TROMBONCINO BARTOLOMEO

Information concerning the diverse literary interests of the Gonzaga court (and of the neighboring courts in Milan and Ferrara) sheds important light on a greater understanding of the frottola, a genre that arose and developed in these cultural circles. Moreover, it helps us to distinguish the infinite facets of a genre which is anything but homogeneous.
These facets very accurately reflect the various cultural and, above all, literary aspects of the early Renaissance: the re-discovery of classical antiquity, an interest in declamation (recalling the traditions of orators and ballad singers) and, contemporarily, a taste for popular parody and the \\\”earthy\\\” side of poetry.
Each of these elements is realized in the frottolas, and especially in those by Tromboncino.