Nicolaus Savini Mathei alias Ricci de Nucella Campli, (fl. 1401–1425; d. 1438 or after), also Niccolò Ricci and Nucella, was an Italian composer, singer, and scribe of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Only a single work by Nicolaus is known, the ballata De bon parole.
Life Nothing was known of this composer until the discoveries of Giuliano Di Bacco and John Nádas, published in summary form in 1998 and more completely in 2004.Di Bacco, Giuliano and John Nádas, "The Papal Chapels and Italian Sources of Polyphony during the Great Schism," in Papal Music and Musicians in Late Medieval and Renaissance Rome, edited by Richard Sherr (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp. 44–92, at p. 49, and "Zacara e i suoi colleghi italiani nella cappella papale," in Antonio Zacara da Teramo e il suo tempo, edited by Francesco Zimei (Lucca, Italy: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 2004), pp. 33–54, esp. 49–50. From his name it seems he was born or active in Abruzzo, since "Nucella" or "Nocella" is a small località less than 2 km south-east of Campli.Di Bacco and Nádas (2004), 49. The location of Nocella is not mentioned there but is easily confirmed in Google Maps
He is documented as a member of the papal chapels of Popes Boniface IX, Innocent VII, and Gregory XII of the Roman obedience from 1401–1410.Di Bacco and Nádas (2004), foldout chart He was listed as "cantor dnp" (singer for the lord, the pope) and "prepositus ecclesie S. Victorie de Nucella Campli Aprutin. dioc." ("Provost of the church of Saint Victoria of Nocella, Campli in the diocese of Teramo") in a document from November 10, 1401.Di Bacco and Nádas (2004), 51 He is later listed as also being a familiar of the pope (March 27, 1405), then a priest (July 15, 1407), then a scribe for the pope (May 5, 1410), while gaining affiliations with several other churches.Di Bacco and Nádas (2004), 51 On October 17, 1435 Nicolaus Ricci was given a six-month release from his duties to visit his father who was about to celebrate his hundredth birthday. On February 13, 1436 he is noted as released from obligations ("absolutio").Di Bacco and Nádas (2004), 51 On the recommendation from the Cardinal of S. Clemente, Pope Eugenius IV appointed Baptista Maco Palazzo as Niccolò's successor on July 6, 1438.Planchart, Alejandro. Forthcoming book on Guillaume Dufay and Papal musicians posted in the public Ars Nova Facebook group.
Music Nicolaus Ricci is known as the composer of a single, extant piece, De bon parole. It is attributed to "Nucella" on folio 86r in its single source, the manuscript Strasbourg M222 C22 (destroyed in 1870 by a fire started by a bombardment in the Franco-Prussian WarStaehelin, Martin. "Bemerkungen zum verbrannten Manuskript Strassburg M.222 C.22," Die Musikforschung 42 (1989), : at 2. but surviving in a copy by Edmond de Coussemaker now in Brussels).Vander Linden, Albert, Le Manuscrit musical M 222 C 22 de la Bibliothèque de Strasbourg, XVe siècle (Brussels: Office international de librairie, 1977) The attribution to "Nucella" was thought to be a corruption of the word "Micinella", the title of a Gloria by Antonio "Zachara" da Teramo and thus a possible work of Zachara's.Nádas, John, "Further notes on Magister Antonius dictus Zacharias de Teramo," Studi Musicali 15 (1986), pp. 167–82, at p. 173. Nádas cites a lecture by Kurt von Fischer for the idea, but by the time von Fischer's article was published as "Bemerkungen zur Überlieferung und zum Stil der geistlichen Werke des Antonius dictus Zacharias de Teramo," (Musica Disciplina 41 (1987), pp. 161–82) the suggestion was not included. The new biographical evidence invalidates this theory, and some stylistic similarities can be explained by both composers being active in Rome in the Papal Chapel at the same time. This three-voice piece is in tempus imperfectum cum prolatione minori () in the lower voices while coloration and ars subtilior note shapes in the cantus let that voice move through the two major prolations ( and ).Marrocco, see reference under "Edition"
Edition and recording Nicolaus Ricci's ballata "De bon parole" was edited in Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century vol. 10, W. Thomas Marrocco, ed. (Monaco: Éditions de L'oiseau-lyre, 1977), pp. 101–2, 152, and has been recorded on Menando gli anni. La Musica in Abruzzo tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Le Cantrici di Euterpe CD02, by the Italian group Aquila Altera ensemble (2002) and Un Fior Gentile. L'Ars Nova di Zacara da Teramo, Micrologus CDM 0012.00, by the Italian group "Ensemble Micrologus" (2004).
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