Jean-Baptiste Lully

Nationality: Italian

Born: Florence, November 29^th 1632

Died: Paris, March 22^nd 1687

Type of music: Opera, Court ballets, comedy ballets

Main works: 36 court ballets, 14 comedy ballets, 16 'tragedies-lyriques'

Although born in Italy, Lully would eventually become the founder of French opera and would eventually become Naturalised in France. At the age of 13 his talent for singing was recognised and he was taken to Paris and employed as a pageboy to a relative of the royal family. He was a talented violinist and was eager to climb to the social ladder, quickly attaining his first royal appointment writing music for court ballets under King Louis XIV.

Lully then collaborated with the playwright Moliere (1622-1673), with whom he wrote several comedy ballets with for court entertainment. Most notably was the ballet 'Le bourgeious gentilhomme' in 1670.

in 1672 he attained a royal licence to import Italian opera and this subsequently gave him near monopoly over operatic productions in France. He opened his own opera house on a converted tennis court and in the following year took residence in the theatre of the Palais Royal.

Over the next 14 years Lully and the poet Philippe Quinault (1635-1688) created several operas together in the new style known as 'lyric tragedies'. Examples of these are 'Alceste' in 1674 and 'Armide' in 1686. The texts were usually based on Mythology and folklore, and the king and his audiences enjoyed them greatly.

"The musician is to follow the poet's direction, only in my opinion, Lully is to be exempted, who knows the passions and enters further into the heart of man than the authors themselves”.

- Seigneur de Saint-Evremond

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Heinrich Schütz

Nationality: German

Born: Bad Köstritz, October 8^th 1585

Died: Dresden, November 6^th, 1672

Type of music: Sacred vocal music, Sacred instrumental music

Main works: Psalmen Davids (1619), Dafne (1627),

 Symphoniae sacrae (1629, 1647, 1650), Passions (1664-66)

In the timeline of music history, Schütz stands as the predecessor and compatriot of J.S. Bach, and would prove to become one of the most influential German composers of the 17^th century. Schütz travelled to Italy to study law and became learned in Italian music styles. He would combine this with his homeland's musical traditions on his return in 1613. In the same year he became an organist and the Kapellmeister at a court in Dresden.

The Italian influence is present in first collection of compositions published in 1619, which were a collection of settings for voices, with interludes in the Venetian style. In 1628, Schütz visited Italy again and met Monteverdi. The next publication from Schütz after this meeting was a collection of instrumental and vocal music 'Symphoniae sacrae'.

His compositional duties for the court included writing musical for official events. In 1627 he wrote the first German opera, 'Dafne' for the wedding of the elector's daughter. The music unfortunately has not survived.

In 1660, he wrote the earliest known setting of the nativity story, 'The history of the birth of Jesus Christ' which was performed at Christmas vespers at the Dresden court.

Many of Schütz's works were lost or destroyed although roughly 500 works still survived. The settings of the four passions, numerous psalmes, motets and Italian madrigals all had profound influence on J.S.Bach. His music was rediscovered in the 20^th century and in 1962, Roger Norrington formed the first amateur Schütz choir in the UK.

"The most spiritual musician the world has ever seen”. - Alfred Einstein

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Claudio Monteverdi

Nationality: Italian

Born: Cremona, Baptized May 15^th 1567

Died: Venice, November 29^th 1643

Type of music: Opera, Madrigals, Motets

Main works: 9 books of Madrigals, Vespro della beata vergin (1610), L'Orfeo (1607)

Monteverdi's musical life began at the cathedral in the town of his birthplace, Cremona, where he was a chorister. By the age of 16 he had already published a volume of three part motets and a book of sacred madrigals. In 1587 he had published his first book of secular madrigals followed by a second volume in 1590. It was around this time he worked as a string player at the ducal court in Mantua. Monteverdi married in 1599 and had three children. Two sons survived, and the eldest became a musician.

In 1601 he attained the position of 'Maestro di capella' at the Mantuan court where he published two more collections of Madrigals over the next four years.

In 1607 he made his name in the world of opera with the work 'L'orfeo' which had it's debut in February. Seven months later his wife died but he continued composing and finished his second opera 'L'arrianna', which was performed in May 1608.

In 1613 Monteverdi then became Maestro di capella t St Marks cathedral in Venice and remained there for the rest of his life. He did however continue to write ballets and operas for the Mantuan court.

In 1637, the first public opera house opened in Venice and he Monteverdi was commissioned to write several operas. Two that survive are 'L'incoronaizione di poppea' and 'd'Ulisse in patria' (the return of Ulysees).

While in Venice he also wrote three more books of madrigals, book 8 being published in 1638. They contained dramatic works which showed how Monteverdi and some of his contemporaries adapted their musical style according to the changing tastes at the time.

"Claudio Monteverdi, in moving the affections, becomes the most pleasant tyrant of human minds” - Aqulino Coppini

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Carlo Gesualdo

Nationality: Italian

Born: Venosa, March 1566

Died: Naples, 8 September 1613

Type of music: Secular vocal music

Main works: 6 books of madrigals

Gesualdo was born into an aristocratic Neapolitan family. His mother being the niece of Pope Pius IV and his uncle the Archbishop of Naples. In 1586 he married his cousin Maria D'avalos, daughter of the Marquis of Pescara. In 1590, Gesualdo caught her with Fabrizio Carafa, her aristocratic lover and stabbed them both to death. Shortly after Gesualdo retreated to his country estates to remove himself from public life, and this is when he dedicated his time to composition.

The texts in Gesualdo's Madrigals frequently referred to sadness, sorrow and death. This was perhaps a reflection of his remorse and mental health at the time.

His last two books of Madrigals were published in 1611 although he himself claimed they were written much earlier in the 1590's. They are significant works due to their experimental nature, as he used chromatic harmony that would only appear again in the Romantic era.

Gesualdo was one of the composers to bridge the gap between Renaissance and Baroque music. His influence lasted even longer as evident in Stravinksy's 1960 piece 'Monumentum pro Gesualdo'.

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William Byrd

Nationality: English 

 

Born: Lincoln, c.1543

Died: Stonden Massey, Essex, July 4 1623

Type of music: Sacred music, songs, Madrigals, Keyboard works

Main works: 140 keyboard pieces including 'Wolsey's Wilde', 3 Latin Masses, 1 English Mass 'Cantiones sacrae' in 1575, consort pieces for viols

Aside from Thomas Tallis, his pupil William Byrd was the other influential, English composer in the latter half of the 16^th Century. Not much is known about his early life or education, but his first known post was the position of organist at Lincoln cathedral in 1563. By 1568 he was married and went on to have several children.

In 1572 he joined the Chapel Royal and shared organ and composing duties with Tallis. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth I gave Byrd and Tallis joint monopoly over the printing of music and music paper in England. Their first publication was a collection of 34 Motets.

After Tallis died in 1585, Byrd published three collections of Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets between 1588 and 1611. He also composed a collection of English anthems, secular partsongs, Madrigals and pieces of viol consort.

He is particularly renowned for his fantasias for viols and his keyboard music was also greatly enjoyed by Queen Elizabeth and her court. His keyboard music actually appeared in several publications later on, including 'Fitzwilliam Virginal book', 'My lady Nevell's book' and 'parthenia' printed and issued in 1613 jointly with John Bull and Orlando Gibbons.

A lot of Byrd's Latin church music was only rediscovered in the mid 19^th century and his keyboard music only found a resurgence in the mid 20^th century.

"How daintily this Byrd his notes doth vary, As if he were the Nightingale's own brother!" - Preface to Parthenia 


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Thomas Tallis

Nationality: English 

 

Born: Kent?, c.1505/1510

Died: Greenwich, November 23 1585

Type of music: Polyphonic music in Latin/English

 

Main works: Two settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Motets, 20 keyboard pieces

Little is known of Tallis's education. His first significant post was in 1530-1531 where he became the organist of the Benedictine Priory in Dover. In 1538 he joined the choir of Waltham Abbey near London, but it was dissolved in 1540 under the reign of Henry VIII. His name is also listed among the singers of Canterbury Cathedral, where he took up the position of lay clerk.

In 1543 he became a member of the Chapel Royal and from 1572 he shared the position of organist and composer with William Byrd until he died in 1585. In 1575, Queen Elizabeth I granted Tallis and Byrd monopoly for printing music and music paper in England. Their first publication was a collection of 34 motets, 17 by Tallis and 17 by Byrd.

Tallis's work includes an unnamed 4 part Mass, the 5 part Mass 'Salve intmerata', a 7 part mass, 2 settings of the Magnificat and 2 settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Two of his most noteable Latin works, the 7 part 'Miserere nostri' and the 40 part Motet 'Spem in alium' show his great understanding of counterpoint.

Tallis was one of the very first composers to write music for the English Church. He wrote a complete service called 'In the Dorian mode' which consists of morning and evening Canticles and the communion service.

Tallis's work is still popular in the 21^st century. Ralph Vaughan Williams work 'Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis' was based on Tallis's third Psalter Tune.

'As he did live, so also did he die, in mild and quite sort (O! happy man) – Thomas Tallis's epitaph 


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Tomás Luis de Victoria

Nationality: Spanish 

 

Born: Ávila, 1548

Died: Madrid, 1611

Type of music: Polyphonic Sacred music

Main works: Requiem Mass for the Dowager Empress Maria (1603), 21 Masses, 16 Magnificats

Victoria was born into a prominent family, and in his early years he was a choirboy at the cathedral in Avila, where his uncle was a cannon. His education started at a reputable Jesuit school in Avila but in 1565, King Philip II of Spain sent him to the 'Jesuit Collegio Germanico' in Rome. It is most likely that he studied composition with Giovanni Pierluigi here as he succeeded him as the director of music at the Roman seminary.

In 1578 Victoria met the Dowager Empress Maria and later King Philip II assigned him as her Chaplain. In 1584 she entered the convent of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid, where Victoria served her until she died. Here he attained the position of Priest and organist and remained at the convent until his own death in 1611.

Unlike a lot of his contemporaries, Victoria only wrote Sacred music, although his output is still considerable. It includes 21 Masses, 44 Motets, Psalm settings, hymns, Magnificats, and 4 offices for the dead.

He also wrote music for holy week services, including 2 passions: 'The Imporperia' and 'The Lamentations of Jeremiah'.

Victoria's last work was a Requiem he wrote in 1605, dedicated to the memory of the Empress Maria. 


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