Ex. 8, "Donna lombarda" (Nigra 1)

Teresa Viarengo is one of the most important singers of monodic ballads in Northern Italy (Leydi 1977, 1990). She performed the few cases of modal ballads in Italy and adopted a particular style of singing ballads, the "enunciativo" style, (Magrini 1990a) consistent with the "moderate, restrained and impersonal" style typical of North European balladry (Porter 1988:76). Viarengo's repertoire also includes melodies related to two-voice singing, such as the "Donna lombarda," which seems to belong to Type 3 and takes the form ABB.

In the A section, the melody begins by outlining the tonic chord of D Major; then the melody moves to the region of the fifth degree and ends on it. The B section narrows the range, avoids the tonic, and concludes on the third degree, F-sharp. The B section appears to be the upper voice of the two-voice second section of the song. The tonality also implies a modulation by using G-sharp as a kind of lower neighboring tone in the first measure. In the second section, G is generally natural, necessarily so for the two-voice rendition. The pitch of this tone is sometimes uncertain in the repetitions, probably because of the practice of solo singing and the lack of the accompaniment of the "second" voice, allowing the G-sharp of the first section.

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Performer: Teresa Viarengo
Recording dubbed from "Il cavaliere crudele", ed. by R. Leydi and F. Coggiola. Dischi del Sole DS 110/2 (1965)
Transcription by T. Magrini.

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