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  • One Long River of Song
    • 2025-2026 Concerts >
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      • Johannes Brahms and the Geometry of Hope
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    • Circa 1600
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Lirum bililirum by Rossino Mantovano
The piece is an example of an early 16th-century vocal genre called the frottola, a strophic form with lyrics typically less serious and more whimsical than are usually found in the madrigal. Topics range all over the map, from fractured love stories (as in the present case) to the doings of various animals to contretemps between friends, enemies, family-members or those of different backgrounds or callings.

Frottola texts are often in dialect, and today's piece is no exception. It's in Bergamasco, the lingua franca of Bergamo, a town and region north of Milano. The song is notable for its onomatopoetic refrain, which (according to various observers) is meant to simulate either a lute or a bagpipe. The latter surmise is no doubt prompted by the drone-like
​character of the refrain.


It would of course be a pretty brazen lover who stood below his beloved's window playing a bagpipe. (Especially if the tryst was supposed to be secret.) However, note that the instrument is referred to as muted. This may seem a contradiction in terms; but this kind of oddity is native to the frottola.


Outside of the musical aspect, the lyrics present a fairly typical effort of an aspiring lover to talk his way into the good graces of the object of his affection. (Some things never change.) In fact, in his rather bitter reflections on her unfaithfulness and intransigency, the song strikes pretty much the same tone as the Dire Straits' great cri de coeur of love gone awry, 'Romeo and Juliet'. (The music is admittedly a little different.)

In addition to the score, text-translation and Cinzia's pronunciation recording (she wants you to know that she is no expert at Bergamasco), I am including two recordings of the piece. The first is by the King's Singers, from their 'Madrigal History Tour'. It has a lovely, rollicking feel. The second recording is by the Toronto Consort. It includes all the verses, in which it features a wonderful soprano soloist.

I hope you enjoy the piece--may as well start the week with something that lifts the spirits!
Click here to download learning materials
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