Music
Often Jewish music’s contemporary reception history leads us to consider Salamone Rossi as the beginner of Jewish music. Salamone himself, as a musician and composer, who as a professional wanted earning his living outside and inside the Jewish community, also desired his audience to comprehend in his compositions of Hebrew style the Jewish music’s beginnings. On one hand, Rossi had a hope that beginnings’ general questions would be reflected in his compositions, what his theological-aesthetic apologists and Rossi himself considered as a fundamental musica antica, Temple’s ancient music, before the diaspora music in Jerusalem. Accumulating at the modernity’s borders, music of Jewish community was a product of negotiating identities and crossing borders. On the other hand, in early modern Italy both non-Jews and Jews perceived new beginnings as bold modern music. If Salamone Rossi was the founder of Jewish music, it had to start in a new fashion. Also, it took place between modern and medieval Europe’s stylistic border region, e.g. in early modernism. The contradictions of his life are laid in such contrasting beginnings, which have been both Jewish and musical. The period of the Renaissance was the time, during which the Jewish nation removed physically and socially, forcing to live in ghettos and having social subordinate status. As the refuge of cultural and relative racial tolerance Salamone lived in Mantua city (Italy), where the Jews could thrive. The Jews were suddenly able to build a synthesis between Jewish community’s secular environment and Hebraic culture. This new ability was testified by Rossi’s music. Being Monteverdi’s contemporary, he created music, which marked transition to early Baroque time from late Renaissance period with innovations in monody and instrumental music. Jewish liturgical music’s polyphonic settings were firstly published and composed by this musician. The uniqueness of this Late Renaissance’s composer consists in that he was able to manage upholding his Jewish heritage, simultaneously maintaining success in secular world of Italy.
Salamone Rossi was born probably in Mantua (Italian city) around 1570. Since 1328 ruling Mantua, important Renaissance’s musical center, the Gonzaga family brought in Italy a lot of best musicians to perform their compositions for family of the King and to create favorable conditions for them for composition of new instrumental and vocal music. Salamone lived almost at that period when was Claudio Monteverdi living, who is considered as one of the most important early Baroque and late Renaissance period’s musicians. Like Claudio, Rossi was working under Vincenzo Gonzaga Duke’s rule at the court of Gonzaga first in a position of violinist and after some time he began to compose. However, unlike Monteverdi, Salamone was forced to appeal to Christian patrons, simultaneously preserving faithfulness to his Jewish religion. Rossi took part in theatrical troupe’s performances of Jewish origin and applying Italian styles wrote motets for synagogues, while for the dukes of Gonzaga he wrote secular Italian music. Rossi’s ability in both religious and secular spheres involvement is in part due largely to Mantua’s political and social environment.
Though there was a high degree of cultural tolerance during the Renaissance, unless the Jews converted to Christian faith or in most cases hid their practice of religious character, in secular world a big number of Jewish people were not able to find success. It is remarkable in many ways that Rossi could unite with his secular life the religious one. There was about 7.5% of Jews in Mantuan population, which was regarded as one of the most tolerant cities in Italian territory that allowed the Jewish community suddenly to be affected by a big diversity of humanistic, artistic and literary trends of that period, and that also allowed them to intermix with other cultures and people (non-Jews). Setting to the most
fashionable modern poetry his vocal secular music, Rossi was among the first, who composed to Manneristic poetry an interesting music. By him were also composed forty eight madrigals, which were set to Giambattista Marino’s work, who because of his extravagant images has been well known among Italian poets. There was seemed that Rossi integrated himself fully into Italian secular style of life. To Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga were dedicated most of Rossi’s works and eventually within the Court of Mantua he had such reputation and respect that it was not obligatory for him to wear yellow badge, the thing which was mandatory to wear for all Jews. For the Mantuan court’s vantage point, Salamone Rossi was another successful composer and court musician rather than subordinate social group’s member. While working for the family of Gonzaga and royal family, actual music composed by Rossi is fully separable from his heritage.
In the historical context of Jewish people and outside it this person has been an outstanding musical figure by his publications and works. During his life numerous times have been reprinted his publications, which have been popular enough, and music’s impressive amount were composed this genius. Around one hundred and thirty instrumental works and Italian one hundred forty four vocal works have been published by him. Being late Renaissance’s composer and secular gifted composer, Rossi was among musicians, who developed and changed the styles that were finally characteristic to period of Baroque. His early publications have been collection of madrigals and of nineteen dance-like short canzonettes, typical to music of late Renaissance with amorous style and with light style. In subject matter much more serious were his later madrigals and there was showed that monody’s idea was begun to be grasped by Rossi, wherein was dominant one vocal line, which in period of Baroque era was further developed. Also, Rossi was one of the first musicians, who applied to monody’s principle an instrumental musical, and, who by utilization of basso continuo ( Baroque era’s another major innovation) was the fist publisher on record of trio sonatas.
Salamone Rossi’s Jewishness of music can not be regarded only as a theological or aesthetic question, but also as a historiographic question. As Europe’s early modern phenomena his Jewishness determined the way his music and the composer himself were involved in history of Jewish people. Rossi’s works and life lend themselves completely to historiographical borders between modern and medieval Europe. The traits of both second and first practices and even their combination are displayed in his works. The sharp distinctions are laid bare between later and earlier styles in a number of his compositions, while in other compositions are unraveled the ways, he was wrestled with change. Written for the synagogue polyphonic works are treated in ways not similar to Roman prevailing liturgical rite, but they are primarily of Hebrew text. For multiple voices Rossi did not want violating theological Jewish injunctions, as he attempted to create vocal texture for his compositions. Catholic church intended debates and criticism against his surrounding musical solutions of textual and Jewish problems, which had an echo in most of his surrounding works. By seventeenth century’s beginning, the gulf between Christian and Jewish music has been narrowing, in such manner that across that gulf an exchange can be considered as more common rather with exceptions that was revealed in his synagogal Jewish compositions. In conscious historicism grounding his creations and innovations, Rossi considered himself as a musician, who recuperated Jewish music of ancient times. In compositional techniques of his solutions he has revealed that they were of second practice e.g. by no means the Jewish music was isolated from early modern Europe’s aesthetic debates.
As a secular composer Rossi’s success has not allowed him fully assimilating into world dominated by Christians; the word “Hebreo” was appended proudly to his name as he practiced the Jewish religion and had deep ties and relations with Jewish community. However, his musical relations with his national consciousness has been complicated
because European music’s all types (from instrumental music to Canzonettes and Madrigals) has surrounded him during his work at the Mantuan court when in Italian contemporary styles the polyphonic music was composed by Rossi. These genres had very much an impact on him and in his liturgical Jewish music compositions the secular Italian music styles have been borrowed, even styles of sacred Christian music. While the church music evolved during a number of centuries, in the synagogue the music remained modal, rhythmically free, monophonic and semi-improvisatory. To ancient music was introduced a radical change firstly by Salamone Rossi. His liturgical synagogue music’s settings have been rhythmically more strict and polyphonic and bore to synagogue’s traditional music of the modes from Middle East a little resemblance, though they were not fully tonal. In 1623 liturgical Jewish music was published by Salamone Rossi in a collection under the name of Solomon’s Songs. It was first Jewish sacred music’ polyphonic setting, which was ever published. For different reasons all collections of Rossi have been interesting, however, “The Songs of Solomon” is unique because of its setting to Hebrew texts, that is historical significance is lended in it. These songs have a multipartite introduction of complexity and length that can be rarely encountered in seventeenth and sixteenth centuries musical sacred repertory - all these thing stand out them. In effect, these songs are the composition of music and apologetics, in which have been addressed various liturgical, religious, social, literary and historical problems, which directly bear on musical content in the introduction.
Intentionally for Rossi, “The Songs of Solomon” surely drew attention to the frontier between the sacred and secular. While remaining loyal to the old publication, the songs’ publication was new. For negotiating of the sacred and secular divide, Rossi was very attentive to selection of the biblical Songs of Solomon. On one hand, these songs can be surely considered as the most secular collection of music from the Bible; there are a number of secular and sacred love’s mix metaphors. It seems that Rossi has chosen the title of the songs collection from Bible that it refers to biblical authority, but there should also be regarded author’s own voice: Salamone’s songs instead of songs of Solomon. In performances of both non-Jews and Jews the multiple functions are possessed in individual songs, affording them paraliturgical and liturgical possibilities. Within the liturgy multiple spaces are effectively invented in Solomon’s Songs. Among the Jews the reaction to this sacred work was divided between conservative Jews, believing that various artful and polyphonic music was not permitted in their traditions after temple’s destruction, and modern Jews, supporting his innovations under the influence of the Italian Renaissance. Instead of not Jewish neighbors emulation many rabbis thought that unique religious and cultural identity should be maintained by Jewish people. The polyphony was defended by Rossi simply by the fact that most current and beautiful melodies should be written to glorify God. Actually there are drastical differences between his former composed music and these songs though from that period’s polyphonic sacred music the sounding of the pieces is almost distinguishable. Distances are kept between his composed actual sacred music and that sacred music, which had an influence on him. Unlike Rossi’s vocal Italian songs, being in the duple meter, the pieces apply mixed meters and have an adherence to strict ensemble. The simplicity of this sacred music consists in that in Mantua Jewish musical literacy is hardly determined. Thus, producing “Songs of Solomon” as an extensive Hebrew work was the success for Salamone Rossi, as he was able to integrate religious themes with other secular innovations.
Bibliography
Philip Bohlman. Jewish Music and Modernity. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Hali Engelman. Salamone Rossi: The Jewish Musician of the Renaissance. Oxford University Press, 2012.
Marsha Bryan Edelman. Discovering Jewish Music. Jewish Publication Society, 2003.
Joshua R. Jacobson. Defending Salamone Rossi: The Transformation and Justification of Jewish Music in Renaissance Italy. Yale University Press, 2008.
Don Harrán. Salamone Rossi: Jewish Musician in Late Renaissance Mantua. Oxford University Press, 1999.
