Adriana Basile (baptized 21 December 1586 – after ) was an Italian composer and singer of the

Baroque period The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

.Vincenzo Palmisciano
«Novità per il profilo biografico di Andreana, Giovan Battista Basile e Giulio De Grazia»
in ''Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane'', CXL dell'intera collezione, 2022, pp. 161–166.

Life

She was born and died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. From 1610, she worked for the Gonzagas in

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

. Members of her family also worked for the court, including her brothers,

Giambattista Basile Giambattista Basile ( – 23 February 1632) was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector. His collections include the oldest recorded forms of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. He is chiefly remembered for writi ...

, a poet, Lelio Basile, a composer, and her sisters, Margherita and Vittoria, who were both singers. Her husband, Mutio Baroni, and her three children, her son Camillo, and two daughters, Leonora and

Caterina Caterina is a feminine given name which is an Italian form of the name ''Katherine''. Notable people with the name include: In music: * Caterina Assandra, Italian composer and Benedictine nun * Caterina Bueno, Italian singer and folk music hist ...

were also at the

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

. Leonora and Caterina were both successful singers in their own right.

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...

declared that Basile was a more talented singer than

Francesca Caccini Francesca Caccini (; 18 September 1587 – most likely between 1641 and 1645) was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet, and music teacher of the early Baroque era. She was also known by the nickname La Cecchina , given to her by the Floren ...

, who was at that time at the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

court. Duke

Vincenzo Gonzaga Vincenzo Gonzaga may refer to: *Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1562–1612) *Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1594–1627) *Vicente de Gonzaga y Doria (1602–1694), known in Italian as Vincenzo Gonzaga Doria *Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Gua ...

awarded Basile a barony in the Monferrato, and she was also well regarded by Vincenzo's sons

Francesco Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is one of the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name inclu ...

and Ferdinando. While still working for the Mantuan court, she travelled to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Rome,

, and

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. She performed in

Alessandro Guarini Alessandro Guarini ( – 15 August 1636) was an Italian writer, jurist and diplomat. He is famous for his dialogue ''Il farnetico savio overo il Tasso'' (1610). Biography Alessandro was the eldest of the four sons of Giovanni Battista Guarini, ...

's ''Licori, ovvero L’incanto d’amore''. In 1626 she retired from the service of the Gonzagas, and moved to Naples and later Rome. None of Basile's music survives, but she is known to have improvised on poetry, including in a competition with Caccini in November 1623. It was reported that Adriana's repertory comprised over 300 songs in Italian and Spanish, which she sang from memory, accompanying herself on the harp or guitar. A number of composers have left musical tributes in her honour, while a collection of poetic tributes, "Il teatro delle glorie", was first published in Venice in 1623 and then, in expanded form, in Naples in 1628. It has been proposed that a painting by

Antiveduto Gramatica Antiveduto Grammatica (December 1569 – April 1626) was a proto-Baroque Italian painter, active near Rome. Grammatica was born in Rome, where he was baptised in December 1569. According to Giovanni Baglione the artist was given the name Anti ...

of Santa Cecilia with two musical angels depicts Adriana's harp. The harp is decorated with the coat of arms and ''imprese'' of the Gonzaga family, and Adriana's own coat of arms.

References

Citations

Sources

* Alessandro Ademollo, La bell'Adriana ed altre virtuose del suo tempo alla corte di Mantova: contributo di documenti per la sotoriam della musica in Italia nel primo quarto del seicento. Castello: Lapi, 1888. * Alessandro Ademollo, I Basile alla corte di Mantova, secondo documenti inediti o rari (1603–1628). Genova, Tipografia del R. Istituto Sordo-muti, 1885 * Alessandro Ademollo, La bell' Adriana a Milano (1611), Milano: R. stabilimento musicale Ricordi

885 Year 885 ( DCCCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Emperor Charles the Fat summons a meeting of officials at Lobith (modern Netherlands), and accuses Hugh, an ...

* Kathryn Bosi Monteath, "Adriana’s harp: paintings, poetic imagery, and musical tributes for the Sirena di Posilippo", Imago Musicae, XXX, 2019, pp. 75–103. * Kathryn Bosi Monteath, “6. Antiveduto Gramatica: Saint Cecilia with two angels. Portrayed instruments”, in "Marvels of sound and beauty" : Italian Baroque musical instruments, catalogue of the exhibition Florence, 12 June-4 November 207, Florence, Giunti, 2007, pp. 146–47. * Nocerino, Francesco,“Il Canzoniere di Adriana Basile: nuove considerazioni su un inedito napolitano.” Musica: storia, analisi e didattica. Contributi del XX Convegno annuale della Società italiana di musicologia. Ed. by Antoni Caroccia & Francesco Di Lernia. Foggia: Claudio Grenzi Editore (Quaderni del Conservatorio Umberto Giordano di Foggia II), 2014, p. 119–29. * Susan Parisi. "Adriana Basile", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed November 5, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Liliana Pannella, «BASILE, Andreana (Andriana), detta la bella Adriana». In : ''

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' () is a biographical dictionary published in 100 volumes by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1960 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biographies of distinguished Italia ...

'', Vol. VII, Roma : Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1965
on-line
* Vincenzo Palmisciano
«Novità per il profilo biografico di Andreana, Giovan Battista Basile e Giulio De Grazia»
in ''Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane'', CXL dell'intera collezione, 2022, pp. 161–166. {{DEFAULTSORT:Basile, Adriana Italian women classical composers 17th-century Italian women singers Italian Renaissance people Italian Renaissance composers 1580s births 1640s deaths 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century Italian actresses Italian stage actresses 17th-century Italian women composers Musicians from the Kingdom of Naples