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In his Dialogo della musica (‘Musical Dialogue’), published in 1544, Antonfrancesco Doni describes two performances, one in an all-male academy, the other at a more informal gathering including a woman. The singing of madrigals by contemporary composers is interspersed with conversation. Is this a realistic picture of a social gathering in mid-sixteenth century Italy ? Diverse clues suggest ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

inquisitiveness which led him to enrich his music with elements from a bewildering variety of sources. At the deepest level they were Beethoven, jazz, Stravinsky and the English madrigal, but at the end of his life he was excitedly discovering rap and the amplified guitar, using the sound of brake-drums struck with a hammer and the recently ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(A’-dre-an Vil-lârt) c. 1490–1562 Flemish composer Willaert was one of an important group of composers who settled in Italy and there adapted the Franco-Flemish style. He spent most of his career as maestro di cappella at St Mark’s, Venice. He gathered around him an influential group of musicians, inc­luding Rore and the great theorist Zarlino. His greatest publication was Musica ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(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 ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Bâr’-bra Strot-se) 1619–64 Italian composer and singer In the 1630s, Strozzi was a central figure of the Venetian Accademia degli Unisoni, established by her adopted (or perhaps natural) father, the poet Giulio Strozzi, to provide a forum for her renowned vocal performances. A pupil of Cavalli, she published eight volumes of over 100 madrigals, motets, ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Che-pre-a’-no da Ro’-ra) c. 1515–65 Franco-Flemish composer Rore spent much of his relatively short life in Italy, first in Ferrara and then in the brilliant musical circle around Willaert in Venice. Rore was cited by Monteverdi as a pioneer of the seconda pratica, and modern critics tend to emphasize the serious, intellectually rigorous side to his musical personality. But ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

life in Paris and was the leading exponent of the genre known as the ‘Parisian chanson’. Mostly for four voices, his songs are similar in style to the early madrigal, which was developing at the same time. They are relatively easy to sing, with lively rhythms, straightforward melodies and an essentially homophonic texture. The texts are light ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Lamento d’Arianna (‘Arianna’s Lament’) Lamento d’Arianna is the only music from Monteverdi’s opera Arianna to survive. It was arranged in various guises – as a monody in 1623, a madrigal in 1624 and a sacred song in 1638. In consequence, the Lamento is the best-known piece in Monteverdi’s operatic output. Introduction | Early & Middle Baroque | Opera Major ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

his home town of Cremona. When he took his first professional post in his mid-twenties, he had already published six books of music and established himself as a leading madrigal writer. His three surviving operas, Orfeo (‘Orpheus’, 1607), Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (‘Ulysses’s Homecoming’, 1640) and L’incoronazione di Poppea (‘The Coronation of Poppea’, 1642), have earned him an ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

di Corpo, considered the first work of its kind, was performed in Rome in 1600. It contains passages of extended monodic recitative, solo airs and pieces in madrigal style. It is the earliest known score to be printed with figured-bass instrumental parts. Recommended Recording: La Rappresentatione di Animo e di Corpo, soloists, L’Arpeggiata (dir) Christina Pluhar ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Fer-ra-bos’-ko) Italian musical family This family produced four generations of musicians. Domenico (1513–74), of Bologna, was a composer of early madrigals in the style of Arcadelt. His son Alfonso (1543–88) moved to England as a young man and spent most of his life at the court of Elizabeth I. Morley praised him for his ‘deep skill’ and placed him alongside ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(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 ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

of Marlborough until 1731, and he was a prominent member of the Academy of Ancient Musick in London until he was discredited in the early 1730s for plagiarizing a madrigal composed by Antonio Lotti (c. 1667–1740). Bononcini’s melodic style was considered agreeable and pleasant, and he was admired for his expressive setting of Italian texts. Introduction | Late Baroque ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Jo-van’-ne Gab-re-a’-le) c. 1553–1612 Italian composer Gabrieli was taught by his uncle Andrea Gabrieli and, like him, was first employed in Munich with Lassus. After Andrea’s death Giovanni became principal composer for St Mark’s, Venice, and he wrote much of his music with its choir (and building) in mind. His musical debt to his uncle is evident in ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Jo-van’-ne Gas-tol’-de) c. 1550s–1622 Italian composer Gastoldi spent much of his career in Mantua, where in the early 1590s he composed music for a production of Battista Guarini’s famous play, Il pastor fido (‘The Faithful Shepherd’); although the production was scrapped, Gastoldi published some of his music in 1602. He is best known, however, for his ballettos ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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