Squarcialupi Codex
Encyclopedia
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the early 15th century. It is the single largest primary source of music of the 14th-century Italian Trecento
Trecento
The Trecento refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history.Commonly the Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Renaissance in art history...
(also known as the "Italian ars nova
Music of the trecento
The Trecento was a period of vigorous activity in Italy in the arts, including painting, architecture, literature, and music. The music of the Trecento paralleled the achievements in the other arts in many ways, for example, in pioneering new forms of expression, especially in secular song in the...
").
It consists of 216 parchment folios, organized by composer, with each composer's section beginning with a portrait of the composer richly illuminated in gold, red, blue and purple. The manuscript is in good condition, and musical pieces are complete. Included in the codex are 146 complete pieces by Francesco Landini
Francesco Landini
Francesco degli Organi, Francesco il Cieco, or Francesco da Firenze, called by later generations Francesco Landini or Landino was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet and instrument maker...
, 37 by Bartolino da Padova
Bartolino da Padova
Bartolino da Padova was an Italian composer of the late 14th century...
, 36 by Niccolò da Perugia
Niccolò da Perugia
Niccolò da Perugia was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the musical period also known as the "Italian ars nova". He was a contemporary of Francesco Landini, and apparently was most active in Florence.Little is known for certain about his life; only a few biographical details are verifiable...
, 29 by Andrea da Firenze
Andrea da Firenze
Andrea da Firenze was an Italian composer and organist of the late medieval era. Along with Francesco Landini and Paolo da Firenze, he was a leading representative of the Italian ars nova style of the Trecento, and was a prolific composer of secular songs, principally ballate.-Life:Since Andrea...
, 28 by Jacopo da Bologna
Jacopo da Bologna
Jacopo da Bologna was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the period sometimes known as the Italian ars nova. He was one of the first composers of this group, making him a contemporary of Gherardello da Firenze and Giovanni da Firenze...
, 17 by Lorenzo da Firenze
Lorenzo da Firenze
Lorenzo da Firenze was an Italian composer and music teacher of the Trecento. He was closely associated with Francesco Landini in Florence, and was one of the composers of the period known as the Italian ars nova.Little is known about his life, but some details can be inferred from the music...
, 16 by Gherardello da Firenze
Gherardello da Firenze
Gherardello da Firenze was an Italian composer of the Trecento...
, 15 by Donato da Cascia
Donato da Cascia
Donato da Cascia was an Italian composer of the Trecento. All of his surviving music is secular, and the largest single source is the Squarcialupi Codex...
, 12 pieces by Giovanni da Cascia
Giovanni da Cascia
Giovanni da Cascia, also Jovannes de Cascia, Johannes de Florentia, Maestro Giovanni da Firenze, was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active in the middle of the fourteenth century....
, 6 by Vincenzo da Rimini
Vincenzo da Rimini
Vincenzo da Rimini, also Magister Dominus Abbas de Arimino, L’abate Vincençio da Imola, Frate Vincenço, was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active in the middle of the 14th century....
, and smaller amounts of music by others. It contains 16 blank folios, intended for the music of Paolo da Firenze
Paolo da Firenze
Paolo da Firenze was an Italian composer and music theorist of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the transition from the musical Medieval era to the Renaissance...
, since they are labeled as such and include his portrait; the usual presumption by scholars is that Paolo's music was not ready at the time the manuscript was compiled, since he was away from Florence until 1409. There is also a section marked out for Giovanni Mazzuoli
Giovanni Mazzuoli
Giovanni Mazzuoli was an Italian composer and organist of the late medieval and early Renaissance eras....
which contains no music.
The manuscript was almost certainly compiled in Florence at the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli
Santa Maria degli Angeli
Santa Maria degli Angeli is the name of several churches in Italy. They include:*Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, a basilica in Rome, created by Michelangelo in the Baths of Diocletian...
, probably around 1410–1415. Because the same unidentified family seal appears on the first folio of the manuscript and on the portrait page of Paolo da Firenze
Paolo da Firenze
Paolo da Firenze was an Italian composer and music theorist of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the transition from the musical Medieval era to the Renaissance...
, it was long suggested that Paolo may have had some part in supervising the effort or have been part of the family that commissioned the manuscript. However, more recent evidence about the biography and in particular poor finances of Paolo has his connection to financing the manuscript unlikely. The manuscript was owned by renowned organist Antonio Squarcialupi in the middle of the 15th century, then by his nephew, and then passed into the estate of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici
Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici
Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italian nobleman, one of three sons of Lorenzo the Magnificent.-Biography:He was born in Florence, Italy. His brothers were Piero and Giovanni de' Medici....
, who gave it to the Biblioteca Palatina
Biblioteca Palatina
The Biblioteca Palatina , established in Parma in the year 1761 by Philip Bourbon, Duke of Parma. It is located in Piazzale Pilotta. The Palatina Library was named after Apollus Palatinus.- Collection :...
in the early 16th century. At the end of the 18th century it passed into the ownership of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
The first folio in the codex states: "This book is owned by Antonio di Bartolomeo Squarcialupi
Antonio Squarcialupi
Antonio Squarcialupi was an Italian organist and composer. He was the most famous organist in Italy in the mid-15th century.-Life:...
, organist of Santa Maria del Fiore." On the following pages, added later, are humanistic poems in praise of Squarcialupi.
All of the compositions in the codex are secular songs in Italian: ballata
Ballata
The ballata is an Italian poetic and musical form, which was in use from the late 13th to the 15th century. It has the musical structure AbbaA, with the first and last stanzas having the same texts. It is thus most similar to the French musical 'forme fixe' virelai...
, madrigal
Madrigal (Trecento)
The Madrigal is an Italian musical form of the 14th century. The form flourished ca. 1300 – 1370 with a short revival near 1400. It was a composition for two voices, sometimes on a pastoral subject...
s, and cacce: there are 353 in all, and they can be dated to the period from 1340 to 1415. Notably absent are Italian pieces by Johannes Ciconia
Johannes Ciconia
Johannes Ciconia was a late medieval composer and music theorist who worked most of his adult life in Italy, particularly in the service of the Papal Chapels and at the cathedral of Padua....
, a northerner transplanted into Italy, and the more innovative compositions of Antonio Zachara da Teramo.