Francesco Rasi (14 May 1574
– 30 November 1621) was an Italian
composer,
singer (tenor), chitarrone player, and poet. He studied at
the
University of Pisa and in
1594 he was studying with
Giulio
Caccini.
He may have been in Carlo Gesualdo's retinue when he went to
Ferrara
for his wedding in 1594. In 1598 he joined the
court of Duke Vincent I in
Mantua
, and probably served the Gonzaga family the rest of his life, with
whom he travelled all over Italy and as far afield as Poland
. He
sang in the first performances of
Jacopo
Peri's
Euridice and
Caccini's
Il rapimento di
Cefalo in 1600. In 1607 he created the title role in
Claudio Monteverdi's
Orfeo, and in 1608 sang in the first performances
of
Marco da Gagliano's
Dafne.
In 1610 in
Tuscany Rasi and his accomplices were
sentenced to be hanged,
drawn, and quartered for the murder of is stepmother's servant
and the attempted murder of his stepmother, however because of the
protection of the Gonzaga family he escaped, and his sentence was
eventually annulled with the agreement that he never return to
Arezzo
, his birthplace.
He wrote an opera,
Cibele, ed Ati, which seems not to have
been performed and whose music does not survive, and another
libretto,
Elvidia rapita. He
published poetry, including in the anthology
La cetra di sette
corde, and a good deal of
monody which
survives in the anthologies
Vaghezze di musica (1608) and
Madrigali (1610). Almost all of these are written for
tenor voice, suggesting that they were written to display Rasi's
own skill as a singer, and they follow in the style of Caccini's
compositions.
Rasi was a well respected singer, whose skill in ornamentation and
diminution, beautiful voice, and ability to sing with grace and
feeling, led to him being involved in the first performances of
many of the first operas.
References
Notes
- Porter
- Parisi
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