Giovanni Maria Trabaci (ca. 1575 – 31 December 1647) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

. He was a prolific composer, with some 300 surviving works preserved in more than 10 publications; he was especially important for his keyboard music.

Biography

Trabaci was born in Montepeloso (now

Irsina Irsina, until 1895 called Montepeloso (in local dialect: or ), is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former Latin bishopric in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The town Irsina is an agricultural town pe ...

, near

Matera Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comple ...

). Nothing is known about his early life. On 1 December 1594 he was appointed tenor at Santissima Annunziata Maggiore in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, but already in 1597 he must have been known as an organist and organ expert, because he was invited that year to test the organ of

Oratorio dei Filippini The Oratorio dei Filippini (Oratory of Saint Philip Neri) is a building located in Rome and erected between 1637 and 1650 under the supervision of architect Francesco Borromini - in his distinctive style. The oratory is adjacent to the Chiesa N ...

. He served as organist there for a while, and then became, in 1601, organist to the

Spanish viceroys Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

at the

Chapel Royal of Naples The Chapel Royal of Naples (Italian: ''Cappella Palatina'' or ''Cappella Reale dell'Assunta'') was the sacred musical establishment of the Spanish court in Naples which began with the Aragonese Court of Naples, and continued under the Habsburgs ...

. The second organist was

Ascanio Mayone Ascanio Mayone (ca. 1565 – 1627) was a Neapolitan composer and harpist. He trained as a pupil of Giovanni de Macque in Naples, and worked at Santissima Annunziata Maggiore there as organist from 1593 and ''maestro di cappella'' from 1621; h ...

, and

Giovanni de Macque Giovanni de Macque (Giovanni de Maque, Jean de Macque) (1548/1550 – September 1614) was a Netherlandish composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, who spent almost his entire life in Italy. He was one of the most famous Neapolitan compo ...

was ''

maestro di cappella (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

.'' Trabaci succeeded Macque in 1614 after the latter's death, and held the post for the rest of his life. Between 1625 and 1630 he also worked at the Oratorio dei Filippini. Trabaci was most noted for his keyboard works, which include

ricercare A ricercar ( , ) or ricercare ( , ) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ''ricercar'' derives from the Italian verb which means 'to search out; to seek'; many ricercars serve a preludial functi ...

canzona The canzona is an Italian musical form derived from the Franco-Flemish and Parisian chansons, and during Giovanni Gabrieli's lifetime was frequently spelled canzona, though both earlier and later the singular was spelled either canzon or canzone ...

s and

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuo ...

s collected in two publications (Libro primo..., 1603, Libro secondo..., 1615). His bold harmonic language, with unexpected modulations to distant keys, and experiments with structure in these works influenced

Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of k ...

. He wrote 2 pieces in that experimental idiom: His "Durezze et ligature" and "Consonanze stravaganti" (1603). He also wrote numerous sacred vocal works, but these are, in general, more conservative. His 1602 book of motets, ''Motectorum'', features advanced harmonic writing and may have influenced

Carlo Gesualdo Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa ( – 8 September 1613) was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza. As a composer he is known for writing madrigals and pieces of sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century ...

's 1603 ''Sacrae cantiones''.

References

List of works

Sacred vocal music

*21 Motectorum, per 5-6 voci e 8 voci *8 Rithmis, per 5 voci *3 Missarum et 6 motectorum, per 4 voci *21 Psalmarum pro vesperis et completario totius anni, cum 4 antiphonis et 4 missae, per 4 voci *Sylvae amonicae *23 Hinni e 23 motetti, per 8 voci e basso continuo *13 Psalmi vespertini cum 6 rithmis, per 4 voci *13 Motetti, per 5 voci (1634) *4 Passionem *4 Messe *Laudaum, per 4 voci *Salmo, per 4 voci

Secular vocal music

*Il primo libro de (21) madrigali (per 5 voci *(14) Villanelle et arie alla napolitana a 3 e a 4 (per 2-3 voci *Il secondo libro de (20) madrigali (per 5 voci *Madrigale per 5 voci *Solo aria e aria, per 3 voci

Keyboard music

*Ricercate, canzone francese, capricci, canti fermi, gagliarde, partite diverse, toccate, durezze e ligature, e un madrigale passagiato nel fine (1603, Napoli) *Il secondo libro de ricercate & altri varij capricci ncludes 100 versi sopra li Otto Finali Ecclesiastici(1615, Napoli)

External links

* * Italian Baroque composers Renaissance composers 1570s births 1647 deaths Italian Renaissance people People from Irsina Italian male classical composers 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century male musicians {{keyboardist-stub