CANZONE SACRA. – In vocal music, this signified a composition analogous to the motet, in a strictly imitative style, whose theme was very often a melody drawn from the Gregorian repertory (12th–13th centuries) or from popular tradition. It did not have a form clearly defined and distinct from that of the motet even in the 16th and 17th centuries (Sacrae cantiones quae vulgo moctcta appellantur). In this period, however, the Franco-Flemish school chansons, the Italian secular or spiritual canzonettas, and the German lieder were more clearly defined.
In instrumental music, the term canzone has indicated, since the 16th century, a composition of a defined character, analogous to the ricercar, but generally more clearly fugal, with an incisive theme (often consisting of repeated notes in the first measure) and a lively movement; the recurrence of the initial theme in the conclusion and the alternation of uneven and even rhythms are frequent. The name canzone appears for the first time in 1523, in Venice, for the works of G. Cavazzoni, known as Cavazzoni da Bologna, and then, in 1530, in Paris.
The c. divided into several parts and generally more complex than the c. “da camera,” which combines the severity of contrapuntal procedure with an airy clarity and liveliness of theme and rhythmic movement, is usually defined as “da chiesa” or “francese.” The sacred songs were initially written for organ, then for various instruments, with or without voices (Banchieri: Ecclesiastiche sinfonie dette Canzoni in aria francese a 4 voci per sonare et cantare, 1607). In the Tabulaturbuch (1607) of B. Schmid junior, under the title Fugen oder (wie es die Italiener nennen) Canzoni alla francese (a) 4 (voci), there appear compositions, certainly already close to our fugue, by no fewer than 12 Italians (Malvezzi, Maschera, Gabrieli, Mortaro, Banchieri, Soriano, Brignoli, Vecchi, and one uncertain). Another important collection is the Venetian one (1608), which bears the title “Canzoni per sonar con ogni sorte di stromenti a 4, 5 e 8 con il suo Basso generale per l'organo” (in a transcription for voices by Raverii), and includes, in addition to some of those already mentioned, Merulo, Guami, Antepnati, Lappi, Frescobaldi, Grillo, Chilese, Bartolini, and Massini. Other sixteenth- and seventeenth-century composers were Bernardi, Sperindio, Froberger, Kerler, Pasquini, Zipoli, and della Ciaja.
Anna Maria Gentili