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The Renaissance Keyboard
The Renaissance Keyboard Complete Keyboard Music Marco Antonio Cavazzoni (ca.1485-after 1569) 1 Recercare Primo 2 Salve Virgo 3 Recercare Secondo 4 O Stella maris 5 Perdone moi sie folie 6 Madame vous aves mon cuor 7 Plus ne regres 8 L’autre yor per un matin
4’43 2’36 5’19 3’48 3’11 3’41 3’24 3’44
Andrea Antico (ca.1480-after1539) 9 Amor quando fioriva mia speme 2’10 10 Per mio ben te vederei 1’40 11 Chi non crede 1’31 12 Frena donna i toi bei lumi 1’35 13 Virgine bella che del sol vestita 2’58 14 Gentil donna 1’50 15 Che debb’io fare 1’12 16 Si è debile el filo 2’22 17 Ochi miei lassi 2’50 18 Odi cielo el mio lamento 2’16 19 Animoso mio desire 1’05 20 Stavasi amor 0’54 21 Fiamma amorosa 1’16 2
22 Non resta in questa 23 O che aiuto o che conforto 24 Per dolor mi bagno el viso 25 Non più morte al mio morire 26 Dolce ire dolce sdegni 27 La non vol esser 28 Son io quel che era quel di 29 Che farala che dirala 30 O che dirala mo 31 Crudel fugge se sai 32 Me lasserà tu mo 33 Hor che’l ciel e la terra 34 Cantai mentre nel core
0’42 3’14 4’28 0’45 1’54 0’45 0’47 1’00 0’46 0’17 0’25 2’35 2’03
Marco Antonio Cavazzoni 35 Recercada
2’52
Fabio Antonio Falcone Harpsichord (Tracks 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, 27, 28, 29, 33) Polygonal virginal (Tracks 11, 12, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34) Organ (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 35)
The idea of a “complete set” or “an entire collection”, of the printed literature of an instrument demands the inclusion of any “first issue”. Were it stamps, then no collection missing a Victorian Penny Black could be taken seriously. The listener will find here what can be considered that “first issue”! On this CD are presented recordings of possibly the two oldest examples of printed keyboard music: the Frottole Intabulate da Sonare Organi of 1517, by Andrea Antico and the Recerchari Motetti Canzoni of 1523, by Marco Antonio Cavazzoni. Andrea Antico was born in Montona on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, between 1470-80. The town had been under Venetian control and influence since the 13th Century, so we can presume that Antico would have spent a part of his formative years in Venice. By 1509 he had moved to Rome, and had begun an association with the engraver Giovanni Battista Colomba, and the printer Marcello Silber (alias Franck). In 1510 they published Canzoni nove con alcune scelte de varii libri di canto, a collection of frottole. These works were printed using the handcraft technique of woodblock carving, rather than the more recent and advanced technique of movable type, which was then currently being used by the printer Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice. Petrucci had used a triple pass through the press when printing his scores and tablatures for voice, lute and keyboard: one pass for the staves, one for the notes, and finally, one for the words. Far from being just a mere technical detail, the differing production techniques found in the two cities reflected an important social distinction: Rome was dominated by a clerical-aristocratic ruling class, whereas Venice had become characterized by a trading bourgeoisie, and found its formal political expression in the Repubblica. 3
In 1513 Pope Leo X granted Petrucci exclusive rights to print music within the Papal States, though after three years the Pope recinded this privilege because Petrucci had not published anything at all, and gave the rights to Antico. More importantly, Antico was granted an exclusive privilege to print keyboard tablature for a period of fifteen years. One year later, in 1517, he published his Frottole, and his rivalry with Petrucci may explain the title page illustration, which depicts Antico himself playing a harpsichord, whilst a woman (possibly an allegory of Music) looks at him, turning her gaze away from a monkey playing a lute, in crude disregard to the lute tablatures of Petrucci. The Medici coat of arms on the music stand also testifies to Antico’s Papal protection—Pope Leo X was a member of the Medici family. Frottola, from the Middle Ages Latin frocta, meaning “broken, incoherent things”, was initially a popular poetic form, expressed in song and telling of fabulous and foolish subjects. It was eventually absorbed into Court Music during the 15th Century (the main composers being Tromboncino, Cara and Vicentino) and elaborated into quite canonical forms—usually a composition for four voices (Superius or Cantus, Altus, Tenor and Bassus) accompanied by a polyphonic instrument, mainly the lute. Transcriptions of vocal frottole for solo instruments flourished quite early— Mayer Brown has listed twenty-three known arrangements between 1484 and 1549. Antico’s collection is the first one intended exclusively for keyboard and consists of twenty-six frottole, each with a different author. Some of these are credited on the index, mainly Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marchetto Cara. Some of the frottole were composed from Petrarch’s verses—Amor quando fioriva mia speme, Dolce ire dolce sdegni, Hor ch’el cielo e la terra, etc. 4
Antico’s transcription is based on the conservation of the most acute and low voices, Superius and Bassus, but he uses a more free approach for the intermediate ones, including imitative decorations or developments for new voices which do not exist in the original. As remarked by Hogwood, Antico links the short sections of frottole with short melodic bridges (Per dolor mi bagno il viso) and varies the abbellimenti in the repeated phrases (Si è debile el filo). The use of tremoli and tremoletti in Gentil donna se in voi and Dolce ire dolce sdegni is also new, though these developments were only codified more than a century later, by Girolamo Diruta in the Il Transilvano of 1610. In 1520 Antico left Rome and returned to Venice, where he worked with other music printers as a template cutter and carver. The most recent mention of him is in 1537, where he is referred to as the cutter (“per Andrea Antigo da Montona intagliati”) of the Terzo libro de’ madrigali di Verdelotto [...] e di Costanzo Festa, published by Ottaviano Scotto in Venice.
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Marco Antonio Cavazzoni was born in Bologna around 1485. He came from a wood trading family. We have no precise information about his musical education, but it’s plausible that he had been in contact with Giovanni Spataro, the Maestro di Cappela at San Petronio Church in Bologna (later correspondence between the two, on musical subjects, are preserved). There is a document, dated 1512, by Urbino Duchess Eleonora Gonzaga, referring to a “Marco Antonio mio musico” (“Marco Antonio, musician at my service”), and a later reference to Cavazzoni as “Marcantonio da Bologna detto d’Urbino” (“from Bologna, so-called from Urbino”). This would imply that Cavazzoni was in Montefeltro until at least 1517, when he was credited as singer in San Marco Basilica in Venice, and under the protection of diplomat (and later Cardinal) Francesco Corner. After a brief stay in Rome at the Papal Court of Leo X as gravicembolo [harpsichord] player, he returned to Venice, where in 1523 his protector was appointed Procuratore in San Marco Church. This appointment also led to an increase in Cavazzoni’s income, which undoubtedly helped in the publication of his Recerchari Motetti Canzoni that same year. Cavazzoni’s reputation had by then been established, as instanced by a dedication to him in Gabbiano’s 1523 edition of Petrarch’s Rime. Cavazzoni is referred to as “nel sonare di que’ stormenti e’ quali hoggi Gravicembali si appellano, non pur sufficientissimo, ma il primo” (“to be not more than able, but the first one playing those instruments that are nowadays called Gravicembali”). The Recechari Motetti Canzoni, printed by Bernardino da Vercelli, was created using the wood carved technique, and two passes of the press—the first being for the staves. It is the only known work by Cavazzoni, and the only complete specimen is preserved in the British Library (Sgn. K.8 B.8). 6
It consists of eight pieces, two ricercari, each followed by a motet (Salve Virgo, Stella maris) and four canzoni, transcriptions of original voice chansons. No vocal models have been found for these canzoni—Cavazzoni may well have arranged his own vocal compositions for the organ. The ricercares are the earliest known for keyboard and are important for being the first instrumental compositions printed in Italy to be completely autonomous from vocal models. Thematically, they are only slightly related to their ensuing motets and although they still seem to be documented improvisations, they differ from the early lute pieces in both length and thematic growth. The Rececada by a “Ma[r]ca[ntonio] in Bologna” appears among the keyboard manuscripts at Castell’Arquato. © Faber Fabbris
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Fabio Antonio Falcone is a passionate performer focusing on Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire with special interest on 16th-century Italian keyboard repertoire. His interests also lies in vocal and instrumental music of the Baroque period, as he is an active member of Caprice Baroque, Ensemble Odyssee Baroque Orchestra, Pizzicar Galante, with which he tours Europe and records CDs for different labels. He performs as a soloist and continuo player at international venues and festivals such as Summerwinds Festival Münster, Kunsthalle Lingen, Early Music Festival Bad Arolsen, Chapelle des Minimes Bruxelles, Festival Marin Marais Paris, Concerts d’Anacréon Angers, Musik Hochschule Cologne, with several ensembles among which Stile Galante, Sweelinck Baroque Orchestra, I Piccoli Olandesi and others. As soloist he was awarded third prize and special price for the best performance of the 17th-century Italian composition at the “Gianni Gambi” National harpsichord competition of Pesaro in 2007. Born in Basilicata in the south of Italy, he studied in Italy with Maria Luisa Baldassari and Jesper Bøje Christensen and in the Netherlands with Bob van Asperen, where he obtained the Master degree with a research on early 17th-century English keyboard music.
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Harpsichord and Virginal The instruments used for this recording are an Italian harpsichord after Alessandro Trasuntino (Venezia 1531) and a polygonal virginal after Domenico da Pesaro (ca.1550), both built by Roberto Livi. The harpsichord is inspired after the original instrument of Alessandro Trasuntino preserved in the Royal College of Music of London. The instrument is a true inner-outer with sides and soundboard in cypress and goose quills-plectra with a typical deep and transparent sound. The virginal, inspired after an original by Domenico da Pesaro preserved in Berlin, is a typical Italian 16th-century polygonal virginal, with sides, soundboard, and bridges in cypress, with gull quills-plectra. The extreme lightness of the structure and the total absence of ribs on the soundboard contributes to a round sonority over the whole compass. Organ of the Church of San Giuseppe, Montevecchio di Pergola Organ probably dating back to the middle of the XVII century by unknown artist, placed in the choir loft above the main door entrance by wooden case leaning against the back wall and harnessing a 30 cm (12’’) niche deep integrated into the masonry. The prospectus consists of three arches of which the main one is at the center. The 21 pipes are divided into three groups of seven barrels each from note Sol1 of register Principal 8’. The three arches are delimited by four pilasters at the base of which are four aviaries with com-mand register to throttle and air supplies that depart from each fan. The keyboard has 45 keys with a range of C1-C5 with short octave. The fronts and the natural keys are covered in box-wood, the sharps are in walnut painted black. The pedal is the type « a leggio » , spruce, with 9
9 pedals constantly united to the keyboard. The two wedge bellows are placed at the side of the case and can be operated manually or with electric fan. The registers are driven by handcuffs horizontal movement, to the left of the keyboard in the following order: Main Eighth (8’) Octave Flute in VIII Flute in XII XV XIX XXII XXVI
first 4 wood, 5-27 in front Sn 25 % first 4 transmitted by the Eighth, cylindrical cylindrical , Sn 25% without refrains with refrains to F#39 with refrains to C#34 with refrains to F#27 and 39
Accessories: n . 4 « uccelliere » receiving the wind from each fan. Chorister: 440 Hz to 18° Temperament: meantone Pressure: 45 mm water column
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A very special thanks to Ida Casella, Giorgio Castellani, Domenica Caucci , Massimiliano Falcone, Alessandro Falcone, Elena Gramaccioni and Jacques Michaut for having made possible this recording. Thanks to Maestro Giovanni Maria Perrucci, Reverend Federico Tocchini and whole Montevecchio di Pergola’s community for making available the spaces for the recording. Thanks to the organ maker Maestro Riccardo Sabbatini for his valuable assistance in the organ maintenance during the recording.
Recording: 25-27 August 2014, Chiesa di San Giuseppe, Montevecchio di Pergola, Italy Sound Engineer: Luigi Faggi Grigioni Recording Producer: Andrea Friggi Digital Editing: Fabio Antonio Falcone, Andrea Friggi Instruments: Polygonal virginal by Roberto Livi, Pesaro 1999, after Domenico da Pesaro, Venice ca.1550 Harpsichord by Roberto Livi, Pesaro 2001, after A. Trasuntino, Venice 1531 Anonym organ from the middle of XVII century restored by Francesco Zanin Pitch: a’ = 440; Tuning: 1/4 comma meantone temperament Cover image: Title-page of woodcut of Frottole intabulate da sonare organi (Andrea Antico, Rome 1517) P & © 2015 Brilliant Classics 11