Lauda

What it means

The lauda (plural laude or laudi) is an Italian devotional song in the vernacular, cultivated mainly by lay confraternities from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. It served private and communal devotion outside the official Latin liturgy.

Early laude were mostly monophonic and strophic, often with a refrain; polyphonic settings appeared in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Musical use

The lauda arose in the context of the Franciscan and penitential movements of the thirteenth century, in particular the flagellant movement, and spread quickly through Italian cities. Confraternities such as the Compagnie dei Laudesi collected texts and melodies in dedicated manuscripts called laudari.

The lauda should be distinguished from liturgical chant, since it was sung outside the Mass and in the vernacular, and from the secular song, to which it was often musically closely related.

Performance practice

When singing a lauda, follow its plain, often dance-like melodic character and the alternation of verse and refrain, which invites communal singing.