User:Azzaiolo/Castellino

Alvise Castellino (fl. 1541) was an Italian composer about whom little is known. His only known surviving work is a published collection of four-voice villotte (Venice: Gardano, 1541) dedicated to Duke Ercole II d'Este of Ferrara. The collection consists of some [?30] rustic villotte written in a predominately homorhythmic texture (that is, the voices move at the same time). The significance of this collection lies in the possibility that the songs might have been sung at Ferrarese banquets of the type described by Christoforo di Messisbugo. The first song ostensibly praises Ercole II d'Este but also contains a healthy dose of irony.