Composers
The present Index lists the composers mentioned in the main choirbook entries. In each case, brief biographical information is given on his relationship with the Ducal Chapel of Venice, together with a list of attributed compositions and their location in the choirbooks.
Asola, Giovanni Matteo
| 1524–1609 |
| No documented relationship with the Ducal Chapel of St Mark’s. |
Compositions
| Title |
Genre |
Content |
| Turbe per il Martedì Santo |
Holy Week, Turbe |
Choirbook 2_02 |
Biffi, Antonio
| 1666–1732 |
Antonio Biffi was employed from July 1692 as contralto in the Ducal Chapel and personal assistant to the chapel master Giovanni Domenico Partenio. Following Partenio's death, he was appointed maestro di cappella in 1702. He held this post until his death (1733), assisted by vicemaestri Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (until 1723) and (subsequently) Antonio Pollarolo. Under his direction, Marchio Angeli compiled the present inventory of the choirbooks of the Ducal Chapel, dated 25 September 1720.
Choirbooks 7, 9 and 14 (and perhaps 10 and 13) were written during his period as director of the Ducal Chapel. Under his direction, Marchio Angeli drew up an inventory of the choirbooks of the chapel (1720). |
Compositions
Cavalli, Francesco
| 1602–1676 |
Francesco Cavalli (Pier Francesco Caletti Bruni) was employed from February 1617 (1616 more veneto) as soprano in the Ducal Chapel, then directed by Claudio Monteverdi. In January 1635 (1634 more veneto) his function was redefined as tenor. In January 1639 (1638 more veneto) he was appointed second organist and in February 1645 (1644 more veneto) first organist of the Ducal Chapel, now under the direction of Giovanni Rovetta. In November 1668, following Rovetta’s death, he was nominated maestro di cappella. He held this post until his death in 1676, assisted by the vicemaestro Natale Monferrato.
During his period as director of the Ducal Chapel, Cavalli promoted the copying of several choirbooks, including Choirbooks 3 and 4 (and perhaps 11 and 12). |
Compositions
Croce, Giovanni
| ca. 1557–1609 |
| Giovanni Croce (della Croce) was employed from 1565 as zago (choirboy) of St Mark’s, shortly after Gioseffo Zarlino’s appointment as chapel master. He later became a singer in the Ducal Chapel and, from the early 1590s, assistant to the chapel master Baldassare Donato. In July 1603, following Donato’s death, he was nominated maestro di cappella. He held this post until his death in 1609, assisted from 1607 by Bartolomeo Morosini as official vicemaestro. |
Compositions
Furlanetto, Bonaventura
| 1738–1817 |
| In 1774, Bonaventura Furlanetto competed unsuccessfully for the post of ‘vicemaestro’ of St Mark’s. From 1781 to 1783 he acted as ‘organista supplementare’, replacing Ferdinando Bertoni. In December 1794 he was appointed ‘vicemaestro provvisorio’; three years later he became the ‘secondo maestro effettivo’ of what was now the former Ducal Chapel, under the direction of Bertoni. Following Bertoni’s retirement in June 1808, Furlanetto was nominated ‘primo maestro’; he held this position until his death in 1817. The exact date of his appointment is unclear, though his obituary in the Gazzetta privilegiata di Venezia gives it as 1814. |
Compositions
Janequin, Clément
| 1485–1558 |
| No documented relationship with the Ducal Chapel of St Mark’s. According to the ceremonial of St Mark’s, the Ducal cappella was required to sing the mass based on Janequin’s chanson La Guerre on Shrove Thursday. |
Compositions
| Title |
Genre |
Content |
| Missa feriae quintae sexagesimae [Missa super La Bataille] |
Masses |
Choirbook 3_01 |
Lotti, Antonio
| 1666–1740 |
In November 1687 Antonio Lotti was engaged as an ‘occasional musician’ in the Ducal Chapel. He was hired on 30 May 1689 as contralto of the Ducal Chapel, directed at the time by Giovanni Legrenzi. On 6 August 1690 he became assistant organist, on 31 May 1692 second organist, and on 17 August 1704 first organist. He held this position for more than 30 years. On 22 July 1698, the Procuratori de Supra granted him fifty ducats for a book containing an a cappella mass written for the Ducal Chapel. After the death of Antonio Biffi, he became chapel master ad interim on 8 March 1733. He was officially appointed maestro di cappella on 2 April 1736. He held this position until his death in 1740, assisted by the Antonio Pollarolo as vicemaestro.
Choirbook 10 may have been written during his period as director of the Ducal Chapel. |
Compositions
Marsand, Anselmo
| 1769–1841 |
| He was a pupil of Bonaventura Furlanetto. |
Compositions
Monferrato, Natale
| 1610–1685 |
Educated at the ducal seminary, Natale Monferrato competed unsuccessfully in January 1639 (1638 more veneto) for the post of second organist of St Mark’s. A month later, he was hired as a singer in the Ducal Chapel, where he served under Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Rovetta. After the latter’s nomination in spring 1644, Monferrato provisionally held the position of ‘vicemaestro’; he was officially nominated to this role in January 1647. After Rovetta’s death, Monferrato appears not to have participated in the competition for the post of chapel master, obtained in October 1668 by Francesco Cavalli. After the latter’s death, he was nominated chapel master in April 1676. He held this position until his own death in 1685, assisted by the ‘vicemaestri’ Antonio Sartorio (1676–1680) and Giovanni Legrenzi (1681–1685).
Monferrato was one of the main promoters of the specific polyphonic repertoire of St Mark’s. Choirbooks 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 18 were written during his period as director of the Ducal Chapel. |
Compositions
Rore, Cipriano de
| 1515/6–1565 |
| In June 1563, Cipriano de Rore sought permission to leave the Farnese court in Parma to take up a new appointment as chapel master of St Mark’s. The post had been left vacant by the death of Adrian Willaert in December 1562. Rore remained in this position for a few months only, returning to Parma in 1564. He died there a year later. |
Compositions
| Title |
Genre |
Content |
| Missa feriae quintae sexagesimae [Missa super La Bataille] |
Masses |
Choirbook 3_01 |
Rosenmüller, Johann
| ca. 1619–1684 |
| After leaving Leipzig, Johann Rosenmüller was employed from early 1658 as a trombonist in the instrumental company of the Venetian Ducal Chapel. He held this position until 1682, when he moved to the court of Duke Johann Freidrich Brunswick-Lüneburg in Wolfenbüttel. |
Compositions
| Title |
Genre |
Content |
| Missa feriae quintae sexagesimae [Missa super La Bataille] |
Masses |
Choirbook 3_01 |
Rovetta, Giovanni
| ca. 1596–1668 |
After serving as an ‘occasional musician’, Giovanni Rovetta was hired in 1614 as a member of the instrumental company of St. Mark’s. In 1623 he became a bass singer in the Ducal Chapel, under the direction of Claudio Monteverdi. In November 1627 he succeeded Alessandro Grandi as ‘vicemaestro’. Following Monteverdi’s death, he was appointed chapel master in February 1644 (1643 more veneto). Assisted by Natale Monferrato as vicemaestro, he remained in this post until his death in Venice on 23 October 1668.
Rovetta was one of the main promoters of the specific polyphonic repertoire of St Mark’s. He is more represented than any other composer in the surviving choirbooks. Choirbook 11 may have been written during his period as director of the Ducal Chapel. |
Compositions
Todesco (Anonymous)
| A mass and a collection of motets are attributed in Angeli’s inventory to an anonymous 'Todesco'. The mass can be identified as the cycle based on Clément Janequin’s chanson La Guerre, intoned by the Ducal Chapel in the presence of the Doge during mass on Shrove Thursday, transmitted in Choirbook 3. Janequin may also be the author of the motets and antiphons contained in the second manuscript, now lost. |
Compositions
| Title |
Genre |
Content |
| Missa feriae quintae sexagesimae [Missa super La Bataille] |
Masses |
Choirbook 3_01 |