Marco dall'Aquila [Marco d'Aquila; Marco da L'Aquila]

(ca.1480-1544)


Italian lutenist and composer, born in L'Aquila. He appears to have spent most of his professional career in Venice, the center of lute playing and publishing in the early sixteenth century. In 1505, he obtained a privilege from the Venetian Signoria to publish lute music, but Ottaviano Petrucci, who had received his own privilege seven years before, seems to have objected and Marco's publication apparently never appeared. His petition may have forced Petrucci into action, however, for within two years the latter published the first two books of lute music, Francesco Spinacino's Libro Prima and Libro Secondo of 1507. Most of his music survives in a manuscript now housed in the Bavarian State Library, Munich Mus Ms. 266.. He is represented, together with Francesco da Milano in a 1536 lute anthology. In these pieces, he makes notable early usage of the term "fantasia" as applied to lute music, preferring this form to dances or transcriptions of vocal pieces. His technique shows the influence of Josquin de Pres, and his fantasias are balanced and symmetrical in form.





A Partial Marco dall'Aquila Discography |  IVE: Music for Organ and Lute