La Metamorfosi
| Puliti (1605), 15: La Metamorfosi | The rubric «La Metamorfosi» refers to the incessant changing of the clefs. It is possible that this exercise was a preparation to playing «alla bastarda». |
| Alla bastarda | Playing or singing «alla bastarda» is a technique, in fashion throughout the Renaissance and afterwards, in which the performer must be capable of scanning all the voices of a polyphonic composition, isolating its most significant features: new phrases, imitations, cadences. In doing that, the performer is also supposed to add divisions. Singing «alla bastarda» requires the singer to cover a range of three or more octaves using falsetto. Also instruments must be able to master a wide compass: hence, in the early Renaissance, they could only be either a viol or a trombone; later, violin and bassoon were used as well. |
