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Lamento D'arianna
' ( SV 291, ''Ariadne'') is the lost second opera by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. One of the earliest operas in general, it was composed in 1607–1608 and first performed on 28 May 1608, as part of the musical festivities for a royal wedding at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua. All the music is lost apart from the extended recitative known as "" ("Ariadne's Lament"). The libretto, which survives complete, was written in eight scenes by Ottavio Rinuccini, who used Ovid's ''Heroides'' and other classical sources to relate the story of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus on the island of Naxos and her subsequent elevation as bride to the god Bacchus. The opera was composed under severe pressure of time; the composer later said that the effort of creating it almost killed him. The initial performance, produced with lavish and innovative special effects, was highly praised, and the work was equally well received in Venice when it was revived under the composer's di ...
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Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of colour, exerted a profound influence not only on painters of the late Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Art of Europe, Western artists. His career was successful from the start, and he became sought after by patrons, initially from Venice and its possessions, then joined by the north Italian princes, and finally the Habsburgs and the papacy. Along with Giorgione, he is considered a founder of the Venetian school of Italian Renaissance painting. In 1590, the painter and art theorist Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo describe ...
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Viol
The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (music), bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments , stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and Tuning mechanisms for stringed instruments, pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch of each of the strings. Although treble, tenor and bass were most commonly used, viols came in different sizes, including (high treble, developed in 18th century), treble, alto, small tenor, tenor, bass and contrabass (called ). These members of the viol family are distinguished from later bowed string instruments, such as the violin family, by both appearance and orientation when played—as typically the neck is oriented upwards and the rounded bottom downwards to settle on the lap or between the knees. ...
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The Pilgrim Woman
''The Pilgrim Woman'' (''La pellegrina'') is a 1579 play written by Girolamo Bargagli of Siena that had been performed for the first time on 2 May 1589 in Florence, after the author's death in 1586, on the occasion of the marriage of Ferdinand I de' Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, with Christina of Lorraine, granddaughter of the former queen-mother of France, Catherine de' Medici. This was enhanced with six musical interludes, the , with designs by Bernardo Buontalenti, known as the master of Florentine spectacle. Six then-famous composers from Florence contributed music, including some of the most virtuosic vocal writing of the period, early examples of monody. The opening aria, ''Dalle piu alte sfere'', is believed to be by Emilio de' Cavalieri (Palisca, Norton Anthology of Music/ Heller, Music in the Baroque, p 23), although it is sometimes attributed to Antonio Archilei, whose wife Vittoria had sung it in the role of Armonia in the 1589 production. The ''intermedi'' have be ...
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Intermezzo
In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term has had several different usages, which fit into two general categories: the opera intermezzo and the instrumental intermezzo. Renaissance intermezzo The Renaissance intermezzo was also called the intermedio. It was a masque-like dramatic piece with music, which was performed between the acts of a play at Italian court festivities on special occasions, especially weddings. By the late 16th century, the intermezzo had become the most spectacular form of dramatic performance, and an important precursor to opera. The most famous examples were created for Medici weddings in 1539, 1565, and 1589. In Baroque Spain the equivalent entremés or paso was a one-act comic scene, often ending in music and dance, between ''jornadas'' (acts) of a play.L ...
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Marco Da Gagliano
Marco da Gagliano (1 May 1582 – 25 February 1643) was an Italian composer of the early Baroque music, Baroque era. He was important in the early history of opera and the development of the solo and concerted madrigal (music), madrigal. Life He was born in Florence and lived most of his life there. After study with a religious confraternity and Luca Bati, he was employed for six years from 1602 by the church of San Lorenzo di Firenze, San Lorenzo as a singing instructor. In 1607, he went to Mantua, where he wrote music for the House of Gonzaga, Gonzaga family, including his impressive operatic setting of ''La Dafne''. In 1609, he returned to Florence to become ''maestro di cappella'' at the Compagnia dell'Arcangelo Raffaello, the organisation from which he had received his boyhood musical training. Later that same year, the Medici made him ''maestro di cappella'' of their court, a position he held for 35 years. Music and influence Gagliano wrote an enormous quantity of m ...
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Il Ballo Delle Ingrate
''Il ballo delle ingrate'' (''The Ballet of the Female Ingrates'') is a semi-dramatic ballet by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi set to a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini. It was first performed in Mantua on Wednesday, 4 June 1608 as part of the wedding celebrations for Francesco Gonzaga (the son of Monteverdi's patron Duke Vincenzo of Mantua) and Margaret of Savoy. Both Vincenzo and Francesco Gonzaga took part in the dancing. Monteverdi also composed the opera ''L'Arianna'' (to another libretto by Rinuccini) and the music for the prologue to Guarini's play ''L'idropica'' for the occasion. ''Il ballo delle ingrate'' was published as part of Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals (''Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi'') in 1638. This printed version probably contains revisions Monteverdi made for a revival in Vienna. The virtuosic bass writing for Plutone is closer in style to Monteverdi's late operas than to that of his '' Orfeo'' (1607). The musicologist Paolo Fabbri believes ...
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Margaret Of Savoy, Vicereine Of Portugal
Margaret of Savoy (28 April 1589 – 26 June 1655) was the last Habsburg Vicereine of Portugal from 1634 to 1640.Raviola, Blythe Alice (2016). "The three Lives of Margherita of Savoy-Gonzaga, Duchess of Mantua and Vicereine of Portugal." In Cruz, Anne J. and Stampino, Maria Galli (eds). ''Early Modern Habsburg Women : Transnational Contexts, Cultural Conflicts, Dynastic Continuities'', pp. 58-76. Routledge. In Portuguese she is known as ''Duquesa de Mântua'', being by marriage the Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat. She was also regent of Montferrat during the minority of her daughter from 1612. Biography Duchess of Montferrat She was born in Turin, as the fourth child of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1562–1630) and Infanta Catalina Micaela of Spain, the daughter of Philip II of Spain. She was married to the future Francis IV, Duke of Mantua (1586–1612) and Montferrat on 19 February 1608. The wedding was celebrated in Turin. In 1612 Margaret's husband succeeded his f ...
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Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke Of Mantua
Francesco IV Gonzaga (7 May 1586 – 22 December 1612) was Duke of Mantua and Montferrat between 9 February and 22 December 1612. Biography Born in Mantua, he was the eldest son of Duke Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medici. In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi dedicated his opera ''L'Orfeo'' to Francesco. The title page of the opera bears the dedication "Al serenissimo signor D. Francesco Gonzaga, Prencipe di Mantoua, & di Monferato, &c." Francesco became Duke upon his father's death on 9 February 1612. He died at Mantua on 22 December 1612 without male heirs. He was succeeded by his brother Ferdinand; however, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, the father of Francesco's wife Margaret of Savoy, disputed this, leading to the War of the Montferrat Succession (1613–1617). Family On 19 February 1608 he married in Turin, Margaret of Savoy (1589–1655), daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. They had: * Maria (29 July 1609 – 14 August 1660); married in 1627 Charles II of Gonza ...
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Alessandro Striggio The Younger
Alessandro Striggio the Younger (ca. 1573 – 8 June 1630) was an Italian librettist, the son of the composer Alessandro Striggio. The younger Striggio is most famous for his association with the composer Claudio Monteverdi. He wrote the libretto for Monteverdi's first opera '' Orfeo'' (1607), a landmark in the history of the genre, as well as the ''ballo'' (sung ballet) ''Tirsi e Clori''. Striggio worked at the court of Mantua and died of the plague while on a diplomatic mission to Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li .... Sources *Timothy Dickey"Alessandro Striggio (ii)" Allmusic. 1570s births 1630 deaths Italian opera librettists 17th-century Italian writers 17th-century Italian male writers 17th-century deaths from plague (disease) Italian male dr ...
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L'Orfeo
''L'Orfeo'' (Stattkus-Verzeichnis, SV 318) (), or ''La favola d'Orfeo'' , is a late Renaissance music, Renaissance/early Baroque music, Baroque ''favola in musica'', or List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio the Younger, Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek mythology, Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. It was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua. While Jacopo Peri's ''Dafne'' is generally recognised as the first work in the opera genre, and the earliest surviving opera is Peri's ''Euridice (Peri), Euridice'', ''L'Orfeo'' is the earliest that is still regularly performed. By the early 17th century the traditional intermedio—a musical sequence between the acts of a straight play—was evolving into the form of a complete musical drama or "opera". Mo ...
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Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of Middle Ages, medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful House of Medici, Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The Florentine dialect forms the base of Italian language, standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to ...
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Dafne
''Dafne'' is the earliest known work that, by modern standards, could be considered an opera. The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, based on an earlier intermedio created in 1589, "Combattimento di Apollo col serpente Pitone," and set to music by Luca Marenzio, survives complete. The opera is considered to be the first "modern music drama." The mostly lost music was completed by Jacopo Peri, but at least two of the six surviving fragments are by Jacopo Corsi. ''Dafne'' was first performed during Carnival of 1598 (1597 old style) at the Palazzo Corsi. History Most of Peri's music has been lost, despite its popularity and fame in Europe at the time of its composition, but the 455-line verse libretto was published and survives. Florence's ruling Medici family was sufficiently taken with ''Dafne'' to allow Peri's next work, ''Euridice'', to be performed as part of Marie de' Medici and Henry IV's wedding celebrations in 1600. The opera was written for an elite circle of humanists i ...
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