Bartolomeo da Bologna: the Italian innovation of the Ars nova

Life

Active between the late fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century, in a crucial phase of transition from medieval culture to the full Renaissance season, within the Italian courts of the Western Schism.

Aneddoto

The composer and the "uncomfortable" organist

In 1407, Bartolomeo was an organist in Ferrara, a prestigious post but not without its tensions. During a pastoral visit, he publicly complained about the neglect of the instruments and the lack of discipline among some of the singers. His blunt and direct criticism did not please everyone; according to a contemporary note, the chapter invited him to "moderate his zeal." Bartolomeo, however, remained in his post: a small proof of character from a musician who knew well how much the quality of liturgical music mattered, especially in a city as proud as Ferrara.

Works

His early compositions show a clear departure from the late fourteenth-century tradition: they feature elaborate structures, lively and shifting rhythms, bold contrapuntal inventions, and a dynamism that is independent of the contemporary Ars nova from across the Alps, maintaining its own strong identity. Peaks of this phase are two Latin pieces preserved in Codice latino 568 of the Estense Library in Modena.

Arte psalentes anexa dulcori Patruum patre summo pontifice coram… is a ballade for three voices, fluid in its architecture but embellished with subtle rhythmic interplay. Que pena maior… is instead a three-voice piece in which the writing reaches a dazzling virtuosity, both in technique and notation, in line with the highest experimentation of the ars subtilior. In both cases, Bartolomeo sets Latin texts to music, shaping them with the poetic and musical forms of the new Italian polyphony.

All these pieces were likely composed before 1417. The reference to the need for a "true and holy shepherd" and the dedication to a group of singers defined as "arte psalentes" strongly evoke the climate of the Western Schism. According to Pirrotta, this would refer to a musical chapel in the service of a pope, perhaps a legitimate one.

Bartolomeo thus emerges as a consummate example of Italian musical mastery, capable of transforming complexity into elegance and advancing European polyphony with inventions of rhythm, form, and writing that belong fully to our 15th century.

Pioneer of the "Parody Mass"

The two preserved Mass movements — Gloria and Credo — are among the earliest known examples of the systematic use of the parody technique. Polyphonic material drawn from his secular compositions is incorporated and transformed for a sacred rite. It is an idea destined to become one of the central techniques of Renaissance musical art.

Bartolomeo and Antonio Zacara da Teramo, his possible colleague in the chapel of John XXIII, share this innovation, but their two approaches are different. Zacara manipulates the material freely, while Bartolomeo uses entire contiguous sections of his ballades, giving rise to a type of parody that is very coherent and recognizable.

The Voice of Italian Courts

Bartolomeo's secular work, consisting of ballades, rondeaux, and other dances, documents a refined and aristocratic repertoire linked to Italy. Themes of love, sophisticated rhythms, textual and musical inventions place him among the most interesting and influential composers of the early European 15th century.

Why he is important Bartolomeo da Bologna represents Italian continuity in the evolution of European polyphony:

• he is among the first Italians with complete works from the 15th century;
• he is a protagonist of the most advanced style of his time, the ars subtilior;
• he is among the pioneers of the parody Mass;
• he worked in the most active courts and cathedrals of the early Italian Renaissance.

In a historical phase in which Italy was dominated by foreigners, Bartolomeo demonstrates that here at home we were producing the avant-garde. Ferrara and Bologna were laboratories of innovation.

Works (edited in Gilbert Reaney, Early Fifteenth-Century Music, vol. 5, 1975)

• Mass Movements Gloria (parody of Vince con lena) Credo (parody of Morir desio)
• Secular Works Vince con lena (ballade) Morir desio (ballade) Arte psalentes (ballade) Mersi chiamando (rondeau) Que pena maior

Briciole di storia

A ballade for a "difficult" pope

At the beginning of the 15th century, Bartolomeo da Bologna was working as a musician in "papal" Bologna under Antipope John XXIII, in the height of the Western Schism. To win the favor of the pontifical chapel, he composed a Latin ballade entitled Arte psalentes, dedicated to the singers of the choir. The music is brilliant and virtuosic, but the text contains a subtle irony: it praises singers who laud a pope who has yet to prove he is the "true and holy shepherd." Quite a sharp remark. Perhaps Bartolomeo did not imagine that shortly thereafter his dedicatee would be deposed at the Council of Constance! In the meantime, however, his ballade ensured him a prominent place among the most listened-to musicians of the era. Who said that making a career doesn't also require a pinch of musical diplomacy?