Orso, Francesco (EN)

Orso, Celano, Francesco, *1522 Celano, †after 1584 Naples (?), Italian composer, clergyman. In 1541, after completing his novitiate with the Celestines in Celano, he took his religious vows at the Abbey of the Holy Spirit on Monte Morrone near Sulmone. He then stayed in Celano and, from 1545, again at Monte Morrone. In 1554, while staying at the Abbey of St. Mark and St. Peter in Vieste on the Gargano peninsula, he was kidnapped by pirates and taken into Turkish captivity, from which he escaped after 10 years. Around 1564, he settled in the Abbey of S. Pietro a Maiella in Naples, and in 1572 he is referred to in documents as the prior-visitor of S. Maria di Collemaggio in Aquila. In 1577, he became prior at S. Pietro a Maiella, and in the same year he was accused of heresy and sympathizing with Islam (in 1578 he was cleared of the charges). He was still alive in 1584, when he was appointed abbot in Casaluce (in the province of Caserta).

The innovation of Orso’s only surviving collection (he probably also published a book of six-voice madrigals) lies primarily in the introduction of equal temperament into vocal music. In a letter accompanying Il primo libro, the composer explains the rules for reading his modified notation, which divides the whole tone into two equal semitones and allows for the introduction of alterations such as dis, ais, his, and eis. A semitone descent from an altered note was notated with letters, and repetitions of the alteration meant raising the note by another semitone (e.g., f♯, f♯, f♯ means F sharp, G, G sharp). In practice, the composer implements these assumptions in a two-part arrangement of Petrarch’s sonnet (Il cantar nov’e’l pianger/ Così mi sveglio) included at the end of the collection. Also, in his other works (including an eight-part canzone and a seven-part sestina), Orso introduces bold sonic effects (progressions of successive semitones, sudden and unprepared changes in harmony) and illustrative effects.

Literature: Th. Kroyer Die Anfänge der Chromatik im italienischen Madrigal des XVI. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig 1902, 21968; H.W. Kaufmann Francesco Orso da Celano. A Neapolitan Madrigalist of the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century, “Studi musicali” IX, 1980; H.W. Kaufmann Francesco Orso’s Commentary on the Chromatic Writing in His First Book of Madrigals (1567), in: Essays on J.S. Bach and Other Divers Subjects, commemorative book for G. Herz, ed. R.L. Weaver, Louisville (Kentucky), 1981; A. Mammarella Orso Francesco, in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani LXXIX, 2013.