Cavalli, Francesco (EN)

Cavalli Pier Francesco, born P.F. Caletti Bruni, *14 February 1602 Crema (near Milan), †14 January 1676 Venice, Italian composer, organist and singer (tenor). He was first taught music by his father, Giovanni Battista Caletti, a composer (author of the published collection Madrigali a cinque voci… libro primo, Venice 1604) and maestro di cappella in Crema. Francesco’s beautiful voice caught the attention of Federico Cavalli, a Venetian aristocrat who was staying in Crema on behalf of the Venetian Republic from 1614 to 1616. F. Cavalli took the 14-year-old Francesco under his care. The boy left Crema in March 1616, and in December of that year he was admitted to the choir of Basilica of S Marco in Venice. The basilica’s maestro di cappella at the time was C. Monteverdi, though it is not known who was Francesco’s music teacher in Venice (singing, organ, principles of musical composition). As early as 18 May 1620, Francesco Caletti, who had taken the surname of his guardian, Cavalli, was employed as organist at the church of SS Giovanni e Paolo; on 4 December 1630, he was dismissed from this post (due to financial difficulties resulting from the plague of 1628–1629). Cavalli was probably also a singer at S Marco (he is mentioned in its records from 1627 and 1635). In 1639, following the death of the basilica’s second organist, G.P. Berti, Cavalli took over his duties (prevailing in a competition against N. Fontei, N. Monferrato and G. Arigoni in the competition). Around 1645, he became the principal organist. During this period, Cavalli worked closely with C. Monteverdi, and from 1643 with his successor, G. Rovetta; following the latter’s death, he took up the post of maestro di cappella at S Marco, a position he held until the end of his life. In 1646, he was briefly employed as organist at the church of S Caterina. In January 1630, he married Maria Sosomeno, the wealthy widow of A. Schiavini; his skilful management of her estate secured him complete financial independence.

In addition to his regular duties, Cavalli was actively involved in the city’s musical life as both a performer and an organiser; it is known, for example, that in 1627 he performed as a singer at celebrations at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, and in 1637 he organised the musical programme for the Pentecost celebrations at the Church of S Spirito. Particularly significant is his work in the field of theatre. Cavalli was part of a group (F. Ugo – singer, G.B. Bisucci – singer, O. Persiani – librettist, G.B. Balbi – ballet master) which, at the end of 1638, undertook the organisation of in musica performances at the Teatro S Cassiano; Cavalli was the chief administrator of this theatre until 1644, whilst in 1642 he co-administered the Teatro S Moisè. In subsequent years, he limited his collaboration with Venetian theatres to the role of composer (which involved preparing the performers and conducting during performances).

During the 1639 carnival season, the first dramma per musica featuring music by Cavalli – Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo – was staged. By 1650, he had composed 12 works, including six set to librettos by G. Faustini. Il Giasone, premiered at the Teatro S Cassiano in 1649, was a great success; it was subsequently staged throughout almost all of Italy, from Naples to Milan, and probably also outside Italy (Vienna) until almost the end of the century (29 documented performances). The following year, L’Orimonte, staged at the Teatro S Cassiano, received a very cool reception, most likely due to the unsuccessful text by N. Minato (which authorship he himself later refused to acknowledge). In the following years, however, Cavalli resumed his collaboration with Minato, which resulted in works no less successful than Il Giasone, such as Il Serse (1654). It has not yet been established whether it was Cavalli who directed the production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, a work revived in 1646 at the Teatro di SS Giovanni e Paolo.

The 1650s marked the peak of Cavalli’s career as a dramatic composer. The world premiere of Cavalli’s dramma per musica took place outside Venice for the first time in 1652, in Naples (Veremonda), and the following year in Milan at the Teatro Reggio (L’Orione). At the same time, Cavalli began a collaboration lasting several years with the then-greatest Venetian theatre, SS Giovanni e Paolo, staging there, among others, Veremonda (1653) and Il Serse (1654). In 1654, he composed L’Ipermestra for the Florentine Teatro degli Immobili, which was staged in 1658. In 1658, he also signed a three-year contract with Marco Faustini (Giovanni’s brother), the impresario of the Teatro S Cassiano; this guaranteed him exclusive collaboration, with the undertaking to compose the music and stage one production each season. Cavalli did not fulfil the contract, as in 1659 he received a commission from the French court to compose and conduct a dramma per musica for the wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain. This offer testifies to the fame Cavalli already enjoyed in Europe. He did not arrive in Paris (visiting Munich and, in all likelihood, Innsbruck on the way) until July 1660, after Louis XIV’s wedding. As part of the ongoing celebrations, the Venetian opera Il Serse was revived, which Cavalli had to adapt to French tastes: the work was divided, in accordance with the prevailing classical aesthetic, into five acts; the title role was changed from soprano to baritone; and, above all, extensive ballet sections composed by G.B. Lully were included, and these were the main source of the opera’s success; largely due to the audience’s inability to understand the text (which was sung in Italian), received a cool reception. The work, composed especially for the royal wedding, Ercole amante, was not staged until 1662 (the delay was caused, among other things, by the death of Cavalli’s patron, Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661); it was also conceived in accordance with French tastes: featuring large ensemble passages, elaborate instrumental sections, and 18 entrées de ballet (composed by Lully). The makeshift theatre’s poor acoustics and the audience’s unfamiliarity with this type of work led to its failure; once again, only the ballet sections were well received. Discouraged, Cavalli returned to Venice as early as August 1662 – determined to abandon his work on theatre music. The following year, however, he took up this activity again, composing Scipione Affricano for the 1664 carnival season at the Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo, run by M. Faustini, and, for the next two seasons, Mutio Scevola and Pompeo Magno for the Grimani’s S Salvatore theatre. These were Cavalli’s last dramatic works to be staged in Venice. Under a contract signed with M. Faustini in 1667, Cavalli was preparing Eliogabalo for the 1668 carnival; however, before the season began, Faustini left the Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo, and Cavalli withdrew the score of the work, which was never performed [in its original form]. Il Coriolano was staged during court festivities in Piacenza in 1669. Massenzio, Cavalli’s final dramma per musica, which was to be staged at the S Salvatore theatre in 1673, was withdrawn during rehearsals as it no longer suited Venetian tastes.

The origins of the Venetian opera school are inextricably linked to the work of Cavalli. This is not only because not a single score has survived from the output of composers who co-shaped this school, such as F. Manelli, B. Ferrari, and F. Sacrati, nor only because Cavalli’s dramatic works have survived almost in their entirety to the present day (28 scores out of 33 he composed), but above all because of the composer’s outstanding talent, which found its fullest expression in this genre. Cavalli composed his first dramma per musica at the age of 37, and thus as a fully mature composer. Upon embarking on his work in the field of dramatic music, he captured its distinctive nature in his very first work; there is no period of trial and error in his work, even though his output in this genre undergoes distinct transformations.

The primary form of expression in Cavalli’s dramatic music is the solo singing; it is dominated by recitative, though it differs significantly from the Florentine style. The basic model remains the intonation of spoken dialogue, but it is shaped towards a more melodic recitative far more frequently than in the Florentine or Roman schools; the character of this recitative is closely linked to the dramatic structure: the characteristics of the protagonist, the situation, or the expression of a specific emotion; hence Cavalli often introduced passages of several bars with strict rhythmic patterns (thus undermining recitation based on natural intonation) or even passages in odd metre into the flow of recitative based on a sustained bass. This variability of recitative is one of the most characteristic features of Cavalli’s compositional technique. For expressive purposes, he also introduced recitativo accompagnato; string instruments usually appear in the recitative at moments of particularly dramatic tension (e.g. L’Eritrea, Act 3, Scene 10).

Alongside recitatives, Cavalli employed a variety of arias, some of which – depending on the dramatic situation – are melodically indistinguishable from recitatives. This is particularly true of the strophic variation found in all of his drammi per musica. It is built around two stanzas of text; the vocal melodics has a recitative character and is adorned with slight ornamentation, with a ritornello following each stanza. The arial treatment of such a stanza is determined by the basso continuo line, which is repeated exactly in the second stanza.

In the late 1640s and 1650s a clear tendency to separate lyrical passages from recitative passages is evident in Cavalli’s work, although the aforementioned practice of incorporating short passages with a rhythmic basso continuo or even passages in odd metres into the recitative remained present in his later works. In the lyrical passages, stricter ternary forms were developed, such as ABA and ABB forms, with the ABA later evolving into the da capo aria form. Originally, the composer constructed both types based on a single stanza of text, in which the first two or (less frequently) the last two lines were repeated at the end. Over time, the number of repeated lines increased, creating highly elaborate structures (e.g. the aria O care effigi from L’Erismena with the ABCCA structure). A highly effective dramatic device was the recomposed aria, which was usually used to express a gradual build-up of emotion or to depict the inner turmoil of a character torn by conflicting feelings. Arias of this type appear with increasing frequency in works composed after 1650 (e.g. La Rosinda, Act 2, Scene 10) and can be traced back to those emotionally charged recitatives sung with a rhythmic bass. Cavalli composed arias of this type in both 3/2 time and even metre. In J. Glover’s view the choice of metre was also a deliberate interpretative choice here.

Lamentations and expressions of grief are characteristic of dramma per musica, including in Cavalli’s works, where they are presented in the form of a monologue; several such instances are found in every work of this type. In Cavalli’s works, such a monologue is always an aria in an odd metre, often accompanied by a string ensemble; just as frequently, the composer introduces an ostinato bass, typically in the descending diatonic or chromatic form, either within an octave or a tetrachord. One of the most famous arias of this type is Climena’s lamentations from L’Egista (Act 3, Scene 6), Piangete occhi dolenti, in which the chromatic bass line is repeated 19 times. The contrast between the highly expressive melodic line of the vocal part and the schematically treated austere ostinato line intensifies the dramatic tension. The frequent use of dissonances is also characteristic of lament arias. In the dialogues, which occur far less frequently than monologues, Cavalli sometimes introduces a strophic aria whose verses are sung alternately by the different characters; occasionally, the dialogue text is performed by two voices in alternation, in the manner of a continuous recitative. More often, however, he employs technical musical devices to differentiate between the speakers or to characterise them. This characterizing function also appears in duets (e.g. L’Oristeo, Act 1, Scene 7), where long note values and the introduction of dissonances in Corinta’s part, contrasted with Oristeo’s more lyrical and coloratura melodic line, convey the difference in feelings between the partners. Similar practices can be observed in Scipione Affricano (Act 3, Scene 4), in Elena rapita da Teseo (Act 2, Scene 6) and in La Rosinda (Act 3, Scene 11), whilst in Eliogabalo (Act 1, Scene 1) a trio is constructed in this manner. Ensembles larger than duets appear only exceptionally and solely in the conclusion of the entire work.

It is characteristic that in his early drammi per musica, Cavalli often included – in keeping with the conventions of the genre – several different choruses. In the 1650s, the chorus disappears entirely from his dramatic music, appearing only in works commissioned by centres outside Venice (L’Ipermestra for Florence, Ercole amante for Paris); apart from these, only Il Serse and Elena rapita da Teseo feature brief choral passages. In contrast, in Cavalli’s later compositions of this kind, choruses reappear, though in a very modest musical setting, as their role on stage is primarily visual.

In Cavalli’s works, instrumental passages occur in strictly defined situations: these are primarily sinfonias, performed before the beginning of the performance and before individual acts, and ritornelli, usually inserted between the verses of an aria; occasionally there are also fanfare-like passages of a few bars, repeated several times, known as chiamata, or passages intended for dancing. Cavalli’s surviving sinfonias, performed before the play begins, are most often in two movements – the first is fast, in an even or odd metre, followed by a slow movement, often in 4/2 time. Sometimes the melodics of the second movement is derived from the first, as in a pair of dances; however, the second movement need not necessarily be in an odd time signature (e.g. La Rosinda). Ritornelli are not usually melodically related to the strophe. Sometimes Cavalli introduces short instrumental passages or, even less frequently, fanfares or toccatas, which are not written out in the score but are indicated by a verbal annotation. Cavalli’s orchestra is a small ensemble. In the surviving scores, the instrumental passages are laid out in three, four or five parts. As five-part texture clearly predominates until 1649, in the 1650s – three-part, and from 1662 five-part again, it is assumed that the size of the theatre for which Cavalli wrote these works (all the dramas – with the exception of La Calisto – for the smallest theatre, S Apollinare, have three instrumental parts) and the number of characters on stage: from 28 in Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo, through 10–12 in the drammi per musica of the 1650s, to a slightly larger cast in later years, though multiplied on stage by large groups of supernumerary performers. Cavalli’s orchestra consists mainly of one-part string section, whilst the basso continuo is performed on 2 or 3 harpsichords and 2 theorboes; occasionally, the composer also introduced trumpets, the use of which was sometimes indicated only by a verbal annotation (e.g. in Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo: “La Fama suona la tromba dipoi da principio al canto”). The score also contains annotations regarding the use of horns and tambourines.

In the Venetian drammi per musica of the thirty-year period in which Cavalli was active, there are two types of characters: the leading, serious roles, and the side characters, who are usually comic figures, with connections to characters from the commedia all’improvviso. These are primarily depictions of old, lustful nursemaids and servants set in contrast – through harsh or exaggerated realism – to the exalted portrayal of their masters. These characters often represent the views of the Venetian street, sometimes even speaking in dialect. When it comes to the central figures, it is not their characters but rather the emotions they are subject to that are the focus of Cavalli’s musical characterisation. Passionate recitatives, elaborately composed arias, and arias of particular emotional intensity are reserved for such roles. These gave the composer the opportunity to express the character’s successive emotions. Cavalli employs the full range of musical rhetoric here; however, this serves only to highlight specific passages of the text, whilst all elements of musical form – melodics, rhythm and harmony – are used to characterise the entire dramatic situation. Such an example is scene of Aegisthus’s madness (L’Egisto, Act 3, scene 5), where Cavalli introduces a restless melodic line with varied rhythmic values, punctuated by frequent rests, large leaps alongside repetitions of the same note, dissonances in relation to the bass, and at the same time purely illustrative effects (e.g. the use of longer note values on the word “fermate”).

Another example of how the music characterises a situation and evokes the appropriate mood is the scene in which Medea summons the spirits (Il Giasone, Act 1, Scene 14), where the melodic line is built on a pattern of 21 repetitions of the same rhythmic formula.

An important element of plot development in the Venetian repertoire of the time was the appearance of characters in disguise. In Cavalli’s works, this is sometimes reflected in the score being written in different registers, or even in different keys (for example, in La Calisto, Jupiter, disguised as Diana, has a soprano part instead of a bass part; in Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo, Discordia, disguised as Nereus, sings as a tenor instead of an alto). In the drammi per musica composed by Cavalli, there are usually several side characters. Generally speaking, they sing easier, lighter melodies; they are mainly assigned strophic arias with melodies often of a popular nature. These characters, who are treated as comic figures par excellence, also have their own specific, entirely distinct musical language, serving parodic purposes. The composer often assigns these parts to lower voices (alto, bass); they are characterised by a distinctive melodics – either featuring very rapid parlando with a wide ambitus and large leaps, or structure based on short motifs of just a few notes, sometimes even reduced to two-note figures, all performed at a very fast tempo. Performing these parts requires a high degree of virtuosity and excellent acting skills. With these characters, Cavalli draws on more sophisticated means of musical characterisation; for example, in Mutio Scevola (Act 1, Scene 9), when Porfiria’s frightened nursemaid appears, her uncertain gait is characterised by tonal instability.

Cavalli’s music was always inspired by the semantic content of the text (which is why musical rhetoric and illustrative qualities played such an important role in it), rather than its formal aspects. Although in the tradition of dramma per musica of that time, the regular structures of the poetic text have usually been set as arias, and the irregular sequences of settenario and endecasillabo verses as recitative, Cavalli sometimes broke this rule to achieve a greater integration of the musical and textual layers. There is a great diversity in his grouping of verses into larger musical units.

The melodics of Cavalli’s dramatic music is highly lyrical, thanks to the prevalence of second intervals and numerous progressions. In the arias, leaps of fifths and fourths (especially at the beginning of a phrase) or triad arpeggios occur relatively frequently. However, where the melody serves as a means of characterisation, this melodious and smooth flow is disrupted by both chromaticism and larger leaps.

Harmonically, Cavalli’s drammi per musica present a stage of unformed major-minor tonality; the recitatives are characterised by tonal instability and deviations from the main key, whereas in the arias the key is usually strictly defined and established at the beginning and end; during the course of the piece – particularly in those arias where the protagonist expresses fluctuating emotions – there may occur some modulations, even to distant keys; in such situations, dissonances and false relation also play a significant role. Rhythmic patterns also serve Cavalli as a means of expression and musical characterization. Generally, it is closely aligned with the prosody of the text, playing a fundamental role in recitatives expressing strong emotions; Cavalli sometimes employs a form of polyrhythm, combining certain vocal figures with other figures of the basso continuo line (e.g. Mutio Scevola, Act 1, Scene 16).

In his dramatic works, Cavalli had little scope for employing polyphonic techniques. He did, however, introduce them both in ensemble passages and in sections of arias accompanied by instruments, where he used a imitative technique in the fugue style: individual voices (including the basso continuo) imitate the thematic phrase here, beginning it on the tonic or dominant (e.g. La Rosinda, Act 1, Scene 8); as the passage progresses, the counterpoint usually fades away. In many places, whether in recitative or in arias, we encounter brief imitations between the basso continuo and the vocal part. This is a novelty introduced in the Venetian school (in Monteverdi’s works we find this technique in his later dramas), likely to create a closer connection between these two melodic lines.

Only 55 works from Cavalli’s sacred music output have survived, most of which were published in two comprehensive collections: Musiche sacre… (1656) and Vesperi a 8 voci, published in 1675, a few months before Cavalli’s death. His sacred music, in prima and seconda pratica, displays a wide variety of styles and technical approaches, ranging from accompanied monody to grand polyphonic vocal-instrumental works. Historians emphasise the influence of dramatic music on Cavalli’s sacred works, but this influence should not be overestimated; the only element drawn from dramatic music, or rather from secular music of the time in general, is the inclusion in the psalm Laetatus sum of a strophic aria based on a constant bass. Certain similarities between Cavalli’s dramatic and sacred music stem primarily from the composer’s analogous approach to the textual material. This is evident not only in the use of illustrative devices and rhetoric – technical devices that were commonly used at the time – but also in Cavalli’s characteristic practice of combining, for expressive purposes, sung passages in odd metres with passages in a parlando style in even metres. The monodic works are written in the typical stile imbastardito characteristic of sacred music of the first half of the 17th century. As in Monteverdi’s analogous works, amplifications are introduced here, often in a virtuoso style. The unity of the two melodic lines is sometimes emphasised by brief imitations between the vocal part and the basso continuo line. In works for larger ensembles (3–8 voices), the composer’s preference for treating sections of a work as trios (with two higher voices and a third lower voice doubling the basso continuo line) is evident, as is the inclusion of instrumental passages featuring a similar set of instruments. In the few-voice works, we also encounter passages in which the restless melodic line, featuring large leaps and intervali falsi (false intervals), illustrates the corresponding words in a particularly unconventional manner, as, for example, in the psalm Nisi Dominus on the word “doloris.”

The eight-voice texture is generally characterised by a typically Venetian polyphonic style, though the composer employs not only individual choruses as distinct units, but also – in the manner of G. Gabrieli’s later works – various combinations of solo voices from both choruses. Occasionally, however, he employs true eight-voice writing (e.g. in many passages from the Missa pro defunctis) and then draws on the stile antico, yet departs from the principles of so-called early classical counterpoint, employing a very free form of counterpoint; the melodic line is constructed according to the demands of the text, rather than according to contrapuntal rules. The same free approach applies to the treatment of dissonances. Cavalli rarely introduces quotations from Gregorian chant. As an instrumental ensemble, apart from the continuo, he uses only strings in a trio formation and, in some polyphonic choral works, three trombones (ad libitum). Very often the instruments alternate with the vocal group, repeating its melodic material – as was already the case in Monteverdi’s works; besides this, they duplicate the vocal parts, though at times they perform independent ritornelli.

The Musiche sacre also includes six purely instrumental works; four of these works, titled with the term sonata, are written for 4, 6, 8 and 12 instruments, whilst the other two canzonas, are for 3 and 10 instruments. These are works of the da chiesa type; however, in accordance with the conventions of the time, the sonatas are written in a more contrapuntal style, whilst the canzonas are more multi-sectional forms and have a livelier rhythm. Different authors cite varying numbers of Cavalli’s arias and cantatas, most of which have been preserved as manuscripts in various libraries; this body of work, however, remains insufficiently studied and Cavalli’s authorship of many of these pieces is sometimes questioned.

Literature: H. Kretzschmar Die Venetianische Oper und die Werke Cavallis und Cestis, “Vierteljahrschrift für Musikwissenschaft” VIII, 1892; H. Goldschmidt Cavalli als dramatischer Komponist, “Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte” XXV, 1893; H. Goldschmidt Studien zur Geschichte der italienischen Oper im 17. Jahrhundert, Leipzig 1901, reprint 1967; R. Rolland L’opéra populaire à Venise: Francesco Cavalli, “Bulletin Français de la Société Internationale de Musique” II, 1906; H. Kretzschmar Beiträge zur Geschichte der Venetianischen Oper, “Jahrbuch der Musikbibliothek Peters” 1907; E. Wellesz Cavalli und der Still der Venetianischen Oper von 1640–60, “Studien zur Musikwissenchaft”, Beihefte DTÖ, I, 1913; T. Wiel Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676) e la sua musica scenica, Venice 1914; H. Prunières Notes sur une partition faussement atribuée à Cavalli (L’Eritrea, 1686), “Rivista Musicale Italiana” XXVII 1920; H. Prunteres Cavalli et 1’opéra italien du XVIIIe siècle, «Maîtres de la musique ancienne et moderne», Paris 1929; H. Prunières Cavalli et l’opéra italien au XVIIe siècle, «Maîtres de la musique ancienne et moderne» VIII, Paris 1931; H. Prunières Les opéras de Francesco Cavalli, “La Revue Musicale” XII, 1931; H.C. Wolff Die Venetianische Oper in der 2. Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1932, 21975; U. Rolandi Le opere teatrali di Francesco Cavalli, “Chigiana” III, 1941; B. Hjelmborg Une partition de Cavalli, “Acta Musicologica” XVI–XVII, 1944–45; A. Abert C. Monteverdi und das musikalische Drama, Lippstadt 1954; S.T. Worsthorne Venetian Opera in the Seventeenth Century, Oxford 1954, 21968; W. Osthoff Neue Beobachtungen zu Quellen und Geschichte von Monteverdis “Incoronazione di Poppea,” “Die Musikforschung” XI, 1958; F. Bussi La messa concertata et la musique sacrée de Pier Francesco Cavalli, Paris 1960; H.S. Powers Il Serse trasformato, “The Musical Quarterly” XLVII–XLVIII, 1961–62; B. Hjelmborg Aspects of the Aria in the Early Operas of Francesco Cavalli, in: Natalicia musicologica, commemorative book of K. Jeppesen, Copenhagen 1962; W. Osthoff Maske und Musik, “Castrum Peregrini” LXV, 1964, Italian translation “Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana” I, 1967; D. Arnold Francesco Cavalli, Some Recently Discovered Documents, “Music and Letters” XLVI, 1965; R.J. Leppard Cavalli’s Operas, “Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association” XCIII, 1966/67; F. Bussi La produzione sacra di Cavalli e i suoi rapporti con quella di Monteverdi, “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia”  II, 1967; G.F. Crain Francesco Cavalli and the Venetian Opera, “Opera” XVIII, 1967; H. Powers L’Erismena travestita, in: Studies in Music History, commemorative book of O. Strunk, Princeton 1968; D. Swale Cavalli, The “Erismena” of 1655, «Miscellanea Musicologica» III, 1968; A. Hicks Cavalli and “La Calisto,” “Musical Times” CXI, 1970; E. Rosand Aria as Drama in the Early Operas of Francesco Cavalli, in: Venezia e il melodramma nel seicento, Venice 1972; J. Glover Cavalli and „Rosinda,” “Musical Times” CXIV, 1973; E. Rosand “Ormindo travestito” in “Erismena,” “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XXVIII, 1975; D. Arnold Cavalli at St. Mark’s, “Early Music” IV, 1976; F. Bussi Storia, tradizione e arte nel “Requiem” di Cavalli, “Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana” X, 1976; J. Glover Aria and Closed Form in the Operas of Francesco Cavalli, „The Consort” XXXII, 1976; E. Rosand Comic Contrast and Dramatic Continuity. Observations on the Form and Function of Aria in the Operas of Francesco Cavalli, “The Music Review” XXXVII, 1976; J. Glover Cavalli, London 1978; R. Donington Cavalli in the Opera House, “Musical Times” CXIX, 1978; J.H. Moore Vespers at St. Mark’s. Music of A. Grandi, G. Rovetta and F. Cavalli, «Studies in Musicology» XXX, Ann Arbor (Michigan) 1981; R. Donington The Rise of Opera, London 1981; D. Arnold Italian Baroque Masters. Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Cavalli, Corelli, A. Scarlatti, D. Scarlatti, London 1984; F. Bussi Altro Cavalli sacro restituito, “Rivista internazionale di musica sacra” VIII, 1987; D. Arnold A Venetian Anthology of Sacred Monody, in: Florilegium musicologicum, commemorative book of H. Federhofer, ed. Ch.-H. Mahling, Tutzing 1988; E. Rosand Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice. The Creation of a Genre, Berkeley 1991; Z.M. Szweykowski Technika polichóralna, jej typy i przemiany, «Historia Muzyki XVII wieku. Muzyka we Włoszech», ed. Z.M. Szweykowski, vol. 2, Krakow 2000 (includes musical examples from Dixit Dominus).