At first glance, our quest for the origins of the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star appears to begin in Renaissance Italy. In the year 1600 an Italian tenor, Giuseppino del Biado (1550-1616), published the madrigal Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi. He is also credited with creating the music.

And as of the writing of this post, Wikipedia’s article on this tune still says it is, “…attributed to the Italian tenor….”

But as you may have learned in the first post of this blog series, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part I: The ultimate guide to this tune in our culture [Printables], Italy may not have been the first step of Twinkle’s long and fascinating story. Italy may simply have been the next chapter.

In this post we will explore four Italian iterations: Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi, Il Ballo di Mantova (Mantua Dance), La Mantovana and Trio Sonata, op. 22: Sonata sopra fuggi.

When you hear the Italian variants, you may or may not recognize them as earlier versions of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Though these earliest versions may seem to bear little resemblance to it, they indeed belong to the same musical family tree as our favourite little folk tune.

Because the tune and words of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are likely the most familiar to most readers, “Twinkle” will be used as the overarching term for the tune that will evolve through the series, seen through the lens and heard through the filter of its simplest version.

Each variant is transposed into the key of G or G minor in order to draw comparisons. If you read music, you will see that each tune we explore shares the same general outline and shape.

17th Century

Italy: Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi, attributed to Biado

Set to the text Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi da questo cielo (Flee, flee, flee from this sky), an early version of our Twinkle tune appeared in print in Biado’s book of madrigals in the year 1600.

Sources credit the Italian tenor, Giuseppino del Biado (1550-1616) with the creation of the melody. At this point in my search, this is the first written record of our wandering tune.

In Part I of our series, it was mentioned that Biado’s version sounds like it could have been derived from even earlier music for two reasons: 1) there’s a section in the Dorian mode (common in Medieval and Renaissance music), and 2) because it lends itself to being sung in counterpoint as a round or canon. There is nothing in Biado’s notation that suggests he wanted it sung as a canon, so he, himself, doesn’t seem to be the source of this feature. Also, part of his version doesn’t work as a canon. This suggests that he may have refurbished an older existing tune for his madrigal and added the non-canon part himself.

However, in the interest of being completely open to all possibilities, Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi may sound like earlier music because of a longer transition from Renaissance music to Baroque than music history books would lead us all to believe. Biado’s madrigal was published in the year 1600. Though this is the official start date of the Baroque period (according to us), Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi may sound like earlier music because older elements were still being carried over into newer works.

Features of this piece that will define the Twinkle tune over the next hundred years are:

• It’s in a minor key signature with features of the Dorian mode (the Dorian raised 6th degree of the scale hearkens back to Medieval music.)

• AABA form. The first tune is stated then repeats, there follows contrasting material in the middle, and finally, the first tune returns once more.

• The main tune begins with five quick ascending notes, then follows the familiar “Twinkle” shape back down.

• The second melody (B) begins by stepping down four notes. This resembles the eventual Twinkle folk tune in this spot (it’s even made of the same intervals as Twinkle’s: whole tone, semitone, whole tone). However, instead of starting at the fifth degree of the scale as Twinkle’s B section does, it begins up an octave on the upper key note then descends in the Dorian mode with four notes. This unique modal sound remains a feature of most 17th-century variants.

• There are two measures of connecting material at the end of the B section, before the return of the main tune (a couplet).

Italy: Il Ballo di Mantova, Ferrini (1644)

By the middle of the 1600s, Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi had become a phenomenon in Italy. It was so popular that its tune was adapted into Italian court dances and instrumental music by multiple arrangers.

Il Ballo di Mantua (Mantua Dance) was published by Giovan Battista Ferrini in 1644. It is a set of three pieces. The first is a theme, which is then followed by two variations. It is fascinating to hear these and wonder if W. A. Mozart heard them in his childhood trip to Italy, and whether they had any influence on his own set of variations.

I’ve found several recordings of Il Ballo di Mantova, some on keyboard instruments and others on stringed instruments, like the lute.

The recordings are all similar, which suggests the performers are indeed referencing Ferrini’s notation (and not another version from Italy).

But between them there are distinct differences in rhythm, melody and harmony which lead me to believe that perhaps our current-day performers are adding their own interpretations. After all, in the 1600s, notation was a bit blurry and unclear in some respects. The performance practice of the day allowed performers to add their own flair, much like we’d expect from jazz musicians today. So, in keeping with that, it’s likely that today’s artists are also adding their own nuances here and there.

One of the common threads in all the performances of Il Ballo di Mantova is that the opening string of notes (that step from scale degree one to five) has a dotted rhythm.

• Some recordings have a dotted-eighth-sixteenth rhythm on just the first beat, and others on both beats of the first measure.

• In each of the recorded versions, Il Ballo di Mantova has a melody that decorates the main tune with eighth and sixteenth notes notes that step above and below the main tune with neighbouring tones. It’s a florid melody.

Rather than spell out the differences of the various recorded versions of Il Ballo di Mantova myself, I’d like to challenge you to print off this post’s printable and discover them for yourself.

Compare and contrast Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi and any version of Il Ballo di Mantova. Which one has the simpler rhythm and melody? In the other version, what rhythmic and melodic patterns decorate the main Twinkle tune?

In measure 7 of Il Ballo di Mantova, the organist and harpsichordist interpret the rhythm of the cadence differently. How?

The lute player (this video is not shown here) interpreted the cadences in measures 7-8 differently again. Which musicians end these phrases on the major chord (Picardy Third)? Which keep the cadences in the minor?

Italy: La Mantovana, Zanetti (1645)

La Mantovana was published on page 122 of Gasparo Zanetti’s Il Scolaro in 1645.

You’ll notice in the Zanetti that the music remains much simplified. This suggests he was directly influenced by Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi, which itself was rather simple, and that he wasn’t swayed by the extra embellishments penned by his contemporary arranger, Ferrini.

• The descending minor melody largely avoids notes that step around to neighbouring tones, and often simply repeats each scale degree.

• The rhythm is mostly built from a pattern of a quarter and two-eighths which repeats from pitch to pitch.

• There’s a complete absence of ornaments at the cadence (in my printable of the 1644 Ferrini version these are printed as 16th notes).

Also, quite significantly, this is the first time we hear the elimination of the Dorian raised scale degree (the Dorian E-natural becomes an E-flat). To me, this signals that this was the moment the music turned a corner away from earlier modal musical influences and entered our modern era of major and minor key signatures. And this was only one year after Ferrini’s version, which kept the Dorian raised sixth scale degree.

Italy: Trio Sonata in D minor, Op. 22, Marini (1655)

The tune was used by Biagio Marini in his Trio Sonata, op. 22: Sonata sopra “Fuggi dolente core” (Flee, my sorrowful heart), from “Diversi generi di sonate, da chiesa, e da camera“, published in 1655.

In this composition, we hear a complete transition into the Baroque era. This 1655 version is even more advanced than versions that travelled throughout Europe and were published later in the 17th century. In Part III of this series, you can listen to versions from England, Belgium and France which retain the earlier modal influences, and therefore must have sounded a little old fashioned at the time. Or, perhaps it took the rest of the continent time to catch up with the new musical style being cultivated in Italy. In any case, the contrast between this 1655 version and the music across Europe later in the century proves that Italy was at the leading edge of musical style at the time.

Notice that the title refers to fuggi, yet in rhythm, it seems the 1645 version by Zanetti was the bigger musical influence.

With most versions throughout this series, I’ve been able to take down the melodic notation by ear, but this version is so long (and parts of it are superfluous to our Twinkle study), that I’ve limited my own notation to the main theme. This is my best attempt at figuring out the notation by listening to recordings (like the one above). If you have the actual score and would like to correct anything, please feel free to reach out to me.

Like many Baroque compositions, this opens with a largo introduction, almost like a prelude before a fugue. In the video above, this comprises the first 0:00 to 0:18 seconds of the recording.

The minor Twinkle tune begins at the 0:18 mark, and is treated something like a fugal subject (the main theme). In a true fugue, the primary theme would be introduced as a solo in just one voice. Yet, even with the accompaniment of the other instruments, this still has the feel of a fugal subject.

• Like all early variants, this minor Twinkle material is heard twice in a row (AA in most versions), but there’s a catch with this one. The second time we hear the ascending five notes, they begin on the fifth degree of the scale (not on the first), taking the tune into the key of d minor. Again, this is how a subject would be treated in a fugue.

Beginning at 0:37, the music enters a phase of development in a section that feels like a fugal episode. This is when the music isn’t strictly imitative with the main subject and countersubject, but plays back and forth between voices with “filler” snippets of thematic material.

At 0:51 we hear for the first time music from the B section, which is followed by the main ascending theme in a lower voice. It’s beautiful how the contrapuntal possibilities inherent in this tune are explored. Notice how this one retains the Dorian E-natural.

Rather than analyze the rest of the piece phrase by phrase, take a listen and try to pick out the layers of voices as they interweave the Twinkle themes.

This truly is a Baroque masterpiece, published fully 30 years before the births of Bach, Handel and Scarlatti in 1685, and many decades before these more famous composers became masters of Baroque composition. Marini certainly deserves more share of the spotlight.

Continue reading! In Part III to find out how these Italian variants can be traced into countries across Europe, with English, French and Belgian variants that closely resemble them.

More to explore!

This is the second instalment of a series of blog posts on this seemingly universal melody. Join me as I continue through time and across the European continent (and beyond) in search of more versions and variations.

This melody’s scope of influence cannot be underestimated. It would be difficult to find a child or adult from a western country (or even a country that is influenced by western music) who has not heard, sung or played this tune.

If you’d like to compare the melodies mentioned in this post, Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi, Ballo di Mantua, La Mantovana and Trio Sonata, op. 22: Sonata sopra fuggi, you’ll find the music in my printables section in the section called Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Watch for more!

We embark on this multi-part series with an overview and launchpad of the entire body of research. Want a bird’s-eye view of the full Twinkle journey? Here it is! This post includes evidence that the melody may be much older than the first version found in Italy. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part I: The ultimate guide to this tune in our culture

Discover the 17th-century Renaissance-to-Baroque Italian versions of one of the world’s most-loved melodies, complete with music samples. Here’s the next chapter of the story as we know it. This music holds clues to the exact Italian versions that influenced contemporary spread across the European continent. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part II: Then there was a madrigal in Italy [Printables]

Musicians took the Italian tune far afield when they travelled Europe for employment. Here is a collection of third generation variants from 17th century Europe. These early international adopters launched a cascade effect of countless iterations of the tune throughout Europe for centuries to come. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part III: Second generation spread throughout 17th-c Europe [Printables]

Can we pinpoint where in Europe the original minor Twinkle tune first become major? As the music made the leap from courtly ballrooms and entered the folk music circuit, it began a remarkable transformation. which features were kept and which were lost? And where in Europe did it become our favourite little Twinkle folk tune? It’s all explored in this post! Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part IV: From minor, Twinkle branches into the major key [Printables]

Discover the transformation from the older tune with its busy, florid melody to the simple tune of France’s Ah! vous dirai-je, maman and composers’ variations on it, beginning with Mozart. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part V: Mozart, a French folk song and beyond [Printables]

In several countries this tune was adopted as a national theme. Compare the versions that emerged. Which features of the original music were retained and how did the music change as it travelled? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part VI: Twinkle as 19th-c national songs in countries far and wide [Printables]

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star became a source of inspiration of master composers, who borrowed it into their major works. Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Dohnányi and more all fell under its spell. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part VII: Twinkle is borrowed by master composers [Printables] Coming soon!

In time, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star emerged from earlier folk settings and continued to be borrowed into beloved children’s songs in an ever-expanding tradition of folk music. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part VIII: A folk tune becomes children’s songs in many languages [Printables] Coming soon!

Even popular musicians have come under the influence of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and have woven its tune into their melodies. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part IX: Twinkle is borrowed into popular songs [Printables] Coming soon!

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Video of the Week

North Star. (Intermediate piano, Level 4) Based on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, North Star (eSheet) features fifths, rhythmic patterns with sixteenth notes, legato pedal and lots of moments for developing long, expressive phrases. North Star is available as an eSheet!