Response to Edmond Strainchamps
Parisi, Susan
Journal of Seventeenth-Century Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1
Abstract
Ferdinando Gonzaga may not have felt as disappointed by Gagliano’s decision as implied in Strainchamps’s paper, given Ferdinando’s personality and other artistic activities that engaged him at the time. Apart from the festivities for the marriage of Cosimo II de Medici, new documents make clear that Ferdinando wrote another recommendation to the Medici Grand Duke in late 1608-1609 on behalf of the organist Cintoletti for a post. The Duke of Mantua subsequently requested the organist’s services for Ferdinando’s studio in Pisa. Attempts to bring Settimia Caccini and Jacopo Peri to Mantua also involved Ferdinando. In addition, it is argued that job security must have weighed in Gagliano’s decision, since church positions afforded greater security than court positions. Monteverdi’s experiences at the Mantuan court are reviewed, including his unsuccessful efforts in these weeks to serve “in the church.” After Ferdinando became duke, his requests to musicians were mainly issued through court officials, though, as is demonstrated, musicians developed tactics for dealing with such demands.
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