The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone

Author(s): Richard Hudson

Source: The Musical Quarterly , Jul., 1972, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 398-411
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/741476

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 THE FOLIA, FEDELE, AND
FALSOBORDONE

By RICHARD HUDSON

ACHORDAL style began to develop in Spain and Italy during

the second half of the fifteenth century. It involved essentially
successions of root-position triads disposed, note against note, in four
parts. The style was one manifestation of the Renaissance ideal of
homogeneous part-writing, which contrasted to the medieval con-
cept of differentiation. Although Renaissance voice-parts became
similar melodically through the device of imitation, they also, on
occasion, were alike in rhythm, resulting in a chordal texture. This
style emerged late in the fifteenth century in cadential formulas, in
chordal schemes for popular songs and dances, and in the falsobor-
done. Throughout the Renaissance direct successions of chords oc-
curred from time to time in the Mass and motet (the "familiar"
style) and occasionally in the chanson and the lighter vocal forms. In
instrumental music the progressions of triads became chordal frame-
works that could be filled in by melodic figuration and even by other
chords, as in the intonazione and toccata (both of which evolved
from the falsobordone),' chanson arrangements, and the numerous
forms of the Spanish-Italian dance style.2 One of the latter was the
dance of the folia, a form much like the Italian scheme called
"fedele." Both of these forms showed striking similarities to late-
fifteenth-century examples of the chordal style. I would like to offer

1 This relationship is shown by Murray Bradshaw in "The History of the

Falsobordone from Its Origins to 1750" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1969),
pp. 162-84. Bradshaw explores the subject in greater detail in The Origin of the
Toccata, to be published during 1972 by the American Institute of Musicology as
No. 28 in the series Musicological Studies and Documents.
2 See my article "Chordal Aspects of the Italian 'Dance Style 1500-1650," Journal
of the Lute Society of America, III (1970), 35-52.

398

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 The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone 399

here, as part of the history of the Renaissance chordal

scription of the common characteristics of the folia, f
falsobordone, with reference also to cadences, chordal sc
the concepts of Guilelmus Monachus.
The folia that concerns us here is the earlier type, wh
history extended from 1577 to the middle of the sevent
tury, with a few isolated appearances as late as 1774.3 Most
examples come from Spain and Italy and display a mus
work (shown in Ex. 1) that differs in certain melodic, ha
rhythmic respects from the more familiar type of folia th
1672 with Lully and continued, principally in France a
until the end of the Baroque period." The form originate
gal, and folia texts appeared in plays of Gil Vicente wr
around 1503 to 1529 and in some works included in the
en metro (Seville, 1554) of Diego Sinchez de Badaj
Francisco Salinas printed its melody. The folia, alon
zarabanda and the chacona, became popular in Spain at
the century as one of the sung dances accompanied by
introduced five-course guitar. Both the instrument an
were imported into Italy, where the folia appeared as t
of instrumental variations (beginning with the set i
Girolamo Kapsberger's Libro primo d'intavolatura di
31 have described the earlier folia in "The Folia Dance and the Folia Formula in

Seventeenth-Century Guitar Music," Musica disciplina, XXV (1971), 199-221. S

Helga Spohr, "Studien zur italienischen Tanzkomposition um 1600" (Ph.D. d
Albert-Ludwigs-Universitiit, 1956), pp. 56-68.
4There are a few Italian examples of the later folia, including the famou
ations of Corelli (1700). The two types differ mainly in rhythmic structure (the
one has the first accent on V, the later on i), in harmony (more variety in th
type), in melody (the framework of the later type moves generally a third bel
of the earlier), and in tempo and spirit (the earlier one is fast and noisy, t
slow and dignified). In the chord progression below the lower staff of Ex. 1
case Roman numerals indicate major triads, lower case minor. The bass line of
is given, with only slight variation, in Riemann Musiklexikon, 12th ed., S
(1967), p. 294 (the last musical example in the second column). For actual m
compositions incorporating this framework see the chordal guitar folia by M
Oscar Chilesotti, "Notes sur les tablatures de luth et de guitare," in Lavignac, E
pddie de la musique (Paris, 1913-31), Part I, Vol. II, p. 677; also the set of va
from Bernardo Storace's Selva di varie compositioni d'intavolatura per cim
organo (Venice, 1664), pp. 38-42, transcribed by Barton Hudson in Corpus o
Keyboard Music, VII (Rome, American Institute of Musicology, 1965), 59-6
"Folias con 20 diferencias" by Jose Jim~nez (d. 1672), included in Antologia de
nistas espafioles del siglo XVII, ed. Higinio Angl6s, Vol. I (Biblioteca Centra
licaciones de la Secci6n de M6sica, Vol. XX [Barcelona, 1965]), pp. 33-42.

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Ex. 1: The framework of the earlier folia

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

i i VII i V i VII

Ex. 2: The fedele fram

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

i IV6 VII i V IV6 VI

Ex. 3: "Fedele" from Naples, Cons

Ex. r 4 In

Ex. 4: A m

_' I

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Ex. 5: "Follia" from Bologna, MS Q34 (dated 1613)

Ex. 6: The falsobordone style

(a) Vesper response (late 15th) (b) Falsobordone by Severi (1615)

s o l v o i cl o w

Ex. 7: Theoretical and actual falsobordoni on psalm tone 1

(a) A possible four-part harmonization of the psalm tone

I_ _ "
V i VII I VII Vli V VII i

(b) The beginning of the "Psalmo por el primer t

solo voice

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 402 The Musical Quarterly

[Venice, 1604]) or as a scheme for songs and dances (

tablatures for the Spanish guitar, commencing with
ventione d'intavolatulra [Florence, 1606] of Girolam
The lower staff of Ex. 1 shows the simplest type of
folia, with the notes representing the roots of triads,
cating the direction the hand moves in strumming
framework could be varied rhythmically by soundin
earlier or later than shown, and harmonically by su
chords (such as II on the second and third beats of m
or IV on the second and third beats of measure 4),
the cadences (adding IV, for example, in measure 6
shifting, sometimes even within a single statement of
between major and minor tonic triads. Occasion
appeared on the second and third beats of measu
during the first eight measures the familiar chord
became standard for the later folia. When the III chord occurred in
the earlier folia, the corresponding note in the melodic framework
(on the upper staff of Ex. 1) moved up to D; when a major tonic
chord was used, the B-flat in the melody changed to B-natural. On
rare occasions the anacrusis was omitted and the structure com-
menced with the V chord.

Montesardo, in his book of 1606, used the following title: "Folia

chiamata cosi da Spagnuoli, che da Italiani si chiama Fedele." Little
is known concerning the Italian fedele, and examples are not nu-
merous.5 Its basic framework is shown in Ex. 2. Like the folia, it
sometimes includes IV in measure 6 or 13. Measures 2 and 10 may
sometimes have a i chord, which then makes the harmonic pro-
5 The examples known to me are the following (the first five are mentioned by
Spohr, op. cit., pp. 65-68): (1) Giovanni Maria Trabaci, Ricercate, canzone franzese,
capricci ... Libro primo (Naples, 1603), copy in Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico
Musicale, pp. 98-107: "Partita prima [seconda, etc.] sopra Fidele." (2) Ascanio Mayone,
Primo libro di diversi capricci per sonare (Naples, 1603), copy in London, British
Museum, pp. 95-100: "Prima partita sopra Fidele." (3) London, British Museum, MS
Add. 30491 (copied by Luigi Rossi, possibly around 1617): "Partite sopra Fidele," by
Francesco Lambardo (1587-1642); printed in Neapolitan Keyboard Composers circa
1600, ed. Roland Jackson (Corpus of Early Keyboard Music, Vol. XXIV [American
Institute of Musicology, 1967]), pp. 36-37. (4) Naples, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di
Musica S. Pietro a Majella, MS 1321 (olim 33-11-6), fol. 85v: "Fedele." (5) Pietro
Antonio Giramo, Arie a pii voci (no place or (late, probably around 1650), copy in
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, fols. 13-15: "Partita prima sopra Fedele."
(6) Cristoforo Caresana, Duo (Naples, 1693), copy in Bologna, Civico Museo Biblio-
grafico Musicale, pp. 60-62 of the canto primo part book, pp. 56-58 of the canto
secondo: "Fedele."

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 The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone 403

gression identical to the folia in Ex. 1. Usually, howe

measures are characterized by IV6, accompanied often b
figure that moves from the framework note 1 up to 4, the
3. Although diverse melodies may join this harmonic f
they seem most often to be guided by the pitches on the u
of Ex. 2, which move for the most part a third below
melodic framework. In Ex. 3 I have transcribed (and tr
a fourth, for comparison) the first of two statements o
contained in the Naples manuscript (probably from aro
among a group of pieces for an archlute with five m
(notated on five lines, in contrast to the more usual
theorbo or chitarrone). If one imagines a repetition of t
as would happen in actual performance, it becomes app
the opening two-note anacrusis is supported, as show
by the i chord that concludes the previous statement.
Exx. 1-3 present, then, the fundamental musical sche
earlier folia and the fedele. Both show certain characteristics that
seem to be related to some chordal practices of the late fifteent
century. Guilelmus Monachus, in De preceptis artis musicae (writt
probably around 1480-90), gives rules for constructing a fauxbou
don in four voices. According to his method, one begins with
two-voice progression that begins and ends with an octave and h
parallel sixths in between. With these two parts as soprano a
tenor, a bass is added to the opening and closing interval at a unis
or lower octave with the tenor. With the parallel sixths the bas
alternates thirds and fifths below the tenor, with a fifth occurri
in the penultimate chord. The alto similarly alternates thirds an
fourths above the tenor, with a fourth above the penultima
note." Ex. 4 shows these rules applied to a melody of Salinas, whi
has been placed in the tenor voice.7 A treble has been set in para

6 Edmond de Coussemaker, Scriptorum de musica medii aevi, nova series, I

(Paris, 1869), 293; Albert Seay, Corpus scriptorum de musica, XI (American Institu
of Musicology, 1965), 39. This portion of the treatise is translated by Ernest Trum
in Fauxbourdon, An Historical Survey, I (Musicological Studies, No. 3 [Institute
Mediaeval Music, 1959]), 47.
7 According to Trumble's interpretation (op. cit., p. 64), the cantus firmus,
though occurring in most actual fauxbourdon in the upper voice, may, in the descr
tion of Guilelmus Monachus, appear in either tenor or soprano. Salinas gives two
melodies on pages 308-309 of his De musica libri septem (Salamanca, 1577), facsim.
in Documenta musicologica, Ist series, Vol. XIII (Kassel, 1958), to illustrate a particu
metrical plan. He does not mention the first melody (p. 308) in his text, but descri
the second as a popular type that the Portuguese call "Follias" ("quas Lusitani, Folli

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404 The Musical Quarterly

sixths above this cantus firmus, ending with an oc

for the inclusion of the anacrusis that usually
scheme. The bass and alto have then been added s
to the rules given above, resulting in a chord pro
to that shown in Ex. 1 for the earlier folia.
In Ex. 4 both the tenor and soprano present possible melodic
frameworks that match the chordal scheme. The fedele (as well as
the later folia) seems to prefer the soprano line, the earlier folia the
tenor. Sometimes, however, even the earlier folia employs the soprano
melody, as in Ex. 5 from MS Q 34 of the Civico Museo Bibliografico
Musicale in Bologna (folio 100'). This composition is unusual
also in the fact that it omits, like the Salinas melody, the opening
anacrusis. I have added bar lines in the middle of each measure to

facilitate comparison with the other examples. The original no

however, suggests more clearly the hemiola alternation that
in some of the rhythmic variants of the folia. The closing c
of Exx. 1, 2, and 4 also illustrate cadences that first made the
pearance during the second half of the fifteenth century: th
two chords form the V-i cadence,8 the last four a special ca
that has been described by Edward Lowinsky.9
Around 1475 another chordal form, the falsobordone, em
in Italy and Spain. Printed examples began to appear in quan
about 1570 (around the time of Salinas's book), reached a
point from 1590 to 1625 (the period of greatest popularity of
the fedele and the earlier folia), and gradually declined u
1640, after which they occurred only rarely.10 The earliest
"classical" falsobordone was essentially a four-voice, note-aga
note choral (and a cappella) setting, based on root-position tria
the text of a psalm or canticle, often utilizing the psalm ton

vocant .. ."). The second melody, curiously, fits the chordal scheme used by
romanesca, whereas the first is the melody used in the following century for th
folia. It is therefore the first melody (transposed down one whole step and wi
values halved) which I have used in Ex. 4 and which I feel should, in spite
inexactness of Salinas's text, be drawn into the musical history of the folia.
8 See Don M. Randel, "Emerging Triadic Tonality in the Fifteenth Century
Musical Quarterly, LVII (1971), 73-86.
9 See his article "The Function of Conflicting Signatures in Early Poly
Music," The Musical Quarterly, XXXI (1945), 242-44; the musical example
printed also in Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (rev. ed.; New York
p. 46. See also Lowinsky's Tonality and Atonality in Sixteenth-Century Music
ley, Calif., 1961), p. 3.
to Bradshaw, "The History of the Falsobordone," pp. ii, iii, and 68.

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 The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone 405

cantus firmus." Later, examples also appeared for keyboard,

voice accompanied by instruments, or, in the Baroque per
solo or chorus with continuo. In fifteenth-century examp
psalm tone occurred in the top voice; in the next century
appear in the tenor or the soprano.12 The falsobordone
structure from the psalm tone, with each of its halves con
repeated chord (corresponding to the reciting tone) follow
brief cadence (the mediatio or terminatio). Ex. 6, which co
portions of two different compositions, illustrates the es
features of this structure; the opening chord of each half
repeated a variable number of times, depending upon the nu
syllables in a particular psalm verse.'3
Both Bradshaw and Trumble mention the parallel sixt
often occur in falsobordoni between the soprano and t
the manner shown in Ex. 4).14 Some falsobordoni also
alternating thirds and fifths between tenor and bass, r
in a bass line with frequent leaps of the fourth and fif
authors cite certain musical examples of Guilelmus M
which display the rules applied in Ex. 4, but which he
without specific comment.'5 Bradshaw concludes that these
represent the cadences (of the sort we noticed at the end
from which the falsobordone derived. Trumble, on the othe
sees the same examples as four-voice fauxbourdon that
into a new form called "falsobordone."
A comparison of Ex. 6 with the five preceding examples reveals
some striking similarities between the falsobordone and the folia
and fedele. Both the folia and the classical falsobordone are strophic
vocal forms, the first with a single vocal part (probably solo, but
perhaps sometimes choral) accompanied by instruments, the other
11 Ibid., pp. 6-36.
12 Ibid., p. 90.
13 Ex. 6a has the text "Et gloriamini omnes recti corde" and comes from Coimbra,
Biblioteca Geral da Universidade, MS M. M. 12, fol. 187 (from Bradshaw, Ex. 65,
p. 152). Although not technically a falsobordone, it is written in the same style (Brad-
shaw, p. 150). Ex. 6b presents the bass line and harmonic framework of the second
half of the "Falso Bordone del misto [peregrinus] tuono" (transposed up a fourth)
from Francesco Severi's Salmi passaggiati per tutte le voci . . . Libro primo (Rome,
1615), copy in Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, pp. 55-66. One verse is
printed in Adolf Beyschlag, Die Ornamentik der Musik (2nd ed.; Leipzig, 1953), p. 46.
-The second halves of two of the verses are given in Bradshaw, Exx. 113 and 114,
pp. 241-42.
14 Bradshaw, pp. 37-67, and Trumble, pp. 53-67.
15 Coussemaker, p. 296; Seay, p. 41; Bradshaw, p. 61; and Trumble, p. 56.

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406 The Musical Quarterly

with all voices a cappella. Although the fedele surv

subject of sets of variations, its name suggests
Like the falsobordone, the folia and fedele consist of two more or
less parallel halves, each containing a repeated chord (to match
a repeated tone in the melody) followed by a cadence. The folia
and fedele achieve a symmetry not always present in the falsobor-
done by utilizing the same repeated chord in each half (measures
3-5 and 11-12 in Ex. 1 and Ex. 2), and by relating the final chord
of each half as V to i (measures 7-8 compared to measures 15-16).
In a falsobordone the repeated chord may be the same or different
in each section, and may relate in various ways to the tonality
of the final chord. Numerous examples, however, employ VII as
a reciting chord either in the first half"' or, more often, in the
second.17 Occasionally VII is used for both reciting chords of the
same falsobordone, bringing the piece remarkably close to the
harmonic plan bf the folia and fedele.s8
I have been unable to locate a falsobordone, however, that
displays both a repeated VII chord in each section and a midcadence
on V, although such an example may well exist. For those falsobor-
doni that are based strictly on a cantus firmus, however, the psalm
tone itself imposes certain limitations on the harmonization. A
number of the examples that use VII as a reciting chord in the
closing section (listed in note 17, above) are based on the tonus
peregrinus formula; those that have VII in both halves (see note
18, above) favor tones 7 and 8. Psalm tone 1, however, seems to

16 See Thomas Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (Lon-
don, 1597), facsim. ed., Shakespeare Association Facsimiles, No. 14 (London, 1937); also
The English Experience: Its Record in Early Printed Books Published in Facsimile,
No. 207 (New York and Amsterdam, 1969), p. 148: "The seventh tune"; modern ed.
by R. Alec Harman (London, 1952), pp. 251-52. The piece is also included by Bradshaw
on p. 80 as Ex. 30.
17 See the falsobordoni from Lodovico Viadana's Cento concerti ecclesiastici
(Venice, 1602), printed in Monumenti musicali mantovani, I (Kassel, 1964), 43
pieces), 44 (example No. VI), 66 (I), 67 (III), 68 (V), 92 (V), and 115 (III). See
the examples based on the tonus peregrinus in Bradshaw, Ex. 8, p. 27 (Coimb
M. M. 12), Ex. 37, p. 99 (Mac6, 1582), and Ex. 113, p. 241 (Severi, 1615), is w
the piece on tone 2 in Ex. 121, p. 251 (Signorucci, 1,603).
18 See the examples on tone 8 from Georg Rhaw's Vesperarum precum o
(Wittenberg, 1540), printed in Georg Rhau, Musikdrucke, IV (Kassel and St.
1960), 7-11, 16-18, 109-10, 145-47, and 157. Bradshaw gives an example on tone 8
34, p. 92 (Jena Choirbook 34, early sixteenth century) and on tone 7 in Ex. 21,
(Coimbra MS M. M. 12) and Ex. 44, p. 109 (Isnardi, 1579). Severi's Salmi passa
(1615) includes a series on tone 7 (pp. 41-46) and another on tone 8 (pp. 48-53

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 The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone 407

offer the possibility of a harmonic setting that comes close

the folia and fedele. Ex. 7a shows tone 1 (with a G terminat
the top voice,19 with harmonies added according to the rul
Guilelmus Monachus except for the last chord of the first sectio
the penultimate of the second. Since the initium is utili
a Vesper psalm only for the opening verse, most falsobo
commence with the reciting chord. When used for the Magn
however, tone 1 would include the initium for each verse, as
in Ex. 7a.20 Furthermore, when used for the Gloria Patri at the
introit of the Mass, tone 1 includes an initium also for the last
section, which would correspond to the two chords that open
the second half of the folia and fedele (measures 8-10 in Ex. 1 and
Ex. 2).21 In addition, a simplified version of the formula, for use
with the canticle of Simeon (Nunc dimittis), omits the B-flat in
the middle of the first half.22 If the harmonization of Ex. 7a
included, then, an initium at the beginning of each half and
the B-flat and its III chord, it would approach very close
harmonic progression of Ex. 1 and Ex. 2.
Set below Ex. 7a for comparison is a portion of a falsobor
on the same tone from Alonso Mudarra's Tres libros de mitsica en
cifra para vihuela (Seville, 1546).23 Like the folia, it is for solo vo
accompanied by a type of guitar (in this case, the six-course vihue
It omits the initium, but otherwise follows exactly the harmon
in the first half of Ex. 7a. The second half commences harmonica
like the first, but uses a terminatio that ends on D, and hence con-
cludes finally on a D chord (not shown in Ex. 7b). If Mudarra had
chosen instead a G terminatio, his composition could conceivably
have concluded much like Ex. 7a.
The opening half of both Ex. 7a and 7b presents almost exactly
the chord progression known to modern musicologists as th
"folia" formula. In order to avoid confusion, however, I have
adopted in other articles a terminology independent of any specific
form, so that the chord-rows (referring to progressions that have
no fixed rhythmic structure) of the mode per B molle are Scheme
V (the one in Ex. 7a, "V" indicating the first chord that distin-
19 Liber usualis (Tournai, 1959), p. 128.
20 lbid., p. 207.
21 ibid., p. 14.
22 Ibid., p. 1744.
23On fol. 57, with the text "Exurge quare obdormis, Domine"; printed in
Monumentos de la mgssica espafiola, Vol. VII (Barcelona, 1949), No. 76, pp. 133-34.

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408 The Musical Quarterly

guishes it from the other rows), Scheme VII (used b

antico) and Scheme III (the romanesca); the mod
is represented by Scheme IV (as in the passamez
These schemes first appeared in the Cancionero de P
late fifteenth century.25 All of the B molle scheme
four-chord cadence (VII-i-V-i) that concludes Exx.
Scheme V may take several forms as follows: (i)-V-
V-(i), with the chords in parentheses sometimes
therefore first shows Scheme V without III and the
and then again with III and the initial i omitted. T
tenor of Ex. 4 show the two melodic frameworks
Scheme V and alternate in preference about every f
years.26 Scheme V, along with the other chord-row
and Spanish popular style, could be utilized for
by imposing upon it a particular rhythm and stru
then, when Salinas's first folia music appeared,
already been used for a considerable length of time
frameworks for other forms.27
The falsobordone, which originated in the same
at the same time as the chordal schemes, often d
harmonic construction. Sometimes a falsobordone uses the entire
chord progression of Scheme V, either directly or with passin
tones or passing chords. A common plan is to use the opening
chord for the first reciting chord, followed by a mediant caden
of V-i-VII-III; III then serves also as the second reciting chord
succeeded by VII-i-V-i (the familiar cadence again from Exx. 1, 2, 4
and 6).28 Viadana often uses a structure in which the first ha

24 See my articles "The Concept of Mode in Italian Guitar Music during the First
Half of the Seventeenth Century," Acta musicologica, XLII (1970), 163-83; and "T
Ripresa, the Ritornello, and the Passacaglia," Journal of the American Musicologica
Society, XXIV (1971), 364-94.
25 John Ward, "The Folia," Kongressbericht der Internationalen Gesellschaft fi
Musikwissenschaft, 5. Kongress, Utrecht, i952 (Amsterdam, 1953), pp. 416-17.
26 I describe this process in "The Folia Melodies," which is to appear in a future
issue of Acta musicologica.
27 One of the most popular of the pre-folia frameworks, which was used with a num
ber of different titles, was the one shown by Diego Ortiz in the recercadas quarta an
ottava of his Tratado de glosas sobre cldusulas y otros generos de puntos en la missic
de violones (Rome, 1553), pp. 117-19 and 130-33, modern ed. by Max Schneide
(Kassel, 1967).
28 Two very clear examples of this structure occur in Bradshaw, Ex. 59, p. 135
(Sario, late sixteenth century) and Ex. 106, p. 228 (Grua, 1651).

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 The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone 409

cadences on III, but the second reciting chord is VII, follow

i-V-i.29 Sometimes the first and second, second and third, or the
first three chords of Scheme V are omitted and the remaining
pattern utilized for an entire falsobordone, one of its halves,
or some other portion thereof.30 Some falsobordoni begin with the
opening four chords of Scheme V.31 Most often, however, one
finds the final portion of the scheme, which contains the same
pattern (III-VII-i-V-i) that concludes Schemes III and VII. Each
of the B molle chord-rows embodies in its own way the fundamental
relationship between III and i. A number of falsobordoni display
this structure without including specific progressions from the
schemes themselves. Some of these begin with III as a reciting chord,
cadence the first half on III or i, move to a second reciting chord
on VII or VI, and conclude on a final i.32 More numerous, how-
ever, are those that have a reciting chord on i, a half-cadence on
III, a second reciting chord on i or VI, and a final cadence on
i.33 Falsobordoni may also use the B quadro chords, arranged some-
times like the beginning of Scheme IV (I-IV-I-V).34
The chordal schemes are all characterized by leaps of the fourth

29 All of his examples cited in note 17, above, except those on pp. 44 and 67 use
this plan as a framework to which passing chords have been added. See especially falso-
bordone No. V on p. 92. For a similar structure that omits the opening chord of
Scheme V see the "Secondo tono a 4 di Giulio Cesare Gabucci" in Giovanni Battista

Bovicelli's Regole, passaggi di musica (Venice, 1594), facsimile ed. in Docu

musicologica, Ist series, Vol. XII, p. 73.
30 Scheme V minus its opening two chords encompasses the last chord of
section and the entire second half of Bradshaw, Ex. 21, p. 59 (Coimbra MS M
and a portion of the last half of the examples by Severi, Salmi passaggiati
The scheme lacking its second and third chords is used for the second half
shaw, Ex. 74, p. 164 (Castell'Arquato MSS, around 1550). Scheme V without
three chords spans the entire falsobordone in the series by Severi on pp. 48
second half only in the set on pp. 41-46, and a somewhat more extended por
the Morley example on tone 1 (A Plaine and Easie Introduction, p. 147;
edition, p. 250).
31 In Bradshaw, Ex. 36, p. 97 (Boyleau, 1566), the first half opens with i-
then cadences on i; the second section begins i-V-i-VII-III. See also the Mor
cited in note 16, above, and Severi, pp. 24-28.
32 See Bradshaw, Ex. 8, p. 27 (Coimbra MS M. M. 12) and Ex. 55, p. 130 (Z
1594).
33 Bradshaw, Ex. 6, pp. 21-22 (Barcelona MS 454, late fifteenth century); Ex. 45,
p. 110 (Isnardi, 1579) , Ex. 54, p. 129 (Zachariis, 1594); Ex. 97, p. 215 (Valentini, 1618);
and Ex. 122, p. 254 (Victorinus, 1624).
34 Some pieces by Rhaw, op. cit., pp. 45-46, 136-37, and 156, commence on I as
the reciting chord, followed by IV-I-V. Other examples, such as Bradshaw, Ex. 103,
p. 223 (Cima, 1610), present various combinations of I, IV, and V.

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410 The Musical Quarterly

and fifth in the bass. This is the sort of movement that results
when the lowest part is added, in accordance with the rul
Guilelmus Monachus, in alternating thirds and fifths belo
essentially stepwise tenor.35 We have seen such a harmonic co
struction emerge from the folia melody in Ex. 4. A numb
Ortiz's recercadas show very clearly a stepwise tenor and sopr
in parallel sixths, the alto moving in fourths and thirds a
the tenor, and the bass forming thirds and fifths below the t
This can be seen in the keyboard part of the first and fifth recerc
(based on the opening half of Scheme VII), the fourth and eig
(Scheme V without the initial i chord), and the seventh (Sche
III).36 Similar results would occur in a falsobordone (as we
seen in Ex. 7a) when Guilelmus Monachus's method is appli
the essentially stepwise melodic cadences of a psalm tone.
Sometime during the later part of the fifteenth century, t
a chordal type of musical construction became evident in Spain
and Italy in cadences, the chordal schemes, the falsobordone,
the examples given by Guilelmus Monachus. During a period f
the middle of the sixteenth century to about 1580 a new surg
vitality seems to have developed within the chordal style; a cry
lization took place in the chordal schemes, as revealed by
recercadas of Ortiz in 1553 and the popularity, beginning in
1560s, of passamezzo dances based on Schemes VII and IV w
their chords disposed at equal intervals. Falsobordoni bec
more numerous beginning around 1570, and during this pe
the keyboard falsobordone, intonazione, and toccata began th
history. In 1577 Salinas presented the earliest folia melody
climax of activity, however, occurred during the early years
the seventeenth century, with the falsobordone at its high p
from around 1590 to 1625, the fedele and the earlier folia from
1603 to about 1640.

Three particularly significant periods thus seem to have oc

curred in the history of this chordal style. The late fifteent
century was its moment of origin, with the emergence of th
chordal schemes, the new cadences, and the falsobordone. The

35 Trumble, on pages 64-65, applies the rules to a two-voice gymel of Guilelmus

Monachus (Coussemaker, p. 289; Seay, p. 29; facsimile page printed in MGG, Vol. V
[1956], plate 49, facing cols. 1057-58) and emerges (in his Example 21d) with almost
the exact harmonic progression of Scheme V, as well as the VII-i-V-i cadence.
36 Ortiz, op. cit., pp. 107-9, 120-23, 117-19, 130-33, and 126-29, respectively.

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 The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone 411

third quarter of the sixteenth century was a period of

tion and revitalization for the falsobordone and the chordal
schemes, and shortly thereafter the folia melody was int
The first half of the seventeenth century represented, fin
full flowering of the falsobordone and the earlier type o
which was joined in Italy by the similar form of the fed
concurrence of these historical events, in addition to the common
musical characteristics described above, suggests a close connection
between the various chordal forms. It therefore seems proper to
conclude, I believe, that some sort of historical relationship existed
between the folia, the fedele, and the falsobordone.

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