Description
Chominciamento di gioia Virtuoso Dance-Music from the Time of Boccaccio's Decamerone Chominciamento di gioia - Saltarello No.4 Lamento di Tristano - La RottaBellicha Tre fontane Parlamento Principio di virtú Saltarello No.1 Trotto Saltarello No.2 Isabella Ghaetta Saltarello No.3 In pro La Manfredina - La Rotta The Black Death of 1348 in Europe brought death to some 25 million people. It played a part in the ending of an out-dated way of life governed by religious dogma and at the same time gave impetus to new currents of thought in the cities of Northern Italy, where humanism, more democratic forms of government and trade flourished. Nobles and citizens grew rich with the cloth industry, which provided the necessary wealth for cultural development, financing the establishment of universities where discoveries were made by creative experiment and philosophical investigation. The modern age was born. Giovanni Boccaccio's Decamerone of 1353 presents the story of ten young noblemen and noblewomen of Florence who have withdrawn for ten days from the city, where the plague rages, to find refuge at a country-house. There they entertain themselves with singing, dancing and story-telling. They combine here the medieval ideals of courtly love with the erotic in witty company. The Decamerone gives a number of hints as to the musical habits of the time: The queen bade bring instruments of music, for that all the ladies knew how to dance, as also the young men, and some of them could both play and sing excellent well. Accordingly, by her commandment, Dioneo took a lute and Fiametta a viol and began softly to sound a dance; whereupon the queen and the other ladies, together with the other two young men, began with a slow pace to dance a branl; which ended, they fell to singing quaint and many ditties. (First Day, Introduction). In another place a lady sick for love is consoled with music: Now this Minuccio was in those days held a very quaint and subtle singer and player and was gladly seen of the king; ...(he) came to her and having somedele comforted her with kindly speech, softly played her a fit or two on a viol he had with him and after sang her sundry songs ...(Tenth Day, Seventh Novel). On the one hand the ars musica was no longer a speculative interpretation of the writings in monastic scriptoria for the proof of the existence of God and his praise, but an art applied in everyday life. On the other hand, just as Boccaccio had raised vernacular and popular stories to a level of art, so the dances of the lower classes, learned by ear and played extempore, might be shaped into artistic performances. One of the earliest manuscripts containing examples of such art dance-music comes from Northern Italy and is found in the British Library in London (Ms.29987). Apart from several madrigals, the language and notation of which date the copy to c.1390, there are fifteen monophonic instrumental pieces at the end of the manuscript. They are all in the charac