1520—Rome, Italy

Marcantonio Michiel, a Venetian patrician, records the following in his diary: “On 2 August the pope hosted a sumptuous luncheon and dinner for whichever cardinals wished to come, both all the cardinals, and many others. And after dinner he presented a musical concert, on which he spent 500 ducats, as follows. First some ten musicians, dressed in violet, performed a Bergamasque song, singing and playing in alternation with a lirone, two flutes, a lute and a clavicembalo. Then another group, dressed in yellow, performed a German song, singing and playing in alternation on trombones [tromboni] and cornetts. Then yet another group, dressed in pink, sang a Spanish song, playing it alternately on lironi. Then crumhorns. Then boys, who sang in the English manner. Then all the instrumentalists and singers sang and played together in twelve parts” (Blackburn, Music and Festivities).