Canzonetta

Did You Know?

• In England the term was anglicized to canzonet; English canzonets are longer, more complex, and more contrapuntal than Italian ones.
• In 1871 George Cooper and J. R. Thomas wrote a Canzonet called 'Dreaming, Still Dreaming' for Mrs. Zelda Sequin.
• In 1876 Septimus Winner wrote a Canzonetta called Gay As a Lark, which also featured a Tarantella.

Origins in Italy

The early canzonetta was closely related to the Neapolitan villanella. Its subjects were always secular, often pastoral, irreverent, or erotic. The poems used varied rhyme and stanza schemes but always ended with a punch line. Typically written for three unaccompanied voices, the canzonetta moved quickly and avoided contrapuntal complexity, though it often employed animated cross-rhythms. It was popular and spread throughout Italy, paralleling and later interacting with the madrigal. The earliest published books appeared in 1567 (Giovanni Ferretti) and 1572 (Girolamo Conversi). By the 1580s major composers such as Luca Marenzio and Claudio Monteverdi (whose first set appeared in 1584) were writing canzonettas. Orazio Vecchi produced varied examples, including dance pieces and parodies of madrigal excesses. Felice Anerio adapted the form for sacred use. By the end of the century, canzonettas were for four to six voices and had grown closer to the madrigal. Hans Leo Hassler brought the form to Germany.

Later developments

During the 17th century, the canzonetta gradually changed from an a cappella genre to a monody or cantata, becoming a song for solo voice and accompaniment. A late example is Joseph Haydn's two sets of six for voice and piano on English texts (1794–5). The term has also been used for songlike instrumental pieces, such as the slow movement of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Samuel Barber's Canzonetta for Oboe and String Orchestra (1979/1981). Since the 17th century, it has meant 'little Canzona' and has been applied to smaller keyboard works in fugue style, for instance Dieterich Buxtehude's Canzonetta in A minor, BuxWV 225.