Obscure Historical Figure #2

Continuing in the vein that inspired me to make Christine post about grizzled and destitute Gold Rush baron James W. Marhsall, I'm going to try and write about another obscure and hilarious historical figure. I've heard it said before that the sequel is never as good as the original, but since I'm in a Wikipedia mood today, I don't care.

Allow me to introduce you to Paolo Bellasio (1554-1594), the frequently unemployed Italian composer. He spent the majority of his adult life "probably looking for a job as an organist." Most of his work was part-time, though at one point he held a full-time position for less than two years. No one knows why he left that job, perhaps out of habit, and he ended up in Rome to die four years thereafter.

His legacy is relatively nonexistent. Apparently he published--or at least wrote--a couple books of songs that are by and large ignored or forgotten about today. According to his epitaph, the Pope at the time granted him the title of "Knight of the Golden Spur," but no one knows what that means.

I don't mean to disparage the man's memory or anything. He may be dead, but at least he has a Wikipedia entry, and that's better than anything I'll ever do. No wait, I ate half of a two-pound burger in less than 30 minutes once, and that was definitely better than having my own Wikipedia entry could be.