Luigi Dentice (1510 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 ...

– 1566 in

) was an Italian composer, musical theorist, singer and lutenist who served the powerful

Sanseverino Sanseverino may refer to: * House of Sanseverino, Neapolitan noble family * Antonio Sanseverino, (ca. 1477–1543), Neapolitan cardinal * Ferdinando Sanseverino (1507–1572), prince of Salerno and Italian condottiero * Aurora Sanseverino (1669 ...

family, and was father of

Fabrizio Dentice Fabrizio Dentice (also Fabricio, Fabritio) (1539 in Naples – 24 February 1581 in Naples) was an Italian composer and virtuoso lute and viol player. Biography Fabrizio was born into the noble Dentice family. He was the son of Luigi Dentice (15 ...

(1539 – 1581), also a composer and lutenist. He was grandfather of

Scipione Dentice Scipione Dentice (29 January 1560 – 21 April 1633) was a Neapolitan keyboard composer. Early life Scipione was born into the noble Dentice family. His grandfather was Luigi Dentice, the music theorist, and his uncle was Fabrizio Dentice, th ...

(1560–1633).

Biography

Dentice came from the noble Dentice family. When his father died in 1561 he inherited the title of Baron of

Viggiano Viggiano is a ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Calvello, Corleto Perticara, Grumento Nova, Laurenzana, Marsicovetere, and Montemurro. Viggiano is known for m ...

. He married Vincenza Caracciolo, who in 1566 was left a widow with two young children. In the 1550s the Dentices travelled extensively in Spain. As a singer, Luigi Dentice appears to have sung as a male soprano falsettist. His main work of music theory ''Duo dialoghi della musica'', Rome 1553, was a collection of classical Greek and Latin writings on music, translated into Italian, with Dentice's own commentary. The title promises one dialogue on theory, another on practice. The text is interspersed with a few comments on contemporary music and musicians. It also includes Dentice's opinions on inflection in ''

musica ficta ''Musica ficta'' (from Latin, "false", "feigned", or "fictitious" music) was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe pitches, whether notated or added at the time of performance, that lie outside ...

,'', and the practice of

monody In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melody, melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italy, ...

later developed by

Giulio Caccini Giulio Romolo Caccini (also Giulio Romano) (8 October 1551 – buried 10 December 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre o ...

and others.Wistreich op.cit. p. 139

Works

*Songs in posthumous collection ''Arie Raccolti,'' printed Rocco Rodio, Naples 1577.

Selected discography

*Two songs: Come t'haggio lassata, o via mia? Chi me l'havesse dett', o via mia? on ''Napolitane -

villanelle A villanelle, also known as villanesque,Kastner 1903 p. 279 is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet re ...

, arie & moresche (1530-70)''.

Ensemble Micrologus Ensemble Micrologus is an Italian group that performs vocal and instrumental medieval music, including both religious and secular pieces from the 12th to the 16th century in their repertoire. Through research into manuscripts, organology, and icon ...

Cappella della Pietà de' Turchini Cappella Neapolitana is an early music ensemble based in Naples and dedicated to the recovery of Neapolitan musical heritage, primarily from the baroque era. The Cappella Neapolitana was founded in 2016 by the musicologist and conductor Antonio ...

dir. Florio, Opus111 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dentice, Luigi 1510s births 1566 deaths Italian male classical composers Italian lutenists Italian music theorists Italian Renaissance composers

Luigi Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...