Michelagnolo Galilei (also sometimes spelled Michelangelo) (December 18, 1575 – January 3, 1631) was an Italian composer and lutenist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, active mainly in Bavaria and Poland. He was the son of music theorist and lutenist Vincenzo Galilei, and the younger brother of the renowned astronomer Galileo Galilei (born 1564). In the Gregorian Calendar, December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years), at which point there will be 13 days remaining to the end of the year. ... Events February 13 - Henry III of France is crowned at Reims February 14 - Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont June 28 - Oda Nobunaga defeats Takeda Katsuyori in the battle of Nagashino, which has been called Japans first modern battle. ... January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events February 5 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston. ... The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... Music Theory is a field of study that investigates the nature or mechanics of music. ... Vincenzo Galilei (1520 – July 2, 1591) was an Italian lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and the father of the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. ... KDFSAJFKASJDKFJASDKLJFDKLASJFLKJASKLFJLAKSJFLKSJALFKJSKLJFto the Sun-centered solar system which Galileo supported. ...

Life

Michelagnolo was born in Florence. He learned to play the lute at an early age, like his father. Most likely he was destined for a career in Florence, but when his father died in 1591, the sixteen-year-old lutenist was put in the charge of his older brother Galileo, who was in Padua. Tronco Maestro Riviera: a pedestrian walk along a section of the inland waterway or naviglio interno of Padua. ...

Some other employment had to be found for Michelagnolo, so in 1593 he went to Poland, where foreign musicians were much in demand. Most likely he went there with the powerful Lithuanian-Polish Radziwiłł family. Poland had several sophisticated musical establishments at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, especially at Kraków: Luca Marenzio, one of Italy's most famous madrigal composers, went to Poland for a time, as did lutenists Diomedes Cato and Valentin Bakfark. Lutenists were particularly in demand, and a considerable quantity of lute music was printed in Poland, in cities such as Kraków, Gdańsk, Toruń and Vilnius.^[1] RadziwiÅ‚Å‚ (Lithuanian: ; Belarusian: ; Latin: ) is a family of high nobility which has been powerful and important for centuries, first in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... Luca Marenzio (1553? - August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. ...

Michelagnolo came back from Poland in 1599, in a second failed attempt to gain employment in Florence in the court of Grand Duke Ferdinando de' Medici, but returned in 1600 to his previous Polish employer.^[2] He stayed there until 1607, at which time he was hired by the Munich Hofkapelle of Duke Maximilian I. Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (30 July 1549 – 17 February 1609) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I. Ferdinando was the fourth son of Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora of Toledo (1519... Coordinates: Time zone: CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country: Germany State: Bavaria Administrative region: Upper Bavaria District: Urban district City subdivisions: 25 borroughs Lord Mayor: Christian Ude (SPD) Governing parties: SPD / Greens / Rosa Liste Basic Statistics Area: 310. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Munich had had one of the most progressive musical establishments in the region since the mid-16th century, having employed Orlande de Lassus; Galilei was another of many talented Italian musicians who went there to live and work. He remained in Munich for the rest of his life, fathering eight children, at least three of whom also became lutenists.^[3] Composer Orlande de Lassus Orlande de Lassus (also Orlandus Lassus, Orlando di Lasso, Roland de Lassus, or Roland Delattre (1532 (possibly 1530) – June 14, 1594) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance. ...

His relationship with his brother Galileo became especially difficult in his last years. Many of the letters between the two have been preserved; Michelagnolo ceaselessly implored his elder brother for money, and for help with his difficult children (Vincenzo, born in 1608, was particularly troublesome).^[4],^[5]

Music

Most of Galilei's music was for ten-course lute, and most was published in his first book, Il primo libro d'intavolatura di liuto (Munich, 1620), which used guitar notation. Some of his pieces appeared singly in other publications.

His music consists of dances such as galliards, voltas and correntes, grouped loosely into suites, organized by musical mode. Each suite is preceded by a toccata, and the book closes with two paired passamezzos and saltarellos.^[6] Stylistically they are written in the most modern manner of the time, with dissonances, ornaments, and functional tonal progressions indicative of the developing early Baroque style. His musical style was particularly influential in southern Germany, as shown by the demand for his music, even when he was still in Poland.^[7] The galliard (gaillarde, in French) was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. ... The Adome bridge crosses the Volta river south of the Akosombo Dam Volta is a river in central and western Africa that drains into the Gulf of Guinea. ... Toccata (Italian for touched) is a piece of classical music for a keyboard instrument, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer. ... The saltarello was a lively, merry dance first mentioned in Naples during the 13th century. ... Tonality is a system of writing music according to certain hierarchical pitch relationships around a key center or tonic. ...

References

• Claude Chauvel: "Michelagnolo Galilei", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed March 7, 2007), (subscription access)
• Katarzyna Morawska, "Poland", I, 1, Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed March 10, 2007), (subscription access)
• Dinko Fabris, biography and musical description in Program Notes for "Michelagnolo Galilei: Sonate from Il primo libro d'Intavolatura di liuto (1620)"

Notes

External links

• Biography and musical description, includes recordings of entire lute book