Abstract
The city of Bologna experienced its golden age of music in the seventeenth century. Under its distinctive arcades and in its sumptuous palaces and churches a lively, innovative musical culture suddenly sprang up. Imaginative composers and skilful performers were drawn to its celebrated musical institutions, and influential new musical ideas appeared. Nurtured by its vigorous artistic and intellectual spirit, which dates from the founding of its famous university, Bologna emerged as one of Italy’s most important musical centres, along: with Venice and Rome.
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Notes
For books on the general crisis in Italy in the seventeenth century, the reader should consult the bibliography for Chapter II. In addition, C. M. Cipolla, ‘The Decline of Italy — the Case of a Fully Matured Economy’, Economic History Review, ser. 2, v (1952), 178–87, gives a useful summary from an economic viewpoint.
For discussions of music as a social and political power, see G. Stefani: ‘Musica e festa nell’Italia barocca’, AnMc, no. 12 (1973), 143–68, and 152ff; Musica barocca: poetica e ideologia (Milan, 1974); and Musica e religione nell’Italia barocca (Palermo, 1975). Essential to the understanding of the social context of Italian music of this period is L. Bianconi, Music in the Seventeenth Century, trans. D. Bryant (Cambridge, 1987).
The only books in English on the history and culture of Bologna date from the early twentieth century, both enjoyable narratives in the history-cum-guidebook tradition: E. James, Bologna: its History, Antiquities and Art (London, 1909);
A. Wiel, The Story of Bologna (London, 1923).
Artistic life in Bologna is well surveyed in E. Waterhouse, Italian Baroque Painting (London, 1962), which devotes a chapter to the Carracci and their Bolognese successors.
Urban life is treated in L. Frati, La vita privata di Bologna dal secolo XIII al XVII (Bologna, 1900). For valuable information on theatres and dramatic presentations, see C. Ricci, / teatri di Bologna nei secoli XVII e XVIII (Bologna, 1888).
Music
Several pioneering studies on the history of music in Bologna were written by G. Gaspari. Originally appearing in fascicles in the series Atti e memorie della r. deputazione di storia patria per le provincie della Romagna, they have been brought together and reprinted under the title Musica e musicisti a Bologna: ricerche, documenti e memorie risguardanti la storia dell’arte musicale in Bologna (Bologna, 1969). Two useful early contributions are F. Vatielli, Arte e vita musicale a Bologna (Bologna, 1927),
L. Frati, ‘Per 1a storia della musica a Bologna nel secolo XVII, RMI, xxxii (1925), 544–66.
Modern studies in English began with H. Mishkin, ‘The Solo Violin Sonata of the Bologna School’, MQ, xxix (1943), 92–112, which drew attention to this important repertory.
J. Berger performed a similar service for the trumpet/string repertory in ‘Notes on some 17th-Century Compositions for Trumpets and Strings in Bologna’, MQ, xxxvii (1951), 354–67.
D. L. Smithers, The Music and History of the Baroque Trumpet before 1721 (London, 1973), devotes a substantial chapter to the Bolognese trumpet repertory.
Gazzati’s instrumental music is explored in J. G. Suess, ‘The Ensemble Sonatas of Maurizio Cazzati’, AnMc, no.19 (1979), 146–85.
Aspects of sacred music by composers at S Petronio are discussed in J. Berger, ‘The Sacred Works of Giacomo Antonio Perti’, JAMS, xvii (1964), 370–77,
P. Smith, ‘Girolamo Giacobbi and his Salmi concertati of 1609’, Studies in Music from the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, 1978), 15–21.
Two articles are concerned with various aspects of music at S Petronio: A. Schnoebelen, ‘Performance Practice at San Petronio in the Baroque’, AcM, xli (1969), 37–55; and idem, ‘Cazzati vs. Bologna: 1657–1691’, MQ lvii (1971), 26–39.
O. Gambassi, La cappella musicale di San Petronio (Florence, 1987), is an excellent archival study of the musicians at S Petronio from 1436 to 1920.
Bolognese opera has been little studied. L. Bianconi and T. Walker have investigated the history of the ‘Febiarmonici’ in ‘Dalla Finta pazza alla Veremonda: storia di Febiarmonici’, RIM, x (1975), 379–454. Their article ‘Production, Consumption, and Political Function of Seventeenth-Century Italian Opera’, EMH, iv (1984), 209–96, contains information on the role of academies in Bolognese opera. The history of the oratorio in Bologna is treated in H. E. Smither, A History of the Oratorio, i: The Oratorio in the Baroque Era: Italy, Vienna, Paris (Chapel Hill, 1977).
F. Vatielli’s early study of the Concerto Palatino, Il concerto palatino della signoria di Bologna (Bologna, 1940), is amplified in O. Gambassi, ‘Origine, statuti e ordina-menti del concerto palatino della signoria di Bologna, I, 1250–1600; II, 1600–1797’, NRMI, xviii (1984), 261–83, 469–502, and especially in idem, II concerto palatino della signoria di Bologna: cinque secoli di vita musicale a corte (1250–1797) (Florence, 1989). For biography and analysis of the music of its leading composer, see R. Dalmonte, Camillo Cortellini madrigalista bolognese (Florence, 1980).
My discussion of the Cazzati-Arresti polemic is based largely on U. Brett, Music and Ideas in Seventeenth-Century Italy: the Cazzati-Arresti Polemic (New York and London, 1989).
A pioneering study of the Accademia Filarmonica is N. Morini, La R. Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna (Bologna, 1930).
J. G. Suess, ‘Observations on the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna in the Seventeenth Century and the Rise of a Local Tradition of Instrumental Music’, Quadrivium, viii (1967), 51–62, points up the influence of the academy on the development of the Bolognese instrumental repertory.
For a recent documentary study of the Accademia Filarmonica, see O. Gambassi, L’Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna: fondazione, statuti e aggregazioni (Florence, 1992).
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Schnoebelen, A. (1993). Bologna, 1580–1700. In: Price, C. (eds) The Early Baroque Era. Man & Music. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11294-4_5
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