This Week in Classical Music: August 24, 2020. GiovanniAnimuccia.Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25th 101 years ago.Otherwise a rare paucity, which we’ll use to go back to the music of the Renaissance.Up till now we have never written about Giovanni Animuccia, a Florentine composer born around 1520.The music of Florence was not as developed as that of Rome; Animucci was one of only two significant composers working around that time, the other one being Francesco Corteccia, maestro di cappella to the Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de' Medici.While in Florence, Animucci composed a book of madrigals, which was published in Venice in 1548. He was associated with major literary and religious figures of Florence, such as the famous priest Philip Neri, who would later, after moving to Rome, be known as the Second Apostle of Rome and for whose religious community, the Oratory, Animuccia would write a set of Laude for early morning services.In 1550 Animuccia left Florence for Rome and entered the service of Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza.He met many former Florentines (the Florentines even had their own church, the San Giovanni dei Fiorentini) and enter the circle of Antonio Altoviti, whom Pope Paul III made the Archbishop of Florence.Duke Cosimo didn’t like Altoviti and banned him from entering the city, thus the archbishop spent the following 20 years in Rome.We mention this because Altovivi’s circle included the young Orlando di Lasso, so the two composers knew each other.Animuccia’s musical life was also tied to another great composer, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.In 1551 Pole Julius III appointed Palestrina the music director of the Cappella Giulia, the second most important choir in the St. Peter’s, after the Capella Sistine In January of 1555 Palestrina moved to San Giovanni di Laterano, the seat of the pope as the Bishop of Rome, and Animuccia took his place.He remained themagister cantorum at the Cappella Giulia until his death in 1571, at which time Palestrina returned to the post.
Here’s the Sequence (a hymn) from Animuccia’s Mass Victimae Paschali (Praises to the Passover victim), performed by Wellington, New Zealand- based The Tudor Consort.
Three conductors were also born this week: Wolfgang Sawallisch, a German conductor who for ten years led the Philadelphia Orchestra, on August 26th of 1923; the great German conductor Karl Böhm, on August 28th of 1894 (here’s our recent entry about him); and István Kertész, a Jewish-Hungarian conductor who led many of the best orchestras but died (by drowing) young, at 43 (Kertész was born on August 28th of 1929).
Giovanni Animuccia, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: August 24, 2020. Giovanni Animuccia. Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25th 101 years ago. Otherwise a rare paucity, which we’ll use to go back to the music of the Renaissance. Up till now we have never written about Giovanni Animuccia, a
Florentine composer born around 1520. The music of Florence was not as developed as that of Rome; Animucci was one of only two significant composers working around that time, the other one being Francesco Corteccia, maestro di cappella to the Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de' Medici. While in Florence, Animucci composed a book of madrigals, which was published in Venice in 1548. He was associated with major literary and religious figures of Florence, such as the famous priest Philip Neri, who would later, after moving to Rome, be known as the Second Apostle of Rome and for whose religious community, the Oratory, Animuccia would write a set of Laude for early morning services. In 1550 Animuccia left Florence for Rome and entered the service of Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza. He met many former Florentines (the Florentines even had their own church, the San Giovanni dei Fiorentini) and enter the circle of Antonio Altoviti, whom Pope Paul III made the Archbishop of Florence. Duke Cosimo didn’t like Altoviti and banned him from entering the city, thus the archbishop spent the following 20 years in Rome. We mention this because Altovivi’s circle included the young Orlando di Lasso, so the two composers knew each other. Animuccia’s musical life was also tied to another great composer, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. In 1551 Pole Julius III appointed Palestrina the music director of the Cappella Giulia, the second most important choir in the St. Peter’s, after the Capella Sistine In January of 1555 Palestrina moved to San Giovanni di Laterano, the seat of the pope as the Bishop of Rome, and Animuccia took his place. He remained themagister cantorum at the Cappella Giulia until his death in 1571, at which time Palestrina returned to the post.
Here’s the Sequence (a hymn) from Animuccia’s Mass Victimae Paschali (Praises to the Passover victim), performed by Wellington, New Zealand- based The Tudor Consort.
Three conductors were also born this week: Wolfgang Sawallisch, a German conductor who for ten years led the Philadelphia Orchestra, on August 26th of 1923; the great German conductor Karl Böhm, on August 28th of 1894 (here’s our recent entry about him); and István Kertész, a Jewish-Hungarian conductor who led many of the best orchestras but died (by drowing) young, at 43 (Kertész was born on August 28th of 1929).