Warrior, Courtier, Singer: Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and the Performance of Identity in the Late Renaissance

Giulio Cesare Brancaccio was a Neapolitan nobleman with long practical experience of military life. He was also a virtuoso bass singer whose performances were praised by both Tasso and Guarini. Richard Wistreich examines Brancaccio's life in detail and considers the mental and social world of a warrior and courtier with musical skills in a broader context. He also illustrates the use of music in the process of 'self-fashioning' and the role of performance of all kinds in the construction of male noble identity within court culture, including the nature and currency of honour, chivalric virtà and sixteenth-century notions of gender and virility in relation to musical performance