For the tractor manufacturer, see Landini (tractor)

Landini playing a miniature organ (illustration from the 15th century Squarcialupi Codex)

Francesco Landini or Landino (around 1325 – September 2, 1397) was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet and instrument maker. Landini SpA headquartered in Fabbrico, Italy, was founded by Giovanni Landini in 1884 to produce agricultural equipment The Squarcialupi Codex (Florence Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Med Events 44 BC - Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each He was one of the most famous and revered composers of the second half of the 14th century, and by far the most famous composer in Italy.

Life

Details of his life are sketchy, but a few facts can be established with certainty, and the general outline has begun to take shape as more research has been done, especially into Florentine records. Most of the original biographical data on Landini comes from a 1385 book on famous Florentine citizens by chronicler Filippo Villani, who was also born approximately 1325. Filippo Villani (fl end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century was a chonicler of Florence

Landini was most likely born in Florence, though his great-nephew, humanist Cristoforo Landino, gave his birthplace as Fiesole. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Cristoforo Landino ( 1424 - 24 September 1498) was a humanist and an important figure of the Florentine Renaissance. Fiesole is a town and Comune of the Province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above His father, Jacopo del Casentino, was a noted painter in the school of Giotto. Jacopo del Casentino (c 1330 &ndash 1380 was an Italian painter called Jacopo Landino or da Prato Vecchio, active mainly in Tuscany. Blind from childhood (an effect of contracting smallpox), Landini became devoted to music early in life, and mastered many instruments, including the lute, as well as the art of singing, writing poetry, and composition. Smallpox is an Infectious disease unique to humans caused by either of two virus variants named Variola major and Variola minor. Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either Fretted or unfretted and a deep round back or more specifically to an instrument from Villani, in his chronicle, also stated that Landini was an inventor of instruments, including a stringed instrument called the 'syrena syrenarum', that combined features of the lute and psaltery, and it is believed to be the ancestor of the bandura. A psaltery is a stringed Musical instrument of the Harp or the Zither family Bandura (Банду́ра refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument.

According to Villani, Landini was given a crown of laurel by the King of Cyprus, who was in Venice for several periods during the 1360s. The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489 Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Probably Landini spent some time in northern Italy prior to 1370. Evidence in some of his music also points to this: he dedicated one motet to Andrea Contarini, who was Doge of Venice from 1368 to 1382; and in addition, his works are well-represented in northern Italian sources. In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions Andrea Contarini was Doge of Venice from 1367 to 1382. He served as doge during the War of Chioggia, which was fought between the Venetian The Doge ( Venetian language, also Doxe, derived from Latin Dux military leader duke cf

He was employed as organist at the Florentine monastery of Santa Trinità in 1361, and at the church of San Lorenzo from 1365 onward. He was heavily involved in the political and religious controversies of his day, according to Villani, but he seems to have remained in the good graces of the Florentine authorities. Landini knew many of the other Italian composers of the Trecento, including Lorenzo da Firenze, with whom he was associated at Santa Trinità, as well as Andreas da Florentia, who he knew in the 1370s. Lorenzo da Firenze (Magister Laurentius de Florentia Masini (d Andrea da Firenze can also refer to a Quattrocento painter see Andrea da Bonaiuto. Around or shortly after 1375, Andreas hired him as a consultant to help build the organ at the Servite house in Florence. The Servite Order, whose members are known as Servite Friars or Servants of Mary, is one of the five original Catholic Mendicant orders Its objects are Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Among the surviving records are the receipts for the wine that the two consumed during the three days it took to tune the instrument. Landini also helped build the new organ at SS Annunziata in 1379, and in 1387 he was involved in yet another organ-building project, this time at Florence Cathedral.

Numerous contemporary writers attest to his fame, not only as a composer, but as a singer, poet, organist, and passionately devoted citizen of Florence. His reputation for moving an audience with his music was so powerful that writers noted "the sweetness of his melodies was such that hearts burst from their bosoms. " ^[1]

He is buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. His tombstone, lost until the 19th century and now again displayed in the church, contains a depiction of him with a portative organ similar to the one shown. A portative organ ( portatif organ, portativ organ, or simply portative, portatif, or portativ) (from the Latin verb

Music and influence

Landini was the foremost exponent of the Italian Trecento style, sometimes also called the "Italian ars nova". The Trecento (Italian for 300 or from "mille trecento" 1300 refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history The Trecento was a period of vigorous activity in Italy in the arts including painting architecture literature and music His output was almost exclusively secular. While there are records of his having composed sacred music, none of it has survived. What has survived are eighty-nine ballate for two voices, forty-two ballate for three voices, and another nine which exist in both a two and a three-voice version. The ballata (plural ballate) is an Italian poetic and Musical form, which was in use from the late 13th to the 15th century In addition to the ballatas, a smaller number of madrigals have survived. The Madrigal is an Italian musical form of the 14th century. The form flourished ca Landini is assumed to have written his own texts for many of his works. His output, preserved chiefly in the Squarcialupi Codex, represents almost a quarter of all surviving 14th century Italian music. The Squarcialupi Codex (Florence Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Med

Landini is the eponym of the Landini cadence (or Landino sixth), a cadential formula whereby the sixth degree of the scale (the submediant) is inserted between the leading note and its resolution on the tonic. A Landini cadence is a type of cadence, a technique in Music composition, named after Francesco Landini (1325-1397 a blind Florentine organist in honor In Western Musical theory, a harmonic cadence (Latin cadentia, "a falling" is a formula of two chords that conclude In Music, the submediant is the sixth tonal degree of the Diatonic scale. In Music theory, a leading-tone (called the leading- note outside the US is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of Musical composition. However this cadence neither originated with him, nor is unique to his music; it can be found in much polyphonic music of the period, and well into the 15th century (for example in the songs of Gilles Binchois). Gilles Binchois, also known as Gilles de Binche or Gilles de Bins (c Gherardello da Firenze is the earliest composer to use the cadence whose works have survived. Gherardello da Firenze (also Niccolò di Francesco or Ghirardellus de Florentia‎) (c Yet Landini used the formula consistently throughout his music, so the eponym—which dates from after the medieval era—is appropriate.

In one of his madrigals, he set a text he wrote himself: "I am Music, and weeping I regret seeing intelligent people forsaking my sweet and perfect sounds for street music. " ^[2]

See also

• Music of the Trecento

References and further reading

• Richard H. The Trecento was a period of vigorous activity in Italy in the arts including painting architecture literature and music Hoppin, Medieval Music. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. , 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
• Kurt von Fischer, Gianluca D'Agostino: "Francesco Landini", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 16, 2005), (subscription access)

Notes

1. ^ Richard H. Hoppin, Medieval Music, p. 455. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. , 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
2. ^ Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Music Literature Outlines Series I), p. 82. Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X

External links

• Francesco Landini: Works List & Discography