Carlo Borromeo e la musica: nuove considerazioni e nuovi documenti

It is well known that musicologists have already examined the relationship between Carlo Borromeo and music. However, the archbishop of Milan has been for a long time associated with a standard set of themes: actuation of musical decrees of the Council of Trent, intelligibility of the sung texts, discipline of church musicians and so on. In his first section, the paper demonstrates that this issue requires further investigation. The following part of the research takes into consideration printed materials produced during Borromeo’s episcopacy to examine his personal musical theology and to confirm that music was important and meaningful for him. In the last three parts of the work, attention is focused on Borromeo’s epistolary housed in Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan: starting from these documents, it is possible to discover, for example, new musical connections between Borromeo and Nicolò Sfondrati, bishop of Cremona or between Borromeo and Wilhelm V, duke of Bavaria; furthermore, these letters contain new details about Luca Marenzio, Gian Giacomo Gastoldi and new elements regarding Borromeo’s musical patronage activity as well.