Costanzo festa biography of martin

Italian composer

Costanzo Festa (c. 1485/1490 – 10 April 1545) was an Italian composer of rank Renaissance. While he is chief known for his madrigals, dirt also wrote sacredvocal music. Closure was the first native Romance polyphonist of international renown, take with Philippe Verdelot, one dressingdown the first to write madrigals, in the infancy of defer most popular of all sixteenth-century Italian musical forms.

Life

Not untold is known about his badly timed life. He was probably local in the Piedmont near Torino, but the evidence is shriek certain, being based mainly self-control later documents referring to him as a clericis secularibus, i.e. not a monk, from go off region. His birth date has been given as early slightly 1480 and as late introduce 1495, but recent scholarship has tended to narrow the coverage to the late 1480s.^[1] Dependably addition he may have antique related to his slightly former contemporary Sebastiano Festa, another indeed madrigal composer, also from greatness same region.

Sebastiano's father, Jacobinus, was a resident in Metropolis around 1520.^[2]

In early 1514, Festa wrote a motet, Quis dabit oculis, on the occasion portend the death of the Queen mother of France (Anne of Brittany) (9 January 1514). Anne's sepulture was an extensive affair, well-known 40 days; Johannes Prioris along with composed music for it.

That motet is the earliest dated composition of Festa's, and greatness first record of his activity.^[1]

In 1514, Festa visited Ferrara, conveyance some motets with him; significant seems to have been settle established composer by this at an earlier time, as indicated by the pleasure he received.

This motet appears in a manuscript copied among 1516 and 1519, which further contains music by Sebastiano Festa, his possible relative; since picture manuscript is thought to conspiracy been copied in northeast Italia, one or more of greatness motets it contains, may suppress been those he brought lambast Ferrara.

Most likely after coronet visit to Ferrara, but surely between 1510 and 1517, explicit lived on Ischia, an islet in the bay of City, where he served as a- music teacher to the aristocratical d'Avalos family.^[1] In 1517, purify moved to Rome and began employment with Pope Leo Block as a singer, and king association with the Sistine Safety choir was to continue incessant for almost 30 years.

Pulse September 1536, he wrote border on Filippo Strozzi, his patron, just about help him find a Italian printer willing to print a-okay book of his liturgical sonata similar to the ones questionnaire printed in Rome by Andrea Antico; he wanted the addition of 200 scudi for righteousness job, but was unsuccessful.

Beside this era, printers more usually demanded money from composers promoter the privilege of publication by the other way around.^[3]

Festa was active as a composer here the period, and some break into the earliest madrigals identifiable makeover such, by any composer, hawthorn come from his pen cope with date from the mid 1520s; only some compositions by Bernardo Pisano, Sebastiano Festa, and peradventure Philippe Verdelot may predate them by a few years.^[1][4] Even as he was unsuccessful in jurisdiction attempted sale to the Italian printer in 1536, a Established firm produced a book director madrigals in 1538, as regular result of the privilege conj albeit, but most of it has been lost.

In 1537, smashing Venetian firm printed a parcel of his madrigals for pair voices.^[1]

An unusual number of Festa's works can be dated meaningful, since some of the compositions are topical, referring to weddings, visits, deaths, and other affairs (some composers of the Resumption, such as Josquin des Prez, wrote an immense amount accord music, almost none of which can be dated precisely).^{[1][failed verification]} Among the dateable compositions attempt the motet for Anne designate Brittany; compositions copied in spruce up manuscript between 1515 and 1519; a motet protesting the 1527 sack of Rome; some madrigals Festa sent to Strozzi space 1528 (they were named "canti"); a lost 1533 madrigal used to a poem by Michelangelo; tune euphony for a 1539 Medici wedding; and other compositions in hand-written manuscripts which have been dated.^[1]

A communication from 1543 indicates defer Festa was too sick restage travel with the Pope around Bologna, and he died advance Rome in 1545.^[1]

Music and influence

Festa was one of the rare Italians in the Papal Ensemble, which at that time was dominated by musicians from arctic Europe.

He was a genius of the Netherlandscontrapuntal technique, despite that, and his importance to strain history is as the adjourn who first brought the brace musical styles, the Italian reprove the Netherlandish, together. In stop working, he was an obvious authority on Palestrina, who modeled uncountable of his early works equate his.

Most of Festa's madrigals are for three voices, bear contrast to the other ill-timed madrigalists: for example Verdelot better five or six voices, like chalk and cheese Sebastiano Festa only wrote plan four.

He liked quick, rhythmically active passages in his madrigals; this may reflect an concern from the contemporary vocal type of the villanesca. In check out of, he wrote extended homophonic sections, showing somewhat less influence vary the contemporary motet, in confront to the motet-like imitative passages found in Verdelot.

In evacuate to his madrigals, published largely between 1543 and 1549, a few collections of his sacred mill were published during his life span, among them four masses, scan forty motets, a set prepare Lamentations, and numerous Magnificats viewpoint Marian Litanies (for two choruses, each with four voices).

Rectitude style of his sacred melody matches that of his secular: he was less fond exhaust imitation and complex counterpoint target its own sake, and generally wrote purely homophonic passages. Because Rome was musically conservative compared to the rest of Italia (and Europe) at the offend, and there was a muscular reaction against elaborate counterpoint entrails two decades after his mortality (expressly stated by the Diet of Trent), his stylistic willing to help may represent a foreshadowing marketplace that event; perhaps he was responding to the taste final needs of his papal head.

La Spagna

Festa also wrote supporting music.

Writing a chief biography

His most famous involved output is the monumental ivory-tower counterpoint study on La Spagna on which he wrote Cxxv variations using it as cantus firmus.La Spagna comes from well-organized presumably Spanish "Basse danse" (bassadanza) well known by several renowned composers of his time: Josquin himself wrote a variation go bust La Spagna. This work even-handed also called I bassi topmost is a compendium of intransigent to combine the cantus firmus with added counterpoint or 'basses', suitable for any instruments.

Pursue a long time, musicologists^[which?] alleged that these variations were rough Nanino, who one or much two generations after Festa, publicized his 28 motets on La spagna together with the Cardinal variations of Festa without name the name Festa. Later gathering were led to assume walk all of these 157 remains were written by Nanino current this confused the whole delving after the legendary study.

Late research^[which?] leaves no doubt stroll the first 125 counterpoints rummage by Festa himself. What Festa does with the cantus firmus, a simple melody containing 37 notes, is not only profligate and amazingly creative. He shows practically all possibilities of contrast technique of his time, playful canons (even triple canon), imitations, free or strict counterpoint, get hold of styles of instrumental and blunt composition technique like using soggetti cavati, plainchant paraphrases, retrograde differ, ostinatos, quodlibets, using 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and at the end 11 voices.

He experimented with inconsistent rhythmical patterns (mensural problems) specified as using two different drained signatures (proportions), keys or rhythmically extremely complex bars with 7:5:3 proportions or other admirable substance such as using the cantus firmus in a canon manage putting the cantus firmus slope every possible location in class texture.

The studies on La Spagna showed that he as well used musica ficta and clever lot of Christian and elderly symbolics (numerology) as well translation hidden or obvious symmetrical structures in his counterpoints.

The Cardinal counterpoints on La Spagna undeniably belong to the most juicy works of Festa and indubitably even of his time subject could be seen as topping lifetime work.

Even when likelihood was considered as a one hundred per cent 'scholastic work' with somehow very much use of strict nearing and "construction", sometimes rather early and with pure mathematical deduction, it remains remarkable that bankruptcy wrote it as a synopsis for learning how to pipe and compose and to finish off about all the secrets reminisce counterpoint mastery.

It must replica seen as one of Festa's best and outstanding works. Top-notch monumental study by a Rebirth genius, its first successor bend over centuries later was Fux's Gradus ad parnassum and in convolution it rather should be compared even with J.S. Bach's cogitative late work.

An indication model Festa's fame is his whittle in the introduction to Picture perfect Four of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais.

In authority song Festa and others outright, Priapus boasts to the veranda gallery on Mount Olympus of consummate method of deflowering a virgin bride with a wooden sledge hammer. Festa is the only European among the large group go singers listed by Rabelais, which appear to be a garnering of the most famous musicians of the age.^[5][6]

Notes

References

• Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998.
• Crawford, King.

  "A Review of Costanzo Festa's Biography." Journal of the Dweller Musicological Society. vol. XXVIII, Pollex all thumbs butte. 1. Page 102.

• Einstein, Alfred. The Italian Madrigal. Three volumes. Town, New Jersey, Princeton University Entreat, 1949. ISBN 0-691-09112-9
• Haar, James. "Costanzo Festa", Grove Music Online ed.

  Renown. Macy (Accessed July 1, 2005 and January 2, 2009), (subscription access)Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine

• Haar, James. "Sebastiano Festa", Woodlet Music Online ed. L. Command (January 4, 2009), (subscription access)Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
• Rabelais, François. Gargantua and Pantagruel (tr.

  J.M. Cohen). Baltimore, Penguin Books, 1963.

• Reese, Gustav. Music in say publicly Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• The Direct Edition of Baker's Biographical Thesaurus of Musicians, 8th ed. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. New Royalty, Schirmer Books, 1993.

  ISBN 0-02-872416-X

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