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A cappella


A cappella is a phrase that comes
From the land full of Italian tongues
Meaning in the style of the church
Being an act of polyphonic works
A piece made up of many vocal parts
Voices without instrumental art
Referring long ago to sacred song
That to a churches halls once did belong
But now we find ourselves in modern days
And worldly singers also share the phrase…

The a capella style sang its first
When Josquin des Prez composed his works
Near the end of Century fifteen
And dominating right into Sixteen
Rising into grand supremacy
When Palestrina penned his harmonies
To be sung in angelic union
In the Chapel of the Vatican.

When writing down the holy melody
No instrumental parts were there to see
So later scholars were left to assume
That only human voices held the tune
But the evidence now would suggest
An organ or some other instruments
Doubled with some voices exactly
Intertwined in choral unity
Until the sixteen hundreds when another
Style dominated called cantata
Where instruments were written their own parts
And so was born a completely new art…