The XVIII century was a significant political transformation in Spain, including the transition from the Habsburg to the Bourbon dynasty. These changes prompted a reevaluation of Spain´s national identity and cultural heritage. The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, swept across transition Habsburg Europe during the XVIII century, leading to a renewed interest in arts, culture, and intellectual pursuits. Spain, like other European nations, sought to define its unique cultural identity amidst this cultural renaissance and with its rich history and diverse regional influences, aimed to establish its own distinct artistic and musical style within the broader European context.
After reading, comparing, and analysing various genres of pre-flamenco, I have come to the conclusion that the genre that influenced the villancicos of Juan Manuel Gaitán y Arteaga's was the tonadilla de escena. This is primarily because the other pre-flamenco genres typically involved dancers and in both cases they have Italian influence. Then, what is a Tonadilla de escena?
During the last third of the XVIII century, Spanish society, especially the emerging classes of professionals and civil servants, were in favour of dances and songs from native musical genres such as zarzuela and tonadilla de escénica over the arias of Italian opera seria, which dominated aristocratic stages from the early XVIII century in Spain. Italian opera had an overwhelming success in Spanish theatres, especially in those of royalty and aristocracy and later, in public theatres such as those of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, etc. Gaitán y Arteaga also got steeped of the Italian influence in his villancicos of this period with the use of vocal agility that characterizes the Italian opera.
Across Europe, a favourable sensibility towards own culture was driving hybrid musical genres that combined elements of high culture and popular culture. Examples of this include the Italian opera buffa, the French comic opera, and the German Singspiel. What is striking, however, is that while these European genres led, over the next century to the creation of a national opera in each country, the Spanish zarzuela and tonadilla did not. While Spain is found everywhere in opera (from Mozart's Don Giovanni to Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, from Beethoven's Fidelio to Verdi's Don Carlo and Bizet's Carmen), the Spanish authors did not produce an opera voice on the same terms as the rest of Europe. The anti musical prejudice of the Spanish Enlightenment played an important role in preventing zarzuela or tonadilla de escena, from becoming a European-type genre.
Tonadilla de escena is a traditional Spanish pre-flamenco genre that became popular around 1750 in Spain. The lyrics of tonadilla were a protest against Italian opera and against the Frenchification of literature in Spain and it was hated by French-educated aristocratic society. It should be taken into account that the tonadilla de escena, being from a genre belonging to the short theatre, contains its characteristics, especially in the search for entertainment. We should not look for big musical developments, as they are simple and short compositions where the main characters are perfectly recognizable by the public, with catchy music that quickly enters the ear of the listener, similar to the villancicos of Juan Manuel. Moreover, I can analyse the defining features of the genre of tonadilla de escena in two aspects: its character of theatrical intermission and its succession of sung musical numbers.
Tonadilla is directly related to the tradition of Spanish theatrical interludes, which dates back to the XVI century, acquiring a special characteristic in the second half of the XVIII century due to political, ideological, aesthetic, and social changes, as mentioned before. Tonadilla in its origins was a single piece with guitar accompaniment in which one or two singers usually sung, generally a man and a woman. Over time, these pieces began to incorporate Italian influences, which arrived on the peninsula through singers, conductors, and composers.
Tonadilla in the pre-flamenco, can be related with copla andaluza nowadays, known as genre that appeared in Spain at the beginning of the XX century and remained alive even during the Spanish Civil War and the postwar period. This important genre of the XX century of Spanish music arose in the decade of the twenties, with the background of the traditional tonadilla, zarzuela, and the cuplé (short and light song, which is sung in theaters and other entertainment venues). From 1950, it had a strong presence in Spanish musical cinema and Spanish theatres.
8.1 Italian influence.
The tonadilla de escena in XVIII century Spain was influenced by Italian opera buffa. During the XVIII century, Spain experienced significant cultural exchange with Italy. This exchange facilitated the flow of artistic ideas, including musical styles, between Spain and Italy. Italian opera, particularly opera buffa, was highly popular throughout Europe during the XVIII century, including in Spain. The lively and comedic nature of Italian opera buffa appealed to Spanish audiences and influenced the development of the tonadilla de escena. Spanish musicians often travelled to Italy to study music, as Juan Manuel did, and Italian musicians were sometimes employed in Spanish courts and theatres, such as Domenico Scarlatti, Luigi Boccherini, or Gaetano Brunetti. This interaction between Spanish and Italian musicians contributed to the cross-pollination of musical styles between the two countries. See the table below.
Spanish monarchs, such as Felipe V and Fernando VI, were patrons of the arts and had a particular affinity for Italian culture. Their patronage of Italian composers and performers indirectly influenced the musical landscape in Spain, including the tonadilla de escena. The XVIII century was a period of cultural exchange and artistic experimentation throughout Europe. Spanish composers and performers were influenced by the broader artistic trends of the time, including Italian musical styles, which found their way into the tonadilla de escena. Overall, the Italian influences on the tonadilla de escena were a product of the dynamic cultural environment of XVIII century Europe, characterized by cross-cultural exchange, artistic innovation, and royal patronage of the arts.
Form and melody:
G. Ratner, described the main characteristics of early classicism as the tendency to organize periods and phrases in a regular and well-defined manner, contrasting the typical musical construction of the Baroque era as basso continuo or counterpoint. The language employed by Juan Manuel can be defined as G. Ratner did. His villancicos were composed with regular structure; often returning to the main theme of the piece with longer phrases supporting the voice/s and with parts such recitatives and arias which allowed for a more dramatic and expressive narration of religious or festive texts, enhancing the overall theatricality of the piece. He also incorporated ornamented and elaborated melodies, with virtuosic passages for the voice/s, showcasing their vocal prowess. His Italian influence emphasized dramatic expression in his villancicos; meaning that the music became more emotive and expressive, with heightened dynamics and contrasts to convey the emotional depth of the text.
The instrumental introduction of the tonadilla de escena was a fundamental part of these pieces. It usually consisted of an initial instrumental section preceding the vocal performance, setting the musical and thematic tone for what follows with the singer(s). Instrumental introductions were typically short and could vary in style and composition, often featuring upbeat and catchy tunes. Instruments such as the guitar, lute, or other string and wind instruments were used to create these introductions in the tonadilla de escena, enhancing the theatrical atmosphere and laying the ground work for the development of the piece. This instrumental introduction is found in the villanicos of Gaitán y Arteaga. In the ecclesiastical villancico, the introduction might foreshadow the thematic material of the text, while in the tonadilla, it might set the stage for the comedic or dramatic elements of the piece. In both forms, the introduction typically provided a transition to the vocal sections of the piece. In the Aria Voy buscando mi cordero, the instrumental introduction that gives musical context to the listener. See example (audio and score) below.
Construction of melodics designs by Juan Manuel, are figurations of dotted rhytms, arpeggios on the violins, syncopations, and ornaments at the end of the phrases, typical from the popular music of that time in Spain. This is found abundantly, for example, in the seguidilla (a type of Spanish songs accompanied by dancers in the XVIII century, typical of the old region of Castilla la Nueva, Spain). The taste for details that are observed in the musical writing of a seguidilla is found in Pascual está aquí, where Juan Manuel probably wanted to copy this quality by choosing a measure of 3/4 and 3/8 to achieve the dance and animated character in the piece, although not by using dancers. Mainly with the violins part (see the example video and score below).
Harmony and Rhythm
In the tonadilla de escena the pieces are very light in character, easy to hum and within a harmonic context where predominant tonal schemes are tonic-dominant-tonic or tonic-subdominant-dominant-tonic. Related to tonalities, tonadilla is a genre that stayed in the same tonality due its intention of sharing the message across to the public with lyrics that are easy to learn and without much technical complexity. Strange modulations are avoided, since they only occur to neighbour tonalities. Juan Manuel will stay in the same tonalities in the villancicos analysed in this research, however, after the concert made it on November 2023 at The Hague Conservatory, I could observed that in the piece Cual Salta el Gozo the tonalities will change in the piece to give the listener the expression of sadness, melancholic and intimate music. See the example (video and part of the score, violin I).
Rhythm is one of the most important elements of the tonadilla during the second half of the XVIII century; music with rhythms as sixteenth notes or eight notes with dots and sixteenth notes, which gives the feeling of lightness and dance. It is appreciated in the villancico, Voy buscando mi cordero, where Gaitán y Arteaga would use those mentioned rhythms at the beginning of the aria (see the example below). These type of rhythms, at some point characteristic of the Italian cantata, were also nationalized in Spain during the XVII and XVIII centuries. Also, tonadilla at that time could be linked with some other rhythms as tango, habanera or folias.
In comparison with Jacinto Valledor (see score below), a Spanish composer from XVIII century who composed tonadillas as La españolizada, and with non-ecclesiastic lyrics, I found relation in term of rhythms with Pascual está aquí (see score below). The time signature is 3/8 in both pieces and usually contains several movements such as coplas, seguidillas, tirana or minuet. Gaitán y Arteaga respects the form of tonadillas (estribillo-copla estribillo) when he composed the villancico Pascual está aquí, although usually the introduction of tonadillas form is longer until the singer(s) starts to perform. He composed a small introduction of few bars and the singer, in this case the tenor, will start to sing some bars later. Tonadillas contained parolas (speaking text without any musical accompaniment); in this case and because of religious relation, Juan Manuel will not do that in the piece. Also, Juan Manuel composed Pascual está aquí with rhythm of a dance, which is particularly special because dancers were not allowed in the ecclesiastical music.
Juan Manuel also wrote villancicos for duets, triplets and quartets as in Amor a los hombres or A la lid al arma tocan. It is already mentioned by José Subirá the appearance of these voices’ combinations in the tonadilla, considering the increasing Italian influence and Italian opera.
Text:
Speaking about the text, the XVIII-century in Spain was a period of crisis for traditional ideas. Although certain traditions of baroque literature remained the same, especially in the theatrical field, a literature based on rationalism became popular and the pleasure of the senses are the essential concern of theorists; the mind must be at the service of understanding. Morality and pedagogical action were other important ideas that are very present in the texts of the Christmas carols by Juan Manuel González Gaitán y Arteaga. The verses of Pascual está aquí, Hoy amor a los hombres, or Jardinerito del huerto cerrado are clear examples that offer us lessons in Christian morality.
Spanish:
Hoy amor a los hombres,
promete alivios con el pan que del cielo ha descendido.
Ay, qué alegría, qué regocijo que este pan alimenta las almas en el más peligroso camino.
Gracias instruyen y beneficios, espigas sacras, hermoso trigo.
Ay, qué alegría, qué regocijo que este pan alimenta las almas en el más peligroso camino. Hoy amor a los hombres, promete alivios con el pan que del cielo ha descendido.
Campo fértil el templo, reduce peregrino, espigas misteriosas, con qué amor nos convida más propicio;
Ay, qué alegría, qué regocijo que este pan alimenta las almas en el más peligroso camino. Hoy amor a los hombres, promete alivios con el pan que del cielo ha descendido.
English:
|
Today love for men, |
8.3 Treatment of the different groups of orchestral instruments:
The orchestra gives support to the voice/s in the tonadillas and in the villancico of Gaitán y Arteaga in which the voice/s are the main protagonist as usual in early classicism. With clear functional distinction of the different groups of instruments, that provides a global cohesion to the compositions. See below in the table the instruments used in the tonadilla de escena and Gaitán y Arteaga´s villancicos.
The use of the violins give movement and fluidity to the music, while the wind instruments built the harmonic cushion on which the tonal structure of the compositions were based. Consequently, the basso continuo, normally formed by a double bass, a violone or cello and a continuo instrument, such as a harpsichord or an organ have the cohesive function in the pieces. As an example of is Eternamente triste, where the violins provide the melody from the introduction and support the voices during the piece (see score and audio below). On the other hand, the winds, double bass, violone/cello and harpsichord reinforce the melody with the harmony. In general, the instruments with the greatest melodic flexibility are the violins in this piece, although, when the voice enters, the violins accompany with easy melody (see the table below).
8.4 Tonadilla de escena, as a Spanish identity.
The gallant style prevailed in Spanish theatres and in all the Spanish music during the second half of the XVIII-century. The main route of entry of the gallant style in Spain was Italian music, in which the melody predominates with a simple harmonic accompaniment and a general tendency towards naturalness. In fact, Daniel Heartz, considers that the gallant style comes from the aesthetic changes promoted in Italian music by its search for musical simplification as a reaction against baroque aesthetics. Actually, the composers of tonadillas were well familiar with the gallant style of Italian opera since Spanish composers of tonadillas worked with theatre companies that also staged Italian operas very often transformed into zarzuelas. To cite one of them, Luis Misón (1727-1766), who has traditionally been considered the father of the tonadilla de escena, and was the second oboist of the Royal Sites orchestra playing Italian intermezzi.
Although tonadillas was mainly performed on theatres of the court, in 1762 Juan Manuel Gaitán y Arteaga composed Pascual está aquí, villancico de tonadilla, bringing the tonadilla form into ecclesiastic music with religious text. Not only Gaitán y Arteaga but also before, in 1757, Luis Misón opened a new path bringing this genre to Festividad El Corpus (a Spanish religious festivity) where he composed a duet in tonadilla form called Los pillos.
Juan Manuel was very close to tonadillas in his way of composing with these analysed villancicos and therefore, he knew its compositional resources well. The closest influence for the formation of the basic compositional language of these villancicos had to be the tonadillas and his Italian influence. However, this must not be understood as an indiscriminate assumption of consciously Italian elements, but rather as the use of a compositional language that by then, had already become an international style. Indeed, at that time, the gallant style had become an international style that permeated the music of all European countries. In addition, the search for naturalness and simplicity of the gallant style coming from Italian opera coincides with the very conception of the tonadilla as a genre without special relevant aesthetic pretensions.
As it has already been said, the simplicity is one of the characteristics of the music of Gaitán y Arteaga. He looked for amenity and easy humming melodies, using the gallant style providing a very suitable stylistic framework for these pieces. The presence of popular elements in the villancicos of Juan Manuel are now undeniable, as can be seen in the simplicity of rhythms and melodic lines with guitar figurations in the violins full of vibrant sixteenth notes, triplets, etc. Its structure normally contains three parts; 1) setting up or presentation of the action or characters 2) couplets/estribillo or central body, where the action takes place, and 3) final number. As an example, Jardinerito del Huerto Cerrado or Pascual está aquí.
In the scores of Juan Manuel there are many compositional features that remind us the tonadillas and even with the possibilities of adding a percussion instruments to give more folkloric Spanish taste. The phrases of villancicos are very symmetrical and well-defined construction typical of classicism, and typical of tonadillas. The style correspond to the aesthetic conception of the gallant style, since, for example, the recreation in the details of the figurations of the violins with guitar motifs fits perfectly within the taste for music details typical of the gallant style. The use of popular music in the tonadillas of the second half of the XVIII century can be described as a populist, since these are works made by composers trained in an academic way whom wrote popular music passing it through a fine sieve of the first classicism.
Even though the texts are religious in Juan Manuel´music, he defended the Spanish spirit and the love for the crown as it happened in tonadilla. This characteristic is well define in the recitado (recitative) of Venga el bárbaro Otomano. See lyrics and video below.
Spanish:
La fortuna inconstante rodaba sin parar por un instante. Dando vueltas su rueda nunca supo estar fija y estar queda.
Mas ya España feliz y afortunada en tu dichoso suelo está parada. Tu fe, tu religión, tus sacrificios, tus campos, tus marciales ejercicios.
Con tan grande Patrona eternamente firman tu corona.
English:
|
The fickle fortune rolled without stopping for a moment. Spinning his wheel |
