Niccolò da Perugia (Ser Nicolaus, etc.)

(fl. c.1350-1400)

Italian composer; probably an ecclesiastic from Perugia who worked in Florence. His large output of secular music included several cacce -- an unusual feature since most composers appear to have written only one -- and he was one of the first to write polyphonic rather than monophonic ballate, producing some twenty of these, as well as fifteen madrigals. Some of his pieces were used as laude, with sacred texts replacing the original secular ones.

IIIA: The Florentine Group