ays
that in these compositions he tried continually to give the meaning of
the words and so to touch responsive chords of feeling. He endeavored to
compose in a pleasing style by hiding all contrapuntal effects as much
as possible. He set long syllables to consonances and let passing notes
go with short syllables. He applied similar considerations to the
introduction of passages "although sometimes as a certain ornamentation
I have used a few broken notes to the value of a quarter, or at most a
half note, on a short syllable, something one can endure, because they
quickly slip by and are not really passages, but only add to the
pleasant effect."

Caccini continues his preface with reiterated objections to vocal
passages used merely for display, and says that he has striven to show
how they can be turned to artistic uses. He deprecates the employment of
contrapuntal device for its own sake, and says that he employs it only
infrequently and to fill out middle voices. He forcefully condemns all
haphazard use of vocal resources and says that the singer should labor
to penetrate the meaning and passion of that which he sings and to
convey it to the hearer. This he asserts can never be accomplished by
the delivery of passages.

Here, then, we have a clear statement of the artistic ideals cherished
by Caccini, and these, we may take it, were shared by the other members
of the camerata who were engaged in the pursuit of a method of direct,
eloquent, dramatic solo expression. The opening measures of one of the
numbers in the "Nuove Musiche" will serve to show in what manner Caccini
developed his theories in practice and equally what close relation this
style had to that of the new dramatic recitative.

[Musical Notation]

In the preface to his score of "Euridice" Peri has set forth his ideas
about recitative. He has told us how he tried to base its movement upon
that of ordinary speech, using few tones and calm movements for quiet
conversation and more extended intervals and animated movement for the
delineation of emotion. This was founded upon the same basis as the
theory of Caccini, which condemned emphatically the indiscriminate
employment of swelled tones, exclamatory emphases and other vocal
devices. Caccini desired that the employment of all these factors in
song should be regulated by the significance of the text. In other words
these reformers were fighting a fight not unlike that of Wagner. They
deplored the mak