In England, about the end of the i6th century several volumes of songs to be sung with lute accompaniment made their appear ance. It is worth observing that several were of earlier date than the "new music" of Caccini ; they were an entirely English product. Some were songs or airs of four parts with tablature for the lute, so made that all the parts together or either of them separately could be sung to the lute, or orpharion ; some were published only for a solo voice and lute. Dowland, who composed 87 songs, was undoubtedly the greatest of the large band of English lutenists. Even when, as in the first book of airs (1597), his songs could be sung by four voices, they distinguished themselves from the madrigal by the special melodic interest given to the top part. He was thus really the creator of the modern art-song. Though Byrd had (about 1583) composed "My Little Sweet Darling" and a few other songs with string accompaniment he did not, like Dow land, make the new type of song a special study. Dowland's fame, apart from the peculiar charm of his melodies, their expressive character, and their fitness to the words—a point which is char acteristic of the work of the early lutenists—rests upon the im portant part he assigns to the lute. In many songs it contributes more to the expression than the vocal melody itself. Being himself not only a distinguished lutenist but a distinguished singer, he understood what it is that makes a song a joy to sing—as later Schubert, also a singer, understood. It became in fact an art-form. "Dowland was the first to specialize in this form and to develop it, and the art songs of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms with pianoforte accompaniment are lineal descendants of Dowland's songs with lute accompaniment" (Dr. Fellowes). The following songs, "Can she excuse my Wrongs," "Sorrow Stay," "Flow My Tears," "Weep You no More Sad Fountains," "In Silent Night," "Fine Knacks for Ladies," and "Once Again," may be cited as supporting this statement.
Campion, Rosseter and Jones are, after Dowland, the most individual composers in the same field. Campion's "There is a Garden in Her Face," "Shall I come if I Swim?", Rosseter's "If She forsake Me," "When Laura Smiles" and "Would you see My Mistress' Face"; Jones's "Go to bed Sweet Muse" and "Sweet Kate" are good examples of their work. Each of these composers wrote about ioo songs.
In opera and cantata melody was quickly added to relieve the monotony of recitative, which must have been acutely felt by the hearers of such works, and considerable advance in this direction was made by Cavalli and Cesti (see Oxford History of Music, vol.
iii., for details of their methods). Monteverde, though a greater genius than either of them, did not succeed in forcing the daring qualities of his own conceptions on others. The famous lament of Ariadne was the expression of an individual genius casting all rules aside for the sake of poignant emotional effect, rather than the beginning of new style in song. Carissimi and Rossi in oratorio and cantata (a word which then merely described a piece that was sung, as sonata a piece that was played, consisting generally of alternate recitative and aria) brought the organization of melody to a high degree of elaboration, far beyond anything at tempted by Cavalli or Cesti. In their hands the declamatory methods of Monteverde were made subordinate to larger purposes of design. A broad and general characterization of emotional sit uations was more natural to them and to their successors than a treatment in which points were emphasized in detail. It was, moreover, inevitable in these early developments of musical style, in which melody played the leading part, that such sacrifices as were necessary in balancing the rival claims of expression and form should be in favour of the latter, rather than the former. But the formal perfection of melody was not the only problem which 17th century Italian composers had to face. The whole question of instrumental accompaniment had to be worked out ; the nature and capacities of instruments had to be explored; the reconciliation of the new art of harmony with the old art of counterpoint to be effected. It speaks volumes for the innate musical sense and technical skill of the early Italian composers that the initial stage of tentative effort passed so quickly, and that at the close of the 17th century we are conscious of breath ing an atmosphere not of experimental work, but of mature art.
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659-1725) sums up the period for Italy. That much of his work is dry and uninspired is not sur prising when the quantity of it is realized (he composed over Ioo operas and 500 vocal cantatas) and also the unfavourable condi tions under which operatic composers had to work; but the best of it is singularly noble in conception and perfect in design. The same is true of the best work of Legrenzi, Durante, Leonardo Leo and Caldara, work which was of incalculable importance for the development of musical, and particularly of vocal art, and which will always, for minds attuned to its atmosphere of severity and self-restraint, possess an abiding charm; but comparatively few specimens have retained the affections of the world at large. Carissimi's "Vittoria," Scarlatti's "0 cessate" and "Le Violette" are the most notable exceptions ("Pieta Signore" is not included, as no one now attributes it to Stradella).