The concerto delle donne was an ensemble of professional female singers of late Renaissance music in Italy. The term usually refers to the first and most influential group, which existed between 1580 and 1597 in Ferrara. The Ferrarese group's core members were the sopranos Laura Peverara, Livia d'Arco and Anna Guarini; they were renowned for their technical and artistic virtuosity. In 1580, Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, formally established the concerto delle donne, including professional singers of upper-class, but not noble, backgrounds. Their signature style of florid, highly ornamented singing brought prestige to Ferrara and inspired composers of the time such as Lodovico Agostini, Carlo Gesualdo and Claudio Monteverdi. The concerto delle donne revolutionized the role of women in professional music, and continued the tradition of the Este court as a musical center. Word of the ensemble spread, inspiring imitations in the courts of the Medici and Orsini.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto_delle_donne> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1724: Johann Sebastian Bach directed his cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20 in Leipzig on the first Sunday after Trinity, beginning his chorale cantata cycle. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Ewigkeit,_du_Donnerwort,_BWV_20> 1914: Around 2,000 members of European society attended a ball at Kenwood House, England, in one of the last major social events before the outbreak of the First World War. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1914_Kenwood_House_ball> 1963: The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor George Wallace stepped aside after defiantly blocking the entrance to an auditorium (pictured). <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: baldric: 1. A broad belt, originally of leather and often richly ornamented, worn diagonally from shoulder to hip (across the breast and under the opposite arm), which was formerly used to hold a sword, a bugle, etc., and is now chiefly worn for ceremonial purposes; also (loosely), any belt. 2. (obsolete) 3. (by extension) A (usually leather) strap from which the clapper of a bell is suspended. 4. (by extension) A necklace. 5. 6. (figurative) The zodiac (“belt-like region of the celestial sphere, approximately eight degrees north and south of the ecliptic, which includes the apparent path of the sun, moon, and visible planets”). <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baldric> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: A good life is a main argument. --Ben Jonson <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
