Franchinus Gaffurius

Portrait of a Musician by Leonardo da Vinci , possibly representing Franchinus Gaffurio.

Franchinus Gaffurius (also Franchino Gaffurio, Gaffori or Gafori ; born January 14, 1451 in Lodi , † June 25, 1522 in Milan ) was an Italian conductor , composer and music theorist of the Renaissance .

Gaffurius as a teacher with twelve students in a print of his work De harmonia musicorum instrumentorum . The tape reads Harmonia est discordia concors ("Harmony is unanimous disagreement"). The circle symbolizes the connection between music and geometry. Inscription : Franchinus Gafurius Laudensis. Tria de musicis volumes. Theoricam ac practicam et harmoniam instrumentorum accuratissime conscripsit ("Franchinus Gaffurius from Lodi. Three books on music. He presented the theory as well as the practice and the harmony of the instruments with the greatest care").

Live and act

Francino Gaffurio was trained as a theologian and musician in the Benedictine monastery in his hometown and after his ordination initially worked at the court of the Gonzaga in Padua . Between 1477 and 1488 he worked in Genoa and Naples, but then returned to his native city. In 1484 he was appointed Kapellmeister at the Cathedral in Milan , where he achieved a high reputation. He held this position until his death.

He was very productive as a composer and, in addition to a Stabat mater , created a number of masses , magnificats , hymns and motets , but also instrumental compositions and secular works.

Gaffurio is the author of Theorica musicae , published in 1492 , in which he reproduced the legend of Pythagoras in the forge about the alleged discovery of the mathematical basis of musical harmony in a forge. In 1518 his treatise De harmonia musicorum instrumentorum ("On the harmony of musical instruments") was published.

His high reputation was also based on his work as a music theorist and teacher, choir director and conductor. He succeeded in considerably improving the quality of the Milan cathedral choir and the court orchestra.

Text output

• Franchino Gaffurio: Theoricum opus musice discipline , ed. by Cesarino Ruini, Libreria Musicale Italiana, Lucca 1996, ISBN 88-7096-039-0 (reprint of the Naples 1480 edition with an introduction by the editor).
• Franchino Gaffurio: Theorica musice , ed. by Ilde Illuminati and Fabio Bellissima, Edizioni del Galluzzo, Firenze 2005, ISBN 88-8450-161-X (Latin text and Italian translation).

literature

• Ernst Praetorius: The mensural theory of Franchinus Gafurius and the following period up to the middle of the 16th century . Sendet 1970, facsimile reprint of the Breitkopf & Härtel edition, Leipzig 1905.
• Antonio Sardi de Letto: Gaffurio, Franchino . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . Volume 51, Rome 1998, pp. 214-216.

Web links

• Franchinus Gaffurius: Una grande figura di teorico e di musicista nella Milano di fine quattrocento (Italian)
• Antonio Sardi de Letto: Entry "Franchino Gaffurio" in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 51 (1998)
• CV and list of works on Musicologie.org (French)
• Sheet music and audio files by Franchinus Gaffurius in the International Music Score Library Project