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Music plays a central role in the construction of Boccaccio's idealized Trecento society. It serves to remind the brigata of propriety and temperance, since they learn to appreciate music and dance in a moderate fashion. Note that in the conclusion of Day V, Dioneo is thoroughly reprimanded for trying to sing "Lift up your skirt" among other ditties (see my: "Music in the Cornice of Boccaccio's Decameron"). Musical moderation in the Decameron is also an indication of good health.
The ballata texts set the appropriate mood for the following days stories. A clear example occurs in the song inserted at the conclusion of Day III. On previous days the ballata texts projected generally positive (at least not negative) emotions. The tone changes drastically at the conclusion of Day III, after Lauretta sings a sorrowful ballata: "None has need for lamentation / More than have I." Like the relationship of an overture to an opera, or a recitative to an aria, the song creates the appropriate atmosphere for the stories to follow. Those of Day IV, presided over by Filostrato whose name literally means vanquished by love, are the most heart-wrenching of the Decameron - beginning with the tale of Tancredi and Ghismonda.
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