Singing Games in Early Modern Italy

Paul Schleuse is Associate Professor of Music at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

"[This]very well written and researched book illuminates the repertory of an individual composer and expands our understanding of what game-playing could have meant for Italian recreational singers in the last decades of the 16th century."—Early Music"Elegantly written and illustrated with many, though not excessive, examples and tables, Schleuse's monograph is an important contribution to scholarship on late sixteenth-century music. It sheds light on the work of one of the most notable—if underestimated—authors of this period, Orazio Vecchi, and, most importantly, it restores the centrality of recreational singing, placing it in the context of the fascinating early modern discourse on games and entertainment. It is strongly recommended to anyone with an interest in the music and culture of early modern Italy."—Notes"The wide range of avenues for further study opened by Paul Schleuse's volume is a testimony to its impressive depth and richness. Singing Games in Early Modern Italy is a well-argued, well-written work that offers new understandings of the music of one of the most important composers of the early modern era."—Music and Letters"[T]he author's purpose is to separate Vecchi's importance as a precursor to early opera and illustrate his success as an experimental composer who had control over the printing, dissemination, and understanding of his own works, as well as his innovations in relation to the cultural focus on social play and drama in his music.5/21/16"—Music Reference Services Quarterly"This book makes a substantial contribution to the scholarship of late-Renaissance music and culture, and particularly to our understanding of Vecchi's work and its relationship to the music, literature, and society of his time."—Seth Coluzzi, Brandeis University"Singing Games in Early Modern Italy is a brilliant work that helps us to broaden our understanding of the dynamics—both social and individual—that dominated music in early modern Italy."—Fontes Artis Musicae

• Introduction1. The Four-Voice Canzonetta as (and in) Recreational Polyphony2. Intertextuality in Vecchi's Canzonettas and Madrigals, 1583-15903. Forest and Feast: The Music Book as Metaphor4. L'Amfiparnaso: Picturing Theatre & The Problem of the "Madrigal Comedy"5. Competition and Conversation: Games as Music6. Representation and Identity in Musical PerformanceAppendix: Vecchi, L'hore di recreatione from Madrigali a sei (1583).NotesWorks CitedIndex