Frottola

What it means

The frottola is an Italian strophic song around 1500, usually set in four parts, with the melody in the upper voice and a predominantly chordal accompaniment in the other voices. The texts are secular, often jocular or gallant, and the form is strophic with clear articulation. Printed collections spread the genre quickly; it belongs to the first successes of music printing.

Musical use

Characteristic is plainness: regular periods, syllabic text treatment, distinct cadences, little imitation. This way of making is the prerequisite for the pieces also being performed by a solo voice with accompaniment — a practice that is documented in lute arrangements of the time and points ahead to the later melody with accompaniment. In music history the frottola thus stands at a revealing point: it is notated polyphonically but conceived with emphasis on the melody. From its surroundings the madrigal develops in the following period, which interprets the text incomparably more exactly and is more artfully crafted.

The frottola flourished around 1500 in northern Italy, especially at the court of Mantua under Isabella d'Este. The publisher Ottaviano Petrucci published numerous books of frottolas from 1504. The genre was a forerunner of the madrigal and stands at the beginning of Italian secular vocal music of the Renaissance.

Performance practice

Keep the texture transparent and the declamation shared; the text must coincide syllable by syllable. Shape the stanzas differently, since the music repeats and the text carries the variety. Sing with moderate vibrato and light tone production; fullness is out of place here. Consider performance with solo voice and instruments, as is historically attested, and settle the scoring beforehand. Watch for dance-like rhythm and avoid tempi that are too slow.

Note that contemporary arrangements for singing voice and lute are transmitted: they show that this music was not only performed vocally in four parts, and offer a well-attested alternative for performance. Settle the scoring deliberately.

Also check whether the printed source already contains a text underlay or whether it comes from the editor, because the declamation depends on it.