Claudio Merulo

Claudio Merulo, 1587 based on a portrait by Annibale Carracci . Museo di Capodimonte , Naples

Claudio Merulo , also Claudio da Correggio (born April 8, 1533 in Correggio , † May 5, 1604 in Parma ) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. Merulo is the Latinized form of Merlotti, the actual family name of his father; both Italian merlo and Latin merula means “ blackbird ”.

Life

Little is known about Merulo's training. He probably received his first lessons from Tuttovale Menon , a Breton madrigal composer who worked in Correggio; another teacher was possibly Girolamo Donato.

Merulo first worked as an organist in Brescia (1556), the following year he applied for the post of second organist at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, one of the most important musical centers in the world at that time. Merulo could u. a. prevail against Andrea Gabrieli . Kapellmeister at this time was Adrian Willaert (until 1562), later Cipriano de Rore (1563/64) and Gioseffo Zarlino (1565–1590). In 1566, Merulo was promoted to the position of first organist, succeeding Annibale Padovano , while A. Gabrieli became second.

In addition to this official activity, he appeared regularly in the palazzi of Venetian nobles, e. B. in the Ca 'Zantani , which was also frequented by Parabosco , Padovano and other virtuosos. He was probably not only playing on organ positives, but also on keel instruments such as harpsichord or virginal , especially since Venice was one of the centers of instrument making at the time, with famous harpsichord makers such as Domenicus Venetus (also Pisaurensis), Celestini or Trasuntino .

Merulo also appeared as a composer of vocal works, especially madrigals , as well as motets and masses . He also composed music for the stage works Marianna and Le Troiane by Lodovico Dolce (1565/66); also to a tragedy by Cornelio Frangipane il Giovane (Music Lost), on the occasion of the celebrations for Henry III. from France who visited Venice in 1574. In 1579 at the wedding of Francesco de 'Medici to Bianca Capello from Venice, Merulo belonged to the Venetian legation.

Between 1566 and 1571 Merulo also worked as a publisher. He not only published his own works (only Libro Primo de Ricercari (1567) and a volume with organ masses (1568) have survived), but also works by other composers (including a reprint of Costanzo Festa's Il Primo Libro de madrigali a tre voci (orig Venice, 1537)).

After almost 30 years at St. Mark's Basilica, Merulo left Venice in 1584. He got a job at the Farnese court in Parma. In 1587 he also took over the post of cathedral organist, and in 1591 a third post at the Basilica Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma, where there was an organ by Benedetto Antegnati (1573). Merulo was raised to the rank of cavaliere by Duke Ranuccio I Farnese and presented with a gold chain, which he also wears on the portrait that adorns the second volume of his Canzoni (1606).

In the Parma Conservatory there is a small organ with 4 registers, which is said to have been at least partially constructed by Merulo himself.

Merulo was married three times, most recently (from 1588) to Amabilia Banzola. He died after a brief serious illness on May 5, 1604. He received a state funeral and was buried in the Cathedral of Parma at the side of Cipriano de Rore .

music

Claudio Merulo. Posthumous (?) Portrait of an Anonymous , Museo Civico di Correggio

Contemporaries (including Zarlino, Diruta , Vincenzo Galilei ) valued and admired him as the best organist in Italy. Today he is considered the most important pioneer of the Toccata before Frescobaldi , and thus of the Stylus Phantasticus (in today's sense). In his toccatas he far surpasses the works of his keyboard colleagues in terms of compositional care, elegance, imagination and expressiveness. He also left behind ricercari , canzons and organ masses. All organ and keyboard works handed down by Merulo are real instrumental works that draw from the spirit and possibilities of the keyboard instrument, and in this respect have clearly moved away from pure imitation of a vocal polyphonic style. An important element of Merulo's style is his art of ornamentation ( diminutions ), which shows parallels to the ornate solo singing of the era ( Caccini , Luzzaschi , etc.) and to the works of instrumental virtuosos such as Giovanni Bassano and Girolamo Dalla Casa , as well as his colleague Andrea Gabrieli.

In his vocal work, Merulo makes partial use of the possibilities of the Venetian polychoir . Among his students were Florentio Maschera (around 1540–1584), Giovanni Battista Mosto and Girolamo Diruta, who in his well-known treatise Il Transsilvano (1593) not only describes fingerings, but also goes into detail about the elegance of Merulo's organ and keyboard playing whose musical ideal despite everything was singing.

List of works

Keyboard music (organ, keel instruments)

• Ricercari d'intavolatura d'organo (1567)
• Mass d'intavolatura d'organo (1568)
• Canzoni d'intavolatura d'organo, fatte alla francese : Libro I (1594), Libro II (1606, posthumously), Libro III (1611, posthumously)
• Toccate d'intavolatura d'organo : Libro I (1598), Libro II (1604)

Vocal music

• Madrigali a 5 : Libro I (1566), Libro II (1604)
• Madrigali a 4 (1579)
• Madrigali a 3 (1580)
• Mottetti a 5 ( Sacrae Cantiones ): Libro I (1573), Libro II (1578)
• Mottetti a 6 : Libro I (1583), Libro II (1593), Libro III (1605, posthumous)
• Mottetti a 4 (1584)
• Sacrorum concentuum… (1594), therein motets of 8, 10, 12, 16 parts
• Missarum 5 vocum (1573), in it: Missa Benedicta es coelorum Regina , Missa Susanne un giour , Missa Oncques Amour , Missa Aspice Domine
• Misse due ... (1609, posthumously), therein: 2 masses (8 or 12 voices) and Litaniae Beatae Mariae Virginis (8 voices)

also (instrumental or vocal):

• Ricercari da cantare a 4 voci : Libro I (1574), Libro II (1607, posthumous), Libro III (1608, posthumous)

Numerous madrigals by Merulo have also appeared in contemporary collective prints and anthologies.

Further compositions, both instrumental and vocal, have survived in non-autograph manuscripts (Verona, German organ tablatures in Turin), e. Sometimes, however, doubtful.

literature

• Alvini, Laura: Foreword to: Claudio Merulo - Toccate d'intavolatura d'organo, Libro Primo e Secondo, Roma 1598, 1604 ( Archivum Musicum, Collana di testi rari, 43 ), Florence: Studio per Edizioni Scelte, 1981
• Diruta, Girolamo: Il Transilvano - Dialogo sopra il vero modo di sonar organi et istromenti da penna , Venice, G. Vincenti, 1593, Facsimile, Bologna: Forni Editore
• Martini, Giuseppe: Claudio Merulo . Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio, Parma 2005, ISBN 88-901673-8-6 (biography)
• Morche, Gunther: Article Merulo, Claudio , in: The music in history and the present (MGG) , person part, vol. 12, pp. 49–54
• Morehen, John: Introduction to: Claudio Merulo - Ricercari d'intavolatura d'organo (1567) , Madison (Wisconsin): AR Editions, Inc., 2000, pp. VII-XI

grades

• Claudio Merulo, Ricercari d'Intavolatura ... (Libro I) , Venice 1567. Ed. John Morehen, Madison (Wisconsin, USA): AR Editions, Inc., 2000.
• Claudio Merulo, Canzoni d'Intavolatura ... (Libro I, II, III) , Venice 1592, 1606 and 1611. Complete edition by Walker Cunningham & Charles McDermott, Madison (Wisconsin, USA): AR Editions, Inc., 1992.
• Claudio Merulo, Toccate d'Intavolatura ... (Libro I & II) , Rome 1598 and 1604. New edition (facsimile): Florence: Studio per edizioni scelte (SPES), 1981.

Web links

Commons : Claudio Merulo  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Joseph Stevenson: Claudio Merulo (1533-1604)
• Sheet music and audio files by Claudio Merulo in the International Music Score Library Project
• Sheet music in the public domain by Claudio Merulo in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)