ABSTRACT
The rhythmic aspect of Vincenzo Galilei’s ‘aria’ for the Lament of Ugolino is the only element we can consider with any certainty, since the extant poetic text provides sufficient evidence. Galilei claims, thus, that the ancients did not need special signs for rhythm, since the duration of sounds was guided by the length of the syllables. The only extended research on the rhythm in Italian monody, albeit lacking a solid theoretical foundation and thus somewhat empiric, is that of Putnam Aldrich in the 1960s. The scansion of verse considers numerous prosodic elements: not only accents, but caesuras, synalephas, dialephas in different positions within the line, and enjambments have to be taken into account. Regarding stanzaic arias, this attitude is fairly tenable, since it presupposes some kind of compromise between the inner rhythm of the verse and the musical setting.
