Embellishment in sixteenth-century intabulations ranged from the more sparing use of ornaments by mid-century lutenists to a much heavier and consistent use of ornamentation in the 1580s and 1590s. A comparison of several intabulations from the mid-century reveals a similar procedure of applying embellishments to obscure points of imitation and repeated sections of the vocal model. The lack of concern for bringing out the structure of the model and the freedom with which ornaments were applied shows how mid-century lutenists prized variety more than structural clarity. In the intabulations of Francesco da Milano and Francesco Spinacino, original vocal models are transformed into idiomatic pieces through a more motivic use of graces and through recomposition of certain passages. While the practice of free embellishment through idiomatic figuration continued throughout the sixteenth century as a special technique of virtuoso soloists, the systematic exploitation of stereotyped graces led to diverse figuration patterns and a rich network of motives used in intabulations as well as variation sets in the second half of the century.

Works: Intabulations of O s'io potessi by Barberiis, Bianchini, Gintzler, and Vindella (56-62); Francesco da Milano: Intabulation of Las je me plains (72); Spinacino: Intabulation of Mon souvenir (74-75), Arrangement of La bernardina (78).

Sources: Arcadelt or Berchem: O s'io potessi, donna (56-62); Sermisy: Las je me plains (72); Ghizeghem: Mon souvenir (74-75); Josquin: La bernardina (78).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

A comparison of several intabulations of Josquin's Mille regretz explains why Narváez's version is still the best known. Josquin's chanson is particularly apt for instrumental performance because of its points of imitation, use of themes and sequences, and rich contrast of textures. Several intabulations for lute show the wide range of styles from bland to highly ornamented versions. The frequent use of running sixteenth or thirty-second notes in the intabulations by Gerle and Neusidler, for example, show their intent to stimulate rather than satisfy the listener. Other intabulations were written for a more practical or theoretical purpose. For example, the intabulations found in MS 266 and MS 272 from the Bavarian State Library in Munich follow the vocal model more closely and show a greater sensitivity to the original texture. Narváez's intabulation of the chanson remains the finest because of several strong characteristics: a greater harmonic interest, rhythmically independent lines, and a textural complexity. His intabulation also uses motives that are repeated until they become an integral part of the original music. Narváez's creative exploration of harmony, rhythm, texture and motives shows his superior skills as an intabulator.

Works: Intabulations of Mille regretz by Gerle, Neusidler, Narváez, Phalèse, Intabulations of Mille regretz from MS 266 and MS 277, Bavarian State Library, Munich (32-52).

Sources: Josquin: Mille regretz (20-22).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

The intabulations of Giovanni Antonio Terzi show how ornate intabulations do not necessarily aim to obscure structural elements of their models. Even when instrumental music was gaining automony in the early to mid-sixteenth century, lutenists continued to pay homage to vocal models by reflecting vocal practice in their intabulations. There is a significant correlation between specific words and phrases of the model and the ornamentation used in Terzi's intabulation. Terzi pays homage to the model by ornamenting structurally, that is, by placing ornaments consistently upon a recurring feature of the model or using the same embellishment at points of imitation. In his intabulations, Terzi does not only borrow motivic elements from the model for the ornamentation, he also develops new figuration independent of the model. While the development of figuration, the introduction of new motives and the paraphrasing of melodies obscures some elements of the model, Terzi highlights the structural elements of the model by leaving heads of phrases unembellished, by using consistent figuration at points of imitation, and by drawing attention to the textual rhyme through his placement of ornaments. Hence, Terzi shows respect to the model both through the elaboration and the preservation of structural elements of the model.

Works: Terzi: Intabulations of Non mi toglia il ben mio (179), O bella ninfa mia (184), Quando fra bianche perle (184), Caro dolce ben mio (185), Leggiadre ninfe (186), Quando i vostri begli occhi (189), S'ogni mio ben 'havete (191), La Diodatina (192-93), Liquide perle (195).

Sources: Rore: Non mi toglia il ben mio (179); Palestrina: O bella ninfa mia (184); Nanino: Quando fra bianche perle (184); Gabrieli: Caro dolce ben mio (184); Marenzio: Leggiadre ninfe (186), Quando i vostri begli occhi (189), Liquide perle (195); Striggio: S'ogni mio ben 'havete (191); Guami: La Diodatina (192).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

The variation techniques exploited by English keyboard composers in the late sixteenth century were those found in early sixteenth-century lute intabulations of pavanes and passamezzi. The pavana alla venetiana and pavana alla ferrarese exemplify the two most prominent variation forms: (1) the single-strain variation, where each variation is governed by a fixed harmonic progression, and (2) the multiple-strain variation (e.g., AA' BB' etc.), where both the melody and accompaniment are retained in each variation. Both pavanes became prototypes of other variations in later lute and keyboard dance music. The pavana alla venetiana led to the passamezzo, which also involved written-out improvisations over a bass theme. The sixteenth-century "theme" was treated as a skeletal form to be filled in with new melodies, motives, texture or figuration at each repetition. The pavana alla ferrarese led to other multiple-strain variations (such as the galliard) where the technique of diminution is used. In diminution, the performer took care that the consonances on the strong beats were not violated when making the melody more florid. The historical place of English composers in the development of the variation should be re-evaluated because their techniques were used in the Continent long before they appeared in English keyboard music.

Works: J. A. Dalza: Pavana alla venetiana (119), Pavana alla ferrarese (120); Iacomo Gorzanis: Passamezzo Anticho (125, 131); Diego Pisador: Las Bacas sus differencias (126); P. Paulo Borrono: Pavana detta La Borroncina (128).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

Baroque variation procedures shared techniques of improvisation found in sixteenth-century dance variations. Among sixteenth-century dances, the Pavane and the Passamezzo have strong chordal textures. In the Pavane, each strain is varied through diminution and changes in accompanimental texture before going to the next (AA' BB' CC' etc.) In the Passamezzo, a single strain is varied through free passagi and strict figurations. The brevity of Passamezzo themes (acting as chord roots) makes more demands on the composer, who has to search out a variety of textures and melodic and rhythmic ideas. The variable elements in both dances are controlled by a prescribed harmonic framework; florid melodies of the Pavane are controlled by a strong gravitation toward members of the governing chords while the passagi used in the Passamezzo are limited by the chord tones within a slower harmonic rhythm. The growing dependence upon figuration and motives as a unifying device in the late sixteenth century points to procedures common in Baroque variations.

Works: P. P. Borrono: Salterello Secondo dette el Vercelese (160); A. de Valderravano: Diferencias sobre el tenor del Conde Claros (163); Diego Pisador: Las Bacas sus Differencias (164); Iacomo Gorzanis: Passamezzo Anticho (165).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

The identities of the passacaglia and the ciaccona are recognized through their different treatment of harmonies within a similar neutral I-IV-V progression. The passacaglia-ciaccona technique can be described as an ostinato of bass formulae within which internal harmonies are free to change. The essential quality of the passacaglia-ciaccona ostinato comes from the recurrence of a number of familiar bass progressions related to one another through harmony or melody (since progressions formed by the roots of chords often evolve into melodic bass lines). Guitar books from the early sixteenth century maintain a harmonic distinction between the passacaglia and the ciaconna, and there was a tendency to favor the minor mode for the passacaglia as a contrast to the major mode of the ciaccona. The type of progression used is dependent on the composer's process of form building: Italian composers are more concerned with constant variation, where no phrase is ever repeated exactly, while French composers are more interested in sectional form building than the process of variation itself. Passacaglia forms are mainly distinct from ciaccona forms through the difference in mode and in the variable activities within the harmonic progression rather than through rhythmic characteristics.

Works: Montesardo: Nuova inventione d'intavolatura (308); Sanseverino: Intavolatura facile (309); Frescobaldi: Il secondo libro di toccate (311).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

The ripresa, ritornello, and passacaglia are based on the sixteenth-century Italian dance form. The ripresa or ritornello (often appearing as V-I or IV-V-I) is a unit of music that precedes, follows, or alternates with a dance. The internal ripresa could be used as a portion within a dance or as a conclusion. While the number of internal riprese varies according to the time elapsing between sections of a piece, its harmonic design (i.e., the basic V-I pattern) is fixed. The concluding ripresa, on the other hand, occurs at the end of a piece and shows a greater harmonic variety through the insertion or substitution of alternate chords. In the concluding ripresa, the basic V-I pattern could be varied through the insertion, reshuffling, and mixing of chords, resulting in unpredictable chains of chord progressions such as IV-V-I-I, V-V-I-IV, V-V-I-II, or V-V-I-I. During the seventeenth century, these concluding riprese became independent sets and took the name of the passacaglia or ciaccona. The technique of the passacaglia or ciaccona then, is simply an ostinato of derived formulas of the ripresa. Thus, the ripresa, ritornello, and passacaglia evolved from the same harmonic pattern which originally functioned as a unit of the Italian dance form.

Works: Pass'emezzo semplice from MS 2804, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence (368); Passamezzo per B quadro from MS 586, Biblioteca Comunale, Perugia (368); Carlo Milanuzzi: Secondo scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (369); Pass'emezo nuovo from Intabolatura nova di varie sorte de balli (360); Mattäus Waissel: Salterello (376-78, 382); Pietro Paolo Borrono: Pavana chiamata la Milanesa (390).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

Cabezón's tiento on Malheur me bat shows his interest in treatment of selected musical materials rather than an interest in adhering to the complete form of the chanson. The chanson itself is noteworthy for its formal symmetry, its four points of imitation, its descending hexachord, and its density of motives. In Cabezón's setting, he is interested in showing the thematic connections between the chanson's first subject and Psalm Tone 4, which is incorporated at the end of the tiento as a cantus firmus. Cabezón alters the first subject of the chanson before the entrance of the cantus firmus to orient the tiento to mode 4. In the tiento, Cabezón makes imitation a priority by modifying and setting the first subject of the chanson in points of imitation. Cabezón also takes a descending motive from the opening of chanson and exploits it for the climax of the tiento. Besides the imitative treatment of the first subject and the development of two motives, Cabezón makes no reference to the two most prominent features of the chanson: its formal symmetry and its greater variety of motives.

Works: Cabezón: Tiento Quarto tono sobre Malheur me bat (56-57); Josquin: Missa Malheur me bat (58).

Sources: Malcort or Martini: Malheur me Bat (54-55).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

The fundamental change in the style of the ricercar can be explained by considering analogies to rhetorical literature; the early improvisatory ricercar fits Aristotle's description of a proem while the late "motetic" ricercar follows the plan of the exordium described by Cicero. Early ricercars resemble Aristotle's proem in their preludial function, how they establish the mode of a following motet or madrigal, and how they are used for the tuning of the instrument (as an orator would "tune" the soul of his listeners by attracting their attention). Late ricercars, on the other hand, seem to be modeled after Cicero's exordium, which is divided into the principium and the insinuatio. The plain and direct principium makes the listener attentive while the more subtle insinuatio steals into the listener's mind indirectly. The musical implications of Cicero's principium and insinuatio are realized in ricercars by Andrea Gabrieli and Girolamo Cavazzoni featuring intonazioni which begin with full and plain chords, and imitative ricercars consisting of voices creeping in quietly one by one while imperceptibly increasing the number of voices. In this light, the two ricercars in J. S. Bach's Musical Offering can be seen as being modeled after Cicero's twofold distinction as well as Frescobaldi's toccata (principium) and ricercar (insinuatio) in his Fiori musicali.

Works: Andrea Gabrieli: Intonazione del primo tono (26); Girolamo Cavazzoni: Ricercar primo (26-27); Hieronimo Parabosco: Ricercar XVIII (27); J. S. Bach: Musical Offering (39-40).

Sources: Frescobaldi: Fiori musicali (41).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s, 1700s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

Three types of instrumental pieces became popular in the late fifteenth-century, all of which borrowed pre-existing musical material. The instrumental chanson was by far the most widespread and artistically important type. This form used one or more voices from the source forme-fixe chanson and added two or more repetitive and rhythmically dense parts as counterpoints against the source material; however, borrowed melodic lines were only used in part and never taken in entirety. This allowed for greater freedom and flexibility in instrumental chanson compositions. Phrase lengths varied more, since there were no textual considerations in instrumental music. Note values were often shortened to create more rhythmic uniformity among the parts. Sequential and repetitive devices were more common in the instrumental chansons in comparison to their vocal models, but such devices were commonly found in large sacred vocal works, where a more abstract relationship between the text and music invited the use of sequences and repetitive designs in the music. While instrumental music depends on a strong performance tradition, the most prominent pieces of instrumental music from the early sixteenth century were still composed by singer-composers who approached the instrumental medium from a vocal standpoint. Without true predecessors, instrumental works in the mid-sixteenth century either continued to borrow from vocal models or were newly invented.

Works: Josquin: Adieu mes amours (118), Basiés moy (118), Cela sans plus (118); Isaac: Helas que devera mon cuer (118); Ghiselin: La Alfonsa (118); Hayne van Ghizeghem: Mon souvenir (120); Martini: Des biens d'amours (120), De la bonne chiere (120-21); Josquin: La plus des plus (120-21), La Bernardina (120-22).

Sources: Anonymous: Adieu mes amours (118), Basies moy (118); Hayne van Ghizeghem: De tous biens plaine (118); Ockeghem: D'ung aultre amer (118); Hayne van Ghizeghem: Mon souvenir (120); Josquin: Vultum tuum deprecabuntur (123), Alma redemptoris mater (123).

Index Classifications: 1400s, 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey, Victoria Malawey

A comparison of two lute intabulations of Wert's madrigal Cara la vita shows how two different composers (Emmanuel Adriensen and Giovanni Antonio Terzi) adapted their style and techniques to specific performance settings. Adriensen's intabulation of the madrigal mostly maintains the texture, melody, and rhythms of the original so that the intabulation can still be played as an accompaniment for singing. Terzi on the other hand intended his intabulation for solo performance. The outer voices are still delineated in the first section of Terzi's intabulation. The second section departs from the model as less effort is made to preserve the melodic material. Although the outline of the original is discontinued, the harmonic structure of the original remains clear. The two intabulations show how both composers adhere closely to the tonal structure within their elaboration of the music and how they were still inclined to preserve their model rather than obscure it.

Works: Adriensen: Intabulation of Cara la vita (95-97); Terzi: Intabulation of Cara la vita (96-98).

Sources: Wert: Cara la vita mia (94).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey

As suggested by John Ward and others, when a sixteenth-century composition borrows only melodic material from another work, the term "paraphrase" should be used rather than "parody." By contrast, "parody" should refer to the practice of appropriating "vertical slices" (chords and imitative structures) of the thematic complex of the borrowed music in a fairly strict manner. Giovanni Paolo Paladino's 1560 monothematic fantasia based on Vincenzo Ruffo's madrigal Alcun non puo saper subjects the original madrigal to a variety of techniques that include modification of the basic imitative structure (changing the distance between points of imitation), rhythmic alterations such as diminution and augmentation, and transposition of some of the melodic material to different modes. The intent of Paladino's borrowing remains an open question. Given the diatonicism of subjects and the control of dissonance in sixteenth-century counterpoint, it is possible that many "borrowed" relationships may simply arise from the use of a common subject. Paladino's Fantasia occupies a middle ground between parody and paraphrase since it appropriates, but radically alters, the vertical structure of Ruffo's madrigal.

Works: Paladino: Fantasia on "Alcun non puo saper" (1-12).

Sources: Ruffo: Alcun non puo saper (2-10).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb, Jir Shin Boey

Many free instrumental compositions from the Renaissance, including fantasias, ricercares, and tientos, were modeled on the contemporary vocal repertory. Two fantasias by Francesco da Milano show a significant relationship between intabulations and free compositions. Francesco's intabulation of Richafort's chanson De mon triste desplaisir leaves harmonic and thematic materials largely unchanged, while his Fantasia de mon triste parodies the vocal model up to a certain point, after which it departs from the original by introducing new subjects and motives. The fantasia, though intentionally based on a vocal model, can still be loosely related to the original; when a fantasia is well composed, it evokes the model without directly quoting from it. Francesco's Fantasia 22 contains melodic musical material that appears to be derived from Jacob Arcadelt's madrigal Quanta beltà. Francesco had previously intabulated the Arcadelt madrigal, and the model for Fantasia 22 may be Francesco's own arrangement of the madrigal, rather than the madrigal itself. Melodic materials developed in the fantasia are drawn from modified versions of the melody in the intabulation. There are, however, still correspondences between the fantasia and the madrigal. Motives borrowed from the madrigal are reworked in the fantasia in the same order in which they occur in the vocal model. The two fantasias show how free instrumental works, with the mediation of intabulations, were still closely modeled on contemporary vocal repertory.

Works: Francesco da Milano: Intabulation of De mon triste desplaisir (10), Fantasia de mon triste (10-11), Intabulation of Quanta beltà (13-15), Fantasia 22 (13-16).

Sources: Richafort: De mon triste desplaisir (10); Arcadelt: Quanta beltà (13-15).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey, Scott Grieb

The Spanish Pange lingua in Mode V known only on the Iberian peninsula has been set repeatedly by Spanish keyboard composers, revealing the change of styles and techniques over three centuries. Early settings of the hymn, including ten by Antonio de Cabezón, range from ornamented intabulations to works written in an idiomatic instrumental style. Seventeenth-century settings by Manuel Rodrigues Coelho and Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia often use a three-part texture with a slow-moving melody surrounded by faster figuration. The sixty settings by Juan Cabanilles vary from pieces using simple rhythmic motives to more complex pieces with dense imitation. In a tiento by Cabanilles, the hymn tune begins buried in the tenor before it migrates to the other voices, gradually exposing the basis of the composition. In a setting by Vincente Rodríguez, the lower voices are registered separately on the organ to oppose the treble parts. A more fugal treatment of the hymn can be seen in José Lidón's setting from the eighteenth century, where motives derived from the hymn are developed as subjects of a large fugue. Although the use of the hymn declined by the nineteenth century, pianistic settings by Hilarión Eslava and Nicolás Ledsma are found in an anthology of organ music from 1854. The short survey of keyboard settings of the hymn shows a wide spectrum of styles: intabulations in ricercar style, divided-register pieces, sophisticated fugues, and nineteenth-century pianistic styles.

Works: Cabezón: Pange lingua (67); Heredia: La reina de los Pange linguas (68); Cabanilles: Tiento de Pange lingua (68); Rodríguez: Pange lingua de mano izquierda (68); Lidón: Fuga sobre el Pange lingua (69).

Sources: Pange lingua from the Liber Processionarius Regularis Observantiae Ordinis Cisterciensis, 1569 (66).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, 1800s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey