Vincenzo Galilei VS Polyphony and Word Painting

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  • čas přidán 27. 08. 2024

Komentáře • 100

  • @sebastianbrix
    @sebastianbrix Před 3 lety +35

    What a wonderful way to enjoy your afternoon coffee --- espresso and Elam!

  • @michaelperkins8078
    @michaelperkins8078 Před 3 lety +13

    here earlier than early music

  • @andreamundt
    @andreamundt Před 3 lety +11

    I love that guy (Galilei) ! He has taste. Thx for another enjoyable episode!

  • @Jantsenpr777
    @Jantsenpr777 Před 3 lety +17

    Any day Elam posts is a great day. I love your work! I don't know where you live, but Shabbat Shalom!

  • @IPMusic
    @IPMusic Před 3 lety +19

    I've never laughed so much at an early music video! Wonderful presentation about Galilei's view, of which I was previously unaware. Thank you.

    • @IPMusic
      @IPMusic Před 2 lety

      @Phoenix 𝙾𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝙼𝚢 PROFILE, I didn't forget, it just isn't relevant to my point. This video isn't about Michelangelo. You have a puzzling profile picture for someone commenting on early music.

    • @therealzilch
      @therealzilch Před 2 lety

      @@IPMusic It's just sex ad spam, probably a bot. I get them too.

  • @therealzilch
    @therealzilch Před 2 lety +6

    We can laugh now at Vincenzo's rather parochial objections to expressionism in music. But let's be thankful that he commited them to paper, giving us a glimpse of a time of wonderful creativity.
    And thanks to Elam for once again informing us so elegantly. Cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott

  • @YavorArseniev
    @YavorArseniev Před 3 lety +8

    Best crossover ever! Can absolutely vouch for Sing the Score and I Fagiolini are a fantastic ensemble.

    • @robertfraser485
      @robertfraser485 Před 3 lety +1

      Agreed! I Fagiolini + Early Music Sources = Two of my favourite things.

    • @Jantsenpr777
      @Jantsenpr777 Před 3 lety +2

      Indeed. I just discovered "I Fagiolini" because of this channel. Amazing stuff!

  • @ezdivala
    @ezdivala Před 3 lety +18

    You are the best. I love your academic approach and such an informative, clear, fun presentation. I am not a professional, just interested in this topic very much. And this is the best! I will support you in PayPal. Please keep these videos coming. On Jacopo Peri, Emilio Cavalierri, Julio Caccini, very much looking forward to those.

  • @danyelnicholas
    @danyelnicholas Před 3 lety +26

    Vincenzo Galilei's magnificent lute music is actually ferociously contrapuntal. When I first 'discovered' an edition in the library I was overjoyed with anticipation only to despair later at home trying to play it. It is all 6 course but with rigorous voice leading. His son Michelagnolo, in turn, paved the way for the style brisé.

    • @ludustestudinis
      @ludustestudinis Před 3 lety +1

      To which music do you refer? His lute music that I have as facsimiles ("Il Fronimo", manuscript collection of Passemzzi) seems to be more designed to make a point (e.g. promote equal tmperment in the case of the Passemezzi in most awkward keys) than to make fun while playing. Is there a collection that you can recommend?

    • @danyelnicholas
      @danyelnicholas Před 3 lety +3

      @@ludustestudinis I referred to Intavolatura de lavto
      First Publication 1563 - Roma: Valerio Dorico, RISM A/I: G 144 ; B/I: 1563²³
      but that could indeed be argued to represent a style later 'overcome' by VG. Thank you for mentioning the 'well tempered' passemezzi, because that, fun or not, is another fascinating, decidedly non-ancient project of Galilei's.

    • @danyelnicholas
      @danyelnicholas Před 3 lety +2

      I should add, there is another, very large, collection of tabulatures, apparently an authograph: Libro d'intavolatura di liuto, (Fondo galileiano, Gal. 6) from late in VG's life. There are lots of romanesce and salterelli with diminutions, but also, I believe, unchartered territory, especially towards the end, e.g. No. 42 Agrippina p. 221 or Antigone (!) p. 227 which opens with a d-minor chord strummed thrice. These pieces should be scrutinised for clues as to "what did VG actually want".

    • @ludustestudinis
      @ludustestudinis Před 3 lety +1

      @@danyelnicholas Concerning "Libro d'intovalatura" (the SPES facsimile says "Firenze, 1584", but it i s a manuscript): this is the collection that I referred to. See, e.g., the Romanesca on p. 55 in the extraterestrial key F# Major (unplayable for me). OTOH, I cannot see anything unusual in "Antogone" on p. 227: it is a straightforward Saltarello in D Minor (or "first tone") with diminutions. Difficult to play, though, due to the dense four part texture.

    • @danyelnicholas
      @danyelnicholas Před 2 lety +1

      @@ludustestudinis Can we agree that VG by 1584 had abandoned the 'messy' or, as he himself put it, gothic counterpoint? Why did he favour the dance forms? Certainly the Romanesca and Passamezzo where breeding grounds of the basso continuo? Weren't they used as standard accompaniment for poetry? Having looked at the first of VG's 'portraits of ancient women' 'Calliope' (he himself designates these simple dances in triple metre as 'Gagliarde') more closely I believe that VG did not quite make the break-through to the style recitativo, but he certainly made great strides towards a basso continuo style. And should we be surprised, if this gagliarda was intended as a simple setting of poetry like:
      And here Calliope, strike a higher key,
      Accompanying my song with that sweet air
      which made the wretched Magpies feel a blow
      that turned all hope of pardon to despair
      - Dante, "Purgatorio", Canto I, lines 7 to 12
      ? (I personally like magpies very much, btw)

  • @hrizonsdebbie
    @hrizonsdebbie Před 3 lety +1

    I'm already dying at a group called I Fagiolini.

  • @silviomp
    @silviomp Před 2 lety +1

    Elam, you're an outstanding story teller, which means you're a great teacher, host, editor, CZcamsr and a comedian. Everything is so perfect! Hahaha! Amazing. You're the man!!!

  • @markdpricemusic1574
    @markdpricemusic1574 Před 3 lety +3

    Sincere thanks and praise for sharing your scholarship. You always present a fine balance between historical detail and lucidity. Viva!

  • @J0SERAMON
    @J0SERAMON Před 3 lety +4

    Fantastic! Awesome!

  • @pablo6733
    @pablo6733 Před 3 lety +5

    Found out about Galilei from Harry Partch's Genesis of a music. Great video!! So happy I found your channel! I'm fascinated with the history of music before JSB.

  • @ornleifs
    @ornleifs Před 3 lety +4

    An old man saying modern music sucks - never heard that before.

  • @lduc63
    @lduc63 Před 3 lety +3

    quel plaisir de regarder et écouter tes vidéos : )))

  • @gyorgysebok892
    @gyorgysebok892 Před 3 lety +1

    Thanks to your alternative intro to your episode on solmization, I now hear every EMS intro in solmization.

  • @sgerianda
    @sgerianda Před 2 lety

    Video word painting with Wladimir :) u are so creative and hilarious, thank you

  • @ludustestudinis
    @ludustestudinis Před 3 lety +3

    Great to hear such historic discussions about music! I wonder, however, whether Galilei actually heard such beautiful performances like those presented in this video. Unfortunately, this video came to late to prevent me from recently writing a Christmas motet in late Renaissance counterpoint with excessive word painting ;-)

  • @dolphin7216
    @dolphin7216 Před 2 lety +1

    Exquisite programme combining subtle wit and divine music enchantingly performed. I'm liking and subscribing!

  • @SoleaGalilei
    @SoleaGalilei Před 2 lety

    I loved this video. You struck just the right note (no pun intended) of poking fun at Galilei's harsh criticisms without being mean or negative. Your comment near the end, that he was only human, like all of us, left me with a warm feeling. Thank you.

  • @jacquesracine9571
    @jacquesracine9571 Před 3 lety +2

    Super interesting!! Thank you.

  • @michaellessel5532
    @michaellessel5532 Před rokem +1

    What a spectacular chord that occurs just after 9:52

  • @PcCAvioN
    @PcCAvioN Před 3 lety +1

    Thank you Vincenzo Galilei for leading the world toward opera 🙌

  • @thormusique
    @thormusique Před 3 lety +5

    I loved this, Elam! It was both utterly hilarious and brilliantly done. And I daresay it's always a special thrill to have some fun at Vincenzo Galilei's expense. Cheers!

    • @TheGentleUncle
      @TheGentleUncle Před 3 lety +2

      You had fun at a dead man's expense because of what exactly?

  • @KorKhan89
    @KorKhan89 Před 3 lety +1

    Happy Friday, made even happier with a new EMS video! It’s amusing to hear Galilei complain at length about such beautiful music. He seems out of touch regarding word-painting, but at the same time his (and the rest of the Camerata’s) ideas about monody were so influential, and paved the way for the Baroque - and through it modern ideas of musical tonality. At the same time, Renaissance polyphony and counterpoint stuck around, culminating in the works of Bach. A perfect illustration of Hegelian ideas of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

  • @andreweden9405
    @andreweden9405 Před 3 lety +11

    Wow, I've always loved the music of Vincenzo Galilei. But as a recorder player, I can tell you that he probably would've hated the author of one of our most important treatises, Sylvestro Ganassi! Ganassi espoused that even instrumentalists should aspire to word painting when playing texted vocal works(which is mostly all we had prior to the late 16th century)! He said...
    "Just as a gifted painter can reproduce all the creations of nature by varying his colors, you can imitate the expression of the human voice on a wind or a stringed instrument... In this matter I have had much experience and I have heard that it is possible with some players to perceive, as it were, words to their music."
    -Opera Intitulata Fontegara (Venice, 1535)
    By the way, have you ever considered taking the videos further back in time than the 16th century, and maybe exploring Medieval music, or at least some Late Medieval music? I, for one, would definitely appreciate it! Thank you!

    • @agogobell28
      @agogobell28 Před 2 lety +2

      Agreed! I’d love to see analyses of stuff like Ockeghem, du Fay, or Dunstable….

    • @andreweden9405
      @andreweden9405 Před 2 lety +1

      @@agogobell28 , Right! And even Machaut!😁

    • @therealzilch
      @therealzilch Před 2 lety +1

      @@andreweden9405 Agreed. Machaut was one radical dude.

    • @andreweden9405
      @andreweden9405 Před 2 lety

      @@therealzilch , I love all the composers from the 14th and 15th centuries: Machaut, Landini, Ciconia, Grimace, Solage, Dufay, Binchois, Paumann, Ockeghem, Tinctoris, Hayne van Ghizeghem, Obrecht, Josquin, et al! I likes 'em ALL!😀😁

  • @ginacrusco234
    @ginacrusco234 Před rokem +1

    Great video! I didn't know he led the way toward monody and eventually early opera. The sung examples by the "little beans" were extremely fine.

  • @carlstenger5893
    @carlstenger5893 Před 2 lety

    Yet another brilliant video. Thanks so much!

  • @danielwaitzman2118
    @danielwaitzman2118 Před 3 lety +2

    Bravo! as usual.

  • @davihorta5807
    @davihorta5807 Před 3 lety +4

    That guy must have been fun at parties.

  • @jens6076
    @jens6076 Před rokem

    I really hope to hear an album dedicated to Galilei's madrigals sometime. Thanks for a wonderful video!

  • @migueldealonso2816
    @migueldealonso2816 Před 3 lety

    Great video! Perfect, examples! Thanks

  • @jhonwask
    @jhonwask Před 3 lety +2

    I love word-painting. It ads to the imagination.

  • @whcp1742
    @whcp1742 Před rokem

    This is why, logically, the so-called “Baroque” era of music should have been called the “Renaissance.” As with the earlier renaissances in the literary and visual arts, Vincenzo and his friends were trying self-consciously to restore the supposed glories of Greece and Rome. That’s what Renascimento is all about.
    (Of course, we would then need a different name for the polyphonic style, which I think of as Late Medieval-though, because of its complexity, “Baroque” might have been quite fitting!)
    Well, we’re stuck with it!

  • @erwincorioflores1017
    @erwincorioflores1017 Před 3 lety

    Yet another excellent one, thank you. Ironic yet highly informative. Please note that 'scostumato' means 'rude or 'uncouth', not 'unaccustomed'.

  • @polyglot8
    @polyglot8 Před 2 lety

    Apparently as a small child, Galileo heard his mom singing Polyphony at the fountain square with the other women on laundry day. Her participation earned an immediate stern rebuke from Vincenzo. Years later, Galileo was said to have remarked, "Indeed, it was as if my father was from Mars and my mother from Venus."

  • @matthewbbenton
    @matthewbbenton Před 3 lety +2

    Galilei: “And *another* thing…”
    Galileo: 🙄

    • @leocomerford
      @leocomerford Před 3 lety

      Actually Galileo was apparently very opinionated and caustic too. You can see where he got it from!

  • @marcosPRATA918
    @marcosPRATA918 Před 2 lety

    A melodia (monodia) acompanhada, algo que vingou e perdura até hoje. Monteverdi mante a "prima e seconda prática", isso foi excelente.

  • @fekundulo
    @fekundulo Před 3 lety

    One of your funniest videos!

  • @ugolomb
    @ugolomb Před rokem

    Enjoyable and illuminating as ever, many thanks :)
    One comment that occurred to me a long time ago (when I read excerpts from Galilei's treatise in Strunk's Source Readings): the word-paintings he condemns in 8:39 are highly reminiscent of Orfeo's lament, "Tu se morta", in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo -- specifically, Monteverdi's setting of the words "N'andrò sicuro a' più profondi abissi", "a riveder le stelle" and the final "Addio terra, addio cielo e sole, addio". The following five-part, madrigal-like chorus "ahi, caso ascerbo" also contains word-paintings of the kind that Galilei criticized, especially in the last two lines ("Che tosto fugge, e spesso \ A gran salita il precipizio è presso"). Do we know if Monteverdi was familiar with Galieli's treatise? Even if he wasn't, it's likely that he encountered this type of criticism of madrigalian word-paintings elsewhere: his choice to put introduce such techniques even in some of his monodies (and especially a monody sung by Orpheus -- the paradigmatic musician) is probably significant.

    • @ugolomb
      @ugolomb Před rokem

      It's also significant that Giulio Cesare Monteverdi's 1607 list of Seconda Prattica composers (published by Claudio) includes both polyphonists and monodists, and most (maybe all?) of the madrigalists on that list employed the very techniques condemned by Galilei.

    • @EarlyMusicSources
      @EarlyMusicSources  Před rokem +1

      @@ugolomb I think that what Galilei disliked was so intrinsic and universal to the madrigal genre, that we shouldn't be surprised to find it everywhere. The same techniques were later transferred to the monodic genre (as in Monteverdi's Orfeo that you mentioned). After all, the difference between a madrigal for several voices and a monody for one voice and accompaniment was often very blurry.

    • @ugolomb
      @ugolomb Před rokem

      @@EarlyMusicSources Well, I know that pieces like Dowland's songs existed simultaneously as purely-vocal part-songs and as 'lute-songs' for one voice with instrumental support. Was there an equivalent approach in Italian genres?

    • @EarlyMusicSources
      @EarlyMusicSources  Před rokem +1

      @@ugolomb Absolutely. Polyphonic pieces were regularly adopted/arranged into monodies / duets with accompaniment. Examples can be seen in the Carlo G MS, or in Cavalieri's Lamentations where you have the same piece twice, once as a monody and once as 5-voice polyphony. Another famous example is of course Monteverdi's Lamento d'Arianna.

  • @marcopaganelli6059
    @marcopaganelli6059 Před 3 lety

    Madrigalisms were fun part of the madrigals and most of all for the singers which had the vision of their vocal sentences this came before even than the singing itself even simply reading the score was fun understanding the madrigalisms and the rethorical intention of the composer, much than just for the audience. And indeed it is still a pleasure singing a madrigal understanding its own structure. Its interesting the feeling of Vincenzo Galilei in regard to the contemporary music. No matter the noblility of the music it is always possible not to like it as an evidence of the concepts that form it, like today I can say I don't like rap or jazz 😅

  • @JeffreyBernstein
    @JeffreyBernstein Před 2 lety

    Perhaps Vincenzo Galilei's criticism gives us clues about the nature of music performance at the time. Many of his specific complaints lie in the realm of performance, and it's easy to imagine that he never heard the music so artfully rendered as by I Fagiolini. Bravi tutti!

  • @RosssRoyce
    @RosssRoyce Před 2 lety

    He (Gallileo) has a a point, for the reason we do not buy many madrigal albums to listen to. Later most of the music became played in octaves (the romantic and on) because it is the only tuned, not muddy, note on the modern scale 😆😜

  • @rainerausdemspring3584
    @rainerausdemspring3584 Před 3 lety +4

    You forgot to mention his second son Michelangelo who wrote beautiful Lute music - much better than his father's music for the lute.

  • @namets
    @namets Před 2 lety

    Stepitosoooooo🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎼

  • @JP-ku5hw
    @JP-ku5hw Před 2 lety

    If Vincenzo listened to some music that nowadays is quite popular in the west, he would be definitely disappointed)).

  • @vrixphillips
    @vrixphillips Před 2 lety

    omg the Musica Ficta Police xD

  • @CalebePriester
    @CalebePriester Před 3 lety +1

    Oh, man! Galilei's book cover...

  • @Yamikaiba123
    @Yamikaiba123 Před 2 lety

    If you'd ever like someone to talk with you about Hebrew cantillation (and the proven and unproven ideas surrounding their use and performance) you're welcome to reach out to me. I'm doing a Master's project on their melodic variation across branches of the Jewish Diaspora.
    There has been a recent PhD thesis demonstrating that Hebrew chant notation encodes a manual form of text-to-speech synthesis, and that its performance is consistent with linguistic models of natural speech intonation.

    • @Yamikaiba123
      @Yamikaiba123 Před 2 lety

      Thus, Hebrew chant is an example of music and human speech sharing the same roots!

  • @VallaMusic
    @VallaMusic Před 2 lety

    whoa - the music of the ancients was far superior ? and he knew this HOW???

  • @Remi-B-Goode
    @Remi-B-Goode Před rokem

    Wha I don't understand is that all the work of VG is filled with polyphy and counterpoints etc; nothing about monodic voice + chords or something like that

  • @Sam-gx2ti
    @Sam-gx2ti Před rokem

    Vincenzo Galilei was the first "born in the wrong generation, past music was better" dude of all time

  • @jacekzajac8356
    @jacekzajac8356 Před 7 měsíci

    This could be a doctoral thesis.

  • @danyelnicholas
    @danyelnicholas Před 3 lety +1

    de' Bardi reports (Letter to Doni, 1634) that V. Galilei set verses from Dante 'intelligibly sung' by a tenor and 'precisely accompanied' by viols. This and other works in an 'antique' style are apparently all lost. Maybe later Galilei consciously left the pursuit of neo-antique music to his son Michelagnolo whom he may have prepared systematically for the task? Unfortunately, M. being also a lutenist his contribution has been entirely neglected by music history.

  • @isaacsmusicalworld2317
    @isaacsmusicalworld2317 Před 3 měsíci

    1:25 If this is not Vincenzo then who is this?

  • @boaz9208
    @boaz9208 Před rokem

    So basically, Galilei was a 16th century hipster.

  • @kiren3168
    @kiren3168 Před 3 lety +2

    I think it's good to criticize even the greatest composers and give your own opinion on their music. It shows how subjective music is. I prefer polyphony but sometimes homophony is more effective (concertos and solos). Bach's arias, while still preserving some polyphony, are much less polyphonic than his 4-voice pieces. At the end of the day there's no right or wrong, better or worse. It's about the intended effect.

  • @FernieCanto
    @FernieCanto Před 2 lety

    Vocal music from the Renaissance and Baroque was often very difficult for me to listen to in part because of the way the text gets all messed up in the counterpoint and becomes, at times, unintelligible. I just figured this was me being an uncultured fuck, so imagine my amusement at seeing Galilei found it to be bad counterpoint. Hey! I'm not uncultured at all!

  • @francescoborghini7669

    Probabilmente la prima intenzione di Galilei era quella di reagire ad un gusto manierato, la smisurata estensione del quale ai suoi tempi doveva non poco annoiare chi sentiva nella musica qualcosa più di un ozioso gioco di società...
    E poi...non c'è che dire...era nel giusto, se, almeno teoricamente, indicava nella monodia accompagnata la strada da seguire...a giudicare dalla storia almeno!...

  • @AndSendMe
    @AndSendMe Před 8 měsíci

    He reminds me rather of Leopold Mozart.

  • @bifeldman
    @bifeldman Před 3 lety

    Have an easy fast.

  • @migueltorrezmerida8158
    @migueltorrezmerida8158 Před 3 lety +1

    Por favor traducción en español

    • @lauramingo2027
      @lauramingo2027 Před 2 lety

      Ya está habilitada en los subtítulos :) Un saludo

  • @nicholas72611
    @nicholas72611 Před 2 lety

    Bros beefing with word painting 💀

  • @kuroimusic
    @kuroimusic Před 3 lety +1

    Two things: I said "What???" loud when you said he was the father of Galileo. And Don Vincenzo was a boomer.

  • @neilwalsh3977
    @neilwalsh3977 Před 2 lety

    I'm definitely glad Gallileo was wrong. Most of the greatest choral music for a start would be gone. A little Taliban-esque for me.

  • @aymerichm8835
    @aymerichm8835 Před 3 lety +6

    Every century has its narrow-minded snobs trying to explain to talented artists what's "good" or "bad" art...

  • @declamatory
    @declamatory Před 3 lety +1

    At least Vincenzo tried to deal with and reflect upon reality. His son, however . . .

  • @Whatismusic123
    @Whatismusic123 Před 2 lety

    Honestly, word painting as an idea is kind of stupid and just poses artificial limitations on the music.

  • @Philrc
    @Philrc Před 3 lety

    there are always people around like this; this Galilei is just a typical grumpy old git harking back to a past that didn't exist (they never do) and claiming everything was better 'then'. silly old fart 🤣😂

  • @stueyapstuey4235
    @stueyapstuey4235 Před 3 lety

    'Modern music - load of rubbish!' V. Galilei 1581

  • @alicjaerdelyi9203
    @alicjaerdelyi9203 Před 2 lety

    Why u use Putin face??? 😎

  • @jimmeridda
    @jimmeridda Před 3 lety +2

    The music was heavenly. Fun.