Lodovico Agostini
Encyclopedia
Lodovico Agostini was an Italian
composer, singer, priest, and scholar of the late Renaissance
. He was a close associate of the Ferrara
Este
nse court, and one of the most skilled representatives of the progressive secular style which developed there at the end of the 16th century.
, and spent most of his life there. He was the illegitimate son of Agostino Agostini
, a singer and priest
of Ferrara mostly active in the 1540s. Lodovico may have studied for a time in Rome
, based on the evidence of a madrigal published there, and he became a priest. By 1572 he was singing in the chapel of Ferrara Cathedral
, and by 1578 he was on the payroll of Duke Alfonso II d'Este, one of the most famous patrons of music of the late 16th century. Clearly Lodovico was a favorite of the Duke, and he remained in his service for the rest of his life.
In the 1580s he was a composition teacher to the Duke of Mantua
, Guglielmo Gonzaga; Agostini dedicated a book of madrigal
s to him. Gonzaga went on to become a composer of madrigals himself, and in addition was a close associate of Palestrina
.
Agostini was on good terms with many members of the aristocracy, as well as the famous poets Tasso
and Guarini
, and other musicians at the court, including Luzzasco Luzzaschi
, the most famous of the Ferrarese madrigal
ists.
While retaining his association with the intensely secular Estense court, he also had a distinguished ecclesiastical career, eventually becoming a Monsignore and an apostolic prothonotary.
. They all wrote music for the enjoyment of a small group of connoisseurs, including the Duke himself. In this rarefied atmosphere an avant-garde
style of music flourished, and Agostini was one of the most musically daring of the group. In some ways the scene at Ferrara was reminiscent of the activity at Avignon
in the late 14th century, which produced a musical style known as the ars subtilior
; indeed the Ferrarese scene is reminiscent of certain 20th and 21st century movements.
Agostini was fond of musical enigmas, puzzles, surprise and double-entendre, and his many musical collections display this. Enigmi musicali and L'echo, et enigmi musicali are canons
to be solved by riddles, full of unusual chromatic
progressions, instrumental interpolations, and other musical curiosities. Some of his books of madrigals are written in a virtuoso singing style obviously intended for the three current members of the concerto di donne (Laura Peverara
, Anna Guarini
, and Livia d'Arco
). His third book of madrigals, for six voices (1582), appears to be the earliest collection of the actual repertory of this ensemble.
Agostini was also a composer of accompanied solo song; since many of the performers at the court were instrumentalists in addition to singers (for example Livia d'Arco was a virtuoso player of the viol
) he wrote for both lute
and viol as accompaniment to solo singers.
While no liturgical music by Agostini has survived (none may have been written), one of his last compositions is Le lagrime del peccatore, a setting of poems by Luigi Tansillo
, as a set of madrigali spirituali
; it is similar in intent, if not in musical means, to the set Lagrime di San Pietro
by Orlando di Lasso, also based on poems by Tansillo.
Agostini died in 1590, and in 1598 Alfonso died and Ferrara was absorbed into the Papal States
, effectively ending the musical experimentation there.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
composer, singer, priest, and scholar of the late Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
. He was a close associate of the Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
Este
Este
The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. It is split into two branches; the elder is known as the House of Welf-Este or House of Welf historically rendered in English, Guelf or Guelph...
nse court, and one of the most skilled representatives of the progressive secular style which developed there at the end of the 16th century.
Life
He was born in FerraraFerrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
, and spent most of his life there. He was the illegitimate son of Agostino Agostini
Agostino Agostini
Agostino Agostini was a Renaissance era singer, composer and priest of Ferrara mostly active in the 1540s. He was a mansionary chaplain at the San Giorgio Cathedral in Ferrera, and his illegitimate son was composer Lodovico Agostini, noted for publications of enigmatic canons.-References:...
, a singer and priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
of Ferrara mostly active in the 1540s. Lodovico may have studied for a time in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, based on the evidence of a madrigal published there, and he became a priest. By 1572 he was singing in the chapel of Ferrara Cathedral
Ferrara Cathedral
Ferrara Cathedral is a basilica in Ferrara, Northern Italy, the largest religious edifice in the city...
, and by 1578 he was on the payroll of Duke Alfonso II d'Este, one of the most famous patrons of music of the late 16th century. Clearly Lodovico was a favorite of the Duke, and he remained in his service for the rest of his life.
In the 1580s he was a composition teacher to the Duke of Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, Guglielmo Gonzaga; Agostini dedicated a book of madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s to him. Gonzaga went on to become a composer of madrigals himself, and in addition was a close associate of Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
.
Agostini was on good terms with many members of the aristocracy, as well as the famous poets Tasso
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
and Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.- Life :He was born in Ferrara, and spent his early life both in Padua and Ferrara, entering the service of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in 1567...
, and other musicians at the court, including Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Luzzasco Luzzaschi
Luzzasco Luzzaschi was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi spent the majority of his life in his native city.As a pupil of Cipriano de Rore, Luzzaschi developed...
, the most famous of the Ferrarese madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
ists.
While retaining his association with the intensely secular Estense court, he also had a distinguished ecclesiastical career, eventually becoming a Monsignore and an apostolic prothonotary.
Music and influence
Ferrara, in the 1580s and 1590s, was one of the most musically advanced and sophisticated places in Europe. Under the patronage of Duke Alfonso II d'Este the court developed into a place of musical experimentation, with a group of virtuoso female singers (the concerto di donne) available to an equally virtuoso group of composers, who included Luzzaschi, Agostini, and in the 1590s, Carlo GesualdoCarlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
. They all wrote music for the enjoyment of a small group of connoisseurs, including the Duke himself. In this rarefied atmosphere an avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
style of music flourished, and Agostini was one of the most musically daring of the group. In some ways the scene at Ferrara was reminiscent of the activity at Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
in the late 14th century, which produced a musical style known as the ars subtilior
Ars subtilior
Ars subtilior is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered around Paris, Avignon in southern France, also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century. The style also is found in the French Cypriot repertory...
; indeed the Ferrarese scene is reminiscent of certain 20th and 21st century movements.
Agostini was fond of musical enigmas, puzzles, surprise and double-entendre, and his many musical collections display this. Enigmi musicali and L'echo, et enigmi musicali are canons
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
to be solved by riddles, full of unusual chromatic
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
progressions, instrumental interpolations, and other musical curiosities. Some of his books of madrigals are written in a virtuoso singing style obviously intended for the three current members of the concerto di donne (Laura Peverara
Laura Peverara
Laura Peverara or Peperara was an Italian virtuoso singer who was also a harpist and dancer; born and raised in Mantua. Her father, Vincenzo, was a merchant, an intellectual who tutored princes, leading to Laura being brought up in courtly society...
, Anna Guarini
Anna Guarini
Anna Guarini, Contessa Trotti, 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'Este family, for whom many composers wrote in a progressive style.- Life and murder...
, and Livia d'Arco
Livia d'Arco
Livia d'Arco was an Italian singer in the court of Alfonso II d'Este in Ferrara. She was sent there with the household of Margherita Gonzaga d'Este at the time of Margherita's marriage to Alfonso in 1579, and was a young woman at the time, around fifteen...
). His third book of madrigals, for six voices (1582), appears to be the earliest collection of the actual repertory of this ensemble.
Agostini was also a composer of accompanied solo song; since many of the performers at the court were instrumentalists in addition to singers (for example Livia d'Arco was a virtuoso player of the viol
Viol
The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...
) he wrote for both lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
and viol as accompaniment to solo singers.
While no liturgical music by Agostini has survived (none may have been written), one of his last compositions is Le lagrime del peccatore, a setting of poems by Luigi Tansillo
Luigi Tansillo
Luigi Tansillo was an Italian poet of the Petrarchian and Marinist schools. Born in Venosa, he entered the service of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo in 1536 and in 1540 entered the Accademia degli Umidi , afterwards called della Fiorentina.He was associated with the Court of Naples and served as Captain...
, as a set of madrigali spirituali
Madrigale spirituale
A madrigale spirituale is a madrigal, or madrigal-like piece of music, with a sacred rather than a secular text...
; it is similar in intent, if not in musical means, to the set Lagrime di San Pietro
Lagrime di San Pietro
The Lagrime di San Pietro is a cycle of 20 madrigals and a concluding motet by the late Renaissance composer Orlande de Lassus. It is structured as 3 sequences of 7 compositions in each sequence, and is for seven voices. The Lagrime di San Pietro was his last composition, written in 1594, and...
by Orlando di Lasso, also based on poems by Tansillo.
Agostini died in 1590, and in 1598 Alfonso died and Ferrara was absorbed into the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
, effectively ending the musical experimentation there.
External links
- Dangerous Graces: Female musicians at the courts of Ferrara and Parma, 1565-1589 Contains biographies of Agostino and Luzzaschi, as well as extensive information on the members of the concerto di donne.