Paolo Agostino

Paolo Agostino (or Agostini; Augustinus in Latin; c. 1583 – 1629) was an Italian composer and organist of the early Baroque era. He was born perhaps at Vallerano, near Viterbo. He studied under Giovanni Bernardino Nanino, according to the dedication in the third and fourth books of his masses. Subsequently, he married Nanino's daughter.[1]

Paolo Agostino, engraving by James Caldwall

He held a series of positions as organist and maestro di cappella (choirmaster) between 1607 and 1626, when he succeeded Vincenzo Ugolini as maestro of the Cappella Giulia's choir in St. Peter's Basilica.

All of his surviving works are sacred music, and most are written in the prima pratica, the conservative polyphonic style of the late 16th century, although some of his motets use some of the new concertato style. He was a highly sophisticated contrapuntist, often using strict canonic techniques; in addition, he used colorful sonorities, changes of meter between sections, and colorful chromaticism, showing an acquaintanceship with contemporary secular practice as well as the work of the Venetian School. An Agnus Dei for eight voices is especially admired and was used as an example in Padre Martini's Saggio di Contrappunto.[2]

Notes
  1. Chisholm 1911.
  2. Völker 1913.
gollark: You want those to look like... numbers... and not have messy `x.add(y).sub(z)` all over the place.
gollark: Complex numbers, bignums, vectors, whatever else.
gollark: But what if you have extra, say, number types?
gollark: streams' >> is dumb.
gollark: I mean, for random stuff like C++ does, yes.

References
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Agostino, Paolo" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Völker, James Alphonsus (1913). "Paolo Agostini" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.