PROJECT IN MUSIC

Jerimiah Raeclaudia Javier

9 - St. Ignatius
1st Quarter
Renaissance Composers
 William Byrd (1543–1623)

Who is William Byrd?

William Byrd is perhaps the greatest English composer of all
time. With hundreds of individual works, Byrd seemingly
mastered every style of music that existed during his lifetime,
outshining Orlando de Lassus and Giovanni Palestrina. He was
a pupil working under Thomas Tallis, also on this list. Apart
from his choral works, Byrd is considered by many to be the
first "genius" of the keyboard. Many of his piano works can be
found in "My Ladye Nevells Book" and the "Parthenia."

Composed works
Fantasia in A minor
Galliard in Six Parts
Magnificat (from the Great Service)

Sources
https://www.liveabout.com/top-renaissance-period-composers-
724387
https://www.classical-music.com/features/works/william-byrd-
guide-best-works-and-recordings/
 Josquin Des Prez

(1440–1521)

Who is Josquin Des Prez?

Widely recognized by just his first name, Josquin Des Prez was
Europe's most sought-after musician during his lifetime. His
popularity, no doubt, was a result of his diverse interests,
combining many contemporary styles of music. His originality
and his ability to unveil the meaning and emotions of a text
through music, both sacred and secular, added to his popularity.
While he may not be the most well-documented composer, his
reputation is strong, and much of Josquin's music survives today,
with his masses and chansons being the most popular.
Composed works
The austere
Savonarola-influenced Miserere
Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae

Sources
https://www.liveabout.com/top-renaissance-period-composers-
724387
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josquin_des_Prez
 Pierre de La Rue

(1460–1518)

Who is Pierre de La Rue?

Pierre de La Rue, a Frenco-Flemish composer and singer, wrote
many styles of music (almost as much as Josquin). La Rue's
repertoire consists entirely of vocal music. His style of voicing
shows that he preferred low voice types, often composing Cs and
B-flats below the bass clef. His most popular work, the "Requiem,"
and one of the earliest surviving Requiem masses, emphasizes the
lower voices. Along with low voicing, various rhythmic patterns
and long, flowing melodies are main characteristics of La Rue's
music.

Composed works
Masses
Motets
Magnificats

Sources
https://www.liveabout.com/top-renaissance-period-composers-
724387
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_la_Rue
 Claudio Monteverdi

(1567–1643)

Who is Claudio Monteverdi?

Linking the Renaissance to the Baroque, Claudio Monteverdi's
revolutionary music included the first dramatic opera, "Orfeo." An Italian
composer, string player, and choirmaster, he was considered a pioneer in
the realm of opera and an artist who served an integral transitional role
between the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Much of Monteverdi's
early years were spent composing madrigals: nine books in total. These
books clearly mark the change in thinking and compositional style
between the two musical periods. Book 8, "Ottavo Libro," includes what
many consider to be the perfected form of the madrigal, "Madrigali dei
guerrieri ed amorosi."

Composed works
Monteverdi, Claudio: La favola d'Orfeo
Monteverdi, Claudio: Lamento d'Arianna
Monteverdi, Claudio: The Coronation of Poppea

Sources
https://www.liveabout.com/top-renaissance-period-composers-
724387
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi/Three-
decades-in-Venice
 Giovanni Pierluigi da

Palestrina (1526–1594)

Who is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina?

With over hundreds of published works, Italian composer Palestrina was
the most famous representative of the Roman School of musical
composition, greatly influencing the development of music in the Roman
Catholic Church. Because the voicing is extremely well balanced and
beautifully harmonized, Palestrina's polyphonic music is smooth, pure,
and transparent in sound.

Composed works
Missa Papae Marcelli
O memoriale
Ave Regina caelorum

Sources
https://www.liveabout.com/top-renaissance-period-composers-
724387
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Pierluigi_da_Palestrina
Baroque Composers
 Girolamo Frescobaldi

(1583–1643)

Who is Girolamo Frescobaldi?

Born in Ferrara, Girolamo Frescobaldi was a student of the organist and madrigalist
Luzzasco Luzzaschi; he was also likely influenced by the maverick composer Carlo
Gesualdo, who was also in Ferrara at the time. Frescobaldi was a famous keyboardist,
and served as the organist at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome before
assuming the same post at St Peter's in 1608, which he held until his death. During
this time he also held several other influential positions, including that of organist at
the Medici court in Florence from 1628 to 1634. Frescobaldi composed a small
amount of vocal music, but it was his compositions for the keyboard—which
included a number of toccatas, canzonas, ricercars and capriccios—that influenced
composers well into the 18th century—particularly J. S. Bach, who owned his
collection of organ works for performance during Mass entitled Fiori musicali (1635).

Composed works
Vigesimaquarta a Due Bassi e Canto detta "la Nobile"
Canzoni alla francese in partitura: Canzon Prima detta la Rovetta, F
10.01
Terza a Canto Solo detta "la Donatina"

Sources
https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Frescobaldi
 Arcangelo Corelli

(1653–1713)

Who is Arcangelo Corelli?

Born in Fusignano, Arcangelo Corelli studied composition and violin in nearby
Bologna. After 1675 Corelli worked for some of the most important musical patrons in
Rome, including Queen Christina of Sweden, for whom he directed concerts. He also
formed a close bond not typical between patron and composer with Cardinal Pietro
Ottoboni (later Pope Alexander VIII), at whose palace he lived for some time. Corelli
enjoyed a stellar reputation both in Rome, where he was accepted in the highest
aristocratic circles, and in much of Europe. His six published collections of
concertos, sonatas and other works for violin were extremely popular, and made him
the first composer to gain an international reputation solely on the basis of his
instrumental music. Because his music uses many of the harmonic progressions that
came to form the basis of modern tonality, his works are sometimes used as early
examples of this newly emergent tonal system.

Composed works
Opus 1: 12 sonate da chiesa
Opus 5: 12 Suonati a violino e violone o cimbalo
Opus 6: 12 concerti grossi

Sources
https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcangelo_Corelli
 Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

Who is Antonio Vivaldi?

Born in Venice, Antonio Vivaldi was trained in music as a child, but was ordained as a
priest in 1703. Although his vocation and striking red hair earned him the moniker “Il
Prete Rosso” (the Red Priest), his picturesque nickname soon became the only
vestige of his priestly duties. Within a year of his ordination, Vivaldi stated that he no
longer wished to celebrate the mass because of “tightness of the chest,” a condition
some have attributed to angina pectoris, asthmatic bronchitis—or simply to the fact
that music was the Red Priest’s true calling.

Composed works
Concerto in E major, op. 8 no. 1, RV 269 “La primavera”
Andromeda liberata: Sovente il sole (Perseo)
Violin Concerto in A minor, op. 3 no. 6, RV 356

Sources
https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vilvadi
 Alessandro Scarlatti

(1660–1725)

Who is Alessandro Scarlatti?

A student of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, Alessandro Scarlatti became the maestro di
cappella of the viceroy of Naples in 1684 perhaps by way of his sister, an opera singer
and the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Scarlatti wrote over 100 operas,
and his works are thought to represent the change in approach to the genre—
including the standardization of forms, embellishment of arias and minimization of
recitatives—that took place at the end of the 17th century, ultimately leading to the
subgenre opera seria. In addition to opera, Scarlatti composed more than 600
cantatas and a number of oratorios. His fame today rests primarily on his vocal
music, but Scarlatti received frequent commissions for instrumental music during
his career as well.

Composed works
Serenata »Notte, ch’incarro d’ombre«: Recitativo accompagnato
“Notte, ch’in carro d’ombre”
Stabat Mater
li equivoci nel sembiante

Sources
https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Scarlatti
 Domenico Scarlatti

(1685–1757)

Who is Domenico Scarlatti?

The sixth son of Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti likely received the best
musical education Naples had to offer. Around 1708, the elder Scarlatti took his son
to Venice to study with Francesco Gasparini (1668–1727), who had been a pupil of
Corelli. From Venice the younger Scarlatti journeyed to Rome—reportedly with
Handel—where the two men performed before Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. About 1720
Scarlatti moved to Lisbon, and some ten years later to Madrid. He is known today
primarily for his keyboard sonatas, in which his frequent borrowings from Hispanic
folk tunes and rhythms create a unique sound that is sometimes called “Iberian
Baroque.”

Composed works
Sonata in G minor
Sonata K. 197
Sonata in D minor, K 141, L 422: Allegro

Sources
https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Scarlatti
 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

(1710–1736)

Who is Giovanni Battista Pergolesi?

Born in Jesi in 1710, Pergolesi studied under Francesco Sartini. He moved to Naples in
1725, where he spent his brief career working in the Neapolitan courts. While in
Naples, Pergolesi joined Alessandro Scarlatti in pioneering the changes underway in
the genre of opera, particularly in the new opera buffa (comic opera). In 1733, he
included within his opera Il prigioner superbo the two act buffa intermezzo La serva
padrona (The Landlady Servant), which immediately became popular in its own
right. Its premiere in Paris in 1752 sparked the so-called querelle des bouffons
(quarrel of the comedians), a debate between devotees of serious French opera in
the style of Lully and Rameau and fans of the new style of Italian comic opera. During
the course of the two-year dispute, Pergolesi’s work became the figurehead of the
Italian style.

Composed works
La serva padrona
Adriano in Siria
Livietta e Tracollo (La contadina astuta)

Sources
https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Pergolesi