Il Canario, from Santucci's Maestro da Ballo, c. 1615

translated by K. Davies, 2-07, from facsimile

The translation is deliberately very literal, at the expense of English idiom and punctuation, because I want to preserve Santucci's ambiguity until I'm sure I know what he means. In particular: "in prospettiva" seems clearly to mean "facing your partner" in this dance, but as there's some debate about the term I've left it untranslated; where he asks for a step to be done "to the left turned by the right side", I think he intends that you should move to the left, with the right side of your body turned forwards; 'do' unmarked translates some form of 'fare'- where he used 'dare' I've noted it; likewise, 'hand' translates 'man', unless marked as [fe]. 'Lato' (side) and 'fianco' (flank) are not symonyms - he sometimes calls for a step to be done 'per fianco a lato sinistro' - hence my use of 'by the flank', though it's clumsy English.

The man and the woman each have four mutanze (the rest of which I will add later). There are twelve alternative mutanze for men, and six for women, in the following pages. The structure is a little different from other Canaries - they swap ends after each of the woman's mutanze (not just once in the middle of the dance), ritarate aren't done with different steps (each mutanze is done twice forwards and twice backwards), and the fourth mutanze of the man and woman are done at the same time (though with different steps). They do the turning passage at the same time, as in Caroso.

Canario

Balletto following the Rule of Paulo Arnantes, the Roman, with Mutanze by the Author.
 

The gentleman who wishes to do this Balletto, the Canary, will take the lady by the customary hand and leads her to the end of the room. Standing a little opposite each other, as seen in the figure below [there is only a blank space], they will do a reverenza semigrave facing, then two continenze brevi, one to the left side, and the other to the right. That done, they both proceed through the room, and they do four seguiti spezzati scicciati. Having arrived in the middle of the room, they release hands, and turning face to face, they do a reverenza caminata breve. Following this, the gentleman does another four similar seguiti, to go to the other end of the room, beginning with the right foot, and in the fourth seguito he turns to the left side, and does two passi naturali, one with the right and the other with the left, and returns to face in prospettiva; the lady will have returned to the end of the room where she began, with four seguiti, and the two said passi, and returned to face in prospettiva, and they will do a riverenza semigrave facing. The lady will stay still while the gentleman does the following mutanza.

Gentleman's first mutanza.

Beginning with his feet together, he will do two seguiti battuti al canari, one with the left foot and the other with the right. With the left he will do two scisciate di piede, one with the heel, forwards, one with the toe, backwards, one with the heel, forwards, and another with the toe, backwards, and with the left, which he will find raised behind, he will do a battuta di piede next to the right. That done, he will do two seguiti battuti, one with the right and the other with the left, then three battute di piede, one with the right, and one with the left, and another with the right, and a seguito battuto with the left, and two fioretti battuti doppii, one with the right and the other with the left; and with the right, which he will find raised in front, he will do a reccacciata to the left turned by the right side, and raising the left [foot] to the side he will do with the said [foot] a Ganzo roverso, turned to the said right side and returning in prospettiva, he will do [dara] with the left, which he will find raised behind, a sottopiede to the the right, and raising the right in front, he will do a fioretti battutto, and with the left he will do a seguito battuto next to the right. This mutanza ought to be done twice going forwards, and twice backwards, returning; beginning with the left, then the right. When the said mutanza has been done four times, the gentleman and lady will do the riverenza semigrave, and both turning to the left side, they will do four seguiti spezzati scicciati, and returning in prospettiva, they will do a passo naturale forwards and a riverenza semigrave facing, and the gentleman will stay still while the lady does the following mutanza.

Lady's first mutanza

Beginning with feet together, she will do two seguiti battuti, one with the left and the other with the right, and with the left a schicciata with the heel, forwards, and one with the toe, backwards, and with the left, which she will find raised behind, she will do a battutta de piedi next to the right. That done, she will do two seguiti batutti, one with the right, and the other with the left, and then three battute di piede, one with the right, one with the left, and another with the right, and with the left she will do a seguito battuto. That done, she will do two fioretti battuti, one with the right, and the other with the left, and with the right foot, which she will find raised in front, she will do a seguito ordinario turned to the right side, and returning in prospettiva, she will do with the left. which she will find behind, a seguito battuto next to the right. This mutanza ought to be done twice going forwards and twice returning, backwards, beginning with the left, and then with the right. And when the lady has done this said mutanza four times, she will do together with the gentleman the following passage, reverenza, and mutanza de [illegible word].

The gentleman and the lady will do the riverenza semigrave facing, and turning by the left side they will do four seguiti spezzati scicciati turned to the left side, and returning in prospettiva, they do another four similar seguiti going [forwards] opposite each other, and arriving in the middle of the room, they present right hands [fe], and do a reverenza caminata semibreve with the left, which they will find behind. That done, they release right hands [fe], and following this, to go to the other end of the room, they do another four similar seguiti, beginning with the right, and with the last seguito they turn themselves to the left side, and do two passi ordinarii, one with the right, and the other with the left, and returning in prospettiva, they do the riverenza semigrave facing, and the lady remains still, while the gentleman does the following mutanza.

            To be continued . . . K

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