ORPHEUS: THE SYMBOL OF A NEW MUSIC ERA

The purpose of the article is to analyse the philosophical and aesthetical processes, which at the beginning of Modern Times had led to the formation of new musical-aesthetical paradigm, thereby changing the world of music and resulting in creating of the emotionally colored music as we know it. This belated Renaissance in music is inextricably linked to the emergence of opera and to the reconstructions of the antique musical-aesthetical philosophical ideas, attitudes and values in Northern Italy at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. One of the first scholars who appealed to the long-abandoned ancient Greek philosophical doctrine of ethos was Nicola Vicentino (1511-1572). In his magnum opus L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (1555) he insisted that music should be connected to the lyrics (i.e. to the passions and ideas contained in it). The same position defended Girolamo Mei (1519-1594), who clearly states on it in his multiple letters to Vincenzo Galilei (1520-1591). Vincenzo Galilei, in turn, was the mastermind and inspirer of famous Florentine Camerata (also known as Camerata de’ Bardi) – the club of thinkers, poets and composers, which was founded in 1573 in order to put into practice ancient Greek musical aesthetical principles. The most famous members of Camerata – Giulio Caccini, Jacopo Peri, Vincenzo Galilei, Giovanni Battista Doni, Ottavio Rinuccini, Piero Strozzi. Of course, the most visible result of the activity of Camerata was creating the first works of dramma per musica – “Dafne” (1598), “Euridice” (1600) by Jacopo Peri and “Euridice” (1602) by Giulio Caccini. But the most important and widely disseminated at the time experimenting in the field of new musical art was concentrated in the genre of madrigal. Due to such activity at the late XVI – early XVII centuries arises new musical-aesthetical paradigm, which on the external level has revealed itself in emerging of the new, mostly homophonic representative stile (stile rappresentativo) as opposition to the old polyphonic stile (stile antico, stile grave, stile osservato). In this new representative style musical content is subordinate to lyrics. Most clearly the switch of musical-aesthetical paradigm was manifested in the MonteverdiArtusi controversy between the greatest composer of the time Claudio Monteverdi and the scholar Giovanni Artusi, who was criticizing new music. Monteverdi, as an apologist of a new musicalaesthetical principles described his famous concept of Seconda pratica (the Second Practice) in the following texts: Afterword for the 5th Book of Madrigals (1605), Forward for the 8th Book of Madrigals, The Letters to Unknown, 22 October 1633 and 2 February 1634. But the most complete statement of his ideas can be found in Dichiarazione of his brother Giulio Monteverdi, which was published in the collection of pieces Scherzi musicali by Claudio Monteverdi (1607). As the result of such philosophical and practical activity at the late XVI – early XVII centuries, the emotionally neutral consonant church polyphony was replaced by new affective musical material based not on the perfect ratios and proportions, but on the affect as a reflection of the human nature. The article focused on the reflection of this transitional period in the history of music, which conditionally ends with the creation of the first-ever true musical drama – “L’Orfeo” by Claudio Monteverdi (1607).