Latest posts
-
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
-
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Life Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian composer born in the town of Palestrina near Rome around 1525, who died in Rome on 2 February 1594. In 1551 Pope Julius III appointed him maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s Basilica; he later held posts at St. John Lateran and Santa…
-
Orlando di Lasso
Life Orlando di Lasso, also known as Orlande de Lassus, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, born around 1532 in Mons in the County of Hainaut and died 14 June 1594 in Munich. After early years in Mantua, Naples, and Rome — where he briefly served as maestro di cappella of St. John…
-
William Byrd
Life William Byrd was an English composer born around 1543, probably in Lincolnshire, who died on 4 July 1623. He was appointed organist of Lincoln Cathedral in 1563 and by 1572 had joined the Chapel Royal in London, sharing organist duties with his teacher Thomas Tallis. Despite being a devout Roman Catholic during a period…
-
John Dowland
Life John Dowland was an English composer, lutenist, and singer born in 1563, probably in Westminster, London, who died on 21 January 1626. After receiving a bachelor of music degree from Oxford in 1588, his conversion to Roman Catholicism cost him a hoped-for court post, prompting years of travel through European courts before he became…
-
Thomas Tallis
Life Thomas Tallis was an English composer of High Renaissance church music, born around 1505 and died 23 November 1585. His earliest documented post was as organist at Dover Priory in 1532, after which he worked at Canterbury before becoming a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, a position he held for the remainder of his…
-
Carlo Gesualdo
Life Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman and composer born in 1566 and died on 8 September 1613. He is infamously known for murdering his first wife and her lover after discovering their affair in 1590, an act that has long overshadowed his musical legacy. Carlo Gesualdo spent…
-
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Life Girolamo Frescobaldi was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player born in Ferrara in September 1583 and died in Rome on 1 March 1643. A child prodigy who studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi, he was appointed organist of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1608, a post he held, with interruptions for service in Florence…
-
Heinrich Schütz
Life Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist born 18 October 1585 in Köstritz and died 6 November 1672 in Dresden. Discovered as a child singer by the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, he later studied music in Venice under Giovanni Gabrieli before becoming court composer to the Elector of Saxony in Dresden in 1615, a…
-
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Life Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Dutch composer, organist, and teacher born in April or May 1562 in Deventer and died 16 October 1621 in Amsterdam. He succeeded his father as organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam around 1580 and held that post for the rest of his life, becoming known as the “Orpheus…