Home > Agostino Agazzari

He was born in Siena to an aristocratic family. After working in Rome, as a teacher at the Germanic College, he returned to Siena in 1607, becoming first organist and later choirmaster of the cathedral there. He was a close friend of Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, the early innovator of the basso continuo.

Agazzari wrote several books of sacred music, madrigals and the pastoral drama Eumelio ( 1606). Stylistically, Eumelio is similar to the famous composition by CavalieriEmilio de' Cavalieri (c. 1550 March 11, 1602) was an Italian composer, producer, organist, diplomat, choreographer and dancer at the end of the Renaissance era. His work, along with that of other composers active in Rome, Florence and Venice, was critical Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo of 1600Events January January 1 Scotland adopts January 1st as being New Year's Day February February 17 Giordano Bruno burned in a stake for heresy July July 2 Battle of Nieuwpoort: Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau defeat Spanish forces under Archduke Alber, a work of singular significance in the development of the oratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus. It differs from an opera in that it does not have either scenery, costumes or acting. Most oratorios from the common practice period to the present day have biblical them. In the preface to the drama he mentions that he was asked to set the text to music only one month before the performance; he composed the music in two weeks, and copied the parts and rehearsed it in the remaining two weeks, a feat which would be impressive even in the modern age. Agazzari is best known, however, for Del sonare sopra il basso (1607), one of the earliest and most important works on basso continuo. This treatise was immensely important in the diffusion of the technique throughout Europe: for example, Michael PraetoriusMichael Praetorius (probably February 15, 1571 February 15, 1621) was a German composer and writer on music. He was born in Creuzburg and studied in Torgau, Frankfurt an der Oder and Zerbst. He was organist at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt before working used large portions of it in his Syntagma musicum in Germany in 1618Events March 8 Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). The margraves of Brandenburg is granted Polish approval to inherit Ducal- 1619Events May 13 Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason. July 30 In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.. As was true with many late Renaissance and early BaroquePeter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint The Baroque was a style in art that used exaggerated motion and abundant detail to prod theoretical treatises, it described a practice which was already occurring. In large part it was based on a study of his friend Viadana's Cento concerti ecclesiastici (published in VeniceVenice ( Italian Venezia German Venedig , the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, population 271,073 (2001). The city stretches across numerous small islands in a marshy lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater l in 1602), the first collection of sacred music to use the basso continuo.

Most of his compositions are sacred music, and motets of the early Baroque variety (for two or three voices with instruments) make up the majority of them. All of the motets are accompanied by basso continuo, with organ providing the sustaining line. His madrigals, on the other hand, are a cappella, in the late Renaissance style, so Agazzari simultaneously showed extreme progressive tendencies as well as some more conservative: unusually, his progressive music was sacred, and his conservative was secular, a situation almost unique among composers of the early Baroque.

He died in Siena.