ABSTRACT
The contrapuntal technique of inganno is the most striking element in the ricercari of Giovanni Maria Trabaci. Roland Jackson specified three kinds of inganni: those that modulate from one hexachord to another during the course of a theme; those that substitute one note borrowed from some other hexachord; and those that contain more than one such modulation or substitution. Inganni especially the ones of the new manner seem also to be used by the composer to frame the ricercari into coherent sections. Though Trabaci avoids clear structural division by means of cadences, nevertheless he uses his different materials in a well-thought manner. Complete or partial imitazioni, following Zarlino's terminology, are devices that Trabaci loves to combine with inganni and riversi. According to the great theoretician, imitazione is 'that procedure in which the consequent, while imitating the movements of the dux, proceeds merely by the same steps, without regard for the precise intervals'.
