Bartolomeo da Bologna

Bartolomeo da Bologna (fl. 1405 – 1427) was an Italian composer of the transitional period between the late medieval style of the Trecento and the early Renaissance. Life Little is known with certainty about his life, but he was probably from Bologna or nearby, and seems to have spent part of his life in Ferrara. He was a Benedictine, and may have been the prior of San Nicolò in Ferrara; in addition he was the organist there in 1407, and he is documented in that cathedral at the beginning of 1427. He also seems to have been connected with the chapel of John XXIII in Bologna, since one of his ballades (Arte psalentes) is probably addressed to the singers in his choir. (He is frequently referred to in manuscripts with the Latin form of his name, “Bartolomeus de Bononia”) Music Bartolomeo is one of only a few native Italian composers of the early 15th century of whom works have survived with reliable attribution; many of the musicians in Italy during the 15th century were foreigners, and it was not until later in the century that there were as many Italians as there were émigrés from northern Europe composing music there. Seven pieces by Bartolomeo have survived, all for three voices: