Alessandro Poglietti
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Alessandro Poglietti (early 17th century – July 1683) was a
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 ...
organist and composer of unknown origin. In the second half of the 17th century Poglietti settled in Vienna, where he attained an extremely high reputation, becoming one of Leopold I's favorite composers. Poglietti held the post of court organist for 22 years from 1661 until his death during the Turkish siege that led into the
Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Li ...
. Poglietti is primarily important for his keyboard music, particularly ''Rossignolo'' (1677), a collection of diverse pieces for
harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...
that includes a large number of imitations of natural sounds, and a collection of 12
ricercar A ricercar ( , ) or ricercare ( , ) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ''ricercar'' derives from the Italian verb , which means "to search out; to seek"; many ricercars serve a preludial func ...
es, which was widely copied during his lifetime.


Life

Nothing is known of Poglietti's origins and early life.
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Riedel, Wollenberg, Grove. and
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have been suggested as his possible birthplace. He may have received musical training in
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or
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. Towards the 1660s Poglietti settled in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
: in early 1661 he became organist and Kapellmeister at the
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church ''Zu den neun Chören der Engel'' (''Nine Choirs of Angels''), and on 1 July 1661 he was appointed organist of the court Kapelle under Leopold I (a post previously held by none other than
Johann Jakob Froberger Johann Jakob Froberger ( baptized 19 May 1616 – 7 May 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dance ...
). Poglietti held the court position until his death and apparently enjoyed a high reputation. The Emperor (who was a composer himself) was particularly fond of Poglietti, ennobling him and bestowing upon him the title ''Comes palatinus Caesareus'', and the composer was also favored by the Pope, who made him a Knight of the Golden Spur, i.e., a member of the second highest Order of
Papal Orders of Chivalry The orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See include title of honour, titles, chivalric orders, Award, distinctions and medals honoured by the Holy See, with the Pope of Rome as the fount of honour, for deeds and merits of their recipi ...
. Poglietti also had friends among Austrian nobility, among them Count Anton Franz von Collalto and Karl II von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn,
Prince-Bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...
of
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—in 1672 Poglietti inherited estates near their residences. Another important connection of Poglietti's was with the Göttweig Benedictine Abbey, where he stayed as a guest a number of times, and where his only known opera was performed, in 1677. Composer
Johann Kaspar Kerll Johann Caspar Kerll (9 April 1627 – 13 February 1693) was a German Baroque composer and organist. He is also known as Kerl, Gherl, Giovanni Gasparo Cherll and Gaspard Kerle. Born in Adorf in the Electorate of Saxony as the son of an organist, ...
was a personal friend of Poglietti's, and he may have known
Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (also Bachelbel; baptised – buried 9 March 1706) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and ...
, who visited Vienna in the mid-1670s. Poglietti died in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in July 1683, during the Turkish siege that eventually led into the
Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Li ...
. His death was lamented by Kerll in ''Missa in fletu solatium'', published in Munich in 1689 as part of a collection of masses, ''Missae sex''. Kerll's work includes continuo parts that specifically order the performer to "avoid consonances".


Works

Poglietti's importance lies primarily in his keyboard music. Together with Johann Kaspar Kerll, he represents the transitional period between the time of
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and the late Baroque period. Particularly important are two large sets of pieces: an unpublished collection of twelve keyboard ricercares and ''Rossignolo'' (1677), a collection of harpsichord music. The ricercares belong to the tradition of Frescobaldi's '' Fiori musicali'' and Bach's ''
The Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fugue'' is the culmination of Bach's e ...
''. Models of the strict contrapuntal style, they were most probably intended for the organ, and were widely copied in the Vienna area. The ''Rossignolo'' pieces, on the other hand, are quite different. The collection, which Poglietti presented to Leopold I and his wife Eleonor Magdalene, comprises the following works: * Toccata and Canzona * A standard allemande—courante—sarabande—gigue suite in which every movement has a double (the allemande has two) * An ''Aria Allemagna'' with 20 variations * A set of pieces based on a single theme: ** ''Ricercar per Il Rossignol'' ** ''Sincopatione del Ricercar'' ** ''Capriccio per Io Rossignol Sopra'l Ricercar'' ** ''Aria bizarra del Rissignolo'' ** ''Imitatione del medesimo Uccello'' Many of these pieces employ programmatic devices. For example, ''Aria bizarra'' and ''Imitatione'' are very demanding, virtuosic pieces based on Poglietti's adaptation of
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calls. Many of the variations of ''Aria Allemagna'' imitate music for non-keyboard instruments (Variation 5 ''
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'', Variation 11 ''Bayrische Schalmay'', etc.) or foreign and/or folk traditions (Variation 15 ''Französische Baiselements''). Poglietti's other pieces include more program music: a canzon and capriccio pair ''über das Henner und Hannengeschrey'', in which the capriccio imitates hens and cocks, and the suite ''sopra la ribellione di Ungheria'', which commemorates a Hungarian Protestant rebellion of 1671. Poglietti's suite musically illustrates the rebellion itself, the capture of the rebels, their execution, and closes with an imitation of church bells. Poglietti also provided numerous examples of program music (which were
incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...
s of possible pieces) in his performance and composition treatise ''Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff'' (1676). Numerous pieces contain highly original treatments of the form: movements of the ''Binder Gigue'' from an A minor suite begin with repeated chords and include octave triplets in the left hand; the toccatas as well as any other piece may feature rapid modulations to completely foreign keys, highly contrasting sections and sections built on various kinds of repetition. Poglietti's other music includes chamber music (mostly suites and sonatas), sacred vocal works ( masses,
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s, ''Litaniae Lauretanae'' for two
SATB In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Choral music Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classic ...
choirs) and a single opera (''Endimione festeggiante'', 1677). ''Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff und Einführung zur Musica'' (1676) is a treatise on keyboard composition; a sketchbook survives which also serves as a guide to keyboard students.


List of works


Vocal

* ''Ave regina coelorum à 5'' * ''Endimione festeggiante'', opera (1677) * ''Litaniae Lauretanae à 8'' * ''Magnificat à 3'' * ''Missa à 3'', for 3vv, violin and basso continuo (1680) * ''Missa à 4'' * ''Missa à 5'' * ''Requiem aeternam'' * 2 motets


Keyboard

* Suite ''sopra la ribellione di Ungheria'', 8 pieces (1671) * Toccata ''fatta sopra l'assedio di Filippsburgo'' (1676; misspelled "Cassedio" in the sourceApel 1972, 569.) * ''Rossignolo'', a suite of 17 pieces (1677) * ''Canzon and Capriccio über das Henner und Hannengeschrey'' * A collection of 12 ricercares * Toccata ''del 7. tono'' * numerous other pieces: suites, canzonas, capriccios, preludes and fugues, etc.


Other instrumental

* 8 sonatas, various balletti, all for string instruments


Writings

* ''Compendium oder kurtzer Begriff, und Einführung zur Musica'' (1676; includes a collection of keyboard pieces) * ''Regulae compositionis'', a sketchbook containing advice on composition


Notes


References

* Apel, Willi. 1972. ''The History of Keyboard Music to 1700''. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press. . Originally published as ''Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700'' by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel. * *


External links

* * https://web.archive.org/web/20160503074907/https://onedrive.live.com/?id=7C9129D365E25EBE!23096&cid=7C9129D365E25EBE {{DEFAULTSORT:Poglietti, Alessandro 17th-century births 1683 deaths Year of birth unknown Italian Baroque composers Italian male classical composers 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century Italian male musicians