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• Morley, Thomas: 2 canzonets (1597)

Morley, Thomas: 2 canzonets (1597)

for 5 voices or instruments.

These two pieces are taken from Morley´s Canzonets to 5 and 6 voyces of 1597, a collection that is particularly reliant on Italian models. The canzonetta was the most popular form of light vocal piece in Italy in the 1580s and 90s, with many hundreds of pieces by Vecchi, Banchieri, Ferretti, Anerio and others. Canzonette usually have one or two repeated sections, typically the first and/or last, with a slightly more discursive middle section.
However, as is the case with Morley´s Balletts (1600), closely modelled on Gastoldi´s balletti, the composer is not slavish in his reliance on his Italian models. Many of the canzonets from 1597 are actually much longer and more substantial pieces than any normal canzonette, this being particularly true of the six-part pieces. The texts, however, are very close to the Italian models, with their short lines, and frequent feminine endings; the use of the slightly unidiomatic “ay me” as an equivalent to the Italian “ahime” (alas!) is also very characteristic.
This edition follows Morley´s print quite closely, with only the occasional editorial accidental.