Life
As a young man, Rossi, who was Jewish, acquired a reputation as a talented violinist. He was then hired (in 1587) as a court musician in Mantua, where records of his activities as a violinist survive.
Rossi served at the court of Mantua from 1587 to 1628 as concertmaster where he entertained the ducal family and their highly esteemed guests. The composers Rossi, Monteverdi, Gastoldi, Wert and Viadana provided fashionable music for banquets, wedding feasts, theatre productions and chapel services amongst others. Rossi was so well-thought of at this court that he was excused from wearing the yellow badge required of his nationality.
Rossi probably died either in the invasion of Austrian troops, who defeated the Gonzagas and destroyed the Jewish ghetto in Mantua, or in the subsequent plague which ravaged the area.
Rossi's sister, Madama Europa, was an opera singer, and possibly the first Jewish woman to be professionally engaged in that area. She is reported to have premiered Lamento d'Arianna of Monteverdi - in whose orchestra Rossi played violin - for the Duke of Gonzaga. She also disappeared after the end of the Gonzaga court and subsequent sack of the ghetto.
Read more about this topic: Salamone Rossi
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