Canzona “La Padovana”

Lodvico Grossi da Viadana (ca 1564-1627)
Arranged by Nancy Nourse
dur: ca 4:30

Published in 1610, Canzona “La Padovana” is from Viadana's only purely instrumental collection, his Sinfonie muscali for eight voices, op. 18. Each of the eighteen canzoni therein is named after an Italian city such as Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, and in this instance Padua. Typically, this canzona is composed in two contrasting sections: a slower opening section in duple time that uses frequent imitative entries in a flowing polyphonic style and a following section in triple time that is by contrast in a simpler, homophonic genre.

With this transcription, in order to accomodate the instruments of the flute family, the canzona has been raised up a full tone. As is current practice, the notes of the second section have been transposed from a half note to a quarter note pulse. All dynamics, breath marks and ornamentaion are editorial.