There is an indubitable spiritual intensity to Bernini’s sculpture “St. Lawrence on the Grill” (1617). Although there is an inherent expression of agonizing defeat in his bodily expression, St. Lawrence seems to be carrying onward, dragging his body with any force, however weak, that flexing muscles will provide. Gian Lorenzo Bernini has an intrinsic style that allows flexibility for dramatization within naturalism. Influenced by his father, Pietro, a gifted late Mannerist sculptor, and by the successive line of great Renaissance sculptors that came before him, Bernini has a masterful understanding of the architecture within and upon the human body (Wittkower 3). “St. Lawrence on the Grill” as well as “St. Sebastian” (1617-18) show a “high degree of technical perfection” with indisputable influence from Manneristic qualities from the slightly exaggerate elongation of structure and uncomfortable pose, but the anatomical precision and “an infallible sense for the organic coherence and structure of the human body raise these figures far above the mass of contemporary stereotyped productions” while recapturing “something of Michelangelo’s dynamic vigour” (Wittkower 2).
Bernini’s sculptural master is perhaps what is considered to be an encompassed example of early baroque art. An intensity of facial expression and morphification of the human body is reminiscent of Hellenistic Greek sculpture. Apparent in many of his sculptures, there is a play of spiritual light and the manner of which light falls upon his works. “David” (1623), considered one of his most precious masterpieces, has the light, depending on the focus, concentrated on his stretched torso. The darkness, however, the natural lack of light accentuates the brilliance of contour on his face and in the detailing of drapery. This inherent accentuation involved in Bernini’s sculpture is shared among many musical baroque figures. Claudio Monteverdi, utilizing the stylized “witty, polyphonic, a cappella part-songs if the late Renaissance” molded the medium of sacred and secular music with his addition of dissonance and the exploration of dynamic, dramatic baroque style (Hanning 190). Just as Bernini had utilized his understand of intensity and dramatic transformations of the human body, Monteverdi exploits dramatization within humanization, building gradually upon the standards of Renaissance music.
“L’Orfeo, Tu se’ morta,” Orfeo’s lament within Monteverdi’s opera, “L’Orfeo,” gives a direct perspective of this gradual build. Within the passage that begins with “Tu se’ morta” (translated, “are you dead”), rising pitches begin to phrase and fuse into more complex fragment, stretching the phrasing, growing in intensity. He continues to repeat certain phrases to add gradual intensity, linking the poetry to create longer, more complicated understanding. He brings the listener to crave the resolution through these arches of poetry. In the conclusion of the segment, ending on measures 110-113 with the last phrase “A dio terra, a dio cielo, e sole, a dio” (translated “Farewell earth, farewell sky and sun, farewell”), there is a sudden rise to a repeated D on “e sole,” accentuating the surrounding darkness with a sudden lifting chromatic build to the note then a slight pause and a 6th drop down to an F, perhaps representing the intensity of grief that Orfeo is lamenting (Burkholder Anthology 415). One could compare the similarities found on this play of light between Monteverdi’s musical perspective and Bernini’s artistic genius.
These qualities are apparent through Monteverdi’s “Cruda Amarilli,” one of the madrigals, based on Giovanni Battista Guarini’s “pastoral verse play Il pastor fido,” found in his fifth book printed in 1605 (Burkholder Anthology 378). The opening phrase, “Cruda Amarilli,” (translated “Cruel Amaryllis”) has the bass dropping down to an E, which already creates dissonance, contrasting to the more standard rules of counterpoint at the time. The E, creating a dissonant minor 7th against the canto, reveals a harshness, an organic bitterness, that reflects the lament of the poetry. Stretching the boundaries of customary counterpoint, Monteverdi, like Bernini, exaggerates the dissonance to create a satisfying resolution in his art.
It would be found unwise to ignore qualities, like that of Bernini’s and Monteverdi’s baroque common traits, that are shared among the visual and musical arts. Indeed, it seems quite impossible to separate the two realms of art when each feeds off each other, marrying interpretations of emotions and beauty. Bernini’s “Apollo and Daphne” (1622-25) seems to take on the exaggerated dissonance through the posture of the two figures. There is evident contrary motion between the two bodies, curving around one another. Unlike what would be found in classical Greek art and reflected later in Renaissance art, the figures are not in contrapposta, an Italian term (translated “counterpoise”). Contrapposta motion is a relaxed, upright posture, usually with one foot in front of the other with the hips assuaged and curved slightly and comfortably. Bernini, rather than complementing this classical standard, returns to a Hellenistic style of Greek art; dramatization of emotions, exaggeration of lines, returning to a rather “uncomfortable” posture. A manifestation of Hellenistic art is reborn through Bernini.
The baroque style within the visual arts and music arts is interwoven in such a matter than should not be separated. As apparent through Bernini and Monteverdi, the arts, as a whole, are in a constant collaborative manner. Only in this constant cycle can the arts continue to grow and expand, just as baroque had expanded what was consider appropriate art or appropriate counterpoint.
Hanning, Barbara. Concise History of Western Music : Third Edition. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, NY 2006.
Burkholder, Peter J. Norton Anthology of Western Music Volume 1: Ancient to Baroque. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, NY. 2006.
Wittkower, Rudolf. “Gian Lorenzo Bernini.” Phaidon Press Limited. Londo, England. 1966.
Wittkower, Rudolf. Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque. Phaidon Press Limited. London, England. 1997.
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo. “David.” 1623.
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo. “St. Lawrence on the Grill.” 1617.
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