Monteverdi composed his `Canzonette a tre voci` in 1584 when he was 17 years old. They proved to be excellent preparation for the more serious and complex works he took up later such as madrigals and operas.
The collection contains 21 three-voice compositions based on poems by unknown poets eleven of which have already been used by other composers in particular Orazio Vecchi.
The genre `canzonetta` is a light version of the madrigal in just 3 voices it has a playful and folk character based on secular poems in strophic form of 3 or 4 couplets with a ritornello.
The title page of Canzonette announces the seventeen-year-old composer as a Cremonese and student of Marc Antonio Ingegneri and also contains a dedication to Pietro Ambrosini of Cremona who was named Monteverdi`s patron.


1.
Qual si può dir maggiore
pianta dal ciel discesa in terra nata
ChAmbrosia dolce tanto delicata.

Ma se in un verde ramo
si vedon le virtudinsieme a gara
unirsi e a tutti dar vivanda rara

Ben è forza chio dica
che delle sue virtù altro non piove
sol Ambrosia del Ciel datta da Giove.