TRA «CADENZE FELICITÀ FELICITÀ FELICITÀ» E «MELODIE LUNGHE LUNGHE LUNGHE»: Di una tecnica cadenzale nel melodramma del primo Ottocento

The cadential technique that Janet Schmalfeldt has termed "one more time" (OMT) is a device employed extensively by Italian opera composers of the early nineteenth century. In essence, it fulfills two antithetical functions, at opposite ends of a spectrum: on the one hand, it underlines formal articulations by emphasizing the cadence (this is the case of the notorious «cadenza felicità felicità felicità», mockingly re-baptized by the Germans Bettelcadenz - i.e., cadence that begs for applause; Rossini in particular makes frequent use of this procedure, as do Cimarosa and others). On the other hand, this device may be used to expand musical form and produce a suspension effect (resulting in Bellini's «melodie lunghe lunghe lunghe»). The nature of the device does not change according to its function: the goal in both cases is to postpone a conclusion on the tonic in root position (that is to say, with the first degree at the top) through the use of several evaded (or "interrupted") cadences, and to reiterate the final cadential pattern ($I - i{i^6} - V_{4 - 3}^{6 - 5} - I$, or a variant thereof). There are also intermediate cases, which cannot exactly be subsumed under either extreme: in the case of duets, for example, such a device underlines the form while simultaneously maintaining a high level of dramatic tension. Given its versatility, this device is exploited abundantly and thus plays an important role, alongside other well-known formal devices (such as the lyric form and the groundswell), in the overall "mechanism" of early nineteenth-century Italian melodramma.