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Paolo Bellasio

Paolo Bellasio (May 20, 1554July 10, 1594) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He is generally considered to be a member of the Roman School, though unusually for the group he seems to have written only madrigals.

Information on his early life is scanty. He was born in Verona, lived in Rome in 1582 in the service of Cardinal Filippo Boncompagni, and then in the next year traveled throughout Calabria, probably looking for a job as an organist. In 1584 and 1585 he held a series of part-time posts at various churches in Rome. Orvieto Cathedral hired him in 1587, but he did not stay long, returning to Verona in 1589. In the early 1590s he returned to Rome for reasons unknown, and died there.

Bellasio published five books of madrigals, in a well-crafted, conservative and contrapuntal idiom. In addition he wrote a book of villanelle which included a part for lute. The lack of sacred music in his output is striking, especially for a Roman at the end of the 16th century, though perhaps some of his music has not survived.