Francesco de Layolle (also spelled dell'Aiolle, dell'Aiuola, dell'Ajolle, dell'Aiolli), (March 4, 1492 Рc.1540) was an Italian composer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the first native Italian composers to write sacred music in the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style, combining it with the indigenous harmonic idioms of the Italian peninsula. March 4 is the 63rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (64th in leap years). ... Events January 2 - Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of Ferdinand and Isabella after a lengthy siege. ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... The Casavant pipe organ at Notre-Dame de Montr̩al Basilica, Montreal The organ is a keyboard musical instrument with a distinctive sound, nowadays produced in several ways but originally produced by pipes. ... By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance *French Renaissance *German Renaissance *English Renaissance The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... In music, the Dutch School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ...

Life

He was born in Florence. In 1405, around the time of his 13th birthday, he joined the choir of the church Ss. Annunziata in Florence, where his teacher was the distinguished composer to the Medici family, Bartolomeo degli Organi. Layolle eventually married a sister-in-law of his teacher. In 1518 he left Florence, settling in Lyon in 1521. While in Florence he also served as music teacher to sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, who referred to him as a superb organist, musician and composer. Founded 59 BC as Florentia Region Tuscany Mayor Leonardo Domenici (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  102 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 356,000 almost 500,000 3,453/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Latitude Longitude 43°47 N 11°15 E www. ... Events Early feminist Christine de Pizan writes The Book of the City of Ladies Erection of Bath Abbey (-- 1499) Publication of Bellifortis by Konrad Kyeser (book on military technology) Chinese fleet commander Zheng He set sail to explore the world for the first time. ... The Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. ... Events A plague of tropical fire ants devastates crops on Hispaniola. ... City motto: Avant, avant, Lion le melhor. ... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther. ... Benvenuto Cellini (November 1, 1500 – February 13, 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, painter, sculptor, soldier and musician of the Renaissance. ...

Layolle remained in Lyon for the rest of his life, but retained a number of friends in Florence, including several men who conspired to overthrow the Medici in 1521. After the failure of the plot, and the uncovering by the Medici of the perpetrators, the conspirators fled Florence, finding refuge in Lyon with Layolle, who was able to shelter them without fear of prosecution. In the subsequent trial they were all condemned in absentia, but Layolle escaped censure; the reason for this is now known, but he never did return to Florence.

His duties in Lyon included playing the organ at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Confort; in addition he composed and edited music for some of the printing organizations there. One of his close associates was Jacques Moderne, the second-best-known printer in France after Pierre Attaignant. Much of Layolle's music was published by Moderne, but unfortunately much of it was lost.

The 1540 date of Layolle's death is probable, but no death or burial records remain. A lament on his death was published in 1540, and Layolle's last compositions were also published in that year.

Music

While much of Layolle's music is lost, that which remains is generally progressive in style, melodic, and finely crafted. Most of his sacred music was published by Moderne, but no copies remain of 61 motets and at least three masses.

He was one of the first composers to blend the Franco-Flemish and Italian styles. Prior to the early 16th century, most polyphonic sacred music was written by northerners, and Italians focused mainly on the lighter secular forms, and some uniquely Italian forms such as the laude spirituale; however in the early 16th century native Italian composers such as Layolle, and later Costanzo Festa, began to blend the northern polyphonic style with the Italian harmonic and tonal idioms, a blending which eventually resulted in the musical style of Palestrina and Lassus. (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. ... Laude (singular: lauda, or lauda spirituale) is the most important form of vernacular sacred song in Italy in the late medieval era and Renaissance. ... Costanzo Festa (c. ... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (Born in Palestrina (Praeneste) or Rome, 1525, latest February 1, 1526 – February 2, 1594 in Rome) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ... Orlande de Lassus, a. ...

Two books of madrigals have survived, although he called them "canzoni". Some are in Italian and others in French, and more closely related to the contemporary chanson than the Italianate madrigal. At least one of the madrigals he wrote, Lasciar il velo, became hugely popular in Europe and appears in many geographically scattered sources, both as a vocal piece and in instrumental transcription. A madrigal is a setting for 4–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ... 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. ...

References

• Frank d'Accone, "Francesco de Layolle," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742
• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0393095304