[It. canzone (= Sp. cancion, Pr. canso, canson, F. chanson):—L. cantiōn-em singing, song, f. cant- ppl. stem of can-ĕre to sing.] In Ital. or Prov. Lit.: A song, a ballad; a species of lyric, closely resembling the madrigal but less strict in style.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 34. Francesco … to try the finesse of his wit, with a poeticall furie, began thus to make a Canzone.
a. 1789. Burney, Hist. Mus. (ed. 2), II. iv. 325. When the song is written on a grave or tragic subject, says he it is called Canzone.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., iv. 122. The Florentine public … sang the great poet’s canzones about the streets.
