Merulo, Canzon vigesimaterza a5 and Canzon decimaottava a5

This performance of canzonas by Merulo comes from the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble. You may presume you know all about cornetts but have not encountered a sackbut. But the opposite is more likely true. The sackbut is simply an early version of the trombone. It had thicker brass tubing an a smaller bell, giving it a more mellow sound than today’s trombone. The name sackbut is anglicized from the French sacqueboute, meaning pull-push.

The Renaissance cornett, however, was a very different instrument from today’s cornet. It had a mouthpiece similar to what you find on a modern brass instrument, but it otherwise resembled a woodwind instrument controlled with finger holes.

So before you move to the featured performance, you might want to observe a couple of short explanations and demonstrations of the sackbut and cornett.

Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) held posts at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. He is grouped among the late Renaissance “Venetian School” of composers along with Gioseffo Zarlino, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, and the Dutch composer Adrian Willaert. We featured a canzona by Giovanni Gabrieli in this series last year.

The canzona developed as an instrumental arrangement of a secular song, usually a French chanson. It was typically a polyphonic work with a lively rhythm and distinct sections. Merulo was one of the first to compose canzonas without reference to any preexisting vocal works, although he too based some of his instrumental works on vocal models. Merulo is best known perhaps for his keyboard toccatas and was considered one of the best organists of his time.