Jan Nasco
Encyclopedia
Jan Nasco (c. 1510 – 1561) was a Franco-Flemish
composer and writer on music, mainly active in Italy. He was the first director of the Veronese
Accademia Filarmonica, and his writings, particularly a group of letters he wrote to the Academy in the 1550s, are important sources of information on performance practice regarding use of instruments in madrigal
s as well as motet
s.
. While this may have been a prestigious and intellectually engaging post, it paid little, and in 1551 he took a job as maestro di cappella at the cathedral of San Pietro in Treviso, with some reluctance. He retained ties with the Accademia, as well as his post at Treviso, until his death.
es, passion settings, Lamentations, motet
s, and especially madrigal
s; however he did not publish much of his sacred music, especially his mass settings, and a lot of this music, which existed only in manuscript, was destroyed on April 7, 1944 during the Second World War when the Allies destroyed the ancient city center of Treviso in a bombing raid.
One of his sacred compositions which did survive is an early setting of the St. Matthew Passion, for two to six voices. It is almost entirely homophonic in texture, using a style akin to falsobordone
. This composition was not published; it survives in a manuscript which has the RISM
sigla I-Bc Q24 (Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, in Bologna). Also surviving among his sacred music is a book of settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which he published in Venice in 1561.
Nasco's best-known compositions are his madrigal cycles, and he seems to have written many of them in good-natured competition with Vincenzo Ruffo, who succeeded him in his post at the Accademia. Nasco and his colleagues, including Ruffo, were influenced by the music of Adrian Willaert
, the founder and most famous early member of the Venetian School. Willaert was maestro di cappella at St. Mark's in Venice, which was not far from Treviso; Venice was also the city in which much of Nasco's music was published.
Stylistically, Nasco's madrigals are progressive, and avoid the polyphonic
idiom characteristic of his fellow Netherlanders. He wrote homophonic textures with clearly declaimed text, and he anticipated the end-of-the-century development of functional harmony
with his preference for root motions of fourths and fifths, rather than thirds. The verse he chose for his madrigals included some of the most famous names in Italian poetry, including Ariosto, Tasso
, Boccacio and Petrarch
, and he had a preference for pastoral
subjects. In his comprehensive survey of the madrigal form, The Italian Madrigal, Alfred Einstein called Nasco's madrigal cycles "prototypes of the chamber cantata", a form which was to develop in the early 17th century in the same geographic region.
Franco-Flemish School
In music, the Franco-Flemish School or more precisely the Netherlandish School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, and to the composers who wrote it...
composer and writer on music, mainly active in Italy. He was the first director of the Veronese
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
Accademia Filarmonica, and his writings, particularly a group of letters he wrote to the Academy in the 1550s, are important sources of information on performance practice regarding use of instruments in madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s as well as motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s.
Life
No documentation has yet turned up covering Nasco's early life, but he is presumed to have come from the Netherlands or adjacent areas, the home of most of the Franco-Flemish composers. Only the portion of his life he spent in Italy has been documented. He was in the service of Paolo Naldi, a nobleman in Vicenza, in the 1540s, and in 1547 he became the music director of the newly formed Accademia Filarmonica in VeronaVerona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
. While this may have been a prestigious and intellectually engaging post, it paid little, and in 1551 he took a job as maestro di cappella at the cathedral of San Pietro in Treviso, with some reluctance. He retained ties with the Accademia, as well as his post at Treviso, until his death.
Music and influence
Nasco was a progressive composer in most of the genres current in mid-century Italy, including massMass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
es, passion settings, Lamentations, motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s, and especially madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s; however he did not publish much of his sacred music, especially his mass settings, and a lot of this music, which existed only in manuscript, was destroyed on April 7, 1944 during the Second World War when the Allies destroyed the ancient city center of Treviso in a bombing raid.
One of his sacred compositions which did survive is an early setting of the St. Matthew Passion, for two to six voices. It is almost entirely homophonic in texture, using a style akin to falsobordone
Falsobordone
Falsobordone is a style of recitation found in music from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Most often associated with the harmonization of Gregorian psalm tones, it is based on root position triads and is first known to have appeared in southern Europe in the 1480s.Falsobordoni are made up of two...
. This composition was not published; it survives in a manuscript which has the RISM
Répertoire International des Sources Musicales
The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales is an international non-profit organisation, founded in Paris in 1952, with the aim of comprehensively documenting sources of music surviving all over the world...
sigla I-Bc Q24 (Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, in Bologna). Also surviving among his sacred music is a book of settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which he published in Venice in 1561.
Nasco's best-known compositions are his madrigal cycles, and he seems to have written many of them in good-natured competition with Vincenzo Ruffo, who succeeded him in his post at the Accademia. Nasco and his colleagues, including Ruffo, were influenced by the music of Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert
Adrian Willaert was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance and founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there....
, the founder and most famous early member of the Venetian School. Willaert was maestro di cappella at St. Mark's in Venice, which was not far from Treviso; Venice was also the city in which much of Nasco's music was published.
Stylistically, Nasco's madrigals are progressive, and avoid the polyphonic
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
idiom characteristic of his fellow Netherlanders. He wrote homophonic textures with clearly declaimed text, and he anticipated the end-of-the-century development of functional harmony
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
with his preference for root motions of fourths and fifths, rather than thirds. The verse he chose for his madrigals included some of the most famous names in Italian poetry, including Ariosto, Tasso
Tasso
-People:*Torquato Tasso, the famous Italian 16th-century poet, author of Gerusalemme liberata**Tasso, Lament and Triumph, a symphonic poem by Franz Liszt based on the poet*Bernardo Tasso, his father, also a poet...
, Boccacio and Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
, and he had a preference for pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
subjects. In his comprehensive survey of the madrigal form, The Italian Madrigal, Alfred Einstein called Nasco's madrigal cycles "prototypes of the chamber cantata", a form which was to develop in the early 17th century in the same geographic region.