Life
Girolamo Kapsberger, also known as Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger or Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger, was a composer and virtuoso performer of the early Baroque period, born around 1580, probably in Venice, to a family of noble German descent. Nothing certain is known of his early training. After 1605 he moved to Rome, where he quickly earned a reputation as a brilliant instrumentalist and gained the patronage of the highest circles, including, from 1624, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, in whose household Girolamo Kapsberger worked until 1646 alongside composers such as Girolamo Frescobaldi and Stefano Landi. He died in Rome on 17 January 1651. His nickname, ‘the German of the theorbo,’ reflects his renown as a virtuoso of that instrument.
Impact
Girolamo Kapsberger was instrumental in establishing the chitarrone (theorbo) and lute as solo instruments of serious artistic ambition, publishing four books for chitarrone and two for lute between 1604 and 1640. His free-form toccatas, above all the celebrated Toccata Arpeggiata, exploited the theorbo’s resonant bass strings and full-hand arpeggiation to create a uniquely idiomatic virtuosic style, decisively shaping the Roman early Baroque continuo tradition and today’s theorbo revival.
Repertoire
Toccata Arpeggiata, 1604
A freely arpeggiated toccata from Kapsberger’s first chitarrone book that became his best-known and most frequently recorded work.
Kapsberger: Toccata arpeggiata — Performed by Israel Golani · theorbo
Christina Pluhar: Toccata L’Arpeggiata – Girolamo Kapsberger — Performed by Christina Pluhar (L’Arpeggiata) · theorbo
Passacaglia, 1640
A set of variations over a repeating bass from Kapsberger’s fourth chitarrone book, prized for its harmonic inventiveness.
Kapsberger – Passacaglia (theorbo) — Performed by David van Ooijen · theorbo
Passacaglia | Giovanni Girolamo KAPSBERGER | Thomas Langlois, Theorbo — Performed by Thomas Langlois · theorbo