Born in the beautiful city of Rome around 1550, Emilio de’ Cavalieri became a relatively popular composer of the Late Renaissance/Early Baroque genre. Cavalieri died on the 11th of March, 1602. I don’t have much more information about him, so…on to the music! Music Recommendations: I have the following album, which I enjoy listening to regularly: [amazon asin=B00005J7UX&template=image&chan=default][amazon asin=B0006FNF3I&template=image&chan=default]
John Dowland, popular composer of the Late Renaissance, was buried on this day 20th of February, 1620, at St Ann’s, Blackfriars, London (which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1666, and never rebuilt). He was probably born in 1563, and historians are not very certain of his place of birth nor where his kin came from… Read on
Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England houses a number of beautiful, priceless historical objects, and the Triumphs of Caesar by Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna are no exception… Housed in the former Orangery built in the late Seventeenth century during the reign of William and Mary to house Queen Mary II’s many exotic plants, these gorgeous works of… Read on
Lucrezia Borgia is one of those figures in history that we are taught to believe was a really evil person. The name of Borgia alone conjures up a images of poison, ruthless ambition, incest, cruelty, among other unsavoury traits. More than likely, what we’ve learned about her is from anti-Borgia propaganda, and therefore, not to be taken as… Read on
Amazing Late Renaissance/Early Baroque composer, Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi, died on this day the 29th of November, 1643. Below is Monteverdi’s Magnificat: Born in 1567, Monteverdi was one of the major transitional composers to span the Renaissance to the Baroque, and in doing so, composed some of the most beautiful music of his time. Here is Monteverdi’s “Lamento… Read on
Antonio Cifra, Italian Baroque & Late Renaissance composer, died on this day the 2nd of October, 1629. Cifra is important in Early Music because he straddled the Late Renaissance and the Early Baroque movements and made beautiful music in both. So, in honour of Antonio Cifra, here is “Era la Notte:” Links about Antonio Cifra: http://www.hoasm.org/VG/Cifra.html http://www.last.fm/music/Antonio+Cifra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Cifra (I normally don’t like to link… Read on