Monday 8 January 2024
Tune of the Day: Gagliarda
by Vincenzo Galilei
The gagliarda was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. This particular one was composed in the 1550s by Vincenzo Galilei, the father of famous astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei. Vincenzo was an accomplished lutenist and composer, as well as a music theorist.
The piece only really became popular in 1917, when composer Ottorino Respighi used Galilei's music as the basis for the second piece of his Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 1.