Personalities | Francesco Landini | Medieval Era | Classical

(Fran-cha’-sko Lan-de’-ne) c. 1325–97
Italian composer

Blind as the result of an attack of smallpox as a young child, Landini turned to music, learning to play the organ and several other instruments. He also sang and wrote poetry. Over 150 musical works by him survive, forming over one quarter of the known repertory of the fourteenth century. Most of his pieces are in the predominant Italian form of the period, the ballata, and he wrote a few madrigals, a caccia and a virelai. This last French form is a manifestation of his increasing interest in the forms and techniques of his French contemporaries. His works took on stylistic elements of the French Ars Nova, and he later successfully merged the French and Italian styles. He was well known and respected by other musicians, scholars and poets of his time. He may have written much of the poetry that he set to music.

Recommended Recording:
Landini and Italian Ars Nova, Alla Francesca (Opus 111)

Introduction | Medieval Era | Classical
Personalities | Leonin | Medieval Era | Classical

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