Research: Italian Sixteenth-Century Music

I've done most of my research in this area, starting with my PhD, which I completed in 1995. The madrigal was my first love, ever since I was in a madrigal group at high school in the 1970s, but we sang motets, too, and so I guess it was just the sound of the Italian Renaissance that drew me in.

Here, then, are some of my major projects, with summaries and references (if any).

Musica Secreta, the ensemble

The early music ensemble Musica Secreta has been around for twenty years now, started by my wonderful friend, soprano Deborah Roberts, and the sadly-missed John Toll. I joined up with them in 2000, specifically for the Dangerous Graces project, and then stayed. Deborah and I have run several projects together now, focussing on both madrigals and convent music. The latest of these, Sacred Hearts, Secret Music, is the product of a collaboration with novelist Sarah Dunant.

Visit the Musica Secreta site

Musica Secreta, the book

In 2000, I was awarded a Large Research Grant by the then Arts and Humanities Research Board to investigate performance practice associated with women musicians in Italy in the mid- to late sixteenth century. The so-called concerto di dame that flourished at the Ferrarese court of Alfonso II d'Este is perhaps the most famous girl group prior to the Supremes (well, OK, maybe stretching a point, but there's a case), and although Anthony Newcomb published a wonderful study on them - The Madrigal at Ferrara, 1579-1597 (Princeton, 1981) - I was always convinced there was more to their story. Musica Secreta and I worked together to produce a CD, and I wrote up some of the research and mounted our experimental scores on a website.

I never really did get to tell the whole tale, though, and so now I'm writing a book, Musica Secreta: Women, Polyphony and Performance that will try and tie together the history, the music and the theory. I'll be adding a chapter on the nuns in Ferrara, for while the ladies at the court were a very exclusive group who sang only for Alfonso, Margherita and their special guests, the nuns' music was very much more accessible and public (even if you couldn't see them) - and yet, they are not remembered and the ladies of the concerto are. Go figure. So, lots of meanings for musica secreta, then.

Visit the Dangerous Graces website

Note: it's very old, and I haven't added to it for ages. Some bits may not work anymore!

Don Lodovico Agostini

Ah, the lovely Lodovico. This guy must have been a character, and I could wish for a time machine so that I could meet him. I've written a number of articles, big and small, on him and probably could write another book if a) I had the time, and b) I thought anyone would buy it. He was the illegitimate son of a Ferrarese priest, but he became a very high-ranking member of the Church. Later in life he was employed by Alfonso II d'Este in his chapel, but he seems to have spent most of his time writing musical puzzles and novelties. He didn't shy away from naughty topics, either, particularly in his Latin works. But he also taught, and he published a very popular religious tract on the Sacrament of the Eucharist. So he was a priest, composer, singer, teacher, pornographer, preacher, and court-jester, and probably many things other besides. You can find the references to my articles in my university publication list.