When the Teatro San Cassiano, the first public opera house, opened in 1637, the Venetian nobility rapidly decamped from the private homes in which performances had previously been given and rented the best box seats for each opera season. The public had to make do with the lower parterre, or ‘pit’. The San Cassiano was built and ...
Among the earliest humanist projects was the recovery and study of classical architecture. Many buildings from the Roman period still stood (some stand today); others were in ruins from which the originals could just be discerned. Study of these remains with reference to recently recovered classical architectural treatises led to a new school of architecture. The leader of this school was ...
‘Renaissance’ is a French word meaning ‘rebirth’. It has been used since the nineteenth century to describe the period between c. 1300 and 1600. Three hundred years is a long time for a single historical or cultural period, and the strain shows in any attempt to define the term ‘Renaissance’. The cultural phenomenon central to the Renaissance was a revival ...
Classical ideals began to emerge and take shape in musical treatises in the late fifteenth century. One of the most famous exponents of this was Johannes Tinctoris (1430–after 1511), who, in his writings, claimed that music had been reborn in the works of John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453) and his followers around 1440. Also central to Renaissance thinking about music ...
(Jo-van’-e An’-ne-moo-chya) c. 1500–71 Italian composer Animuccia, who lived and worked in Rome in the 1550s and 1560s, was one of the earliest composers of music for the Catholic Counter-Reformation. For Filippo Neri and his Oratorians he composed two books of laudi spirituali, simple devotional songs with Latin or Italian texts. His first book of Masses (1567) was, ...
(Zhak Är’-ka-delt) c. 1505–68 French composer Although probably of French birth, Arcadelt spent much of his adulthood in the great Italian cities of Florence, Rome and Venice. He is best known for madrigals (although he composed Masses, motets and chansons as well), including some of the genre’s most precious gems. They are almost all easy to sing, but ...
(A-dre-a’-no Ban-kya’-re) 1568–1634 Italian composer Banchieri is known for his books of music theory and for his contribution to a small, but fascinating repertory: the madrigal comedy. L’organo suonarino (‘The Sound of the Organ’, 1605), a handbook for church organists, is one of the earliest sources of practical advice for realizing a basso continuo. His madrigal comedies – collections of ...
c. 1562–1628 English composer and keyboard player The English composer and keyboard player John Bull was by all evidence an extraordinary musician. His name headed the list of members of the Chapel Royal who attended the funeral of Elizabeth I in 1603. He was also an organ-builder and a scholar. A Catholic with a difficult personality, he often found himself ...
1543–1623 English composer Byrd’s early life is shrouded in mystery. He may have been born in Lincoln, but his formative years must have been spent at least partly in London; at some point in his youth he studied with Tallis. In 1563 he was made organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral. He married in 1569 and in ...
(An-ton’-yo da Ka-ba-thon’) 1510–66 Spanish keyboard composer and player Blind from birth, Cabezón learnt the organ from an early age and became one of the great keyboard players of his day. He began his career as organist to Queen Isabella. After her death he worked for her children, later attaching himself solely to the future king, Philip II. Cabezón’s ...
1567–1620 English poet and composer Campion first distinguished himself as a poet and poetic theorist. His treatise, Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602), included controversial opinions regarding metre and rhyme, revealing the musical basis of his poetry. He published four books of lute-songs. Some are humanist experiments in setting classically accentuated poetry, but the best are ...
c. 1490–c. 1546 Scottish composer Carver’s first composition may have been for the coronation of James V (1513); the Dum sacrum mysterium Mass is composed in 10 parts. Four of his other Masses remain extant and demonstrate the influence of Franco-Flemish style of composition characteristic of Josquin and others of the age. Recommended Recording: Missa Dum sacrum mysterium, Motets, ...
(Mad’-da-lä-na Ca-sü-la’-na) c. 1540–90 Italian singer and composer Casulana worked as a professional singer and composer in Venice and Milan. The first of several volumes of her madrigals appeared in 1568 – the earliest-known printed collection by a woman. In Casulana’s words, it aimed ‘to show the world... the vain error of men that they alone possess intellectual gifts, ...
(Kle’-menz nôn Pa’-pa) c. 1510–55 Franco-Flemish composer His given name was Jacob Clemens, and it is not known how he came to be called Clemens non Papa (one translation of ‘non papa’ is ‘not the pope’ – a rather unlikely mistake). He composed some works in his native Dutch, the best-known of which are the souterliedekens. These three-voice, ...
c. 1465–1523 English composer Cornysh served at the courts of both Henry VII and Henry VIII as a poet, actor and musician. His greatest moment was being chosen to head the Chapel Royal at the famous ‘Field of the Cloth of Gold’ in June 1520. Five polyphonic works by him are preserved in the Eton Choirbook; he also composed early ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.