早生幾百年的Salomone Rossi的生平，今天所知甚少。能確定的是，Rossi在曼圖阿(Mantua)出生長大，除了在當地猶太人的音樂圈裡是重要的人物之外，他一生中許多時間也都效力於Gonzaga家族所統治的曼圖阿宮廷。同時期在Mantua宮廷的，有音樂史上重量級的Monteverdi。
1587年開始，他被Vincenzo公爵任命為宮廷的音樂家，並在他過逝後，接班的Francesco也接著續用他。從文獻中知道二位公爵對他是相當賞識，而且還為此放鬆了他要在衣上貼上大衛之星(Star of David)(猶太教的象徵)的規定。儘管這樣，Rossi在他出版的作品裡，都會特地加上"hebreo"(希伯來人)的稱號，強調他本身猶太人的背景。
Salomone Rossi是位出色的小提琴家，身為作曲家也寫了不了音樂。世俗聲樂作品裡，他總共出版了五冊給五聲部的牧歌(madrigral)，一冊四聲部的牧歌，及一冊三聲部的canzonetta(類似牧歌的短歌)等。宗教方面，他則是寫了一系列的猶太教儀式用的Songs of Solomon，在當時出版時是少數唱希伯來文的聲樂，在印刷上也有實際的挑戰。
不過，Rossi在音樂史上真正的貢獻，在於他的器樂曲。如果說他的聲樂作品的曲風是傳統而且保守的話，他的純器樂曲可是前衛的。他總共出版了四冊的器樂曲，裡頭是當時流行的曲式，包括嚴肅的sonata和sinfonia與舞曲形式的gagliarda，brando，和corrente。他最大的創新，在於將早期多聲部的canzona裡各聲部一視同仁的情況，轉型為高聲部主導旋律，低音部則為輔助地主導和聲演進。這樣的「高低分離」，可放任高音部自由發揮，挑戰更精湛的技巧。嚴格上來講，Rossi的奏鳴曲，可以算是史上最早的三重奏鳴曲之一。當然，他的音樂，離晚期巴洛克成熟的三重奏鳴曲還是有點距離的。
這套作品十三的「小牧歌」，算是他最晚期的作品之一。不同於他早期傳統的牧歌，這些曲子大部份是寫給兩部人聲與數字低音的。可以說，Rossi是將他先前出版的三重奏鳴曲，將兩個器樂聲部，給換成了人聲。這種寫作手法因應當時的音樂潮流而不再回到八股的四，五聲部牧歌，也是理所當然的。作品十三，共有十八首歌曲，歌詞都選自當時有名的詩。每一首真的都不長，大部份為單一曲式，要不然就是同樣的旋律套不同段落的歌詞(strophic form)。
這些歌曲的速度緩和，沒什麼炫技的成份，不像晚期義大利巴洛克歌劇裡的詠嘆調如此誇張。雖然偶爾音樂中有些較激動的部份，但整體而言是種雲淡風輕的感覺。世俗的音樂，少了宗教音樂的莊嚴沉重。雖然我的CD上沒有歌詞的翻譯，不過應當脫離不了愛情或是對大自然景物的描述。二人聲，在和聲的交融和簡易的模仿(imitation)手法之中交換，不過每一段的結尾，二聲部總要一塊兒回來，形成那終止式(cadence)。而有低音伴奏樂群，除了更能引導音樂的前進，也為音樂增加不同的音色。沒有數字低音的音樂，我的接受度還真的會降低。我想，這說不定也是為什麼最早無伴奏純人聲的牧歌至今還不是我的菜。
這張CD原本是Tactus的唱片，不過後來被Brilliant Classics重新發行。(這是Brilliant近來常見到的手法。)樂器群L'Aura Soave是義大利Cremona的室內樂團，成立於1996年。他們的指揮是彈theorbo的Diego Cantalupi，也聽得出來他們對伴奏群的講究。可說伴奏群的大提琴，theorbo，和大鍵琴的不同組合，成功主導了音樂的動向和氣氛。而聲樂家們的巴洛克唱腔，輕盈和純淨，更是跟伴奏群結合地很漂亮。
平常聽器樂曲習慣重口味的詮釋，不過這張清淡的聲樂的專輯，很奇妙地得到我的注意力。沒有絕世驚人的演出，也不是不朽名曲。純粹就是走在小徑上，一個偶然的發現。
(此篇的稿從去年十月擺至現在才完成～～)
Salomone Rossi is arguably one of the earliest imporant Jewish musical figures before recent times. He was born in Mantua and lived there for his entire life. Not only was he a prominent member of the Jewish ghetto music circle, he was also appointed by the Gonzaga family of the Mantuan court. Among the other composers serving at the same court during the time included heavyweight Claudio Monteverdi, before his later departure to Venice.
Rossi was under the appointment of Dukes Vincenzo and his successor Francesco. According to record, they stated "how dear is the service that for many years Salamone de Rossi hebreo has given to Us, by virtue of his talent as a musico and a player." He was certainly highly regarded, as he was even given permission to not have to display the Star of David on his clothing, something that was required of all Jews then. Rossi, however, was always proud to acknowledge his Jewish heritage, and in all his published works, he would add "hebreo"(Hebrew) to the end of his title.
Rossi was fairly active as a composer, as he published quite a few books of madrigals and other secular vocal music. In terms of sacred music, he composed a set of Songs of Solomon, polyphonic liturgical music sung in Hebrew, which were also one of the first of its kind. In fact, the Hebrew texts posed a considerable challenge to the Mantuan printing press of its time. I guess it's no different than installing the proper fonts and languages on your computer to read webpages from certain countries today.
Rossi's most novel compositions come from his instrumental works. Rossi was an outstanding violinist of the time, and his pieces show one of the first signs of idiomatic violin writing. He published 4 books of instrumental works, which include the most popular instrumental forms of the time, like the sonata and sinfonia and dances like the corrente, gagliarda, and brando. The sonata and sinfonia would later become one of the staples of high Baroque music, while among the dances, only the corrente would continue to become popular. Rossi's biggest innovation was the transforming of the earlier polyphonic canzona, which had a more uniform texture, to that which gave importance to the higher registers and a supporting bass that led the harmonic structure of the music. This apparent separation gave way for more expressive and virtuosic writing, which would plant the seed for the later Stylus Phantasticus. In this sense, Rossi can also be attributed as writing one of the earliest known trio sonatas in music history.
The set of Op.13 madrigaletti is one of the last pieces he was to publish. Unlike his earlier sets of madrigals, which are written in the traditional type of four or five voices, which were then going out of fashion, most of these petite madrigals are written for two voices and continuo. In a sense, these were trio sonatas with two of the instrumental parts substituted with the human voice. Sung to the famous poems of its time, most of the pieces are very short, on the order of a minute or two. The longer pieces merely involve the strophic form of using the same melody for the different verses.
The voice parts are plain and casual without the dazzling fireworks seen in later Italian operatic arias. The two voices interchange between simple homophony and imitation, but always come back together for the cadence. This secular music is much lighter in mood than the solemnity one has to endure by listening to the sacred music. A big help comes from the continuo, providing the musical drive and different timbre other than just the human voice. I have come to accept that I find music with bass continuo much more attractive than those without, especially with a mixed continuo group that can really have fun.
The leader of the Italian group L'Aura Soave from Cremona is the theorbo player Diego Cantalupi, who must be conscious of how the bass continuo can enhance and bring out the flavors of the music, be it a good soft arpeggiated chord here, or a strong emphatic sound there. The continuo group consists of a cello, spinet, and theorbo, covering the range of the bowed, keyboard, and hand-plucked. The effect is more colorful than simply a chitarrone accompaniment seen in many other recordings. As for the vocalists, it's light, clear, and pure Baroque vocal singing, blending well with the continuo instruments. They don't go for anything too dramatic, but rather a smooth and uniform texture.
While I generally prefer a more exciting and showy interpretation for instrumental works, I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this disc, whose music is tame in demeanor. In particular, the pieces sung by the two sopranos gave me much fulfillment, more so than the two tenors. I liken this to watching a sweet little independent film, a nice change-up after watching so many Hollywood action blockbusters. Can't explain it, but it's been a while since vocal music had so much of my attention, and who would expect that it would come from this guy called Rossi?
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