Marcantonio De Dominis: A Patron manqué for Tomaso Cecchini?

The biography and philosophy of the archbishop of Spalato, the relapsed heretic and ‘twice converted’ Marcantonio De Dominis (1560-1624), wielded great influence throughout the Europe of his time. His life story saw two climaxes, firstly in 1616 when he renounced the post of archbishop and fled to England, and then in 1624, a few months after his death, when his corpse was burnt along with his writings in Campo dei Fiori in Rome. At the margin of this story we find the figure of Tomaso Cecchini (c.1583-1644), a composer who after having worked in Spalato (Split) as chapelmaster during the episcopacy of De Dominis, left the city in 1614. Only in 1624, shortly after the death of the archbishop, was he able to freely admit that he had moved away from Spalato because he was «forced by serious circumstances». In the light of the biography of Marcantonio De Dominis, the present article attempts to retrace the career of Tomaso Cecchini and his relations with the various patrons and dedicatees of his works, influenced on several occasions by the uncomfortable figure of the archbishop.