Joan Ambrosio Dalza ( fl. 1508) was a Milanese

lutenist A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can refe ...

and composer. His surviving works comprise the fourth volume of

Ottaviano Petrucci Ottaviano Petrucci (born in Fossombrone on 18 June 1466 – died on 7 May 1539 in Venice) was an Italian printer. His ''Harmonice Musices Odhecaton'', a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet mu ...

's influential series of lute music publications, ''Intabolatura de lauto libro quarto'' (Venice, 1508). Dalza is referred to as "milanese" in the preface, so it must be assumed he was either born in Milan, or worked there, or both.Wess, Coelho, Grove. Together with the oeuvres of

Francesco Spinacino Francesco Spinacino ( fl. 1507) was an Italian lutenist and composer. His surviving output comprises the first two volumes of Ottaviano Petrucci's influential series of lute music publications: ''Intabolatura de lauto libro primo'' and ''Intabolat ...

and

Vincenzo Capirola Vincenzo Capirola (1474 – after 1548) was an Italian composer, lutenist and nobleman of the Renaissance. His music is preserved in an illuminated manuscript called the Capirola Lutebook, which is considered to be one of the most important s ...

, Dalza's work constitutes an important part of early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

music. The surviving pieces comprise 42 dances, nine

ricercar A ricercar ( , ) or ricercare ( , ) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ''ricercar'' derives from the Italian verb which means 'to search out; to seek'; many ricercars serve a preludial functi ...

es, five tastar de corde, four

intabulation Intabulation, from the Italian word ''intavolatura'', refers to an arrangement of a vocal or ensemble piece for keyboard, lute, or other plucked string instrument, written in tablature. History Intabulation was a common practice in 14th–16th c ...

s and a piece called ''Caldibi castigliano''. The dances are arranged in miniature suites. Each of the five

pavane The ''pavane'' ( ; it, pavana, ''padovana''; german: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance). The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, ...

s (five ''alla venetiana'', four ''alla ferrarese'') is followed by a

saltarello The ''saltarello'' is a musical dance originally from Italy. The first mention of it is in Add MS 29987, a late-fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century manuscript of Tuscan origin, now in the British Library. It was usually played in a fast tr ...

and a

piva Piva may refer to: * Piva (river), a river in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina * Piva, Montenegro, a region in Montenegro and tribe * Piva River, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea * Piva Trail, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea ** Battle for Piva Tr ...

that are thematically and harmonically related to it. Other groupings include pairs of ''tastar de corde'' with a ''recercar dietro''. Some pieces, such as ''Caldibi castigliano'' and those titled ''Calate ala spagnola'', show

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

influence, possibly because of

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

cultivation in 16th century Italy. Dalza's music is, for the most part, comparatively simple and easy to perform. The composer himself acknowledged the fact in the preface to Petrucci's volume, and promised to publish more complex pieces at a later date. It is currently unknown whether this had been realized. Although contemporaries such as Spinacino and Capirola wrote in a more advanced idiom, Dalza's output is important because it consists almost entirely of original music, not vocal intabulations. Furthermore, Dalza's collection includes the earliest known

s (described as ''padoane diverse'' on the title page), which are also the earliest known

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

: all ''pavane alla venetiana'' feature harmonic variations with a loosely defined tonic, and ''pavane alla ferrarese'' consist of series of open-ended phrases followed by varied repeats: AA'–BB'–CC'–.. etc.Horsley, p. 118–119. These variation forms are sometimes referred to as single-strain and multiple-strain, respectively. Dalza's collection is also one of the very few sources to feature tastar de corde, short introductory preludes. The name translates from Italian to "testing of the strings". Dalza's pieces are arranged symmetrically by key: G, C, D (with F), C (with E), G. They range from 16 (number 1) to 42 bars (numbers 3 and 4); the material essentially consists of static chords alternating with short fast passages.Fabris, Grove.

References

* * * * * Imogene Horsley. ''The 16th-Century Variation: A New Historical Survey'', Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 12, No. 2/3 (Summer – Autumn, 1959), pp. 118–132.

Notes

External links

Joan Ambrosio Dalza Biography at HOASM
includes a partial discography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalza, Joan Ambrosio Composers for lute 16th-century Italian composers Italian male composers Italian lutenists Musicians from Milan