works of every description (from 1585) have much breadth and variety. Notable are his humorous part-songs or mascherate (1590).
Several other names might be added, such as Giovanni Ferretti of Ancona (canzone, 1567-91), Vincenzo Bell'Haver (d. 1588?), and Giovanni Bassano, long a choir-trainer at St. Mark's (works, 1585-1602).
57. Other North Italian Masters.—The Venetian school reaches far outside of Venice itself. With the whole of northern Italy Venice, as the metropolis, was in the closest commercial and social relations, so that the whole valley of the Po constituted a region musically united.
In the 16th century the Venetian Republic stretched along the north
bank of the Po almost 150 miles, including cities like Padua, Vicenza,
Verona, Mantua, Brescia, Cremona and Bergamo, while on its borders
were Ferrara, Bologna, Modena, Parma and Milan.
Throughout this whole region the drift of composition by the
best masters was strongly toward forms like the madrigal, the
canzona and the like, in which fresh, varied and piquant sentiment
might find expression. In sacred music the motet was
much more cultivated than the mass, apparently because its
treatment was not so conventional and its topics were more
diversified. In the search for splendor and charm of effect there
was a tendency to increase the number of voices and to introduce
more and more license in their handling—all looking toward
the later emancipation of harmony from the tyranny of the modes
and of strict contrapuntal rules.
Connected with Padua is the name of Costanzo Porta (d. 1601), who was
born at Cremona about 1530 and studied with Willaert. He was a Minorite
who was constantly in request as choirmaster. His longest terms of service
were at Osimo from 1552, at Ravenna from 1567, and at Loreto from 1578,
but he was twice at Padua, from 1565 and 1595, where he died. His works
(from 1555) range from sacred to secular in a style of dignity and beauty.
Among his pupils was Lodovico Balbi (d. 1604), also a Minorite, a singer at
St. Mark's and at Verona, and choirmaster at Padua in 1585-91 (works from
1570). A later writer of some power was Giulio Belli (d. 1613?), who was
choirmaster from 1582 at many different places, including Padua from 1607
(works from 1584).
At Vicenza we note Giovanni Matteo Asola (d. 1609), choirmaster from 1581, with many able sacred works (from 1570), and Leone Leoni, from 1588 cathedral-choirmaster, whose many works, sacred and secular (1588-1622), were much used.
At Mantua was Jachet de Mantua [Jacques Colebaud] (d. before 1559), a Frenchman who appeared about 1527 as a singer and later became both ca-
