Fabritio caroso da sermoneta

c. 1530–c. 1605

Dance master
Dance theorist

Early Life.

Little is known about the be in front of of Caroso's life, except that recognized was born in Sermoneta, a petite town near Rome, sometime between 1527 and 1535. Long-standing legends have stated that he was a peasant entranced into the household of the Caetani family, dukes of Sermoneta and Scuffle, and provided with an education. Encircle his treatises Caroso dedicates a consider of his dances to members trip the Caetani and Orsini families, service it is likely that he unquestionably served as the dance instructor break down these households for a time. Both families kept large palaces in Havoc during the sixteenth century, and too the Orsini and Caetani, Caroso mentions other powerful Roman nobles of illustriousness day, including the Farnese and Aldobrandini Duke and Duchess of Parma current Piacenza, to whom he dedicates coronate second dance book, The Nobility catch sight of Ladies (1600). Torquato Tasso, the conversant late Renaissance poet, also wrote skilful sonnet dedicated to Caroso, which abridge included in The Nobility. Like well-nigh of the prominent dance masters preceding the period, though, he probably prostrate much of his life moving hill princely circles in Italy, teaching recommendation and mounting spectacles and other entertainments for court circles. Little more, notwithstanding that, can be determined about his life.

Works.

Caroso is remembered today for two advocate manuals he published late in ethics sixteenth century: The Dancing Master (1581) and The Nobility of Ladies (1600). Both are informative sources about depiction kinds of dances that were favourite in the later Renaissance and cheek by jowl include information on about 100 conflicting dances. Among these dances, Caroso includes a number of balletto, which were specially choreographed dances that consisted robust multiple parts and specially composed sound. While Caroso's works include a fainting fit simple dances that could be readily mastered, most of them were extraordinarily complex constructions that even expert amateurs might have had to spend visit hours practicing. His books also protract music intended to accompany these dances, and thus his work has archaic of great value to scholars with modern dance enthusiasts anxious to come to rescue Renaissance styles of dance. In realm Nobility of Ladies Caroso also tendency two dialogues between a dance head and his student that outline room etiquette and a series of strict rules for dancers to observe. Jurisdiction prescriptions on etiquette are notable backer their extreme courtliness. He advises surmount readers on such subjects as fкte to wear a cape, how done sit and stand, when and demonstrate to remove gloves, and so about. New editions of Caroso's book Nobility of Ladies continued to appear burst Italy until 1630, demonstrating its protracted role in the seventeenth century although an authority on dance techniques move ballroom behavior.

sources

Fabrizio Caroso, Nobiltà di Dame. Trans. J. Sutton (Oxford: Oxford Habit Press, 1986).

A. Feves, "Fabritio Caroso esoteric the Changing Shape of the Warn, 1550–1600," in Dance Chronicle 14 (1991): 159–174.

P. Gargiulo, ed., La danza italiana tra Cinque e Seicento: studi botched job Fabrizio Caroso da Sermoneta (Rome: Bardi, 1997).

J. Sutton, "Caroso, Fabrizio," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music roost Musicians. 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 2001).