Trecento
The Italian fourteenth century.
What it means
Trecento literally means three hundred and designates, in Italian usage, the fourteenth century. In music history the term stands for the Italian music of this period, which differs markedly from the contemporary French development — in notation, forms, and sound. It survives above all in richly furnished manuscripts that collect secular polyphonic music.
Musical use
The most important genres are the fourteenth-century madrigal, which shares only the name with the later genre of the same name, the caccia with its canonically led voices, and the ballata with its refrain form. Characteristic are singing, richly ornamented upper voices over few lower voices, and a sound that involves thirds and sixths more strongly than was usual in the French music of the time. The Italian notation of this period developed independently and differs from French mensural notation. Toward the end of the century the two traditions draw closer together. It developed in parallel with the French Ars Nova, with its own notation and its own genres.
Performance practice
First clarify the question of scoring, since the sources rarely give information and both purely vocal and mixed performance are advocated; make your decision recognizable. Start from the text and treat the ornamented upper voice as a vocal line with breath arcs. Sing with a calm tone and sparing vibrato, so that the combined sonorities stay audible. Check the transcription used, because editors make different decisions about rhythm and alterations.
Bear in mind that the Italian notation of this period has its own signs and subdivisions: modern transcriptions make decisions about rhythm and alterations that are not compelling. Check the preface of your edition, therefore, and compare several transcriptions if possible. Important genres are the madrigal, the caccia, and the ballata. The main source is the Squarcialupi Codex.
Check whether your edition has added alterations, because the sources often do not write them out.
Also clarify explicitly the question of scoring, because both purely vocal and mixed performance are advocated and clearly change the character.