Benedetto Ferrari: solo songs from Baroque Venice

Benedetto Ferrari was a theorbo player, librettist and composer who helped launch public opera in Venice. The catalogue concentrates on his solo songs: 33 scores, about 62 minutes of music and 10,576 notated notes. Every entry carries lyrics and every one is indexed at complexity 0.

Torni al lido il nocchiero leads with 23 views, just ahead of Al fin del mar d'amore on 22, with A che bellezza e gratia on 17 and Lingua di Donna on 15. These are short continuo songs from the three books of Musiche varie, not extracts from the operas, none of which survives.

33Scores
62 minutesMusic (approx.)
10,576Notated notes
33Scores with lyric notation

About Benedetto Ferrari

Ferrari was born in Reggio Emilia around 1603. He worked in Rome in 1617 and 1618, in Parma from 1619 to 1623, and probably in Modena before moving to Venice. There, in 1637, his libretto Andromeda, set by Francesco Manelli, opened the Teatro San Cassiano—the first opera staged in a public theatre rather than at court. He wrote both words and music for La maga fulminata (1638) and Il pastor regio (1640). A duet text from the Bologna staging of the latter in 1641, 'Pur ti miro, pur ti godo', was later used in the surviving manuscripts of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, possibly with Ferrari's music.

He went to Vienna in 1651 to serve the emperor Ferdinand III and returned to Modena in 1653 as court choirmaster. The post was suppressed in 1662 and restored in 1674; he held it until his death in Modena on 22 October 1681. None of his operatic music survives. What does survive is the three books of Musiche varie a voce sola, printed at Venice in 1633, 1637 and 1641, and a handful of libretti and an oratorio.

The catalogue draws on those songbooks. Torni al lido il nocchiero and Al fin del mar d'amore both come from the third book of 1641, where the lover is compared to a sailor coming into port. Lilla, ver la foresta, Cosi bella voi sete and Donne non mi credete are shorter continuo songs in the same monodic idiom.

At about two minutes per entry, these are songs for a single voice and continuo, not opera scenes. All 33 sit at complexity index 0.

Listening and playing notes

Ferrari's songs are built on a bass line that repeats or varies under changing harmonies, so the theorbist should establish the pattern before the singer begins. In Torni al lido il nocchiero, keep the nautical figure light and let the voice move against it; the image only works if the accompaniment stays regular. The comic songs need clear diction more than ornament, while the laments can take a little rubato at the cadence. Do not perform them as operatic arias: they are chamber songs, and a dry, intimate sound suits the text.

Selected scores

Torni al lido il nocchiero - Benedetto Ferrari
From the third book of Musiche varie (1641), a song comparing the end of love to a ship coming into port.
Al fin del mar d'amore - Benedetto Ferrari
No. 8 of the 1641 Musiche varie, another nautical image for the end of a love affair.
A che bellezza e gratia
A strophic song in praise of beauty and grace; the source book is not recorded.
Lingua di Donna - Benedetto Ferrari
A comic song on a woman's tongue, one of the lighter pieces in the collection.
Lilla, ver la foresta - Benedetto Ferrari
A pastoral song: Lilla goes into the forest, and the lover follows.
Cosi bella voi sete - Benedetto Ferrari
A short song, 'So beautiful you are', in the monodic style of the 1630s.
Donne non mi credete - Benedetto Ferrari
A song warning women not to believe a lover, from one of the three songbooks.
Io son amante - Benedetto Ferrari
A declaration, 'I am a lover', in the same continuo idiom.
Piangi tu pur grida - Benedetto Ferrari
A lament, 'Weep then, cry out', from the Musiche varie.
In van speri - Benedetto Ferrari
A song of hope disappointed, 'In vain you hope'.

Questions about Benedetto Ferrari

How many Benedetto Ferrari scores are on TuneViva?

There are 33, running to about 62 minutes of music and 10,576 notated notes. All of them include lyrics.

Did Ferrari write the first public opera?

He wrote the libretto of Andromeda, set by Francesco Manelli and staged at the Teatro San Cassiano in 1637. It is usually called the first opera given in a public theatre.

Did he compose 'Pur ti miro'?

He wrote the text for Il pastor regio, and the duet was reused in Poppea. Whether the music in Poppea is his, Monteverdi's or someone else's is still debated.