Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger

Johann (es) Hieronymus (von) Kapsberger (also: Giovanni Girolamo or Giovanni Geronimo Kapsberger ; * around 1580 in Venice ; buried January 17, 1651 in Rome ) was an Italian lutenist and composer of German descent.

Life

Title copper from Kapsberger's Libro I d'intavolatura di lauto 1611

Kapsberger was born in Venice as the son of a German nobleman (and possibly an Italian mother). He probably didn't speak German. Apparently he quickly became known as a talented virtuoso on the lute and the recently invented chitarrone or theorbo . At the age of 24 he published his Libro primo d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1604), which proves his amazing skill on this instrument. In 1604 or 1605 the young "nobile alemanno" went to Rome, where he entered the papal service and soon made a name for himself under the name Giovanni Geronimo Tedesco della Tiorba . In 1610 he founded an academy in Rome.

He created works for various ensembles, including solo works for lute, symphonies and arias, but also sacred vocal works such as masses and oratorios and a setting of poems by Pope Urban VIII , Poematia et carmina composita à Maffaeo Barberino (Rome 1624). His contemporaries held him in high regard as a composer and was compared to Claudio Monteverdi . Athanasius Kircher pays him great praise.

Kapsberger's numerous works for lute (four volumes) and chitarrone (six volumes) exist only in manuscripts and have largely remained unprinted to this day.

Works

Libro Primo d'Intavolatura di Chitarrone , Venice 1604
Libro Primo de Madrigali a cinque voci col basso continuo , Rome 1609
Libro Primo di Villanelle , Rome 1610
Libro Primo d'intavolatura di lauto , Rome 1611
Libro Primo Di Arie Passegiate a una Voce con l'Intavolatura del Chitarrone , Rome 1612
Libro Primo di Mottetti passeggiati a una voce , Rome 1612
Maggio cantato nel Regio palazzo de 'Pitti , Florenze 1612
Libro Primo de Balli Gagliarde et Correnti a quattro voci , Rome 1615
Libro Primo di Sinfonie a quattro. Con il Basso continuo , Rome 1615
Libro Secondo d'Intavolatura di Chitarrone , Rome 1616
Libro Secondo di Villanelle a 1. 2. e 3 voci , Rome 1619
Libro Terzo di Villanelle a 1. 2. e 3. voci , Rome 1619
Libro secondo di arie à una o più voci , Roma 1623
Libro Quarto di Villanelle a una e piu voci , Rome 1623
Poematia et Carmina composita a Maffaeo Barberino olim SRE Card. nunc autem Urbano octavo POM musicis modis aptata ... Volume Primum , Rome 1624
La vittoria del principe Vladislao in Valacchia , 1625 (lost)
Libro Terzo di Intavolatura di Chitarrone , Rome 1626
Coro musicale nelle nozze de gli ecc.mi sig.ri don Taddeo Barberini, e donna Anna Colonna , Rome 1627
Cantiones sacrae ... volume Primum , Rome 1628
Fetonte, dramma recitato a più voci , Rome 1630 (lost)
Modulatus sacri diminutis voculis ... Volume Secundum , Rome 1630
I Pastori di Bettelemme nella nascita di NS Giesu Christo , Rome 1630
Libro Quinto di Villanelle a una, due, tre e quattro voci , Rome 1630
Litaniae Deiparae Virginis cum suis Antiphonis musicis modis ... Volume Primum , Rome 1631
Missae Urbanae ... Volume Primum , Rome 1631
Li Fiori: Libro Sesto di Villanelle a una, due, tre e quattro voci , Rome 1632
Libro Quarto d'Intavolatura di Chitarrone , Rome 1640
Libro Settimo di Villanelle a una, e piu voci , Rome 1640

- Il Kapsberger della musica - a treatise on the chitarrone that is considered lost.

literature

Victor Coelho: GG Kapsberger in Rome, 1604-1645: New Biographical Data. In: Journal of the Lute Society of America. Vol. 16, 1983, ISSN 0076-1524 , pp. 103-133.
Robert Eitner : Kapsberger, Johannes Hieronymus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 107 f.
Paul Kast: Biographical notes on Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger from the prefaces to his works. In: Sources and research from Italian archives. Vol. 40, 1960, ISSN 0079-9068 , pp. 200-211, ( digitized version ).

Julie Ann Sadie (Ed.): Companion to Baroque Music. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 1998, ISBN 0-19-816704-0 , p. 63, (biographical reference).

Web links

Commons : Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Sheet music and audio files by Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger in the International Music Score Library Project
Guitar biographical information and transcriptions ( December 29, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive ) on Eric Crouch's guitarloot.co.uk
Ensemble L'Arpeggiata

Individual evidence

^ Howard E. Smither: A History of the Oratorio. Volume 1: The Oratorio in the Baroque Era. Italy, Vienna, Paris. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC 1977, ISBN 0-8078-1274-9 , p. 147 (footnote).

personal data
SURNAME	Kapsberger, Johann Hieronymus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Kapsberger, Giovanni Girolamo; Kapsberger, Giovanni Geronimo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian lutenist and composer of the early Baroque
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1580
PLACE OF BIRTH	Venice
DATE OF DEATH	buried January 17, 1651
Place of death	Rome

[1] Howard E. Smither: A History of the Oratorio. Volume 1: The Oratorio in the Baroque Era. Italy, Vienna, Paris. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC 1977, ISBN 0-8078-1274-9 , p. 147 (footnote).