263:
24:
40:
357:
274:"Festival books", produced as souvenirs of lavish festivities, contain detailed descriptions of many important intermedi, such as those for the Medici wedding of 1589, for which 286 costumes were made. Although music written specially for this occasion survives (see discography below), this is usually not the case, and music written for other occasions, for example
294:, or any combination of these. There was invariably a political message, even if this was limited to general glorification of the ruling family; at times more specific messages were intended. Some thematic connection with the main play might be made, though intermedii could be repeated with different plays from the one they were written for.
193:
As the intermedio developed in the 16th century, it grew more and more elaborate, often becoming a "play within a play"; for example during a five-act play, an intermedio would consist of four parts, which might be presented as a four-part metaphor of time passing in the play. This stage begins with
381:
In 1539 most of the pieces are in four and five parts so much of this music is suitable for domestic playing. The 1589 music is very different being largely big set pieces for 6, 12, 18 or even 30 parts; 41 instrumentalists were required in all, some hidden around the stage as there was not room for
210:
in 1539, where the four parts were morning, noon, afternoon, and night, represented with an elaborate mechanical artificial sun, with singing and dancing appropriate to each time. Some critics of the time noted that the intermedi had become so elaborate that the play had begun to serve as intermedi
232:
behind which receded ranks of side wings, the vista closed by a back-shutter." Eventually the form acquired a tradition and cohesiveness that allowed it to stand on its own, and it was thus a logical development to combine the existing features with sung, acted parts, and be absorbed into the new
139:
Intermedi were written and performed from the late 15th century through the 17th century, although the peak of development of the genre was in the late 16th century. After 1600 the form merged with opera, for the most part, though intermedi continued to be used in non-musical plays in certain
313:". The actual content in terms of staging, music, instrumentation, presence of singers, actors, dancers, or mime was highly variable throughout the period, and sometimes all of these features were present. The 1589 intermedi were performed in the recently completed theatre in the
219:
Originally intermedi had used the sets already on the stage from the main play, typically fairly simple ones for a comedy, with a few extra pieces, but later they had their own sets, which a mythological subject required to be more elaborate.
317:
before an audience of about three thousand, and three further performances were given some days after the end of the wedding festivities. Further significant sets of Medici intermedi were produced for the weddings in 1600 of
228:: "the designs for the 1589 intermezzi are crucial, for they are the earliest mass-disseminated illustrations of what became a norm throughout Europe for theatrical visual experience for the next three hundred years, the
224:'s production for yet another Medici wedding in 1565 "embodied stupendous advances in engineering technique" with all the elaborate movements of scenery done without a curtain in full view of the audience. According to
409:
Classical humanist dramatic theory says a play should have action taking place during one entire day. These intermedi do not follow what were believed to be the classical instructions, having an overture item,
826:, Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra and Collegium Vocale Gent conducted by Skip Sempe, singers: Dorothée Leclair, Soprano / Monika Mauch, Soprano / Pascal Bertin, Alto / Stephan van Dyck, Tenor /
262:
125:
454:
in
England also had many similarities to the intermedio, although it did not originate as a "filler" between acts in a play in the same way. The later 18th century
775:, Centro de Musique Ancienne di Genevra / Studio di Musica Rinascimentale di Palermo / Schola "Jacopo da Bologna", conducted by Gabriel Garrido, (TACTUS TC 500301).
773:
Firenze 1539 - Musiche fatte nelle nozze dello illustrissimo duca di
Firenze il signor Cosimo de Medici et della illustrissima consorte sua mad. Leonora da Tolletto
327:
172:, "a remark destined to be often repeated". Ferrara intermezzi at this period were short and without a unifying theme; they included choruses, recitations and
203:
23:
447:
128:), which featured what was undoubtedly both the most spectacular set of intermedi, and the best known, thanks to no fewer than 18 contemporary published
406:
which were sung at the banquet in 1539 which of course are not intermedi). This means we have surviving descriptions of precise instrumentation.
39:
335:
190:
in the early 16th century, and the returning Medici adopted a policy of keeping the aristocracy occupied by involving them in productions.
251:, the first opera, was one of the composers, and almost certainly performers, in the 1589 Medici intermezzi, and the librettist for both,
301:
and descriptions of the music and action; the 1589 Medici intermezzi were especially well recorded, and "were to be the fount of
Italian
853:
356:
873:
718:
701:
681:
663:
649:
636:
458:
in opera showed a reversal of the
Renaissance scheme; now a single short comic intermezzo was inserted between the acts of a heroic
108:. Weddings in ruling families and similar state occasions were the usual occasion for the most lavish intermedi, in cities such as
182:, explained at the end. It was for Florentine public celebrations that Intermedii came into their own; several were organised by
607:
868:
863:
858:
537:
843:
746:
553:
505:
266:
Another of the 1589 intermedi; 6th intermedio: Apollo and
Bacchus descend, accompanied by Harmony, Rhythm, the
827:
305:
scenography as well as influencing the development of the stage north of the Alps, above all the Stuart court
443:
806:
La
Pellegrina - Music for the Wedding of Ferdinando De Medici and Christine de Lorraine, Princess of France
278:
and instrumental pieces, was often used in intermedi. The subject matter of the intermedio was usually a
338:. However the 1600 celebrations also included a portent of things to come in the form of performances of
787:
Tage alter Musik in Herne 2001: Allianzen - Musik und
Politik in Werken vom Mittelalter bis zur Romantik
121:
187:
28:
140:
settings (for example in academies), and also continued to be performed between the acts of operas.
369:
323:
85:
319:
165:
714:
697:
677:
659:
645:
632:
374:
252:
207:
93:
89:
31:
for the third intermedio from the 1589 Medici wedding: Apollo defeats the monster terrorizing
17:
403:
275:
133:
56:
759:
96:, which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian
731:
541:
344:
238:
229:
161:
117:
848:
809:
800:
La
Pellegrina - Music for the Wedding of Ferdinando De Medici and Christine de Lorraine
387:
152:
at the end of the 15th century between the five acts of plays by the classical authors
43:
Another of the 1589 intermedi: number 4: the demons lament that with the coming of the
837:
813:
689:
669:
314:
129:
297:
Numerous drawings and engravings of the stage sets survive, as well as texts of the
419:
439:
442:; it was more reliant on dance than the Italian version. The French court under
459:
339:
310:
287:
242:
183:
97:
706:
644:, ed. Don Randel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1986.
455:
423:
398:
364:
Of the various intermedi that were performed, only the music to some parts of
225:
44:
747:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080419100949/http://www.alfredston-music.co.uk/
534:
279:
438:
The similar form which developed in France at the same time was called the
604:
Sixteenth-century instrumentation: the music for the
Florentine intermedii
116:. Some of the best documentation of intermedi comes from weddings of the
762:, complete 1539 music in modern performing edition, with additions (2017)
631:, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
331:
298:
283:
267:
199:
179:
109:
382:
them all in one place. Smaller scale pieces are often difficult florid
415:
302:
174:
157:
153:
149:
113:
686:
James Saslow, The Medici
Wedding of 1589, Yale University Press, 1996
615:"Europa Triumphans": Court and Civic Festivals in Early Modern Europe
451:
383:
306:
259:
some of the material from the 1589 Delos scene (illustrated at top).
234:
221:
105:
613:
J.R. Mulryne, Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly and Margaret Shewring (eds.),
360:
Another of the 1589 intermedi: number 1: Harmony descends to earth
355:
291:
261:
247:
101:
38:
32:
22:
790:
450:– Catherine's granddaughter was the Medici bride in 1589. The
830:, Tenor / Antoni Fajardo, Bass. (2 CDs Paradizo PA0004 - 2007)
414:, and a night time ending for tenor voice accompanied by four
233:
artform of opera, which also drew from the traditions of
104:, and an influence on other forms like the English court
789:. Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln / Tage alter Musik Herne,
168:
said that they were more interesting than the boring
802:, Florence 1589, conducted by Andrew Parrot, (EMI).
148:The first intermedii were not in Florence but in
88:, was a theatrical performance or spectacle with
396:Of the surviving intermedi only two numbers were
120:, in particular the 1589 Medici wedding (between
160:. Writing of the "intermezzi" at the wedding of
745:, (Modern playing edition of 1539 Intermedio),
629:The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
711:Art and Power; Renaissance Festivals 1450-1650
656:Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and Baroque
654:Reed, Sue Welsh & Wallace, Richard (eds),
617:, (Aldershot and Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2004)
368:(1539) and, through a 1591 printed edition by
348:, the earliest surviving example of the form.
126:Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
100:. It was one of the important precursors to
8:
676:. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.
741:Martin Grayson, George and Rosemary Bate,
622:Theatre Festivals of the Medicis 1539-1637
573:liner noters to Sempé, "La Pellegrina", 30
448:court festivities of increasing lavishness
186:when he was part of the government of the
178:dances. But by 1513 there was a unifying
785:Bremen, conducted by Manfred Cordes, in:
754:Musique des Intermedes de "La Pellegrina"
554:British Library festival book online text
756:, (CNRS, Paris), (1963, reprinted 1986).
760:Edward Lambert, "A Wedding in Florence"
471:
290:, by costumed singers or actors, or by
47:there will be no more souls to torment.
820:(Sony/Columbia - 63362, 1998). 2 CDs.
597:Emilio De' Cavalieri Gentiluomo Romano
136:that were financed by the Grand Duke.
658:, 1989, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
55:
7:
642:The New Harvard Dictionary of Music
378:(1589) are known to have survived.
812:, singers: Katelijne Van Laethem,
14:
795:Only the intermedii by Corteccia.
779:Ein Hochzeitsfest in Florenz 1539
608:American Institute of Musicology
372:, an almost complete version of
824:La Pellegrina - Intermedii 1589
738:, (Univ. Missouri Press, 1968).
808:, Florence 1589, conducted by
791:http://www.tage-alter-musik.de
590:References and further reading
544:, showing several of the sets.
286:story, which could be told in
1:
352:Music of the Medici intermedi
198:, from the Medici wedding in
255:, seems to have recycled in
736:A Renaissance Entertainment
434:Similar forms outside Italy
890:
854:European court festivities
743:Music for a Medici Wedding
713:, 1984, The Boydell Press;
336:Maria Magdalena of Austria
15:
874:Italian words and phrases
696:, 1967, Pelican, London,
627:Article "Intermedio", in
674:Music in the Renaissance
478:Reed & Wallace:205-7
428:Baccho, Baccho, E U O E
869:Classical music styles
582:Grout and Williams, 27
361:
326:, and then in 1608 of
271:
57:[interˈmɛːdjo]
48:
36:
828:Jean-François Novelli
725:Editions of the music
359:
265:
122:Christina of Lorraine
42:
26:
864:17th-century theatre
859:16th-century theatre
730:Andrew C. Minor and
602:Howard Mayer Brown,
506:Festival Book online
444:Catherine de' Medici
402:, (not counting the
328:Grand Duke Cosimo II
188:Republic of Florence
29:Bernardo Buontalenti
27:Setting designed by
599:, (Florence, 2001).
595:Warren Kirkendale,
535:Album of engravings
412:Vattene almo riposo
370:Cristofano Malvezzi
270:, Flora and others.
86:Italian Renaissance
540:2011-07-17 at the
362:
320:Henry IV of France
272:
245:, the composer of
211:to the intermedi.
49:
37:
16:For the film, see
844:Renaissance music
783:Weser-Renaissance
446:was also staging
253:Ottavio Rinuccini
215:Mature intermedio
208:Eleanor of Toledo
18:Intermedio (film)
881:
583:
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324:Marie de' Medici
59:
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834:
833:
769:
732:Bonner Mitchell
727:
624:, 1964, Yale UP
592:
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548:
542:Wayback Machine
533:
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524:
520:
515:
511:
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486:
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239:madrigal comedy
230:proscenium arch
217:
166:Isabella d'Este
162:Lucrezia Borgia
146:
118:House of Medici
21:
12:
11:
5:
887:
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810:Paul Van Nevel
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752:D. P. Walker,
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690:Shearman, John
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620:Alois Nagler,
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130:festival books
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814:Pascal Bertin
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719:0-85115-200-7
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702:0-14-020808-9
699:
695:
691:
688:
685:
683:
682:0-393-09530-4
679:
675:
671:
670:Gustave Reese
668:
666:or 304-4 (pb)
665:
664:0-87846-306-2
661:
657:
653:
651:
650:0-674-61525-5
647:
643:
640:
638:
637:1-56159-174-2
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496:Shearman, 105
493:
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487:Shearman, 105
484:
481:
475:
472:
465:
463:
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457:
453:
449:
445:
441:
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431:
429:
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421:
418:and an extra
417:
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389:
385:
379:
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376:
375:La Pellegrina
371:
367:
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329:
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316:
315:Uffizi Palace
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25:
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655:
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578:
569:
560:
549:
530:
521:
516:Strong:134-6
512:
501:
492:
483:
474:
437:
427:
411:
408:
397:
395:
390:
380:
373:
365:
363:
343:
309:designed by
296:
280:mythological
273:
268:Three Graces
256:
246:
218:
195:
192:
173:
169:
147:
138:
132:and sets of
81:
77:
73:
69:
65:
61:
52:
50:
767:Discography
460:opera seria
340:Jacopo Peri
311:Inigo Jones
243:Jacopo Peri
184:Machiavelli
144:Development
838:Categories
707:Roy Strong
564:Strong:136
525:Strong:140
466:References
456:intermezzo
424:bacchanale
399:a cappella
366:Il commodo
334:princess,
226:Roy Strong
196:Il commodo
92:and often
84:), in the
82:intermedii
78:intermezzo
66:introdutto
62:intromessa
53:intermedio
45:Golden Age
694:Mannerism
440:intermède
404:madrigals
393:variety.
391:new music
342:'s opera
276:madrigals
164:in 1502,
793:(2001).
610:, 1973).
538:Archived
416:sackbuts
345:Euridice
332:Habsburg
299:libretti
284:pastoral
204:Cosimo I
200:Florence
180:allegory
170:commedia
110:Florence
74:tramezzo
70:tramessa
749:(1994).
388:Caccini
386:of the
307:masques
303:baroque
175:moresca
158:Terence
154:Plautus
150:Ferrara
114:Ferrara
818:et al.
717:
700:
680:
662:
648:
635:
452:masque
384:monody
330:and a
235:monody
222:Vasari
134:prints
106:masque
98:courts
60:(also
849:Drama
292:dance
257:Dafne
248:Dafne
102:opera
94:dance
90:music
33:Delos
715:ISBN
698:ISBN
678:ISBN
660:ISBN
646:ISBN
633:ISBN
422:the
420:coda
322:and
288:mime
237:and
206:and
156:and
124:and
112:and
51:The
606:, (
282:or
202:of
840::
816:,
781:,
734:,
709:;
692:.
672:,
462:.
430:.
426:,
241:.
80:,
76:,
72:,
68:,
64:,
35:.
20:.
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