DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0156
MUSIC AND DANCING
101
who, after spending some years in the service of
Pope Sixtus IV. and Lorenzo de' Medici, was now
the Duke of Ferraras choir-master. Sometimes the
Duchess herself or one of her ladies would sing
Petrarchs verses to the lute, or else Josquin de
Pres' own setting of Virgil's lament of Dido, which
was one of Elisabetta's favourite songs. Jacopo
di Sansecondo would charm his listeners with the
melodious strains of his viol; or Morello, the aged lord
of Ortona, would play the lute with his wonted skill.
Then all of a sudden Barletta would strike up a
merry tune on his instruments, and Madonna
Margarita and Costanzo Fregoso would join hands
and dance a stately Spanish or sprightly French
to the delight of the assembled company.
On winter nights the whole party often joined in
these dances, and in January, 1505, Fra Serahno
wrote that every evening cavaliers and ladies danced
in the Sala Grande of the palace, to the music of four
pipers from Ferrara. Dancing, we know, in Cas-
tiglione's opinion, was an accomplishment in which
every courtier was bound to be proficient, even if he
could not attain to the perfection of Messer Roberto
da Bari, who had no rival in this art, and danced with
such grace and enjoyment that he often allowed
the cloak to fall from his shoulders and slippers
drop oft his feet, without ever pausing to pick them
upd At other times round games of different sorts,
such as the Sienese when questions were
passed round the circle, and forfeits paid for inap-
propriate answers; or that of /LLtdrn, when a battle-
dore was brought into use, and repartees were swiftly
exchanged as the shuttlecock flew from one to the
* ' Cortegiano,' i. 27.
101
who, after spending some years in the service of
Pope Sixtus IV. and Lorenzo de' Medici, was now
the Duke of Ferraras choir-master. Sometimes the
Duchess herself or one of her ladies would sing
Petrarchs verses to the lute, or else Josquin de
Pres' own setting of Virgil's lament of Dido, which
was one of Elisabetta's favourite songs. Jacopo
di Sansecondo would charm his listeners with the
melodious strains of his viol; or Morello, the aged lord
of Ortona, would play the lute with his wonted skill.
Then all of a sudden Barletta would strike up a
merry tune on his instruments, and Madonna
Margarita and Costanzo Fregoso would join hands
and dance a stately Spanish or sprightly French
to the delight of the assembled company.
On winter nights the whole party often joined in
these dances, and in January, 1505, Fra Serahno
wrote that every evening cavaliers and ladies danced
in the Sala Grande of the palace, to the music of four
pipers from Ferrara. Dancing, we know, in Cas-
tiglione's opinion, was an accomplishment in which
every courtier was bound to be proficient, even if he
could not attain to the perfection of Messer Roberto
da Bari, who had no rival in this art, and danced with
such grace and enjoyment that he often allowed
the cloak to fall from his shoulders and slippers
drop oft his feet, without ever pausing to pick them
upd At other times round games of different sorts,
such as the Sienese when questions were
passed round the circle, and forfeits paid for inap-
propriate answers; or that of /LLtdrn, when a battle-
dore was brought into use, and repartees were swiftly
exchanged as the shuttlecock flew from one to the
* ' Cortegiano,' i. 27.