Booklet (PDF 386 Kb) - Concerto Classics

lable lines with rhyming variations AABB, ABAB or ABBA, in a variety of combinations. As a consequence, more
than a precisely codified literary genre, the term frottola was applied to a variety family of poetical forms which also
included the strambotto, the ode, the capitolo and the canzone. The symbiotic relationship between poetry and
music, which was the aesthetic foundation of the frottola form, was evident in the perfect and total correspondence
between the prosodiac structure of the text and the rhythmical patterns of the music. From a strictly musical point
of view, the frottola was a polyphonic composition, usually in four parts: the principal melody line, entrusted to the
canctus (the highest voice), was accompanied by a more or less elaborated harmonic/contrapuntal fabric in the
lower voices; these parts were prevalently homophonic, in rhythmic unison, as counterpoint was usually reserved
for works of “higher” poetic content. Although the predominance of homophony might suggest four-part vocal execution,
nevertheless in the practice of the time only the canctus was actually sung (in the printed editions it was the
only voice with lyrics); the instrumental execution of the lower voices was performed using two different methods:
in the first, which called for the use of many instruments (recorders, cornets, sackbuts, crumhorns, shawms, bow
instruments, etc.), each part was played by a single instruments; in the second the execution of the lower voices
was effected by a single polyphonic instrument (lute, spinet, guitar, organ, etc.).
The frottola by Ludovico Fogliano, La Zotta, belonged to the genre known as quodlibet, the free re-working of both
music and text of a piece which was usually of folk origin; in this case it was derived from the popular song Fortuna
d’un gran tempo, of which a variety of version by different authors of the same period survive. Like many other
frottole, this too has lyrics full of allusion and salacious double-entendres, the origins of which can often be traced
to Franco-Flemish chanson. In the strictest sense, Era di Maggio is less a frottola than a maggiolata or canto carnascialesco
in the Florentine style. The lyric consist of a single quatrain of eleven-syllable lines without rhyme; the
melody, presumably an ancient folk song, was later used for the so-called travestimento spirituale - a re-working
similar to the quodlibet technique – of the laud Grande allegrezza ne porta la gente. The popularity of this composition
is demonstrated by the numerous transcriptions and elaborations for lute and keyboard instruments written
in the 16th and 17th centuries. The same is true for the villanelle for three voices La pastorella si leva per tempo,
based on a poem by Poliziano – published thanks to Razzi – from which the spiritual laud Lo fraticello I leva per
tempo was derived. An example of the most noble and expressive sort of frottola is the celebrated canzone Vergine
bella by Tromboncino, from a lyric by Petrarch. The canctus moves with slight melodic inflections, almost like a
Gregorian chant, over a delicately woven polyphony in the lower voices, discretely ornamented with fleeting bits
of counterpoint. Only at the final “Amen” does the canctus open out wide melismas in imitation of the other voices.
The practice of transcribing vocal pieces for keyboard instrumental, already widespread during the era of the Ars
Nova Italiana (just consider the elaborations of madrigals and ballads in Faenza codex) continued into the 16th century
with the so-called intavolature, or tablatures. A significant example of this technique is offered by the sylloge
“Frottole Intabulate Da Sonare Organi”, published in 1517 by Andrea Antico, from which come the instrumental
version of the song Vergine bella by Tromboncino. As can be easily seen tablature, although generally respecting
the original melodic line, did not entail the mere instrumental transcription of the four parts but, thanks to the technical
and expressive possibilities offered by keyboard instruments, further enriched the polyphonic blend with
vivacious and detailed ornaments.
Another large part of the instrumental repertory of the 1500s is made up of various kinds of dances: besides the
salterello, of medieval origin and the bassa danza of the 1400s, on the heels of a renewed interest in the dance, and
in its character as noble form of artistic expression and not a mere form of entertainment, new musical genre sprung
up in Italy for group artistic dancing, of which the most popular were the pavana, or pavan (El Bisson) and the
gagliarda, or galliard (La Rocha el fuso).The regularity of the schematic choreographic modules of these dances is
reflected in the regular rhythmic and formal division of the music. Both the pavan and the galliard, like many other