Ercole Pasquini

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Ercole Pasquini (first name sometimes Hercole , last name sometimes Pasquino ; * probably between 1550 and 1560 in Ferrara ; † between 1608 and 1619 in Rome ) was an Italian organist (including at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome), harpsichordist and composer . He can be regarded as perhaps the most important and influential direct forerunner of Girolamo Frescobaldi , along with the Neapolitans Giovanni Maria Trabaci and Ascanio Mayone .

Life

According to the testimony of the theologian and Franciscan father Agostino Superbi, Ercole Pasquini, who was born in Ferrara, studied music with Alessandro Milleville (1521? –1589). From 1583 to 1587, he took over the musical education of Vittoria Aleotti , a daughter of the court architect of Ferrara, Giovanni Battista Aleotti .

On May 1, 1592, Pasquini became organist of the 'ridotto musicale' of Mario Bevilacqua and of the Church of the Olivetans Santa Maria in Organo in Verona . For Carlo Gesualdo's wedding celebrations with Eleonora d'Este in Ferrara in 1594, he composed the “ favola boscareccia ” I fidi amanti (published as early as 1593). After Bevilacqua's death on August 1, 1593, Pasquini probably returned to Ferrara, where he succeeded Luzzasco Luzzaschi as organist of the Accademia della Morte ; his successor in this position was Girolamo Frescobaldi .

According to Superbi, Pasquini played "the first (or best) organs" ("i primi organi") in his homeland before moving to Rome in 1597. There he was officially appointed organist of the Cappella Giulia in St. Peter's Basilica on October 6, 1597 , as the successor to Giovan Battista Zucchelli. He held this prestigious post until May 31, 1608. In addition, from summer 1604 he held the same post at Santo Spirito in Sassia . It can be interpreted as a sign of special appreciation that he (like Girolamo Frescobaldi, who succeeded him) received a higher salary there than all other organists, namely 3 scudi instead of 2 scudi and 50 baiocchi .

From 1603 it is noticeable that Pasquini signed the receipt of his salary in the Capella Giulia with a certain irregularity. Instead, from September 1603 to 1605, a Nicolo Pasquini sometimes signed it - probably his son. During the summer of 1605 his salary was signed by the maestro di capella , Francesco Soriano , and in November and December by an employee of a hospital where Pasquini was being treated; according to Haberl (1908, p. 151) it was the head of the Ospedale dei Pazzi (ie the “madhouse”). On May 19, 1608 Pasquini was dismissed from his post "justis de causis".

Ercole Pasquini was valued as a musician by contemporaries such as Pietro della Valle . Also Agostino Superbi (1620) described him as an excellent musician and organist with an "extremely delicate and familiar hand" and "sometimes he played so wonderful that people carried away and were charmed indeed." But he was “not very happy” (“poco fortunato”) or died poor.

According to an entry by Agostino Faustini in 1646, Pasquini died in Rome in a state of mental confusion.

Meaning and works

Ercole Pasquini can be seen as Frescobaldi's actual predecessor in several ways: Both came from Ferrara and Ercole was Frescobaldi's direct predecessor in several organ positions ( Accademia della Morte in Ferrara; St. Peter and S. Spirito in Sassia in Rome). He must have known Pasquini personally as well as his music (at least from listening).

Nothing of Ercole Pasquini's keyboard music was published during his lifetime and there are no autographs. For a long time only one single Canzona francese in the 3rd tone was known from an unknown source. It was not until 1960 that researchers became aware of about 30 pieces from various handwritten sources, which were published in W. Richard Shindle's CEKM edition of the American Institute of Musicology in 1966 . In these works he shows himself to be an original and progressive composer who in many ways anticipates the early baroque style and the work of his younger compatriot and colleague Frescobaldi. His toccatas and canzones already consist of several shorter sections; some of the toccatas use unusual harmonic modulations and an imaginative proto-baroque figure that refers directly to Frescobaldi's art of ornamentation. The latter also applies to Pasquini's variation works. His Durezze are among the earliest known pieces of this genre, together with those from the Neapolitan keyboard school ( Giovanni de Macque , Trabaci etc.). The three corrents assigned to him are probably the earliest pieces of this dance that have survived in Italy (for keyboard instrument). In detail, his keyboard includes:

Pasquini also left behind a few vocal works, only five of which were published during or shortly thereafter:

  • 2 motets , including the ten-part, double-choir “Quem vidistis pastores?”, Published in the Sacrae Cantiones collection by Pasquini's pupil Raffaella Aleotti ( Venice , 1593);
  • 2 madrigals : “Mentre che la bell'Isse” (1591) and another 1596; a counterfacture of the madrigal from 1591 exists as a motet “Sanctus Sebastianus” (in a collection in Passau );
  • The madrigal spirituale “M'empio gli occhi di pianto”, based on a text by Angelo Grillo (publ. 1604);
  • “Jesu decus angelicum”, for four voices and organ (publ. Posthumously);
  • Two fairs , including one on “Vestiva i colli”;
  • Madrigali alla Santissima Vergine , lost, quoted in an inventory of Archduke Siegmund Franz, Innsbruck , 1665.

See also

grades

  • Ercole Pasquini: Collected Keyboard Works , ed. v. W. Richard Shindle; Corpus of Keyboard Music (CEKM) 12, American Institute of Musicology, 1966.

literature

  • Willi Apel : “Ercole Pasquini”, in: History of organ and piano music until 1700. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel et al., 1967, pp. 413-415.
  • Frederick Hammond (Italian translation by Roberto Pagano): Girolamo Frescobaldi (= constellatiomusica 8 ), Palermo: L'Epos, 2002 (originally 1937).
  • James L. Ladewig: "The Origins of Frescobaldi's Variation Canzonas Reappraised", ed. Alexander Silbiger. Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1987.
  • Oscar Mischiati: Ercole Pasquini , in "Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti".
  • Anthony Newcomb: "Frescobaldi's Toccatas and Their Stylistic Ancestry", in: Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, cxi (1984-85), pp. 28-44.
  • Bernhard Schrammek:  Pasquini, Ercole. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 13 (Paladilhe - Ribera). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1133-0 , Sp. 171–172 ( online edition , subscription required for full access).
  • W. Richard Shindle: "Pasquini, Ercole", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , 2nd ed., Vol. 19, Macmillan Publishers, 2001.
  • W. Richard Shindle: "The Vocal Works of Ercole Pasquini", in: Frescobaldi Studies , ed. v. Alexander Silbiger. Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1987.
  • Agostino Superbi: Apparato de gli huomini illustri della città di Ferrara , Francesco Suzzi, Ferrara 1620, p. 132.
  • Johann Gottfried Walther : "Pasquini (Ercole)", in: Musicalisches Lexicon or Musicalische Bibliothec , 1732, p. 464 (see: PDF page 477, viewed on September 17, 2017).
  • C. Ann Clement, Massimo Ossi, Thomas W, Bridges: "Introduction" to Raffaella Aleotti: Sacre Cantiones, Quinque, Septem, Octo, & Decem Vocibus Decantandae - Music at the Courts of Italy 2 , New York & Williamstown, The Broude Trust , 2006.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willi Apel : "Ercole Pasquini", in: History of organ and piano music until 1700. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel et al., 1967, pp. 413–415, here: 413.
  2. ↑ Agostino Superbi: Apparato de gli huomini illustri della città di Ferrara , Francesco Suzzi, Ferrara 1620, p. 132.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Bernhard Schrammek:  Pasquini, Ercole. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 13 (Paladilhe - Ribera). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1133-0 , Sp. 171–172, here Sp. 171 ( online edition , subscription required for full access).
  4. ↑ The ridotto was the seat of a musical group that promoted musicians (financially) and acquired musical instruments. Count Mario Bevilacqua was a famous Veronese patron, passionate music lover, collector and art expert (note from the Italian Wikipedia).
  5. ↑ Frederick Hammond (Italian translation by Roberto Pagano): Girolamo Frescobaldi (= constellatiomusica 8 ), Palermo: L'Epos, 2002 (originally 1937), p. 38 (footnote 25).
  6. ↑ "for just reasons" or "appropriately". See also: Frederick Hammond (Italian translation by Roberto Pagano): Girolamo Frescobaldi (= constellatiomusica 8 ), Palermo: L'Epos, 2002 (originally 1937), p. 70.
  7. ↑ Agostino Superbi: Apparato de gli huomini illustri della città di Ferrara , Francesco Suzzi, Ferrara 1620, p. 132.
  8. ↑ Willi Apel : "Ercole Pasquini", in: History of Organ and Piano Music until 1700. … Kassel 1967, pp. 413–415, here 413. The piece in question was by Luigi Torchi in 1908 in the L'Arte Musicale in Italia collection , Vol.3 has been published without reference to the source. In Shindle's CEKM edition there are three different versions of this piece as nos. 16 a), b) and c), from different manuscripts. See also: Canzona Frazese per harpsichord (Pasquini, Ercole) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project.Viewed September 17, 2017.
  9. ↑ Willi Apel : "Ercole Pasquini", in: History of organ and piano music up to 1700. Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel et al., 1967, pp. 413–415, here 413. The handwritten sources are in part incorrect or problematic, and the musical text of this new edition also needs z. T. some corrections.
  10. ↑ Willi Apel : "Ercole Pasquini", in: History of organ and piano music until 1700. … Kassel 1967, pp. 413–415, here 413.
  11. ↑ Willi Apel : "Ercole Pasquini", in: History of organ and piano music until 1700. … Kassel 1967, pp. 413–415, here 414.
  12. ↑ Willi Apel : "Ercole Pasquini", in: History of organ and piano music until 1700. … Kassel 1967, pp. 413–415, here 415.
  13. ↑ One of which is called “Fuga” (No. 11) and another as “Altra Sonata” (other Sonata, No. 17). The numbers in brackets refer to the CEKM edition.
  14. ↑ It is only referred to as “Primo tono” (in the first tone), and published as No. 19 in the CEKM edition. No. 20 in the same edition is either a fragment or a verse.
  15. ↑ Corrente No. 28 in CEKM 12 has been handed down in two versions.
personal data
SURNAME Pasquini, Ercole
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pasquini, Hercole; Pasquino, Ercole
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian organist
DATE OF BIRTH between 1550 and 1560
PLACE OF BIRTH Ferrara
DATE OF DEATH between 1608 and 1619
Place of death Rome