Marchetto Cara shares importance with Bartolomeo Tromboncino as a composer of frottolas. He was employed by the Gonzagas in Mantua, where he was maestro di cappella of the church and secular court musical establishments. He was well known as a singer and lutenist, and his surviving compositions include more than a hundred frottolas, poetic Italian songs in a form that preceded the development of the madrigal.
