Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T20:46:28.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The salon as marketplace in the 1550s: patrons and collectors of Lasso's secular music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2009

Donna G. Cardamone
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Peter Bergquist
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Get access

Summary

In 1555 the Flemish music printer, Tielman Susato, issued a miscellany of Lasso's works under two separate titles, the first in French and the second in Italian, resulting in an edition often referred to as the composer's “Opus 1.” The Italian-titled issue, by far the more accurate of the two in respect to text placement, was dedicated to Stefano Gentile, a prominent merchant-banker in the Genoese nation of Antwerp. This collective enterprise not only marked the debut of madrigals and villanelle in the Low Countries, but it was the first publication that Lasso authorized and corrected in situ, leaving the impression that he selected compositions from a substantial repertory and meticulously edited them to satisfy a very particular patron and community of Italian readers whose interpretive styles he knew well. Although Lasso's dedicatory letter speaks eloquently to Gentile's love of music, his patron had an equally strong passion for poetry as evinced in various books dedicated to him by humanist scholars. This combination of interests suggests that Gentile vied with his compatriots for attention from the cultured elite by organizing festive social gatherings enhanced by music and recitation of poetry. Indeed, the Venetian humanist Gian Michele Bruto was struck by the spirit of competition among Genoese merchants when recalling the hospitality he received in Antwerp during 1554 and 1555, the very period of time in which Lasso attracted Gentile's patronage.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×