8 duets – Cancionera de Uppsala

These eight pieces come from Villancicos De diversos Autores, a dos, y a tres, y a quatro, y a cinco bozes, published in Venice by Girolamo Scotto in 1556. It has acquired the title “Cancionera de Uppsala”, simply because the only remaining copy of the print has survived in the University Library of the Swedish city. After the villancicos that make up most of the collection there is a set of long-note canti firmi in the eight modes — presumably intended as a basis for improvised counterpoint — and the eight duos here printed.
The dissonance treatment in these pieces is occasionally rather unorthodox. In a few places the convention that a suspension is begun before the beat, with the dissonance coming on the beat, is reversed, as in no. 8, bar 41, where the resolution comes on the first beat of the next bar. This seems to be a deliberate attempt to deceive the ear.