GAFFURIO (GAFFORIO, Gafurino), FRANCHINO. - Musician, b. at Lodi on 14 Jan. 1451, d. at Milan on 24 June 1522. He studied plainsong and composition with the friar Goodendag (Bonadies); ordained a priest, he served for two years L. Gonzaga at Mantua, then at Verona, at Genoa, whence he went with the doge P. Adorno to Naples, and again to Lodi; from 1481 to 1484 he was choirmaster to Bishop C. Pallavicini at Monticello Cremonese and finally, in Milan, singer at the Cathedral and then first singer of the Sforza Chapel and tutor to the children of Duke Ludovico. In 1485 he founded a music school of the highest renown.
Besides several extensive and profound didactic works on plainsong, notation, counterpoint, musical values, ancient and modern modes, etc. (Theoricum opus harmoniae disciplinae, Naples 1480 and, under the title Theorica musicae, Milan 1492; Practica Musicae sive musicae actiones in IV libris, ibid. 1496; Angelicum ac divinum opus, ibid. 1518; etc.), there survive Masses, a stabat, magnificat, motets, antiphons, and other sacred compositions, all in manuscript.