Re: Marcello's Estro Poetico-Armonico (Psalms of David), Venice, 1724

[Francesco Spagnolo <yuval...>]

Dear Joel,

this posting requires a long answer, which I will try to give as soon as
possible. I'm on the run right now.
I had been contacted by Jean-Cristophe Frisch, to arrange that the
"traditional" melodies be sung by an Italian hazzan, proficient in the
repertoire of North Italian traditions. Unfortunately, this option fell
through -- but the cd they put together is pleasant, and it definitely
stems ouf of a very clever approach: the continuous dialectics between
written and oral sources that should inspire any research in the field of
Jewish musical traditions.

I know a little about Benedetto Marcello's notations. It is worth going
through them, and comparing them to the melodies actually sung in Italian
synagogues in Northern Italy, especially Venice, Padua, Gorizia, Trieste,
Verona. Such traditions represent three of the most important Italian
repertoires: "Italqi" (Italian), "Tedesco" (Ashqenazi) and "Spagnolo"
(Sephardi). Such an extensive comparison hasn't been carried on, as far as
I know (I also know that Edwin Seroussi has been working on this issue for
some time), mostly because the Italian sources are scarse.

One of the very few scholars that dealt with Italian traditions (the others
are Idelsohn, but only outside his main work, and Israel Adler) is Leo
Levi. Between 1954 and 1969, Levi carried on an extensive field-work
throughout Italy. His recordings still need to be studied in a
comprehensive way. In an article published in 1962, Levi mentions Benedetto
Marcello, and reports as an example his notation of "Ma'oz tzur" [how
appropriate these days!], explaining how it is an adaptation of the
Southern German tune, with clear signs of Italianization (e.g. the loss of
augmented seconds and in general of any "Orientalism").
The recordings (well, part of them) are accessible at the National Sound
Archives in Jerusalem. But a larger collection is in Italy (scattered among
several archives) and, as it usually happens with Italian institutions, it
is quasi-inaccessible. Leo Levi unfortunately made separate copies (one may
even be somewhere in the US -- if anyone hears about this, they are welcome
to get in touch with me!), but never left a complete copy of his field work.

Yuval Italia and myself have been working on this issue for some time. A
little detective story -- in a Jewish/ethnomusicological key... I read a
paper about the ongoings of this research at the general conference of the
European Association for Jewish Studies in Toledo, July 1998.
Final results are still on their way.

More on this asap.

Francesco



>Chevre,
>
>I just bought a copy of Benedetto Marcello, Psaumes de David. K617 K617099.
>Jean-Christophe Frisch, conductor. France, 1999. It is evidently part of a
>series, "Les Chemins Hebraiques du Baroque" (more details welcome.) Various
>quotes from the CD booklet:
>
>"In some of his psalms he incorporates synagogal melodies, written a
>capella, as in plainchant but from right to left as in Hebrew."
>
>"We do not know if Marcello actually went to the synagogues himself to find
>the melodies that he used or whether he got them from the cantors...
>
>...the success of his score transported throught XVIII the century Europe a
>few melodies sung in the synagogues of Venice."
>
>The CD alternates between Hebrew chants and then the Marcello settings.
>Again per the booklet:
>
>"By way of a prelude to the psalms by Marcello, we offer a revival of the
>music he could have heard in the synagogues. We have tried to imagine after
>listening to his works the songs which might have inspired him." (Joel's
>note: this sounds pretty conjectural to me...)
>
>Of particular interest to me is the chant for Psalm 118, according to the
>booklet in "the intonation of the Spanish Jews." It is paired with
>Marcello's setting of Psalm 14.
>
>My questions: Can any of the Marcello works be tied directly to synagogal
>melodies? Is there any known research on this with musical examples? Or is
>it as conjectural might seem here?
>
>Thanks very much!!
>
>Joel
>
>P.S. Soprano Cyrille Gerstenhaber sounds like Ruth Wieder Magan to me in
>the cantillation, but that's another story.
>
>www.cd-baroque.com
>www.k617.com
>
>Joel Bresler
>250 E. Emerson Rd.
>Lexington, MA 02420 USA
>
>Home:           781-862-2432
>Home Office:    781-862-4104
>FAX:            781-862-0498
>Cell:           781-622-0309
>Email:          jbresler (at) ma(dot)ultranet(dot)com
>

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