Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4891030507746
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: MILANO
Description
Francesco Canova da Milano (1497 - 1543)'The prince among lutenists'His contemporaries called him 'Il divino', 'a miraculous lute player', he wasthe most famous lutenist of the Renaissance. Francesco Canova da Milano, was theson of a musician, Benedetto Canova, and was born in the small town of Monza,near Milan on 18th August 1497. Francesco, was possibly given some earlyinstruction in the lute by Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa, one of the most renownedlutenists working for the Gonzaga family of Mantua, but he must have been aprodigious young player, for by 1519 he was already receiving payments from thepapal treasury, having secured what must have been the most prestigious positionfor a lutenist in Italy. In all, Francesco spent most of his adult life in Romeworking in the service of popes Leo X, Adrian VI, Clement VII and Paul III. Atsome time between February 1526 and 1528, perhaps after the sack of Rome in1527, he appears to have left papal employment and moved to Piacenza. Shortlyafter this, in 1530, he may also have been engaged as the organist at MilanCathedral. By 1535, however, Francesco was once again in Rome, this time as alutenist in the service of Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici; he was also teachingOttavio Farnese, the grandson of Paul III. In 1536 the first four printededitions of Francesco's music appeared in Venice, Milan and Naples. These werethe only publications of his music to be published during his lifetime, but itwas to prove to be only a small part of his total achievement as a composer.More music survives by Francesco than any other lutenist of the time; it can befound in over 40 printed tablatures, produced between 1536 and 1603 in Italy,France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands. His music is also foundin 25 manuscripts of equally diverse provenance, including three Englishlutebooks. Francesco's surviving output includes fantasias and ricercars,idiomatic and free-ranging pieces written specifically for the lute, and a largenumber of intabulations or arrangements of chansons, madrigals and motets. Apartfrom the duet version of La Spagna, however, there are no survivingdances by Francesco, but it seems unlikely that they were not part of hisrepertoire. It is quite probable that he invariably improvised his variations onthe well-known dances of the day. In fact, Francisco de Salinas, in his 'Demusica' of 1577, recollects hearing Francesco at the court of Paul III improvisea galliard on a ground.In 1538 Francesco was working in the household of another of the pope'sgrandsons, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. He is described as 'Messer Francesco daMilano, musico', and mentioned as being among the 'gentilihomini etcamerieri' ofthe Cardinal. In June of that year, Francesco, accompanied Paul III to Nice forhis meeting with Charles V and Fran?ºois I. He played before Fran?ºois, whorewarded him handsomely with 225 livres for the pleasure he gave with hisperformance. Interestingly, one of the most reliable sources of Francesco
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Dvorak
Duo Deloro
Davis/Kuenzel/Lovelace
