Scherzo Poetry Form

I found more information.

This was a poem built on an aabccb verse pattern, with a double system stanza of repeating groups of 8 + 4 + 8 syllable per lines. A relatively short poem compared to the "capitoli" of the time, which were eleven-syllable meter with a 3-verse pose and could become quite lengthy.

If anyone has more information please share it.

Thank you

Free Form
I'm posting this in case anybody wants to try the free form style of the Scherzo. I like the the classical form so thats what I will work with.

scherzo Composition in ABA form, usually in triple meter; replaced the minuet
... symphonic poem One-movement orchestral form that develops a poetic idea, ...from glossary def.


Here is a sample of Scherzo that I found in Google search...It appears to be freestyle

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
Debussy composed this work in 1892-94, and its premiere was in Paris in December 1894. The Madison Symphony Orchestra has performed it on seven previous concerts between 1939 and 1989. Duration 18:00.

"Those nymphs, I want to make them permanent.
So clear, their light flesh-pink, it hovers on the atmosphere
Opressed by bushy sleeps.
Was it a dream I loved?
My doubt, accumulated through the night past, branches out
To many a fine point--no more in fact than twigs--
Proving, alas! that what I'd claimed for my trophy by myself
Was only my imagination's lack of roses.
Let's think..."
- Mallarme, The Afternoon of a Faun (transl. W. Austin)

Thanks for this AngeliqueEast. I had never heard of Scherzo, but then I'm new to poetry. I like the style. It has a quirky dignity.

Peace,
Endy

Your very welcome Endymion. Too bad they don't have a challenge section here, I'm sure many would enjoy it.

You would be surprised how many poets actually wrote poetry using musical forms.

Here is another example of a 16th century Scherzo.

Bardic Presentation
16th century scherzo - Invocation of Apollo and to the Muses
by Altaliana de Segna
ED. Note: This documentation accompanied the live performance of the poem in period style.


The poem
Isabella Andreini, an Italian actress, wrote ?'Ecco I'Alba rugiadosa' or ?'The Invocation of Apollo and the Muses' in 1589. The ?'scherzo', by definition means "joke" in Italian or can be a lively or playful movement in a sonata. Another musical definitions refers to it as a ?'lively and presents surprises in the rhythmic or melodic material. It is compared to the more common "canzonetta", which is a simple song popular in the late 16th century and early 17th century. The was a poem built on an aabccb verse pattern, with a double system stanza of repeating groups of 8 + 4 + 8 syllable per lines. A relatively short poem compared to the "capitoli" of the time, which were eleven-syllable meter with a 3-verse pose and could become quite lengthy.
Could this poem be a musical piece that Andreini wrote and sung during her performance with the Compagnia de' Gelosi? It started to look that way. This poem was written in the style of Gabriello Chiabrera, an Italian poet who was a scholar in poetry and composer. Chiabrera liked to invent new terms for his poem and would often change the meters to break with classical patterns. Andreini greatly admired Chiabrera, and wrote several "Scherzo" dedicated to Chiabrera, hoping to gain his approval.
"Music and Women of the Commedia dell'Arte' written by Anne MacNeil talks about many of Andreini's poem being published with music after her death. Musicians like Eleuterio Guazzi and Remigio Romano, published their music in the 17th century and accredit Andreini with the words to their music. MacNeil also mention that ?'one might easily imagine Andreini in full voice and with affective gesture' , so this poem may very well have been composed into a canzonetta to be performed for her audiences.
There is a publication of Andreini's ?'Io credea che tra gli amanti' set to music by Guazzi. Since the pattern is the same as ?'Ecco I'Alba rugiadosa', it fit in the rhythm of the music, repeating the last sentence twice. (Fig 4)

Author
Isabella Andreini was born in Padua in 1562 to a Venetian family. She joined the Canpagnia dei Comici Gelosi troupe in 1578. They performed full scaled plays as well as speeches, music and improvisation. She married Francisco Andreini, a man 11 year her senior. Isabella performed all over Italy and France and was a favorite of the Medici family of both nations. Her education as a youth is unknown, but she could read, write and speck several languages. She was so talented that the role of the ?'Innamorata' or ?'Prima Donna' was named ?'Isabella' after her. Andreini's talent did not stop there. She penned several pastoral plays. One of that survived is ?'Mirtilla". She published her first rhyme in 1588 that went into several editions. Her son and husband published a second rhyme after her death in 1609.
Andreini's were married for 25 years and were blessed with seven children. In 1604, at the age of 42, Isabella died in childbirth during the birth of her eighth child. She was so loved at the time of her death, coins were commissioned to commemorate her life.

The inspiration
The poem was written to celebrate the beginning of a new day, the sun and the muses and to pay homage to Gabriello Chiabrera, the Italian poet.
See how dewy morning glows,
Fresh as the rose,
With silver feet and breast of snow;
She shakes her curling golden hair
With charming air,
As the dawn breezes blow.

Sweet-scented privet, jasmine bloom,
She scatters from
Her alabaster shoulders fine,
And with a breath of dawning cool
Revives the soul
With fragrance lovely and divine.


The first stanza (See how the dewy morning glows) describes the morning as at first break of dawn. Comparing it to a cold spring day with the references to snow and the color silver, while the second stanza brings in the element of the scents that we associate with spring day. The scent of jasmine is a familiar one. Privet is all genus of the olive tree or shrub. These words brings forth the mindset for spring though the power of smell. The color of alabaster, white fine-grained gypsum, once again reminds us that the last of winter is still present. This also gives us a lovely picture of a beautiful golden haired beauty with white skin. 


And Phoebus, brighter gold than she,
Leaps from the sea;
With rapid stride his light arises,
And, whipping up his noble horses,
He wakes our forces
From our accustomed enterprises.

Sleep must leave, shadow depart
At Phoebus' art;
And when his brilliant light is shed
He drives the dark of night away.
Behold the day!
Now I must leave my feather bed.

The third stanza introduces Apollo, by his other name in Roman mythology, Phoebus the sun god. Phoebus was said to pull the sun with a chariot of horses across the sky. She describes Phoebus as bringing forth the sun and waking us from our winter slumbers, be it plant life or human. Apollo was also known as the god of music and poetry. She reinforces waking from the long dark nights of winter with the fourth stanza.


Within my breast I feel alight
A new delight,
Because I hear the summons of the Muse,
And I must follow; if I fall
(heeding her call)
My eagerness must be my excuse!

And if perchance, a lovely note
Springs from my throat,
That Clio, later, may rehearse,
It will be said, so fine a song
Surely has sprung
from the Ligurian Amphion's Verse.

The fifth and sixth stanza invokes the muses. At first we do not know which muse she is referring to, since there are nine in Roman mythology. Clio, who she mentions in the sixth stanza, is the muse of history. Why then does she talk about music and singing? Euterpe, is the muse of music and poetry. She may have been hoping that her Scherzo will be mentioned in history, or perhaps that her Ligurian would put her verse to music and make history. The Ligurian she is specking of is Gabriello Chiabrera, who was born in Liguria. She also compares Chiabrera with Amphion, a son of Zeus, who built a wall by charming the stones with his Lyre. Maybe she is hoping that her verse to Chiabrera's music would make the walls fall down.

Performance

This poem would have been performed in the style of Commedia dell'Arte, most likely in a parlor setting or as a command performance. Commedia was done with very broad gestures and with masks. Using masks, the performer would move their heads more then their bodies. One pronounced movement the performer in Commedia would do is never let their spectators see the back of their heads. Whether this poem or music was performed on stage or in front of royalty, the Commedia movements were so engrained into her every day life that she would likely perform in this manner weather she was on stage or not. Isabella would not have worn a mask in this performance; she played the ?'Innamorata', which is the part of the young maiden. Make-up would have been her only mask.

Music is very important to me. I play bass guitar and try writing a few lyrics - but I can't sing for sh*t.

I've never thought of writing poetry using music as a guide. Do you know Linton Kwesi Johnson's 'Bass Culture?'

No I don't Endy.