“Modo Novo” or “Modo Antichissimo”? Some Remarks About La-Modes in Zarlino’s Theoretical Thought

The paper is concerned with Gioseffo Zarlino’s attitude towards la-modes in comparison with actual compositions written in the tonal types be-durum/A and be-mollis/D. It begins by examining the problems raised by Zarlino’s presentation of the la-modes in plainchant. Then it goes on by reading closely the way(s) in which, in each mode, cadences on the finalis are normally approached from the perspective of a Renaissance musician or singer – i.e, reading the music using solmization syllables –; this reading reveals that la-modes, even at that very basic level, do not behave as all the other modes do. In order to verify this uniqueness, the paper turns thus to the examination of the polyphonic compositions quoted in the same chapters of the “Istitutioni”, and particularly to Josquin’s mass “Gaudeamus”, Mouton’s motet "Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore" and Morales’s motet "Sancta et immaculata virginitas". The comparison shows that be-durum/A tonal types include works belonging to decidedly different modal categories – a situation still at work at least in the late 16th century, as shown by the analysis of some Marc’Antonio Ingegneri’s madrigals ending on A. The general (even if provisional) conclusion of the paper is that composers' choice of such tonal types is linked to an intrinsic ambivalent basic material and/or to a clearly-discernable will to manage at best a Dorian-Phrygian intrinsic modal ambivalence