Zarlino describes the 7th mode as apt for texts of a ‘lascivious, angry, or cheerful’ nature, a range of moods that seems to be well represented by both this and the preceding canzona. But whereas No 2 opened with music of deceptive simplicity, the memorably energetic opening of No 3, which the late Denis Arnold described as ‘fizzing like champagne’, is based on repeated notes that both recall the military motifs of the batalla and also point towards Monteverdi’s stile concitato. This leads directly into a sequence of strongly contrasting ideas, including (unusually) two different triplas, the first of which appears twice, and a mournful passage in the ‘dominant minor’ which makes the final recapitulation of the opening section all the more effective.
from notes by Timothy Roberts © 1997
1.Audio tour Holyrood House, Edinburgh. Antenna Audio Production
