1539—Florence, Italy

“On the entrance of the most illustrious Duchess” at the wedding procession of Duke Cosimo I and Leonora of Toledo, Corteccia’s motet, a 8, Ingredere felicissimis auspiciis urbem tuam Helionora, is “sung over the archway of the great door of the Porta al Prato with 24 voices on one side and on the other 4 trombones and 4 cornetti” (Brown Sixteenth-Century Instrumentation, 88; Reese 366). The wedding festivities also include a madrigal performed by a female vocalist and 4 trombones; a contemporary account records, “This last act was closed by Night, dressed in a black silk veil with a blue-starred headdress, the moon above her forehead….She sang sweetly Ventien ’ almo riposo: ecco ch ’ io torno to the accompaniment of 4 trombones (Bowles, Musical Ensembles 25). In addition, at the wedding banquet in a courtyard of the Palazzo Medici, the 9 muses sing Francesco Corteccia’s motet, a 9, Sacro e santo Hymeneo. Although the muses are not described as playing instruments, they each hold one; a contemporary accound mentions, “The first [Thalia] was in a very blonde cloth, girded with a green olive branch…a trombone [trombone] in her right hand” (Brown, Sixteenth-Century Instrumentation 88; Bowles, Musical Ensembles 24; Boydell, Crumhorn 41).