Fontana was one of the earliest composers to write villanelle – simple songs in a semi-popular style: his pieces were evidently held in great esteem, as they were frequently arranged by other musicians, among them Lassus: several of these are concordant with the 4-part settings by Lassus published in 13 Villanelle (MA10 ↣) .
These nine villanelle are taken from Fontana’s Canzone villanesche à tre voci alla napolitana (Venice, 1545), which contains 21 pieces in all.
Nothing is known about Fontana, though it has been assumed that he was a Neapolitan like his better-known contemporary Giovane Domenico da Nola, who was perhaps the first to compose in this style. However, Fontana’s little collection must have had some influence, for many of his pieces were drawn on by later composers.
