Merulo: 14 Canzoni à4

Claudio Merulo, who worked for many years at the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, was one of the first musicians to compose canzoni da sonare; his were widely imitated and arranged.

This volume brings together almost all of the four-part canzonas of Claudio Merulo that can be presented in an acceptable form, apart from the Canzon quinta from the Raverij anthology of 1608.  I have deliberately left some pieces out: one in a manuscript in Oxford is unfortunately corrupt, and another canzona attributed to Meruo in the Woltz tablature seems uncharacteristically dull. (Bernard Thomas – editor)