Alfonso Ferrabosco I

about

Alfonso Ferrabosco (baptized January 18, 1543 – August 12, 1588) was an Italian composer. While mostly famous as the solitary Italian madrigalist working in England, and the one mainly responsible for the growth of the madrigal there, he also composed much sacred music. He also may have been a spy for Elizabeth I while he was in Italy. His son, Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger was also a composer. Contents He was the eldest son of Domenico Ferrabosco, and a member of an aristocratic Bolognese family which had many musicians among its members. Alfonso was born in Bologna.[1] Little is known about his early life, but he is known to have spent part of it in Rome and part in Lorraine in the service of Charles of Guise. In 1562, probably with his uncle, he came to England for the first time, where he found employment with Elizabeth I. Throughout his life he made periodic trips to Italy, not without controversy, for evidently neither the Pope nor the Inquisition fully approved of his spending time in England, which was in the late 16th century actively at war with Roman Catholic countries. While in England, he lost his Italian inheritance, and while away in Italy he was charged with certain crimes in England (including robbing and killing another foreigner). While he was successful in clearing his name, he left England in 1578 and never returned; he died in Bologna. Many have said that he was a secret service agent for Elizabeth, working during a time when such intelligence was de

top songs

albums

Music for a Tudor Court

▥

English Lute Duets

▥

Lute Music Of The Renaissance From The Schele Manuscript 1619

Four Temperaments

▥

Artistry Of Clas Pehrsson (The)

The Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal

▥

Forlorn Hope Fancy: Renaissance Dances and Fantasies for Lute

▥

Madame d'amours: Music for Renaissance Flute Consort

▥

A Fantasy Through Time

▥

The English Viol

Te Deum laudamus: Music on the Freiberg Cathedral Angel Instruments from 1594

▥

Perfect Polyphony

similar artists