In music, a villanella (; plural villanelle) is a form of light Neapolitan secular vocal music which originated in the Kingdom of Naples just before the middle of the 16th century. It first appeared in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, and influenced the later

canzonetta In music, a canzonetta (; pl. canzonette, canzonetti or canzonettas) is a popular Italian secular vocal composition that originated around 1560. Earlier versions were somewhat like a madrigal but lighter in style—but by the 18th century, especia ...

, and from there also influenced the

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

. The subject matter is generally rustic, comic, and often satirical; frequently the mannerisms of art music, such as the madrigal, are a subject of parody. The

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

of the verse in the earlier Neapolitan forms of the villanelle is usually , where "R" is a refrain repeated exactly. The villanelle became one of the most popular forms of song in Italy around mid-century. The music of the early villanella (known as the canzone villanesca) is invariably for three unaccompanied voices. The first composers of villanelle were the Neapolitans Giovanni Domenico da Nola and Giovan Tomaso di Maio; later composers, no longer from Naples, included

Adrian Willaert Adrian Willaert ( – 7 December 1562) was a Flemish composer of High Renaissance music. Mainly active in Italy, he was the founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers ...

Luca Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the f ...

Adriano Banchieri Adriano Banchieri ( Bologna, 3 September 1568 – Bologna, 1634) was an Italian composer, music theorist, organist and poet of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He founded the Accademia dei Floridi in Bologna. Biography He w ...

Orlande de Lassus Orlando di Lasso ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierlui ...

, and others.

References

* Denis Arnold, "Vilanella", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', first edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

(London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980): 19:770–773. *

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940 ...

, ''Music in the Renaissance'' (New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954). * ''The New Harvard Dictionary of Music'', edited by Don Randel (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1986). * Donna G. Cardamone, ''The Canzone Villanesca alla Napolitane and Related Forms, 1537-1570'' (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1981). . * Donna G. Cardamone, "The Debut of the Canzone Villanesca alla Napolitana". ''Studi Musicali'' 4 (1975): 65–75. * Donna G. Cardamone, "'Madrigali a Tre et Arie Napolitane' – A Typographical and Repertorial Study". ''Journal of the American Musicological Society'' 35, no. 3 (1982): 436–481. * Concetta Assenza, ''La canzonetta dal 1570 al 1615'' (Lucca: LIM, 1997). . {{Authority control Renaissance music Baroque music Italian music history Classical music styles