Marco da Gagliano in 1608: Choices, Decisions, and Consequences
Strainchamps, Edmond
Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Vol. 6, No.1
Abstract
This article examines, through a series of documents drawn from archives in Florence and Mantua, the remarkable events that surrounded the appointment of Marco da Gagliano as maestro di cappella of Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence, in 1608, and shortly thereafter, as maestro di cappella to the Medici court. These dual appointments, which determined the central position Gagliano would hold in Florentine music for the next 35 years, also affected appointments and directions taken by the Gonzaga court in Mantua and had a bearing on relationships among several Gonzaga princes (later dukes) and musicians in their employ. The documents, largely unknown, are for the most part letters from, among others, Ottavio Rinuccini, Ferdinando Gonzaga, Gagliano himself, and several court secretaries representing their princes. They disclose the complexity and calculated ambiguity of the competing negotiations for Gagliano’s services in Rome, Mantua and Florence, including the uncharacteristically and startlingly angry outburst by Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga at his failure to win Gagliano for his own service. Also revealed is the complex of causal relationships in the system of patronage in 17th-century court culture, involving artistic choice, politics, personality and psychology.
Click here to read/download this article (HTML file)
Related posts: