Italian Renaissance Music
It is no accident that the present recording should include Italian music:
16th century instrumental music reaches its apogee in Italy and was
most widely cultivated there, at least as far as can be gauged from the
scores that have survived. The first printed lute score was published
in Italy at the beginning of that century.
According to Ottó Gombosi, "Vincenzo Capirola was the foremost lute
composer of his time, an artist of great originality and of an uncanny
sense of sound". His beautifully designed manuscript collection of lute
works presumably dates from 1516-17, when the composer was living in
Venice.
The early ricercares
are short, lacking in a demonstrable formal design, and improvisatory
in character. Within them instrumentally orientated sections alternate
with passages constructed upon vocal models.
In Capirola's case the word is not yet used in the sense of "research" which later became usual. In connection with organ ricercares, Willi Apel pointed out that 'ricercar' is synonymous with 'research', and means a 'study'. Capirola's 6th ricercar
is notable for the sequencing principle in its formal construction. The
intavolaturas in the collection are elaborations of vocal originals
with a variety of structures. In Qui tollis, from Josquin's
'Pange lingua' Mass the four-part fabric is broken by paired parts in
different, contrasting registers. A peculiar place in the manuscript is
occupied by Padoana, which is the only dance of that title that lacks any distinctive attribute (e. g. "francese"). The Ricercar V that directly follows it in the score concludes the first track on the recording.
Frottolas became extremely popular in the last decade of the
15th century. Isabelle d'Este, wife to Francesco Gonzaga, greatly
patronised the frottolists, and thus created the conditions for the
development of the Italian composing style. Unlike the 14th century
frottolas, the poems gained a personal message, so that frottolas of
the late 15th century come to be "Ich Lyrik". In structure, the accent
is on the role of the upper part, whose melody is joined by a bass, and
two middle, "filling" parts, often in the same pitch. These can be
performed vocally (although the placing of the text is often
problematical), on an instrument, or by an instrumental ensemble. The
possibility of performing in these different ways and the justification
for doing so is borne out by the large number of intavolaturas of the
period. The same is true for the frottolas, where the score always
marks only one of many performing possibilities, and the actual sound
is not predetermined.
The first (and most significant) frottola publications came from the
press of Master Ottaviano Petrucci, who used the term in a twofold
sense: as a form of poem and the general title of collections (which
was not a unique practice for the time – later the term madrigal was
given similar interpretations).
The frottolas on this record come from Petrucci's first frottola volume, published in 1504 (2/a = No. 61; b = No. 13; c = No. 42; e = No. 9; f = No. 34; h = No. 33) and his fourth volume, which is thought to date from 1505 (2/d = No. 1; g = No. 2).
As a lyrical form, the frottola resembles the earlier Italian ballato. In connection with Marcus Cara's Io son l'ocel the term is used in a wider sense; in fact it is actually a strambotto
(with a one-strophe text in eight-line form with a rhyme scheme of a b
a b a b c c 11-syllable lines, and a predominantly iambic rhythm). Michaelis'
Si me piace bears the inscription "a voce mutato", according to Zarlino's Institutioni,
which means a composition without soprano. In that case, however, the
change in the alto and tenor parts would rather indicate the old rondellus and conductus manner (Walter Odington: "repetitio diversae vocis").
Another two frottolas by Marcus Cara and Bartolomeo Tromboncino's A la guerra
also feature in Franciscus Bossinensis' publication of 1509, including
frottolas transcribed for voice and lute. An interesting feature of
this intavolatura is that Bossinensis has left out one of the middle
parts (the alto).
The year 1507 was of great significance in that the first
printed lute intavolatura appeared, published by Petrucci. The two
volumes of the Intabulatura de Lauto, contain Francesco Spinacino's works and transcriptions, and exactly a third of the 81 pieces are ricercares.
A typical recurring turn is heard in the piece on this recording: the
descending scale progression, which also opens the work, can be
recognized eves when it changes in length. The fourth lute volume,
including Joan Ambrosio Dalza's works, was published in the following year, 1508, and among the 42 works in it there are several pavana – saltarello – piva (with the pavanes marked alla veneziana or alla ferrarese,
as well as individual movements. The two movements in duple time are
followed by a "bagpipe tune" with an uneven beat, showing a
proportionate alternation in the pairs of dances.
Philippe Verdelot, a Fleming from southern France, is among the most outstanding masters of the Italian madrigal. The popularity of his madrigals
is best borne out by the fact that another noted contemporary composer,
Adrian Willaert, arranged a whole volume of them for voice and lute.
(In that intavolatura the sung part is not doubled by the instrument.)
There was a new blossoming of instrumental music in the second
quarter of the 16th century, when the virtuosos also had their
compositions printed.
The most highly noted composer and virtuoso for the lute in the early cinquecento was Francesco da Milano
(1497-1543). His first printed volume appeared in 1536. (Giovanni
Antonio Castelioni, in his collection of works by various composers
compiled the same year, called him "the divine Francesco da Milano".)
His pieces are typical of fantasies and ricercares of the time in their
symmetrical structure, with turns, imitation sections and pairs of
motifs rhyming with each other, as evidence of deliberate construction.
Jean Matelart's publication of 1559, includes both 16 pieces for
solo lute and seven works for a lute duo. In them Matelart composed the
part of the second lute to existing, popular lute fantasias. The part
for the second lute has an "enriching" ornamental character, with
frequent imitations. Its function is to fill out the harmonies. Francesco da Milano's Ricercar XXIII
on this recording is chordal in conception, with an unrestricted number
of parts, and virtuoso embellishments. In the case of the Fantasia XIII it is the three-note turn in semitone steps that provides the opportunity for imitation in construction.
Katalin Fittler