A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Carissimi, Giacomo

1503604A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Carissimi, Giacomo


CARISSIMI, Giacomo, was born at Marino near to Rome in 1604, according to Pitoni, whom both M. Fétis and the Abbé Alfieri follow upon this point; but at Padua in 1582, if Spiridione[1] be trusted for the place of his birth, and Mattheson for the date of it. His first professional post was that of Maestro at Assisi. This he held for some years. He then went to Rome, where he obtained the Mastership at the church of S. Apollinaris, attached to the German College. In this office he passed the remainder of his days, without, in all probability, ever having crossed the Papal frontier. He died in 1674 [App. p.579 adds Jan 12]. That he gained his taste and style, which were admirable, by long residence in Paris, and by writing for French audiences, is one of by no means the least foolish and perverse of the many foolish and perverse assertions of the Seigneur de Fréneuse.[2]

Carissimi has the reputation of having done more than any other Italian of his epoch towards the perfection of recitative. To him Kircher admits that he owes much that is valuable in his 'Musurgia' upon this branch of art. He was moreover, although not the actual inventor of the sacred cantata, at least its parent by adoption and development, and at his hands it received that elevation of form and accession of beauty which enabled it to supplant the madrigal, and give to sacred music those elements of pathos and dramatic force for which the rise of the opera had created a general appetite. A third contribution by Carissimi to the progress of his art was the lightness and variety of his accompaniments. He had less learning and more imagination and playfulness than his predecessors in the Roman school. But if his harmonies were less elaborate than theirs, his melodies were freer and more graceful, and his effects more dramatic. There was something essentially modern in his music, and he was the precursor and teacher of a large group of polished and pleasant artists, among whom Bassani, Cesti, Buononcini, and Alessandro Scarlatti were conspicuous. No less prolific than original, Carissimi left a great quantity of finished work behind him. Unhappily too little of it has been published, and too much of it was destroyed at the time of the suppression of the Jesuits, when the collections of S. Apollinaris and the Gesù were sold for waste paper. In the library of the Abbé Santini there were two printed collections of motetti by Carissimi for two, three, and four voices, which had been published at Rome in 1664 and 1667, and a Lauda Sion and a Nisi Dominus, both for eight voices, and both in manuscript. Baini says that in the archives of the Pontifical Chapel there is a mass by Carissimi for twelve voices, written on the famous Provençal melody 'L'homme arme.' This is believed to be the last occasion on which that favourite theme was ever employed. The National Library in Paris has a rich manuscript collection of the oratorios of Carissimi. The following is a list of their names:—'La Plainte des Damnés'; 'Histoire de Job'; 'Ezéchias'; 'Baltazar'; 'David et Jonathas'; 'Abraham et Isaac'; 'Jephte'; 'Le Jugement Dernier'; 'Le Mauvais Riche'; 'Jonas'. Chief among these ranks the Jephthah, of which Hawkins has said that 'for sweetness of melody, artful modulation, and original harmony, it is justly esteemed one of the finest efforts of musical skill and genius that the world knows of.' Handel thought it worth while to borrow his chorus in 'Samson,' 'Hear Jacob's God' from a famous movement in the 'Jephte' called 'Plorate filise Israel.' Croft has imitated his 'Gaudeamus,' and Aldrich adapted his motets to English words for anthems. Hawkins prints a remarkably graceful little duet of Carissimi, called 'Dite, o Cieli.' It was in emulation of this piece, upon hearing it over-praised by King Charles II, that Dr. Blow composed his celebrated 'Go, perjured man.' The library of the French Conservatoire is rich in the manuscripts of Carissimi, and there are some valuable volumes of his music in the British Museum. But the magnificent collection of his works made by Dr. Aldrich at Oxford throws all others into the shade, and forms one of the special ornaments of the library at Christ Church. A few of his pieces are in the Musica Romana of Spiridione, and a few more, disfigured by French words, in the collection of 'Airs serieux et à boire,' published by Ballard. There are some motets of his in Stevens's 'Sacred Music,' and Crotch has published one or two examples in his 'Selections of Music.' Five specimens are printed in the 'Fitzwilliam Music.' Jephte, Judicium Salomonis, Jonas, and Baltazar have been published by Chrysander (Schott); and Jonah by Henry Leslie (Lamborn Cock). Enough has now been said to indicate where those who are interested in this master may form acquaintance with his work; and it only remains to add that the 'Judgment of Solomon,' a cantata often attributed to him, was in all probability not his, but the production of his pupil Cesti.
  1. 'Musica Romana D. D. Foggiæ, Carissimi, Gratiani, aliorumque. (Bamberg, 1685.)
  2. 'Comparison de la Musique Italienne et de la Musique Française,' 3mo partie, p. 2081. {Brussels, 1704.)