Yale University Department of Music Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism: Raimondi, Platania, and Boucheron Author(s): Gaetano Stella Source: Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 51, No. 1, Partimenti (Spring, 2007), pp. 161-186 Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the Yale University Department of Music Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40283111 Accessed: 19-03-2015 22:55 UTC
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Partimentiin the Age of Romanticism Raimondi, Platania, and Boucheron
Gaetano Stella
The teaching of music composition in Italy duringthe nineteenth century continued to make great use of partimenti.But duringthe course of the century, partimentigradually lost their importanceas guides to improvisation,transforminginstead into blueprints for a written-out practice. Prominentmusicians and teach-
Abstract
ers like Pietro Raimondi,Pietro Platania, and RaimondoBoucherontried to merge the partimentotraditionwith the harmonicand formal innovations of their own era. Raimondiand Platania, significant exponents of the late Neapolitan school of composition, searched for innovationfrom within their own tradition. Boucheron,in Milan, deeply influencedby Frenchand Germantheorists, used partimentias a mediumthroughwhich he could introduce elements of Romanticharmony.The partimentolessons of all three display not only a musical sophistication that merits our attention today, but also an insider'sperspective on issues in nineteenth-centuryItaliancomposition.
during the nineteenth century, Italiancompositionaltheory began to be deeply influenced by transalpinetheories, perceived as more "modern"and more in accordwith the ideals of the age of Romanticism.In fact, - and particularlythose who were exposed to French and many musicians influences- sharedthe idea that Italiantraditionalteaching German (later) methodshad become obsolete (Sanguinetti2005, 456). Nevertheless,partimenti continuedto occupya centralpositionin the professionaltrainingof manyItaliancomposers.Importantmusiciansand theoristspublishednew worksthat triedto cope withthe problemsraisedin teachpartimento-based ing compositionunder thisnewaestheticregime. Thisalteredsituationwasalso reflectedin the waythatpartimentiwere used. In the eighteenthcentury,the realizationof a partimentowasgenerally improvisedat the keyboard.The writtenpart of compositionaltrainingwas cultivatedunderotherforms:strictandfugalcounterpoint,andfree composiand solfeggi}Fuguehad a significantrole as tionexpressedthroughdisposizioni
1 Disposizioni were exercises set in open score for two or more voices, and involved imitation and other contrapuntal procedures. Often they were based on a partimento. Solfeggi was a short composition, usually for voice and
unfigured bass, and was generally used in teaching as a first attempt at free composition. Disposizioni and solfeggi are discussed in Gjerdingen 2007 and Sanguinetti 2005.
Journal of Music Theory 51:1, Spring 2007
DOI 10.1215/00222909-2008-026 © 2009 byYale University
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and the writtenpaths the capstoneof both the unwritten(asfuga-partimento) of advancedtraining. During the nineteenth century,partimentoteaching became more and morea written-outpractice.At the sametime,counterpointlost its status in music pedagogyin favorof harmony,which took on the auraof a quasiscientificdiscipline.Partimentineverthelessremaineda centraltool in Italian musicalpedagogyfor most of the century,and for decadesFedeleFenaroli's Partimenti (1814) remainedthe preeminenttextbookin the conservatories. New editionswith added commentarywere publishedin Italyuntil the first decades of the twentiethcentury,even though Fenaroli'spartimentiwere conceptof tonality(Rosenberg1995,198groundedin an eighteenth-century 209;Sanguinetti,in press). The immensefameof Fenaroliduringthe nineteenthcenturyeventually eclipsedthatof all other authors,includingthe greatFrancescoDuranteand LeonardoLeo, whosepartimentihad neverbeen published.Evenso, the old customof eighteenth-century Neapolitanmastersto composenewpartimenti for theirstudentsdid not entirelydisappear.In the earlynineteenthcentury, for example,NiccolôZingarelli,teacherof SaverioMercadanteandVincenzo Bellini, and a well-knownopera composerin his own right, publishedtwo books of partimenti(Zingarelli1830). His partimenti,writtenin a conservativestyle, show hardlyany tracesof the harmonicnoveltiesbeing introduced by the risinggenerationof Italiancomposerslike GioachinoRossini, GaetanoDonizetti,GaspareSpontini,and of coursehis own studentBellini. Zingarelli'sconservativeapproachto partimentiwassharedby manymasters fromhis era.The resultwasa growingdistancebetweenmusicpedagogyand - fromboth inside musicpractice.To remedythissituation,severalmusicians and outside the Neapolitantradition- searchedfor new waysof using partimenti.Amongthe firstof these, PietroRaimondiand PietroPlataniatriedto adaptthe old traditionto the new situation.Othermusicians,like Raimondo Boucheron- who neverstudiedin Naples- used the partimentoas a tool for introducingto Italythe new methodsof the ParisConservatory. Two Late Neapolitan Masters: Pietro Raimondi and Pietro Platania Pietro Raimondi
PietroRaimondi(1786-1853) wasone of the most significantfiguresin the nineteenth-centuryNeapolitan school of composition. He published two importantcollectionsof partimenti:the Bassiimitatiefugati divisiin trelibri (Imitative and Fugal Basses Divided into Three Books, ca. 1830s) and his Nuovo genere di scientifica composizione:Andamenti di Basso numerato con una due o tre armonie (A New Kind of Scientific Composition:Figured Basses with One, Two, or
Three Harmonizations, 1852).His best pupil,PietroPlatania(1828-1907),published his own collection of partimentias the practicalpart of his Trattato d'armonia, seguito da un corso di contrappunto (A Treatiseon Harmony Followed by
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
withPartimenti,1883). Both men worked to preserve a Coursein Counterpoint both wrote partimenti. But they wrote them in a and Neapolitan traditions, in some new way, differing respects from past tradition. Raimondi and Platania adopted an ambiguous position. On the one hand, they believed in "scientific" harmony. But on the other hand, they strove to preserve the leading role of counterpoint. The most unusual aspect of Raimondi's Nuovogeneredi scientificacomposizioneis that all the partimenti have multiple systems of figures. In fact, every bass line is provided with two, or sometimes three, harmonizations of increasing difficulty (Example 1). Other maestros like Gaetano Greco and Saverio Mattei had used multiple figures in the eighteenth century, but Raimondi's Nuovogenereis, to my knowledge, the only collection of partimenti that uses this procedure consistently. Raimondi's multiple figures, however, are but a written-out manifestation of a much older pedagogic principle that lies at the very heart of all Neapolitan teaching practice: the search for multiple solutions to the same compositional problem. An excellent example of this practice can be found in the counterpoint exercises completed by Vincenzo Lavigna (the teacher of Giuseppe Verdi) under the direction of Fenaroli. In these exercises we find an almost obsessive search for the largest possible number of alternative settings for the same pattern, whether a cadence, a scale, or a disposizione(Sanguinetti in press). Interestingly,Raimondi- unlike most of his contemporariesincluded a significant number of partimento fugues in his collection, following a formal scheme that stretches back to Nicola Sala and Giacomo Tritto (Stella 2006) .2 This fugue tradition would be further developed by Platania in his Corso completedifughe e canoni di ogni genere ( CompleteCourseof Fugue and Canons of All
Types,1871). Platania, however, completely omits the partimento fugue and replaces it with a new format developed by his master Raimondi: bassoimitatoefugato (imitative and fugal bass). The formal scheme used by Raimondi and Platania is outlined in Table 1. The main feature of this kind of fugue is that, following the exposition, one avoids the key of the dominant. From a formal point of view, the most significant harmonic degree becomes the subdominant. The formal scheme of this fugue includes two sections that do not appear in other traditions. They were called imitazioneand modulazione.Both are sections that connect thematic statements (see Example 2). The imitazione consists of a nonmodulating sequence that makes use of imitative entries. The modulazione,on the contrary, is a connecting section that modulates without 2 This formal scheme, however, was not the only one used in the Naples conservatories. In fact, Sala and Tritto followed the school of Leonardo Leo (they were called "Leisti"), while another school followed Francesco Durante (the "Durantisti"). On the controversy between "Leisti" and "Durantisti,"see Rosenberg 1999.
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
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Table 1. The formal scheme of a typical fugue by Sala Free sections
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making use of imitations. Very rarely are imitation and modulation joined together. If they were, the passage would be called "modulating imitation" (imitazionemodulata,Sala 1794). Example 3 shows the application of this formal scheme to a partimento fugue by Raimondi. He follows its outline quite closely, except for the position of the canon that precedes, rather than follows, the stretto. The second partimento treatisewritten by Raimondi wasentirely devoted to the already mentioned bassoimitatoefugato,which gradually took the place
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of partimento fugue in Italian pedagogy.3In the preface to his Bassi imitatie fugati divisi in trelibri(ca. 1830s), Raimondi writes: Despitethe fact that the verywell knownMaestridell'ArmoniaChoron,Marpurg,and othershaveonlymentionedthe schoolof the "Bassid'imitazione"in passing,. . . until now no one has everpublisheda collectionof bassesfor the instructionof youngpeople who devotethemselvesto the musicalart, in such a wayas to facilitatethe path to fugue. . . . With the greatestsorrowI heard fromsomeill-advisedyoungpeople thatin orderto composeworksin whatever genre it wasenough to knowthe principlesof voice-leadingand to writesome solfeggi,withoutwastingtime in the studyof fugue. After having stressed the importance of counterpoint and fugue in the syllabus of the old Neapolitan school, he continues: "Iwrote these Basses for those who are already skilled in counterpoint. But it is necessary to warn young scholars that they must first work hard on the partimenti by various authors, and only after that can they attempt to compose, otherwise their efforts will be fruitless."He concludes with the exhortation to "livehappily."4 3 The basso imitato e fugato is still in use in the traditional Italian syllabus of the course in composition. 4 "Sebbene i chiarissimi Maestri dellArmonia Choron, Marpurg, ed altri avessero accennata soltanto la scuola dei Bassi d'imitazione, pure quest'utile insegnamento è stato
mai sempre trascurato, ne si è finora redatta una raccolta di Bassi, per istruire i giovani che si dedicano all'arte musicale, e cosi rendere loro agevole la strada per passare allé Fughe. . . . Con sommo rammarico intesi da taluni mal consigliati giovani, che per comporre délie opère in qualunque
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Raimondi'sprefaceis the only part of his book that containswritten explanations.The restof the book containsnothingbut music,followingthe Neapolitantraditionof committingto papersolelythe examples,and relying on oraltransmissionfor the explanations. UnlikeRaimondi'spartimentofugues,his bassiimitatiefugatiare, from the perspectiveof form,morefree.Thereis no standardformalscheme,so the differentelementsof the fugue (those outlinedin Table1) can be arranged in differenttonal and formal designs. Still, the most importantdifference andfugalbass"lies not in the betweenthe partimentofugueand the "imitative overalldesignbut in the techniqueof realization:the formerwasimprovised at the keyboard;the latterwas writtenout. Compositionalassignmentson Raimondi'sbassicompletedby three of his students- CarmeloFodale,Vin- provideimportantevidencefor the style cenzo Fiodo, and PietroPlatania writtenrealizations(Fodale1835;Fiodo 1835;Platania of nineteenth-century I-Nc Platania58.3). As Raimondiwrote in the preface to his Bassiimitatie fugati,thisworkwasdesigned"tofacilitatethe path to fugue"(Raimondica. 1830s), though it is unclear exactlywhich kind of fugue Raimondihad in mind.Nonetheless,it seemsevidentthat the bassoimitatoefugatowashalfway betweenstandardpartimentopracticeand the writtenvocalfugue,thusrepresentingat the sametimea finalstageof partimentotrainingand a preparatory stagefor the studyof the vocalfugue. AccordingtoJesseRosenberg(1995,210), Raimondi'schoice to publish a book entirelydevotedto fugalprocedures,togetherwiththe completelack of anyexplanation,is a signof a conservativeposition.Thisis trueonlyin part. traditionrepresentedbyRaimondiandhis pupilPlataniadid The late"Leista" the to try preserve old traditionin the new era,hoping to renewmusicteaching fromwithinthe Neapolitanschool of composition.YetRaimondi'sbelief in harmonyas science,his researchinto newpossibilitiesin counterpoint,his gigantism"(Stella2007), as wellas the strongexperimentalism "contrapuntal thatsurfacedin his maturecompositions,all testify,despitehis strongconnections with an academicclassicism,to the Romanticnatureof his theoretical works. Pietro Platania
PietroPlatania,consideredby Raimondihis best pupil, continued his master'sinvolvementwithpartimenti.Around1860,when he wasthe dean of the Regiocollegiodi musicadel Buon Pastore(GoodShepherdRoyalCollegeof Music)in Palermo,Plataniajotted downa sketchfor the syllabusof the har-
genere, bastava semplicemente aver conoscenza della disposizione délie parti, e far dei solfeggi, né doveasi perder lungo tempo nello studio delle Fughe. . . . Questi bassi perô sono stati da me scritti per coloro i quali sono già provetti
nel Contrappunto, e fa mestieri di avvertire i giovani studiosi, che devono precedentemente occuparsi con impegno nei partimenti dei variiAutori, e poi cominciare a comporre, altrimenti infruttuose riusciranno le loro fatiche. . . . Vivi felice."
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimentiin the Age of Romanticism
169
mony and counterpoint classes in his conservatory: "Harmony.In a rational and practicalsense. Written realization. After 6 months practical performance on the piano and on the melodium [a reed organ] . . . Suggested authors: Fenaroli, Mattei and after, according to the professor's choice, a number of partimenti by Cotumacci, Sala, and Raimondi" (I-Nc Platania 58.3) .5 Sometime in this same period Platania wrote his Trattatod'armonia(published in 1883). Unlike his master Raimondi, Platania refused to add figures to his partimenti, thus following the age-old Neapolitan tradition. In the preface to his Trattatod'armoniahe writes: The presenttreatisefollowsa practicalsystemof teachingHarmonywithout indicationsof figuresin the bassline, insteadinstillingin the pupil an awareness of the naturaland inflexible canons of Harmony,i.e. the Rule of the Octave,the origin of the harmonizedscale from the three fundamentaland immutabletriadsembodyingthe tonality,the proper tendenciesof tones in theirvariousdirections.. . . The use of figuresmakespupils,notwithstanding their professors'theoreticalexplanations,one might sayalmostinvoluntarily harmonizewithouta clear determination,and without analysingtheir own work.I have thereforerestrictedthe indicationof figures to the end of the book, and only to showsome special or rare waysof harmonizing,different fromthe commonusage.6 This text, written by Platania around 1860, contains some references to an unpublished treatise on partimento titled SulVarmonia.In this work Platania states, "The method I hint at is based on a simple and very important rule: the pupil must study the basses without figures, learning to recognize the right figures after having understood the fundamental rules of harmony studied I-Nc S.C. 12.8.2) .7 theoretically and practically"(Platania, SulVarmonia, Platania follows, in general, the traditional approach used by countless Neapolitan masters (including Fenaroli). He first begins with cadences and then introduces the Rule of the Octave, the different bass motions, and finally special, more complex patterns.Yet he imbues his partimenti with a Romantic aura that is completely absent from partimenti written by masters of the previous generation (e.g., Raimondi or Zingarelli). The most original aspects of his 5 "Armonia. In senso razionale e pratico- per iscritto- Dopo sei mesi esecuzione pratica sul piano e sul melodium . . . Autori da adottarsi: Fenaroli, Mattei e dopo, a scelta del professore, una quantité délie lezioni di partimenti di Cotumacci, Sala e Raimondi." 6 "II présente trattato s'informa ad un sistema pratico d'insegnamento armonico senza indicazioni di numeri sul basso, istituendo invece I'allievo sulla cognizione dei canoni armonici naturali ed irremovibili, cioè: la conoscenza delta regola dell'ottava, la derivazione della scala armonica dalle tre triadi fondamentali identiche che costituiscono la modalité, la rispettiva tendenza dei suoni componenti gli accordi nelle loro varie diramazioni. . . . Luso dei numeri fa si che
I'allievo malgrado le spiegazioni teoriche del maestro è trascinato, direi quasi involontariamente, ad armonizzare senza précisa persuasione e senza bene analizzare il proprio operate ... Mi sono riserbato io quindi I'indicazione dei numeri sul partimento verso la fine del Corso, e ciô solo per mostrare le ricercate o speciali manière d'armonizzare, different! dal consueto." 7 "II metodo dunque cui accenno si basa sopra una semplice ma importantissima regola, quella cioè, che lo allievo studiasse i bassi senza numeri, ma questi facendoli riconoscere dopo mercè i precetti fondamentali d'armonia ragionata teoricamente e praticamente."
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outputare thus to be found in the more advancedpartimenti,ratherthan in the introductoryexercisesthatcloselyfollowthe traditionalpath. The partimento-relatedoutput of Plataniamaybe summarizedunder twomaincategories:real partimentiand "imitativeand fugalbasses."Of the firstcategoryof partimenti,only a single realizationfrom Plataniaof one of his own partimentisurvives,togetherwith a detailed example of a figured partimento.No realizationof an imitativeand fugal bassfrom Plataniahas come to light.Some manuscriptsin the Naplesconservatorylibrary,however, includerealizationsbyPlatania(or byhis students)of partimentibyFenaroli, and of imitativeand fugal bassesby Raimondi.All these worksbear witness to significantchanges that occurredwithin the Neapolitantraditionin the second halfof the nineteenthcentury. Let us firstexaminea writtenrealizationof partimentono. 2 fromFenaroli'swidelypublishedbook 4. It waspenned by an anonymousstudentwho studied under Plataniaaround 1860 (I-Nc Platania61). In many respects this realization(shownin Example4) followspast tradition.It is writtenin a keyboardstyle,with frequentchangesin the numberof voices duringthe - a characteristic continuopracfeatureof the eighteenth-century partimento tice. The realizationemploys,even if in a somewhatextendedway,all of the rf-
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
175
and it exhibits a strict lines of Raimondi's Nuovogeneredi scientificacomposizione, This work, followthe and the melodic contour. between figures relationship in with a soggettomelodico ing the first part reproduced Example 7, continues (melodic phrase), a period-like theme realized here by Platania with an asymmetrical period of eight plus seven bars added to the realized version only (see Platania 1883, Partimentibk. 3, 43) . The formal design is again an A-B-A form with a shortened ripresa,a very common feature of Italian nineteenth-century instrumental music (Rostagno 2003, 68-70). The Neapolitan Partimento in Milan: Raimondo Boucheron The largelyself-taughtLombardcomposer Raimondo Boucheron (1800-1876) occupies a special position in the tradition of partimento.8 He was born in Turin and took some music lessons in his childhood from obscure maestros like Vincenzo Goletti in Cuneo and Don Amedeo Savoia and Giovan Battista Colombo in Mondovi.9But he managed the most important parts of his training by himself. He became a well-knowncomposer of sacred music (from 1847 to his death he was maestro di cappella at the Milan cathedral) and a teacher of composition. His best pupils were Edoardo Mascheroni, Edoardo Perelli, and Gustavo Adolfo Noseda.10Boucheron published an important book on musical aesthetics, Filosofeadeltamusicao esteticaapplicataa quesVarte{ThePhilosophyof Music, orAestheticsAppliedto ThisArt, 1842) and an interesting harspiegatadai rapportidelVartecolVumana mony book titled La scienzadelVarmonia natura Trattatoteoricopratico(The Scienceof HarmonyExplainedby theRelation Artand HumanNature- A Theoretical-Practical between Treatise,[1856] ) , in which he attempted the original approach of grounding harmonic procedures on principles of psychology and ethics. Some years later he wrote the Esercizid'armoniain 42 partimentinumerati (HarmonyExerciseswith Forty-twoFiguredPartimenti, [1867]). With this work, Boucheron, like Platania, tried to meld the eighteenth-century partimento tradition with nineteenth-century harmonic innovations. But unlike Platania- whose work, as mentioned, grew out of the authentic Neapolitan tradition- Boucheron made use of only parts of the Neapolitan tradition, using them in a different context, one deeply influenced by German and French music theory. 8 The theoretical output of Boucheron is listed and briefly discussed in Sanguinetti 1997 9 Vincenzo Goletti was organist at the cathedral of Cuneo; Giovan Battista Colombo was maestro di cappella in Mondovi. See the anonymous manuscripts l-BGc Serassi 368GoV and l-BGc Serassi 198CGB. I found no information about Don Amedeo Savoia.
10 Edoardo Mascheroni (1859-1941) was an Italian conductor and composer. He conducted the Italian premiere of Beethoven's Fidelio (1886), Catalani's Wally, and Verdi's Falstaff. He also composed some operas. Edoardo Perelli (1842-1885) was a composer and journalist. He wrote some interesting anti-Wagnerian articles for the Gazzetta musicale di Milano (see Carlo Matteo Mossa 1988, 41). Gustavo Adolfo Noseda (1837-1866) was a composer and collector. His important collection of rare editions and manuscripts is now in the libraryof the Milan conservatory.
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JOURNAL of MUSIC THEORY
is set in twovolumes.The firstis dedicatedto a theoEsercizi d'armonia reticaldiscussionand to the forty-twopartimenti.The second is called Chiave (Key)and consistsof full realizationsof all the partimentiin book 1, thus offeringstudentsthe opportunityto checktheirownworkagainstthe author's templates.Boucheronclearlyassessesthe intent of his book in the preface: Whya newPartimenticollection,afterthe well-knownworksby Sala,Fenaroli, Mattei,and others,and in a time in whichmanypeople regardthis approach to harmonyas almostuseless?... I appreciatemore than others the worksof these reveredmaestriwho preceded me . . . nor shall I ever cease to recommend their study.But, at the same time, I wouldargue that from the daysin which Sala, Fenaroli,and Matteicomposed their partimentito the present, Harmony. . . has gained such a momentum. . . and has begun searchingfor such effects,whichour well-deserving[authors]had neverdaredto think.11
The firstvolumebeginswithsix chaptersdevotedto the rulesof partimenti. versionof French-flavored In these chapters,Boucheronoffersa remarkably earlier did half a as Emanuele Imbimbo (Cafiero century Neapolitanrules, this issue). The firstchapteris devotedto the basicrules of harmony:intervals, the concepts of fundamentalbass, consonance/dissonance,inversion, and the differenttypesof triadsandseventhchords(Boucheron[1867], 5-9) . The second chapteris titled "Dell'origine e ragionedegli anzidettiaccordi" Chords").In thischap("Onthe Originand Purposeof the Above-Mentioned ter Boucheronintroducesthe bythen commonnotionof tonalitybeingbased on scaledegreesI, IV,andV (Boucheron[1867], 10). Buthe addsa discussion thatis doublyreminiscentof Rameau'sconceptof doubleemploi, and of François-JosephFétis'snotion of appellativetendencies.If we considerIVas one of the pillarsof tonality,the sixththatis often addedabove4 in the basswould changethistriadinto a ILButBoucheronsaysthatthe addeddissonancedoes not modifythe natureof thatchord,butonlyconfersto it a moreintensestriving towardits goal (as does the seventhwhen addedto the triadon V). In his ensuingdiscussionof the Ruleof the Octave,in the standardFenaroliversion, he callscadenzedM the descendingfifth-progressions along the scale.In doing he from so, departsconsiderably Neapolitantheory,whichconsiderscadenze only those progressionsinvolvingroot-positiondominantand tonic chords (Boucheron [1867], 10). Later,at the end of his sixth chapter,Boucheron will providestudentswith a detailed table of cadences (Boucheron[1867], 37-42). 11 "Aqual pro' una nuova opera di Partimenti, dopo le celebri di Sala, di Fenaroli, Mattei e più altri, ed in un tempo, in cui questo modo di studiare l'armonia è da molti stimato quasi inutile? . . . io apprezzo, quanto altri mai, le opère di quei venerandi maestri che mi precedettero; ... ne cesserô mai di raccomandame Io studio; ma osserverei in pari tempo, che dall'epoca, in cui Sala, Fenaroli, Mattei composero i loro partimenti, ai di nostri, I'Armonia,... ha preso uno slancio . . . e si è avviata in cerca di effetti, ai quali i benemeriti non avrebbero mai osato pensare."
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
The third chapter is titled "Del ritmo" ("On Rhythm").Boucheron explainsthe differencebetweenstrongaccentand weakaccent,underlining the importanceof rhythmin music.As an example,he showsthe necessity for the strongaccenton a tonic chord thatends an authenticcadence,or on a dominantchord that ends a half cadence- the rhythmand the harmony mustcoincide.He writes:"Thecadence,therefore,essentiallybelongsto the domainof rhythm.This element exerts such an influence on it that, if the harmonicmotiondoes not coincidewithit, thereis no closure"12 (Boucheron [1867], 13). The fourth chapterdeals with voice leading and with the resolution of dissonantchords. He discusseshere all possiblebass motions, tryingto simplifyand rationalizethe traditionalseriesof motionsofferedby the Neapolitan maestros.Boucheronconsidersonly six possibilitiesfor the motion of the fundamentalbass:a third,a fifth, or a seventh,either up or down.In this chapter,Boucheronlistsall possibleresolutionsfor the six typesof seventh chords that he classifiesin "species"(this classificationwas customary among Italiantheoristsof the late nineteenthand earlytwentiethcenturies; see Example8) .
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12 "La cadenza è dunque principalmente propria del ritmo e questo elemento vi esercita tale influenza che, se l'andamento armonico non vi coincide, la posa non ha luogo."
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Unlike Neapolitan theory, which considered consonant all the chords contained in the Rule of the Octave (Sanguinetti in press), Boucheron considers the dominant seventh chord dissonant, as well as all the other types of seventh chords. Then he shows some possible resolutions of the diminished seventh chord, the diminished triad, and the augmented triad (Boucheron [1867],14-22). In the fifth chapter Boucheron further expands some aspects of the voice leading. He presents the motion of the parts (parallel, contrary, and oblique). The sixth and final chapter is titled "Degli accordi composti e del pédale" ("On Compound Chords and on the Pedal Point"; Boucheron [1867], 27-32). Boucheron calls those chords that result from a suspension "compound chords." He points out that the second chord of a suspension contains the note of resolution and then gives a series of examples listing the difference between 4-3, 7-6, and 9-8 suspensions. The chapter ends with a short presentation of anticipations, presented as the opposite of suspensions, and, in a short paragraph at the very end, of pedal points. The theoretical part of the book is followed by the forty-twopartimenti. While most nineteenth-century maestros encouraged, as we have seen, a written-out practice of realizing partimenti, Boucheron, throughout his treatise, refers several times to keyboard practice. He expresses his views on this regard in the following remark: It is betterto warnthat on the piano,as on the organ,it is not alwayspossible to achievea voice leading of the same perfectionas in a four-voicevocal or instrumentalcomposition,unless one divides the chords between the two handsaccordingto the properextensionof vocalpartsas soprano,alto, tenor and bass.This kind of realization,calledby La Croix"byextension,"although morecorrect,is less easyfor the beginnersthan the commonway,thatis, playing the chordswith the righthand and only the basswith the left. . . . Sincein our realizationwe adheredto the secondmanner,it followsthatin those partimenti where the harmonyis joined with a melodic thought or figure, some unavoidabletranspositionswill occurthatwouldnot happenin the otherway.13 (Boucheron[1867],26) All the partimenti are written with complete figures and on two staves: the actual partimento is in the upper staff, and a fundamental bass is in the lower one.14The figures used by Boucheron prescribe exactly the position of the
avvertire che sul piano forte come sull'organo di parti della non si puô sempre ottenere un andamento di richiesta in una composizione medesima perfezione quattro parti vocali o strumentali distinte, se non dividendo
13 "Conviene
loro a un di presso quattro parti vocali, come modo perô, soprano, contralto, tenore e basso. Questo se riesce più corche il La-Croix chiama per estensione, retto, riesce al principiante meno facile di quello più comugli accordi
fra le due
I'estensione,
quale
nemente
usato
mani e dando
mano
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intieramente
del solo
basso.
...
A
ci siamo
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avrebbero
per eseguire
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per tanto attenuti nella Chiave, onde in un pensiero o quei partimenti che all'armonia accoppiano disegno melodico accadono spesso inevitabili trasposizioni questo
14 The fundamental
nell'altro sistema."
bass in association
already been discussed
with partimenti
by GiacomoTritto
colla
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(1816).
had
GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
parts in the realization. They are also very detailed, including decorative motions like passing and neighbor tones. Boucheron 's use of complete figuring differs, however, from the contemporary practice of republishing old partimenti collections with newly added figures. In his case, we find musical situations that the old partimento theory would have been unable to classify and to realize. Boucheron writes: I publishthis workonly after havingused it with the few studentsfor whomI wroteit. [In thiswork],wheneverpossible,I haveaddedto the bareharmonya genuine melody,in order to give satisfactionto the tastes and minds of the youth.In orderto do this, I madeuse of unusualfigures,not commonlyused, but necessaryto show- or to hint at- the [musical]idea. In doubtfulor difficult cases, the studentshould seek advicein the part [of this book] titled La chiave(TheKey),where the same ideas are written down in full notation.15 (Boucheron[1867],preface) In doing so, Boucheron follows the opposite path of Platania. The latter rejects the use of figures and insists on the utility (for the students) of finding the correct solution for themselves, provided that they have the appropriate theoretical background. By contrast, Boucheron chooses to give all the figures as a practical demonstration of the new harmonic possibilities. Boucheron- like a great many of his contemporaries- felt that partimenti pertained to the study of harmony, not counterpoint. Accordingly Boucheron 's partimenti never show obvious traces of fugal or contrapuntal procedures. No longer connected with partimenti, counterpoint became a separate domain of knowledge pursued in separate studies. In the work of Boucheron, partimenti have the added purpose of acquainting students with common formal schemes. Usually these partimenti have a period-shaped theme inside an A-B-A form with a shortened reprise of the A section (as was seen in the advanced partimenti of Platania). The B section is often in a relative key or in a third-relation key. This, too, was a typical feature of nineteenth-century Italian instrumental music (Rostagno 2003,73). In Example 9, from Boucheron 's partimenti, it is possible to observe some of the stylistic and harmonic characteristics pointed out earlier (the examples show realizations by Boucheron himself). One can see very clearly that Boucheron obtains chromatic chords mainly by using chromaticized passing tones in an otherwise structurallydiatonic frame. For example, in bar 1 15 "Pubblico [quest'opera] solo dopo averla usata con I miei pochi allievi per cui la scrissi, mescendo per quanto era possibile alia nuda armonia una schietta melodia a maggior pascolo délie menti e del gusto giovanili, cosa che mi indusse a valermi di numeri non comunemente usati, ma necessari a indicare o far indovinare il pensiero, che più determinatamente espressi in note nella parte intitolata La Chiave, che l'allievo potrà consultare nei casi dubbi e per esso difficili."
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179
180
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of MUSIC THEORY
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the motion5-6 in the alto voice becomes5-15-6, or, one barlater,the opposite motion6-5 becomes6-b6-5.The characteristic symbolon the thirdquarter of bars2 and 4 on the staffrepresentingthe fundamentalbassindicates the presenceof a dominantharmony;it meansthat even if the fundamental bassline indicatesa Cl as root of the diminishedseventhchord,the realroot (theA) is implied.A morestructuraluse of chromaticismis the modulationto At major,a tritoneawayfromthe home key.This keyis reachedthroughthe
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
181
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182
JOURNAL of MUSIC THEORY
enharmonicreinterpretationof a dominantseventhV of V (reachedin bar of At major. 25) as an augmentedsixthchordon bVT Partimento: The Late Years
In the latterpartof the nineteenthcentury,partimentibecameless and less importantin Italian musical pedagogy.The only exception was Fenaroli, whosePartimenti and regolewere continuouslyin printuntil 1936 (Sanguinetti in press).In some restrictedcircles,particularly in Naples,vestigesof the original richnessof this repertorystill survived.This continuation(or perhaps rediscovery)wasmade possibleby the emergenceof musicalhistoricismand a renewedappreciationof the art from earliercenturies- it wasperhapsno accidentthat the greatestItalianexponent of historicism,BenedettoCroce, livedin Naples. When the composer,pianist,and pedagogue FlorestanoRossomandi he realized,under the (1857-1933)wasa studentin the Naplesconservatory, of his teacher various guidance LuigiVespoli, partimentibyFenaroliin a style thatrecapturessome elementsof harpsichordstyle (e.g., trillosand acciaccaturas;Rossomandi1874,bk. 2, no. 29). Whilethere were,as mentioned,numerouseditionsof Fenaroli,other musicianspreferredto publish anthologiesof "ancient"authors.In 1896, Daniele Napoletano published a collection of partimentiby Nicola Sala (Napoletano1896). In 1933, CamilloDe Nardis,one of the last of the partimento maestros,publisheda collection by variousauthors,a sort of Neapolitan anthologyof partimenti(De Nardis 1933). And whatwas probably the final collectionof partimentito come fromwithinthe directtraditionof Neapolitanmaestroswasedited byjacopo Napoliand publishedin 1959. In the late nineteenthcentury,the practiceof partimentoas improvisation at the keyboardon a givenbassremainedalmostthe exclusivepreserve of organ pedagogy.At the Palermoconservatory,CarmeloFodale, a pupil of Pietro Raimondiin the 1880s, taught partimentoat the organ.16Guido Tacchinardi,Florentinecomposerand organist,composedhis Saggidi basso numerate e di contrappunto {FiguredBass and CounterpointExercises) as "prepara-
torystudyfor the interpretationof the musicin the tied style. . . adoptedby the organ school of the RoyalCollege of Musicin Florence"(Tacchinardi 1886).17The latter collection includes the totallyfigured, chromaticpartimento reproducedin Example 10 {Partimento Tacchinardi1886, cromatico; 44). AswithBoucheron,the figuresindicatethe exactdispositionof the voices in a waythatmakesrealizationan almostmechanicaltask.On the one hand, thisrepresentsan advantage:performersdo not need anypriorknowledgeof 16 The name of Carmelo Fodale as teacher of partimento al melodium recurs in some uncatalogued documents that have been found recently in the libraryof the conservatory in Palermo (Anonymous, uncataloged).
17 "Studio preparatorio all'interpretazione della musica in stile legato Adottati dalla scuola d'organo del R. Istituto musicale di Firenze."
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism
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184
JOURNAL of MUSIC THEORY
harmonyand counterpointto completea realization.Buton the otherhand, theycannothope to gain anyintimateacquaintancewith the lawsof composition that the old partimentopracticeassured.The harmonizationof this partimentostraysfar from the Neapolitanrules.The chromaticmotions of the bass,for example,are accompanieddifferentlyfromwhatwaspossiblein Fenaroli.Dissonantand chromaticallyalteredchordsresolveto other altered chordsin an uninterruptedflux, and a strongcadence is found only at the veryend of the composition(not shownin Example10). Conclusions
All the authorsdiscussedexemplifydifferentaspectsof the nineteenth-centurypracticeof partimenti.The collectionsin use remainedthe samefor most of the century:Fenaroli's above all, but also some by CarloCotumacciand Mattei.The collectionsof earliermasterslike Leo, AlessandroScarlatti,and Durantewerefarless used, perhapsbecauseof theirlackof a clearpedagogical progressionand perhapsbecausethey were more wedded to an archaic style.The greatestchange,however,concernedthe use of partimenti.At the beginningof the nineteenthcentury,the partimentowasstilla tool usedfor a globalapproachto compositionteaching,just asit wasin the previouscentury. Throughthe partimento,studentslearnednot only how to place the proper harmoniesabovea bass,but also how to shapea completepiece of musicin a givenstyle.Duringthe nineteenthcentury,the partimentograduallybecame somethingentirelydifferent- an exercisein harmony.On the one hand,classic worksbyFenaroliwerebeing realizedin a four-voice,steadilyprogressing, block-chordalstyle.On the other hand,newlycomposedexercises(likethose discussedin this essay) became little more than bassesfor harmonization, even if retainingthe traditionalname of partimenti.A clearsign of this shift is the disappearanceof one typicalfeatureof the realpartimento:the change of clefs.In fact,eighteenth-century partimentiusuallymovedfreelyfromone voice of the textureto anotherand, exceptfor the simplestpartimenti,rarely confinedthemselvesto the bassvoice alone. Anothersignificantchangewas the gradualdisappearanceof contrapuntalfeatureslikeimitation,canons,and fugalprocedures.An entiregenreof partimento(perhapsthe mostimportant of all), the partimentofugue,disappearedentirelyfrompedagogicalpractice. Itsplacewastakenby the new genre of exercise,the bassoimitatoefugato. But the decisiveelement, the one that causedthe definitivetwilightof the partimentotradition,was its divorcefrom improvisation.Only through practice in the improvisedrealizationof partimenticould students fully developtheir potential,fashioningin their mindsa deeplyrooted compositional instinct.The shift from improvisationto writtenpracticemarkedthe end of a centuries-longand glorioustradition.
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GaetanoStella ~ Partimenti in the Age of Romanticism Works Cited Boucheron, Raimondo. 1842. Filosofiadéliamusicao esteticaapplicataa quest'arte.Milan: Ricordi. . [1856]. La scienzadeWarmoniaspiegatadai rapportidelVartecolVumananatura- Trattato teoricopratico.Milan: Ricordi. . [1867]. Esercizid'armoniain 42 partimentinumerati.Milan: F. Lucca. De Nardis, Camille 1933. Partimentidei maestriCotumacci,Durante,Fenaroli,Leo,Mattei,Platania, Sala, Scarlatti,Trittoand ZingarelliMilan: Ricordi. Fenaroli, Fedele. [1814] . Partimentiossia bassonumerato.Operacomplétadi FedeleFenaroliper uso di Napoli a Nicola ZingarelliMaestrodi S. Pietroin Roma deglialunni del Regal Conservatorio Dall'EditoreDedicata.Publ. No. 500. Paris:Typographie Direttoredel medesimoConservatorio
de la Sirène,ChezCarli,Editeur,M.dde Musique,LivresItalienset Cordesde Naples, Péristyledu ThéâtreFavart,côté de la Rue Merivaux. Gjerdingen,RobertO. 2007. Musicin theGalantStyle.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress. fugati efughe [di] Nicola Sala; sceltied ordinatida Napoletano, Daniele. 1896. Partimenti,ricercate, DanieleNapoletano.Naples. Napoli, Jacopo. 1959. Bassi délia scuola napoletanacon esempirealizzati.Milan: Ricordi.
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Manuscript Sources Anonymous. Bergamo, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai (I-BGc) Serassi 368GoV. Anonymous. Bergamo, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai (I-BGc) Serassi 198CGB. Anonymous. [Partimenti]. Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca (I-Nc)Platania61. Fiodo, Vincenzo. 1835. Bassi imitati efugati Milan, Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi, Biblioteca (I-Mc) NosedaTh.C.1426. Fodale, Carmelo. 1835. Bassi imitati e fugati Palermo, Conservatorio di Musica Vincenzo Bellini, Biblioteca (I-PLcon) R38. Platania, Pietro. n.d. but after 1852. UUimibassiimitatiefugati. Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca (I-Nc) Platania 58.13. . n.d. Sull'armonia.Studio teorico-pratico. Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca (I-Nc) S.C. 12.8.2. . n.d. Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca (I-Nc) Platania 58.3. Rossomandi, Florestano. 1874. Corsodi partimentiarmonizzatida FlorestanoRossomandisotto la guida del Prof Luigi Vespoli.Collegio1874. Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca (I-Nc) 84.3.47(5).
Stella is lecturer in music theory at Tor Vergata University, Rome. He is the author of Un compositore erudito del secondo Ottocento italiano: Pietro Platania (1828-1907) and Alcuni aspetti
Gaetano
formait nei quartetti di Pietro Platania.
C*v
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