ic caprices low and flimsy, but they ought to know that it
requires as much grace, art and nature to draw well a role of comedy
as to represent a wise old grumbler." ("Selva di Varia Ricreatione,"
1590.)

"Everything has a precise meaning, and the actor should try to find
it; and, that done, to express it well and intelligently in such a
way as to give life to the work." ("Amfiparnaso.")

"The moral intention of it will be less than that of the simple
comedy, for music applies itself to the passion rather than to the
reason, and hence I have been compelled to use reflective elements
with moderation. Moreover, the action has less scope for
development, spoken words being more rapid than song; so it is
expedient to condense, to restrict, to suppress details, and to take
only the capital situations. The imagination ought to supply the
rest." ("Amfiparnaso.")

When we turn to the drama itself to ascertain how the composer embodied
his artistic ideas, we find that the score shows a series of scenes
containing speeches for single personages and dialogues for two or more.
All of these are set to madrigal music in five parts. This music
exhibits much variety of style and expressive power. The composer was
undoubtedly a master of his material. How intricate and yet pictorial
his style can become may be seen in these four measures from Act I,
scene second, which contain words uttered by Lelio.

[Musical Notation]

That the composer sometimes employed skilfully the contrast of pure
chord sequence is seen in his setting of the "tag" of the play spoken by
Lelio and beginning thus:

[Musical Notation]

Interesting as this music is in itself, the temptation to enter upon a
prolonged examination of the score must be resisted for the good reason
that a more important matter demands our attention. It has often been
stated that in the madrigal drama, when the musician wished a single
personage to speak, that character sang his part in the madrigal while
alone on the stage and the other parts were sung behind the scenes. This
error has persistently clung to musical history, despite the fact that
it was long ago exposed by European authors who ought to have commanded
more consideration. The present writer is indebted to Romain Rolland for
guidance in his examination into this matter.

Vecchi had an enthusiastic disciple in Adriano Banchieri, born at
Bologna in 1567 and died in the same city in 1634.