Literary evidence abounds for the popularity of the Italian Ballata in later Trecento, Florence. Each day's entertainment in Boccaccio's Decameron concludes with the singing of a ballata. The rich description of the feast in Prudenzani's Il Saporetto similarly includes a large number of ballate for singing and dancing; many of them are specifically named. Francesco Landini was the king of the Trecento ballata, apparently its pioneer and its most prolific composer. The blind musician left over 140 ballate, fully a third of the century's surviving repertory. His two-voiced ballata Dolce signor (or Dolcie signiore in the earlier Tuscan spelling) may very well have graced a number of Florentine Christmas feasts such as the one in Prudenzani's allegory.

Unforunately, the only musical manuscript to preserve Dolce signor for posterity has corrupted the musical text. A later scribe made a copy of Landini's piece, attempting to translate between Italian and French musical notation; musicians today have had to wade through the scribe's many errors. The best reconstructions reveal a charming little piece for two voices. The poetic text pleads with a lord not to let carnal desire have victory over his laws, but rather to maintain justice and leadership. The text follows the classic ballata form of refrain, stanza (two "feet" and a return to the opening music), refrain. Musically, both of Landini's voices are texted, and both break into extensive and florid melismas at the conclusion of each phrase. These stylistic ties to the early Italian madrigal help place Dolce signor among Landini's earlier ballate, though it does not contain the tell-tale dance rhythms of the genre's inception.

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