Antonello da Caserta facts for kids

Antonello da Caserta, also known as Anthonello de Casetta or Antonellus Marot, was an Italian composer from the Middle Ages. He was active in the late 1300s and early 1400s.

Life and Music Career

We don't know much about Antonello's life. For a while, people thought he might have been from Naples. But most of his music that still exists today was found in old books from northern Italy. This makes people think he probably wasn't from Naples after all.

Some clues in his song lyrics suggest he worked for the powerful Visconti family in Milan. This was around the year 1400. There's also a record from 1402 that mentions a "frater Antoniello de Caserta" at the Visconti court in Pavia. This might mean he was a monk, but we don't know which religious group he belonged to.

His Music Style

Antonello da Caserta is considered an important composer who came after the famous French musician Guillaume de Machaut. Antonello wrote music for both French and Italian poems. He even set one of Machaut's poems to music, called Beauté parfaite. This is special because it's the only time someone other than Machaut himself put one of his poems to music.

Antonello was very much influenced by French music styles. He was one of the first Italian composers to be so. One of his ballades even includes a part from a song by Jehan Vaillant, a composer from Paris. Antonello also used unusual ways to write down rhythms in his music. He also used "proportional rhythms" in some of his ballades. This was a technique that became more popular later on. His Italian songs, especially the ballate, tend to be simpler. Both his French and Italian works often sang about courtly love, which was a popular topic at the time.

List of Works

French Songs

(All these songs are for three voices)

Ballades

• Amour m'a le cuer mis (Love has taken my heart)
• Beauté parfaite (Perfect beauty)
• Dame d'onour en qui (Lady of honor in whom)
• Du val prilleus (or Du ciel perileus) (From the dangerous valley / From the perilous sky)
• Notes pour moi ceste ballade (Notes for me this ballade)
• Nulle pitie de ma dame (No pity from my lady) (This one might be by Antonello)

Rondeaux

• Dame d'onour c'on ne puet esprixier (Lady of honor whom one cannot value)
• Dame zentil en qui est ma sperance (Gentle lady in whom is my hope)

Virelai

• Tres nouble dame souverayne (Very noble sovereign lady)

Italian Songs

(All these songs are for two voices)

Ballatas

• A pianger l'ochi (To weep the eyes)
• Con dogliosi martire (With sorrowful torment)
• Deh, vogliateme oldire (Ah, please hear me)
• Madonna, io me ramento (My lady, I remember)
• Or tolta pur me sey (Now you are taken from me)
• Più chiar ch'el sol (Clearer than the sun) (This one has a small part for a third voice)

Madrigal

• Del glorioso titolo d'esto duce (Of the glorious title of this leader)

See also

In Spanish: Anthonello da Caserta para niños