Guglielmo I Gonzaga

Guglielmo (William) I Gonzaga (24 April, 1538-14 August, 1587) was Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (as Guglielmo X of Monferrato) from 1550 to 1587.

He was the second son of Federico II Gonzaga of Mantua and Margaret Palaeologina of Montferrat.

In 1574, Montferrat was elevated to a Duchy and he became its first duke. He was succeeded by his son Vincenzo I of Gonzaga.

Guglielmo as Patron of Music

Guglielmo was particularly interested in sacred vocal music, and is known particularly to music historians for his extensive correspondence with Palestrina. He built a large new church in Mantua, that of Santa Barbara. He engaged in an unprecedented negotiation with the Papacy to create his own rite for Mantua, and devoted considerable resources to developing a musical repertoire for the church, commissioning works by Giaches de Wert and Palestrina. Part of his correspondence with Palestrina discusses the work commissioned in detail, stipulating Guglielmo's requirements, and therefore giving a sense of his musical preferences. Guglielmo's musical tastes were conservative for the day. He enjoyed imitative contrapuntal music but was concerned to maintain clarity of text, thereby showing the influence of Tridentine reforms. Upon his death his son Vincenzo invited followers of the more modern trends to his court. [http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Dec04/monteverdi_madrigals3.htm]

Marriage and children

On April 26, 1561, William married Eleonora of Austria, sixth daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. They were parents to three children:

*Vincent I, Duke of Mantua (September 21, 1562-February 9, 1612).
*Margherita Gonzaga (May 27, 1564 - January 6, 1618). Married Alfonso II d'Este.
*Anna Caterina Gonzaga (January 17, 1566 - August 3, 1621). Married her maternal uncle Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria.

References and Further Reading

*Iain Fenlon, "Music and Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Mantua", Cambridge University Press, 1980. ISBN 0521229057.

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