Florentius de Faxolis, in Italian Fiorenzo de' Fasoli ( c. 1461 – 18 March 1496), was an Italian priest and music theorist. [1]
Florentius entered the pay of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza in 1481–1482, while the cardinal was living in Rome and Naples. His rise after this was rapid. In 1482, he obtained a canonry in the collegiate church of San Fiorenzo in Fiorenzuola d'Arda. In 1483, he was appointed chaplain of Santa Maria della Stella in Milan. In 1484, he received a papal dispensation allowing him to become a priest before the canonical age. [1]
At the cardinal's behest, Florentius wrote a treatise in Latin on music theory, the Liber musices (Book of Music), between 1485 and 1492. [2] It is preserved in a single manuscript—now in Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana , 2146— illuminated by Attavante degli Attavanti or his atelier. [1] [3] It contains 95 folios and is divided into three books. The only contemporary theorist cited by Florentius is Blasius Romero. The work closes with a poem by Francesco Tranchedino. [1]