Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

Istvánffy, Benedek

(b Szentmárton [now Pannonhalma], 1733; d Győr, 25 Oct 1778). Hungarian composer. Born into a noble family, he probably received his first musical instruction from his father, an organist, and came into contact with G.J. Werner, Kapellmeister at the Esterházy court. He was employed by various members of the Széchényi family from 1757 onwards. In 1766 he became succentor at the cathedral in Győr, and from 1773 to 1775 he was also responsible for leading the choir of the Jesuit church there.

Istvánffy’s works, of which only ten survive, cannot have been known outside his immediate surroundings in his own time. Nevertheless, he may be considered the most talented Hungarian composer of the second half of the 18th century in Hungary: his works are almost faultless in technique and up to date in style, and each one shows some individuality in structure.

WORKS

sources: H-Gk, Sp, VEs

Masses: Missa sanctificabis annum quinquagesimum vel Sanctae Dorotheae, 1774, ed. in Musicalia danubiana, xiii (Budapest, 1995); Messa dedicata al patriarcha Santo Benedetto; Gloria to a mass by Werner

Other sacred: Rorate coeli, Alma redemptoris, 2 hymns, 3 offs, all ed. in Musicalia danubiana, iii (Budapest)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

K. Bárdos: Győr zenéje a 17–18. században [Musical life in Győr in the 17th–18th centuries] (Budapest, 1980), 63–77, 419–20

L. Dobszay: Magyar zenetörténet [A history of Hungarian music] (Budapest, 1984), 205–7

Á. Sas: Preface to Benedek Istvánffy: Missa ‘Sanctificabis annum quinquagesimum, vel Sanctae Dorotheae’, Musicalia danubiana, xiii (Budapest, 1995)

ÁGNES SAS

Isum, John.

See Isham, John.

Italian overture.

A type of Overture to an opera, oratorio or other vocal work, common from the late 17th century to the late 18th. It is usually in three movements, fast–slow–fast. The texture is generally homophonic, and the outer movements are normally in major keys, most often D major. Initially, the first movements tended to be in duple metre; the slow movements were often quite short; and the finales were dance-like, often resembling fast minuets or gigues. As the form developed, the first movements tended to incorporate fanfare elements and came increasingly to follow the pattern of sonata form without a development section; the slow movements became longer and more lyrical.

The Italian overture became established in the works of Alessandro Scarlatti in the 1690s (his earliest use of the form is in the 1687 revision of his opera Tutto il mal non vien per nuocere) and spread throughout Europe until it became the standard operatic overture in the middle decades of the 18th century. Alternatives to the three-movement pattern among multi-sectional italianate overtures include the ‘reprise’ overture and a two-movement design, fast–slow, in which the first number after the curtain serves as the finale of the overture (Mozart, La finta giardiniera, 1775). After 1760 these types gradually gave way to other patterns, particularly the familiar one-movement design, which represents the first movement of the earlier Italian overture.

Italian overtures detached from operas were often used as independent concert pieces and were important in the early history of the symphony (see Sinfonia, §2, and Symphony).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

H. Livingston: The Italian Overture from A. Scarlatti to Mozart (diss., U. of North Carolina, 1952)

H. Hell: Die neapolitanische Opernsinfonie in der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts (Tutzing, 1971)

S.C. Fisher: Haydn’s Overtures and their Adaptations as Concert Orchestral Works (diss., U. of Pennsylvania, 1985)

H. Serizawa: ‘The Overtures to Caldara’s Secular Dramatic Compositions, 1716–1736: a Survey and Thematic Index’, Antonio Caldara: Essays on his Life and Times, ed. B. Pritchard (Aldershot, 1987), 77–113

S. Kunze: Die Sinfonie im 18. Jahrhundert (Laaber, 1993); see also review by E. Wolf, Notes, lii (1995–6), 78–84

STEPHEN C. FISHER

Italian sixth chord.

The common name for the Augmented sixth chord that has only a major 3rd in addition to an augmented 6th above the flattened submediant.

Italy.

Country in Europe.

I. Art music

II. Traditional music

NINO PIRROTTA/PIERLUIGI PETROBELLI (I, 1–4), ANTONIO ROSTAGNO (I, 5, 6(v)), GIORGIO PESTELLI (I, 6(i–iv)), JOHN C.G. WATERHOUSE/RAFFAELE POZZI (I, 7), TULLIA MAGRINI (II)

Italy

I. Art music

1. Plainchant.

2. Early secular music.

3. Renaissance.

4. 17th century.

5. 18th century.

6. 19th century.

7. 20th century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Italy, §I: Art music

1. Plainchant.

The length and mountainous nature of the Italian peninsula, and its historical vicissitudes, have given its regional segments significantly different ethnic and linguistic profiles. Similar differences existed in the local ‘dialects’ of Western plainchant that developed during the early Middle Ages and continued in use until the imposition of Gregorian chant throughout most of Italy by the 11th century. In some areas of the peninsula, the Greek liturgies were followed, notably in the south where the Byzantine rite was celebrated in the old Basilian monasteries; Eastern practices are also known to have existed during the early medieval period in the Greek monasteries in Rome and in cities, such as Ravenna, that were once governed by Byzantium.

Traditionally, the origins of Roman chant were ascribed to Pope Gregory the Great (590–604), who, according to legends dating from the Carolingian era, composed the basic melodic repertory and established the Schola Cantorum as the model for the correct performance of liturgical music in the Western Church. However, there is no contemporary evidence to suggest that Gregory was particularly concerned with chant and it is now thought that the Schola Cantorum was founded in Rome during the second half of the 7th century. The repertory that bears his name – Gregorian chant – probably derives from the late 8th century, when the Carolingian kings attempted to introduce Roman chant into the Frankish lands. Whether Gregorian chant was actually sung in Rome at this time, however, is unclear and it has been suggested that it represents a ‘reworking’ of the genuine Roman repertory by Frankish cantors (see Plainchant, §2(ii)). The earliest extant notated manuscripts from Rome, dating from between the 11th and 13th centuries, present a body of melodies that is clearly related to Gregorian chant but which consistently differs in certain details. The performance of this repertory, known as Old Roman chant, was brought to an end in Rome when Pope Nicholas III (1277–80) officially suppressed it in favour of Gregorian chant.

During the Carolingian era many of the local Italian repertories were replaced by Gregorian chant as part of an attempt to establish liturgical uniformity; by the 11th century only Rome and Milan maintained their indigenous musical traditions. The Aquileian Church, which had formerly followed its own rite, adopted the Gregorian use during the reign of Charlemagne (d 814); almost nothing of its melodic repertory survives. Beneventan chant, however, which developed in southern Italy during the 7th and 8th centuries, was not fully suppressed until 1052 and a significant amount of its music survives in notated sources. The only tradition that successfully resisted the imposition of Gregorian chant was that of Milan. Its survival was undoubtedly helped by the prestige of St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (374–97), who was traditionally credited with the creation of the chant repertory. Ambrose is known to have introduced the singing of psalms and hymns to strengthen the resolve of his flock when they were beseiged in the Basilica Porziana by Aryan persecutors, and at least four of the many hymn texts attributed to him are genuine. However, there is no evidence to associate him with the composition of ‘Ambrosian’ melodies. The melodies of the Milanese rite were first written down in the 12th century in pitch-specific notation and are still performed today in Milan and in some churches in the diocese of Lugano (see Ambrosian chant and Ambrose).

From the 10th century, several different kinds of neumatic notation were used in Italy, and the diversity began to decrease only when the various scriptoria adjusted their neumes to the staff perfected by Guido of Arezzo (d after 1033) and adopted shapes which became those of square notation (see Notation, §III, 1). Guido is also credited with the invention of solmization, a teaching method for reading neumes and producing the corresponding pitches. Less easily assessed are other Italian contributions to the further development of liturgical and paraliturgical singing. Although sequences, either belonging to an international repertory or of local origin, were sung at an early date, only a few, which survived the rigours of the Council of Trent, are well known: Dies irae, Lauda Sion and Stabat mater, the melodies of which are respectively attributed to Thomas of Celano (d c1250), St Thomas Aquinas (d 1274) and Jacopone da Todi (d c1306); the only other surviving sequences are Victimae paschalis laudae and Veni sancte spiritus. The production of tropes seems to have been modest, but liturgical dramas were performed in various places, and the music of four at Cividale and six at Padua survives. The latter group (dating from the late 13th century, with 15th-century additions) includes pieces for two equal voices, a type of polyphony (cantus planus binatim) of which other examples have recently been found, suggesting a widespread practice of polyphonic elaboration of plainchant. Two-part organum had already been described in Guido’s Micrologus as a current practice; and many melodies were prescribed to be sung cum organo (i.e. in polyphony) in 13th-century ordines of the churches of Siena and Lucca. Simple, essentially punctus contra punctum polyphony appears to have lasted until the Renaissance and even later, with more cultivated types. Some of these two-part compositions were internationally known, others used only locally. In any case, performances of this type of polyphony in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries are attested by several recently discovered sources.

Italy, §I: Art music