Ferrara

Bembo and music

There is little information about Bembo’s first stay in Ferrara (1497–1499) regarding music.

In a letter sent to his friend Angelo Gabriele dated 1 March 1499 Bembo reported having attended the performances of three comedies, which had been staged in February in the Sala Grande of the palace. Although Bembo did not mention it, those comedies were performed with musical intermedi. Quite detailed information about that can be drawn from letters sent to Isabella d’Este by her informer Giano Pencaro, who attended those performances and described songs and dances. During his second stay in Ferrara (1502–1503), Bembo was closely linked to Lucrezia Borgia, as the lively exchange of letters between the two attests. According to David Fallows, Filippo Mazzola’s portrait of a musician might be directly linked to Pietro Bembo and Lucrezia’s circle. In this portrait, the unknown musician holds a paper on which a simplified version of Josquin’s chanson Guillame se va chaufer is combined with a verse from Bembo’s Asolani . It is also likely that Bembo met Josquin in person since their paths crossed in Ferrara for about nine months, and he probably acted as a bridge between the Flemish composer and his friend Ercole Strozzi, who wrote the text of Virgo salutiferi. Bembo certainly had occasions to listen to musicians playing at the court. In a letter written on 15 June 1503 , he explicitly recalls a performance by Jacopo da San Secondo, which he had attended together with Lucrezia. This event is of particular interest because it was Bembo who, through the intermediary of his brother Carlo, had purchased the strings used by Jacopo. However, after hearing the performance, Bembo was particularly disappointed with their quality. It is not clear whether contemporaries’ praises of Lucrezia’s singing – among which Ercole Strozzi’s De diva Borgia canente, published posthumously in 1513 – correspond to the truth, and if Bembo witnessed Lucrezia’s performances, since he did not mention them in his epistolary. In his Latin poem Ad Lucretiam Borgiam , however, Bembo provided an idealized portrait of the Duchess, exalting her multiple abilities, including singing and dancing. Ferrara’s court life is well reflected in Bembo’s Asolani, which he had already started to compose in December 1497. The Asolani were substantially ready before the meeting with Lucrezia Borgia, but were later reworked and dedicated to her. In particular, the description of the musical performances of ladies accompanying themselves on lute and viola reflects the improvisatory tradition particularly rooted in Ferrara.

Marchetto Cara, Io non compro più speranza (Frottole libro primo, Venezia 1504)

Roberta Invernizzi, Accademia strumentale italiana, Alberto Rasi