Agostino Agazzari (2 December 1578 – 10 April 1640) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...

Life

Agazzari was born in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

to an aristocratic family. After working in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, as a teacher at the

Roman College The Roman College (, ) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level and moved to seve ...

, he returned to Siena in 1607, becoming first

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and later choirmaster of the cathedral there. He was a close friend of

Lodovico Grossi da Viadana Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (usually Lodovico Viadana, though his family name was Grossi; c. 1560 – 2 May 1627) was an Italian composer, teacher, and Franciscan friar of the Order of Friars Minor Observants. He was the first significant figu ...

, the early innovator of the

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

. Agazzari wrote several books of

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

s and the pastoral drama ''Eumelio'' (1606). Stylistically, ''Eumelio'' is similar to the famous composition by Cavalieri, '' Rappresentatione di Anima, e di Corpo'' of 1600, a work of singular significance in the development of the

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

. In the preface to the drama he mentions that he was asked to set the text to music only one month before the performance; he composed the music in two weeks, and copied the parts and rehearsed it in the remaining two weeks, a feat which would be impressive even in the modern age. Agazzari is best known, however, for ''Del sonare sopra il basso'' (1607), one of the earliest and most important works on basso continuo. This treatise was immensely important in the diffusion of the technique throughout

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

: for example,

Michael Praetorius Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and Music theory, music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of ...

used large portions of it in his ''

Syntagma musicum ''Syntagma Musicum (1614-1620)'' is a musical treatise in three volumes by the German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. It was published in Wittenberg and Wolfenbüttel. It is one of the most commonly used research source ...

'' in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1618-1619. As was true with many late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and early

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

theoretical treatises, it described a practice which was already occurring. In large part it was based on a study of his friend

Viadana Viadana may refer to: Surname * Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (c. 1560 – 1627), Italian composer, teacher, and Franciscan friar * Gilberto Viadana (born 1973), Italian figure skater Other * Viadana, Lombardy, a town in the province of Mantua, Lomba ...

's ''Cento concerti ecclesiastici'' (published in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1602), the first collection of sacred music to use the basso continuo. Most of his compositions are sacred music, of which motets of the early

variety (for two or three voices with instruments) predominate. All of the motets are accompanied by basso continuo, with organ providing the sustaining line. His madrigals, on the other hand, are ''

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

'', in the late

style, so Agazzari simultaneously showed extreme progressive tendencies as well as some more conservative ones: unusually, his

progressive music Progressive music is music that attempts to expand existing stylistic boundaries associated with specific music genre, genres of music. The word comes from the basic concept of ":wiktionary:progress, progress", which refers to advancements thr ...

was sacred, and his conservative was secular, a situation almost unique among composers of the early Baroque. He died in Siena.

Theoretical works

*'. Siena: Domenico Falcini, 1607. *'. Siena: Bonetti, 1638.

References

*Colleen Reardon, ''Agostino Agazzari and Music at Siena Cathedral, 1597-1641'' (OUP, 1993) *

Manfred Bukofzer Manfred Fritz Bukofzer (27 March 1910 – 7 December 1955) was a German-born American musicologist. Life and career He studied at Heidelberg University and the Stern conservatory in Berlin, but left Germany in 1933 for Switzerland, where he o ...

, ''Music in the Baroque Era''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1947. () *Gloria Rose, "Agostino Agazzari. In ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. () *Agostino Agazzari, ''Del sonare sopra il basso'', tr. Oliver Strunk, in Source Readings in Music History. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1950. *Agostino Agazzari, ''Del sonare sopra 'l Basso con tutti li stromenti...'', edit. by

Graziella Concas Graziella Concas (born 7 January 1970) is an Italian pianist and composer. Biography and career She started studying piano at the age of five. Later she studied piano under Franca Zinghinì-Spinnicchia at the Catania Musical Institute ‘Vi ...

, Palermo, NEN, 2003, IT\ICCU\LO1\0834426. *Liam P. Naden, ''Liber Quartus (1607): A Critical Edition with Commentary'', University of Auckland, New Zealand, 1988

External links

Draft PDF version of ''Del Sonare Sopra'l Basso Con Tutti Li Stromenti''
-> * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agazzari, Agostino Italian Renaissance composers Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers Italian music theorists Musicians from Siena 1578 births 1640 deaths 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century Irish male musicians