Viola-Viola d'Amore Duos - Walter Trampler, Karen Phillips

VIOLA-VIOLA D'AMORE DUOS liner notes

The selections on this record represent the changing styles of instrumental music. During the late Renaissance, there was little if any difference between vocal and instrumental music, and composers took it for granted that if singers were not available to perform all of the parts in their madrigals, the missing voices could be supplied by any instrument which was available -- provided it was in the same range as the part it was replacing. There are several examples, for instance, of early composers arranging vocal works for voices and instruments, the most well-known being Schütz's arrangements of several vocal motets by Gabrielli for voices and instruments. This was done simply by omitting the words to a specific vocal part and substituting instruments, such as trombones or violas. This practice was justified because the sacred and secular madrigals of the time were written primarily for use in the homes of amateur musicians and the nobility -- who may not have had the necessary voices to perform their favorite works and therefore used instruments to fill in the missing parts.