Warriors and musicians: notes from the Colonna family archive

Abstract

The Colonna family was one of the most important in sixteenth-century Rome yet its music patronage activities at that time have largely escaped the attention of musicologists. Marc'Antonio II Colonna, perhaps best known for his leadership at the Battle of Lepanto, was connected to a number of musicians, several of whom were (or had been) military men. The archive contains a number of autograph letters from musicians, including three letters from Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, warrior and bass singer, of which two place him in Rome in 1574 as Richard Wistreich surmised, and an interesting letter from composer Sebastian Raval to Marc'Antonio's son, Cardinal Ascanio Colonna, mentioning planned publications and recommending a young (and unfortunately unidentified) harpsichord player.