Canzone

What it means

Canzone, Italian canzone, designates first a song, then a series of related genres. In poetry the word means a strophic form with a fixed construction. In the music of the Renaissance it stands for polyphonic secular songs, and alongside for instrumental pieces that emerged from arrangements of French chansons — hence the designation canzon francese. In the nineteenth century the title is used for song-like movements in instrumental works.

Musical use

The instrumental canzone of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries is significant for music history: it is articulated into contrasting sections with changing metre and character, works imitatively, and often begins with a characteristic rhythm of one long and two short notes. From this layout the sonata develops in the Baroque, and, via the imitative trait, the fugue; the transition is gradual. The vocal canzone, by contrast, stands close to the song genres of its time and is usually strophic and catchy in construction.

In the instrumental music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the canzona arose from the French chanson, a forerunner of the sonata. Gabrieli and Frescobaldi wrote well-known examples.

Performance practice

First determine which kind of canzone is present, because scoring and shaping differ. With instrumental pieces, work out the sections and shape the changes of metre and character distinctly; settle the tempo relations between the parts in the ensemble. Watch for clear entries in imitative sections. With vocal pieces, what holds for Renaissance songs applies: syllabic declamation, shared pronunciation, light tone production. Check the scoring indications of the edition, since such pieces are often freely scoreable.

Bear in mind that instrumental canzonas are often transmitted without a fixed scoring indication: the choice of instruments belongs to the performance decision and follows extent and conception of sound. Settle it early and make it known in the programme. Work out the sections with their changes of metre and fix the tempo relations.

Name the origin of the model in the programme if an instrumental piece is based on a chanson.