Laura Peverara or Peperara (c. 1550 – 4 January 1601) was an Italian

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

singer who was also a

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing ...

and dancer; born and raised 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 ...

. Her father, Vincenzo, was a merchant, an intellectual who tutored princes, leading to Laura being brought up in

courtly Courtesy (from the word , from the 12th century) is gentle politeness and courtly manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the nobility was compiled in courtesy books. History The apex of European courtly culture was r ...

society. In the 1570s she was singing in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Alfred Einstein Alfred Einstein (December 30, 1880February 13, 1952) was a German-American musicologist and music editor. He was born in Munich, and fled Nazi Germany after Adolf Hitler, Hitler's ''Machtergreifung'', arriving in the United States by 1939. He is b ...

identified Laura as a member of the renowned ''

musica secreta In music history, ''musica reservata'' (also ''musica secreta'') is either a style or a performance practice in ''a cappella'' vocal music of the latter half of the 16th century, mainly in Italy and southern Germany, involving refinement, exclusiv ...

'' ensemble ''il

Concerto delle donne The ''concerto delle donne'' () was an ensemble of professional female singers of late Renaissance music in Italy. The term usually refers to the first and most influential group in Ferrara, which existed between 1580 and 1597. Renowned for the ...

'' in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) 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 ...

. She was the first member, starting in 1580, and remained in the group until its dissolution in 1597. It is now clear from reappraisal of the source material that there were two ''concerti'' at Ferrara and that Einstein's "Three Ladies" are drawn from different groups. Peverara and

Anna Guarini Anna Guarini, Contessa Trotti (1563 – 3 May 1598) 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' Est ...

were the only two of the original members to sing at the ensemble's first recorded performance. Three anthologies were put together in her honor, including one by

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

(''Il Lauro verde'') in celebration of her marriage to Ferrarese Count Annibale Turco. In addition many

madrigals A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

were dedicated to her by Ferrarese composers, including ones by Giovanni Battista Gabella, Vittorio Baldini, and

Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (/1557 – 12 August 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School (music), Venetian School, at the t ...

Related recordings

Selections of the madrigals dedicated to Laura may be found in: * ''Madrigali per Laura Peperara'' Silvia Frigato & Miho Kamiya (sopranos) Silvia Rambaldi (harpsichord). Tactus 2010.

References

* Anthony Newcomb. "Laura Peverara", ''

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 20 May 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).

External links

Laura Peverara (Peperara)
by musicologist

Laurie Stras Laurie Stras is a musicologist and musician, whose research interests range from the 16th century to modern popular music. She is professor emerita of the University of Southampton and has been a research professor at the University of Huddersfi ...

, University of Southampton, archived 16 December 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Peverara, Laura Torquato Tasso Peverara Peverara Peverara 16th-century Italian singers 16th-century Italian women singers Women harpists 16th-century dancers Italian female dancers People from the Duchy of Mantua