Vincenzo Albrici (26 June 1631 in Rome - 7 September 1687 in Prague) was an Italian composer, brother of Bartolomeo and nephew of Fabio and

Alessandro Costantini Alessandro Costantini (ca. 1581–1583, Staffolo – 20 October 1657, Rome) was an Italian baroque composer, ''maestro di cappella'' at the Collegium Germanicum. His surviving works include several Latin motets.Festschrift Karl Gustav Fellerer to h ...

. Albrici was born as the son of singer who settled from

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

in Rome. In 1641 he became a student at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum under

Giacomo Carissimi (Gian) Giacomo Carissimi (; baptized 18 April 160512 January 1674) was an Italian composer and music teacher. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi established the ...

. In 1647 he was paid as an organist in the Santa Maria in Vallicella. In 1652 he was invited by

Alessandro Cecconi Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baric ...

and started to work for

Queen Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December (New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

together with his brother, who joined the boys' choir. His father, an

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

, sang the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

in Swedish when the Queen abdicated in June 1654. Albrici stayed in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

when

Karl X Gustav Charles X Gustav, also Carl Gustav ( sv, Karl X Gustav; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. Afte ...

became king. Then Albrici became joint ''vice-kapellmeister'' with

Giovanni Andrea Bontempi Giovanni Andrea Bontempi (ca. 1624 – 1 July 1705) was an Italian castrato singer, later composer, historian, music theorist, and assistant ''kapellmeister'' to Heinrich Schütz at Dresden from 1657. He was born Giovanni Andrea Angelini, in Perugi ...

under Heinrich Schütz in Dresden (1659). Vincenzo's brother Bartolomeo Albrici, took up the position of organist. Vincenzo and his sister Leonora, also a singer, went to England and became part of the King's Italian Musicke. Bartolomeo joined them in 1666 and remained in England when Vincenzo returned to Dresden. In 1681 he gained the post of organist at the Thomaskirche, a position which required conversion to Protestantism. A few months later, he moved to the Augustine church of St. Thomas, in Mala Strana, Prague for the rest of his life.

Works, editions and recordings

Most of his works in Dresden were destroyed in the nine-day July 1760 bombardment of Dresden by the

Prussian army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

, but 35 vocal works survive in the

Düben collection The Düben collection is a collection of musical manuscripts named after the original collector, Gustaf Düben, held in the Uppsala University Library. It includes much 17th-century baroque music, in particular the only surviving copies of many wo ...

in Uppsala. *Concerti Sacri a 1, 2, 3 voci con strumenti, Cappella Augustana

Matteo Messori Matteo Messori (born 23 April 1976, in Bologna, Italy) is an Italian keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, composer and teacher. He performs on period instruments including the harpsichord, pipe organ, clavichord and pedal piano. He founded the ...

. Label: Musica Rediviva.

Notes

References

· Matteo Messori, Anna Katarzyna Zaręba, "Nuovi documenti su Vincenzo Albrici (1631-1687) e la sua famiglia", ''Fonti Musicali Italiane'', 22 (2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Albrici, Vincenzo Italian Baroque composers Italian male classical composers 1631 births 1690s deaths 17th-century Italian composers Court of Christina, Queen of Sweden