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Sebastián Raval and the ‘Spanish Arrogance’: how the reputation of a sixteenth-century composer was destroyed

Sebastián Raval and the ‘Spanish Arrogance’: how the reputation of a sixteenth-century composer was destroyed

Profile image of Esperanza Rodríguez-GarcíaEsperanza Rodríguez-García

This article undertakes a historiographical review of the composer Sebastián Raval as a case study illuminating the influence of ideology on the shaping of history and the perpetuation of established views. The portrayal of Raval as an arrogant Spaniard originated in his participation in two musical contests celebrated in Rome and Palermo. Whereas this characteristic was mainly understood as a stereotypical description in the Early Modern period, the influence of nationalism in the nineteenth century led to it becoming an objectionable personal flaw. This was enough to start a process of vilifying the composer in which the assessment of his professional stature outweighed the actual analysis of his music.

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SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 169 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»: HOW THE REPUTATION OF A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY COMPOSER WAS DESTROYED* Esperanza Rodríguez-García The University of Nottingham-The Leverhulme Trust Abstract: This article undertakes a historiographical review of the composer Sebastián Raval as a case study illuminating the influence of ideology on the shaping of history and the perpetuation of established views. The portrayal of Raval as an arrogant Spaniard originated in his participation in two musical contests celebrated in Rome and Palermo. Whereas this characteristic was mainly understood as a stereotypical description in the Early Modern period, the influence of nationalism in the nineteenth century led to it becoming an objectionable personal flaw. This was enough to start a process of vilifying the composer in which the assessment of his professional stature outweighed the actual analysis of his music. Keywords: Sebastián Raval, Achille Falcone, musical contests, ethnic stereotypes, Spanish arrogance, nationalism, historiography. * This article stems from my doctoral dissertation entitled Arrogance or Audacity?: The Music of Sebastián Raval (?-1604) with an Edition of his First Book of Motets, presented at the University of Manchester in 2010. I wish to thank David Fallows for his invaluable help with both the dissertation and the article. Unless otherwise indicated, translations from Italian and Spanish are mine. However, the results would have been much poorer without the assistance of Daniele Filippi, who helped me to clarify dubious elements within the Italian texts, and Spencer Pearce, who made my translations sound much more elegant. My heartfelt thanks to both. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 170 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) Y LA «ARROGANCIA ESPAÑOLA»: CÓMO DESTRUIR LA REPUTACIÓN DE UN COMPOSITOR DEL SIGLO XVI Resumen: El presente artículo presenta una revisión historiográica del compositor Sebastián Raval, un ejemplo que ilustra la inluencia de la ideología en la construcción de la historia y la permanencia de ideas una vez establecidas. La imagen de Raval como un español arrogante se originó en su participación en dos concursos musicales en Roma y Palermo. Mientras que en la Edad Moderna esta característica parece responder a una descripción estereotipada, en el siglo XIX bajo la inluencia del nacionalismo se convirtió en un defecto inaceptable. Esto sirvió para iniciar un proceso de descrédito del compositor, en el que para la evaluación de su nivel profesional se prescindió del análisis de su música. Palabras clave: Sebastián Raval, Achille Falcone, concursos musicales, estereotipos étnicos, arrogancia española, nacionalismo, historiografía. The Spanish composer Sebastián Raval is infamously (and almost exclusively) remembered nowadays for his involvement in two musical contests: one in Rome (in ca. 1592-95 with Giovanni Maria Nanino and Francesco Soriano), and another in Palermo (in 1600 with Achille Falcone). The events in the contests remain controversial, due to the fragmentary and unbalanced nature of the information available. The Roman contest ended up, probably, in a draw —even though the received modern view conveys the idea that Raval unequivocally lost, showing a lack of musical talent and an improper attitude. However, the earliest known report of the contest, issued by the composer Romano Micheli in 1615, suggests a radically different picture, Raval being described as «a very intelligent musician» and «a gentleman»1. In Palermo, Raval won the second (and inal) round, amid accusations by his defeated opponent of unfair play and poor performance. Falcone’s father publicised their grievances in print2, whilst the composer’s own account of the contest has not survived3. However different the approaches of the extant reports might be, they agree in highlighting two crucial features concerning Raval: his Spanish origin and his arrogant demeanour —as Micheli puts it, Raval was «a Spaniard who came to Rome claiming to be the best musician in the world»4. 1 Micheli, Romano. Musica vaga et artiiciosa continente motetti con oblighi et canoni diuersi. Venice, Giacomo Vincenti, 1615, fol. 2v. See below for the whole quotation. 2 Falcone, Achille. Alli signori musici di Roma. Madrigali a cinque voci. Venice, Giacomo Vincenti, 1603, RISM B/I: 160311 [henceforth Alli signori (1603)]. A modern edition is provided in Falcone: Madrigali, mottetti e ricercari. 3 Probably entitled Alli eccellentissimi musici d’Italia, it was published in Rome in 1600 [henceforth: Alli eccellentissimi (1600)]. 4 Micheli, R. Musica vaga..., fol. 2v. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 171 On the one hand, the Spanish element stands out in clear contrast with the Italian, for Italy is where Raval developed his entire musical career, and is also the origin of his contenders and commentators. On the other hand, Raval’s arrogance appears as the contests’ driving force. Regardless of how contentious the contests might have been, Raval’s reputation as a composer remained intact for more than two centuries, and his music stayed relatively well-known and appreciated5. One of his motets was reprinted in Pierre Phalèse’s Florilegium sacrarum cantionum (1609), who included Raval among the «most celebrated musicians of our time»6. Agostino Pisa described the composer as the «most celebrated Sebastián Raval» in his Breve dichiaratione della battuta musicale (1611) and illustrated his discourse with Raval’s music7. Likewise, he used the same music excerpt in his Battuta della musica (1611)8. One (now lost) solo madrigal by Raval was reworked as a polyphonic piece in Pietro Maria Marsolo’s Secondo libri de’ madrigali (1614)9. His music was also referenced in Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni’s Guida armonica of ca. 1701-0810. Still in 1711, Andrea Adami da Bolsena stated in his Osservazioni per ben regolare il coro that Raval was a «great contrapuntist»11. 5 This point has been raised by Massimo Privitera in Achille Falcone. Madrigali, mottetti e ricercari a cinque voci. Massimo Privitera (ed.). Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane 21. Florence, Leo S. Olschki, 2000, p. xix; and Andrés Cea in Sebastián Raval. Il Primo Libro di Ricercari a Quatro Voci Cantabili. 2 vols. Andrés Cea Galán (ed.). Patrimonio Musical Español 15. Madrid, Fundación Caja Madrid, 2008, vol. 1, p. 15. 6 «Celeberrimis nostri temporis musicis». Letter of dedication of Florilegium sacrarum cantionum quinque vocum. Antwerp, Pierre Phalèse, 1609. RISM B/I: 16091. The motet is Beatus Laurentius. 7 «Celebratissimo Sebastiano Ravale». Pisa, Agostino. Breve dichiaratione della battuta musicale. Rome, Bartolomeo Zannetti, 1611. Facsimile edition by Piero Gargiulo. Musurgiana 26. Lucca, Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1996, p. 15. The excerpt belongs to the canzonetta S’io vivo nel mio ben. 8 Pisa, Agostino. Battuta della musica [...] Opera noua utile e necessaria alli professori della musica. Rome, Bartolomeo Zannetti, 1611, pp. 125-126. 9 Marsolo, Pietro Maria. Secondo libri de’ madrigali a quattro voci opera decima. Venice, Giacomo Vincenti, 1614. Not included in RISM. 10 Pitoni, Giuseppe Ottavio. Guida armonica [...] Libro Primo. Rome, unknown printer, ca. 1701-08. Facsimile edition by Francesco Luisi. Musurgiana 16. Lucca, Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1989, p. 98. The date of writing is given in Durante, Sergio. «La Guida Armonica di Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni. Un documento sugli stili in uso a Roma al tempo di Corelli». Nuovissimi studi corelliani. Sergio Durante and Pierluigi Petrobelli (eds.). Florence, Leo S. Olschki, 1982, pp. 285327, at pp. 294-295, fn. 24. François Lesure indicates ca. 1680 instead. Lesure, François. Écrits imprimés concernant la musique. 2 vols. Munich-Duisburg, G. Henle, 1971, vol. 2, p. 656. 11 «Sebastian Raval Spagnuolo, gran contrapuntista». da Bolsena, Andrea Adami. Osservazioni per ben regolare il coro de i cantori della Cappella Pontiicia (with the Catalogo de’ nomi, cognomi, e patria de i cantori pontiici. Rome, Antonio de Rossi, 1711. Facsimile edition by Giancarlo Rostirolla. Musurgiana 1. Lucca, Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1988, p. 181. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 172 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA It is then all the more puzzling that in 1828 the Italian musicologist Giuseppe Baini portrayed Raval as an appalling composer and a devious person12. Irrespective of how he reached that conclusion, which I shall explain later, it has been highly inluential on modern views, to the extent that any other interpretation has been obscured. The unfortunate consequence is that Raval’s output —seven extant books 13, one lost14, two projected volumes15, and an edition of a collection of madrigals by Sicilian composers16— has been largely overlooked. In this respect, it is illustrative that he does not appear in the latest edition of MGG, and that the stylistic analysis included in his entry in Grove 2 is based exclusively on the music published by Raval’s opponent in the Palermo contest17. This article seeks to clarify what happened in the aforementioned contests, how the change of perspective in the estimation of Raval occurred, and how the current view has been set up in scholarship. It will also delve into issues of identity, as key to explaining the various meanings of the label «Spanish arrogance» —ranging from stereotypical descriptions in the Early Modern period to chauvinistic constructs in the nineteenthcentury and beyond. 12 Baini, Giuseppe. Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. 2 vols. Rome, Dalla Società Tipograica, 1828, vol. 2, pp. 39-41. 13 Motectorum quinque vocum [...] liber primus. Rome, Francesco Coattino, 1593. RISM A/I: R 439 [henceforth: Motectorum (1593)]; Il primo libro di canzonette a quattro voci. Venice, Giacomo Vincenti, 1593. RISM A/I: R 443 [henceforth: Canzonette (1593)]; Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci. Venice, Giacomo Vincenti, 1593. RISM A/I: R 442 [henceforth: Madrigali a5 (1593)]; Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae quinque vocum. Rome, Nicolo Mutii, 1594. RISM A/I: R 440 [henceforth: Lamentationes (1594)]; Madrigali a tre voci. Rome, Nicolo Mutti, 1595. RISM A/I: R 444 [henceforth: Madrigali a3 (1595)]; Il primo libro di ricercari. Palermo, Giovanni Antonio de Franceschi, 1596. RISM A/I: R 445 [henceforth: Ricercari (1596)]; Motecta selecta organo accomodata. Palermo, Giovanni Antonio de Franceschi, 1600. RISM A/I: R 441 [henceforth: Motecta (1600)]. 14 Alli eccellentissimi (1600). 15 The irst one was a book of masses in ive and eight voices, and canons in eight and sixteenth voices, to be dedicated to Cardinal Ascanio Colonna, as described in the letter of dedication of his Madrigali a3 (1595). See Rodríguez-García, Esperanza, Arrogance or Audacity?: the Music of Sebastián Raval (?-1604) with an Edition of his First Book of Motets. Ph.D.diss. University of Manchester, 2010, pp. 42-43. The second book was to contain funeral music and lamentations for Philip II of Spain, and intended to be published in Rome in 1600, as Raval declares in a letter to Cardinal Ascanio Colonna (1600). See Marshall, Melanie L. «Warriors and Musicians: Notes from the Colonna Family Archive». Early Music, 39, 2 (2011), pp. 195-201, at pp. 196-198. 16 Inidi lumi: madrigali a cinque voci di don Luigi di Heredia, posti in musica da diversi autori siciliani. Palermo, Giovanni B. Maringo, 1603 [music lost]. 17 Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 29 vols. Ludwig Finscher and Friedrich Blume (eds.). Kassel-Sttutgart, Bärenreiter Verlag and J. B. Metzler, 1994-2008; Ledbetter, Steven. «Raval, Sebastián». The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Second edition. 29 vols. Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (eds.). London, Macmillan, 2001 [henceforth Grove 2], vol. 20, p. 862. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 173 1. Spaniards in Italy: outline of Raval’s biography The continuous expansion of the Spanish Empire since the ifteenth century entailed the relocation of a growing number of Spaniards in the regions under Spanish political and cultural inluence. Italy was one of their preferred destinations18. There was such a large number in Rome that the city has sometimes been described as «Spanish Rome»19. A large number of expatriates came from the destitute lower nobility and were adventurers seeking success in the many Spanish territories overseas20. The composer Sebastián Raval was one among them. A lower nobleman, he was born in the region of Murcia (south-eastern Spain)21. He enrolled in the Spanish army, being trained in Italy in his youth and ighting in Flanders until he was wounded in the siege of Maastricht (March-June 1579). In this period he made enduring and fruitful acquaintances with Marcantonio II Colonna (1535-84), Duke and Prince of Paliano (and one of the victors of Lepanto), and Alessandro Farnese (1545-92), Duke of Parma and Piacenza. After leaving the army due to his injuries, Raval went to Italy and took the vows of the Capuchin order, also becoming a deacon. At an unknown date, he entered the retinue of Francesco Maria II della Rovere (15491631), Duke of Urbino, probably holding a music-related position. Still in Francesco Maria’s service, Raval went to Rome in ca. 1592 to arrange his entrance in the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (the Sovereign Order of Malta). There he received informal patronage from Cardinal Alessandro The relationship between Spaniards and locals was necessarily complex and prone to conlict, although recent research has shown that the Spanish presence was perceived more positively than traditionally thought. Spain in Italy: Politics, Society, and Religion 1500-1700. Thomas J. Dandelet and John A. Marino (eds.). Leiden, Brill, 2007; Hillgarth, Jocelyn N. The Mirror of Spain, 1500-1700: the Formation of a Myth. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 2000, pp. 295-308. 19 Dandelet, Thomas J. Spanish Rome, 1500-1700. New Haven-London, Yale University Press, 2001. 20 Glete, Jan. War and the State in Early Modern Europe. London-New York, Routledge, 2002, pp. 79-80. 21 Current literature maintains that the composer’s birthplace was Cartagena. The only document stating his origin indicates that Raval came from the diocesis of Cartagena («Sebastiani Ravale Chartaginiensi dioc.»), the real seat of which is located in the nearby city of Murcia. The centre of the administrative division is also Murcia. «Lettera della S[acra] C[ongregazione] della Penitenzieria Apostolica per D. Sebastiano Raval». Rome, Archivio Generale del Vicariato, series Commisiones, 1552-99. Notary Franciscus Romaulus, 13 November 1592. It is transcribed in Casimiri, Raffaele. «Sebastiano Raval, musicista spagnolo del secolo XVI». Note d’archivio per la storia musicale, 8 (1931), pp. 1-20, at pp. 12-13. 18 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 174 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Montalto (1571-1623). The composer moved deinitively to Rome and before March 1593 he entered the retinue of Cardinal Ascanio Colonna (1560-1608), son of Marcantonio II. Raval remained involved in the musical activities of Cardinal Montalto’s circle, which included Luca Marenzio, Scipione Dentice, and Scipione Stella among others. After February 1595 he joined the household of Girolamo Branciforte, Count of Cammarata (ca. 1560-ca. 1620). He then moved to Palermo and acquired the position of chapelmaster in the Royal Chapel in April 1595. He stayed there until his death in 160422. 2. The contests in Rome (ca. 1592-1595) and Palermo (1600) There is little information available about musical contests in the Renaissance, although this does not necessarily imply that they were infrequent. Probably the contrary was the case, in a culture deined by a «spirit of competition»23. Hints of these competitive endeavours can be gleaned from contemporary thematic collections24, or musico-literary contests25. It is remarkable, then, that so much information about the contests involving Sebastián Raval has survived. The contest in Rome took place at some time between 1592 and 1595, the dates when Raval lived in the city. The earliest account of it appears in Romano Micheli’s Musica vaga (1615)26. I will not omit to mention the very intelligent musician Sebastián Raval, a Spaniard who came to Rome claiming to be the best musician in the world, having been unable to ind his equal anywhere in Italy. In competition in Rome with the signori Francesco Soriano and Giovanni Maria Nanino, [Raval] became convinced from the very irst moment. Nonetheless they wanted to listen to all his knowledge. So the said Sebastián Raval did not address the said signori Francesco Soriano The biographies of Raval by Casimiri and Tiby still remain the most complete. Casimiri, R. «Sebastiano Raval...»; and Tiby, Ottavio. «Sebastian Raval: a 16th-Century Spanish Musician in Italy». Musica Disciplina, 2 (1948), pp. 217-223. An updated discussion is included in RodríguezGarcía, E. Arrogance or Audacity?... 23 Bizzarini, Marco, and Privitera, Massimo. «Competition, Cultural Geography, and Tonal Space in the Book of Madrigals L’amorosa Ero (1588)». The Journal of Musicology, 29 (2012), pp. 422-460, at p. 424. 24 Ibid. 25 Gray, Douglas. «Rough Music: Some Early Invectives and Flytings». The Yearbook of English Studies, 14 (1984), pp. 21-43. 26 Micheli, Romano. Musica vaga et artiiciosa continente motetti con oblighi et canoni diuersi. Venice, Giacomo Vincenti, 1615. 22 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 175 and Giovanni Maria Nanino other than with the name of signor Maestro. This I have heard a hundred times, at the time when [he and I] were together in Rome —in the service of the very illustrious and excellent signor Duke of S. Giovanni, and Count of Cammarata, a Sicilian, where later [Raval] became chapelmaster of the viceroy of Sicily27. Micheli’s somewhat obscure description conveys a quite positive image of the composer, acknowledging Raval’s intelligence, music skills and politeness. His admiration is not tarnished by Raval’s boastful declaration that he was «the best musician in the world». After all, he probably understood Raval’s attitude, as he was himself an avowed polemicist28. Micheli also states that he was not present at the event, Raval being his principal source of information. Additionally, he could have also learnt irst-hand from his tutors, the very same Nanino and Soriano. Another source, hitherto unnoticed concerning Raval’s studies, expands on some details of Micheli’s narration29. Pier Francesco Valentini expresses a strikingly similar view in his La musica inalzata (ca. 1645)30. He does not indicate how he knew about the event, but one wonders whether he drew on Micheli. Alternatively, he could have relied on his own memories. Born in Rome in ca. 1570, he was a student of Giovanni Bernardino «Non resterò dirvi di quell’intelligentissimo musico Sebastiano Raval Spagnolo, il quale venne in Roma, attribuendosi di essere il primo musico del Mondo, non havendo trovato in alcuna parte d’Italia alcun suo pari: venendosi alle prove in Roma con li Signori Francesco Soriano, e Gio: Maria Nanino, restò chiarito alla prima esperienza, nondimeno volsero sentire tutto il suo sapere, si chè detto Sebastiano Raval, non chiamò mai li detti Signori Francesco Soriano, e Gio: Maria Nanino, che per nome di Sig. Maestro, ciò sentito da me mille volte, con l’occasione che eramo insieme in Roma al servitio dell’Illustrissimo & Eccellentissimo Sig. Duca di S. Giovanni, e Conte di Camerata Siciliano, dove poi andò Maestro di Cappella de Vice Rè di Sicilia». Micheli, R. Musica vaga..., p. 2v. Transcribed in Casimiri, R. «Sebastiano Raval...», p. 19; and Agee, Richard J. «Costanzo Festa’s Gradus ad Parnassum», Early Music History, 15 (1996), pp. 1-60, at pp. 5-6, fn. 10. 28 Atkinson, Charles M., and O’Regan, Noel. «Micheli, Romano». Grove 2, vol. 16, pp. 597-598. 29 It has been mainly mentioned in surveys about the vogue of canons in early seventeenthcentury Rome. Gerbino, Giuseppe. Canoni ed enigmi: Pier Francesco Valentini e l’artiicio canonico nella prima metà del Seicento. Rome, Torre d’Orfeo, 1995; Lamla, Michael. «Pier Francesco Valentini, Romano Micheli, Sante Naldini und der Grabstein der Päpstlichen Sänger». Analecta musicologica, 30 (1998), pp. 115-144; and Wuidar, Laurence. Canons énigmes et hiéroglyphes musicaux dans l’Italie du 17e siècle. Brussels and Oxford, P.I.E.-Peter Lang, 2008. Wuidar indicates 1646 as the manuscript’s date. 30 Valentini, Pier Francesco. La musica inalzata. Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Barb. Lat. 4418 (ca. 1645), vol. I, pp. 46-47. I have not accessed the original manuscript. Unless speciied, all the transcriptions come from Laurence Wuidar’s personal notes. I would like to thank her for sharing them with me and for her permission to transcribe them here. Any mistake must be attributed to me. 27 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 176 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Nanino, Giovanni Maria’s brother, when the contest occurred31. Moreover, he was a close observer of the Roman scene, as suggested by the detailed information about other events in Rome he provides. Valentini writes: Coming to Rome around 1595, knowing that he was a good ‘contrapuntista’ and with the usual Spanish arrogance, [Raval] claimed that he had no equal in the world. He went boldly searching for the top musicians in Rome at that time. [He] challenged them to compose ‘contrapunti’ and canons alla mente, for no other reason than to show their laws and exhibit to the world their inferior knowledge. But in the end, he became convinced and satisied with the great counterpoint of Giovanni Maria Nanino, who was one of the musicians of the Papal Chapel, and Francesco Soriano, who was chapelmaster at St. Peter’s in the Vatican. He was not angry with them, since he was a true virtuoso and also a gentleman [...]; on the contrary, he remained affectionate and friendly towards them32. As with Micheli, the report is not judgmental, even if the description contains speciic details about Raval’s desire to expose the defects of other composers in order to endorse his own worth. Valentini also emphasizes Raval’s positive personal and professional features, without conveying any sense of confrontation with Nanino and Soriano. Micheli and Valentini’s light portrayal of Raval’s arrogance suggests that they might be resorting to an ethnic stereotype, rather than describing a personal law. The creation of stereotypes representing nationalities run in parallel to the rise of national identities in the Early Modern period, within a Europe under political, religious, and cultural strains33. Spain being the most powerful empire of its time was a natural target for criticism, as the opening quotation shows. The image of the «arrogant Spaniard» was especially widespread34, and by the end of the sixteenth Martinotti, Sergio and Ziino, Agostino. «Valentini, Pier Francesco». Grove 2, vol. 26, pp. 213-214. 32 «Venuto à Roma circa l’anno 1595 conoscendosi di esser buon contrapuntista con la solita albagia spagnuola pretendea che nel mondo non vi fosse un pari suo, e pero andava audacemente a trovare li primi musici che in quel tempo erano in Roma, sidandoli a fare Contrapunti e Canoni à mente, non per altro che per smaccarli e farli conoscere dal mondo di minor sapere di se. Mà egli al ine restò chiarito, et appagato dal gran contrapunto, che era in Gio. Maria Nanini, che fù uno de’ Musici della Cappella Ponteicia, et in Francesco Soriano, che fù maestro di Cappella in San Pietro in Vaticano, contra de’ quali, per esser egli stato vero virtuoso, et insieme gentilhuomo […] non si sdegnò; Mà gli restò affettionato et amico». Valentini, P. F. La musica inalzata..., vol. 1, pp. 46-47. 33 Breuilly, John. Nationalism and the State. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1993, pp. 75-95; and Dandelet, Th. J. Spanish Rome, 1500-1700, pp. 113-114. 34 Kamen, Henry. Spain’s Road to Empire: the Making of a World Power 1492-1763. London, Allen Lane, 2002, especially at pp. 351-379; Griffin, Eric. «From Ethos to Ethnos: Hispanizing “the Spaniard” in the Old World and the New». The New Centennial Review, 2 (2002), pp. 69-116; Maltby, William S. The Black Legend in England. Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1971. 31 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 177 century it had become a topos in European historical writings and literature35 —one of the plays by the most celebrated Spanish author Lope de Vega (1562-1635) is signiicantly entitled El arrogante español (1598). Valentini’s speciic wording betrays this mind frame: Raval was just living up to the expectations associated with the stereotypical Spaniard and hence he could not behave other than with the «usual Spanish arrogance». Valentini narrates a lesser known anecdote of how Raval sought to arrange another contest with the composer Ruggiero Giovannelli, who tried to avoid it at any cost: Later [after the confrontation with Nanino and Soriano] this Sebastián Raval went along to the schools and the houses of the Roman composers and «contrapuntisti» regarding the said issue [that the unison canon carved on the tombstone of the papal singers was too simple]. He went many times to the house of Ruggiero Giovannelli in order to see him. [Giovannelli] was also one of the musicians of the Papal Chapel. Regarding the manner of composition current at the time, [Giovannelli’s] madrigal style was charming [vago] and delightful [dilettoso]; his motets and works for two choirs were full [pieno] and melodious [arioso] in the motets and works for two choirs. But […] he had not worked seriously at ‘contrapunti’ and even less at canons, either alla mente or written out. Not considering himself skilful enough to confront the aforementioned Raval, [Giovannelli] left the room and retreated to another when he saw [Raval] enter his home, and told them to say that he was out. On one such occasion, Raval was waiting for him [Giovannelli] in his drawing room, where there were some youngsters and child students of the aforementioned Giovannelli. On a whim, [Raval] composed a canon at the unison and left it on a tablet [cartella] which he found on the table. [It was] written with the rule and the method, which was used for the canon of the tombstone already mentioned. When [Raval] had gone, Giovannelli came back to the room, examined the canon and showed it to other virtuosi. The canon was declared a childish effort and the youngsters were ordered to tell Raval as much if he returned. Raval did return, and when the children told him what they had been instructed, he answered: I know that it is a childish attempt, but I have done it because here you are all children. And immediately he asked for a subject and composed a beautiful canon in seven voices, not at the unison as the previous one but with all the parts. He left it as proof of his knowledge36. Hillgarth, J. N. The Mirror of Spain... Quotations from literary and historical sources are gathered in Herrero García, Miguel. Ideas de los españoles del siglo XVII. Madrid, Editorial Gredos, 1966. 36 «Hora questo Sebastiano Raval, mentre per il sopradetto effetto andava per le scuole, e per la case de’ Compositori, e Contrapuntisti di Roma; andò molte volte, per ritrovarlo, a casa di Ruggiero Giovannelli, che anc’esso fù uno de’ Musici della Cappella Ponteicia, e circa il modo di comporre, che si usava in quel tempo, era ne’ madrigali vago, e dilettoso, e ne’ mottetti, et opere à due chori pieno, et arioso: Mà [...] non haveva ne’ Contrapunti; nè meno ne’ Canoni, sì à mente, come in scritti fatto molto studio; però vedendosi insuficiente à mettersi col sopradetto Raval, quando si acorgeva, che entrava in casa sua partendosi di sala, si ritirava in un’altra 35 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 178 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Valentini’s report reiterates Raval’s fondness for setting challenges and also sheds light on the composer’s musical interests —«contrapunti» and «canons, either alla mente or written out»— and exceptional contrapuntal skills, betraying a traditional musical upbringing unlike Giovannelli. His convoluted manner of showing off his prowess by teasing his opponents amounts to evidence of Raval’s arrogant character, either real or stereotypical, but also restates his peers’ unproblematic consideration of it. Finally, Valentini’s narration offers a glimpse of what musical contests might have entailed at the time: extemporising imitative and canonic counterpoint upon given themes. The contest in Palermo happened in 1600. The only surviving account of the facts —Achille Falcone’s Alli signori musici di Roma (1603)— was issued by Achille’s father, Antonio, three years after the event. It comprises the latter’s report of the dispute in Palermo (the «Relatione del successo seguito in Palermo tra Achille Falcone Musico Cosentino, e Sebastian Raualle Musico Spagnolo»), twelve compositions claimed to be produced in the event (six pieces each by Achille and Raval), and eighteen pieces by Falcone unrelated to the contest37. Its explicit aims were to counteract Raval’s version of the contest —disseminated through his now lost Alli eccellentissimi (1600)—, to support Antonio Falcone’s view, and to prove Achille Falcone’s powers as a composer38. These arguably subjective elestanza, e gli faceva dire che non era in Casa. Di modo che una volta ritiratosi il Giovannelli, et il Raval stando nella sala di esso ad aspettarlo, dove vi eranno alcuni giovanetti, e regazzi scolari di detto Giovannelli; per capriccio in una cartella, che stava sopra la tavola, compose, e vi lasciò scritto un canone all’unisono, fatto con la regola, e nella maniera, che è formato il sopradetto Canone della predetta sepoltura. Partito che fù, ritornato in sala il Giovannelli, et veduto il Canone, et fattolo vedere da altri virtuosi, fù detto, che era una regazzeria, et fù ordinato à sopradetti giovanetti, che dicessero el Raval (caso che vi ritornasse) che il Canone fatto da lui era una cosa de regazzi; Ritornatovi poi il Raval, e da’ putti essendogli stato detto quello, che gli era stato imposto, rispose: Io sò, che è cosa da regazzi, e però l’hò fatto, perchè qui voi tutti sete regazzi; et incontinente fattosi dare un soggetto compose un bel canone a sette voci, non all’unisono come quell’altro; ma con tutte le parti, et ivi lo lasciò in saggio del suo sapere». Valentini, P. F. La musica inalzata, vol. 1, pp. 47-48. Transcribed from Lamla, M. «Pier Francesco Valentini...», pp. 126-127 (I have omitted Lamla’s footnotes). 37 The only surviving copy of the volume is held in the Bologna, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica (I-Bc). The ive partbooks containing the music are stored under the signature B.69 whereas the «Relatione del successo», originally attached to the basso partbook, bears the separate signature B.68. 38 «That what I have written and noticed above, I did against my will and inclination, but only moved to defend a much meritorious and beloved son. I therefore pray your Lordship not to attribute it to arrogance, or to believe that I noticed some defects of Raval to disclose them [...] So I beg you again to deign to pity an aflicted old father, who sees before him the beloved son attacked by brutal and cruel beasts, about to devour him». Falcone, A. «Relatione del successo...», pp. 18-19. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 179 ments advise care when dealing with Falcone’s Alli signori (1603), and opinions about its dependability are divided: whereas Lorenzo Bianconi and Robert M. Stevenson consider it biased, Ottavio Tiby, Paolo Emilio Carapezza and Massimo Privitera deem it reliable39. In my view, Alli signori (1603) is unsuitable as a source to describe Raval’ behaviour and compositional style, due to its contradictions, inconclusive statements, and indications that Falcone could have manipulated the music40. For the sake of brevity, I will show here one example that illustrates the issues arising when using this source. Among the pieces Falcone claimed to have originated in the contest, there is a ive-in-one canon by Raval based on a theme provided by Achille Falcone (which I will call canon 1 for clarity)41. Yet a surviving excerpt from Raval’s lost Alli eccellentissimi (1600) presents a much more sophisticated example in eight voices featuring, at least, two different themes, of which no one corresponds with the original theme (canon 2). The excerpt (Example 1) appears in Pitoni’s Guida armonica (ca. 1701-08) identiied as Sebastian Raval a8. Canon printed in 1600 in the account that he gave to the «Signori musici de Italia» about the challenge of virtuosos that he had with Achille Falcone in Palermo. [Raval] was irst given a negative judgement, but the appeal before the Duke of Macheda, the viceroy at the time, was reported favourable to him by the members of the jury42. At this stage it is impossible to determine which canon was composed during the contest. If canon 1 is the genuine one as Falcone contended, then it is surprising that he did not denounce canon 2 as an evident forgery in order to substantiate his claims about Raval’s misconduct. To complicate the issue further, Raval included a more elaborate canon on the same theme of canon 1 in his Motecta (1600) (canon 3). The book was 39 Bianconi, Lorenzo. «Sussidi bibliograici per i musicisti siciliani del Cinque e Seicento». Rivista italiana di musicologia, 7 (1972), pp. 3-38, at p. 9; Stevenson, Robert M. «Spanish Polyphonists in the Age of the Armada». Inter-American Music Review, 12, 2 (1992), pp. 17-114, at pp. 48-49; Tiby, O. I polifonisti siciliani..., pp. 117-118; Carapezza, Paolo Emilio. «Falcone, Achille». The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 20 vols. Stanley Sadie (ed.). London, Macmillan, 1980 [Grove 1], vol. 6, pp. 367-368; Achille Falcone. Madrigali..., pp. xxxv-xxxvi. 40 Rodríguez-García, E. Arrogance or Audacity?..., chapters 1.5-1.6. 41 Falcone, A. «Relatione del successo...», p. 5. The canon appears in Falcone’s Alli signori (1603). Canto partbook, pp. 24-25. A modern edition can be found in Achille Falcone. Madrigali..., pp. 96-97. 42 Pitoni, Giuseppe Ottavio. Guida armonica..., p. 98. «Sebastiano Raual à 8. nel Canone stampato l’anno 1600 nella relatione, che da à Signori musici d’Italia sopra la disida di virtuosa contesa, che hebbe con Achile Falconi [sic] in Palermo, dove gli fù data sentenza contraria, che in grado di ricorso in presenza del Duca di Macheda Vicerè di quel tempo, la riportò fauoreuole da Giudici deputati». Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 180 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Ex. 1. Excerpt from Raval’s lost Alli eccellentissimi (1600), transcribed in Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni’s Guida armonica..., p. 98. published while the contest was still ongoing (the dedication is signed on June 25), so it is perplexing that neither Falcone nor Raval commented on the coincidence of themes in canons 1 and 343. Antonio Falcone’s narration of the events goes as follows44. The tworound contest took place between April and July 1600. Achille, chapelmaster in Caltagirone, won the irst test. But Raval appealed to the Spanish viceroy, who sanctioned a second trial. This time Raval beat Falcone. The latter set up another trial in front of the «Musici di Roma», to whom Alli signori (1603) was later addressed. Intended to occur in October, it never happened, as Falcone fell ill in September and died in November. In a rather vague paragraph, Falcone’s father indicates that Raval sent his Alli eccellentissimi (1600), instead of attending in person. It is unclear how Antonio Falcone expected the contest to happen without his son being present45. Given Raval’s penchant for challenges, it is unlikely that he had missed an opportunity. Moreover, as he states in a recently uncovered letter to Cardinal Ascanio Colonna (7 April 1600), he was probably in Rome at the time, supervising the printing of funeral music for Philip II of Spain (unknown today)46. At the very least, on 6 May 1600 he had been granted permission by the Spanish viceroy to go to Rome for six months47. The contest consisted on writing a set of extemporized compositions on given themes agreed by the parts. In the irst round, they each composed 43 See a comparison of excerpts of canons 1 and 3 in Rodríguez-García, E. Arrogance or Audacity?..., p. 214. 44 See the excellent dissection of the contest by Privitera in his Achille Falcone. Madrigali..., and also Rodríguez-García, E. Arrogance or Audacity?..., chapter 1.5. 45 Falcone, A. «Relatione del successo...», p. 12. 46 Marshall, M. L. «Warriors and Musicians », pp. 195-201. 47 Tiby, O. «Sebastian Raval...», p. 221. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 181 one canon and one ricercar in two parts: one diatonic and one chromatic. In the second round, they each composed two madrigals and one motet. There was also a comparison of pieces previously composed by Raval and Falcone (one ricercar with four «fughe d’acordo» and a piece with different proportions). A theoretical discussion of musical issues was proposed, although it did not happen in the end. Antonio depicts Raval as a mediocre composer and a villain who corrupted the process in order to steal a victory rightly deserved by his son. Mentions of Raval’s arrogance (including Raval’s recurring claim that he was the best composer in the world) are usually coupled with comments about his having little knowledge48. The remarks about Raval’s Spanishness are always linked with allusions to his position as chapelmaster of the Royal Chapel49. Leaving aside Antonio Falcone’s feelings about what he considered an unfair treatment of his son —who, to complicate the matter further, died after the contest— those complaints have to be framed within the special political status of the Kingdom of Sicily, which stood in free coalition with the Spanish Crown. This gave Sicilians the beneit to retain certain institutional posts50. Whenever the Spaniards circumvented this arrangement, animosity was aroused51. In the Royal Chapel, chapelmasters of both nationalities alternated (Raval was preceded by the Spaniard Luis Ruiz and followed by the Sicilian Vincenzo Gallo)52. Hence, rather than nationality in itself, Falcone’s criticism points to the privileges obtained through positions attained via nationality. A remarkable feature in the accounts by Falcone, Micheli and Valentini is the similarity among the anecdotes designed to illustrate Raval’s arrogance. Two examples are especially striking. One is Raval’s claim that he was the best composer in the world, which is repeated almost verbatim Falcone, A. «Relatione del successo...», pp. 1, 2, and 7. Ibid., pp. 1, 2, 7, and 9. 50 García Marín, José M. Monarquía Católica en Italia: burocracia imperial y privilegios constitucionales. Madrid, Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, 1992, p. 45. About the political structures in Sicily, see also Pérez-Bustamante, Rogelio. «El gobierno de los Estados de Italia bajo los Austrias: Nápoles, Sicilia, Cerdeña y Milán (1517-1700). La participación de la nobleza castellana». Cuadernos de Historia del Derecho, 1 (1994), pp. 25-52; Muto, Giovanni. «Noble Presence and Stratiication in the Territories of Spanish Italy». Spain in Italy. Thomas J. Dandelet and John A. Marino (eds.), pp. 251-297; and Peytavin, Mireille. «Government/ Administration: The Italian Kingdoms within the Spanish Monarchy». Ibid., pp. 355-382, at p. 355. 51 Benigno, Francesco. «Integration and Conlict in Spanish Sicily». Ibid., pp. 23-44, at pp. 26-28. See also Correnti, Santi. La Sicilia del Cinquecento: il nacionalismo isolano. Milan, Mursia, 1980, pp. 37-38, and pp. 285-286. 52 Tiby, O, «Sebastian Raval...», pp. 220-222. 48 49 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 182 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA in all three reports. The other depicts Raval composing a lesser piece and then claiming that he did it that way because the other contestant did not deserve better53. Falcone’s account comes irst chronologically, so he could have been instrumental in coining those images. After all, the book was addressed to Roman musicians and circulated in print. It is impossible to determine whether Micheli knew about Alli signori (1603) and the contest in Palermo. Valentini certainly did: his account of Achille Falcone in La musica inalzata presents a challenge to Falcone’s depiction of the events. From the Roman perspective, Falcone now becomes the foreigner trying to recover his damaged reputation: On account of the proprieties the musicians of the said chapel [Papal Chapel] kept, he [a certain Achille Falcone, foreign musician] addressed to them a printed collection of madrigals. He turned to them as authorities, to offer them proof of his skills, and in order to restore his reputation, of which he was, in some ways, almost deprived because of the affront directed against his musicianship by the aforementioned Sebastián Raval, who enjoyed trying and testing the knowledge of various persons54. 3. Historiography up to 1900 Almost a century later, Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni provides the (to my knowledge) irst known overall picture of Raval in his Notitia de’ contrapuntisti (ca. 1725)55. He accurately summarises Micheli’s Musica vaga and Falcone’s Alli signori (1603): Sebastian Raval: noble Spanish gentleman, of the order of the obedient of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem, chapelmaster of the duke of Urbino. [He is] menSee Valentini’s narration of Raval’s encounter with Giovannelli above. Falcone indicates that «poor Raval confessed in his apologia that he composed a unison canon not because he did not know how to make it better, but because his opponent did not deserve anything better» [«Il poueretto di Raual confessa nella sua Apologia, che fece quel Canone all’unisono, non che no lo sapesse far meglio, ma che il competitore non meritaua meglio»]. Falcone, A. «Relatione del successo...», p. 12. 54 «il quale [un certo Achille Falcone musico forestiero] per il decoro, in cui si mantenevano i musici della detta Cappella, gli dedicò una muta de’ suoi madrigali stampati ricorrendo a loro, come ad Oracoli, con darli saggio della perizia sua, per recuperare la reputatione, della qual in un certo modo ne era quasi privato per l’affronto ricevuto ne’gli studi musicali dal sopradetto Sebastian Raval, che si dilettava di andar tastando, et esperimentando il sapere di questo, e di quello». Valentini, P. F. La musica inalzata, vol. 1, p. 74. 55 Pitoni, Giuseppe Ottavio. Notitia de’ contrapuntisti e compositori di musica (ms. ca. 1725), Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (I-Rvat), Cappella Giulia, CG I,2, and CG I,3. Modern edition in Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni: Notitia de’ contrapuntisti e compositori di musica. Cesarino Ruini (ed.). Studi e testi per la storia della musica 6. Florence, Leo S. Olschki, 1988. 53 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 183 tioned by Don Romano Micheli in the letter of dedication of his Musica [vaga], printed in 1615. He says these exact words: I will not omit to mention the very intelligent musician Sebastián Raval, a Spaniard who came to Rome claiming to be the best musician in the world, having been unable to ind his equal anywhere in Italy. In competition in Rome with the signori Francesco Soriano and Giovanni Maria Nanino, [Raval] became convinced from the very irst moment. Nonetheless they wanted to listen to all his knowledge. So the said Sebastián Raval did not address the said signori other than with the name of signor maestro [italics added]. He held a musical contest with Achille Falcone in 1600 in Palermo, while he was chapelmaster of the Royal Chapel. Having been declared the loser by the judges, he appealed to the viceroy (then the duke of Maqueda) on the grounds that other members of the jury had given him a favourable ruling, against the said Falcone. His printed works, partially listed, are Il 1º libro de’ madrigali a5, printed in Venice by Vincenti, 1593; Il 1º libro de’ mottetti a5, printed in Rome by Francesco Coattino, 1593; Le lamentazioni a5, printed in Rome by Nicolò Mutio, 1594; Il libro de’ mottetti a3, 4, 5, 6, 8 voci, in Palermo by Giovanni Antonio De Franceschi, 25 June 1600, while he was chapelmaster of the Royal Chapel of Palermo56. The entry on Falcone is more speciic about the second contest: Achille Falcone, son of Antonio, was a member of the Accademia of Cosenza, and chapelmaster of Caltagirone with a salary of 400 scudi per year. He died young on 9 November 1600. He had a great musical contest with Sebastián Raval, a Spaniard then chapelmaster in Palermo. It was agreed that Fra Nicolò Toscano, a Dominican, should be designated the judge by agreement and he ruled in favour of Falcone. Raval, insulted by the ruling, afixed posters in all the streets of Palermo, challenging Falcone to compose all’improvviso in front of the Duke of Maqueda, Bernardino Cardine, then the viceroy of Palermo. The challenge was accepted and the contest held before the viceroy, with supporters present on both «Sebastiano Raval. Gentiluomo e nobile spagnolo dell’ordine dell’obedienti di San Giovanni Battista Gierosolimitano, maestro di cappella del duca di Urbino, del quale ne fa menzione don Romano Micheli nella lettera ai lettori della su Musica, stampata l’anno 1615, dove dice queste precise parole: ‘Non restarò dirvi di quell intelligentissimo musico, Sebastiano Raval, spagnolo, il quale venne in Roma attribuendosi di esser il primo musico del mondo, non avendo trovato in alcuna parte d’Italia alcun suo pari. Venedosi alle prove in Roma con li signori Francesco Soriano e Giovanni Maria Nanino, restò chiarito alla prima esperienza, nondimeno volsero questi [‘questi’ not in Micheli] sentire tutto il suo sapere, sì che detto Sebastian Raval non chiamò mai li detti signori que per nome di signor maestro» [italics added]. Ebbe contesa musicale l’anno 1600 in Palermo, mentre era maestro di capella della Cappella reale, con Acchille Falconi [sic] et essendogli stata data sentenza contraria da’ giudici, esso appellò in grado di ricorso al Viceré, allora il duca di Macheda, che d’altri giudici deputati gli fu data sentenza favorevole contro il detto Falconi. Le sue opere stampate si riferiscono in parte, quale sono: Il 1º libro de’ madrigali a 5, stampati in Venezia per il Vincenti, 1593; Il 1º libro de’ mottetti a 5, stampato in Roma per Francesco Coattino, 1593; Le lamentazioni a 5, stampate i Roma per Nicolò Mutio, 1594; Il libro de’ mottetti a 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 voci, in Palermo per Giovanni Antonio De Franceschi a dì 25 giugno 1600, mentre era maestro di cappella della reggia di Palermo». Pitoni, G. O., Notitia de’ contrapuntisti..., p. 155. 56 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 184 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA sides. The decision went against Falcone, without any chance of appeal in the entire kingdom. He viewed this as such an injustice that he resolved to pursue the case in Rome. He appealed irst from Palermo, then from Messina, wanting to debate in Rome during the whole month of October. However, he could not undertake his attempt, for he died some months later (on 9 November 1600), when he returned in his home town, Cosenza. Antonio Falcone, his father, tells all this in his «Relatione» of the event inserted in the book of madrigals printed at his request in the year 1603 in Venice by Giacomo Vincenti, to fulil a promise made to [Achille] before he died57. Giuseppe Baini inaugurates a new trend of viliication of the composer in parallel to the disregard of his music in his inluential Memorie storicocritiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1828)58. This massive work was widely read throughout the nineteenth century59, although it was also heavily criticised because of its composer-centred view, its lack of objectivity, and its organic historical approach60. Raval occupies a negligible space in the book and Baini has no special interest in him. However, his incidental attack on the composer’s reputation went on to have long-lasting consequences. Baini shared the general view of his time that the current sacred music needed urgent renovation, regarding Renaissance music as the ideal «Acchille Falconi (sic). Figliuolo d’Antonio, fu musico et accademico cosentino, maestro di cappella di Caltagirone con provisione di 400 scudi l’anno; giovinetto, morì alli 9 novembre 1600. Ebbe contesa grande in materia di musica con Sebastiano Raval, spagnolo, allora maestro di cappella nella città di Palermo, essendo stato eletto giudice fra Nicolò Toscano, domenicano, di accordo comune, il qua fra Nicolò diede la sentenza favorevole a detto Falcone. Sdegnato il Raval di questa sentenza, attaccò pubblici cartelli per tutte le strade di Palermo sidando il su detto Falcone a comporre all’improvviso avanti il signor duca Bernardino de Cardine, duca di Maqueda, allora viceré di Palermo; che accettata la disida, et operato avanti al detto viceré con li patrini da una parte a l’altra, fu data sentenza contraria inappellabile per tutto il regno, al detto Falconi, il quale, vedendo simil violenza, si risolse di terminar la causa in Roma, dove s’appellò, prima da Palermo e poi da Messina, che per tutto il mese di ottobre 1600 si fosse voluto conferire in Roma. Ma il Falconi ritornato in Cosenza, sua patria, morí pochi mesi dopo; a dì 9 novembre 1600, onde non poté conseguire il suo intento. Il tutto racconta Antonio Falconi, suo padre nella Relatione del sucesso inserita nel libro de’ madrigali a 5 voci, fatti stampare dal detto suo padre, come gli aveva promesso prima di morire, in Venezia l’anno 1603 per Giacomo Vincenti». Pitoni, G. O., Notitia de’ contrapuntisti..., p. 164. 58 Baini, G. Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. 59 Only six years after its publication, a German abridged translation was issued. Ueber das Leben und die Werke des G Pierluigi da Palestrina genannt der Fürst der Musik: Nach den Memorie stoticocritiche des Abbate Giuseppe Baini, verfasst und mit historisch-kritischen Zusatzen begleitet. Franz Sales Kandler (ed.). Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel, 1834. Raval is mentioned in the appendix, p. 223. 60 Garratt, James. Palestrina and the German Romantic Imagination. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 93-97. 57 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 185 against which it should be measured61. In Baini’s conception Palestrina becomes akin to a Romantic genius, the individual creator of authentic sacred music62. Moreover, he appears as a purely Roman composer63. Baini also considers Palestrina’s successors in Rome as a homogeneous group (sometimes described as the «Scuola Romana») that kept the essence of Palestrina’s style untouched64. The apparently uninterrupted tradition was naturally assumed by the «Congregazione di Santa Cecilia», to which Baini was close (Pitoni had also been a member)65. Baini’s «patriotic» view66 is utterly contradicted by the fact that Rome in the sixteenth century was a «city of foreigners», a cosmopolitan spot where artists from different origins met67. Moreover, the label «Scuola Romana» seems inappropriate to characterize a multifarious array of composers, even recognizing the inluence that Palestrina might have exerted on them68. Baini was eager to illustrate the outstanding qualities of the composers belonging to the «Scuola Romana», as well as to negate any worthiness that might be assigned to the non-Romans. To this purpose Raval was the perfect candidate. Baini writes69: An anecdote worth mentioning comes from the period in which the «Scuola Romana» was lourishing under these three masters [the two Nanino brothers Dado, Stéphane. «“Siccome lo disse Zarlino”. La Renaissance dans l’historiographie musicale du Settecento». La Renaissance et sa musique au XIXe siècle. Philippe Vendrix (ed.). Paris, Klincksieck, 2004, pp. 57-90, at pp. 57-58. 62 Garratt, J, Palestrina..., pp. 94-95. 63 Gaillard, Pierre. «Histoire de la légende palestrinienne». Revue de musicologie, 57, 1 (1971), pp. 11-22; Stefani, Gino. «Miti barocchi: Palestrina “Princeps musicae”». Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana, 8 (1974), pp. 347-355. 64 Dado, S., «“Siccome lo disse Zarlino”... », pp. 66-67. Baini, G., Memorie storico-critiche..., vol. 2, pp. 67-68, 127, 213, and 280. 65 Giazotto, Remo. «La Congrégation de Sainte-Cécile et le retour a la culture classique dans la Rome musicale du début du XIXème siècle». Revue belge de musicologie, 26 (1972-1973), pp. 7-13, at p. 11. 66 Gaillard, P., «Histoire de la légende palestrinienne... », pp. 18-19. 67 Dandelet, Thomas J. «Paying for the New St, Peter’s: Contributions to the Construction of the New Basilica from Spanish Lands, 1506-1620». Spain in Italy, pp. 181-195, at pp. 181-182. 68 Lockwood, Lewis; O’Regan, Noel; and Owens, Jessie A. «Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da», Grove 2, vol. 18, pp. 937-957, at p. 947. Marco Della Sciucca has even talked about an «antiscuola», given both the variety of the stylistic approaches and the lack of neat geographical and chronological limits. Della Sciucca, Marco. «Relazioni tra Cesare Tudino e la Scuola Romana». Protagonisti e capolavori della Scuola romana. Giancarlo Rostirolla and Elena Zomparelli (eds.). Palestrina, Fondazione Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Centro di studi palestriniani, 2005, pp. 33-42, at p.42. See also DeFord, R. I. Ruggiero Giovannelli..., vol. 1, pp. 8-17. 69 In this and the following transcriptions of Baini’s book, bold letters indicate his departures from the sources; italics come from the original. 61 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 186 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA and Soriano]. Sebastián Raval, a Spaniard, chaplain obedient of the order of St. John Baptist of Jerusalem, and chapelmaster of the duke of Urbino, was called by Bernardino de Cardine, duke of Maqueda, viceroy of Sicily, to the Royal Chapel of Palermo. On his way through Rome, he stopped there several months (for reasons unknown). Here, where musicians met, he prided himself on being the best musician in the world, [boasting that he] had not found, as he said, his equal anywhere in Italy. Eventually, someone nauseated by such pride suggested that he inally tested this with the two brothers Nanino and Francesco Soriano, master musicians of Rome. He soon challenged Giovanni Maria Nanino, as the elder brother of Bernardino, and Soriano to compose all’improvviso on themes proposed by each other. The challenge was accepted by the Romans. All three met together and proposed themes for each other. While Raval was still trying to work the irst idea out, Nanino and Soriano presented their respective compositions complete, adorned with many artiices, and so clearly laid out, that Raval, white-faced, asked them to forgive his boldness. Having shown to them the narrow limits of his knowledge, as they had anticipated he would, he begged them not to exclude him from their school. Thereafter, for as long as he resided in Rome, as indicated by D. Romano Micheli, who attended this contest, (fn. 478) he did not address the said signori Giovanni Maria Nanino and Francesco Suriano other than with the name of signor Maestro. This humble confession was much more glorious to Raval in the annals of music than the musical victory extorted a few years later in Palermo. [This victory was aided] by the viceroy’s favour and helped by the cowardice of the incompetent judges biased against the young Achille Falcone, whose admirable talent had already obtained a favourable ruling from Fra Nicolò Toscano, the Dominican judge elected in advance by mutual consent. On account of this violent injustice the unfortunate Falcone lost his life in a few days, with immense damage to the arts (fn. 479)70. 70 «Avvenne intanto, iorendo la scuola romana sotto questi tre maestri un aneddoto degno di commemorazione. Sebastiano Raval, spagnuolo, cappellano obbediente dell’ordine di S. Gio. Battista Gerosolimitano, maestro di cappella del Duca di Urbino, fu chiamato da Bernardino de Cardine duca di Maquedo vicerè di Sicilia alla cappella reale di Palermo. Nel passaggio ch’ei fece per Roma, vi si trattenne, non saprei dir la ragione, parecchi mesi: e quì ne’ ritruovi de’ musici attribuivasi il vanto di primo musico del mondo, non avendo trovato in tutta Italia, com’ei diceva, alcun suo pari. V’ebbe inalmente chi nauseato di tanto orgoglio gli propose di provarsi pur una volta con i due fratelli Nanini e Francesco Suriano maestri di Roma. Ed egli tosto sidò il Nanini Gio. Maria come fratel maggiore di Bernardino, ed il Suriani a comporre estemporaneamente sopra temi da proporsi a vicenda. Fu accettata da’ romani la disida, e trovatisi tutti tre insieme e propostisi a vicenda i temi, mentre il Raval ancora studiavasi di accozzare la prima idea, il Nanini, ed il Suriano gli presentarono compiute le respettive composizioni adorne di tanti artiizi, e con tanta chiarezza disposti, che il Raval impallidito dimandò loro perdono del suo ardire e manifestato avendo ai medesimi, siccome quegli vollero ch’ei facesse, gli angusti limiti delle sue cognizioni, pregolli a non escluderlo dalla loro scuola, e per tutto il tempo que continuò a demorare in Roma, al dir di D. Romano Micheli, che trovossi presente a questa disida (478) non chiamò mai li detti signori Francesco Suriano e Gio. Maria Nanini, che per nome di signor maestro. La qual’ umile confessione fu al Raval molto più gloriosa negli annali della musica, che non la vittoria musicale estorta pochi anni appresso in Palermo per favore del vicerè, e per viltà di giudici incompetenti e prezzolati contro il giovanetto Achille Falcone, il cui Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 187 Footnote 478 gives the bibliographic references of the irst contest reproducing almost verbatim Pitoni’s quote of Micheli’s Musica vaga71. Footnote 479 «quotes» Pitoni’s entry on Achille Falcone: FOOTNOTE 479: Achille Falcone, son of Antonio, was a member of the Accademia of Cosenza, and chapelmaster of Caltagirone with a salary of 400 scudi per year, a quite high wage at that time. He died young on 9 November 1600. Pitoni, in his manuscript Notitia de’ contrapuntisti, says the following: Achille Falcone had a great musical contest... [same as Pitoni’s account above] ... He appealed irst from Palermo, then from Messina. Meanwhile, he sent nine questions to Raval through Antonio il Verso, a Sicilian from Piazza, a very famous composer, and student of Pietro Vinci. As soon as the letter of the appeal reached Giovanni Maria Nanino and Soriano in Rome, Falcone died in Cosenza on 9 November 1600. Those who wish [to read] the full report of this contest can consult the preface of Achille Falcone’s book of madrigals a5, printed at the request of Antonio Falcone, father of Achille, in accordance with the promise made to his son before he died. Also [information can be found in] Il libro di mottetti a 3. 4. 5. 6. 8. voci of Sebastián Raval, chapelmaster of the Royal Chapel of Palermo, Palermo, de Franceschi, 160172. ammirabile talento aveva già ottenuta favorevol sentenza dal P. F. Niccolò Toscano domenicano giudice eletto anticipatamente di comun consenso: per la qual violenta ingiustizia l’infelice Falcone perdette a danno immenso dell’arte in pochi giorni la vita (479)». Baini, G., Memorie storico-critiche..., vol. 2, pp. 39-41. 71 FOOTNOTE 478: Lettera di D. Romano Micheli romano alli musici della capella di N.S., et altri musici romani. Venezia, 1618 [this is mistaken, as the letter does not contain any information about the contest in Rome]. Può vedersi anche la prefazione all’opera intit. Musica vaga et artiiciosa. Venezia, 1615. ove così si esprime. Non resterò dirvi […] che per nome di signor maestro. Ibid. 72 FOOTNOTE 479: Achille Falconi (sic), iglio di Antonio, fu accademico Cosentino, e maestro di cappella di Caltagirone con la provisione di scudi quattrocento annui, provisione di que’ tempi assai vistosa. Morì giovanetto li 9. Novembre 1600. Il Pitoni nelle notizie Ms. dei contrappuntisti così ne parla. Ebbe Achille Falcone gran contesa musicale con Sebastiano Raval spagnuolo allora maestro di cappella in Palermo, nella qual contesa essendo stato giudice di accordo commune F. Nicolò, toscano domenicano, questi dette la sentenza favorevole al Falcone. Sdegnato il Raval di questa sentenza attaccò pubblici cartelli per tutte le strade di Palermo sidando il detto Falcone a comporre all’improvviso avanti il duca di Maquedo Bernardino di Cardine allora vicerè di Palermo. Il Falcone accettò la disida, ed essendosi operato avanti al detto vicerè con li patrini da una parte a dall’altra, fu data sentenza contraria inappellabile per tutto il Regno al detto Falcone, il quale, vedendosi usare cotanto violenta ingiustizia, si risolse di terminare la causa a Roma, ove si appellò prima da Palermo, poi da Messina; ed inviò in tanto nove quesiti al Raval per mezzo di Antonio il Verso siciliano di Piazza, famosissimo compositore, e scolari di Pietro Vinci. Appena però giunsero in Roma a Gio. Maria Nanini, ed al Suriano le lettere di questa appellazione, il Falcone morì in Cosenza li 9 novembre 1600. Chi bramasse l’intera relazione di questa contesa può vedere la prefazione del libro di madrigali a5. voci di Achille Falconi [sic] fatto imprimere in Venezia il 1603. per Giacomo Vincenti da Antonio Falconi [sic] padre di Achille giusta la promesa fatta al suo igliuolo prima che morisse. Come pure il libro di mottetti a 3. 4. 5. 6. 8. voci di Sebastiano Raval maestro della regia cappella di Palermo. Palermo de Franceschi 1601. Ibid. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 188 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Baini makes several inaccurate remarks. For example, he states that Micheli was present in the contest (although he claims to have used Micheli’s report, Baini based his account on Pitoni’s Notitia..., who omits the detail)73. Also, he is mistaken in saying that Raval’s Motecta (1600) contains information about the contest in Palermo. More critically, Baini freely expands Pitoni’s account by concocting or modifying details and excluding any positive comments concerning Raval. In the Roman contest the most relevant fabrication is the statement that Raval was still working on his irst idea while Nanino and Soriano had completed their brilliant compositions74. Similarly, Raval’s repentance and his contenders’ magnanimous response is largely embellished, even introducing a plea not to be expelled from their school (Nanino’s «school»?, the «Scuola Romana»?). More importantly, he seems to suggest that Raval challenged Nanino and Soriano not as the best composers in Rome (as Micheli suggests) but as the representatives of the «Scuola Romana»75. As such, they resoundingly and humiliatingly defeated Raval. Regarding the second contest, Baini not only accepts Antonio Falcone’s view without criticism, but develops its more dramatic elements, such as the titanic ight of the young Achille against the corrupt machinery, which inally leads him to death. He also adds the names of the most celebrated Sicilian polyphonists in order to enhance the relevance of the contest (even if Vinci had died in 158476 and Il Verso was a supporter of Raval). Finally, by naming Nanino and Soriano as the recipients of Falcone’s appeal he links the whole event to Rome77. The idea that Micheli was a witness remains in modern bibliography. See for example Sebastián Raval. Il Primo Libro..., vol. 1, p. 11, fn. 8. 74 It is retained in modern literature such as Bizzarini, Marco. Luca Marenzio: the Career of a Musician between the Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation. English translation by James Chater. Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003, p. 3. 75 This idea still appears in modern studies such as Newcomb, Anthony. «Nanino, Giovanni Maria», Grove 1, vol. 13, pp. 20-21; Newcomb, Anthony. «Nanino, Giovanni Maria», Grove 2, vol. 17, pp. 610-611; and Wald, Melanie. «Sic ludit in orbe terrarum aeterna Dei sapientia»– Harmonie als Utopie. Untersuchungen zur Musurgia universalis von Athanasius Kircher. Ph.D.diss. Universität Zürich, 2006, p. 197, fn. 556. 76 Carapezza, Paolo Emilio and Collisani, Giuseppe: «Vinci, Pietro», Grove 2, vol. 26, pp. 657-659. 77 This claim has been generally ignored by modern scholarship, which could be interpreted as a rejection of its veracity. Only Tiby speciically acknowledges that it was introduced by Baini. Tiby, O. I polifonisti siciliani..., p. 119. Surprisingly enough, it resurfaces in the latest literature. In his Achille Falcone. Madrigali..., Privitera provides a convoluted explanation. He claims to follow Pitoni, but mistakenly states that the latter mentions Nanino and Soriano as the recipients of 73 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 189 Baini would have been unable to accept that an arrogant foreigner could defeat the «Scuola Romana» in Rome. In Palermo Raval occupied the top of the hierarchical structure by way of force (and used his power to pervert the result); more besides, he was a foreigner and, as such, lacking in any musical authority. Even if he won in the end, the moral victory was not his. Raval’s musical skills were completely irrelevant to the question of his worth. Baini’s standpoint pervades virtually all the ensuing literature78. In 1890 Gaetano Gaspari adds a tangential line to the story, which makes Raval’s defeat appear even more epic79. Gaspari wrongly links the Roman contest to the composition of two massive collections of cantus irmus pieces by Soriano (Canoni et oblighi di cento)80 and Nanino (157 pieces in the manuscript C36 in Bologna)81 now credited to Costanzo Festa82. the appeal (p. xvii). However, at the beginning of his study (p. ix, fn. 1) Privitera states that the names are missing in Pitoni’s account but appear in Baini’s. He suggests that Pitoni could have received the information verbally, but he does not explain how it reached Baini. The mistaken claim is also conveyed in Sebastián Raval: Il Primo Libro, vol. 1, p. 12, fn. 12. 78 Fétis, François J. Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique. 8 vols. Brussels, Meline, Cans et Compagnie, 1835-44 [«Falcone», vol. 4 (1837), pp. 65-66; and «Raval», vol. 7 (1841), p. 365]; idem: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique. 8 vols. Paris, Firmin-Didot frères, ils et cie, 1866-78 [revised edition by the author]. Two supplementary vols. by Arthur Pougin. Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1878–80 [«Falcone», vol. 3 (1866), pp. 179-180; and «Raval», vol. 7 (1867), pp. 189-190]; La Fage, Juste Adrien Lenoir de. Essais de diphthérographie musicale, ou notices, descriptions, analyses, extraits, et reproductions de manuscrits relatifs à la pratique, à la théorie et à l’histoire de la musique. Paris, O. Legouix, 1864, p. 303; Ambros, August W. Geschichte der Musik, Leipzig, F. E. C. Leuckart, 1868, vol. 3, p. 591 [revised edition by Otto Kade (Leipzig, 1893), pp. 609-610]; Eitner, Robert. Biographisch-bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten christlicher Zeitrechnung bis Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. 11 vols. Graz, Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1959-60 [«Falcone», vol. 3 (1900), p. 384; and «Raval», vol. 8 (1903), p. 142]. 79 Gaspari, Gaetano. Catalogo della Biblioteca del Liceo Musicale di Bologna. 4 vols. Bologna, Libreria Romagnoli dall’Acqua, 1890-1905, vol. 1 (1890), pp. 301-302. 80 Canoni et oblighi di cento, et dieci sorte, sopra l’Ave Maris Stella. Rome, Giovanni B. Robletti, 1610. RISM A/I: S 3983. 81 Bologna, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna, (I-Bc), Ms. C36, the music also copied in Ms. T225. 82 Gaspari could have been inspired by Giovanni Battista Martini, who in his letters of the 1730s stated his suspicions that the counterpoints attributed to Nanino could be linked to the Roman contest. See Agee, R. J. «Costanzo Festa’s Gradus...», pp. 6-7; and Durante, Sergio. «On Artiicioso Compositions at the Time of Frescobaldi». Frescobaldi Studies. Alexander Silbiger (ed.). Durham, Duke University Press, 1987, pp. 195-217, at p. 205. Both Daniele Sabaino and Laurence Wuidar keep the attribution of the 157 counterpoints to Giovanni Maria Nanino. Sabaino, Daniele. «Aspetti della teoria contrappuntistica e della didattica della composizione nella Roma del Giovannelli: I precetti teorici manoscritti attributi a Giovanni Maria e Bernardino Nanino. Note storico-ilologiche per nuove attribuzioni». Ruggiero Giovannelli ‘musico eccellentissimo e forse il primo del suo tempo’. Carmela Bongiovanni and Giancarlo Rostirolla (eds.). Palestrina, Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 190 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Only Franz X. Haberl partially disagrees with this general view. In an article from 1891 he acknowledges the facts as recounted by Baini and includes Gaspari’s suggestions83. Haberl reports Raval’s arrogance in the competitions, although he also identiies signs of modesty in the original accounts. But more importantly, he rejects any link between Raval’s attitude and his guessing compositional skills: from the analysis of his Motectorum (1593) he concludes that Raval was an accomplished composer. Haberl briely alludes to the inluence of the rivalry between Spaniards and Italians in Raval’s biography84. 4. Historiography from 1900 The biography written by Casimiri in 193185 keeps Baini’s main ideas, although it incorporates Haberl’s thoughts on Raval’s worthiness as a composer86. Fondazione Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 1998, pp. 363-387, at pp. 377-378; and Wuidar, L. Canons énigmes..., pp. 87-88. As yet another proof of the fact that the attribution of the counterpoints to Nanino occurred from the 18th century onwards, as indicated by Agee, I add a statement by the theorist Pietro Cerone, who in his El Melopeo (1613) clearly discriminates between the counterpoints by Nanino and Festa: «The counterpoints of Giovanni Maria Nanino will provide no less satisfaction [than De las Infantas’ counterpoints], all of them based on a cantus irmus. It is most commendable that he compelled himself to compose them on the same cantus irmus as Costanzo Festa, both varied in themselves and different from the hundred main counterpoints by the said Festa». «No de menos satisfacion seran los contrapuntos de Iuan Maria Nanino, todos hechos sobre de vn Cantollano y lo que es de mayor consideracion es, que obligose hazerlos sobre del mesmo Cantollano de Costancio Fiesta y siempre differentes entre ellos, y en todo variados de los ciento contrapuntos principales del dicho Fiesta». Cerone, Pietro. El Melopeo y Maestro. Naples, Giovanni Battista Gargano, 1613, p. 90. 83 Haberl, Franz X. «Giovanni Maria Nanino». Kirchenmusikalisches Jahrbuch, 6 (1891), pp. 81-97. 84 Ibid., p. 91. 85 Casimiri, Raffaele. «Sebastiano Raval, musicista spagnolo del secolo XVI». Note d’archivio per la storia musicale, 8 (1931), pp. 1-20. 86 A few prior publications follow the mainstream line. Radiciotti introduces the misleading idea that Raval belonged to the «magniici virtuosi» of Urbino, as discussed below. Radiciotti, Giuseppe. «Due musicisti spagnoli del secolo XVI in relazione con la Corte di Urbino». Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft, 14 (1913), pp. 185-190 [irst published in Al maestro Pedrell. Escritos heortásticos. Unknown ed. Tortosa, Casa Social del Orfeó Tortosí, 1911), pp. 225-232]. Collet erroneously indicates that Raval was a disciple of Adrian Willaert, which is highly improbable on mere chronological grounds. Collet, Henri. Le mysticisme musical espagnol au XVIe siècle. Paris, Félix Alcan, 1913. Facsimile edition by unknown editor. Plande-la-Tour, Éditions d’Aujourd’hui, 1979, p. 368, fn. 1. Mitjana just transmits the information found in Baini and Gaspari. Mitjana, Rafael. Don Fernando de las Infantas, teólogo y músico. Madrid, n.p., 1918, pp. 92-94. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 191 The story takes a new twist in Ottavio Tiby’s publications on Raval in the 1950s, which emphasize the composer’s time in Sicily87. The appendix of his I polifonisti siciliani thoroughly deals with the contest in Palermo. On the whole, Tiby relies on Baini’s narrative. All the same, he makes a few attempts at criticism marred by contradictions88. Whether he casts doubts on the simplistic view of the Roman contest, he does not disregard Baini’s conclusions89. He starts by questioning the reliability of Falcone’s Alli signori (1603), but then he resolves that it is accurate and sincere90. He is equally ambiguous as regards the existence of a «Sicilian School» of polyphonists. Although he concludes that there are no stylistic links among Sicilian composers of the time91, a sense of corporatism is still evident when he argues that Raval believed he could outdo «them»92. In Tiby’s opinion, Raval’s Spanishness is the key to a supposedly privileged relationship with the viceroys93. This would explain for him the increase of wages along his career (which was in fact quite usual for the time) and also his prominent role in the compilation of Inidi lumi (1603). «Regionalism»94 seems to lead Tiby to suggest that the «real» Sicilians probably saw Raval as an intruder95. Paolo Emilio Carapezza stretches Tiby’s ideas further in his publications since the 1980s. His position about the existence of a Sicilian musical school is unequivocally afirmative: whereas for Tiby Pietro il Vinci is the irst remarkable Sicilian composer96, for Carapezza he is the founder of the Sicilian School97. In his attempt at justifying the merit of the Sicilian School, Carapezza’s disapproval of Raval runs parallel to his praise of Falcone: Tiby, Ottavio. «Sebastian Raval: a 16th-Century Spanish Musician in Italy». Musica Disciplina, 2 (1948), pp. 217–223; idem. «The Polyphonic School in Sicily of the Sixteenth-Seventeenth Century», Musica Disciplina, 5 (1951), pp. 203-211; idem. «La musica nella Real Cappella Palatina di Palermo», Anuario Musical, 8 (1952), pp. 177-192; idem, I polifonisti siciliani del XVI e XVII secolo. Palermo, S. F. Flaccovio, 1969 [posthumous]. 88 They have been highlighted in Bianconi, L. «Sussidi bibliograici...». 89 Tiby, O. I polifonisti siciliani..., pp. 106-107. 90 Ibid., pp. 117-118. 91 Tiby, O. «The Polyphonic School in Sicily...», p. 205. 92 Tiby, O. I polifonisti siciliani..., pp. 74 and 117. 93 Tiby, O. «Sebastian Raval...», p. 221; idem. I polifonisti siciliani..., pp. 105-107. 94 Bianconi, L. «Sussidi bibliograici...», p. 4. 95 Tiby, O. «Sebastian Raval...», pp. 222-223. 96 Tiby, O. I polifonisti siciliani..., p. 57. 97 Carapezza, Paolo Emilio. «Vinci, Pietro». Grove 1, vol. 19, pp. 787-789. 87 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 192 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA Raval was a less than mediocre composer, ignorant, presumptuous and a scoundrel, but his Spanish origin, his past as a soldier and a Capuchin monk and his deinitive status as knight and monk of the Order of Malta, assured him the protection of prominent [igures] and a brilliant musical career. In Rome he dared to challenge none other than Giovanni Maria Nanino and Francesco Soriano and ignominiously lost. In Palermo he challenged to a music contest on theory and practice the young Achille Falcone, “musician and member of the Accademia of Cosenza, chapelmaster of Caltagirone”, and prodigious composer, great expert in all kinds of musical knowledge. He was miserably defeated again, but this time he demanded revenge before the viceroy in person (Raval’s patron!). Falcone recklessly accepted (he could not do otherwise), and —in spite of triumphing again in the battleield— he was declared the loser because of intrigue and fraud98. Finally, Carapezza conveys a sense of historical wrong towards Falcone, which must be made good: «Achille Falcone [...] suffered a serious injustice in Palermo, but history has repaired it»99. In the revised edition of his ground-breaking Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age100, Robert M. Stevenson is the irst to express consistent criticism of the established version. He warns about the excessive credibility given to Falcone’s Alli signori (1603). He also points out that the 98 «Raval era un compositore men che mediocre, ignorante, presuntuoso e cialtrone; ma la sua origine spagnola, il suo passato di soldato e di frate cappuccino, e la sua condizione deinitiva di cavaliere e fra’ cappellano dell’ordine di Malta gli valsero altolocata protezione e brillante carriera musicale. A Roma osò sidare nel 1593 a concorso di composizione nientemeno che Giovanni Maria Nanino e Francesco Soriano, e ignominiosamente soccombette. A Palermo provocò a disida di teoria e di prattica musicale il giovane Achille Falcone, “musico et academico cusentino, maestro di cappella di Caltagirone”, compositore prodigioso e profondo conoscitore d’ogni scienza musicale e di nuovo miseramente fu sconitto; ma stavolta pretese la rivincita dinanzi al viceré in persona (il padrone stesso di Raval!): Falcone incautamente accettò (né poteva altrimenti) e —pur trionfando di nuovo sul campo— fu dichiarato perdente per via di brogli e falsi». Le risa a vicenda: vaghi e dilettevoli madrigali a cinque voci posti in musica da diversi autori / raccolti e dati in luce da Giovan Pietro Flaccomio (1598). Paolo Emilio Carapezza (ed.). Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane 12. Florence, Leo S. Olschki, 1993, p. xix. 99 «Achille Falcone [...] subì gravi torti a Palermo; ma la storia li ha riparati». Carapezza, Paolo Emilio. «Achille Falcone, musico & academico cusentino». Polifonisti calabresi dei secoli XVI e XVII. Giuseppe Donato (ed.). Rome, Torre d’Orfeo, 1985, pp. 14-34, at p. 21. 100 Stevenson, Robert M. Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1961. A revision was published in four sizeable articles in English [idem: «Tomás Luis de Victoria: Unique Spanish Genius». Inter-American Music Review, 12, 1 (1991), pp. 1-100; idem. «Spanish Polyphonists in the Age of the Armada». Inter-American Music Review, 12, 2 (1992), pp. 17–114; idem. «Cristóbal de Morales (ca. 1500-1553): Light of Spain in Music». Inter-American Music Review, 13, 2 (1993), pp. 1-105; and idem. «Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599): Seville’s Sixteenth-Century Cynosure». Inter-American Music Review, 13, 1 (1993), pp. 21-98], and as a book in Spanish [idem. La música en las catedrales españolas del Siglo de Oro. Madrid, Alianza Música, 1993]. Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 193 «Italian» version predominates, due to the fact that the main contributors on Sicilian music to the most important dictionaries are Italian scholars101. The latest additions to the bibliography show that the issue remains alive. Massimo Privitera’s Achille Falcone. Madrigali (published in 2000) delivers a thorough examination of Falcone’s Alli signori (1603)102. Although he begins by stating his reservations about the reliability of Falcone’s report, he conforms to Tiby’s and Carapezza’s views103. Like them, Privitera’s judgement on Raval’s music skills is based on two elements: the composer’s hypothetical lack of solid musical background, which is based on scarce surviving biographical data104, and the unreliable musical examples provided by Falcone. Finally, the sense of historical reparation irst found in Carapezza is still kept in Privitera105. Cea Galán’s Sebastián Raval. Il Primo Libro... (issued in 2008) is the irst attempt at discussing previously established ideas about Raval by thoroughly examining his music, which he deems advanced. Cea Galán claims that the neglect of the composer is entirely for non-musical reasons and, following Stevenson, also suggests that Raval’s situation as a Spaniard in Italy could have contributed to his current dismal reputation as a composer106. To conclude, a critical reading of the contests provides for a complex and nuanced picture. The three surviving accounts relect Raval’s behaviour itting to the stereotype of the «arrogant Spaniard» current in the Early Modern period. For Micheli and Valentini, writing in a cosmopolitan Rome populated by Spaniards, it was a commonplace description bereft of any negative connotations about Raval’s skills. For Falcone, a Sicilian living under the rule of the Spanish Crown, Spanishness was linked to the privileges conferred to a dominant culture. This, along with his close involvement in the events, might partially explain his harsh depiction of Raval. In any case, the general view on Raval up until the nineteenth century was that of a capable composer. Stevenson, R. M. «Spanish Polyphonists...», pp. 48-49. Achille Falcone. Madrigali... A more recent article of 2004 summarises Privitera’s viewpoint on the issue. See Privitera, Massimo. «“...Cantando victus...”: la disida musicale fra Sebastian Raval e Achille Falcone». Care note amorose: Sigismondo d’India e dintorni. Sabrina Saccomani Caliman (ed.). Turin, Istituto per i beni musicali in Piemonte, 2004, pp. 133-143. 103 Achille Falcone. Madrigali..., pp. xxxv-xxxvi. 104 Ibid., pp. xix-xx. For a radically different view of Raval’s prowess, see Valentini’s assessment above. 105 Ibid., p. xxxvi; Privitera, M. «“...Cantando victus...», p. 138. This point is raised by Andrés Cea Galán in Sebastián Raval: Il Primo Libro..., vol. 1, p. 12. 106 Sebastián Raval: Il Primo Libro..., vol. 1, p. 15. 101 102 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 194 ESPERANZA RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA The change in the estimation of Raval, as a deceitful character and a mediocre composer, is a fabrication of Baini, in consequence of his endeavour to exalt the achievements of the «Scuola Romana». Inluenced by nationalism, he understood Spanishness from an excluding Roman viewpoint. Whereas a few critical voices (including Haberl, Stevenson and Bianconi) were overlooked, Baini’s position has been perpetuated, partly due to lack of interest in Raval’s igure, combined with the active recuperation of his antagonist in the contest in Palermo. This has been helped by the surge of interest in regional musical issues from the second half of the twentieth century. Finally, and even if my dissection of the issue does not attract consensus, I hope that my last thought will. Like Haberl, I am of the opinion that the contests (and Raval’s personality) should be separate from the assessment of Raval’s worth as a composer. This is mainly because the studies devoted to the analysis of his music give an almost unanimously positive assessment107, drawing attention to the composer’s progressive approach to composition108. Leaving aside his irst two books —Canzonette (1593) and Madrigali a5 (1593)— as tentative ventures, the remainder of his output displays noteworthy features. His following three books introduce avant-garde elements. The bold use of accidentalism in his Motectorum (1593) takes Victoria’s approach a step further109. His Lamentationes (1594) include elements leading towards monody, which Cavalieri will develop fully in his own lamentations110. In his Madrigali a3 (1595), he explores virtuoso and solo writing, and also employs monodic language in his only extant solo madrigal published elsewhere111. His last two books deNevertheless, two authors are critical of Raval’s skills as a composer after having analysed his music. Ruth DeFord focuses on Raval’s Madrigali a5 (1593). I would agree with her that the book has its weaknesses, which I attribute to the madrigals being early works. However, I do not share her views on Raval’s personality. See DeFord, Ruth I. Ruggiero Giovannelli and the Madrigal in Rome, 1572–1599. 3 vols. Ph.D.diss. Harvard University, 1975 [includes the edition of one madrigal]. Massimo Privitera examines the music attributed to Raval in the contest in Palermo in his edition of Achille Falcone: Madrigali... As explained above, I consider this music unsuitable for illustrating Raval’s style, as it was likely forged. 108 For a general view of Raval’s output see Rodríguez-García, E., Arrogance or Audacity?... 109 Ibid., chapter 2. 110 Raval’s lamentations are analyzed in Ring, Johannes. Studien zu den mehrstimmigen Lamentationen des 16. Jahrhunderts: Escribano, de Morales und Raval. Ph.D.diss. Universität Hamburg, 2000, including the edition of one lesson. 111 Raval’s only surviving solo madrigal is examined and edited in Pietro Maria Marsolo: Secondo libro dei madrigali a quattro voci, opera decima (1614). Lorenzo Bianconi (ed.). English translation by Michael Aspinall. Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane 4. Rome, De Santis, 1973; 107 Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459 SEBASTIÁN RAVAL (†1604) AND «SPANISH ARROGANCE»... 195 monstrate a mature style of considerable individuality. His Ricercari (1596) gathers the Ferrarese and Neapolitan traditions and there he masters intricate contrapuntal techniques such as the «fughe d’accordo», later used by Frescobaldi112. In his Motecta (1600) he features the small concertato style, introducing the organ as accompaniment two years before Viadana published his famous collection Cento Concerto Ecclessiastici in 1602. All things considered, I would suggest there is suficient ground for reappraising Raval as a composer of substance, whatever sense is made of his «Spanish arrogance». Recibido: 31 diciembre 2013 Aceptado: 10 marzo 2014 and Hill, John W. Roman Monody, Cantata, and Opera from the Circles around Cardinal Montalto. 2 vols. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997. 112 Raval’s ricercars are examined in Sebastián Raval. 6 cánones. Máximo Pajares Barón (ed.). Madrid, Sociedad Española de Musicología, 1985. He also includes an edition of six canons from the Ricercari (1596); Swenson, Milton A. The Four-Part Ensemble Ricercar from 1540 to 1619. 2 vols. Ph.D.diss. Indiana University, 1971, including an edition of three ricercars; Sebastiano Raval: Three Ensemble Ricercars in Four Parts from ‘Il Primo Libro de Canzonette’, 1593. Milton A. Swenson (ed.). Ottawa, Dovehouse Editions, 1981, including the edition of the same three ricercars; Fischer, Klaus. «La posizione di Ascanio Mayone e Giovanni Maria Trabaci nello sviluppo del ricercare». La musica a Napoli durante il Seicento. Domenico Antonio D’Alessandro and Agostino Ziino (eds.). Rome, Edizioni Torre d’Orfeo, 1987, pp. 253-283; Cannizzaro, Diego. La musica organistica nei regni di Napoli e di Sicilia nel XVI e XVII secolo. 2 vols. Ph.D.diss. Università degli studi di Roma «La Sapienza», 2004, including an edition of seventeenth ricercars from the Ricercari (1596); and by Andrés Cea Galán in his Sebastián Raval: Il Primo Libro..., containing an edition of all the ricercars from both the Canzonette (1593) and the Ricercari (1596). Revista de Musicología, vol. XXXVII, no 1 (2014), pp. 169-195 ISSN 0210-1459

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