Paolo Agostino (or Agostini; Augustinus in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

; c. 1583 – 1629) 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 ...

of the early

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 ...

era. He was born perhaps at Vallerano, near

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history. ...

. He studied under

Giovanni Bernardino Nanino Giovanni Bernardino Nanino (ca. 1560 – 1623) was an Italian composer, teacher and singing master of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, and a leading member of the Roman School of composers. He was the younger brother of the some ...

, according to the dedication in the third and fourth books of his masses. Subsequently, he married Nanino's daughter. He held a series of positions as organist and ''maestro di cappella'' (

choirmaster A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

) between 1607 and 1626, when he succeeded Vincenzo Ugolini as ''maestro'' of the Cappella Giulia's

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

in St. Peter's Basilica. All of his surviving works are sacred music, and most are written in the '' prima pratica'', the conservative

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

style of the late 16th century, although some of his

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 use some of the new

concertato Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a ''genre'' or a ''style'' of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. The term derives from It ...

style. He was a highly sophisticated contrapuntist, often using strict canonic techniques; in addition, he used colorful sonorities, changes of meter between sections, and colorful

chromaticism Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...

, showing an acquaintanceship with contemporary secular practice as well as the work of the Venetian School. An ''

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...

'' for eight voices is especially admired and was used as an example in

Padre Martini Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Martini, Conventual Franciscans, O.F.M. Conv. (24 April 1706 – 3 August 1784), also known as Padre Martini, was an Italians, Italian Conventual Franciscan friar, who was a leading musician, composer, ...

's ''Saggio di Contrappunto''.

Notes

References

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External links

* * 1580s births 1629 deaths People from the Province of Viterbo Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers Renaissance composers Italian classical organists Male classical organists 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century male musicians {{organist-stub