During the Renaissance it was a very usual practice to make adaptations of vocal music to be played on keyboard or plucked instruments. This practice is named intabulation, as it consists in placing all the voices of the polyphonic composition – which were normally published in separate parts - in a notation system that instead of placing notes in a score, shows fingering positions on the fretboard or on the keyboard. This score is called an intavolatura or tablature. Publications of this kind are found since the beginning of the XVIth century, as attested by Intavolatura de lauto, by Francesco Spinacino, Venice 1507; Frottole intavolate da sonare organi, by Andrea Antico, Rome 1517 and other books which contain several examples of intabulated songs. The intabulation contributed to the extense diffusion of the French-Flemish vocal repertoire throughout Europe as it allowed amateur musicians to have access to the most famous songs of the period, without engaging a vocal quartet. All musical genres (even masses and motets) were used to make intabulations, and this practice was one of the best tools for instrumentalists to learn the rules of the very best music of their time. This happened in almost every European country, from France to Poland, and from Spain to England and Italy .
The French Chanson
This genre had a mainstream role for almost every Renaissance composer’s work, following the French-Flemish heritage that was widespread, as seen above. From the second decade of XVIth century, the French chanson developed a unique style, which differs from the celebrated Flemish ancestors, and received the influence of the ideal of melting words and music that was pursued by Ronsard and the poets of the Pléiade. Short time later, in the oeuvre of Claudin de Sermisy and Clément Jannequin, the Chanson Parisienne expressed the elegant simplicity and the mesured and rational French Renaissance spirit. The particular character of this song, and the difussion of the intabulations of them throughout Europe, gave birth to a new instrumental genre called canzona da sonare or canzona alla francese.
Songs, Authors.
The songs we have chosen for this C.D. were very widely spread, and intabulations of them can be found in a large number of publications of several countries. Good examples of this are Doulce memoire, by Pierre Sandrin (1538-1561) and Tant que vivray , by Claudin de Sermisy (1490-1562), but songs by Thomas Crecquillon (¿1510?-1557) as Pour ung plaisir, Claude Le Jeune (1530-1600) as Quand on arrestera la course coutoumière, or Roland de Lassus (1532-1594) were very inspiring for instrumentalists, as Peter Philips (1561-1628) Bonjour Mõ Cuer can confirm. In many cases, the real author of the intabulation remains anonymous, as we just know the name of the publisher of the collection of arrangements. This is the case of Pierre Attaingnant (¿1494?-1552), or Pierre Phalèse (1510-1573), whose publications of 1529, 1531, and 1547 contain a vaste number of intabulations arranged for the keyboard and the lute, most of them worked by anonymous musicians. In Spain, this practice was also very common, and was cultivated by very gifted musicians, as the vihuelists Miguel de Fuenllana (¿?-¿1568?) and Enríquez de Valderrábano (1500-1557), and the organist Antonio de Cabezón (1510-1566), whose son Hernando de Cabezón (1541-1602) composed the Dulce memoria included in this C.D. In a very refined, but conservative style, the French-Flemish lutenists Nicolas Vallet (1583-1642) and Antoine Francisque (¿1560?-1605), included intabulations of French chansons, in a free meditative style. The Italian musicians Alessandro Piccinini (1566-1638), Andrea Gabrieli (1510-1586), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Giovanni Battista Riccio (¿1570?-¿1630?) and Maurizio Cazzati (1616-1678) were, each one in his own field, absolute masters and their work stands as milestones in the Italian early baroque style. The first of them, was a member of a musicians’ family, working to the Court d’Este in Bologna. In his Intavolatura di Liuto et Chitarrone he composed a wonderful collection of toccatte, canzone, ricercare, and dances for the lute and the chitarrone, and a splendid instruction about how this instruments should be played. Both Gabrieli and Frescobaldi, were celebrated organ and harpsichord virtuosi, whose work influenced the future generations of organists. They were not only authors of keyboard music, but also of vocal music and instrumental canzone to be played by all sort of instrumental combinations. Very little is known about G.B.Riccio, apart from his publication of Terzo libro delle divine lodi musicali, which contains a beautiful collection of motets, antiphonae, and psalms in Stilo Concertato, and a number of canzone and sonate mostly to be played in the church. Maurizio Cazzati himself was a very famous musician, as he composed music for all possible uses, following the taste of his time. He composed operas, church music, and several sets of instrumental music.
Alessandro Piccinini (1623) Tocatta a dui liuti
2 Pierre Phalèse (editor, 1547) Don’t vient cela (C.de Sermisy)
3 Enriquez de Valderrábano (1547)Diviensela (C.de Sermisy)
4 Pierre Attaingnant (editor, n.d.) Dont vient cela (C.de Sermisy)
5 Pierre Attaingnant Branle
6 Pierre Attaingnant Branle gay
7 Nicolas Vallet (1615) Quand arrestera le course coutumiére
(C.Le Jeune)
8 Maurizio Cazzati (1662) Balletto e corrente primo Miguel Fuenllana (1554) Tant que vivray (C.de Sermisy)
10 Pierre Attaingnant Gaillarde
11 Pierre Attaingnant Tant que vivray (C.de Sermisy)
12 Alessandro Piccinini Canzona 3
13 Maurizio Cazzati Balletto e corrente quarto
14 Girolamo Frescobaldi (1628) Canzona terza detta La Donatina
15 Maurizio Cazzati Balletto e corrente settimo
16 Hernando de Cabezón (1602) Dulce memoria
17 Diego de Ortiz (1553) Doulce memoire
18 Antoine Francisque (1600) Passemaise
19 Pierre Phalèse Pour ung plaisir (T.Crecquillon)
20 Andrea Gabrieli (1605) Pour ung plaisir
21 Giovanni Battista Riccio (1615) Canzon
22 Maurizio Cazzati Balletto e corrente sesto
23 Maurizio Cazzati Aria overo balletto
24 Pierre Attaingnant (editor, 1531) Basse dance
25 Gabriel Schebor Bonjour mon Coeur (R.de Lassus)