Content area
Full Text
In Boccaccio's narrated world, as well as in the overarching tale of the brigata, the prominent musical genre is the secular monophonic ballad. Unlike other late-medieval narratives—such as Simone Prodenzani's Liber Saporecti (c. 1400–1422) and Giovanni Gherardi da Prato's Paradiso degli Alberti (written c. 1420, but reflecting cultural life c. 1390)1—the Decameron does not present an assortment of historical song titles (except for a few folk songs, as we shall see below); most of its ballads were instead written and described by Boccaccio himself for inclusion in his masterwork. At first sight, the Decameron appears strangely oblivious to the sacred chants of Dante's Commedia; however, a closer look shows that Boccaccio rewrites Dante's soundscape in an allusive way, bringing to the fore the representative musical genre of Florentine mercantile bourgeoisie: the monophonic ballad. While manuscript sources transmit only sixteen monophonic ballads with notated music from the late fourteenth century, it was a popular genre in Trecento Florence, one that did not need to be written down for preservation or performance, but was instead committed to memory.2 In addition to the ten ballads sung at the end of each day by a member of the brigata, Boccaccio mentions a few more songs worthy of note. One of these occurs in Dec. 3.7: after seven years of voluntary exile in Cyprus, Tedaldo degli Elisei suddenly recalls his former life when he overhears a love song he himself had long ago composed for his still fervent love. We are not offered any detail about the lyrics or music of Tedaldo's song, but we know that it plays a key role in the tale's narrative, triggering the protagonist's decision to return to Florence and setting the plot in motion.
Another ballad seems to kindle an unconscionable passion in Dec. 10.6, when the twin daughters of Neri degli Uberti perform "Là ov'io son giunto, Amore, non si poria contare lungamente" to the delight of Charles of Anjou in wake of his victory over Manfred. And finally, "Muoviti Amore e vattene a messere" (Dec. 10.7)—which Boccaccio attributes to Minuccio d'Arezzo as the composer of the music and to Mico da Siena as the author of the lyrics—plays a vital role in saving the...