Antonio Gardane

Il primo libro de canzoni francese...2

Starting in the 16th century, the demand for two-part compositions—known as "bicinium"—grew steadily. These biciniums did not follow any fixed form. Among them are (with and without text) madrigals, sonnets, fantasias, fugues, and ricercares. These pieces have lost none of their appeal to this day and also serve as valuable teaching material. With his collection "Il primo libro de canzoni francese…," which was printed multiple times, the composer, printer, and publisher Antonio Gardano (1509–1569) made a valuable contribution to this compositional form. Our complete edition is based on the 1564 Venice edition and has been divided into two volumes (RM06 & RM07) for instrumentation reasons. The "Canzoni" contained in Volume 2 are notated in the first voice in octave treble clef and in the second voice in bass clef, making them suitable for recorders (tenor & bass), viols (two bass viols or an alto and a bass viol), or other melodic instruments, and can also be performed vocally.