The non-Italian Ars Nova: how to read the madrigal Povero zappator by Lorenzo da Firenze

Abstract

Abstract The label ‘Ars Nova’ is not easily applicable to Italian 14th-century music, since its main characteristics, such as isorhythm, diminution, pre-existing tenors, and so on, are practically absent, with a few exceptions, from Italian musical compositions, even Italian motets. Yet, isorhythm and diminution were used in the madrigal Povero zappator by Lorenzo da Firenze. What was the reason for using these devices just in this madrigal, whose poetic text about a lone sailor in a tempestuous sea at first glance seems to be a poem typical of Trecento madrigals? This article contends that this text, which so far has attracted little scholarly attention, is derived from Petrarch’s canzone Ne la stagion che ’l ciel rapido inchina. This provides not only a clue to understanding Lorenzo’s intentions, but, in a larger perspective, it also discloses the perception by Italian Trecento musicians of the musical thinking of their transalpine colleagues.