«Princeps musicorum Mediolani»: Antonio Londonio e il mecenatismo musicale nella Milano spagnola

Don Antonio Londonio (1532-1592) was born in Castile and settled in Milan in the late 1550s. He was both a prominent politician and one of the main patrons of the arts in Lombardy: musicians, poets, philosophers, and other artists in Northwest Italy benefited from his protection. Maddalena Casulana, Pietro Vinci, and Marc’Antonio Ingegneri dedicated madrigal books to him between 1570 and 1584. These dedications, together with other documents (notarial acts, collections of poems and letters, the proceedings of the trial in which Londonio was involved from 1581 onwards), make it possible for us to identify the members of his artistic circle. In general, they convey the image of a patron who – given his considerable musical competence – must have played a significant role in the preparation of the music books dedicated to him. In particular, the encomiastic madrigals and the texts on political matters can be considered as expressions of Londonio’s ideas, the institutional tasks that he had to carry out in the Duchy of Milan and the relationships he was able to develop with musical circles in Lombardy.Antonio Londonio also had a significant role in the editing of Paolo Caracciolo’s Primo libro de’ madrigali a cinque voci (Venice, Scotto, 1582). More generally, this anthology indirectly sheds light on Milanese musical life in the late 1500s, which was animated by individuals – mainly from the lower aristocracy or officials of the imperial court – who in turn patronized the publication of musical works and probably promoted the circulation of books of poetry and madrigals produced in Milan both in Central and Northern Italy and in Central Europe.