Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by many composers, including Ascanio Mayone, Giovanni Maria Trabaci, and Claudio Merulo. Girolamo Frescobaldi was appointed organist of St. Peter's Basilica, a focal point of power for the Cappella Giulia, from 21 July 1608 until 1628 and again from 1634 until his death.
Girolamo Frescobaldi in a 1619 engraving by Claude Mellan
Ferrara, Frescobaldi's birthplace, in 1600
Facsimile of Aria detta la Frescobalda (1627), the earliest known set of variations on an original theme
Commemorative plaque at the birthplace of Girolamo Frescobaldi
The Duchy of Ferrara was a state in what is now northern Italy. It consisted of about 1,100 km2 south of the lower Po River, stretching to the valley of the lower Reno River, including the city of Ferrara. The territory that was part of the Duchy was ruled by the House of Este from 1146 to 1597.
Ferrara, walled and moated, ca 1600.
Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia
Torquato Tasso in the St. Ann's hospital of Ferrara, by Eugène Delacroix
Altarpiece, by the artist Michele di Luca dei Coltellini, was once in the now ruined church of Sant'Andrea in Ferrara The Walters Art Museum.