Giovanni Legrenzi

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Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer and organist during the Baroque music era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and extremely influential on the development of late Baroque idioms across northern Italy. This late prominence and influence may have been effected because of his earlier failures to gain musical posts in Vienna, Milan, Parma, Bologna, and France. Legrenzi never let a rejection formulate his life and used each failure as an opportunity or a chance to show what he could do. He demonstrated through his musical compositions that an individual should take responsibility to cause his or her own moral transformation and contribute to others. His philosophy and musical skills won him his posts as Vice-Maestro and subsequently Maestro at St. Marks Cathedral in Venice as well as his defined prominence and influence.

Life

He was born in Clusone, near Bergamo, and probably received his early training in Clusone. He served as an organist to Santa Maria Maggiore (Bergamo) there from 1645 to 1656. In 1656, he took a position at Ferrara as the maestro di cappella at the Accademia dello Spirito Santo, where he remained until 1665. Between 1665 and 1681, his activities are poorly documented, but he may have taught at the Venetian Ospedale dei Mendicanti sometime during these years. He was rejected for positions in many cities, including Vienna, Milan, Parma, Bologna, and Venice. He also declined positions in Modena and Bergamo.

In 1681, he was hired at San Marco di Venezia (St. Mark's) in Venice as assistant maestro di cappella, and became full maestro di cappella in 1685. Among his students there were Francesco Gasparini, Antonio Lotti and Giovanni Varischino.

Music

Legrenzi was active in most of the genres current in northern Italy in the late 17th century, including opera, sacred vocal music and several varieties of instrumental music.

Operas

His operas were well-received especially because of his developmental use of melodies and drama in the arias, a style which influenced Alessandro Scarlatti and Handel.

Vocal Music

His sacred vocal music were strongly tonal and contained hints of fugues where several diverse melodic lines or voices would imitate a main theme. Legrenzi experimented with shifting his sacred vocal music into several different keys containing new melodic and rhythmic directions.

Instrumental Music

He wrote many instrumental works and among the most noted are contained in the two volumes of 'La Cetra', Op. 10 which he composed in 1673. There are eighteen sonatas labeled 'church sonatas' which are orchestrated for stringed instruments. In these sonatas, one hears the elements of Venetian opera where virtuosity in the melodic lines of Legrenzi's instrumental sonatas becomes apparent. Additionally, his church sonatas suggest an organization that has an opening, development, and closing using the material from the opening section of the sonata. This organization will be later known as the sonata form.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Bonta, Stephen, "Giovanni Legrenzi", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed June 27, 2005), (subscription access)
  • Davids, Julia; Legrenzi, Giovanni, "Music for Vespers of the B.V.M. by Giovanni Legrenzi: a modern performing edition", thesis/dissertation/manuscript, 2006. OCLC 69250708
  • Legrenzi, Giovanni; Seay, Albert, "Cantatas and canzonets: for solo voice", Madison: A-R Editions, 1972. OCLC 666385
  • Selfridge-Field, Eleanor, "Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi", New York: Dover Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-486-28151-5

External links

  • Free scores by Giovanni Legrenzi in the Werner Icking Music Archive Retrieved May 13, 2007.

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