- Francisco Leontaritis
Francisco Leontaritis or Francesco Londarit or Francesco Londarit, Franciscus Londariti, Leondaryti, Londaretus, Londaratus or Londaritus (1518-1572) Greek composer, singer and hymnographer from today's
Heraklion of the Venetian-dominatedCrete (Candia) at theRenaissance age. He is considered by many as the father of modern Greek classical music.Life
Leontaritis was already an established musician before he left Crete. He then went to Italy to study Renaissance
polyphonic music . He was a student of some of the greatest musicians of his time likeOrlande de Lassus andGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina . He worked as a musician in choirs inVenice under the direction ofAdrian Willaert . He established a reputation very quickly in Venice as a very capable composer and singer (cantore). He was thus invited to sing in churches inRome andPadova . He was summoned to perform often at houses of nobles such asAntonio Zantani . His acquaintance withNikolaus Stopius and through him to the German bankerJakob Fugger has led him toBavaria inMunich . He has also worked as a composer inAugsburg andSalzburg . In 1568 he returned to Crete possibly to avoid his debts.Work
He was established in music dictionaries as "il Greco" (The Greek). He composed three masses and twenty one
moteti ,madrigali andnapolitani . From his work only three masses have survived until today; namely: "Missa super Aller mi faut", "Missa super Je prens en grez" and "Missa super Letatus sum".ee also
*
Byzantine scholars in Renaissance ources
*N.M. Panayiotakis "Franghiskos Leontaritis: Cretan composer of the 16th century. Accounts of his life and work", Library of the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies, No. 12, Venice (1990).
External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/polyphonia/en/text/txtleo.html Biography]
* [http://www.edu.uoc.gr/~chorodia/leontaritis_src.html, The Renaissance composer "Fragiskos Leontaritis".]
* [http://www.hellenica.de/Griechenland/Musik/GR/FrancescoLondarit.html "Biography" In Greek.]
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