Carnival is certainly one of history’s most interesting and early events. Unfortunately studies on this subject are too inadequate to help us trace a detailed map of its origins and customs. In the first place carnival derives from the orgiastic feasts of remote times.
The Saturnalia, feasts dedicated to the god Saturn and held in ancient Rome, were the first phenomenon similar to what is commonly called carnival. The etymology of carnival is rather uncertain, as some believe that it derives from Carnes levare, related to Lent and meaning abstinence from meat, or from “Cursus navalis”. Another essential aspect of this feast is the mask that played a role of mystery and offered the advantage of boosting the voice of actors reciting Greek tragedies. Carnival’s magical traits instead leaned on basic rules, which were bound to a reality that was changing day by day. They mainly consisted in removing evil, reasserting the power of instincts and abolishing rules. Considering music in particular, we find many examples of composers who have drawn close to this form, writing pieces that retrace all the musical phases to this day. Doubtless carnival has always been a fascinating topic, full of ideas and points that well relate with music. In this regard we can recall Hector Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini”, one of the most relevant works showing the importance of carnival. It is a complex work full of historical references and greatly loved by Liszt, who repeatedly said that in this piece: “for the first time the people’s powerful and furious voice is heard in music”. Berlioz began this work in 1834 and it was performed four years later without meeting with great success. Yet the overture called “Carnaval Romain” became an immortal page. In this page of great instrumental effectiveness the composer adopted original orchestration charged with a sensuality that has remained unchanged by time. Liszt advised Berlioz to resume the whole work and mainly change its dramaturgical aspects.

In March 1852, the piece was revived in the wonderful form well known to all. Once again Berlioz showed a great orchestral virtuosity by musically commenting all the basic elements of carnival such as dances, songs, the joy, the confusion and lightheartedness. The city of Rome holds a predominant place in the itinerary that reflects relations between carnival and music. Formerly people spoke of Berlioz’s “Carnaval Romain”, but it was not the only example of this particular interest of composers. In fact Johann Strauss’ operetta “Der Karneval in Rom”, written in 1873 and performed in Vienna on 1 March that very year, is one of the most interesting scores in the musician’s production. The Austrian composer tastefully reproduced the dimension of carnival, linking it with a love story, whose protagonists were Arthur Brick, the painter, and gentle Marie. An impossible love due to Marie’s uncle, who did not want his niece to fall in love with a painter, a profession then believed to be unreliable. Returning to music, Strauss followed Berlioz’s idea - inspired by songs and dances, he adopted a frenzied and fast rhythm. As we can notice, these two examples link the idea of carnival with entertainment and joy, without for this reason going beyond good taste and the historical vision of carnival itself. To continue our ideal journey around this special feast - musical literature presents a famous Hungarian rhapsody by Liszt, inspired by the Carnival of Pest, one of the two cities that joined up in 1873 to form Budapest. In this case, the composer, inspired by Hungarian folklore, created a virtuoso and overwhelming piece where we can recognize songs and dances typical of the carnival period. Here, Liszt becomes a precious chronicler, using music to comment some of the traditions of his land. In one of his writings Maurizio Carnelli stresses: “Liszt’s piece is music for eyes and ears…” Now, following a theoretical travel journal, we find Venice is an essential lap in our analysis of carnival. In fact, the “Carnival of Venice” is one of the best known and best loved pieces. F. Chopin himself wrote some piano variations on the theme that is now part of history. Russia too participates in this excursus of ours with Shrove Tuesday feastings in St. Petersburg. Strawinsky comes into the picture at this point. In “Petrouchka” he exhaustively commented the idea of carnival, with the crowd dancing uninterruptedly to folk motives. The dance of the wet-nurses, the farmer and the bear, the gypsies, the pedlar, are all magical moments that the composer recorded in the wonderful ballet later performed in Paris on 13 June 1911. With this ballet Diaghilev exported the Russian carnival background, making it known to the rest of Europe and especially to French culture lead by Satie, Cocteau, Picasso, Debussy and Ravel. A perfect link - musical Paris too had discovered this formula with Fauré and Saint-Saens, without forgetting Milhaud. Saint-Saens was an author who totally reflected his love for the taste of carnival. The famous “Carnaval des animaux”, written in Austria in 1886, adopted the idea of a fantastic and imaginative zoo, to make man’s vices and cruelty surface. In this case, the composer used irony as a language, justifying the carnival as a moment of truth. Hence we can consider this caricature merciless and entirely different to the ideas of other composers. If on the side of Latin culture we find a fertile soil, we cannot say the same of the German land. Here, the giants of music never found or wanted to find relations with carnival. Probably this fact is related with a rigid vision of music that has nothing to do with the idea of entertainment. However, despite this musical “seriousness”, one composer escaped from the script that saw Germany as the homeland of musical austerity. It is Robert Schumann, who knew how to get close to the world of carnival and of the masks through one of the most beautiful and ironical compositions in his production, “Carnaval”. The piece revealed a dramatic vision of carnival, upsetting the patterns and canons the previously mentioned composers had created. Schumann related Pierrot and Harlequin masks with death, considered the highest liberation of the individual spirit. Another musician showed interest in the carnival and, to be precise, it was Antonin Dvorák, who conceived a descriptive composition marked by clashes and harsh sounds that recalled the fireworks, it was a musical comment to what took place during carnival feasting. In this context Dvorák used the orchestra as a vehicle to describe carnival, quite the opposite of the great masters of 19th century virtuosity such as Paganini and Liszt, who developed this theme with the instruments they were expert in - the violin and the piano. In 1829 Paganini wrote the variations on the Venetian song: “Oh mamma, mamma cara”, from “The carnival of Venice” - the score is in the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome. The great Genoese violinist was also strongly attracted by this type of show - he expressed it with a virtuoso use of the violin. His highly effective variations recall the moments of joy and lightheartedness typical of carnival. Lastly, there is a certain side to music, such as scherzos and jest. Rossini was the most famous in the number of the composers called “jesters” par excellence, followed by Berlioz, Satie, Chabrier and many others. Concerning Rossini, his work Signor Bruschino, performed in Venice during the 1813 carnival, seems a jest about the manager of the Teatro San Moisé, where the work was performed, who gave the composer a very bad libretto. On that very libretto Rossini created many scherzos – the overture’s score even presents the taps of the bows on the music stand. As chance would have it the work was performed during the carnival period! Hence we can notice many prestigious examples of carnival in music - the list would be longer still but the most interesting fact lies in the psychological element. Carnival is revolution, it is a precious safety valve that helps maintain daily stability. This is why musicians too have concentrated on carnival, because where there is freedom there is music! In short, it is a return to the origins.

Translated by Interpres sas