ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a few documents culled from the Archivio di Stato in Florence. They concern two composers, Philippe Verdelot and Alessandro Coppini, and the popularity of a female singer and her accompanying vocal ensemble. The letter documents a relationship between Verdelot and Cardinal Giulio, whom he has probably moved to the Baptistry, and it confirms Pirrotta’s supposition that the madrigal, so important a part of Verdelot’s oeuvre, grew up in the Roman and Florentine circles around that cardinal. The newly found letter, written to the future Clement VII, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici when he was papal legate in Florence, is couched in the same respectful yet familiar language, and for the first time it shows de Pictis actively involved in recruiting a musician for the cardinal. The new information about Coppini, although not as striking as that about Verdelot, does add something to our knowledge of the composer’s life and his relationships.
