Everything about Giovanni Battista Guarini totally explained
Giovanni Battista Guarini (
December 10,
1538 –
October 7,
1612) was an
Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.
Life
He was born in
Ferrara, and spent his early life both in
Padua and Ferrara, entering the service of
Alfonso II d'Este,
Duke of Ferrara, in
1567. After 15 years in the service of the Duke, he resigned and withdrew to his family estate, the Villa Guarina, where he wrote his most notable work,
Il pastor fido (1590;
The Faithful Shepherd, 1647). This play, a pastoral tragicomedy, polished in style, was translated into many languages and became popular during the 17th century. It set the pattern for a code of refinement and gallantry that lasted until the late 18th century.
He was the father of
Anna Guarini, one of the famous virtuoso singers of the Ferrara court, the three women of the
concerto di donne. She was murdered by her husband in 1598, with the assistance of her brother Girolamo.
Work and influence
No poet was more influential on
music history in the late
Renaissance and
Baroque eras than Guarini. His poems were set more often by
madrigal composers than the work of any other poet, even
Tasso, who came in a close second; the prolific madrigal composer
Philippe de Monte even named one of his collections
Il pastor fido after Guarini's most famous work. His popularity was due to his providing texts to composers which were rich with possibilities for
word-painting and other easy translations of emotion into music.
In addition to his decisive influence on madrigal composers, he was the single largest influence on opera
librettists up until the time of
Metastasio in the 18th century.
While Guarini's work may be seen as lacking the deep feeling and sentiment of his predecessor at the Estensi court,
Torquato Tasso, it was precisely this quality which commended it to musical setting at a time when excessive emotionalism had become unfashionable.
An example of his work would be "O come e gran martire" from Libro Terzo dei Madrigali (1592), Monteverdi.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Giovanni Battista Guarini'.
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