.. 

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Robert L. Weaver 
Florentine comic operas 
of the 17th century 

Ann Arbor: University Microfilms (UM order no. 
58-5975), 1958. (366p., pas. film $4.85; University 
of North Carolina diss.) 

William C. Holmes 

Robert L. Weaver's dissertation is, without doubt, one of the most 
useful additions to our knowledge of seventeenth-century opera to 
have appeared in recent years. Early Florentine, Roman, Venetian, 
and Neapolitan operas have previously been studied, at least to the 
extent of providing the serious student with a few basic biographical-
bibliographical tools. This is not to say that, especially in the case 
of Roman opera, nearly enough music has been made available in 
order to make it possible to reach definite stylistic conclusions. On 
the contrary, much more work will have to be done if we ever hope 
to unravel the complicated web of events which led to the well-known 
operatic masterpieces of the late 18th century. 

A certain lack of interest in the first century of opera perhaps 
explains this scarcity of basic studies. Interestingly enough, most of 
the preliminary studies in 17th-century opera (with the notable excep-
tions of Grout's Short History of Opera, Anna Amalie Abert's Claudio 
Monteverdi und das musikalische Drama, a few articles, and a hand-
ful of dissertations) were written more than thirty years ago. Pre-
vailing musicological interests change and with these changes, middle 
and late 17th-century opera has suffered neglect. 

One of the most important and astonishing lacunae in musical 
history has been Florentine opera after the middle of the seventeenth 
century. Rome, Bologna, Naples, and Venice-to name only a few 
cities-have had their chroniclers of theatrical history, with which, of 
course, the history of opera is so intimately connected. As Weaver 
points out in his preface, Florence has not been so fortunate; there 
are few standard reference works dealing with theatrical life in that 
city. 

Accordingly, Weaver devotes 200 of the 366 pages of his disserta-
tion to the Academies, academic comedy, and the greatest Florentine 
writer of academic comedies, Giovanni Maria Moniglia (1624-1700) . 
The chapter headings in this section of the dissertation are as follows: 
The Academies; G. M. Moniglia; The Academic Comedies; The 
Sources and Structure of the Librettos; Comic Operas in Florence 
and at Pratolino; The 18th-Century Critical View of 17th-Century 
Drama; and The Melani Family. 

The Academy of the Immobili was one of the most active of the 
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Florentine academies and enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Giovanni 
Carlo de' Medici. 1657 marks the first performance by the Immobili 
of a comic opera at "their" theater, La Pergola. Between 1657 and 
1662 there were 6 comic operas presented at the Pergola. The projected 
seventh performance in 1662 was cancelled because of the death of 
Cardinal Giovanni Carlo. The librettos of all of these operas were 
written by Moniglia. 

Interestingly enough, with the exception of the professional solo 
singers, all dancers, chorus members, etc. were noble members of the 
Academy. Indeed, as Weaver remarks, "It is the stamp of the cul-
tured amateur which in fact sets off the comic operas of Florence 
in the middle of the century" (p. 84). 

The librettos especially of the Florentine comedies are noteworthy 
for their economy of means and expression. This is in marked contrast 
to Roman opera of the period, which relied heavily on complicated 
stage machinery. Weaver's many allusions to "the Roman and Vene-
tian spectacles" can, however, be misleading, for it is precisely the 
more economical means that set apart, generally speaking, Venetian 
operas from Roman. Such a spectacle as Cesti's II Pomo d'Oro 
cannot be considered in the general picture since it is a gigantic excep-
tion to the usual theatrical ?tyle of Venetian opera. And, as for Roman 
comic operas, both Chi soffre speri (1637 and 1639) and Dal Male il 
bene (1653 and many times later) are notable for the economy of 
means in their librettos. The intermezzi which close each act of Chi 
soffre speri of course introduce lavish effects that have little if any-
thing to do with the development of the plot, but the body of the 
opera is essentially simple and unadorned. In Dal Male, the number 
of dramatic parts is considerably reduced: there is no chorus and there 
are no intermezzi. Weaver remarks that as Moniglia grew older his 
librettos became simpler; the same can be said of Giulio Rospigliosi's 
aforementioned Roman comedies. 

Weaver's investigation of the influences of the improvised Commedia 
dell' Arte on mid-century comic operas is enlightening and whets 
one's appetite for further studies in this area. The braggart warrior, 
the old doctor, and the many types of comic servant found in these 
academic comedies can all be traced back to classical Roman types, as 
Moniglia himself wrote in the introduction to his works published 
during his lifetime. Weaver aptly remarks that it is the academic 
environment into which these comedies were born which was responsi-
ble for their classical orientation. 

Chapter VII introduces the Melani family, that extraordinary 
group-almost all of which were musicians. Atto, the famous singer, 
has certainly left posterity the most voluminous and colorful records 
of his life. His brother, the composer J acopo (1623-1676)' is the Melani 
who most concerns us here, for he set five of Moniglia's seven come-
dies to music. Chapter VIII deals with the first of these musical come-
dies, La Tancia avera il potesta di Colognole, a dramma rusticale, 
performed at the Pergola in 1657. Its extraordinary popularity can 
better be appreciated when one notes that its libretto was published 
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six times in 70 years and that the opera itself was revived as late 
as 1727. The recitative of II Potesta is lively, especially 
in the comic parts. There are da capo arias, but these are assigned to 
other characters than the heroic lovers. Interestingly, Melani 
attached certain musical styles to the various types of characters, 
e.g., the comic parts are all in common time and major mode. I 
question Weaver's theory that the typical mid-l7th-century man-
nerism of a slur "over the barline" from the leading tone to the 
tonic note should be performed other than as written (p. 230). 
Weaver suggests delaying the leading tone until the following beat 
in order to create a dissonant appoggiatura which resolves upward. 
Voice instruction manuals of this period never specifically mention 
this manner of performance and consequently one is left with the 
distinct impression that the slur should be performed as it is written 
on the page. 

Goldschmidt long ago published some of the music from II Potesta 
in his Studien zur Geschichte der italienischen Oper. A glance at 
these few pieces will convince any reader that Weaver does not exag-
gerate when he calls it "one of the masterpieces of the century." 

Chapter IX is devoted to a listing of the Ballet-Operas performed 
at the Medici court. Ipermestra in 1658 (Moniglia - Cavalli) and 
Ercole in Tebe in 1661 (Moniglia - Melani) were among the first 
formally defined court operas of the type which were a few years later 
to be performed in such capitals as Paris and Vienna. 

Chapter X takes up one of the great, but little-known, opera-
burlesques of the 17th century: Filippo Acciajouli's II Girello, set to 
music by Melani. After its first performance in Rome in 1668, it was 
performed in a number of Italian cities. Some of these later perform-
ances, one of them staged with puppets, may have had additional 
music by other composers. The Avvisi di Roma described the opera 
as "un po' grassetta" (translated by Weaver as "a trifle long," but 
probably more accurately rendered as "a trifle racy"). II Girello boasts, 
among other things, two full-fledged patter songs. However, though 
its comedy verges on the slapstick, its musical style is not at all 
venturesome. 

Weaver's final chapter sums up his findings under the title "The 
Melani Rewarded." There are two appendices: a listing of the known 
compositions of Jacopo Melani (both scores and librettos), and all the 
operas and operatic entertainments performed in Florence from 1597 
to 1741 (arranged both chronologically and alphabetically by title). 

The reader can see that the main purpose of this dissertation is 
clearly to present hitherto uncollected bibliographical data; stylistic 
discussions of the music are held to a minimum. As such I have found 
this work to be an invaluable aid to the study of opera in the mid-
17th century. Let us hope that some of the scores of the Moniglia-
Melani collaboration will be made available in the near future. 

WILLIAM HOLMES is assistant professor of music at Cornell University. 
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