Joseph-Hector Fiocco (20 January 1703 – 21 June 1741), born in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, was a

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

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

of the late

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period. His father, the Italian composer Pietro Antonio Fiocco, and one of his older step-brother

Jean-Joseph Fiocco Jean-Joseph Fiocco (15 December 1686 – 30 March 1746) was a Flemish composer of the high and late Baroque period. His father was the Venetian composer Pietro Antonio Fiocco (1654–1714), and his brothers included the violinist Joseph-Hector. ...

gave him much of his musical education. He also learned Greek and Latin well enough to be able to become a school teacher in both those subjects. Joseph Hector Fiocco worked under his stepbrother's direction at the Ducal Chapel of the Notre-Dame du Sablon most sources cite some time before 1730. In 1730, Joseph Hector became sous-maitre (submaster) of the Notre-Dame du Sablon; he did not keep this position for long, because he resigned in 1731 to become sangmeester (choirmaster) at

Antwerp Cathedral The Cathedral of Our Lady ( nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been ...

. At Antwerp (1731–37) he was in charge of the music. In 1737 he returned to his birthplace and worked in the collegiate church of St. Michael and St. Gudula. He died in Brussels at the age of 38. In connection with his cathedral employment, Fiocco wrote many choral works, including

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s and

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

settings. Some of his most significant compositions are ''Lamentations du Jeudi Saint'', a ''

Missa solemnis {{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...

'' and ''Pièces de Clavecin''. His two suites for

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

were dedicated to the

Duke of Arenberg The House of Arenberg is an aristocratic lineage that is constituted by three successive families that took their name from Arenberg, a small territory of the Holy Roman Empire in the Eifel region. The inheritance of the House of Croÿ-Aarschot m ...

, and they incorporate French and Italian styles. The first suite begins in the style of

Couperin The Couperin family was a musical dynasty of professional composers and performers. They were the most prolific family in French musical history, active during the Baroque era (17th—18th centuries). Louis Couperin and his nephew, François Coup ...

and ends with four Italian-style movements: ''Adagio, Allegro, Andante'', and ''Vivace''. He is also known to

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

violin students for his ''Allegro'', which is part of the Book Six Suzuki violin repertoire (and has been recorded by Itzhak Perlman and Augustin Hadelich, among others). This piece has also been arranged for string quartet, and is sometimes heard at weddings.

Sources

* *Stellfeld, Christiane. Les Fiocco, une famille de musiciens belges aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Imprint russels,_Palace_of_Academies,_1941.html" ;"title="Palace_of_Academies.html" ;"title="russels, Palace of Academies">russels, Palace of Academies, 1941">Palace_of_Academies.html" ;"title="russels, Palace of Academies">russels, Palace of Academies, 1941Description 172 p., 3 l. illus. (incl. ports., facsims., music) 29 c

External links

* 1703 births 1741 deaths Belgian Baroque composers Belgian classical composers Belgian male classical composers Belgian classical violinists Male classical violinists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century musicians Composers for harpsichord {{belgium-composer-stub