Casella (died before 1300) was an Italian composer and singer, none of whose works has survived.[1]
He was probably a friend ofDante Alighieri who made him into the main character of the 2nd canto of thePurgatorio (the second part of theDivine Comedy).
All that is positively known about him is what is found in Dante's work and it has been impossible to identify him with absolute certainty with any of the Casellas named in contemporary documents.
To whatever is said of him in Dante's work one can add (with some degree of probability) information furnished by the earliest commentators of theDivine Comedy:Pietro di Dante,Benvenuto da Imola,Buti andLandino give him as being born inFlorence, while an anonymous early commentary of theDivine Comedy gives him as being born inPistoia.
Potential mentions of this Casella in other documents include a mention inCodex Vaticano 3214 (Casella dedit sonum, i.e. "Casella set [this] to music") that he set to music a madrigal byLemmo da Pistoia, and a mention of him in asonnet byNiccolò de' Rossi. There is also a document denoting that Casella might have received a fine in July 1282.[2]
Casella died in 1299 or early in the year 1300, since Dante enters Purgatory in 1300.[2]
From what is said of him inPurgatorio, Canto II, it appears that he was a friend of Dante, and that he set to music poetry by Dante himself, namely thecanzoneAmor che ne la mente mi ragiona found in Dante'sConvivio and possibly some other short poems by Dante. Specifically, in line 107 of the Canto II, it might be inferred that theamoroso canto ("amorous song") that Dante connects with Casella is a specific indication that Casella's music was (at least in part) in the monodic style which accompanied Occitan lyric poems, or Italian lyric poems in the Occitan manner.
Casella appears among the dead entering Purgatory in theDivine Comedy, and embraces Dante upon recognizing him. It is implied that there is mutual familiarity and a potential close friendship between them.
"I saw one of them come forward
with such affection to embrace me
that I was moved to do the same."
—Purgatorio, Canto II, Lines 76-78[3]
Subsequently, Dante identifies Casella by name and asks him to sing. Casella's singing is referred to as characteristically sweet by Dante. Casella begins to sing the first lines of aAmor che ne la mente mi ragiona, a poem written by Dante himself.[4]
"'Love that converses with me in my mind,'
he then began, so sweetly
that the sweetness sounds within me still."
—Purgatorio, Canto II, Lines 112-114[3]
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