Alfonso Fontanelli

Born in Reggio Fontanelli served the Ferrarese court, followed by service in Modena and a brief stay in the court of Cosimo II de'Medici in Florence, He also travelled to Venice, Naples, and Rome. Fontenelli was one of the leading figures for the Ferrarese madrigalian style. Musically the madrigals of Fontanelli can be described as minimalist. He would employ the use of imitation for very short phrases and in very sharp and quick rhythms. Changes were fast and highly detailed yielding music that can be described both as busy and thick. These madrigal types are typically found in his "primo libro" while the madrigals in "secondo libro" were much the same. It was thought that he may have been making an attempt to assuage different tastes by suggesting in the preface of the secondo libro that this collection was not the same as the primo libro. Unfortunately, this was not the case. ~ Keith Johnson