
Massimo Troiano (died after April 1570) was an Italian
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
composer, poet, and a brief, but vivid chronicler of life at the court of
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
's ruler, Duke
Albrecht V in the late 1560s, the only period in which Troiano is known to history.
Life
Nothing is known of Troiano's early life other than that he was from the vicinity of
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 ...
, possibly from the town of
Corduba, since in his first and second books of ''canzoni'' he calls himself "Massimo Troiano di Corduba da Napoli".
Only his activities during the three-year span of 1567-70 are documented, but those in some detail. In 1567 he published in
Treviso
Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...
a book of ''canzoni'', secular songs on his own verse. By early 1568 he was in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, in the service of the
House of Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...
, singing in the Bavarian Hofkapelle under the direction of
Orlande de Lassus. He traveled between Munich and
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
at least twice, with one extended stay in Venice in 1569, where he waited for the Duke of Bavaria to send him money and an acceptance letter for continued service. He remained in Munich until
Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
1570, when he was accused of murdering one of his musical colleagues, and fled. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he was never found, and there is no known documentation of his activity after that time.
Another Troiano, Giovanni, appeared in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in 1571, a few months after Massimo's disappearance from Munich. There is no evidence to indicate whether Giovanni was related to Massimo, but they were both composers of secular vocal music. Giovanni lived for an additional half-century, until 1622.
Work and influence
While Massimo Troiano published four books of secular songs (in three collections—in 1567, 1568 and 1570), he is best known for having provided in his ''Dialoghi'' a vivid and colorful description of life in the Bavarian court and especially the lavish marriage ceremony for the Munich wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and
Renée of Lorraine. Modern scholars consider Troiano to be an unreliable (since he was being paid to portray the court in the most positive terms), but useful witness.
Troiano's ''Dialoghi'' was published in Munich in 1568, Venice in 1569 and appeared shortly thereafter in a
Spanish translation. The book is the most complete description of how Orlande de Lassus produced and staged his musical performances, and contains accounts of both instrumental and vocal music. "The singers
erve
Erve (locally ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southeast of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 758 and an area of .All demograp ...
every morning at
High Mass and at
Vespers
Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...
on Saturdays and the vigils of the feasts of obligation. The wind instruments are played on Sundays, and on feast days at Mass and at Vespers in company with the singers." Troiano also gives unusually detailed descriptions of how Mass was celebrated and which parts were sung
polyphonically—all important information in reconstructing Renaissance
performance practice
Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which ...
. Troiano also left an account of the 1567 performance of the largest polyphonic composition of the Renaissance, the 40- and 60-voice ''
Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno'' by Alessandro Striggio.
Troiano's music was mostly in the light Neapolitan style of the ''canzon villanesca alla napoletana'', sometimes called simply "canzonettas", three-part vocal compositions related to madrigals but more formulaic in character, although in Troiano's hands, along with his compatriot
Giovanni Leonardo Primavera, they began to approach the artistic world of the madrigal. All of his books of canzonette he published in Venice, and they show aspects both of Neapolitan and contemporary Venetian style. Most of the verse he likely wrote himself, and he sometimes writes nostalgically of his native Naples, for which he longed.
[Einstein, Vol. II, p. 580-582]
References and further reading
* David Crook, ''Orlando di Lasso's Imitation Magnificats for Counter-Reformation Munich''. Princeton, Princeton University Press. 1994.
*
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 ...
, ''The Italian Madrigal.'' Three volumes. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1949.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troiano, Massimo
Italian male classical composers
Italian Renaissance composers
Italian murderers
People from the Metropolitan City of Naples
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Place of death unknown