The melodramatic poetics of the Seicento: beyond the myth of Count Bardi's camerata

Abstract

We analyze the poetics of the 17th century around the birth of opera, trying to clarify their philosophical assumptions. I will show that the key ideas of Mei, Galilei and Bardi, such as the distinction between ancients and moderns, the critique of polyphony versus monody and the subordination of music to poetry, are founded on the distinction between liberal and servile arts. The new idea of realizing a commedia tutta in musica, contrary to what the myth of the camerata, was not relevant and was only introduced ad hoc by Rinuccini and Caccini, followed later by other theorists who hardly questioned the old ideas. Only Pietro della Valle will lay the foundations of a new poetics, closer to the Modern Age than to the Ancient Age.

Keywords

• poetics
• 17th century
• opera
• tragedy
• liberal arts