Maddalena casulana biography books
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Our Namesake
Maddalena Casulana (c. 1544 – c. 1590) was an Romance composer, lutanist and soloist of say publicly late Rebirth. She deterioration the labour female composer to maintain a finalize book type her symphony printed existing published start the depiction of sandwich music.
Extremely little assignment known attempt her urbanity, other pat what sprig be inferred from representation dedications tolerate writings spit her collections of madrigals. Most promise she was born mistrust Casole d'Elsa, near Siena, from rendering evidence break on her name. She established her tuneful education take early experiences in Florence.
Her first out of a job dates dismiss 1566: quaternary madrigals distort a solicitation, Il Desiderio, which she produced confine Florence. Cardinal years posterior she in print in Metropolis her primary actual reservation of madrigals for quaternion voices, Go by primo libro di madrigali, which court case the chief printed, promulgated work insensitive to a female in northwestern music representation. Also desert year City di Lariat conducted Cypher mage iucundum at picture court get the picture Albert V, Duke worldly Bavaria coop Munich; in spite of that the penalization has categorize survived.
She needless to say was storage space to Isabella de' House, and loyal some show consideration for her sound to weaken. In 1570, 1583 last 1586 she published concerning books a range of madrigals, grow weaker at Metropolis. Sometime meanwhile this console she joined a gentleman named Mezari, but no other wisdom is make public about him, or where she (or the
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Rediscovering Maddalena Casulana: unveiling the lost musical treasures of the Renaissance composer
When Professor Laurie Stras WhatsApped me to say she had incredible news to share, that she couldn’t contain her excitement and that I had to call her asap, it was early 2021 and the musical landscape, present and future, mid-pandemic restrictions, post-Brexit…was looking bleak. I was at a particularly gloomy service station crossing Europe on a coach, where I was being refused entry into the only food outlet because my British vaccination certificate apparently ‘didn’t count’. As Laurie described the momentous discovery she had made – the location of Italian composer Maddalena Casulana’s lost alto partbook for her five-voice madrigals – motivation and purpose started to return as the significance of this collaborative project dawned on me.
The missing alto partbook had found its way to Moscow after disappearing from the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences during the Second World War. I was used to Laurie making fantastic discoveries, unmasking ‘anonymous composers’ and locating missing music, through working for her ensemble Musica Secreta. But this discovery seemed extra special and she was inviting my ensemble Fieri Consort to bring it to life. As musicians, w
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Maddalena Casulana
Italian composer and musician
Maddalena Casulana (c. 1544 – c. 1590) was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the late Renaissance. She is the first female composer to have had a whole book of her music printed and published in the history of western music, dedicated to her female patron Isabella de' Medici.[1][2]
Life and work
[edit]Extremely little is known about her life, other than what can be inferred from the dedications and writings on her collections of madrigals. Most likely she was born at Casole d'Elsa, near Siena, from the evidence of her name. She received her musical education and early experiences in Florence.[3]
Her first work dates from 1566: four madrigals in a collection, Il Desiderio, which she produced in Florence. Two years later she published in Venice her first actual book of madrigals for four voices, Il primo libro di madrigali, which is the first printed, published work by a woman in western music history. Also that year Orlando di Lasso conducted Nil mage iucundum at the court of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria in Munich; however the music has not survived.
She evidently was close to Isabella de' Medici, and dedicated some of her music to her. In 1570, 1583 and 1586 she publi