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1. THE MUSIC OF FRANCESCO LANDINI 1
The Music of Francesco Landini
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
2. THE MUSIC OF FRANCESCO LANDINI 2
The Music of Francesco Landini
The epoch of Ars nova left a set of musical masterpieces. The data on the musicians
of this epoch is not full. Only one composer of this epoch won the glory at life and was sung
not by one biographer. This musician, undoubtedly, is the greatest representative of the
Florentine music of the 14th
century. He was called Francesco Cyeco (“Blind man”), but his
real name is Francesco Landini, who greatly impressed his contemporaries. (Hoppin, 1978).
Francesco Landini was born in Fiesole, near Florence, in 1325, in the family of a
painter. After smallpox in his childhood he became blind forever. Since his early childhood
Francesco started singing and playing musical instruments: string and room organ. His father,
Jacob Landini, paid a special attention to his son’s inclinations. Having earned by private
lessons, he carefully collected the considerable sum of money and sent his son to study music
with the best Florentine masters. Thus, Francesco Landini’s greatest talent was truly revealed.
He started practicing music early (at first to sing, then to play string instruments and organ).
With amazing speed he mastered a lute, a lira, a harp, a flute, a violin and a cembalo,
delighting his listeners by so skillful play. His musical development went with a wonderful
speed and amazed people around. He excellently studied a design of many tools, brought
improvements and invented new samples. Over the years Francesco Landini surpassed all his
contemporaries - Italian musicians. (Fiori, 2004).
Landini’s biography is reported by the author of the two-volume chronicle of “Liber
de origine civitatis Florentiae et eiusdem famosis civibus” by Filippo Villani. According to
his evidences, Landini received a very good arts education. He knew grammar, philosophy,
poetry, astrology, and studied music at the Florentine masters. The glory of Landini was great
even during his lifetime. Villani in the chronicle written soon after the death of Landini,
characterized him as the genius of his time:
3. THE MUSIC OF FRANCESCO LANDINI 3
He is a master of rhetoric and logic, and has composed poems and novellas.
He has written a great many good things in Italian - a reproach, it seems to
me, to the effeminate youth of Florence, the eager pursuers of feminine finery,
dissipated in shameful wantonness, whose proud many spirit has been
neglected (Wood, 1939).
The hand-written collected works of music of that time included Jacob Bolonsky’s 23
works, Giovanni Florentiysky’s 19 works, and several compositions of other authors. There
were 86 Francesco Landini’s compositions, which became the indicator of his glory. His play
on an organ glorified him; he was crowned with laurels in Venice in 1364 in the presence of
Petrarch.
Landini’s music is known for its progressive tonal layout and clearly defined
parts. There is often a logical formal design to Landini’s settings, and one
characteristic cadence of the period has been named for him. Although it did
not remain in fashion for long, Landini’s music was used as a model by Italian
Ars Subtilior composers, who sometimes added new parts (McComb, 2012).
Modern researchers refer his early works to 1365 - 1370. It is known that Landini
communicated with poets much in Florence; he composed verses, participated in scientific
esthetic disputes of humanists. The San Lorenzo Cathedral in Florence, where he served as an
organist, was his constant place of work. There were many enthusiastic pupils around him,
whom he dictated his compositions. His creativity embodied humanity, width and electricity
of that time, traditions of religious and secular music. Landini died on September 2, 1397 in
Florence and was buried in San Lorenzo Cathedral. Only few Landini’s compositions had
been published for a long time. At present, 154 compositions of Landini are known. The
majority of them belong to the genre of ballata, but there are also some madrigales and
caccias. (Fiori, 2004).
4. THE MUSIC OF FRANCESCO LANDINI 4
Melodics is the characteristic feature of Landini’s music. The main melody can
predominate over the other voices like in “Echo la primavera”, and can have something in
common with them as in “Amor con fede”; everything depends on a plan. Thus, the
composer very accurately perceived a musical form as a unit, having a beginning,
culmination and end. Probably, it is all about the structure of a poetic text, addition to which
Landini’s compositions served.
Undoubtedly, Landini’s creativity is distinguished from the other authors of the
epoch: thecontent is richer, the form is well-thought, the polyphony is more developed, and
the style is more individual. At the same time, his art is changed according to the inquiries of
time, his skills are perfected. By the scale of his personality, Landini belongs to the early
Renaissance, but by time - to the end of Ars nova epoch.
At present, the works of this composer are often performed at festivals of both
medieval and new music. Many symphonic orchestras, vocal and instrumental ensembles
include Landini’s compositions into their programs. However, they are strongly simplified,
because all works of the composer are incredibly difficult for performance. The known
ensembles performing the music of Landini are: “Gothic Voices”, “Micrologus”,
“Anonymous 4”, “La Reverdie”, “Alla Francesca”, “Hortus Musicus”, “L’Arpeggiata”, etc.
The balata “Ecco La Primavera” is Francesco Landini’s most famous composition, his some
kind of a visit card.
Landini’s clear melodic vision and expressivity serve to assure his music’s
place in the Ars Nova repertory. However, as one can easily observe by
perusing the following discographies, the majority of his works have yet to be
recorded (McComb, 2012).
In total, excluding fakes and the works of anonymous authors attributed by Francesco
Landini, his musical heritage composes: 9 two-part madrigales, 2 three-part madrigales, 1
5. THE MUSIC OF FRANCESCO LANDINI 5
initial three-part madrigale, 1 three-part virelai, 1 three-part caccia, 91 two-part ballatas, 49
three-part ballatas (eight of them are also in two-part options), 1 three-part motetas and 3
fragments of motetas.
6. THE MUSIC OF FRANCESCO LANDINI 6
References
Fiori A. (2004). Francesco Landini. Palermo: L’epos.
Hoppin R. H. (1978). Medieval Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Co.
McComb T. M. (2012). Francesco Landini (c.1325-1397): Works List & Discography.
Retrieved from http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/landini.html
Wood L. (1939). The Works of Francesco Landini. Cambridge, Mass.: The Medieval
Academy of America, pp. 301-303.