Note nere
Encyclopedia
Note nere was a style of madrigal
composition, which used shorter note values than usual and had more black note-heads.
The style was introduced around 1540, and had a short vogue among composers publishing in Venice including Costanzo Festa
, Giaches de Wert
, Cipriano di Rore and many minor composers, such as in the First Book (1548) of Giandomenico Martoretta
.
The first note nere madrigals had appeared, unannounced, in 1538, in the music for the wedding of Cosimo de Medici, where four of seven canzone by Corteccia are note nere, and 1539 with two of the madrigals in Arcadelt's Fourth Book. The first publication to establish the pattern that title pages of the collections were often marked as madrigali a note nere, in contrast to conventional but unstated note bianche, was Claudio Veggio
's book of 1540 - which was marked misura a breve; the same idea. Alfred Einstein interpreted this as "short measure".
The time signature
of note nere madrigals was rather than (now the sign for alla breve
). Pietro Aron
, in his Lucidario (1545), states what would appear evident - that shorter black notes in should have evened out to longer white notes in , making the change in the notation merely cosmetic, but Glareanus noted that there was no strict proportion between C and C with a vertical slash. The common conclusion of scholars is that the notation was meant to signal contrast between very fast and very slow beats as part of the chromatic style.
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
composition, which used shorter note values than usual and had more black note-heads.
The style was introduced around 1540, and had a short vogue among composers publishing in Venice including Costanzo Festa
Costanzo Festa
Costanzo Festa was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. While he is best known for his madrigals, he also wrote sacred vocal music...
, Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert
Giaches de Wert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal...
, Cipriano di Rore and many minor composers, such as in the First Book (1548) of Giandomenico Martoretta
Giandomenico Martoretta
Giandomenico Martoretta was a Sicilian Baroque composer. Little is known of his life, but the style of the dedication of the "master of theology" Giovanfrancesco di Chara in the second book indicates that Martoretta may have been minor gentry or member of an academy...
.
The first note nere madrigals had appeared, unannounced, in 1538, in the music for the wedding of Cosimo de Medici, where four of seven canzone by Corteccia are note nere, and 1539 with two of the madrigals in Arcadelt's Fourth Book. The first publication to establish the pattern that title pages of the collections were often marked as madrigali a note nere, in contrast to conventional but unstated note bianche, was Claudio Veggio
Claudio Veggio
Claudio Maria Veggio was an Italian composer of the Renaissance, principally of secular music.He was born in Piacenza, and must have spent most of his life there. Little is known about his life except for a brief period during the 1540s, when he was employed as a composer and harpsichordist for...
's book of 1540 - which was marked misura a breve; the same idea. Alfred Einstein interpreted this as "short measure".
The time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
of note nere madrigals was rather than (now the sign for alla breve
Alla breve
In music, alla breve Italian: at the breve] refers to a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol , which is the equivalent of 2/2. Alla breve is a "simple-duple meter with a half-note pulse"...
). Pietro Aron
Pietro Aron
Pietro Aron, also known as Pietro Aaron , was an Italian music theorist and composer. He was born in Florence and probably died in Bergamo .-Biography:...
, in his Lucidario (1545), states what would appear evident - that shorter black notes in should have evened out to longer white notes in , making the change in the notation merely cosmetic, but Glareanus noted that there was no strict proportion between C and C with a vertical slash. The common conclusion of scholars is that the notation was meant to signal contrast between very fast and very slow beats as part of the chromatic style.