Lute music gradually ‘went out of fashion,’ as Thomas Mace, himself a composer for the lute, remarked, because it was ‘a very chargeable instrument’ and ‘the hardest instrument in the world.’ In the meantime certain composers were writing chamber music for which no special instrument was indicated. Of this class of instrumental compositions we may mention especially a Canzon da sonare a 4, by Florentino Maschera from his Libro primo de canzoni da sonare a 4 (1593). It is called La Capriola and is written for basso, tenore, alto, e canto. Maschera’s canzonas are among the earliest printed specimens of independent instrumental compositions. Their phrase structure is very irregular. One canzona, for instance, has an introduction of twenty-one measures, followed by a longer piece of six periods of 22, 21, 18, 19, and 23 measures. On the whole, Maschera’s instrumental compositions are vocal in character and polyphonic in style. Almost the same may be said of the Canzoni and Sacræ Symphoniæ of Giov. Gabrieli (1597), although his Sonata con tre violini and canzoni a 6 (two violins, cornetto, tenore, trombone and bass) (1615) show an advance in instrumental writing. In Gabrieli’s Sonata piano e forte, we meet for the first time the term ‘Sonata.’ This composition is scored for a double choir of instruments, the first consisting of a cornet and three trombones, and the second of a violin and three trombones. These two choirs are employed antiphonally. Gabrieli usually preferred to score his sonatas and canzonas for eight instruments in two choirs, but not infrequently he wrote from four to twenty-two parts in one or three choirs.

In comparing Gabrieli with Maschera we get the impression that while Maschera’s canzonas are song-like, Gabrieli’s polyphonic style represents rudimentary symphonic music.

A link in the evolution of chamber music form is to be found in the Fantasie overo Canzoni alla Francese per suonare nell’organo ed altri stromenti musicali a 4, by Adriano Banchieri (1603). In some of these pieces the first part corresponds with the third, the second part appearing as a kind of middle movement, an arrangement that shows the elements of the three-part form of the modern sonata.

We have seen that chamber music included dances (single and in suites) and compositions of free invention. The names of the former class of pieces clearly expressed and described the character of the music. The terms applied to compositions of free invention, however, were not strictly defined, and compositions with scarcely any difference between them were variously entitled Sonata, Fantasia, Simphonia and Canzona. To illustrate the uncertain terminology of the time we may quote the following from Prætorius’ Syntagma Musicum (1618): ‘In my personal opinion there is still some difference between Sonatas and Canzonas. Namely, Sonatas contain serious, solemn and pompous music, in the manner of Motettes; while the Canzonas briskly, quickly, and merrily pass away.’ Sometimes, however, the term ‘Sonata’ conveyed the idea of music that was played at banquets and for dancing.

Currently with the rise of music of free invention, dances and suites were further cultivated, as we see from the large number of such compositions extant. The dances of Melchior Franck (1603) were sometimes of polyphonic phraseology, sometimes of lively flowing melodies, with irregular structure, and we find a Galliarde by Johann Ghro (1604) consisting of periods of 13—11—11 measures. Similar pieces by Brade (1607), Thomas Simpson (1617), Erasmus Widman (1618), and others, showed more or less skill in handling their musical materials. Besides single dances, we find also several interesting and valuable collections of suites. I. H. Schein’s Banchetto musicale, 1617, a series of twenty suites, contains very characteristic examples of the suite in five movements. We may quote here the beginnings of the five movements of his tenth suite:

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