Lutio Compasso

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Lutio Compasso (* around 1560; † unknown) was an Italian dancer and author of a treatise on the Galliarde .

Life

Little is known about his person. As can be seen from the full title of his treatise on the, Lutio Compasso was either born in Rome or he lived there for a long time. At least Compasso calls himself a "Roman".

Ballo della Gagliarda

The only work known from his pen is the treatise Ballo della Gagliarda (Firenze 1560). This is the first printed document on dance practice in the new style. The only known original copy so far is in the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. An annotated facsimile edition has also been available since 1995.

The treatise is dedicated to Francesco I de 'Medici , later Grand Duke of Tuscany. In the dedication preface, Compasso mentions Francesco de 'Medici as his patron. However, nothing is known about the details of this patronage. Compasso is likely to have worked for Francesco Medici or in Florence at the time the treatise went to press (1560). Compasso must later have returned to the Rome and Naples area. Cesare Negri mentions Compassos Ballo della Gagliarda in his treatise Le Gratie d'Amore (1602) and describes him as an excellent Galliarde dancer who had a successful dance school in Rome and Naples.

Compassos Ballo della Gagliarda is a 30-page treatise with a total of 206 step variations to the Galliarde: 32 easy ( Mutanze scempie ), 53 doubles ( Mutànze doppie ) and 121 of the most difficult and beautiful Galliarde variations ( le Mutanzie piu difficili e piu belle ). With the latter variations of four, five or six tempos, it is not possible to clearly assign the steps to the music. Compassos Ballo della Gagliarda is the first of a series of dance writings in which dances to be performed improvised, such as Canario , Gagliarda , Passo e mezo and Tordiglione are described (see also Prospero Lutij 1589; Livio Lupi 1600) ( 2 1607).

In addition, the handwritten treatise Maestro di Balli (1614) by Ercole Santucci contains only one copy of a contrapasso in Sesto di Lutio Compasso Romano (pp. 451–454).

literature

  • Lutio Compasso: Opera nuova e dilettevole composto da Lutio Compasso Romano , Firenze 1560.
  • Facsimile: Lutio Compasso. Ballo della Gagliarda , ed. by Barbara Sparti , Freiburg: fa-gisis, 1995.
personal data
SURNAME Compasso, Lutio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian dancer and author of a treatise on the Galliards
DATE OF BIRTH around 1560
DATE OF DEATH 16th century or 17th century