Placido Falconio, also called Falconi in some sources, was an Italian composer of the 16th century. His birth and death dates are unknown; his first publication dates from 1575, his last from 1588. In 1549, he entered a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, and the title pages of his published works indicate that he was a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

in the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...

at the time of their printing. According to the dedication of Falconio's ''Psalmodia vespertina'' (

Vespers Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...

psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

s), the composer was part of a group or consortium that helped introduce Venetian music printing methods into his native

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

. Falconio's works are all of the sacred vocal category, and include introits,

alleluia ''Hallelujah'' (; , Modern Hebrew, Modern ) is an interjection from the Hebrew language, used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, ...

s, magnificats, psalm settings, and works relating to the Passion. He seems to have taken pains in many cases to make his works readily performable even for less-trained forces in smaller parishes. This is illustrated in that, despite the prevailing atmosphere of polychoral works, or at least works for five or more voices, Falconio wrote often for but four voices, and even for three on one occasion, a ''Voces Christi''. Contributing also to this accessibility is the simple,

homophonic Homophony and Homophonic are from the Greek language, Greek ὁμόφωνος (''homóphōnos''), literally 'same sounding,' from ὁμός (''homós''), "same" and φωνή (''phōnē''), "sound". It may refer to: *Homophones − words with the s ...

nature shared by many of his works, though of course such an idiom had begun to dominate in the post- Tridentine era of the 1570s and 80s. Perhaps more telling, then, of Falconio's practicality is that, when he did compose in a more

contrapuntal In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous Part (music), musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and Pitch contour, melodic contour. The term ...

fashion, in his collection ''Introitus et Alleluia per omnes festivitates totius anni'', he included an explicit part for organ accompaniment in the publication. While Falconio almost surely did not invent the technique, and this work of 1575 is very probably pre-dated by the presence of other such organ parts in manuscript, it contains the first known published example of "basso seguente." This technique, in which a line for organ simply provides the lowest note being sounded in the vocal parts at any given time, is the precursor 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 ...

(for further explanation of this, see

Figured bass Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidental (music), accidentals) indicate interval (music), intervals, chord (music), chords, and non- ...

References

* Ian Fenlon, 'Placido Falconio,' ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Online'', ed. L. Macy, accessed 2 June 2005. * Peter Williams, David Ledbetter, 'Continuo,' ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Online'', ed. L. Macy, accessed 2 June 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Falconio, Placido Italian Renaissance composers Italian male classical composers Italian Benedictines