Giovanni Maria Nanino (1543/44–1607) was one of the most important musicians of late sixteenth century Rome. Active as papal singer, chapel master, composer, teacher, and as one of the protagonists of the newly founded Compagnia dei Eccellenti Musici di Roma, he had a deep impact on Roman musical development in the decades around 1600. It is especially in the madrigal, the most popular genre of the cinquecento, that one can admire Nanino’s ability to bring together traditional stylistic elements of the mid-century madrigal with elements of the modern styles commented on by Vincenzo Giustiniani in his Discorso sopra la musica of the early seicento. Most of Nanino’s published music is secular—either madrigals or canzonettas. He published three volumes of madrigals—the second together with his Roman colleague Annibale Stabile. But his leadership in the world of the late-century madrigal can most clearly be seen in his presence in virtually all the most important anthologies of newly published madrigals of the time. By some measures he was the most anthologized madrigal composer of his age. The present volume, part 3 of 3 in the Complete Madrigals, includes his third book of madrigals and those madrigals by Nanino that first appeared in anthologies in the years 1588–1610.
- ISBN: 9780895798824 (0895798824)
