Giovanni Battista Doni and His Vision of Performing Poetry

Giovanni Battista Doni (1595-1647) may be seen as one of the first historians and critics of music in the modern sense. While analyzing the new tendencies in the performing practice, and the new genre of musical drama, he gave great attention to its literary component. He regarded the genre of opera as first and foremost the presenation of poetry. This article examines some of Doni's critiques of the contemporary practice of poetry performance within different musical contexts and considers his vision of an ideal practice of performing poetry.