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Michael Praetorius
Life Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist born around February 15, 1571, in Creuzburg, Thuringia, and he died on the same date in 1621 in Wolfenbüttel. Trained in Frankfurt an der Oder, he became organist and later court Kapellmeister to Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, a post he held for most…
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Tomás Luis de Victoria
Life Tomás Luis de Victoria was a Spanish composer, organist, and Catholic priest born around 1548 in Ávila and died in 1611 in Madrid, ranked alongside Palestrina and Lassus among the greatest composers of the late Renaissance. A grant from King Philip II sent him to Rome in 1565, where he studied and worked at…
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Giovanni Gabrieli
Life Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist born around 1554–1557 in Venice and died there in 1612, celebrated as the culminating figure of the Venetian School at the threshold between Renaissance and Baroque. Likely trained by his uncle, composer Andrea Gabrieli, he also studied in Munich with Orlande de Lassus before returning to…
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Andrea Gabrieli
Life Andrea Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist born around 1532–1533 in Venice and died there in 1585, recognized as the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School and uncle of the more famous Giovanni Gabrieli. After early travels that likely included time in Verona, he journeyed to Germany in 1562, visiting Frankfurt…
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Luca Marenzio
Life Luca Marenzio was an Italian composer and singer born in 1553 or 1554 near Brescia and died in 1599 in Rome, celebrated as one of the most renowned madrigalists of the late Renaissance. He likely trained under Giovanni Contino before moving to Rome, where he served Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo and later Cardinal Luigi d’Este,…
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Thomas Morley
Life Thomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, and organist born around 1557 in Norwich and died in 1602 in London, celebrated as the leading figure of the English Madrigal School. A pupil of William Byrd, he served as master of choristers at Norwich Cathedral before moving to London, where he became organist at St…
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Orlando Gibbons
Life Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, organist, and virginalist born in 1583 in Oxford and died in 1625 in Canterbury, regarded as one of the last great masters of the English polyphonic tradition. Coming from a large musical family, he sang as a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, before earning his degree there in…
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Giulio Caccini
Life Giulio Caccini was an Italian composer, singer, and teacher born around 1551, probably in Rome, and buried in December 1618 in Florence, remembered as a founding figure of opera and the new monodic style. Brought to Florence as a young singer under Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici, he became a leading court musician and…
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Jacopo Peri
Life Jacopo Peri was an Italian composer, singer, and instrumentalist born in 1561 in Rome or Florence and died in 1633 in Florence, credited with writing the first opera. Educated and employed within Florence’s Medici court and churches, he joined the circle of patron Jacopo Corsi, and together with poet Ottavio Rinuccini they created Dafne…
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Barbara Strozzi
Life Barbara Strozzi was a Venetian composer and singer, baptized in 1619 and buried in 1677 in Padua, celebrated as one of the most prolific and distinctive vocal composers of the middle Baroque. The likely illegitimate daughter of poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi, who raised and promoted her, she studied composition with leading opera composer…