DE CAROLIS (DE KAROLIS), ADOLFO. — Painter and engraver, born at Montafiore dell'Aso on 6 January 1874, died in Rome on 7 February 1928. Having entered the group “In arte libertas” in Rome, which was led by Giovanni Costa, he made his debut with works of pre-Raphaelite flavour (e.g., *Madonna with Angels*, titled *Laudata sì...*, 1900). Turning to fresco painting, he nourished his spirit with heroic visions of D’Annunzian taste, while on the other hand studying the works of Michelangelo and Correggio. His decorative ensembles, always dignified, nonetheless rely more on cerebral values than on intrinsically pictorial ones. He decorated the Sala dei Quattromila in the Palazzo del Podestà in Bologna (1911–28), the Aula Magna of the University of Pisa, the church of S. Francesco in Ravenna, the council chambers of the provinces of Ascoli Piceno and Arezzo, the church of S. Ginesio, the chapel of S. Francesco in the Basilica del Santo in Padua, and others. Yet even his religious compositions often appear more illuminated by intellect than vivified by faith and warmed by the heart.
With masterly technique he practised wood-engraving, achieving notable results in book decoration: the friezes and covers he provided for numerous books by Pascoli and D’Annunzio were highly praised.
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DE’ CAVALIERI (DEL CAVALIERE), EMILIO. — Musician, born in Rome c. 1550, died there in 1602. Trained in music through youthful passion rather than professional aims, his name appears between 1578 and 1584 in the musical events of the oratory of the Arciconfraternita del Santissimo Crocifisso in S. Marcello. Having moved to Florence at the Medici court, in 1589 he collaborated in the musical composition and staging of the *Intermedi* for the wedding of Ferdinando de’ Medici and Cristina di Lorena. The importance of his role is evident from the production (1590) he organised for Tasso’s *Aminta*, and from the music he composed for the pastorals *Il satiro* and *La disperazione di Fileno* (1590) on texts by Laura Guidicioni Lucchesini, and for Guarini’s *Dialogo di Giunone e Minerva* (1600), as well as the spectacle *Il gioco della cieca* (1595), again to poetry by Guidicioni. His name is especially linked to the *Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo*, performed in the oratory of the Vallicella in Rome (February 1600), with music on a text by Fr Agostino Manni; in this work the first effective religious assertion of the new monodic style is achieved, of which E. de’ C. may rightly be recognised as one of its first brilliant exponents. The almost ascetic simplicity of the dramatic-musical conception yields effects of penetrating expressive intensity. He also wrote other sacred music, in collaboration with Dorisio Isorelli, for the Lamentations and Responsories of Holy Week, likewise for the oratory of the Vallicella.