Francesco Landini

Italian musician

• Born: c. 1325
• Birthplace: Fiesole, near Florence (now in Italy)
• Died: September 2, 1397
• Place of death: Florence (now in Italy)

Landini was the most highly regarded Italian composer and performer of his time.

Early Life

Francesco Landini (lahn-DEE-nee) was born in the small town of Fiesole, northeast of Florence. He was the son of Jacopo del Casentino, a respected Florentine painter. Landini lost his sight as a result of smallpox while he was still a young child. Nevertheless, he received a thorough education in the liberal arts, which included the study of geometry, astronomy, rhetoric, and grammar as well as music.

Undaunted by his misfortune or, perhaps, because of it, he learned to sing and play music and write poetry with considerable skill. His primary instrument was the organ; there are a number of accounts attesting his skill at all keyboards, including the organetto, a small portative organ that could be played with one hand while being pumped with the other. His reputation as a virtuoso performer extended to other instruments, including the flute, recorder, lute, and rebec. He is credited with the invention of a stringed instrument, the serena serenarum, which has not survived the test of time. He also worked as an organ tuner and builder in Florence. The most important position held by him was that of organist at the Florentine church of San Lorenzo, a position he held from 1362 until his death in 1397.

In addition to his accomplishments as a skilled performing musician, Landini was a composer. His contemporaries considered him the equal of the best French composer of the age, Guillaume de Machaut. While still a young man, Landini is believed to have studied composition with Jacopo da Bologna, one of the major fourteenth century Italian composers of the older generation.

Life’s Work

The major Italian composers of the trecento divide into an early group located in northern Italy (perhaps best represented by the works of Giovanni da Cascia and Jacopo da Bologna, Landini’s teacher) and a later group located in Florence, which catered to the tastes of the Florentine aristocracy and literati. The latter group’s style is primarily represented by the works of Francesco Landini.

Landini was a secular composer who composed two- and three-part compositions. His extant work consists of 154 secular Italian compositions, including two cacce, twelve madrigals, and 140 ballate. His importance among his contemporaries can be easily deduced from the fact that an unusually large number of his compositions have been preserved, primarily in Italian manuscripts, representing approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of all extant Italian trecento compositions.

The most important repository of his work is the Squarcialupi Codex , named for the Florentine organist Antonio Squarcialupi, who once had it in his possession. The codex, a richly illuminated manuscript that was compiled in the early fifteenth century, contains a total of 352 secular Italian compositions. Of these, there are a remarkable 145 compositions by Landini.

Landini’s style reflects the Italian penchant for beautiful melody. His music abounds with smooth, vocally oriented melodies that are in sharp contrast to the compositional practice of French composers of his time. The harmony of his music is sweeter and not as harsh or dissonant to modern ears because of his sparing use of parallel seconds and sevenths as well as an increased use of full triads. In general, the easy flow of his music impresses the listener with a sense of gracefulness and spontaneity, qualities that have been associated with Italian music for many centuries.

It would be inaccurate, however, to assume that Landini was not affected by the French compositional procedures then so prevalent. The French influence on Italian music during the fourteenth century was considerable, particularly after the return of the Papacy to Rome in 1377; examples of that influence can be seen in Landini’s music as well as in that of his Italian contemporaries.

The madrigal and caccia were older Italian forms that flourished in the earlier part of the fourteenth century, while the period of the ballata’s popularity began somewhat later, in the last half of the century. This changing taste can be seen in the disproportionate number of ballate composed by Landini. Almost all Landini’s output, 140 of 154 compositions, is in the form of ballata with ninety being written with two parts and fifty with three parts. The ballata, which gradually replaced the older caccia and madrigal in popularity, is believed to have been originally associated with dance. The musical form itself was the same as the French virelay, one of the very popular secular forms used during the fourteenth century. A considerable portion of Landini’s three-part ballate are texted only in the upper voice; the two lower voices move in an instrumental fashion. This particular three-voice texture was so widely used in fourteenth century France that the term “French ballade style” has been widely adopted to describe it when it occurs elsewhere. Also, some of Landini’s three-part compositions reveal the use of polytextuality and isorhythm, both popular practices frequently found in the fourteenth century French motet. Nevertheless, Landini’s use of the French techniques should not be overemphasized. Even when it occurs, he remains true to his heritage, with the emphasis always on the vocality of the melodic line.

Landini has also been associated with a type of cadence that was quite popular with French and Italian composers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This particular cadence was an ornamented version of one commonly used in the thirteenth century in which, step-by-step, the bottom voice moved down from what in modern terminology would be described as the second scale degree to the tonic, the middle voice would move upward from the fourth scale degree to the fifth, and the upper voice would move from the seventh scale degree to the tonic. The important feature of this thirteenth century cadence was the linear movement upward of the upper two voices in parallel fourths while the lowest voice moved downward.

The fourteenth century ornamentation of this cadence occurred in the uppermost voice. The seventh scale degree would descend by step to the sixth scale degree and then skip up the interval of a third to the tonic; the overall movement is still upward. The rhythmic patterns applied to the movement of the upper voice could vary. Because of Landini’s frequent use of the ornamented cadence formula, it is often referred to as “the Landini sixth.”

Francesco Landini died in Florence on September 2, 1397. He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo, where he had long served as organist. His tombstone depicts him with his portative organ.

Significance

Landini, famous during his own lifetime as a composer and as an outstanding performer, was also known for his literary accomplishments. Filippo Villani, a noted Florentine chronicler, included him in his book on famous Florentine personages, telling of Landini’s having been crowned with a laurel wreath in Venice by the king of Cyprus for having won a poetry contest. The composer is known to have exchanged verses with Franco Sacchetti, the Florentine poet whose texts Landini had set to music. He is also known for the extended Latin poem he wrote in support of William of Ockham’s philosophical position.

Landini’s fame as a composer and performer reached such proportions that, in addition to his given name, he was called and recognized by names referring to both his affliction and his instrument of choice: Francesco Cieco (Francesco the blind) and Francesco degli Organi (Francesco of the organs).

Landini held an important position as a fourteenth century Italian composer. Although some of his music reflected French influence, he maintained the vitality of the Italian tradition in the late fourteenth century. With his death, Italian music yielded to northern domination; it was not to flourish again until the sixteenth century.

Bibliography

D’Accone, Frank. “Music and Musicians at the Florentine Monastery of Santa Trinita, 1360-1363.” Quadrivium 12 (1971): 131-151. An interesting account of old church records discovered by D’Accone that document Landini’s service as organist at the monastery of Santa Trinita in the early 1360’s and his subsequent service at the church of San Lorenzo from 1365 until his death in 1397.

Ellinwood, Leonard. “The Fourteenth Century in Italy.” In The New Oxford History of Music, edited by Egon Wellesz. Vol. 3. 1966. Reprint. London: Oxford University Press, 1986. A good, concise overview of the primary sources, forms, and composers of fourteenth century Italy. Contains some information about Landini.

Ellinwood, Leonard. “Francesco Landini and His Music.” Musical Quarterly 22 (1936): 190-216. Remains one of the important sources of information about Landini in spite of its age. The article contains important biographical information and an extended discussion of his compositional output. There are seven selected compositions by Landini at the end of the article that have been transcribed into modern notation.

Fischer, Kurt von. “Francesco Landini.” In New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. 2d ed. Vol. 10. New York: Grove, 2001. The author provides a thorough discussion of Landini and his music. The article is divided into three sections that discuss his life, extant musical compositions, and musical style. A list of his extant compositions, with short commentary, is provided, along with a lengthy bibliography.

Fischer, Kurt von. “On the Technique, Origin, and Evolution of Italian Trecento Music.” Musical Quarterly 47 (1961): 41-57. Provides a brief survey of compositional techniques employed by Italian composers of the fourteenth century. While several composers are discussed, the treatment of Landini is more extensive.

Fischer, Kurt von. “Text Underlay in Landini’s Ballet for Three Voices.” Current Musicology 45/47 (1990): 179-197. Landini is seen as one of the most important contributors to the Italian ballata for three voices with textless contratenor.

Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978. Provides an excellent survey of medieval music from chant up to music of the early fifteenth century. One chapter is devoted to the Italian ars nova and contains considerable information about Landini.

Pirrotta, Nino. Music and Culture in Italy from the Middle Ages to the Baroque: A Collection of Essays. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984. Contains a series of twenty-two essays on Italian music. The book is interdisciplinary in nature and provides a wealth of information about Italian music and Italian culture in general.

Schachter, Carl. “Landini’s Treatment of Consonance and Dissonance.” In The Music Forum, edited by William Mitchell and Felix Saltzer. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970. A careful and thorough analysis of how Landini used consonance and dissonance in his compositions. Schachter provides numerous musical excerpts from Landini’s works to support his contentions.