Antonello da Caserta, also Anthonello de Casetta, Antonellus Marot, was an Italian composer of the

medieval era In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

Life and career

Essentially nothing is known of Antonello's life. Earlier in the 20th century,

Nino Pirrotta Nino Pirrotta (13 June 1908 in Palermo – 22 January 1998 in Palermo) was an Italian musicologist of international renown who specialized in Italian music from the late medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Life and career In 1931 Pir ...

thought Caserta was a Neapolitan composer, but because most of his surviving works are in northern Italian manuscripts, this is now doubted . Allusions in his texts suggest that he worked for the

Visconti Visconti is a surname which may refer to: Italian noble families * Visconti of Milan, ruled Milan from 1277 to 1447 ** Visconti di Modrone, collateral branch of the Visconti of Milan * Visconti of Pisa and Sardinia, ruled Gallura in Sardinia from ...

family in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

around the turn of the 15th century , and a "frater Antoniello de Caserta" mentioned in an archival document may indicate that he was at the Visconti curt in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

in 1402 . Antonello was a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, though the order to which he belonged is not known.

Music

Antonello da Caserta is one of the more renowned composers of the generation after Guillaume de Machaut. Antonello set texts in both French and Italian, including ''Beauté parfaite'' of Machaut; this is the only surviving musical setting of a poem by Machaut which is not by Machaut himself. He was highly influenced by French musical models, one of the first Italians to be so. One of his

ballade Ballad is a form of narrative poetry, often put to music, or a type of sentimental love song in modern popular music. Ballad or Ballade may also refer to: Music Genres and forms * Ballade (classical music), a musical setting of a literary ballad ...

s quotes

Jehan Vaillant Jehan Vaillant (; also spelled Johannes Vayllant) was a French composer and music theorist. He is named immediately after Guillaume de Machaut by the '' Règles de la seconde rhétorique'', which describes him as a "master … who had a scho ...

, a composer active in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He also made use of irregular mensuration signs, found in few other manuscripts. He also uses proportional rhythms in some ballades, a device which became more popular in later periods. His Italian works tend to be simpler, especially the '' ballate''. Both his French and Italian works take as their subjects courtly love.

Works

French

''(all for three voices)'' ;Ballades *''Amour m'a le cuer mis'' *''Beauté parfaite'' *''Dame d'onour en qui'' *''Du val prilleus'' (or ''Du ciel perileus'') *''Notes pour moi ceste ballade'' *''Nulle pitie de ma dame'' (possibly by Antonello) ;Rondeaux *''Dame d'onour c'on ne puet esprixier'' *''Dame zentil en qui est ma sperance'' ;Virelai *''Tres nouble dame souverayne''

Italian

''(all for two voices)'' ;Ballatas *''A pianger l'ochi'' *''Con dogliosi martire'' *''Deh, vogliateme oldire'' *''Madonna, io me ramento'' *''Or tolta pur me sey'' *''Più chiar ch'el sol'' (with a fragmentary third voice) ;Madrigal *''Del glorioso titolo d'esto duce''

References