Ruggiero Giovanelli
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Ruggiero Giovannelli (c. 1560 – 7 January 1625) was an Italian composer of the 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 ...
eras. He was a member of the
Roman School In music history, the Roman School was a group of composers of predominantly church music, in Rome, during the 16th and 17th centuries, therefore spanning the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. The term also refers to the music they prod ...
, and succeeded
Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...
at St. Peter's.


Life

He was born in
Velletri Velletri (; ; ) is an Italian ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, approximately 40 km to the southeast of the city centre, located in the Alban Hills, in the region of Lazio, central Italy. Neighbouring communes are Rocca di Papa, Lar ...
, near
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, ...
. It has been claimed that he was a student of Palestrina, but there is no documentary evidence of this; stylistic similarities between their music, and an obvious close career association, make it a reasonable assumption. Not much is known about Giovannelli's life until 1583 when he became ''maestro di cappella'' at S Luigi dei Francesi, a post which he held until 1591, at which time he went to the Collegio Germanico. In addition to these posts he was ''maestro di cappella'' for Duke Giovanni Angelo of Altaemps, at his private chapel, probably concurrently with his other jobs. He also sang, and served in various administrative posts. Giovannelli's most important appointment was as the replacement for Palestrina as the ''maestro di cappella'' at the Julian Chapel at St. Peter's, on 12 March 1594, a position which he held until 1599, when he became a singer at the
Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...
. In 1614 he became ''maestro di cappella'' at the Sistine Chapel, and he retired in 1624. He is buried in the church of Santa Marta.


Music and influence

Giovanelli composed and published a large number of secular pieces. He is noted for his church music, most of which also survives in manuscript. As could be expected for a composer of the Roman School, his sacred music was conservative, and mostly in the Palestrina style for the first part of his career; however, after 1600 he experimented with some of the stylistic innovations which defined the beginning of the Baroque era, such as the ''
concertato Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a ''genre'' or a ''style'' of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. The term derives from It ...
'' principle and 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 ...
.'' His output of sacred music fell off dramatically late in his life, and at least one scholar has suggested that this was because he was uncomfortable with the new style. In 1615 he created a new edition of the ''Graduale'' known as the ''Medicean'', published by the Medici press. (''The Encyclopedia Americana'' may contradict this, writing that a ''Editio Medicæa of the Graduale'' of 1614 was created by
Felice Anerio Felice Anerio (26 or 27 September 1614) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, and a member of the Roman School of composers. He was the older brother of another important, and somewhat more progressive composer ...
.) He wrote
mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
es and
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, some of which are for as many as 12 voices, and which often use
polychoral An antiphon (Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are usually taken from the Psalms or Scripture, but may also be freely composed. T ...
techniques. For a Roman School composer and a priest he wrote a surprising amount of secular music, mostly
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
canzonetta In music, a canzonetta (; pl. canzonette, canzonetti or canzonettas) is a popular Italian secular vocal composition that originated around 1560. Earlier versions were somewhat like a madrigal but lighter in style—but by the 18th century, especia ...
s, some of which are in a light-hearted style influenced by northern Italian models, or by
Luca Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the f ...
, who had spent time in Rome. He wrote three books of madrigals for five voices and two books for four voices, as well as a large quantity of other secular songs which were not collected in publications; most have been dated to the 1580s and 1590s. Giovannelli's music was reprinted widely, in Italy and elsewhere, indicating his broad popularity.


Works

Sources are incomplete, and may differ about his published works. There appear to have been at least three volumes of five books, five- and eight-part motets and three part canzonets (or canzonettes, instrumentals performed as entrances or introductions) (1592); ''Villanelle a 3 voci'' (1593); ''Misse'' (1593); ''Motetti'' (1594); ''Madrigale'' (1586); ''Book Three for Five Voices'' (1599); ''Vilanelle a 5 voci'' (1608). There are masses, motets, and psalms in manuscript at the
Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...
, among them a ''Miserere'' for four and eight voices and a mass for eight, on Palestrina's madrigal ''Vestiva i colli''. Other madrigals are in the collections of
Girolamo Scotto Girolamo Scotto (Hieronymus Scotus; also Gerolamo) (c.1505 – 3 September 1572) was an Italian printer, composer, businessman and bookseller of the Renaissance, active mainly in Venice. He was the most influential member of the firm of Venetian ...
and Phalesisu; and motets and psalms in those of and
Karl Proske Karl Proske (11 February 1794, Gröbnig (Upper Silesia) – 20 December 1861), was a German Catholic cleric, also known as Carolus Proske and Carl Proske. Life In his youth, Proske was a medical doctor, and worked for the Prussian military ...
.


Publications

* ''Gli sdruccioli … Il primo libro de madrigali a 4'' (Rome, 1585) * ''Il primo libro de madrigali a 5'' (1586) * ''Il primo libro delle villanelle et arie alla napolitana a 3'' (Rome, 1588) * ''Gli sdruccioli … libro secondo a 4, con una caccia in ultimo'', 4–8vv (Venice, 1589) * ''Il secondo libro de madrigali a 5'' (1593) * ''Sacrarum modulationum … liber primus, 5, 8vv'' (Rome, 1593) * ''Terzo libro de madrigali a 5 voci'' (1599) * ''Motecta … liber secundus, 5vv'' (Venice, 1604) * ''3 motets for equal voices'' * ''Carmina Sacra; 17 motets for 3 equal voices'' * ''La Terra, che dal fondo'' * ''O Fortunata Rosa'' * ''Tu nascesti'' * ''Musica tolta da i madrigali di Claudio Monteverde, e d'altri autori'' (Milan 1607) contains sacred
contrafacta In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this "lyrical adaptation" date back to the 9th century in Gregor ...
by
Aquilino Coppini Aquilino Coppini (died 1629) was an Italian musician and lyricist. Life and works While in the service of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, he specialized in creating sacred ''contrafacta'' of secular madrigals. His ''contrafacta'' are of interest fo ...
on madrigals by Giovannelli; among them are: ** ''Deus noster fidelis'' ** ''O quam inanes'' ** ''Sanctissima Maria'' ** ''Moritur in ligno'' ** ''Suauissime Iesu'' ** ''Dulce est & iucundum'' ** ''L'Amorosa Ero''


Midi

* Midi performance of ''Sancti-Maria''


Notes


References and further reading

* *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giovannelli, Ruggiero 1560s births 1625 deaths People from Velletri Italian male classical composers Italian Renaissance composers Italian Baroque composers Roman school composers 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century Italian male musicians