January 18 - Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 18th are here: César Cui; Emmanuel Chabrier (2020), Emmanuel Chabrier, Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (2021), Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (2022), Emmanuel Chabrier (2023), Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (2024), and Emmanuel Chabrier (2025)

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Alfonso Ferrabosco (the Elder) (bapt.18 January 1543 – 12 August 1588) was an Italian composer who the one mainly responsible for the growth of the madrigal in England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Elizabethan Variations

In England, however, he [Ferrabosco] built up a really remarkable reputation as a composer of madrigals and motets. – Kerman, Joseph. “Master Alfonso and the English Madrigal.” The Musical Quarterly 38, no. 2 (1952): 222–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/739655.

(1)

In the reign of Elizabeth One,

When madrigals counted as fun,

And singing one's part

Was a desirable art,

Ferrabosco was second to none.

(2)

Ferrabosco wrote things of the sort

That Elizabeth favored at court,

And so for a while

He was living in style

With generous Tudor support.

(3)

Since the taste of Elizabeth's reign meant

That madrigals gave entertainment,

Ferrabosco was sunny

When counting the money

That this fad for the shepherd and swain meant.

 

 

 

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