Francesco Londariti

Francesco Londariti ( Greek Φραγκίσκος Λεονταρίτης Frangiskos Leondaritis , further variants Francesco Londarit, Franciscus Londariti, Leondaryti, Londaretus, Londaratus and Londaritus , called Il Greco * to 1518 in Chandakas, today Heraklion , † probably in 1572 on Crete ) was a Greek-Venetian singer and composer of the Renaissance . He is considered the earliest Greek composer of western art music .

Life

Londaritis father Nikolaos came from a wealthy Greek family of Peloponnesian origin and was a priest, treasurer and ducal vicar at the Catholic Church of Agios Titos in Chandakas. Francesco was his second illegitimate son with the Orthodox Greek Maria Similinopoula. The conditions during the Cretan Renaissance , in which art and science flourished in Crete under Venetian rule, enabled the young Londariti not only to have a youth with both parents, but also an educated upbringing; like his father, he chose a clerical career and was already working at his church at a young age (1537–1544) as an organist. The support of his father, the good relations of his family and his extraordinary talent as a musician made it possible that, as the illegitimate son of a priest, he was not faced with the currently usual obstacles and ordained not only as a priest, but also with the title of Apostolic Protonotary and various high ecclesiastical offices were assigned, which were associated with lucrative property and with it some prosperity. Nevertheless, Londariti led a life of conflict and was heavily indebted.

Almost nothing is known about his musical training. It is believed that he was extensively trained in Catholic church music, possibly also in Rome, and there are reports that he studied Byzantine music with Ilarion Sotirchos.

Already a famous musician, Londariti left Crete in 1549, possibly because of the destruction of the Church of Titus by fire, and left the administration of his affairs to the lawyers. He moved to Venice , where he was given the nickname Il Greco ("the Greek"), which was to stick with him throughout his life. He found employment as a cantore (singer) in the choir of St. Mark's Basilica under the conductor Adrian Willaert in Venice, where the Venetian School was developing at that time and which was one of the centers of European music. From this position he had access to aristocratic Venetian circles, in which art, music and literature were strongly promoted and where he was one of the most respected musicians.

In 1552 he was punished with the temporary loss of his ecclesiastical title for an unknown, serious offense, and he was apparently also threatened with excommunication. 1555 he succeeded that these sanctions were lifted by the Vatican, but he could not hold his position in Venice and left the city in 1556. He initially worked at the cathedral in Padua , had in 1561 but - perhaps because of sympathy for the Reformation  - also leave the Veneto . Apparently he was in contact with representatives of the de Stoop and Fugger trading families, and it is assumed that the latter made contact with the Bavarian court.

From 1562 to 1566 Londariti worked as a highly valued musician in the choir at the ducal court of Albrecht V in Munich under Orlando di Lasso , at that time an important center of the musical renaissance in Germany, in which Cipriano de Rore and Andrea Gabrieli also worked. This period seems to have been his most fruitful compositionally, as the compositions from this period show, including two motets for the wedding of Johann Jakob Fugger and compositions that he sent to Emperor Maximilian II . Apparently Londariti also had good contacts with important personalities in Augsburg and Salzburg .

According to the sources, Londariti was involved in espionage activities for the Spanish crown, which held Milan at the time and was opponent of the Republic of Venice, from 1567. This kept him from working as a musician and put him in a precarious situation.

In 1568 Londariti returned to Crete, where he settled his debts with the inheritance of his father, was again appointed to church offices (so in the chapter of the Titus Church) and also resumed his composing activity. Reports about him end in 1572, which led to the adoption of this year as the date of his death. Person and work were almost completely forgotten until research by the historian and philologist Nikolaos M. Panagiotakis brought his work to light again in the 1980s.

The surviving work Londaritis comprises three parody masses (Missa super Aller not faut, Missa super Je prens en grez, Missa super Letatus sum) , two books of sacred and secular motets that were written in Munich, as well as some madrigals and napolitans. Although some works have already been recorded on CD, the musicological evaluation of his compositions is still pending.

literature

• Nikolaos M. Panagiotakis : Franghiskos Leontaritis: Cretan composer of the 16th century. Accounts of his life and work . In: Library of the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies , No. 12, Venice 1990

Web links

• Biography on hellenica.de (Greek)
• Biography ( memento of October 26, 2009 on WebCite ) on private page (Greek); in the WebCite archive