Album insights
In the 14th century, Italy had a flourishing and unique music culture. By the early 15th century, Italian listeners became highly interested in music by French and Northern European composers. This CD explores the difference between the two repertoires: native Italian and adopted French.
Tracks 1 to 9 exemplify the vibrancy and independence of Italian tradition during the centuries of Petrarch and Boccaccio. The monophonic ballad "Amor mi fa cantar a la Francesca" in Track 6, found in the Vatican manuscript Rossi 215, possibly resonated with young men and women from noble houses in Tuscany during the plague of 1348. This piece, hailing from Padua and Verona, represents early Italian secular polyphony.
The two-voice composition of Trecento's "Quando i oselli canta" (Track 3) embodies the genre's style, showing ornate upper voice and simpler lower voice, distinct from French compositions of the period. The interaction between voices in such pieces as Trecento madrigals such as "Quando la stella" (Track 5) offer insight into the nuanced relationship between melodies.
Transitioning to later North Italian polyphony, the music of the Codex Faenza (Tracks 4 and 7) and ballads by Florentine composers Francesco Landini (Tracks 8 and 9) and Andreas de Florentia (Tracks 1 and 2) illustrate musical diversity and growth. Ballads, a prominent genre since the 1360s, are showcased here in various polyphonic forms.
Andreas de Florentia, a contemporary of Landini, presents a mature two-voice style in his ballade "Per la ver’onestà" (Track 2). Landini’s work "Ochi dolenti mie" (Track 8) similarly showcases intricate composition and melodic richness.
Further selections from the Italian and possibly Venetian manuscript Canonici misc. 213 feature a motet and Rondeaux compositions, including the fourteenth-century genre's evolution with pieces like "Plaindre m’estuet" (Track 14) by Hugo de Lantins and the anonymous "Confort d’amours" (Track 16), marked by rhythmic complexity and harmonic richness.
Composers like Richard Loqueville and Hugo de Lantins from the North contribute to the compilation, with their chansons exhibiting a distinct harp-centered delicacy and refined articulation. Dufay's "Quel fronte signorille in paradiso" (Track 11) captures the essence of Italian elegance a la Francesca, showcasing the pinnacle of musical artistry in that century.