The canzona, also known as the canzon or canzone, is an Italian musical form derived from the Franco-Flemish and Parisian Chanson.
Background
The canzona is an instrumental musical form that differs from the similar forms of
Ricercar and fantasia in its livelier, markedly rhythmic material and separation into distinct sections. At first based on the Franco-Flemish
Polyphony songs (chansons) that gave it its name, the instrumental canzona was soon independently composed, not least by Gabrieli in his brass canzonas and by Girolamo Frescobaldi in his keyboard canzonas. As a form, the canzona would influence the
fugue, and the ensemble canzonas were the direct ancestors of the 17th-century
sonata da chiesa.
Notes
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