Giovanni del Turco

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Giovanni del Turco (born June 21, 1577 in Florence , † September 20, 1647 ibid) was an Italian composer at the transition between the music of the Renaissance and that of the early Baroque . Apart from his compositional activity, he carried out several legal and administrative activities for the Medici in the course of his life . The otherwise unoccupied Lorenzo del Turco, of whom isolated compositions have come down, could be a younger brother of Giovanni del Turco.

Life

Giovanni del Turco's family belonged to the nobility. His father Antonio (* 1551; † 1597) was a member of the Cavaliere di S. Stefano in Pisa , after his death del Turco took over this position. Nevertheless, the family does not seem to have been particularly respected - suggests that del Turco had to do genealogy himself to prove his aristocratic origin. In the course of his life, however, he managed to increase his reputation and take on various administrative and legal functions in Florence. This included membership in the Consiglio de 'Dugento di S. Spirito , the council of one of the districts of Florence. Parallel to this social rise, the apparently musically gifted del Turco made contacts with the artistic circle of the Florentine Camerata , where he was tutored by Marco da Gagliano . This made del Turco the dedicatee of his second madrigal book. After the death of Jacopo Corsi , the patron of the Camerata, del Turco worked as "secretary" in the Accademia degli Elevati founded by da Gagliano in 1607 . Although del Turco was not a full-time composer, his works were very well received by his contemporaries, so that in 1614 he was awarded the honorary title of Soprintendente delle Musiche del Serenissimo Gran Duca di Toscana . As such, he was responsible for the musical design of the Florentine Carnival celebrations until 1625, together with other composers such as Jacopo Peri , Paolo Grati and Giovanni Battista Signorini . The last two decades of del Turco's life are poorly documented.

Musical creation

Madrigals make up a substantial part of the 40 or so compositions by Giovanni del Turco that have survived . A first volume ( Primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci ) was printed in 1602. A work that del Turco had composed in memory of the late Jacopo Corsi appeared in a madrigal volume by da Gagliano in 1604. Decisive for his reputation as a composer was the second madrigal volume ( Secondo libro di madrigali a cinque voci ) published in 1614 , as a result of which he was able to obtain the above-mentioned honorary title of soprintendent . As part of the carnival celebrations in 1616, del Turco made musical contributions to a large-scale horse ballet called La guerra d'Amore , which is only preserved in a few fragments. Other isolated compositions appeared in various publications by his contemporaries.

The texts on del Turco's madrigals are often by Giovanni Battista Guarini or Torquato Tasso . His compositional technique reveals the role model effect of Marco da Gagliano, but does not quite achieve his mastery. The musicologist Francesco Degrada described Giovanni del Turco's music as "the pleasant, witty, aristocratic gimmick of a dilettante "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Mauro Macedonio: Del Turco, Giovanni. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Retrieved February 9, 2020 (Italian).
  2. ^ Piero Gargiulo: Del Turco, Giovanni. In: MGG Online. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  3. ^ David S. Butchart: Del Turco, Giovanni. In: Grove Music online. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Turco, Giovanni del
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer and politician of the early baroque
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1577
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1647
Place of death Florence