Simone Molinaro (c. 1570 – May 1636)''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''. Personenteil, Band 12, Kassel 2004, p. 308. was a composer of the late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He was especially renowned for his

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can re ...

music.

Life and career

Molinaro was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

. He studied music with his uncle, Giovanni Battista Dalla Gostena, who was maestro di cappella at Genoa Cathedral. In 1593, Gostena was murdered, and Molinaro succeeded him in his post at the Cathedral in 1599.Cummings(n.d.) The same year he published ''Intavolatura di liuto'', containing lute works both by himself and by Gostena. In addition to his lute works, Molinaro composed a large amount of sacred choral music, most of which does not survive completely because of missing

partbook A partbook is a format for printing or copying music in which each book contains the part for a single voice or instrument, especially popular during the Renaissance and Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, p ...

s. However, some five-voice motets have been preserved in the collections of Hasler and Schadaeus. Molinaro died in May 1636 in Genoa. Molinaro also served as editor of the works of

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 cent ...

, publishing editions of that composer's madrigals in 1585 and 1613.

Assessment

In his dances for lute, according to Eitner, Molinaro "despises all counterpoint, and shows himself as a pure melodist and harmonist, but both in so simple and pretty a way, that they all have something uncommonly attractive".cited in Grove (1907) Molinaro wrote at the time when, according to Paul Henry Lang, lute music was reaching its apogee. Along with Giovanni Terzi, Molinaro's lute music introduces "a finished, graceful, and sovereign instrumental style, capable of all shades of expression and of a technique which we usually associate only with the vocal music of the period". The 1613 publication of the Gesualdo madrigals was ground-breaking because it presented Gesualdo's music in

full score Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Ara ...

as opposed to

format. Molinaro's music was used as the basis for "Balletto detto il Conte Orlando" of the ''

Ancient Airs and Dances ''Ancient Airs and Dances'' ( it, Antiche arie e danze) is a set of three orchestral suites by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, freely transcribed from original pieces for lute. In addition to being a renowned composer and conductor, Respighi ...

Suite No. 1'' by

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral suit ...

Works

Lute

* ''Intavolatura di liuto libro 1'',

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, 1599

Secular Vocal music

* ''Il 1 libro di canzonette a 3 e 4 voci'', Venice, 1595 * ''Il 1 libro de Madrigali a 5 voci'', Venice, 1599 * ''Il 2 libro delle Canzonette a 3 voci'', Venice, 1600 * '' Madrigali a 5 voci'',

Loano Loano ( lij, Leua) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about southwest of Genoa and about southwest of Savona. Loano borders the following municipalities: Bardineto, Boissano, Bor ...

1615

Sacred Vocal music

* ''Motectorum quinis et Missae denis vocibus liber I'', Venice, 1597 * ''Il 2 libro de Mottetti a 8 voci'',

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, 1601 * ''Il 1 libro de mottetti a 5 voci, con la partitura per sonar l'organo'', Milan, 1604 * ''Il 1 libro de Magnificat a 4 voci, con basso continuato'', Milan, 1605 * ''Concerti ecclesiastisi a 2 e a 4 voci...con la sua part. per l'organo'', Venice, 1605 * ''Il 3 libro de Mottetti a 5 voci con il basso continuato'', Venice, 1609 * ''Fatiche spirituali...libro 1 a 6 voci'', Venice, 1610 * ''Fatiche spirituali....libro 2 a 6 voci'', Venice, 1610 * ''Concerti a 1 e 2 voci con la part. per l'organo'', Milan, 1612 * ''Passio Domini Iesu Christi secundum Matthaeum, Marcum, Lucam, et Ioannem'', Loano, 1616

References

Bibliography

* Article "Molinaro, Simone". *

External links

*
Biography
at hoasm.org
Biography
at answers.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Molinaro, Simone Renaissance composers Composers for lute Year of birth uncertain Italian male classical composers 1634 deaths 1570s births 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century male musicians