Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/533

SISTINE CHOIR. Carpentrasso, Giov. Bonnevin, and Bern. Salinas. Later still, we hear of Bart. Scobedo, Jacques Archadelt, Cristofano Morales, Leonardo Barrè, and Domenico Maria Ferrabosco: while, in 1555, the list was crowned by the honoured name of Palestrina, who was admitted, by command of Julius III, on January 13, but dismissed before the end of the year, by Paul IV, in accordance with the regulation which forbade the reception of a married man into the College.

The number of Singers, which, at Avignon, had been limited to twelve, was, by this time, increased to twenty-four, and, not very long afterwards, raised to thirty-two, which figure still represents the normal strength of the Choir, though the assistance of additional ripieni is sometimes permitted, on extraordinary occasions. After the formal admission of the Netherlanders, the Compositions sung in the Papal Chapel were almost entirely supplied by the Cappellani Cantori themselves. The custom was, when any member of the College had produced a Mass, or other great work, to have it roughly written out, and rehearsed by the entire body of Singers, who afterwards decided whether or not it was worthy of their acceptance. If the votes were in its favour, the original autograph was placed in the hands of the Scrittori—of whom four were usually kept in full employment—and by them copied, in stencilled notes large enough to be read by the entire Choir at once, into huge Part-Books, formed of entire sheets of parchment, of which a large collection, richly illuminated and magnificently bound, is still preserved among the Archives of the Sistine Chapel, though a vast number were destroyed in the conflagration which ensued on the invasion of Rome by Charles V. in 1527. [See, App.].

In the year 1565, Pope Pius IV. conferred upon Palestrina the title of Composer to the Pontifical Chapel, with an honorarium of three scudi and thirty baiocchi per month. The Office was renewed, after Palestrina's death, in favour of Felice Anerio, but was never conferred on any other member of the College. The most famous Musicians who sang in the Choir, after the expulsion of Palestrina in 1555, were Giov. Maria Nanini, admitted in 1577, Luca Marenzio (1594), Ruggiero Giovanelli (1599), and Gregorio Allegri (1629–1652). Adami also mentions Vittoria, whose name, however, is not to be found in any official register. Among more modern Maestri, the three most notable were, Tomaso Bai, who held the Office of Maestro in 1714; the Cavaliere Giuseppe Santarelli—Dr. Burney's friend—who entered the Choir as an artificial Soprano Singer in 1749, and died in 1790; and the Abbate Baini, who was received into the College in 1795, became Maestro in 1817, and died in 1844. By special favour of Pope Gregory XVI, Baini retained his Office for life—an honour to which, as the greatest Ecclesiastical Musician of the present century, he was most justly entitled: but, no later Maestro has enjoyed the same privilege. The present Director, Signor Mustafa, formerly a 'Cantore Corale, con beneficio,' at the Cathedral of Agnani, bears only the modest title of 'Direttore dei Concertini.'

The two settings of the 'Miserere' by Bai and Baini, which, for many years past, have been used alternately with that of Allegri, are the only works added to the répertoire of the Chapel since the death of the last-named Maestro. Indeed, neither the constitution, nor the habits, of the College, have, since Palestrina, undergone any important change—except, perhaps, in one particular, to be mentioned presently: and hence it is that its performances are so infinitely valuable, as traditional indices of the style of singing cultivated at the period which produced the 'Missa Papæ Marcelli,' the 'Improperia,' and the 'Lamentations.' Except for these traditions, the works of Palestrina would be to us a dead letter: under their safe guidance, we feel no more doubt as to the Tempi of the 'Missa brevis' than we do concerning those of the 'Sinfonia Eroica.'

The one point in which a change has taken place is, the selection of Voices: and it is necessary to remark, that, as the change did not take place until seven years after Palestrina's death, the idea that we cannot sing his Music, in England, as he intended it to be sung, for lack of the necessary Voices, is altogether untenable. In early times, as we have already seen, the Chapel was supplied with Soprani, and in all probability with Contralti also, by means of the Orphanotropia, or Scholæ Cantorum, exactly as English Cathedrals are now supplied by means of the Choristers' Schools. That this plan was continued until quite late in the 16th century is sufficiently proved by the fact that, between 1561 and 1571, Palestrina held the joint Offices of Maestro di Cappella and Maestro dei Fanciulli di Coro at the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, while, between 1539 and 1553 the post of Maestro de' Putti, at the Cappella Giulia, was successively filled by Archadelt, Rubino, Basso, Ferrabosco, and Roselli. During the latter half of the 16th century, however, these youthful Treble Voices were gradually supplanted by a new kind of adult male Soprano, called the Soprano falsetto, imported, in the first instance, from Spain, in which country it was extensively cultivated, by means of some peculiar system of training, the secret of which has never publicly transpired.