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• 2 Frottole with Refrains

2 Frottole with Refrains

for 4 voices or instruments.

Several of the collections of frottole published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci during the first decade of the sixteenth century contain pieces in which a popular tune is used as a kind of refrain, or commentary, on the verses of the song. Marchetto Cara´s Mentre io vo per questi boschi uses the popular song “Uccelino, bel uccelino” to make a telling contrast between the poet´s own bitterness and the innocent beauty of the bird´s singing. The “Uccelino” melody survives as a dance in the Venice Marciana Manuscript (MS Ital. IV 1227), and is quoted in other frottole, as well as in Werrecorre´s La Bataglia taliana of 1549 (see Francesco Luisi, Apografo Miscellaneo Marciano, Venice, Fondazione Levi, 1979, p. Ixiv). In Nicolò Pifaro´s Per memoria di quel giorno “Damene un poco di quella mazacrocha”, a tune which seems to have had quite basic, if not comic, associations, is presented with considerable poignancy, in a context of tender longing. The “Mazacrocha” melody was used as the basis for a witty 4-part setting already printed in this series (EMI, 133), and also figured in some quodlibets, including that by Heinrich Isaac (see our AN1 1).
Cara´s piece is printed after Venice, Biblioteca Marciana MSS It. Cl. IV, 1795-8; Pifaro´s after Petrucci, Frottole, Libro octavo, Venice, 1507. The original note values have been halved throughout. Editorial accidentals are printed small above the stave, applying to the individual note only. I am grateful to Alan Robson for translating the texts of these poems.
These pieces can be performed in a variety of ways, with the proviso that the top part should be clearly heard. When the top part is sung, the three lower parts can be played on viols or other instruments, and/or arranged for lute; alternatively both pieces work perfectly well as instrumental pieces, for consorts of recorders, flutes, viols, or other soft instruments.