Francesco Landini

(1325/35 - 1397)



Italian composer and organist, blind from an early age, He was organist at S. Lorenzo in Florence between 1369 and 1396, and in 1379 was paid 9 solidi for writing five motets--an extremely rare record of payment to a composer. Landini was the most celebrated musical personality of the trecento; his 155-odd extant works are nearly all ballate, in which he excelled. In these smoothness of sound rather than dissonant asperity is evident; Landini's technical prowess can be seen in the canonic madrigal De! dimmi tu. He was a brilliant player of several instruments, especially the portative organ, and at the same time a distinguished poet, writing some of the texts he set and being awarded poetic honours in Venice. His music not only represents about a quarter of all the Italian trecento music known to have survived, but is preserved in many diverse sources, from Florence and elsewhere.

A Partial Francesco Landini Discography  |  IIIA: The Florentine Group