Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. 1545 – 10 September 1607) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

, and teacher of the late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

. He was born and died in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, 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 A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number ...

style, along with

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

, Wert, Monte,

Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pales ...

Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the fo ...

, Gesualdo and others.

Biography

As a pupil of

Cipriano de Rore Cipriano de Rore (occasionally Cypriano) (1515 or 1516 – between 11 and 20 September 1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. Not only was he a central representative of the generation of Franco-Flemish compose ...

, Luzzaschi developed his craft and eventually came to be an influential pedagogue himself. Anthony Newcomb writes: In 1564, Luzzaschi was appointed as principal organist to the

d'Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

court. His facility as a keyboard player must have been paramount, for his competence on Nicola Vicentino's microtonal

archicembalo The archicembalo (or arcicembalo, ) was a musical instrument described by Nicola Vicentino in 1555. This was a harpsichord built with many extra keys and strings, enabling experimentation in microtonality and just intonation. Construction T ...

was actively documented throughout his career. Luzzaschi is widely remembered due to his association with the famous ''

Concerto delle donne The ''concerto delle donne'' (; also ''concerto di donne'' or ''concerto delle (or di) dame'') was a group of professional female singers in the late Italian Renaissance, primarily in the court of Ferrara, Italy. Renowned for their technical and ...

'', a private female vocal ensemble founded by Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. In addition to his duties as court organist, as director for the ensemble he composed expert madrigals that required virtuosic vocal skill and advanced musicianship. Expressing a highly ornamented soprano line, his famous publication, ''Madrigali...per cantare, et sonare, a uno, e doi, e tre soprani'' of 1601 contained repertory performed by this expert troupe.

Works

Luzzaschi's surviving canon is limited to: seven books (1571 through 1604) of madrigals for five voices; the 1601 ''Madrigali per cantare et sonare a 1-3 soprani''; a collection of five-part motets; and four keyboard works. While reference to three books of four-voice

ricercar A ricercar ( , ) or ricercare ( , ) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ''ricercar'' derives from the Italian verb which means 'to search out; to seek'; many ricercars serve a preludial funct ...

s by Luzzaschi indicates that he was actively composing instrumental work, the books themselves appear to be lost.Anthony Newcomb. “Il Modo di far la Fantasia: An Appreciation of Luzzaschi’s Instrumental Style,” Early Music, Vol 7, No. 1 (1979) 34. * ''Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci'' (1571)

Sources

* Gustave Reese, ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. *''The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 8th ed. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. New York, Schirmer Books, 1993.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luzzaschi, Luzzasco Italian classical composers Italian classical organists Male classical organists Renaissance composers 1540s births 1607 deaths 16th-century Italian composers Madrigal composers Italian male classical composers Musicians from Ferrara 16th-century classical composers