Anthonello de Caserta

Who was Anthonello de Caserta?

Antonello da Caserta, also Anthonello, Antonellus Marot, was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

Essentially nothing is known of Antonello's life. Earlier in the 20th century, Nino Pirrotta thought Caserta was a Neapolitan composer, but because most of his surviving works are in northern Italian manuscripts, this is disputed. Allusions in his texts suggest that he worked for the Visconti family in Milan around the turn of the 15th century, and archival documents place him in Pavia in 1402. Antonello was a monk, though the order to which he belonged is not known.

Antonello da Caserta is one of the more renowned composers of the generation after Guillaume de Machaut. Antonello set texts in both French and Italian, including Beauté parfaite of Machaut; this is the only surviving musical setting of a poem by Machaut which is not by Machaut himself. He was highly influenced by French musical models, one of the first Italians to be so. One of his ballades quotes Jehan Vaillant, a composer active in Paris. He also made use of irregular mensuration signs, found in few other manuscripts. He also uses proportional rhythms in some ballades, a device which became more popular in later periods. His Italian works tend to be simpler, especially the ballate. Both his French and Italian works take as their subjects courtly love.