The almost universal preference of the Italians in the 17th and i8th centuries for the da capo aria involved some sacrifice on the dramatic and emotional side ; this becomes clear at once if we think of an opera in which nearly all the songs end by repeat ing not only ,the melody of the opening part, but the words attached to it. It is this double repetition which from the point of view of dramatic propriety is the most disturbing. But com posers were too much occupied in exploring the formal possibilities of melody to establish a really intimate connection between music and text, a detailed interpretation of which lay outside their scheme of song. Much repetition of words was not felt as an absurdity so long as the music was broadly in accordance with the atmosphere or situation required.
When detailed and impassioned treatment was needed, com posers turned to what is known as recitativo arioso, of which re markably fine specimens appear in Scarlatti's operas and cantatas. But the masterpieces in this style are in the works of Handel and Bach.
Before Scarlatti's death in 1725 symptoms of decline had appeared. He was himself often compelled to sacrifice his finer instincts to the popular demand for vocal display. A race of singers, of whom the majority were virtuosi rather than artists, dominated the taste of the public, and forced composers to furnish opportunities in each role for a full display of their powers. It was not long before more obvious types of melody, expressing more obvious feelings, became the fashion. The varied forms of accompaniment, in which a contrapuntal bass had been a conspicu ous feature, were wasted upon a public which came to hear vocalists, not music; and stereotyped figures, of the kind which second-rate art after the first half of the i8th century had made only too familiar, took the place of sound workmanship, so that the Italian school, which had stood as a model for the world, be came identified with all that was trivial, insipid, and conventional. Not that the Italian tendency in the direction of tunefulness was in itself either unhealthy or unworthy. It was indeed a necessary reaction, when the severe earlier style began to pass into cold and calculating formalism. But the spirit of shallowness and frivolity which accompanied the reaction helped to transfer the musical supremacy hitherto enjoyed by Italy to Germany, the only country which, while accepting what was necessary to it of Italian influences, remained true to its own ideals.
Germany is, moreover, the only country in which the art of song in orderly and progressive development can be traced from the simple mediaeval Volkslied to the elaborate productions. of Schu bert, Schumann and Brahms. If Germany is united to the rest of Europe in her debt to Italy, still her final conception of song belongs to herself alone. And this conception has more profoundly influenced the rest of Europe than any Italian conception ever influenced Germany. The student, therefore, is more profitably employed in studying the phases of song development in Germany than in any other country.
It is not necessary to dwell, except in very general terms, upon German song of the i 7th century. It can point to nothing corre sponding with the Airs de cour of France, or the far more impor tant songs of the English lutenists. The kind of literature neces sary for such development was wanting. German art was too deeply affected by the spirit which produced the Reformation to develop freely in secular directions. Even in the domain of the Volkslied the sacred songs were scarcely less numerous than the secular, quantities of secular airs being provided with sacred words in accordance with the spirit of the times. In the 17th cen tury, the work of the Italian monodists was bound eventually to stimulate German composers to make songs, but their interest at first lay more in opera and choral-instrumental works, in which solo songs appear, than in song as an independent branch of art. A good general view of such isolated songs as appeared can be obtained from Reimann's collections Das Deutsche Geistliche Lied and Das Deutsche Lied (Simrock).
In spite of some stiffness and awkwardness, many of these exhibit a touching earnestness and sincerity which mark them as distinct from any work done elsewhere at the same time. On the other hand, they lack the certainty of touch, as well as the melodic and declamatory power, which make Purcell in England stand out pre-eminently as the greatest song composer of the 17th century. The treatment of the aria by Bach and Handel lies outside the scope of this article. Nor shall we pause to consider the songs of lesser composers, eminent in their day, such as Telemann (1691-1767), Graun (1701-1759) and Agricola whose vocal work was confined to oratorio, opera and cantata.