ABSTRACT
A young musician like Marenzio could either delight the cardinal with music of a refined taste, whether laymen or clergy, who were continually in and out of the villa at Tivoli or his equally noble urban residences at Montegiordano and Montecavallo. The musical means by which Marenzio highlights this particular 'dying', which can be interpreted in a literal and a figurative sense, consists of an unexpected attenuation of the texture. Musicians turned to patrons more inclined to secular delights, ecclesiastics included. The musical fortune of Tirsi morir volea enjoyed a fertile sequel with the settings by Malvezzi, Milleville, Caimo, Monte, Andrea Gabrieli, Castro, Croce and Gesualdo. Many of these could not help but reflect Marenzio's felicitous model. That Marenzio considered his patron more a prince of the world than of the church is shown by the inclusion of a particularly sensual text, Tirsi morir volea, which comes from the unabashed pen of Battista Guarini.
