1353

The Decameron is finished

The Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) is considered one of the early humanists. He was the illegitimate son of Boccaccio di Chellino, a merchant from the small town of Certaldo. At first the young Boccaccio apprenticed as a merchant, then he abandoned that career for the study of canon lawContinue Reading

The ballata in use from late 13th to the 15th century

Music, With Music

The ballata (plural: ballate) is an Italian poetic and musical form in use from the late 13th to the 15th century. It has the musical structure AbbaA, with the first and last stanzas having the same texts. It is thus most similar to the French musical ‘forme fixe’ virelai (andContinue Reading