Tags: Genre, Music Genre, Topical Concept.
The ballata (plural: ballate) is an Italian poetic and musical form in use from the late 13th to the 15th century. It has the musical structure AbbaA with the first and last stanzas having the same texts. It is thus most similar to the French musical ‘forme fixe’ virelai (and not the ballade as the name might otherwise suggest). The first and last A is called a ripresa the b lines are piedi (feet) while the fourth line is called a volta.