ABSTRACT
Between August 1580 and the first few months of 1587 Marenzio published an enormous amount of music, almost two-thirds of his surviving output. A definitive confirmation comes from Marenzio's fifth book a 5 dedicated to the Genoese music lover Nicola Pallavicino. In other madrigals, even when the designation 'aria' does not appear, the 'arioso' character is still recognizable. Among the 'Musici di Roma' present in Il lauro secco we find Annibale Stabile. His Fu il lauro sempre verde reflects little of the stylistic changes then taking place, but it too represents an example of 'bell'aria'. In order to understand the arioso character that contemporaries attributed to Marenzio's music it is essential to say a few words about the conspicuous production of villanellas for three voices. Marenzio favours the genre of the villanella for three voices, and he composed more than 300 pieces in this genre, including the subgenre of the canzonetta spirituale.
