Baldassare Donato (also Donati) (1525-1530 – June 1603) was an Italian composer and singer of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance. He was maestro di cappella of the prestigious St. Mark's Basilica at the end of the 16th century, and was an important figure in the development of Italian light secular music, especially the villanella. Events January 21 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manzs mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. ... June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... King James I of England/VII of Scotland, the first monarch to rule the Kingdoms of England and Scotland at the same time Events March - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, sails to Canada March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James I of... In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... San Marco di Venezia, as seen from the Piazza San Marco St Marks Basilica (Italian: Basilica di San Marco) is the most famous of the churches of Venice and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... In music, a villanella (pl. ...

Life

Details of his early life are unavailable; it is not even known where he was born. The first record of Donato is as a singer at St. Mark's in Venice in 1550, and he was given charge of the musical training of the boys there in 1562. When Gioseffo Zarlino took over the post of maestro di cappella from Cipriano de Rore in 1565, Donato was demoted back to being a singer; conflict between the two men seems to have been a feature of life at St. Mark's, culminating in a climactic fight in 1569, publicly and scandalously, during the Feast of St. Mark. In 1577 Donato took a position at the Scuola Grande di S Rocco, another Venetian church with an impressive musical tradition and substantial performing ensemble; however he failed to get along with his employers there as well, resigning by 1580. In 1588 he became assistant maestro di cappella at St. Mark's, while Zarlino was still alive (whether because of reconcilement or politics is not clear), and in 1590 he took over the post of his former antagonist, holding it until his death in 1603. Events February 7 - Julius III becomes Pope. ... Events Earliest English slave-trading expedition under John Hawkins. ... Cypriano de Rore or Cipriano de Rore (1515 or 1516 – 11 September to 20 September 1565) was a Flemish composer and teacher. ... // Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded. ... Events January 11 - First recorded lottery in England. ... Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ... Events March 1 - Michel de Montaigne signs the preface to his most significant work, Essays. ... 1588 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Bold text{| align=right cellpadding=3 id=toc style=margin-left: 15px; |- | align=center colspan=2 | Years: 1587 1588 1589 - 1590 - 1591 1592 1593 |-vdsf gno[gldw[pvkijxaiamknn csogfhbvdowkhbfkqhjkhrjkhwgfhbjkpnkfokfgok3pkpk9pjhkt9erktyujkip9kijker9thhrkg9hkitr9gtkih9t0ykltk[u0jo0iey9uhyit90ertyhige9rity9riyh9ujirtyuhjnh-4e9tyigh9thiuy0h8tyh34tu8uy8u8u8u8rtu5y8ru8thu0tru0ut0rhutuh0trhu0hseogtrhr8uyhju8t89er9te9r8fy8shit ass dick bitch fuck | align=center colspan=2 | Decades: 1560s 1570s 1580s - 1590s - 1600s 1610s 1620s |- | align=center | Centuries... King James I of England/VII of Scotland, the first monarch to rule the Kingdoms of England and Scotland at the same time Events March - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, sails to Canada March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James I of...

Music and influence

Donato represented a progressive trend in the Venetian school, which was already a progressive tradition compared to the other major contemporary Italian musical styles (especially as compared to the Roman School). The progressive trend in the Venetian school was represented by composers such as Donato, Giovanni Croce, and Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli; the conservative trend involved composers and theorists such as Zarlino, Cipriano de Rore, and Claudio Merulo, who tended to follow the Franco-Flemish style which was predominant most everywhere else in Europe until after mid-century. In music history, the Roman School was a group of composers active in Rome from the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries, most famous for their sacred music and polished polyphony; the most famous was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. ... Giovanni Croce (also Ioanne a Cruce Clodiensis) (1557 – May 15, 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the Venetian School. ... Andrea Gabrieli (c. ... Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (c. ... Cypriano de Rore or Cipriano de Rore (1515 or 1516 – 11 September to 20 September 1565) was a Flemish composer and teacher. ... Claudio Merulo (Merlotti, Merulus, also Claudio da Correggio) (April 8, 1533 – May 4, 1604) was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance, famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music in the Venetian polychoral style. ... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ...

Donato's sacred music is the most conservative portion of his output, usually using polyphony in the Palestrina style, but also using some of the grand polychoral effects of the Gabrielis. In spite of his evident disdain for Zarlino's conservatism, he clearly absorbed some of his style and teaching, as can be seen in his smooth mastery of counterpoint and Zarlinoesque use of dissonance, at least when he was deliberately composing in the Franco-Flemish style. Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c 1525–2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ...

Probably his greatest significance to music history is in the development of a light secular form known as the villanella, a lighter form of madrigal, of Neapolitan origin. Some of these pieces may have been intended for dancing, and they were evidently popular. They are similar to the French chanson, often have a memorable melody in the topmost part, contain vigorous cross-rhythms, and avoid the polyphonic and chromatic complexity of the mid-century madrigal. In music, a villanella (pl. ... A madrigal is a setting for 3–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ... The Bay of Naples Naples (Italian: , Neapolitan: Nàpule, from Greek Νεάπολη < Νέα Πόλις Néa Pólis New City) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. ... Chanson is a French word for song, and in English-language contexts is often applied to any song with French words, particularly a cabaret song. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ...

Donato also wrote madrigals in a more serious style, as well as psalm settings, motets, and ceremonial music. Psalms (Tehilim &#1514;&#1492;&#1497;&#1500;&#1497;&#1501;, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ...

References and further reading

• Article "Baldassare Donato", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi. New York, Dover Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-486-28151-5 (Note: while this book contains nothing on Donato, it has detailed and readable background on the Venetian school and associated activity at St. Mark's.)

Gustave Reese (November 29, 1899 &#8211; September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. ...

External links

• Account of early history of St. Mark's