Dentice, Fabrizio

He came from an aristocratic Neapolitan family. He received a musical education in his hometown from his father, Luigi Dentice (born between 1510 and 1520, died in 1566), who was also a lute player and composer. In 1545 he took part as a singer (falsetist) in the comedy Gl'ingannati , which was staged in Naples. In 1552, after an unsuccessful uprising of the Neapolitan nobility against Spanish rule (together with his father), he fled from Naples to Rome. In 1562-67 he was in the service of the Milan Governor Ferdinando d'Avalos. In 1564 he went on tour to Barcelona , where he aroused the enthusiasm of the local aristocracy. From January 1569 he was in the service of the Duke of Parma, Ottavio Farnese , at whose court he composed music and taught. Evidence of his frequent trips to Rome has been preserved.

Dentice’s church music has preserved the “Lamentation of Jeremiah” - a large-scale collection containing large respondents , antiphones , Benedictus and Miserere - for the passionate morning of Catholics (on Great Thursday, Great Friday and Great Saturday), known in the West under the metaphorical name Tenebrae (the collection is published posthumously , in 1593), 14 motets . A collection of 5-voice motets and “spiritual madrigals” (1581) was lost. From secular music, in addition to the three madrigals , few lute fantasies and ricercars have been preserved.

• Da Napoli a Parma: itinerari di un musicista aristocratico: opere vocali di Fabrizio Dentice (1530 ca – 1581), ed. D. Fabris. Milano, 1998 (collection of vocal works by F. Dentice)
• Farbrizio Dentice // Neapolitan lute music. Madison: AR Editions, 2004, pp. X — XII (biographical sketch); contains a collection of instrumental works by F. Dentice)
• Fabris D. Vita e opere di Fabrizio Dentice, nobile napoletano, compositore del secondo Cinquecento // Studi musicali 21 (1992), pp. 61–113.