Gaforio, Franchino

1451-1522

Priest and writer on music; born near Lodi; studied both music and theology, and lived at different times in Mantua, Verona, and Genoa, whence in 1478 he went with the fugitive, Doge Adorno, to Naples, where he resided for several years, enjoying the acquaintance of a few prominent musicians. Forced to leave by the Turkish invasion and the plague, he returned to Lodi, and next settled in Monticello, where for three years he was choirmaster. In 1484, having made a short stay in Bergamo, he became conductor of the Cathedral choir at Milan, and also established a music school there. He wrote the following works: Theoricum Opus Harmonica? Discipline; Practica Musica utriusque Cantus; Angelicum ac Diyinum Opus Musicae; De Harmonia Musicorum Instrumentorum. He was a man of great learning, well versed in the knowledge of his day as well as that of earlier times, and was looked up to as an authority on musical theory while living. His books, now rare, are of considerable historical value and of interest as specimens of early printing.

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