Alfabeto Songs: Guitar songs from 17th-century Italy

Featuring

Pierre Pitzl
Raquel Andueza
Theresa Dlouhy
Private Musicke
Giovanni Stefani
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger

Giovanni Paolo Foscarini
Marcantonio Aldigiatti de Cesena
Flamminio Corradi
Francesco Corbetta
Girolamo Montesardo
Tarquinio Merula
Bartolomeo Barbarino
Gaspar Sanz

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

Some composers, such as Foscarini, Calvi, and Sanz, used 'alfabeto falso' letters for dissonant chords, including four-three suspensions, seventh chords, and daring acciaccaturas.

Cultural Impact

The 'Alfabeto' system allowed amateur musicians who could not read music to quickly learn songs and dances, leading to hundreds of printed editions of guitar music using this notation in the 17th century.

Historical Context

The 'Alfabeto' notation system and the 5-string Chitarra espagnola, which emerged around 1580, played a role in the development of monody and the new harmonic chordal concept in early 17th-century music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Girolamo Kapsberger, a lutenist and composer, published seven books of villanelles between 1610 and 1640, which were highly popular and composed by nearly all major Italian composers of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Compositional Technique

The 'Alfabeto' system, developed by Girolamo Montesardo in 1606, is a fingering notation system for guitar chords that assigns a single letter to each chord.

Composer Biography

Francesco Corbetta, born in 1615, was considered the outstanding guitarist of his time and was called 'El mejor de todos' (the best of all) by his Spanish colleague Gaspar Sanz.