Giandomenico Martoretta

Giandomenico Martoretta (Mileto 1515–1560s?) was an Italian Renaissance composer.^[1] Little is known of his life, but the style of the dedication of the "master of theology" Giovanfrancesco di Chara in the second book indicates that Martoretta may have been minor gentry or member of an academy. But the preface to the third book of madrigals reveals that he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and stayed in Cyprus as guest of a certain noble cavaliere, Piero Singlitico.^[2] His first book of madrigals was written in the rapid note nere, black note, style introduced by Constanzo Festa. Theodor Kroyer (1902)^[3] believed that Martoretta's madrigals demonstrated chromatic keys.^[4]

Editions

• Il primo libro di madrigali cromatici a quattro voci (1548) Gardano, Venice.
• Il secondo libro di madrigali cromatici a quattro voci (1552) edited by Maria Antonella Balsano, Firenze, 1988 (Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane Vol.11).^[5]
• Il terzo libro di madrigali cromatici a quattro voci (1554)

References

1. Giuseppe Donato, Polifonisti calabresi dei secoli XVI e XVII Coro polifonico S. Paolo di Reggio Calabria, Reggio di Calabria (Italy : Province) - 1985 p167 "Ma chi era Giandomenico Martoretta? Da dove veniva? Che prove aveva dato, perchè un signore di così alto rango pensasse che ... Dalla dedica del secondo libro di madrigali a quattro voci apprendiamo che Martoretta era nato a Mileto,
2. James Haar Essays on Italian poetry and music in the Renaissance, 1350-1600 p103 1986
3. Kroyer (1873-1945) Die Anfänge der Chromatik im italienischen Madrigal des XVI. Jahrhunderts. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Madrigals (1902).
4. The Musical quarterly vol 23 1937 ed. Oscar George Theodore Sonneck "He believes that, through their fortunate discovery, he has proved the existence of the "chromatic" chiavette. The works in question are two madrigals Sopra duo Toni, by Giandomenico Martoretta: Laura suave vita di mia vita, from his Second Book of Madrigals (1552), with the following combinations of clefs: MTTB and SAA Bar, both without signature; and O pothos isdio, from his Third Book (1554) "
5. Series of Renaissance Sicilian composers including Claudio Pari, Pietro Vinci, Antonio Il Verso, Antonio Formica, Tommaso Giglio, Anselmo Fazio, Giovan Pietro Flaccomio, Erasmo Marotta, Sigismondo d'India, Giandomenico Martoretta, Cataldo Amodei, Bartolomeo Montalbano, Bonaventura Rubino, Vincenzo Gallo. Mario Capuana