Life
Trained at the dawn of the Arcadian taste, his long career led him to reach full maturity in an era of great stylistic richness, in which the solidity of Arcadia fused with the new elegance of the Rococo and with the critical spirit of the Enlightenment.
Lorenzo De Castro was born in 1677 and was a monk of the Olivetan order. His known musical production is mainly linked to the trumpet marine, an instrument then widely used in sacred and popular settings.
He composed 15 sonatas for trumpet marine, now preserved at the SLUB Library in Dresden, a rare and precious testimony to the use of this instrument in the eighteenth century. The sonatas, probably written in the first half of the 18th century, reveal original writing that is attentive to the instrument's tonal possibilities.
He died in 1764, leaving a limited but unique repertoire that enriches our knowledge of Italian instrumental music of his time.
Aneddoto
The rarity of the trumpet marine
De Castro's sonatas for trumpet marine constitute an absolute rarity, so much so that they still attract the interest of specialized scholars and performers today.Works
The 15 Sonatas for trumpet marine by Lorenzo De Castro, preserved in Dresden, represent the author's entire known corpus. They are an exceptional document of Olivetan musical practice and the variety of instruments employed in Baroque devotion.
Briciole di storia
Professional diner
In Florence, in the early 1700s, Fagiuoli was a regular at the dinners of the nobles, who invited him to delight in his sparkling replies. He would arrive, sit down, and serve up jokes and improvised octaves. He paid the bill in wit, not in florins.
Pubblico dominio (Commons)
