Francesco Rasi

Francesco Rasi (born May 14, 1574 in Arezzo (?); † November 30, 1621 ) was an Italian singer (tenor), instrumentalist (chitarrone), composer and poet. In contemporary sources he is referred to as "nobile d'Arezzo" after his birth town, but he was no longer allowed to enter the city after his conviction.

Life

Francesco Rasi, son of a Tuscan court official, was on the payrolls of the Florentine court from 1588. During this time he received singing lessons from Giulio Caccini . In 1594 he came, possibly in the entourage of Carlo Gesualdo , for his wedding to Ferrara . In 1598 he came to the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga in Mantua , in whose service he remained until the end of his life. With Vincenzo he toured all of Italy and some European countries, under Kapellmeister Luca Marenzio he was in the court orchestra of the Polish King Sigismund III for two years . He was the singer at the premieres of Jacopo Peris Euridice(Aminta) and Giulio Caccini's Il rapimento di Cefalo (1600). In 1607 he was the first orfeo in the opera of the same name by Claudio Monteverdi . In 1608 he appeared in the world premiere of Marco da Gagliano's La Dafne . In 1610, Rasi was sentenced to death for the attempted murder of his stepmother and the murder of the estate manager. However, under the protection of the Gonzaga family, he was able to escape.

In 1612 he accompanied Vincenzo Gonzaga to Prague, where he was presented with a gold chain of honor for an appearance at the court of Emperor Matthias . As he fell ill in Prague, he later traveled back to Italy alone. He came via Nuremberg and Augsburg to Salzburg to the court of Archbishop Markus Sittikus , to whom he dedicated the manuscript of his " Musice da camera e da chiesa " (December 10, 1612). This manuscript contains 8 arias or monodies on Italian texts by Rasi and 3 monodies on Latin texts (Isaiah, High Song of Love). It is the first musical composition for a Salzburg prince archbishop, in which both functions, the secular as well as the sacred, are taken into account in the title as well as in the set texts. Since a "Pastorale Orfeo" was performed in Salzburg a few years later, it was assumed that this was the setting by Monteverdi. There is no reliable proof of this.

Rasi returned to Mantua to the court of the Gonzaga in 1612. The death sentence was later overturned on the premise that he was no longer allowed to enter his birthplace Arezzo.

Rasi composed the (lost) pastoral Cibele, ed Ati , which was probably never performed during his lifetime. He also wrote a libretto Elvidia rapita . He has published numerous poems, including the anthology La cetra di sette corde . As a composer, solo aria (monody), written in the modern, ie. H. Caccini's monodic style, which is included in various anthologies such as Vaghezze di musica (1608) and Madrigali (1610). Almost all monodies are for tenor voice, so probably written for himself.

Works (selection)

a) Prints:

• Vaghezze di Musica per una voce sola , Venice: Gardano, 1608
• Madrigali di diversi Autori posti in musica dal S. Francesco Rasi , Florence: Marescotti, 1610
• 1 motet à 2 voci, in: Federico Malgarini, Motetti a una, due, tre et quattro voci col basso continuo per l'organo fatti da diversi musicisti servitori de! Signor Duca di Mantoria, e racolti da Federico Malgarini , Venetia: G. Vincenti, 1618.
• The Seven-String Lyre , 1619.
• Dialoghi rappresentativi , 1620.

b) Manuscripts:

• Musica di Camera et Chiesa , 1-3 voci (1612), Regensburg, Proskesche Music Library
• "Vostro fui" (from the collection of 1608), Brussels, Cons. Royal de Musique, Ms. 704
• Pastorale La favola di Cibele ed Ati , 1617, (music lost)

Fonts

• Libretto La Cetra di Sette Corde , Venice 1619.