Bonaiuto di Corsino

Bonaiuto di Corsino was a craftsman and composer active in Florence in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. His principal trade was painting cassoni, the decorated chests given as wedding gifts, and he is of interest to music history for his polyphonic ballate, which are close in style to those of Francesco Landini.

Around 1379 he was a pupil of the polyphonist Andreas de Florentia and, between 1375 and 1395, he appears as a prominent member of the Compagnia dei Laudesi di San Zanobi. He was married and had children, but around 1402, probably ruined by gambling and a life of pleasure, he took holy orders, an event that caused scandal and is recorded in an anonymous sonnet of the period. He became rector of the church of San Remigio, where the composer Gherardello had previously served as prior, and he died during the stay in Florence of the antipope John XXIII.

His ballate are probably dated to before his religious vocation, since the unambiguous attributions in the manuscript GB-Lbl 29987 name him as "pitor". A doubtful attribution in the Florentine section of I-La 184, to a "pitor" whose name is illegible, may refer to the same musician, although this is not certain. His legacy survives chiefly in his two-voice ballate, which are included in modern editions of Italian music of the Trecento.