Anima
e Corpo was the Camerata's project for the second half of the Spring
term 1996.
It was
put together in five weeks, in the midst of essay-writing, preparation
for exams, rehearsals for other projects, foreign journeys and all the
other facets of a busy university life.
In staging
and rehearsal the emphasis has been not so much on detailed instruction,
but rather on arriving at an understanding of the emotional states of
each character - how each emotion feels, how it arises, how they lead
from one to another: and then allowing the natural expression of each
to emerge of itself, as Vincenzo Galilei described it.
'The
modern contrapuntists aim at nothing but a tickling of the ear,
without further thought of the sense of the words ...
'When
the ancient musician sang any poem whatever, he first considered
the character of the person speaking: his age, his sex, with
whom he was speaking, and the effect he sought to produce. These
conceptions were already clothed by the poet in chosen words
suited to the need, and the musician then expressed in the tone,
the accents and gestures, the quantity and quality of sound,
and the rythm appropriate to that action and to such a person.'
'When
you go to the theatre, notice how differences of circumstance
affect delivery, how a man speaks when he is angry, or excited,
the married woman, the lover seeking to persuade his mistress,
the man who laments, the timid man, the man exultant with joy
...; and from your observations, select what is fitting for
the expression of every conception ...'
Vincenzo
Galilei, Dialogo,
1581
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For this
project, David made a new TRANSCRIPTION of the parts without
any alteration from the orginal printed score - which incidentally contains
not a single mistake.
The
accompaniments are IMPROVISED as they originally were, of course,
and the use of instruments - changing to suit the changing affetto
- follows Cavalliere's suggestions as far as an open project of this
kind allows.
In evolving
a SINGING STYLE we aim to reflect the earlier ideal of a natural
voice, unforced so as to allow greater expression, and remembering that
in Peri's Euridice the role of Dafne was played by "fanciulletto
Lucchese", a little boy from Lucca, and that one of MonteVerde's
favourite singers died when she was only 18.
