Real basses, real men: virtù and virtuosity in the construction of noble male identity in late sixteenth-century Italy

Wistreich, R. (2002) Real basses, real men: virtù and virtuosity in the construction of noble male identity in late sixteenth-century Italy. TroJa. Jahrbuch für Renaissancemusik, 2 pp. 59-77. ISSN 2513-1028

Abstract

The prime category of identity for the ruling class as a social group in sixteenth-century Europe and on which they staked their claim to rule, was nobility. But the nobility saw their status not so much in terms of a birthright but rather as a quality that needed constantly to be reaffirmed through virtuous actions, an echo of chivalric romance. The fundamental uniting factor amongst male members of the nobility was the military calling and the prime location for their acts of structured violence was war. When warriors are also courtiers, their actions on the stage of what a contemporary commentator describing the court, called the ‘teatro degl’ honori’ [‘the theatre of honours], involves a wide-ranging performative curriculum that includes many non-violent types of social discourse such as conversation, dancing, games and music-making. But to what extent do codes derived from militarism define the structures of this curriculum and its enactment? This paper looks at the case of one particularly remarkable Neapolitan ‘warrior-courtier’, who was also renowned in his lifetime as one of the most famous singers of his age. How does a noble man ‘perform his identity’ in music without jeopardizing his honor, his virtù, his masculinity? ***This article is now available open access at the DOI given below.***

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