Mayonne, Ascanio (EN)

Mayonne, Mayone, Majone, Maione, Ascanio, *ca. 1570 Naples, †9 March 1627 Naples, Italian composer, organist and harpist. He spent his entire life in Naples, where he studied under G.D. da Nola and probably also under J. de Macque and G.L. dell’Arpa. Between 1593 and 1621, he was organist at the Church of SS. Annunziata, and from 1595 he was also one of two maestri di cappella there. Mayonne’s connections with this church are also attested after 1621 until his death. From 1602, he was the second organist, and from September 1614, the first organist of the chapel of the Spanish viceroys Pedro Téllez Girón de Ossuna and Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares. He also served in the homes of Neapolitan aristocrats – Marthos de Gorostiola and Don Giovanni Battista Suardo. The composer is mentioned as one of the suonatori eccellenti dell’Arpa à due ordini in Della prattica musica vocale et strumentale by S. Cerreto (Naples, 1601). Among Mayonne’s most outstanding pupils were his son Giulio, also known as Ciullo dell’Arpa, and P. Guarino.

Mayonne was one of the outstanding Neapolitan composers of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Although he composed masses, motets and madrigals, his instrumental output, which includes such genres as ricercar, canzona, toccata and partita variation, is of primary importance. In the field of keyboard music, he was one of the first propagators of the early Baroque style and – alongside J. de Macque and G.M. Trabaci – a predecessor of G. Frescobaldi. His style shows influences from Iberian, Flemish and northern Italian keyboard music. Macque’s influence is evident in the ricercars, which are dominated by the solid contrapuntal technique of the Flemish school. However, basing the pieces on short triad themes allowed Mayonne to make bolder tonal transpositions and increased the possibilities of contrapuntal combinatorics. The ricercares published in 1603 are based on two themes, with the first theme clearly dominating, providing motivic material for contrapuntal work throughout the piece. The remaining ricercares are based on cantus fitmus. Mayonne also used the ricercare technique in his instrumental intabulations of madrigals by J. Arcadelt and D.M. Ferrabosco. The early Baroque style is more clearly evident in the canzonas, which are characterised by the short, lively motifs typical of this genre, expressive, textural and metrical contrasts, and free counterpoint.

The toccatas and partitas are of the greatest artistic value; in a carefully considered manner, suggesting the influence of Gesualdo da Venosa, Mayonne uses sophisticated harmony, bold dissonances and chromaticism. The toccatas are among the most difficult keyboard works of the era and influenced the work of J.J. Froberger. They are divided into two groups: some, opening with a rhapsodic section with passages over a sustained note, are arranged in short sections of varying texture, with virtuosic figurations exchanged complementarily between the voices, while others are dominated by imitative technique. In his scores, especially those based on the romanesca bass, Mayonne drew on models developed by A. de Cabezón and, while strictly adhering to the harmonic plan, used richer, virtuosic figurations and a wide variety of textures.

Mayonne also experimented with the Greek genera, drawing on R. Rodio’s treatise Regole di musica (Naples, 1600). In the 1609 collection, one of the ricercars is intended for chromatic harp, and two toccatas for chromatic harpsichord; meanwhile, in F. Colonna’s collection La sambuca lincea, overo Dell’istromento musico perfetto (Naples, 1618), there are four contrapuntal pieces by Mayonne written for enharmonic harpsichord. Mayonne does not specify the instrument in his editions, but most of the pieces were probably intended for the harpsichord, on which many chords that are impossible to play accurately on the organ due to their distant intervals can be played in the arpeggiated manner typical of the harpsichord. In these pieces, the composer often requires a very wide range, going far beyond the standards used by musicians of the time.

Literature: K. Fischer La posizione di Ascanio Mayonne e Giovanni Maria Trabaci nello sviluppo di ricercare and F. Hammond G. Frescobaldi and the Hypothesis of Neapolitan Influences, in: La musica a Napoli durante il seicento, ed. D.A. d’Alessandro, A. Ziino, Rome 1987; J. Ladewig The Origins of Frescobaldi’s Variation Canzonas Reappraised, in: Frescobaldi Studies, ed. A. Silbiger, Durham 1987; D. Fabris The Harp in Naples, 1500–1700, «Historische Harfen. Beiträge zur Theorie und Praxis historischer Harfen», Dornach 1991; P. Carrer Solida tecnica e un tocco di follia: Il clavicembalo a Napoli tra Sei e Settecento, “Trasparenze: Supplemento non periodico a Quaderni di poesia” XX, 2003; G. Michelini Ascanio Mayonne und Girolamo Frescobaldis Ancidetemi pur: Zur Praxis der “intavolar diminuito” in Italien zu Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts, “Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie” XX, 2023.