Giovanni da Firenze (da Cascia) [Johannes de Florentia]

( fl. 14th C.)

Italian composer, from Cascia in Umbria. He was organist at Florence cathedral and reformed the musical establishment there sometime in the first half of the fourteenth century; he also served at the courts of Milan and of Mastino della Scala, tyrant ruler of Verona, between 1329 and 1351, where he was involved in musical competitions. One of the first Italian trecento composers to achieve widespread fame and one of the earliest represented in the Squarcialupi Codex , he composed mainly madrigals in two parts, often to sensuous and amorous texts. However he did also write two exciting cacce, Per larghi prati and the especially fine Con bracchi assai, which describes a quail hunt.




A Partial Giovanni da Firenze (da Cascia) Discography  |  IIIA: The Florentine Group