Today is the birthday in 1533 of the Italian composer Claudio Merulo. Though he’s not English, and didn’t ever visit England as far as I can tell, his keyboard music, in particular, had a huge influence on later baroque music, and no less a person than Bach, writing music 150 years later, claimed to be descended from him musically.
When you listen to his keyboard music, especially his tocatta’s, they sound incredibly modern for the Renaissance, almost like you’re listening to Bach with the motifs and ornamentation.
He was a contemporary of William Byrd, and though the two didn’t meet each other, they would have known of each other, as the networks of musicians in the 16th century were actually quite small with a lot of travel and overlap.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Listen to Merulo here:
Claudio Merulo Spotify Playlist
Suggested links:
Tudor Music Hour Episode 16: Virginal Keyboard music
That time when William Byrd made his Catholicism obvious
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.