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Caccini: (1) Giulio Caccini
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Caccini: (1) Giulio Caccini

(1) Giulio Caccini [Giulio Romano]

(b Rome or ?Tivoli, 8 Oct 1551; d Florence, bur. 10 Dec 1618). Composer, instrumentalist, singer and singing teacher, a
pioneer in the Florentine monodic and representational styles of the early Baroque era. Of humble origins, he was trained in
singing by Giovanni Animuccia, choirmaster of the Cappella Giulia in Rome, where he was noticed by the Florentine
ambassador. He probably made his dbut at the Medici court in 1565, singing the solo-voice lament of Psyche in the intermedi
that were part of the wedding entertainments for Prince Francesco and Joanna of Austria. Once in Florence he received
further training from the singer Scipione delle Palle, which must have included composition and vocal improvisation of strophic
poetry. He probably became a salaried court musician in the 1570s and certainly participated prominently in all subsequent
wedding festivities at the Medici court until his death.

During the 1570s and 80s Caccinis reputation was enhanced by his association with the Camerata of Giovanni de Bardi, who
became his lifelong mentor and patron. Caccini claimed to have learnt more from Bardis circle than from more than 30 years
of counterpoint. In 1589 he composed and sang one of the solo songs in the spectacular intermedi for the comedy La
pellegrina, devised by Bardi to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinando I to Christine of Lorraine. His work was not included in the
music printed in 1591, perhaps because Caccini and Bardi had fallen out of favour with Ferdinando when he succeeded his
brother as grand duke in 1587 and brought his own entourage of musicians from Rome. When Bardi moved to Rome in 1592
Caccini followed, probably as his secretary. In October of that year he also visited Ferrara, where he coached the famous
Ferrarese sopranos in the Florentine style of ornamentation.

In Florence in the 1580s Caccini had trained and directed the female vocal ensemble established to rival the one in Ferrara.
With his first wife, Lucia, who was probably one of his pupils, and their daughter Francesca, he formed the nucleus of his own
family consort, which eventually included his second wife, Margherita, and their children Settimia and Pompeo. When he was
formally dismissed from Duke Ferdinandos service in July 1593, Caccini contemplated moving to Rome permanently but
eventually decided to settle in Genoa, where he went in 1595 hoping to begin a more lucrative career as a virtuoso performer
and teacher.

By 1600 he was back in Florence, having been commissioned to write the music for Chiabreras intermedio -like drama, Il
rapimento di Cefalo, the production of which was the main theatrical event of the celebrations in October for Maria de Medicis
wedding to Henri IV of France. Although reinstated at court, Caccini was still subject to the rivalries and jealousies that had
marked his earlier years. For the modest production of Rinuccini and Peris opera Euridice, which took place a few days before
Il rapimento, Caccini refused to allow his singers to perform Peris music and substituted his own for certain sections of the
work. Anxious to be able to claim priority as the inventor of the new recitative style, Caccini then completed his setting of
Rinuccinis libretto and rushed it into print before Peris score was published. Caccinis uncommissioned Euridice was not
performed in its entirety until 1602, however, and of the music for Il rapimento, also a collaborative effort, only a few excerpts
were published (in Le nuove musiche). In fact, Caccinis reputation as a composer rests principally on his two collections of
solo madrigals and airs published in 1601/2 and 1614, Le nuove musiche and Nuove musiche e nuova maniera di scriverle. It
is unlikely that he ever composed music for Rinuccinis Dafne libretto, as he claimed in his 1614 preface.

As performer and teacher Caccini continued to win acclaim. In 1603 and again during the winter and spring of 16045 he
visited Paris, where his family was invited to perform at the court of Maria de Medici. He trained the virtuoso singer Francesco
Rasi, who created the title role of Monteverdis Orfeo in Mantua in 1607, as well as Giovanni Gualberto Magli. In Florence
Caccini and Bardi supervised the musical productions for Prince Cosimos wedding in 1608; rather than a new opera, six
extravagant intermedi with music mainly by Caccini were presented in the manner of the 1589 festivities. In 1609, however,
Cosimo succeeded Ferdinando as grand duke, and the young Florentine composer Marco da Gagliano was appointed to the
 most important musical post in the city. This marked the beginning of Caccinis semi-retirement. In 1614 he became
choirmaster at Ss Annunziata, where he was buried a few years later.

Caccinis claims to priority in the invention of recitative are based on his early adoption of Bardis humanistic concern for clarity
of text setting, which in turn prompted him to reject counterpoint and introduce a kind of music in which one could almost
speak in tones. The results of his experiments in song reform were the solo madrigals and airs with simple harmonic
accompaniment and judiciously regulated ornamentation that he performed for Bardis Camerata in the 1580s and 90s and
finally published in 1602. But Caccini did not apply this new compositional style to the stage until 1600, after several
successful performances of Rinuccini and Peris first opera Dafne. Moreover, there was a qualitative difference; Pirrotta coined
the phrase cantar recitando (song modified by speaking) to characterize Caccinis more lyrical style as opposed to Peris
more realistic recitar cantando (speech modified by singing).

Although more difficult to document, Caccinis most important contributions to the field of opera seem to have been in the area
of performance rather than composition. In teaching that ornamentation was the key to moving the affections, Caccini
redefined the concept of virtuosity and attempted to limit its role to that of enhancing the impact of the words themselves. He
also advocated a certain sprezzatura, or studied effortlessness on the part of the singer, a quality that resembled the polished
grace of Castigliones courtiers and lent an air of spontaneity to their calculated demeanour and actions. Through the didactic
prefaces to his song collections and by his influence and example in musical circles at court, Caccini instructed the first opera
singers in the art of captivating and moving their audiences.

See also EURIDICE (II) and RAPIMENTO DI CEFALO, IL.

Bibliography
A. M. Nagler: Theatre Festivals of the Medici, 15391637 (New Haven, CT, 1964), 93115

N. Pirrotta and E. Povoledo: Li due Orfei: da Poliziano a Monteverdi (Turin, 1969, 2/1975; Eng. trans., 1982)

H. W. Hitchcock: Introduction and translation of Caccinis preface to Le nuove musiche, RRMBE, ix (1970)

D. Galliver: Giulio Caccini per canto famoso, MMA, x (1979), 3846

M. A. Bacherini Bartoli: Giulio Caccini: nuovi fonti biografiche e lettere inedite, Studi musicali, ix (1980), 5972

B. R. Hanning: Of Poetry and Musics Power: Humanism and the Creation of Opera (Ann Arbor, 1980)

H. M. Brown: The Geography of Florentine Monody: Caccini at Home and Abroad, EMc, ix (1981), 14768

R. Giazotto: Le due patrie di Giulio Caccini (Florence, 1984)

T. Carter: Giulio Caccini (15511618): New Facts, New Music, Studi musicali, xvi (1987), 1331

Barbara R. Hanning

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