Nola, Giovanni Domenico da (EN)

Nola, Nolla, Giovanni Domenico del Giovane da, *before 1520 Nola, †May 1592 Naples, Italian composer, singer, and poet. He was one of the founders of the Accademia dei Sereni (1546–47). It is possible that he studied under G.T. di Maio, after whom, on 1 February 1563, he took over the position of maestro di cappella at the church of S. Annunziata in Naples, a position he held until the end of his life (in his later years, most of his duties were taken over by his pupil C. Lambardi). He also taught singing at the Annunziata’s ospedale and seminary (G.C. Maffei mentions him as an expert in the art of ornamenting sung melody). 

Noli’s collection from 1541, containing 31 villanesche and 11 mascheratas, is one of the first publications of canzoni villanesche. The compositions are similar in form (3-part stanza, the third part being a ripresa) and versification to the works from the first anthology of this genre (Canzoni villanesche alla napolitana…, Naples 1537) as well as to the works of G.T. di Maio, but they surpass them in artistic maturity. This is evidenced, among other things, by the interest shown in them by Orlando di Lasso, A. Willaert, as well as P. Cambio, B. Donato, A. Scandello and H. Walreant, who adapted some of them into four-part works. Nola diversifies the chordal texture characteristic of villanesco by introducing imitative fragments, and the a note nere notation gives the works rhythmic flexibility. The light character of the poetry, full of quotations from folk proverbs, is emphasised by the introduction of parallel fifths (especially in mascheratas). The texts from the collection Il primo libro delle villanelle (1567), possibly written by Nola himself (at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, V. Benacci published his poems in a similar style in Bologna), reveal greater literary ambitions. Some of the works feature skilfully woven fragments of sonnets and canzoni by F. Petrarch, while the music contains witty allusions to the madrigal style.

In Noli’s two collections of madrigals, settings of Petrarch’s poems predominate (in book 1, as many as 22 out of 29 works). The character of the compositions in book 1 was influenced by the a note nere notation. The emphasis on expressive declamation of the text is reflected in the balance between contrapuntal and chordal styles. For expressive purposes, the composer sometimes introduces dissonant harmonies and virtuoso melismas. In the book 2 of madrigals, the influence of Willaert’s work is evident (alla breve metre, division of sonnets into two parts). The harmonic language of the pieces is also enriched.

Literature: B. Croce L’Accademia dei sereni, in: Aneddoti di varia letteratura, vol. 1, Neapol 1942; A. Einstein The Italian Madrigal, vols. 1 and 3 (contains 4 pieces by Noli), Princeton 1949, reprint 1971; L. Cammarota Giovanni Domenico da Nola. I documenti biografici e l’attività presso la SS Annunziata con l’opera completa, Rome 1973 (contains all works preserved in their entirety); D.G. Cardamone The Debut of the Canzone villanesca alla napolitana, “Studi Musicali” IV, 1975; D.G. Cardamone The Canzone Villanesca alla Napolitana and Related Forms, 1537 to 1570, Ann Arbor 1981; J. Haar The “Madrigale Arioso”: A Mid-Century Develpment in the Cinquecento Madrigal, “Studi Musicali” XII, 1983; M. Columbro Formazione e produzione musicale a Napoli fra ‘500 e ‘600: La Santa Casa dell’Annunziata, in: Enrico Radesca di Foggia e il suo tempo, ed. F. Seller, Lucca 2001; D.G. Cardamone, C. Corsi The Canzone Villanesca and Comic Culture: The Genesis and Evolution of a Mixed Genre (1537–1557), “Early Music History” XXV, 2006; D.G. Cardamone The Canzone villanesca alla napolitana: Social, Cultural and Historical Contexts, «Variorum Collected Studies Series», Aldershot, Burlington 2008.