Cristofano Malvezzi (baptised June 28, 1547 – January 22, 1599) was an Italian organist and composer of the late Renaissance. Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Events 565 - Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus. An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or Orchestra, or accompany A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600 He was one of the most famous composers in the city of Florence during a time of transition to the Baroque style. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750.
Malevezzi was born in Lucca. Lucca is a city in Tuscany, northern central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near (but not on the Ligurian Sea From 1551 he lived in Florence, serving the Medicis from 1562. He held a number of organist posts in the city, and also taught pupils, among them Jacopo Peri, who is often regarded as the inventor of opera. Jacopo Peri ( August 20 1561 &ndash August 12 1633) was an Italian Composer and singer of the transitional period between Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto From 1573 he held the double post of maestro di cappella at the cathedral as well as at S Giovanni Battista, which was the highest position for a musician in the city. Among his works are three books of madrigals, a book of ricercars, but only two sacred compositions--a curious omission for a composer so closely connected with the church. A madrigal is a type of Secular vocal music composition written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras A ricercar (or ricercare recercar; the terms are interchangeable is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition
Because of his activity in Florence, the numerous intermedi that he wrote for the Medici and other members of the aristocracy, his dedication of a book of ricercars to Count Giovanni de' Bardi, and the dedication of a book of madrigals to Emilio de' Cavalieri, it is often speculated that he was a member of the Florentine Camerata, the group of progressive musicians and poets who, in attempting to recreate the music of ancient Greece, created the first monody and ultimately the first opera. For the film see Intermedio (film. The intermedio, or intermezzo, in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical performance Giovanni de Bardi ( February 5, 1534 – September 1612 Count of Vernio, was an Italian literary critic writer composer and soldier Emilio de' Cavalieri (c 1550&ndash March 11, 1602) was an Italian Composer, producer, Organist, diplomat Choreographer The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists Musicians Poets and Intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered In Poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death Whether or not he was part of the intimate group, his music was among the best known in Florence. One of the grandest compositions of the time, a colossal setting of O fortunato giorno which he composed for a sumptuous intermedio intended for an aristocratic marriage, is for thirty separate vocal parts divided into seven spatially separated choirs. Some of his madrigals are written in the monodic style, which implies further a possible connection with the Camerata.
Malvezzi's brother Alberigo (around 1550–1615) was also an organist and composer.
References and further reading
- "Cristofano Malvezzi," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. , 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
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