Giovanni da Cascia, also Jovannes de Cascia, Johannes de Florentia, Maestro Giovanni da Firenze, 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 middle of the fourteenth century.

Life and career

Virtually nothing is known about Giovanni's life. From his surname it is presumed that he was born in the village of

Cascia Cascia () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the Italian province of Perugia in a rather remote area of the mountainous southeastern corner of Umbria. It is about 21 km from Norcia on the road to Rieti in the Lazio (63 km). It is ...

, near

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

. It was once thought that he held a post at

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally co ...

, but this is no longer accepted. A Florentine chronicle states that Giovanni and

Jacopo da Bologna Jacopo da Bologna (fl. 1340 – c. 1386) was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the period sometimes known as the '' Italian ars nova''. He was one of the first composers of this group, making him a contemporary of Gherardello da Firenze ...

competed at Mastino II of Scala's court; Mastino died in 1351. The

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

s used in his works are consistent with prevailing idioms of the mid-14th century. His portrait in the Squarcialupi Codex shows him without

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

ly garments.

Music

Nineteen of Giovanni's compositions survive, scattered in nine manuscripts. Sixteen of these are

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number ...

s, and three of them are '' cacce''. He is thought to have written some of his own texts. Musically, Giovanni's madrigals are of importance in the development of the style of the 14th-century madrigal. He tends to use extended

melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...

s on the first and penultimate syllables of a poetic line, and sometimes introduces hockets at these points. The middles of the lines are generally syllabic. Many of his works are very similar in style to the anonymous works preserved in the

Rossi Codex The Rossi Codex is a music manuscript collection of the 14th century. The manuscript is presently divided into two sections, one in the Vatican Library and another, smaller section in the Northern Italian town of Ostiglia. The codex contains 37 s ...

. Several of his works survive in quite different versions; this is evidence that

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

was still an important aspect of musical performance up to this time. Giovanni's works tend not to be tonally unified; they begin and end on different notes, and in some cases, such as ''Nascoso el viso'', each poetic line begins and ends on different notes. Occasional

imitation Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. I ...

is found in his work.

Works

;Madrigals ''(all for two voices)'' *''Agnel son bianco'' *''Appress’un fiume chiaro'' *''Deh, come dolcemente'' *''Donna già fu’'' *''Fra mille corvi'' *''In su la ripa'' *''La bella stella'' *''Nascoso el viso'' *''Nel meço a sei paon'' *''O perlaro gentil'' *''O tu, cara sciença'' *''Per ridda andando ratto'' *''Più non mi curo'' *''Quando la stella'' *''Sedendo all’ombra'' *''Togliendo l’una a l’altra'' ;Cacce ''(all for three voices)'' *''Con brachi assai'' *''Nel bosco sença foglie'' *''Per larghi prati'' ;Doubtful *''De soto ’l verde'' (2 voices) ;Lost *''Soni multi et ballate'' (1 voice)

Editions

Editions of all of Giovanni's works have been completed by W. Thomas Marrocco and Nino Pirrotta in the twentieth century.

References

*Fischer/D'Agostino, "Giovanni da Cascia". ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'' online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cascia, Giovanni Da Italian male classical composers Trecento composers Medieval male composers