Giammateo Asola

Giammateo Asola

Giammatteo Asola (also spelled Gian Matteo, Giovanni Matteo; Asula, Asulae) (1532 or earlier – October 1, 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He was a prolific composer of sacred music, mostly in a conservative style, although he may have been one of the first composers to write a part for basso continuo.

Life

He was born in Verona, and began studying at Alga in 1546 in the congregation of secular canons. While in Verona he most likely he studied with Vincenzo Ruffo. In 1569 he became a secular parish priest, and in 1577 became "maestro di cappella" at Treviso Cathedral; however in 1578 he went to Vicenza Cathedral to take the equivalent job there, where the pay and musical opportunities were greater. He only stayed there four years, going to Venice in 1582, which was the center of activity in northern Italy for sacred music. Except for a short return to Verona around 1590-1591, he lived in Venice until his death, working at the church of S Severo, as one of four chaplains; apparently he was never associated with St. Mark's.

Music and influence

Asola was a rare case of a composer working in Venice who showed almost no stylistic influence from the Venetian school; indeed most of his works are in the Palestrina style, the idiom of the Roman School of composers. In his later works he began using a basso continuo, and he may have been one of the first composers to do so. The only musical feature he borrowed from the Venetian composers elsewhere in his adopted city was the idea of "cori spezzati", spatially separated groups of singers; however this musical style was widespread in northern Italy by the time he was writing, and by no means unique to Venice. Cori spezzati techniques appear in particular in his 1588 publication of masses for eight voices.

Among his copious works are many masses, including a Requiem mass; psalm settings, lamentations, vespers, antiphons, "sacrae cantiones", and numerous other sacred works. In addition he composed secular music, including several books of madrigals, as well as one book of madrigali spirituali, which is lost.

One of his books of madrigals is unusual in that it consists of canons for two voices only; most madrigals of the time were for at least four voices, and rarely used strict counterpoint. [Reese, p. 426]

References and further reading

*
* ____. "Asola, Giammateo", "Grove Music Online", ed. L. Macy (accessed January 15 2005), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access).
* Gustave Reese, "Music in the Renaissance". New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4

External links

*WIMA|idx=Asola|name=Giammateo Asola
* Listen to [http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/early/IVO_Asola_Matteo.html a free recordings of Benedictus - Missa Pro Defundus] from [http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/indexENG.html Umeå Akademiska Kör] .

Notes


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Asola — may refer to:Places* Asola, Vantaa, a district of Vantaa, Finland * Asola (Italy), in the province of Mantua * Asola (Delhi), in the district of South Delhi in the state of DelhiPeople* Giammateo Asola (died 1609), Italian composer …   Wikipedia

  • Giacomo Vincenti — (died 1619) was an Italian bookseller and music printer from Venice. He also spelled his name Vincenci and Vincenzi. He started printing in 1583. His partner was Ricciardo Amadino, and between 1583 and 1586 they printed about 20 books a year,… …   Wikipedia

  • Benedetto Pallavicino — (c. 1551 – November 26, 1601) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. A prolific composer of madrigals, he was resident at the Gonzaga court of Mantua in the 1590s, where he was a close associate of Giaches de Wert, and a… …   Wikipedia

  • Chronological list of Italian classical composers — The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who live(d) in, work(ed) in, or are citizens of Italy. Contents 1 Medieval 2 Renaissance 3 Baroque 4 Classical era …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”