...the organ ricercari (instrumental pieces in motet…

...the organ ricercari (instrumental pieces in motet style) and tocatte of Italian organist and composer Marco Antonio Cavazzoni, who lives from about 1490 to about 1560) and Claudio Merulo.

All of Cavazzoni’s extant music is contained in the print Recerchari, motetti, canzoni [...] libro primo, which had been published in Venice in 1523.

Included are the earliest known ricercars—they are not yet imitative, and are essentially written down improvisations, but there is a considerable amount of thematic development.

The rest of the works in the collection are either arrangements of vocal pieces by Cavazzoni or other composers.

Their style is firmly rooted in the Renaissance vocal chanson tradition.

Titian paints a couple of splendid, light-filled versions of Venus and Adonis in about 1560.