Ferrabosco, Alfonso (I) (EN)

Ferrabosco Alfonso (I), 18 January 1543 Bologna, †12 August 1588 Bologna, son of Domenico, composer. When he was a boy, he lived with his father in Rome. Around 1559, he was in the service of Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, and from 1562, he served Elizabeth I, Queen of England. At her request, he undertook a long journey through Italy between 1569 and 1572 (?) for intelligence purposes. He received his salary from the English treasury until 1582, but from 1578 he was associated with the Savoy court, with which he travelled to Spain in 1585. In 1588, he returned to Bologna.

Compared to Italian music of the time, the work of Alfonso (I) has distinctly traditional features, but it contributed – as did his activities – to bringing the achievements of Italian composers to England.

Literature: G.E.P. Arkwright Notes on the Ferrabosco Family, “The Musical Antiquary” IV, 1912; G. Livi The Ferrabosco Family, “The Musical Antiquary” IV, 1912; E.H. Fellowes The English Madrigal Composers, London 1921, 2nd edition 1948; J. Kerman Elizabethan Anthologies of Italian Madrigals, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” IV, 1951; J. Kerman Master Alfonso and the English Madrigal, “The Musical Quarterly” XXXVIII, 1952; J. Kerman The Elizabethan Madrigal, New York 1962; J.V. Cockshoot The Sacred Music of Alfonso Ferrabosco, Father (1543–88), with Critical Commentary, dissertation, University of Oxford, 1963; D.L. Humphreys Aspects of the Elizabethan and Jacobean Polyphonic Motet, with Particular Reference to the Influence of Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder on William Byrd, dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1976; O. Neighbour The Consort and Keyboard Music of William Byrd, London 1978; R. Charteris New Information about the Life of Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (1543–1588), “Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle” XVII, 1981; J. Kerman The Masses and Motets of William Byrd, Berkeley 1981; R. Charteris Autographs of Alfonso Ferrabosco I–III, “Early Music” X, 1982; R. Charteris New Light on Ferrabosco’s Chansons, “The Consort” XXXVIII, 1982; R. Charteris Newly Identified Italian Madrigals Englished, “Music & Letters” LXIII, 1982; R. Charteris The Motets of Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (1543–1588), “The Consort” XXXVIII, 1982; R. Charteris The English Songs of Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder, “Studies in Music” XVII, 1983; R. Charteris Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (1543–1588). A Thematic Catalogue of his Music with a Biographical Calendar, New York 1984 (includes 242 incipits); R. Charteris Ferrabosco Catalogue, “Music & Letters” LXVI, 1985; K.S. Teo Three Continental Chromatic Compositions in Mid-Sixteenth-Century England, “The Music Review” XLVI, 1985; R. Charteris The Origin of Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder’s Six-Part Fantasia C224, “Chelys” XVI, 1987; R. Charteris A Memorial for Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder, “The Musical Times” CXXIX, 1988; R. Charteris „Fuerunt mihi lacrymae”: Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder or the Younger?, in: Essays on Italian Music in the Cinquecento, ed. R. Charteris, Sydney 1990;  L. Hamessley The Tenbury and Ellesmere Partbooks: New Findings on Manuscript Compilation and Exchange, and the Reception of Italian Repertoire in Elizabethan England, “Music & Letters” LXXIII, 1992; L. Nordstrom The Bandora: its Music and Sources, Warren 1992; J. Craig-McFeely Fragments of English Lute Music II: Oxford Libraries, “The Lute” XXXIII, 1993; J. Kerman An Italian Musician in England, 1562–78, “Revista de Musicología” XVI, 1993, reprint in: Write All These Down: Essays on Music, Berkeley 1994; D. Wulstan Byrd, Tallis and Ferrabosco, in: English Choral Practice 1400–1650, ed. J. Morehen, Cambridge 1995; C.A. Monson The Composer as „Spy”: the Ferraboscos, Gabriele Paleotti, and the Inquisition, “Music & Letters” LXXXVI, 2003; S. Gissel Die zwölf Tonarten Glareans in Vokalwerken von Josquin Desprez bis Heinrich Schütz, Wilhelmshaven 2015; F. Knights The transmission of motets within the Paston manuscripts, c.1610, “Muzikologija” XXVII, 2019; T. Roberts Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder (1543–1588), in: Lives in Transit in Early Modern England, ed. N. Das, Amsterdam 2022.