{{Short description, Renaissance music genre Moresche is the plural of moresca, meaning Moorish thing, or Moorish girl in Italian. Both the singular and plural can refer to both a 15th~16th century dance genre or to a 15th~16th century song genre. This article concerns the genre of moresche, polyphonic "moorish" songs. Moresche musically have no common heritage with the

moresca Moresca (Italian), morisca (Spanish), mourisca (Portuguese) or moresque, mauresque (French), also known in French as the danse des bouffons, is a dance of exotic character encountered in Europe in the Renaissance period. This dance usually took fo ...

dance form. Instead moresche are related to

villanella 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, and influenced the later canzonetta ...

and villanescas, stylized village songs for three to five voices. The significant difference relates to their texts – parodying the Italian spoken by African slaves in Italy. A related genre are ''greghesche'',

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 ...

s imitating Italian spoken by Greeks in Italy. The texts of moresche are often near untranslatable, due either to obscenity and

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

, or nonsense language, or both. The French singer and printer

Antonio Barrè Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

can claim the distinction of publishing the first known examples of moresche as partsongs in his ''Secondo libro delle muse a tre voci: canzoni moresche di diversi autori'' (Rome 1555). The Neapolitan moresca à 3 appeared only "after the canzone villanesca alla napolitana à 3 had gained a secure foothold"Donna Cardamone cited in introduction to Complete madrigals. 2. Madrigals a 4, greghesche a 4, 5, and 7, Volume 2 Andrea Gabrieli and can be considered a development of the villanesca from bucolic to more raucous subject matter; in text, language and musical idiom. Chronologically, moresche belong the last years of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

polyphonic song before

monody In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melody, melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italy, ...

and

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

polyphony, and also on the cusp of change from the dominance in Italy of Flemish masters such as

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 ...

to native Italians such as

Andrea Gabrieli Andrea Gabrieli (1532/1533Bryant, Grove online – August 30, 1585) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance music, Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned ...

Etymology

The term is ultimately derived from the name of the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

, a historic people in the western Mediterranean. Other similarly derived words include

Blackamoor Blackamoors may refer to: * Blackamoor (decorative arts), stylized depictions of black Africans in the decorative arts and jewelry * Blackmoor (campaign setting), a fantasy roleplaying game campaign setting * ''Blackmoor'' (supplement), a 1975 su ...

Kammermohr Kammermohr (or ''Hofmohr''; pl. ''Kammermohren'', lit. "chamber-black") was a German language, German-language term since the 18th century for a court servant of black skin colour, which had by that time long been a common feature in European c ...

, Matamoros,

Maure A Moor's head, also known as a Maure, since the 11th century, is a symbol depicting the head of a black moor. The term moor came to define anyone who was African and Muslim. Origin The precise origin of the Moor's head as a heraldic symbol is ...

, Mohr im Hemd,

Moresca Moresca (Italian), morisca (Spanish), mourisca (Portuguese) or moresque, mauresque (French), also known in French as the danse des bouffons, is a dance of exotic character encountered in Europe in the Renaissance period. This dance usually took fo ...

Moresque Moresque is an obsolete alternative term to "Moorish" in English, and in the arts has some specific meanings. By itself, the word is used to describe the stylized plant-based forms of tendrils and leaves found in ornament and decoration in the ...

Moreška Moreška is a traditional sword dance from the town of Korčula, on the Croatian island of the same name in the Adriatic. Dating back hundreds of years, the Moreška is an elaborate production involving two groups of dancers, engaging in a mock b ...

Morianbron Morianbron () is a small bridge in the gardens of the Ulriksdal Palace in Solna, Sweden, named after the pair of sculptures of so-called blackamoors (e.g. black Moors) standing by the bridge. Arguably the smallest bridge in the Swedish capital, i ...

Morisco ''Moriscos'' (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Mus ...

Moros y cristianos ''Moros y Cristianos'' () or ''Moros i Cristians'' (), literally in English Moors and Christians, is a set of festival activities which are celebrated in many towns and cities of Spain, mainly in the southern Valencian Community. According ...

, and

Morris dance Morris dancing is a form of English folklore, English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A ban ...

Composers of moresche

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 Pierlu ...

: Libro de villanelle, moresche, et altre canzoni. 4–8vv (1582) *

Giaches de Wert Giaches de Wert (also Jacques/Jaches de Wert, Giaches de Vuert; 1535 – 6 May 1596) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the l ...

Baldassare Donato Baldassare Donato (also Donati) (1525-1530 – June 1603) was an Italian composer and singer of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance. He was ''maestro di cappella'' of the prestigious St. Mark's Basilica at the end of the 16th century ...

References

Renaissance music