Luigi Zenobi (also ''Zanobi''; 1547 or 1548 – after 1602), also known as Luigi del Cornetto, was a virtuoso

cornett The cornett (, ) is a lip-reed wind instrument that dates from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, popular from 1500 to 1650. Although smaller and larger sizes were made in both straight and curved forms, surviving cornetts are most ...

player. Born in Ancona, Italy, Zenobi moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where he was employed by Maximilian II as the court cornett player. In 1583, he relocated to

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 ...

and became the most highly paid musician in the Este court at the time. By 1587, he had become music director of the Oratory of Filippo Neri. Zenobi returned to Vienna sometime before

Alfonso II d'Este Alfonso II d'Este (22 November 1533 – 27 October 1597) was Duke of Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. He was a member of the House of Este. Biography Alfonso was the elder son of Ercole II d'Este and Renée de France, the daughter of Louis XII of F ...

's death in 1597. His letters indicate that he spent his remaining years 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 ...

under the employment of

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

Fernando Ruiz de Castro Andrade y Portugal. Zenobi wrote numerous letters, of which 18 survive; his writings indicate that he was a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, miniaturist,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, and amateur

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

. He wrote

madrigal 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 ...

verse and a cycle of one hundred sonnets on the death of Maximilian II. His most famous writing is his long letter to an unnamed prince, which he probably wrote around 1600. In it, Zenobi describes the qualities of a perfect musician, and discusses the characteristics of good singers, music directors, composers, string and wind players, and accompanists.

References

Blackburn, Bonnie J. "Zenobi, Luigi".
Grove Music Online
' (subscription required). ed. L. Macy. Retrieved on March 5, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenobi, Luigi Italian musicians Cornett players Year of death unknown Year of birth uncertain