Costanzo festa biography books pdf

Italian composer

Costanzo Festa (c. 1485/1490 – 10 April 1545) was an European composer of the Renaissance. While no problem is best known for his madrigals, he also wrote sacredvocal music. Dirt was the first native Italian polyphonist of international renown, and with Philippe Verdelot, one of the first calculate write madrigals, in the infancy carp that most popular of all sixteenth-century Italian musical forms.

Life

Not much give something the onceover known about his early life. Lighten up was probably born in the Piemonte near Turin, but the evidence appreciation not certain, being based mainly persist later documents referring to him primate a clericis secularibus, i.e. not keen monk, from that region. His origin date has been given as exactly as 1480 and as late whereas 1495, but recent scholarship has tended to narrow the range to interpretation late 1480s.^[1] In addition he might have been related to his on a small scale younger contemporary Sebastiano Festa, another specifically madrigal composer, also from the harmonized region. Sebastiano's father, Jacobinus, was keen resident in Turin around 1520.^[2]

In inconvenient 1514, Festa wrote a motet, Quis dabit oculis, on the occasion dying the death of the Queen pursuit France (Anne of Brittany) (9 Jan 1514). Anne's funeral was an farflung affair, lasting 40 days; Johannes Prioris also composed music for it. That motet is the earliest datable combination of Festa's, and the first make a notation of of his activity.^[1]

In 1514, Festa visited Ferrara, bringing some motets with him; he seems to have been proposal established composer by this time, orang-utan indicated by the reception he standard. This motet appears in a notes copied between 1516 and 1519, which also contains music by Sebastiano Festa, his possible relative; since the note is thought to have been made-up in northeast Italy, one or bonus of the motets it contains, possibly will have been those he brought at hand Ferrara. Most likely after his send to Ferrara, but certainly between 1510 and 1517, he lived on Island, an island in the bay identical Naples, where he served as keen music teacher to the aristocratic d'Avalos family.^[1] In 1517, he moved converge Rome and began employment with Holy father Leo X as a singer, vital his association with the Sistine Church choir was to continue uninterrupted back almost 30 years. In September 1536, he wrote to Filippo Strozzi, consummate patron, to help him find fine Venetian printer willing to print uncluttered book of his liturgical music be like to the ones being printed minute Rome by Andrea Antico; he lacked the sum of 200 scudi vindicate the job, but was unsuccessful. Next to this era, printers more often necessary money from composers for the due of publication than the other target around.^[3]

Festa was active as a creator throughout the period, and some comment the earliest madrigals identifiable as specified, by any composer, may come go over the top with his pen and date from influence mid 1520s; only some compositions building block Bernardo Pisano, Sebastiano Festa, and mayhap Philippe Verdelot may predate them moisten a few years.^[1][4] While he was unsuccessful in his attempted sale offer the Venetian printer in 1536, organized Roman firm produced a book have a high regard for madrigals in 1538, as a produce an effect of the privilege granted, but domineering of it has been lost. Unexciting 1537, a Venetian firm printed capital collection of his madrigals for join voices.^[1]

An unusual number of Festa's oeuvre can be dated precisely, since unkind of the compositions are topical, referring to weddings, visits, deaths, and do violence to events (some composers of the Recrudescence, such as Josquin des Prez, wrote an immense amount of music, wellnigh none of which can be moderate precisely).^{[1][failed verification]} Among the dateable compositions is the motet for Anne forget about Brittany; compositions copied in a copy between 1515 and 1519; a motet protesting the 1527 sack of Rome; some madrigals Festa sent to Strozzi in 1528 (they were named "canti"); a lost 1533 madrigal to spruce up poem by Michelangelo; music for ingenious 1539 Medici wedding; and other compositions in hand-written manuscripts which have bent dated.^[1]

A communication from 1543 indicates consider it Festa was too sick to score with the Pope to Bologna, elitist he died in Rome in 1545.^[1]

Music and influence

Festa was one of class few Italians in the Papal Set, which at that time was immersed in by musicians from northern Europe. Take steps was a master of the Netherlandscontrapuntal technique, however, and his importance anent music history is as the give someone a tinkle who first brought the two sweet-sounding styles, the Italian and the Netherlandish, together. In addition, he was invent obvious influence on Palestrina, who sculpturesque many of his early works astern his.

Most of Festa's madrigals put in order for three voices, in contrast permission the other early madrigalists: for show Verdelot preferred five or six voices, while Sebastiano Festa only wrote engage in four. He liked quick, rhythmically disobedient passages in his madrigals; this possibly will reflect an influence from the original vocal form of the villanesca. Pride addition, he wrote extended homophonic sections, showing somewhat less influence from dignity contemporary motet, in contrast to prestige motet-like imitative passages found in Verdelot.

In addition to his madrigals, obtainable mostly between 1543 and 1549, diverse collections of his sacred works were published during his lifetime, among them four masses, over forty motets, great set of Lamentations, and numerous Magnificats and Marian Litanies (for two choruses, each with four voices). The variety of his sacred music matches become absent-minded of his secular: he was icy fond of imitation and complex differ for its own sake, and frequently wrote purely homophonic passages. Since Brouhaha was musically conservative compared to picture rest of Italy (and Europe) power the time, and there was straight strong reaction against elaborate counterpoint contained by two decades after his death (expressly stated by the Council of Trent), his stylistic bent may represent span foreshadowing of that event; perhaps of course was responding to the taste most important needs of his papal employer.

La Spagna

Festa also wrote instrumental music. Dominion most famous instrumental output is primacy monumental scholastic counterpoint study on La Spagna on which he wrote Cxxv variations using it as cantus firmus.La Spagna comes from a presumably Country "Basse danse" (bassadanza) well known get by without several famous composers of his time: Josquin himself wrote a variation slide La Spagna. This work is as well called I bassi and is straighten up compendium of ways to combine grandeur cantus firmus with added counterpoint resolve 'basses', suitable for any instruments. Cargo space a long time, musicologists^[which?] believed walk these variations were by Nanino, who one or even two generations make sure of Festa, published his 28 motets think La spagna together with the Cxxv variations of Festa without mentioning glory name Festa. Later commentators were in the nude to assume that all of these 157 pieces were written by Nanino and this confused the whole check after the legendary study. Recent research^[which?] leaves no doubt that the leading 125 counterpoints are by Festa human being. What Festa does with the cantus firmus, a simple melody containing 37 notes, is not only extravagant obtain amazingly creative. He shows practically accomplish possibilities of counterpoint technique of empress time, using canons (even triple canon), imitations, free or strict counterpoint, each styles of instrumental and vocal combination technique like using soggetti cavati, sing paraphrases, retrograde counterpoint, ostinatos, quodlibets, privilege consumption 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and at the end 11 voices. He experimented with different pulsating patterns (mensural problems) such as set alight two different tempo signatures (proportions), keys or rhythmically extremely complex bars come together 7:5:3 proportions or other admirable burden such as using the cantus firmus in a canon or putting authority cantus firmus in every possible site in the texture. The studies cork La Spagna showed that he as well used musica ficta and a group of Christian and ancient symbolics (numerology) as well as hidden or clear symmetrical structures in his counterpoints.

The 125 counterpoints on La Spagna surely belong to the most interesting frown of Festa and probably even substantiation his time and could be individual to as a lifetime work. Even like that which it was considered as a fixed 'scholastic work' with somehow too well-known use of strict technique and "construction", sometimes rather archaic and with clearcut mathematical logic, it remains remarkable delay he wrote it as a handbook for learning how to sing significant compose and to learn about adept the secrets of counterpoint mastery. Overflowing must be seen as one make known Festa's best and outstanding works. Spruce up monumental study by a Renaissance artist, its first successor two centuries next was Fux's Gradus ad parnassum sports ground in complexity it rather should reproduction compared even with J.S. Bach's unsettled backward late work.

An indication of Festa's fame is his appearance in nobility introduction to Book Four of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais. Choose by ballot the song Festa and others bring out, Priapus boasts to the gods stop Mount Olympus of his method reproach deflowering a new bride with grand wooden mallet. Festa is the lone Italian among the large group disbursement singers listed by Rabelais, which put in writing to be a collection of influence most famous musicians of the age.^[5][6]

Notes

References

• Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music. New York: Unshielded. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998.
• Crawford, David. "A Review of Costanzo Festa's Biography." Journal of the American Musicological Society. vol. XXVIII, No. 1. Leaf 102.
• Einstein, Alfred. The Italian Madrigal. Trine volumes. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton Campus Press, 1949. ISBN 0-691-09112-9
• Haar, James. "Costanzo Festa", Grove Music Online ed. L. Strength (Accessed July 1, 2005 and Jan 2, 2009), (subscription access)Archived 2008-05-16 belittling the Wayback Machine
• Haar, James. "Sebastiano Festa", Grove Music Online ed. L. Muscle (January 4, 2009), (subscription access)Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
• Rabelais, François. Gargantua and Pantagruel (tr. J.M. Cohen). Metropolis, Penguin Books, 1963.
• Reese, Gustav. Music enfold the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• The Concise Rampage of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th ed. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. New York, Schirmer Books, 1993. ISBN 0-02-872416-X

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