The three Roman heroes all sing tenor. Africanus has a great bravura song (5), with passages as high as C in alt; his second is quieter and simpler, and makes an attempt at characterisation; the image of the rock, standing immovable in the sea, is sketched in sober colours. The song of Emilius Paulus has a kind of dance measure, not very lively, and reminding us of a polonaise; the words "un fanciullin che piange" are illustrated by a chromatic scale. Finally, Scipio has two bravura songs (1, 10) with many passages, the second being remarkable for its length.
But, indeed, most of the songs are of great length, and introduced by long ritomelli. Where there is no distinct second part, the Da capo comes into use; the middle movements are short and lightly treated. The orchestra displays some freedom and independence, but is not equal to "Ascanio."
The two choruses are of the usual opera type. The first (4), in which Scipio is greeted by his ancestors, is not without power and dignity, but it has no characterisation, and is almost throughout in harmony; only once the voices make an attempt during a few bars at independent movement.
In the concluding chorus (12) the voices complete the harmony in the usual way to a running accompaniment.
CHAPTER IX. ORATORIO.
THE commonly received opinion[ 1 ] that the oratorio originated in the devotional exercises held in the oratories of monasteries, ORIGIN OF ORATORIO. and thrown into the form of a musical drama by Filippo Neri (1515-1595), is without foundation. All that can confidently be asserted is that he caused laudi spirituali, a kind of motett,[ 2 ] to be sung by way of recreation, and that he organised carnival performances ("rappresentazioni") which withdrew the mind from worldly follies;[ 3 ] whether, and in what degree, music had to do with these we do not know.[ 4 ]
The "Rappresentazione dell' Anima e del Corpo," by Emilio de' Cavalieri, who sought to reproduce the old tragedy on the same principles as Peri in the opera, was arranged for representation on a stage ("palco"), with scenery, costumes, and dances, and contained recitatives and choruses.[ 5 ] One performance took place, according to the preface to the score, in February, 1599, in the oratorium of the church of S. Maria, in Vallicella,[ 6 ] and this Della Valle remembered having attended when a boy.[ 7 ] Henceforward sacred dialogues and ORATORIO. dramas set to music were frequent in Rome and elsewhere, and were given not only before the congregation dell' oratorio,[ 8 ] but in churches, monasteries, and palaces. The history of the development of these rappresentazione or azione sacra, also called oratorio,[ 9 ] has not yet been traced in detail.[ 10 ]
In time the performances were confined to Lent, when no opera was given, and although action and costume gradually disappeared from the churches,[ 11 ] and the whole assumed more and more the form of a concert, yet the dramatic element, or at least the dialogue, always remained.