Livia d'Arco (c. 1565–1611) was an Italian singer in the court of

Alfonso II d'Este Alfonso II d'Este (24 November 1533 – 27 October 1597) was Duke of Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. He was a member of the House of Este. Biography He was the elder son of Ercole II d'Este and Renée de France, the daughter of Louis XII of France an ...

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

Biography

She was sent there with the household of

Margherita Gonzaga d'Este Margherita Barbara Gonzaga (27 May 1564 – 6 January 1618), was an Italian noblewoman, List of Ferrarese consorts, Duchess consort of Ferrara, List of Modenese consorts, Modena and Reggio between 1579 and 1597 by marriage to Alfonso II d'Este, Duk ...

at the time of Margherita's marriage to Alfonso in 1579, and was a young woman at the time, around fifteen. Livia was the daughter of a minor

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

n nobleman from

Arco family Arco is the name of an ancient noble family, originally from Arco, in Northern Italy. Members of the family played important roles within Holy Roman Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. History They were first attested to in 1124 and were ...

, and was perhaps sent to the court in Ferrara because of her musical potential. When she arrived, she began studying the

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

with

Luzzasco Luzzaschi Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. 1545 – 10 September 1607) was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi spent the majority o ...

and Ippolito Fiorini. After a few years of study she joined

Laura Peverara Laura Peverara or Peperara (c. 1550 – 4 January 1601) was an Italian virtuoso singer who was also a harpist and dancer; born and raised in Mantua. Her father, Vincenzo, was a merchant, an intellectual who tutored princes, leading to Laura be ...

Tarquinia Molza Tarquinia Molza Tarquinia Molza (1 November 1542 – 8 August 1617) was an Italian singer, poet, conductor, composer, and natural philosopher. She was considered a great '' virtuosa''. She was involved with the famous ''Concerto delle donne'', al ...

and

Anna Guarini Anna Guarini, Contessa Trotti (1563 – 3 May 1598) was an Italian virtuoso singer of the late Renaissance. She was one of the most renowned singers of the age, and was one of the four ''concerto di donne'' at the Ferrara court of the d' Este f ...

in the ''

Concerto delle donne The ''concerto delle donne'' (; also ''concerto di donne'' or ''concerto delle (or di) dame'') was a group of professional female singers in the late Italian Renaissance, primarily in the court of Ferrara, Italy. Renowned for their technical an ...

''; the first record of her singing with them was in 1582. Like the other members of the ''Concerto'', poems were written in her honor, specifically by

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

and

Angelo Grillo Dom Angelo Grillo O.S.B. (1557–1629) was an Italian early baroque poet belonging to the noble Genoese family of the Spinola. He wrote mostly religious verse under his own name, but as Livio Celiano, his pseudonym, he wrote amorous madrigal texts. ...

under the pseudonym Livio Celiano. In 1585 she was married to Count Alfonso

Bevilacqua Bevilacqua () is a ''comune ''with 1,927 inhabitants in the province of Verona, Italy. History The Comune di Bevilacqua began as a settlement of ancient Venetic people on the banks of the Adige River, documented to 589 AD. The fortification o ...

References

* 1560s births 1611 deaths Italian women singers 16th-century Italian singers 16th-century Italian women singers {{Italy-singer-stub