A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Peri, Jacopo

by William Smyth Rockstro

PERI, Jacopo, a Composer to whom, notwithstanding the small amount of his learning, the world owes a heavy debt of gratitude, was born of noble parentage, at Florence, during the latter half of the 16th century, and first studied Music under the guidance of Cristoforo Malvezzi, of Lucca. The Florentines, always celebrated for their ready invention of surnames, called him Il Zazzerino,^[1] a little bit of pleasantry provoked by the enviable wealth of golden hair which he managed to preserve uninjured, almost to the day of his death. After completing his musical education he was appointed Maestro di Cappella, first, to Fernando, Duke of Tuscany, and afterwards to Duke Cosmo II. Having thus attained an honourable position, he married a noble and richly-dowered lady, of the House of Fortini, by whom he had a son, who bade fair to become a distinguished mathematician, but ultimately brought himself to ruin by his dissolute habits and abandoned life, indulging in such excesses, that his tutor, the great Galileo Galilei, was accustomed to speak of him as 'my Dæmon.' Notwithstanding this domestic trouble Peri mixed in all the best society in Florence, and chose for his associates some of the most advanced leaders of the great Renaissance movement, which, even at that late period, was still in progress, though its best days had long since passed away. We hear of him especially at the house of Giovanni Bardi, Conte di Vernio, where, in company with Vincenzo Galilei, Ottavio Rinuccini, Giulio Caccini, Pietro Strozzi, Jacopo Corsi, and other restless spirits imbued with the classical furore for which the age was so strongly distinguished, he assisted in that memorable attempt to restore the mode of declamation peculiar to Hellenic Tragedy which resulted at last in the discovery of modern Recitative. Whether the first idea of this invention originated with Peri, with Caccini, with Emilio del Cavaliere, it is now impossit to decide. In all probability it suggested itself in consultation; and each Composer endeavoured to carry it out in his own way, though the ways of all were so similar that it is very difficult to detect the symptoms of true individuality in any of them. V. Galilei and Caccini undoubtedly produced the first Monodic Cantatas in which the new style was attempted; but their efforts were confessedly tentative, and their productions conceived upon a very small scale, fitted only for use as Chamber Music. Peri took a higher flight. At the instigation of Jacopo Corsi, and the Poet Rinuccini, he attempted a regular Musical Drama, called 'Dafne.' The Libretto for this was supplied by Rinuccini, and Peri composed the Music entirely in the style which was then believed to be identical with that cultivated by the antient Greek Tragedians. The work was privately performed, in the Palazzo Corsi, in the year 1597 Peri himself playing the part of Apollo. To him, therefore, belongs the honour of having composed and assisted in the performance of the first true Opera that ever was placed upon the Stage. A still greater honour, however, was in store for him. This performance was witnessed only by a select circle of Signor Corsi's personal friends. But, in the year 1600, Peri was commissioned to produce an Opera for public performance on the occasion of the Marriage of Henri IV of France with Maria de' Medici. The subject chosen for this was 'Euridice.' Rinuccini again supplied the Libretto, and Peri wrote the Music in the same style as that he had already adopted in 'Dafne,' though, it is to be supposed, with greater freedom and vigour. The success of the work was all that could possibly be desired. It proved that the Ideal conceived by the little band of enthusiasts was capable of satisfactory embodiment in a practical form; and that form was at once adopted as the normal type of the long-desired Lyric Drama. It is true that, some months before the production of 'Euridice,' Emilio del Cavaliere's Oratorio, 'La Rappresentazione di anima e di corpo,' had been publicly performed, at Rome, with Scenery, Dresses, and Action; and that the Music of this work is written in exactly the same kind of Recitative as 'Euridice.' But, Peri's claim to be regarded as the Composer of the first Opera rests, not on 'Euridice,' but on 'Dafne,' though that work was never produced in public; and the only ground on which that claim can be disputed is the fact that Emilio del Cavaliere is known to have composed two sæcular pieces, called 'Il Satiro,' and 'La Disperazione di Fileno,' which were both privately performed in 1590, and a third work, entitled 'Il Giuoco della Cieca,' which was performed before the Archduke Ferdinand in 1595. Not a trace of either of these three works now remains to us. They are described as 'Pastorals,' and may or may not have been of sufficiently large dimensions to entitle them to rank as Dramas. Moreover, we cannot be quite certain that they were written in the same style as the Oratorio. As the case now stands, therefore, and until we are furnished with more decisive evidence than that we now possess, Jacopo Peri stands before us as the acknowledged Father of a form of Art which is very nearly the greatest that it has ever entered into the mind of man ever to conceive, still less to bring, through so many difficulties, to a successful issue.

Strange to say, Peri made no attempt to follow up his wonderful success. Probably no opportunity for the production of another public performance on so extensive a scale occurred during his life-time—for, in those days, such scenic displays were exhibited only on very grand occasions, such as Royal Marriages, or other events of great public interest. But, whatever may have been the cause of his retirement, Peri produced no more Operas. We hear of his appointment, in the year 1601, as Maestro di Cappella to the Duke of Ferrara; and, after that, no record remains of him beyond the publication of his latest known work, 'Le varie Musiche del Sig. Jacopo Peri, a una, due, e tre voci, con alcuni spirituali in ultimo,' at Florence, in 1610. The precise year of his death has not been ascertained.

It does not appear that 'Dafne' was ever published: at any rate, no traces of it have been preserved to us, beyond a few pieces contributed by Caccini, and included in his 'Nuove Musiche' (Florence, 1602). 'Euridice' was happily printed, in a complete form, in the year of its production, under the title of 'Le Musiche di Jacopo Peri, nobil fiorentino, sopra L'Euridice del. Sig. Ottavio Rinuccini,' etc., Fiorenza, 1600; and reprinted at Venice in 1608, and again at Florence in 1860, in small 8vo. Both the early editions are now exceedingly rare. We ourselves have never been fortunate enough to meet with an example of the first; but a copy of the Venetian reprint is preserved in the Library of the British Museum, and some extracts from this will be found on page 499 of the present volume. This interesting work, and the 'Varie Musiche' already mentioned, are believed to be the only specimens of Peri's compositions now in existence. Kiesewetter has reprinted 3 madrigals for 4 voices in his 'Schicksale und Beschaffenheit des weltlichen Gesanges' (Leipzig, 1841).

[ W. S. R. ]

1. Literally 'Short-hair.' But in this case used ironically.