Vittorio Baldini | |
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Died | |
Occupation(s) | Italian printer and engraver |
Vittorio Baldini (died 21 February 1618) was an Italian printer and engraver. He started publishing in Venice, where he was born, and later moved to Ferrara, joining the court of Duke Alfonso II d'Este in mid-to-late 1582, where he was the official ducal music printer. He may have met the duke through Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, whose translation and commentary on Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico Baldini printed in early 1582. [1]
His first work as ducal music printer, and indeed his first print of music, was an anthology of madrigals, Il lauro secco (1582), written by the most renowned composers of Rome and Northern Italy, as well as introducing important new composers, and was inspired by Laura Peverara. [2] He later printed the anthology Il lauro verde (1583), meant as a companion to Il lauro secco, and presented to Peverara on the occasion of her marriage in late February 1583. [3]
Baldini published very little music for Alfonso between 1586 and 1594, and began publishing regularly again 1594–1596, when he printed anthologies containing madrigals by some of the most important madrigalists of the seconda pratica , including Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Carlo Gesualdo, and Alfonso Fontanelli, all of whom were part of the Este court at the time. These books, however, may have been funded by Gesualdo, who was at the court for his marriage to Leonora d'Este. [4] During the period Baldini printed little for Alfonso; he did print a number of treatises on music and art, including those by Giovanni Battista Aleotti and Ercole Bottrigari. After Ferrara devolved to the papacy, Baldini published under the imprint of "Episcopal or State Printer and Printer to the Academy of the Intrepidi." [5] During this period he printed descriptions and texts for various intermezzos and other theatrical entertainments.
Baldini's works are set apart by the beauty of the lettering, the finery of their engraving, beautiful title pages, and high quality paper. He used a number of signs, including a bell, Daedalus, and the sun. [5]
Giovanni Battista Guarini was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.
Giaches de Wert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, active in Italy. Intimately connected with the progressive musical center of Ferrara, he was one of the leaders in developing the style of the late Renaissance madrigal. He was one of the most influential of late sixteenth-century madrigal composers, particularly on Claudio Monteverdi, and his later music was formative on the development of music of the early Baroque era.
Luzzasco Luzzaschi was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi spent the majority of his life in his native city. He was a skilled representative of the late Italian madrigal style, along with Palestrina, Wert, Monte, Lassus, Marenzio, Gesualdo and others.
Lodovico Agostini was an Italian composer, singer, priest, and scholar of the late Renaissance. He was a close associate of the Ferrara Estense court, and one of the most skilled representatives of the progressive secular style which developed there at the end of the 16th century.
Anna Guarini, Contessa Trotti was an Italian virtuoso singer of the late Renaissance. She was one of the most renowned singers of the age, and was one of the four concerto di donne at the Ferrara court of the d'Este family, for whom many composers wrote in a progressive style.
The School of Ferrara was a group of painters which flourished in the Duchy of Ferrara during the Renaissance. Ferrara was ruled by the Este family, well known for its patronage of the arts. Patronage was extended with the ascent of Ercole d'Este I in 1470, and the family continued in power till Alfonso II, Ercole's great-grandson, died without an heir in 1597. The duchy was then occupied in succession by Papal and Austrian forces. The school evolved styles of painting that appeared to blend influences from Mantua, Venice, Lombardy, Bologna, and Florence.
Alfonso Fontanelli was an Italian composer, writer, diplomat, courtier, and nobleman of the late Renaissance. He was one of the leading figures in the musically progressive Ferrara school in the late 16th century, and one of the earliest composers in the seconda pratica style at the transition to the Baroque era.
Vittoria Aleotti, believed to be the same as Raffaella Aleotta was an Italian Augustinian nun, a composer and organist.
The concerto delle donne was a group of professional female singers in the late Italian Renaissance, primarily in the court of Ferrara, Italy. Renowned for their technical and artistic virtuosity, the ensemble was founded by Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, in 1580 and was active until the court was dissolved in 1597. Giacomo Vincenti, a music publisher, praised the women as "virtuose giovani", echoing the sentiments of contemporaneous diarists and commentators.
Laura Peverara or Peperara was an Italian virtuoso singer who was also a harpist and dancer; born and raised in Mantua. Her father, Vincenzo, was a merchant, an intellectual who tutored princes, leading to Laura being brought up in courtly society. In the 1570s she was singing in Verona.
Giulio Cesare Brancaccio (1515–1586) was a courtier, cavalier, actor, writer, and singer in a number of northern Italian courts throughout the sixteenth century, most notably the court at Ferrara.
Margherita Barbara Gonzaga, was an Italian noblewoman, Duchess consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio between 1579 and 1597 by marriage to Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio. She was a significant cultural patron in Ferrara and Modena.
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The Duchy of Ferrara was a state in what is now northern Italy. It consisted of about 1,100 km2 south of the lower Po River, stretching to the valley of the lower Reno River, including the city of Ferrara. The territory that was part of the Duchy was ruled by the House of Este from 1146 to 1597.
Giulio Fiesco was an Italian composer of the Renaissance, active in Ferrara, known for his madrigals. He was the first composer to set the poetry of Giovanni Battista Guarini, the most often-set poet by madrigalists of the late 16th century, and was an important court composer for the rich musical establishment of the Este family in Ferrara.
Ercole Pasquini was an Italian composer and organist.
Camillo Cortellini was an Italian composer, singer, and violinist.
Paolo Isnardi was a late-Renaissance choirmaster and composer.