La Trobe University - Library: Medieval Music Database - Annual cycle of feasts of liturgical chant, liturgical polyphony and secular music of the late middle ages.

Osellecto selvaggio per stagione

madrigal by Jacopo da Bologna

Sources

Florence: Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Palatino 87 (Squarcialupi Codex), fol. 12v-13 (2/2); Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Panciatichiano 26, fol. 68v-69 (2/2); San Lorenzo, Archivio Capitolare 2211 [palimpsest], fol. 11v-12 (2/2);
London: British Library, Additional 29987, fol. 15v-16 (2/2);
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds nouv. acq. français 6771 (Reina Codex), fol. 7 (2/2).

Facsimiles

1. WOLF, Johannes. Geschichte der Mensural-Notation von 1250-1460 nach den theoretischen und praktischen Quellen, 3 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904. [reprinted Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1965], p. 67 (Fl87, diplomatic).
2. The Manuscript London, British Museum Add. 29987, facsimile edition by Gilbert Reaney, [n.p.]: American Institute of Musicology, 1965. Musicological Studies and Documents 13, (Lo).
3. Il codice musicale Panciatichi 26 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze, facsimile edition by F. Alberto Gallo, Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1981, no. 127 (FP).
4. Il Codice Squarcialupi edited by F. Alberto GALLO, Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1992.

Editions

1. WOLF, Johannes. Geschichte der Mensural-Notation von 1250-1460 nach den theoretischen und praktischen Quellen, 3 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904. [reprinted Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1965], Vol. III, p. 99 (Fl87).
2. The Music of Jacopo da Bologna, edited by W. Thomas Marrocco, Berkeley: University of California, 1954. University of California Publications in Music 5, p. 78 (Fn26).
3. Der Squarcialupi-Codex Pal. 87 der Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana zu Florenz, edited by Johannes Wolf and H. Albrecht, Lippstadt: Kistner and Siegel, 1955, p. 26.
4. The Music of Fourteenth-Century Italy, edited by Nino Pirrotta, Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1963. Corpus Mensurablis Musicae 8/IV, p. 20.
5. Italian Secular Music by Magister Piero, Giovanni da Firenze and Jacopo da Bologna, edited by W. Thomas Marrocco, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1967. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century VI, p. 128 (Fn26)., p. 130 (Lbl29987).
6. GOZZI, Marco. [London, British Library 29987: Transcription and Commentary], 2 vols., dissertation, Cremona, Scuola di paleografica musicale, University of Pavia: 1984-1985.
7. GARFORTH, Constance C. The Lo Manuscript: A Trecento Collection, Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University: 1983.

Text Editions

CORSI, Giuseppe. Poesie musicali del Trecento, Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1970, p. 42.

Literature

1. BRUNAMONTI, L. Tarulli. 'Una scuola di canto a Perugia nella prima metà del sec. XIV', Bollettino della regia deputazione di storia patria per l'Umbria, XXVII (1924): 339-392.
2. BONACCORSI, Alfredo. 'Un nuovo codice dell' Ars nova: Il codice Lucchese', Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Ser. 8, I/12 (1948), p. 541.
3. ELLINWOOD, Leonard. 'The Fourteenth Century in Italy', [chapter 2 of] The New Oxford History of Music. III. Ars Nova and the Renaissance, edited by Dom Anselm Hughes and Gerald Abraham, London: Oxford University Press, 1960, pp. 75-76.
4. FELLIN, Eugene C. A Study of Superius Variants in the Sources of Italian Trecento Music: Madrigals and Cacce, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin: 1970, passim.
5. MARROCCO, W. Thomas. 'Integrative devices in the music of the Italian Trecento', L'Ars nova italiana del Trecento III: Certaldo 1969, 1970, p. 423.
6. FISCHER, Kurt von. 'Zum Wort-Ton Problem in der Musik des italienischen Trecento', Festschrift Arnold Geering zum 70. Geburtstag, Bern-Stuttgart: P. Haupt, 1972, p. 57.
7. PIRROTTA, Nino. 'Novelty and renewal in Italy: 1300-1600', Studien zur Tradition in der Musik: Kurt von Fischer zum 60. Geburtstag, edited by H. H. Eggebrecht and M. Lütolf, Munich: Katzbichler, 1973, p. 54.
8. GALLO, F. Alberto. Il Medioevo, vol. II, Turin: Edizioni di Torino, 1977. [English translation as Music of the Middle Ages, vol. II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985], p. 60.
9. FELLIN, Eugene C. 'The notation-types of Trecento music', L'Ars nova italiana del Trecento IV: Certaldo 1975, 1978, pp. 211-224.
10. WILKINS, Nigel. Music in the Age of Chaucer, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1979. Chaucer Studies I, pp. 43, 56.
11. HALLMARK, Anne. 'Some evidence for French influence in northern Italy, c.1400', Studies in the Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, edited by Stanley Boorman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 193-226.
12. D'ACCONE, Frank. 'Una nuova fonte dell' "Ars nova" italiana: il codice di San Lorenzo, 2111', Studi Musicali, XIII (1984): 3-31.
13. FISCHER, Kurt von. 'Sprache und Musik im italienischen Trecento: Zur Frage einer Frührenaissance', Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, edited by U. Günther and L. Finscher, Kassel: Bärenreiter: 1984, pp. 41-42.
14. NADAS, John. 'Editorial practices in early Quattrocento Florentine anthologies of secular polyphony', L'Ars nova italiana del Trecento VI: Certaldo 1984, Certaldo: Centro di Studio L'ars nova italiana, 1992.

Recordings

1. The Italian Madrigal: Ars Nova and the 16th Century, Vassar Madrigal Singers, directed by Geer: Allegro ALG 3029.
2. Douce Dame: Music of Courtly Love from Medieval France and Italy, The Waverly Consort, directed by Michael Jaffee (1973): Vanguard VSD 71179.
3. Denkmäler Alter Musik aus dem Codex Reina (14./15. Jh.), members of Syntagma Musicum, directed by Kees Otten (1979): Telefunken AW6 42357.
4. Jacopo da Bologna: Italienische Madrigale des 14. Jahrhunderts, P.A.N. Ensemble Project Ars Nova (1985): Harmonia Mundi HM 738A.
5. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century, directed by John Griffiths and John Stinson (1987): Move MC 3091.
6. Bestiarium, Elisabetta de' Mircovich, Claudia Caffagni, Ella de' Mircovich, Livia Caffagni, La Reverdie (1991): Nuova Era 6970.

Text

Oselletto selvagio per stagione
dolci versetti canta con bel modo:
tal e tal grida forte, ch'i' non l'odo.

Per gridar forte non si canta bene,
ma con soav'e dolce melodia
si fa bel canto, e ciò vuol maestria.

Pochi l'hanno e tutti si fan maestri,
fan ballate, madrigal'e motetti
tutt'en Fioran, Filippotti e Marchetti.

Sì è piena la terra di magistroli,
che loco più non trovano discepoli

Translation

A woodbird in season
sings sweet verses in elegant style:
but such and such squawk so loud I cannot praise them.

By squawking loudly one cannot sing well,
but with sweet and charming melody
one can make a beautiful song, and this requires mastery.

Few possess it, yet they all claim to be masters,
composing ballads, madrigals and motets,
they are all Florians, Filippottos and Marchettos.

The land is so filled with little masters
that there is no room for disciples.
Text revision and translation © Giovanni Carsaniga