Tasso had traveled to Paris with the…
1575 CE
Tasso had traveled to Paris with the cardinal in 1570, but frankness of speech and a certain habitual want of tact had caused a disagreement with his worldly patron.
He had left France the next year, and in 1572 had taken service under Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara.
Here, he has written his charming pastoral tragicomedy Aminta, first performed in 1573.
The Aminta, a pastoral drama of very simple plot and exquisite lyrical charm has appeared at the critical moment when modern music, under Palestrina’s impulse, is becoming the main art of Italy.
Tasso in 1574 had completed his masterpiece, Gerusalemme liberata, dealing with the capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, but criticism voiced by friends leads in 1575 to a destructive persecution mania.
Tasso submits the work twice to the the authorities of the Inquisition, who find it without fault.
Despite this approval, Tasso remains unsatisfied and his poem unpublished.