Giovanni Domenico da Nola

Giovanni Domenico da Nola (also Nolla) (c. 1510–1520 – May 1592) was an Italian composer and poet of the Renaissance. He was born in the town of Nola, Italy. He was a founding member of the Accademia dei Sereni in 1546–1547, where he knew Luigi Dentice and Marchese della Terza, who was a patron of Orlando di Lasso. Nola was appointed maestro di cappella at the SS Annunziata in Naples on 1 February 1563, a position he held up to his death 29 years later. He also taught singing to the women of the ospedali at the Annunziata and to seminary deacons. Nola’s first publication consisted of two books of Canzoni villanesche in 1541, which contained 31 villanescas and 11 mascheratas. They were held in high esteem by Nola’s contemporaries; arrangements of these works were made by Lasso, Hubert Waelrant, Adrian Willaert, Baldassare Donato, Perissone Cambio, and Antonio Scandello. Lyrically, the works are often humorous and draw on local dialects and sayings; musically, the works make skillful use of imitation and intentional parallel fifths. Nola published a book of madrigals in 1545; of the 29 works in the book, 22 are settings of Petrarch, including one madrigal, six canzoni and fifteen sonnet