Personalities | Giovanni Gastoldi | Renaissance | Classical
(Jo-van’-ne Gas-tol’-de) c. 1550s–1622
Italian composer
Gastoldi spent much of his career in Mantua, where in the early 1590s he composed music for a production of Battista Guarini’s famous play, Il pastor fido (‘The Faithful Shepherd’); although the production was scrapped, Gastoldi published some of his music in 1602. He is best known, however, for his ballettos, a light-hearted, homophonic relative of the madrigal. Extremely popular in England, they were the primary source of the style of the light ‘fa la la’ madrigals of Morley and others.
Recommended Recording:
La pazzia senile: musica al tempo di Banchieri, Clemencic Consort (Accord)
Introduction | Renaissance | Classical
Personalities | Carlo Gesualdo | Renaissance | Classical
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