Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nicolaus Cracoviensis [de Cracovita, Krakowczyck].

See Mikołaj z Krakowa.

Nicolaus de Capua

(b ?Capua; before c1400; d ?after 1460). Italian theorist. He is probably identifiable with the presbyter Nicolaus quondam Iohannis de Traconibus de Capua, who was a mansionario and tenorista at the cathedrals of Udine (1432–5) and Treviso (1439–42), and who became a mansionario at Vicenza Cathedral (1442–61), attracted by that city’s better climate (this transfer was expressly approved by the Bishop of Treviso, Ludovico Barbo). He remained at Vicenza until 1461, when he apparently transferred to the church of S Maria in Montebello.

Nicolaus’s Compendium musicale of 1415 (ed. A. de La Fage, Paris, 1853) offers a full treatment of the theory of cantus planus compiled from different sources and written in just the sort of clear, didactic style that would be most useful to a tenorista as leader of a choir in plainchant and polyphony. One section describes eight of the ten conjuntiones, or transposed hexachords, outlined in the Berkeley Manuscript (US-BE 744). The version of the Compendium in I-Vnm lat.VIII.82 (=3047) gives a more complete text, but lacks the musical examples present in Rv B 83; the latter source was used by La Fage for his edition.

A polyphonic Gloria setting elsewhere attributed to Bosquet and to Antonio Zacara da Teramo (ed. in CMM, xi/2, 1959, xiv, 7) appears in Bu 2216 under Nicolaus’s name. The Bologna version has a new Amen and an added contratenor part; Nicolaus is probably responsible for these modifications.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. de La Fage, ed.: Essais de diphthérographie musicale (Paris, 1864/R), 307ff

G. Vale: ‘La Capella Musicale del Duomo di Udine’, NA, vii (1930), 87–201

G. D’Alessi: La capella musicale del Duomo di Treviso (1300–1633) (Treviso, 1954), 44

B.J. Layton: Italian Music for the Ordinary of the Mass 1300–1450 (diss., Harvard U., 1960), 328ff

F.A. Gallo: ‘Alcune fonti poco note di musica teorica e pratica’, L’Ars Nova italiana del Trecento: convegno di studio 1961–1967 (Certaldo,1968), 49–76

L. Pesce: La chiesa di Treviso nel primo Quattrocento (Rome, 1987)

ROBERT NOSOW

Nicolaus de Perugia.

See Niccolò da Perugia.

Nicolaus de Senis.

See Nicola da Siena.

Nicolaus Polonus (i)

(fl ?15th century). Polish theorist. He studied in Paris and was the author of Tractatus musicalis ad cantum gregorialem brevis et utilis (A-Gu 873), a concise introduction to the art of singing. Reference to his nationality and studies in Paris is found in a colophon to the treatise. Attempts to identify him with the composer Mikołaj Radomski remain unsubstantiated.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

H. Musielak: ‘W poszukiwaniu materiałów do biografii Mikołaja z Radomia’ [In search of biographical material on Mikołaj Radomski], Muzyka, xviii/1 (1973), 82–9

ELŻBIETA WITKOWSKA-ZAREMBA

Nicolaus Polonus (ii).

See Mikołaj z Krakowa.

Nicolet, Aurèle

(b Neuchâtel, 22 Jan 1926). Swiss flautist. He studied the flute and music theory in Zürich under André Jaunet and Willy Burkhard, and then in Paris under Marcel Moyse and Yvonne Drappier. In 1947 he won a premier prix for flute at the Paris Conservatoire, and in 1948 the flute prize in the Geneva International Music Competition. From 1948 to 1950 he was first flautist in the Winterthur City Orchestra and in 1950 Furtwängler engaged him as solo flautist for the Berlin PO: Nicolet held the position until 1959. Simultaneously he taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin until 1965 and then at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg; he then moved to Basle. For tone-quality and technique Nicolet was indebted to the French school. His interpretations of Bach under Karl Richter, and other recordings such as Mozart’s flute works, show his stylistic assurance and finely controlled phrasing. He also won an international reputation in modern music, and among composers who have written for him are Klaus Huber, Jürg Wyttenbach, Jacques Wildberger, Rudolf Kelterborn, Albert Moeschinger, Tōru Takemitsu, Edison Denisov, György Ligeti and Heinz Holliger. He published Flöte (Lektion) Syrinx [von] Claude Debussy (Wie Meister üben, ii, Zürich, 1967; Eng. trans., 1968) which contains a discography and two records.

JÜRG STENZL/R

Nicoletti, Filippo

(b Ferrara; d 27 Sept 1634). Italian composer. In his youth he studied with Giuliano Cartari, then maestro di cappella at S Francesco, Bologna. He appears to have been in Rovigo between 1577 and 1585 – he dated his first two books of five-part madrigals from there. I finti amori, dedicated to the podestà of the city, contains settings of poetry by local writers including Nicoletti himself, as well as by better-known ones from Ferrarese circles. In 1579 Nicoletti attempted to transfer to the Gonzaga court at Mantua; he was unsuccessful despite the recommendation of Alessandro Nodari who praised his compositional skills and excellent voice. In April 1588 he entered the service of Duke Alfonso II d'Este as a cappellano in the ducal chapel at nearby Ferrara, and although he remained there until the dissolution of the court in 1598, and probably for some time afterwards, he was evidently dissatisfied with his post. In 1592 he applied unsuccessfully for a ‘vicariato perpetuo’ at S Romano, Ferrara, and in 1603 he was still resident in the city. While in Ferrara he was a member of the famous ridotto of Counts Bonifacio and Luigi Bevilacqua, to whom Nicoletti dedicated the collection La gloria musicale (RISM 1592¹⁴) which he also edited. Probably in 1604 and certainly by 1605 he had moved to Rome to take up the appointment of maestro di cappella at S Lorenzo in Damaso. The dedication of Nicoletti's Villanelle a tre voci, to Guglielmo Bevilacqua, is dated from Rome on 25 November 1604, and he was at S Lorenzo in Damaso by the time the 1605 edition of the Primo libro a due voci was published. From 1607 until 1612 Nicoletti served as maestro di cappella at S Maria della Consolazione, and from July 1613 until his death in 1634 as maestro at S Maria di Loreto. He was also a member of the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma. Details of his career were included in the basso continuo part of the Corona di gigli et sacre rose by Francesco Romano and G.B. Massari (Venice, 1619), of which no copies are now known. A series of his letters from 1592 to 1608 is extant (in I-MOs).

La gloria musicale (1592¹⁴) was the last Ferrarese anthology published before the duchy passed to papal control in 1597. Although Nicoletti was at Ferrara when the city was at its most progressive, his own music remained consistently conservative. In Rome, where the cultural climate better suited his style, he indulged in the popular fashion for devising strict, elaborate canons that established his reputation, but none now survive. Briccio wrote admiringly of his ‘canoni enigmatici’ and Pitoni (in the 18th century) included Nicoletti in his list of skilled contrapuntists. This proficiency is evident in his didactic Madrigali a due voci, his most popular work. All the texts in this collection had previously been set in the same sequence by Andrea Gabrieli in his Libro primo de madrigali a tre voci (Venice, 1575). A book of Nicoletti's Latin poetry, De divini verbi nativitate, passione et resurrectione carmina, was published in Rome in 1634.

WORKS

Il primo libro de madrigali, 5vv (Venice, 1578)

I finti amori, 5vv, op.2 (Venice, 1585)

Madrigali, 2vv (Venice, 1588)

Villanelle, 3vv (Venice, 1604)

Vocal works in 1583^10, 1591^9, 1592^14, 1604^8, 1625^1

1 instrumental canzona, I-Rn 156

BIBLIOGRAPHY

EinsteinIM

FenlonMM

NewcombMF

PitoniN

A. Superbi: Apparato de gli huomini illustri della Città di Ferrara (Ferrara, 1620)

G. Briccio: De canoni enigmatici (Rome, 1632)

F. Passadore: Musica e musicisti a Rovigo tra Rinascimento e Barocco (Rovigo, 1987)

A. Morelli: ‘Filippo Nicoletti (ca.1555–1634) compositore ferrarese: profilo biografico alla luce di nuovi documenti’, Musica Franca: Essays in Honor of Frank A. D'Accone, ed. I. Alm, A. McLamore and C. Reardon (Stuyvesant, NY, 1996), 139–50

IAIN FENLON