Abstract
The article is dedicated to one of the most important figures of Italian secular music of the first decades of the 16th century — Mantuan cantore a liuto and frottolista Marco Cara. The factual information about Сara is reported on the base of published documents relating to the time of Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga, primarily letters of marquises, and some tendencies of the court musical life are identified, which had an influence on the destiny of this prominent musician.