Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/548

536 Our introduces us to a greater Composer than any of whom we have hitherto had occasion to speak one of those representative men whose rare genius is powerful enough not only to inaugurate a new era in the annals of Art, but to leave its impress upon all time.

Giovanni Carissimi was the first Composer of the Monodic School who succeeded in investing the new style with a sufficient amount either of dignity or pathos to encourage a reasonable hope that it might one day produce results in some degree commensurate for good with the loss it occasioned by the destruction of Polyphony. Considered as Music, the united value of all the Monodic works produced within the first thirty years of the 17th century would be outweighed over and over again by one single bar of the least of Luca Marenzio's Madrigals. Except as stepping-stones to something better, they were absolutely worthless. Their only intrinsic merit was a marked advance in correctness of rhetorical expression. But this single good quality represented a power which, had it been judiciously used, would have led to changes exceeding in importance any that its inventors had dared to conceive, even in their wildest dreams. Unhappily, it was not judiciously used. Blinded by the insane spirit of Hellenism which so fatally counteracted the best effects of the Renaissance, the pioneers of the modern style strove to find a royal road to dramatic truth which would save them the trouble of studying Musical Science; and they failed, as a matter of course; for the expression they aimed at, instead of being enforced by the harmonious progression of its accompaniment, was too often destroyed by its intolerable cacophony. It remained for Carissimi to prove that truth of expression and purity of harmonic relations were interdependent upon each other; that really good Music, beautiful in itself, and valuable for its own sake, was not only the fittest possible exponent of dramatic sentiment, but was rendered infinitely more beautiful by its connection therewith, and became the more valuable in exact proportion to the amount of poetical imagery with which it was enriched. Forming his style upon this sure basis, and trusting to his contrapuntal skill to enable him to carry out the principle, Carissimi wrote good Music always—Music which would have been pleasant enough to listen to for its own sake, but which became infinitely more interesting when used as a vehicle for the expression of all those tender shades of joy and sorrow which make up the sum of what is usually called 'human passion.' His refined taste and graceful manner enabled him to do this so successfully, that he soon outshone all his contemporaries, who looked upon him as a model of artistic excellence. His first efforts were devoted to the perfection of the Sacred Cantata, of which he has left us a multitude of beautiful examples; but he also wrote numerous Oratorios, among which the best known are 'Jephte,' 'Ezechias,' 'Baltazar,' 'David et Jonathas,' 'Abraham et Isaac,' 'Jonas,' 'Judicium Salomonis,' 'L'Histoire de Job,' 'La Plainte des Damne's,' 'Le Mauvais Riche,' and 'Le Jugement Dernier.' These are all full of beauties, and, in 'Jephte' especially, the Composer has reached a depth of pathos which none but the greatest of Singers can hope to interpret satisfactorily. The Solo, 'Plorate colles,' assigned to Jephtha's Daughter, is a model of tender expression; and the Echo, sung by two Sopranos, at the end of each clause of the Melody, adds an inexpressible charm to its melancholy effect.

It was about this time that the spectacular representation began gradually to fall into disuse, though the dramatic character of the Poem was