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Agostino Agazzari was an Italian lio (ostensibly Orfeo) represents a sin- Agazzari’s harmonic language. Even
composer of both secular and sacred ner rescued from the underworld by more helpful is a fully realized sample
music, as well as the author of an Apollo, who is often seen as a met- harmonization of one of the chorus-
important treatise on early Baroque aphorical substitute for the person es, provided in the appendices, which
styles: Del sonare sopra ‘l basso con tutti li of Jesus. Thus, the history of Flo- provides a nice template for direc-
stromenti e dell’uso loro nel concerto (1607). rentine opera in the fi rst decade of tors and players. Further, there is a
More importantly, in 1605, he com- the seventeenth century is enriched cogent discussion of early Baroque
posed and premiered one of the fi rst and broadened by the publication performance practice and the paral-
early Baroque operas, Eumelio, drama of a Roman Eumelio, now in a stellar lels between Eumelio and L’Orfeo, with
pastorale, which was published a year edition. suggestions gleaned from Agazzari’s
later in 1606. Edited by Matthew J. Hall, Eliz- own treatise writings paired with ex-
Similar to the first opera, Peri abeth Lyon, and Zoe Weiss, this amples from Monteverdi’s work, and

and Corsi’s Daphne (1600), Agazzari edition began as an exploration of easy-to-decipher charts to guide the
wrote Eumelio for the celebration early music in a graduate seminar orchestra and director as they assign
of Carnival. Unlike Daphne, which at Cornell University, led by Neal the instrumental groupings
comes to us in fragmentary form Zaslaw. It was performed in 2016 by The score itself is in large format,
with much of the music lost, Eumelio the Cornell Early Music Lab and the bound in paperback, clearly and
is complete, surviving the interven- Cornell Chamber Singers, for which gracefully engraved, and contains
ing 400 years, and leaving the editors Carol Gilson Rosen translated the staging suggestions, which are both
with a number of quality primary libretto. It is published by A-R Edi- original and editorial in nature. The
source documents. Unique amongst tions as part of the publisher’s Recent scope of the opera itself is brief, and
the earliest operas, including Peri Researches in the Music of the Baroque thus the thin size of the score belies
and Caccini’s Eurydice (1600 and Era imprint. Within the score’s pref- its rather hefty price tag of $200, as

1602) and the first operatic master- ace, the editors state that “[Eumelio’s] of this writing. That price and the
piece L’Orfeo (1607) by Monteverdi, relatively short length and technical wealth of historical material, clear-
Agazzari’s work has never been pub- simplicity make it accessible to con- ly targets music libraries, with an
lished in a modern edition until now. servatory students or amateur musi- option from the publisher for digi-
Early Florentine opera was cal-dramatic societies interested in tal access by college and university
strongly influenced by secular so- exploring Italian monody, perhaps institutions. One could imagine a

ciety, and often bathed in politics, for the fi rst time.” collegiate early music ensemble en-
scandal, and interpersonal confl ict. Indeed, this scholarly edition is deavoring to perform the piece to-
Agazzari, however, lived and worked expertly sourced, and includes an gether with the voice and opera de-
for parts of his career in Rome, serv- abundance of performance practice partment, working together to assign
ing as maestro di capella at the Semi- suggestions. Like many of the works instruments based on the writings of
nario Romano. Eumelio was composed of its time, particularly in Montever- Agazzari and L’Orfeo performanc-
during this tenure, and premiered at di’s L’Orfeo, specifi c instruction for es, partnering with theory faculty
the Collegium Germanicum et Hungari- assigning instrumentation is sparse, to authentically realize the continuo,
cum, a Jesuit seminary. Eumelio shares and at the discretion of the perform- and studying with the instrumental
stylistic similarities with Euridice and ing ensemble. The score consists of faculty to learn historically accurate
L’Orfeo, but it also shares a thematic a single vocal line, over a basso con- ornaments and improvisation. A
structure and almost the same sto- tinuo with rather spartan fi guration. worthy endeavor, to be sure.
ryline as well. Eumelio, however, owes Only in the choruses is there specifi c
its origins to the Jesuits, and as such, harmonization found, though those Timothy Michael Powell
the Greek myth is transformed into a sections will certainly inform the Atlanta, GA
Christian morality play, where Eume- instrumental consort’s approach to

CHORAL JOURNAL October 2022 Volume 63 Number 3 79