The Lute of Michelagnolo Galilei

Born in Florence, Italy, on 18 December 1575, Michelagnolo Galilei learned to play lute as a child. His father was Vincenzo Galilei and his older brother was the astronomer, Galileo Galilei. He was yet a teenager when in 1593 he went to Poland, likely to play lute for the Radziwiłł family. Poland had had a Renaissance of its own, though a bit out of the way. Returning to Florence in 1599 to apply at the court of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, one assumes that composition or arrangements were among such as Galilei was concerned to present to Ferdinando, in vain, for he was back in Poland in 1600. In 1607 he obtained an honorable court position in Munich with Holy Roman Elector, Maximilian I of Bavaria. Galilei remained in Munich, a principal cultural hot spot in Germany, the remainder of his life. As an elected Roman Emperor, Maximilian's Bavaria was a main bastion of the Roman Church.

Galilei's first composition to see print was a toccata published as No.21 in Leopold Fuhrmann's 'Testudo Gallo Germanica' of 1615. That was followed by another toccata included in Jean-Baptiste Besard's 'Novus Partus' of 1617.

It was 1620 when Galilei published his book of lute pieces, 'Il primo libro d'intavolatura di liuto' ('The First Book of Tablature for Lute'). This contained dances like galliards, voltas, courantes, passamezzos and toccatas. Both the courante and toccata were of fairly recent origin during the late Renaissance. The toccata was composed mostly for keyboard or lute, usually having a quicker tempo and emphasizing virtuosic playing. Galilei's 'Intavolatura di liuto' (il primo his only) contains the bulk of his compositions, a number of others scattered variously. Consisting of 52 pieces (some in parts), Galilei sectioned it into twelve suites of baroque sonate according to key, usually beginning each suite of usually five pieces with a toccata and starting with five for B minor as Suite 1. This is the structure presented by Albert Reyerman in the Tree Edition (Third) of 2012, the closest I have found to an online directory of works for Galilei. This is a little confusing when attempting match numbering and modes on recordings of Galilei. A suite for C minor (Do minore), for example, is not on Reyerman's list, nor other keys cited in recordings. Inability to clarify this discrepancy in modes has to a deep but unsuccessful dive, so stacking of examples below is alphabetical by form of dance with no attempt at titles, numbers, publications or dates. Mismatches with Reyerman call me to simplify altogether. I identify only the mode translated from as given, or assumed if ungiven with possibility of error. Consider this then, a baroque presentation (bare of details we'll call extraneous for now) of baroque dance and lute by Galilei in the early 17th century. Broad, but hopefully to some degree sufficient in representing Galilei and his musical times.

The Corrente

Corrente in B-flat major   Early baroque   Michelagnolo Galilei

Lute: Anthony Bailes

Corrente in C minor   Early baroque   Michelagnolo Galilei

Lute: Anthony Bailes

Corrente in D minor   Early baroque   Michelagnolo Galilei

Lute: Karl Kirchmeyr   Vienna

The Toccata

Toccata in C minor   Early baroque   Michelagnolo Galilei

Lute: Anthony Bailes

Toccata in A major   Early baroque   Michelagnolo Galilei

Lute: Steve M

Toccata in D major   Early baroque   Michelagnolo Galilei

Lute: Steve M

Galilei died in Munich on 3 January 1631, not nearly so influential as his father, Vincenzo, either then or now when he isn't much known. Though his was no large prominence in greater Europe, principle residencies in Poland and Munich brought him regional prestige.