Francesco Canova da Milano

Francesco Canova da Milano (Francesco da Milano, also known as Il divino, Francesco da Parigi, etc.) (18 August 1497 – 2 January 1543) was an Italian lutenist and composer. He was born in Monza, near Milan, and worked for the papal court for almost all of his career. Francesco was heralded throughout Europe as the foremost lute composer of his time. More of his music is preserved than of any other lutenist of the period, and his work continued to influence composers for more than a century after his death.

Francesco da Milano was most almost certainly born in Monza, a small city some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. His father Benedetto was a musician, as was his elder brother Bernardino. According to Luca Gaurico's Tractatus astrologicus (1552), Francesco studied under Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa, but today this is considered somewhat unlikely. By 1514 Francesco was a member of the papal household in Rome. From that time for most of his career he was closely associated with the papal court. He and his father became private musicians to Pope Leo X in October 1516; Francesco's father kept this position until December 1518, but Francesco stayed until Leo's death in 1521. Little is known about his subsequent career in Rome, but he was still living in the city in early 1526: on 16 January 1526 he and one other lutenist performed for Pope Clement VII and Isabella d'Este.

Details of Francesco's later life are sketchy. He may have served at the Parisian court for a short time, since some sources refer to him as Francesco da Parigi. In 1528 he obtained a canonry in S Nazaro Maggiore in Milan, which he would cede to his brother in 1536. He may have travelled to Murano in 1530. Between 1531 and 1535 he served Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, who died in 1535. In the same year Francesco worked as lute teacher to Ottavio Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III. In a document dated 1 January 1538 Francesco is listed as a member of the household of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, a famous patron of the arts. In July Francesco married one Clara Tizzoni, a Milanese noblewoman, and moved to Milan, where the couple lived at least until September. By early 1539 Francesco and his father were once again employed by the papal court.

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