Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

3. The Baroque period.

(i) Early 17th-century Italian practice.

(ii) 17th-century English practice.

(iii) French practice.

(iv) Later italianate embellishments.

(v) Varied reprises.

(vi) Melodic variations.

(vii) Cadenzas.

(viii) Continuo realization.

(ix) Complete pieces.

Improvisation, §II, 3: Western art music: Baroque period

(i) Early 17th-century Italian practice.

All the modes of improvisation practised in Italy during the Renaissance continued into the early Baroque. The two principal types were the embellishment of an existing part and the creation of an entirely new part or parts. Though fundamentally different in theory, the two types are not always separable in practice.

Important modifications were introduced to the practice of improvised embellishment. Composers, perhaps from a greater concern for the text, began to exercise more control over ornamentation, in two ways: by writing out embellishments in some instances, and by introducing symbols or abbreviations for some ornamental patterns. The written-out embellishments in ‘Possente spirto’, the great aria in Act 3 of Monteverdi’s Orfeo – the words of which are, significantly, in terza rima – represent an extreme example, now in early Baroque style, of the type of embellishment earlier improvised by poet-musicians and referred to in §2(iii) above. Stylistic modifications of the old, melodically orientated embellishment occurred about 1600 through the establishment of a true basso continuo and as a consequence too of the new emphasis on emotional qualities in singing. The basso continuo, with its firm bass line and improvised chords, emphasized vertical rather than linear aspects, and embellishment gradually attained more harmonic implications, adding the spice of dissonance to the written notes. The new emotional style in vocal music caused two modifications in the melodic lines: the smoothly flowing notes of 16th-century passaggi were sometimes alternately dotted to form either trochaic or iambic figures that might emphasize sobbing or sighing qualities; and a new vocabulary of short embellishments was invented for use on notes sung to the accented syllables of emotive words in the text. The new style of embellishment is first seen in G.B. Bovicelli’s Regole, passaggi di musica (1594), but the aforementioned modifications came about largely through the influence of the Florentine Camerata and its insistence on correct and emotive declamation of the text. Passaggi were for the most part relegated to penultimate syllables of verses, where they did not obscure the meaning of the words; they can thus be seen as early forerunners of the later cadenza.

The preface to Caccini’s Le nuove musiche (1601/2), the most celebrated expression of the passionate attitude of the men who invented the new style, contains much discussion of vocal embellishments. Some of these are illustrated in ex.4: Caccini’s cadential trillo and gruppo are shown in ex.4a, and the early Baroque preference for dotted figures is seen in his illustrations of the desirable way of performing the phrases shown in ex.4b. That the embellishment of penultimate (and sometimes other) syllables often reached cadenza-like proportions is demonstrated in several songs in Le nuove musiche, notably Fortunato augellino, and in those of other Italian monodists of the period.



Le nuove musiche also contains the only surviving portions of Caccini’s opera Il rapimento di Cefalo (1600), one of which, the concluding chorus, is shown with embellished solo interpolations. In his accompanying remarks Caccini reiterates his position regarding the liberties that may be taken with the rules of counterpoint in making passaggi. The ornamented solos bear the names of three of the greatest singers of the age, Melchior Palantrotti, Jacopo Peri and Francesco Rasi. While Caccini apparently wrote all the embellishments printed here, according to the rubrics, Palantrotti sang them as written, Peri substituted ‘different passaggi, according to his own style’ and Rasi sang ‘some of the passaggi as given and some according to his own taste’ (trans. H.W. Hitchcock, RRMBE, ix, 1970).

The new kinds of embellishment became known in due course in Germany, where descriptions are found in such works as Syntagma musicum, iii (1618) by Michael Praetorius and Musica moderna prattica (1653) by J.A. Herbst. In addition to the intonatio, exlamatio, trillo and gruppo, discussed by Caccini, Praetorius illustrates the tremulo (in two forms, ascendens and descendens; ex.5a and ex.5b) and the tirata (ex.5c) and also provides numerous illustrations of the accentus, applied to various intervals. Four examples of the accentus, as applied to the ascending 2nd, are shown in ex.5d.

Agostino Agazzari (Del sonare sopra ’l basso, 1607) discussed the role of instruments in concerted music, classifying instruments in two groups, those of foundation and those of ornament. He counselled restraint, decorum and the judicious enhancement of the written notes and outlined the roles appropriate to the various instruments (translation from StrunkSR1):

He who plays the lute … must play it nobly, with much invention and variety, not as is done by those who, because they have a ready hand, do nothing but play runs and make divisions from beginning to end, especially when playing with other instruments which do the same, in all of which nothing is heard but babel and confusion, displeasing and disagreeable to the listener. Sometimes, therefore, he must use gentle strokes and repercussions, sometimes slow passages, sometimes rapid and repeated ones, sometimes something played on the bass strings, sometimes beautiful vyings and conceits, repeating and bringing out these figures at different pitches and in different places; he must, in short, so weave the voices together with long groups, trills, and accents, each in its turn, that he gives grace to the consort and enjoyment and delight to the listeners, judiciously preventing these embellishments from conflicting with one another and allowing time to each. … The violin requires beautiful passages, distinct and long, with playful figures and little echoes and imitations repeated in several places, passionate accents, mute strokes of the bow, groups, trills, etc. The violone, as lowest part, proceeds with gravity, supporting the harmony of the other parts with soft resonance, dwelling as much as possible on the heavier strings, frequently touching the lowest ones. The theorbo, with its full and gentle consonances, reinforces the melody greatly, restriking and lightly passing over the bass strings, its special excellence, with trills and mute accents played with the left hand. The arpa doppia, which is everywhere useful, as much so in the soprano as in the bass, explores its entire range with gentle plucked notes, echoes of the two hands, trills, etc.; in short, it aims at good counterpoint. The cithern, whether the common cither or the ceterone, is used with the other instruments in a playful way, making counterpoints upon the part. But all this must be done prudently; if the instruments are alone in the consort, they must lead it and do everything; if they play in company, each must regard the other, giving it room and not conflicting with it; if there are many, they must each await their turn and not, chirping all at once like sparrows, try to shout one another down.

Agazzari’s advice is applicable in a variety of musical contexts, but it has particular relevance for the theatre. In early Italian operas, instrumental ritornellos and sinfonias are frequently indicated, but sometimes written either in skeletal form (bass line alone, or bass with treble) or not at all. Luigi Rossi’s Il palazzo incantato (1642) begins with a sinfonia, for which only a bass line is given. Cavalli’s Didone (1641) at one point has the rubric ‘all the instruments enter’, although no parts are written, and at another point, ‘aria with all the instruments’, accompanied by continuo only. There are many instances in operas of the Contarini Collection (I-Vnm) in which a dance is indicated in the score, but no music is supplied; in other cases a bass line only is given (Rose, 1965). The passacaglia seems to have originated as an improvised ritornello in theatrical productions (Hudson, 1981).

The quotation from Agazzari demonstrates a close affinity between improvisation over a cantus firmus and realization of a basso continuo. The continuo part replaced the cantus firmus, and the improvised parts became more harmonically based, partly because of the harmonic implications of the bass line itself.

For organists, improvisation was a functional task as much as an artistic one. During Mass or services of the Office, organists improvised versets over liturgical cantus firmi, in alternation with the choir. This practice has clear relationships to basso continuo technique, and in fact some of Banchieri’s organ basses in L’organo suonarino (3/1622) contain occasional thoroughbass figures. Frescobaldi’s organ masses offer some indication of the function of improvised music within the mass (e.g. Tocata per le levatione). Improvised toccatas, preludes and intonazioni frequently served to establish the mode or pitch (or both) for the singers. Some of the earliest keyboard toccatas (by Andrea Gabrieli, Merulo and others) are based on psalm tone cantus firmi, and undoubtedly reflect improvisatory origins (Bradshaw, 1972). Maugars wrote of Frescobaldi that while ‘his printed works render sufficient evidence of his skill, to judge his profound knowledge adequately you must hear him as he improvises toccatas full of refinement and admirable inventions’ (trans. C. MacClintock, 1979).

A distinctively Italian type of improvisation was the viola bastarda technique, which appears in several Italian sources during the period 1580–1630. Taking a polyphonic composition as a model, the viola bastarda roams around the texture, embellishing now one voice, now another, and at times creating an entirely new voice (Paras, 1986).

The venerable practice of improvised vocal counterpoint over a cantus firmus (contrappunto alla mente) is mentioned by several 17th-century theorists. Its mastery was a requirement for members of the papal choir, who according to G.B. Doni (1647) were sometimes guilty of abusing it, insistently repeating a musical figure that did not always agree with the cantus firmus (Ferand, ‘Improvised Vocal Counterpoint’ 1956). It may have been a common feature of the training of singers, even in the stile recitativo (Hill, 1994). When two or more parts were improvised over a cantus firmus dissonances could result; this was tolerated and even prized by some commentators. Banchieri (Cartella musicale, 1614) states that the effect of contrappunto alla mente can be obtained even in a written composition if each voice is composed separately with reference to the bass only. He comments that there may even be hundreds of singers, and that although none of them knows what the others are doing, the result will be pleasing (Ferand, op. cit., 1956). A subspecies of contrappunto alla mente in which two or more singers improvise over a cantus firmus without contrapuntal errors is called contraponto in concerto. Vicente Lusitano describes it in Introdutione facilissima (1553), as does Pedro Cerone in El melopeo y maestro (1613)

Scipione Cerreto (Della prattica musica, 1601) describes canonic improvisation over a cantus firmus. His illustrations are designed to give the singer practice in improvising over common intervallic patterns (conjunct motion, rising 3rds, etc.) in the bass (ex.6). Improvising singers in the 17th century, like jazz musicians of more recent times, probably committed to memory a repertory of melodic figures for use in specific contexts.



Contrappunto alla mente and contraponto in concerto were applied principally in the context of sacred music. On the secular side were performers who sang vernacular lyrics, accompanying themselves, often on a plucked string instrument, to stock musical formulae. These singers ranged from purveyors of medicines and potions (ciurmadori), popular actors and street entertainers, to trained professional singers who intoned the works of leading poets. The formulae, each customarily consisting of a simple melody with bass line such as the Aria del gran duca and Ruggiero, were frequently subjected to strophic variation. Giovanni Stefani’s collection Affetti amorosi (1618) contains an aria per cantar sonetti and an aria per cantar ottave, designed to accommodate the singing of any verses in their respective genres. The simplicity of both settings suggests that they are not finished compositions, but frameworks suitable for elaboration. Similarly, in several Italian publications for Spanish guitar (e.g. Millioni, Abbatessa), the performer was expected to sing standard poetic forms (strombotti, ottave rime, etc.) to an improvised or familiar melody over the chords indicated by the alfabeto tablature (Cavallini, 1989).

Improvisation, §II, 3: Western art music: Baroque period