 2 la
populace ignorante qu’a ceux qui se plaisent aux choses bien reglées at ordonnées. Voyla
pousquoy vous ne trouverez point en ces pieces de telles mignardises, mais un chant pur et
simple et bien ageancé, comme je croy et vous pourrez mieux juger. Il a eu bien souvent
Thonneur de faire chanter ses compositions en la chambre de Sa Saincreté, estant bien
souvent au Palais chez le secretaire des Brebfs de Sa Saincteté qui est grand amateur des
personnes doctes et des bons musiciens. Il joue aussi fort bien de la Tiorbe en laquelle il est
estimé le premier maistre que nous ayons & Rome.”
“éPrunieres ("Les musiciens du Cardinal Barberini") mistakenly assigned all the musi-
cians in Francesco's employ to Cardinal Antonio, as well as misceading their salaries. For
latification, see Hammond, “A Decade of Music," p. 97, n.6.
121or giustificazioni, of which the most important sources are the payments
to the regularly salaried members (salariati) summarized in the Libro
mastso generale (LMG). Ninety percent of all the payments to Kapsberger
appear as ledger entries that simply list the issuance of his monthly salary.
The remaining ten percent are for extraordinary or supplemental duties,
and as such, are annotated. These latter payments allow us to draw a fairly
accurate picture of Kapsberget’s role within the Barberini house.’7
Although Girolamo Tedesco's employment under the cardinal “offi-
cially” began in December 1624, Kapsberger's professional relationship
with Francesco appears to have been established easlier than that. There
is evidence chat Kapsberger at least performed before Cardinal Frances-
in Match 1623, Kapsberger received a “gift” from the cardinal of sc. 50
(sc. = scudi), and a year later, a payment was made by Francesco for “the
carrying of the tiorba.”8
Once on Francesco's regular payroll, Kapsberger’s duties were ex-
tcemely varied, both in organizing musical events, and in being in charge
of putti music. Between 1624 and 1629, Kapsberger was given sc. 100
every February, “to distribute freely to himself and to the musicians to
whom they are given,” which Francesco provided as a gift to the musi-
cians for their participation in the Feast of St. Agatha.» Being a nobile
alemano, it was not unusual for Kapsberger to receive gifts from Frances-
co under such no-strings-attached conditions. In 1629, however, Kaps-
berger was paid sc. 40 “on the condition that it is not to be used for your
needs without first answering for it,” which may reflect some past mis-
management on Kapsberger’s part. In February 1625, Kapsberget was
given sc. 11.95 “to cake a boy musician to Florence to the service of the
Prince of Poland.”6' Hammond has identified this boy musician as Baldas-
sare Ferri, who was sent to Florence while Prince Ladistao di Polonia was
visiting at the Medici Court.*! In July 1627, Kapsberger was paid sc. 24.05
to take anothec boy castrato to Florence.*
Kapsberger’s primary pedagogical duties, however, seem to have in-
volved the training of the young castrato, Girolamo Zampetti. Cardinal
2”See Hammond, “A Decade of Music,” for a detailed description of Cardinal Frances-
co's household, and for a description of the archival documents.
58] wish to thank Frederick Hammond for providing me with an eatly draft of his forth-
coming article, "Music in Casa Barberini: A Postscript,” from which the following payment
records concerning Kapsberger were extracted. Archival sigla are thoroughly described in
Hammond, "Music in Casa Barberini: A Postscript.” C.49, c.10, 29 March 1623: sc. 50 "per
un regalo”; g. 130, April 1624, payment for “portatura della ‘Tiorba.”
‘Documents listed in Hammond, “Music in Casa Barberini: A Postscript.”
“C78, fol. 168v, 1629: sc. 40, “quali se li fanno pagare ad effetto, che se ne possaservire
plerl sue occorrenze senza obligo di renderne altce conto.”
61¢.74, 12 Feb: s¢- 11.95 “a putto musico .. . per conduirsi a Fiorenza al servio del P* di
Polonia.” (Another payment for same.)
‘“Giustificazione 798, July 1627: sc. 24.05 “Per it casteatino mandato a Fiorenza.”
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