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- Title
Monteverdi’s ‘Selva Morale E[T] Spirituale’ (1641): Some Anomalies Explored Through the Five Exemplars.
- Authors
Whenham, John
- Abstract
Monteverdi’s Selva morale e[t] spirituale presents us with a number of intriguing bibliographical questions, of which the problem of the dual title pages in the Bologna exemplar—one dated 1640, the other 1641—is well known. This essay supports Jeffrey Kurtzman’s conclusion that the volume was actually published in 1641, after a delay. It also considers the anomalous structure of the tavole found at the end of the partbooks. Taken together with watermark evidence, these show that the first section of the book was printed later than the second. The most probable reason is that the music of the first section was still incomplete in 1640. This leads to reassessment of the dating of music in the first section, not least that of the great concertato Gloria a 7. The essay goes further by showing that the ‘1641’ title page was itself printed in 1640, and considers such other anomalies as why instrumental parts were published in place of the Alto and Basso secondo vocal parts for the first of the two Magnificat settings (SV 281); finally, an explanation is offered for the apparently rather clumsy typographical choices for the 1641 title.
- Subjects
MONTEVERDI, Claudio, 1567-1643. Selva morale e spirituale; MUSIC publishing; HISTORY of manuscripts; BIOGRAPHIES of composers; TITLE pages; MUSICAL composition; SEVENTEENTH century; HISTORY
- Publication
Music & Letters, 2014, Vol 95, Issue 4, p511
- ISSN
0027-4224
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/ml/gcu108