Tre Canzone

The term “canzona” refers to a genre of Italian insturmental music first made popular in the sixteenth century where the composers either merely arranged or completely transformed French chansons, a form of song. In a similar fashion, Claude Baker's Tre Canzone provides reimaginings of three vocal compositions from the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque. The preexisting pieces form both the structural and programmatic bases of the composition and serve as points of departure for new musical ideas. Elements of the older music emerge quite clearly at times, while at other times they are presented more subtlly. But the texts are the driving force of the work, capturing the essence of the poetry through non-vocal commentary with allusions to the original composers' settings. Movements: I. after Baude Cordier, II. after Claudio Monteverdi, III. after Clement Janequin. Versions for both full orchestra and chamber orchestra are available from the publisher.