Diego Ortiz's Glosa II (Improvisation in Spanish Renaissance III)

The perfect (first) manner of gloss that Ortiz liked most was having the starting note and the last note of the gloss be the same. The same note for beginning and ending the gloss moves in a descending step and simple movement, so this never causes imperfection.[1] In Giovanni Luca Conforto’s book, Dichiaratione Sopra Li Passaggi, the Joy of Ornamentation,(add comma) he included a vocal treatise for improvising. He agreed with Ortiz even though Conforto’s treatise was for singers that the first note of gloss and the last note of gloss were the same. Here are the examples of what Conforto wanted singers to sing.[2]

From Ortiz’s book, Modo di Glofare fopra el libro[1].

The second style of gloss presented more flowing and growing melodic lines than the first man-ner. There are more leaps.
There are different kinds of gloss at cadence. The first one is the division that the ending note is the same as the musical score indicates.

On the other hand, in some cases the final note is an octave higher than the original note of the cadence.[1]

Ortiz also showed a variety of ways to gloss the different ending note, g, a, b flat, d, and f.[1]Ortiz did not mention rhythms; he focused mostly on counterpoint. Sylvestro Ganassi also talked about the same beginning and ending notes; he also addressed rhythms and time. Ganassi in his Opera Intitulata Fontegara, a Treatise on the Art of Playing the Recorder and of Free Ornamentation (Venice in 1535) provided four different divisions: “the simple, the mixed or compound, the particular or special, and uniformed ones.” For instance, mixed or compound divisions used different rhythms.[2]

Bass instruments can follow the way Ortiz used glosas to soprano lines, but he added the comment that they should stay on the same frets. As he said, some players were not good enough to improvise their bass lines, so he separately provided different examples for the bass.[1][1] Ibid., p. 59.

Ortiz also said that there would be plenty of passages glossing the note which he did not mention here. If the glosas did not damage the original affect and violate the rule of the counterpoint, then they were acceptable. At the same time, other instrumentalists could use the examples he provided for improvising. Thus, he did not put any clefs in the following examples.[1]

[1] Ibid., pg. 62.[1] Ibid., pp. 49-53.[2] Sylvestro Ganassi, Opera Intitulata Fontegara (Venice, 1535), p. 16.[1] Ibid., p. 48.[1] Ibid., p. 40.[1] Ibid., pp. 41-43.[2] Giovanni Luca Conforto, Dichiaratione Sopra Li Passaggi, the Joy of Ornamentation (Rome, 1593), p. 8.