Domenico Zipoli
Encyclopedia
Domenico Zipoli is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
– January 2, 1726, Cordoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
) was an Italian Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
composer. He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay where his musical expertise contributed to develop the natural musical talents of the Guaranis. He is remembered as the most accomplished musician among Jesuit missionaries.
Early training and career
During early schooling years Zipoli received elementary musical training at Prato, his birthplace. However, there are no records of him having entered the cathedral choir. In 1707, and with the patronage of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of TuscanyTuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, he was a pupil of the organist Giovani Maria Casini in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. In 1708 he briefly studied under Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
in Naples, then Bologna and finally in Rome under Bernardo Pasquini
Bernardo Pasquini
right|thumb|Bernardo PasquiniBernardo Pasquini was an Italian composer of opera and church music.He was born at Massa in Val di Nievole . He was a pupil of Antonio Cesti and Loreto Vittori...
. Two of his oratorios date of this early period : San Antonio di Padova (1712) and Santa Caterina, Virgine e martire (1714). Around 1715 he was made the organist of the Church of the Gesù
Church of the Gesu
The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. Officially named , its facade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture ,. The church served as model for innumerable Jesuit...
, in Rome, a prestigious post. At the very beginning of the following year, he finished his best known work, a collection of keyboard pieces titled Sonate d'intavolatura per organo e cimbalo.
Jesuit musician-missionary
For reasons that are not clear, Zipoli travelled to Sevilla, Spain, in 1716, where he joined the Society of JesusSociety of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
with the desire to be sent to the Reductions of Paraguay in Spanish Colonial America. Still a novice he left Spain with a group of 53 missionaries who reached Buenos-Aires on the 13 July 1717.
He completed his formation and sacerdotal studies in Cordoba (1717-1724) though, for the lack of an available bishop, he could not be ordained priest. All through these few years he served as music director for the local Jesuit church. Soon his works came to be known in Lima, Peru. Struck by an unknown infectious disease, Zipoli died in the Jesuit house of Cordoba (in contemporary Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
), on 2 January 1726. A previous theory placing his death in the ancient Jesuit church of Santa Catalina, in the hills of the Province of Córdoba (Argentina), has now been discredited. His burial place has never been found.
Legacy
Zipoli continues to be well known today for his keyboard music. His Italian compositions have always been known but recently some of his South American church music was discovered in ChiquitosChiquitos
Chiquitos means "little ones" in Spanish. The Spanish Conquistadores chose this name for the people living in the rain savannas of what is now the eastern parts of the Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia, when they found the small doors of the Indian huts in the region.Today, this area is called Gran...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
: two Masses, two psalm settings, three Office hymns, a Te Deum laudamus and other pieces. A Mass copied in Potosí, Bolivia in 1784, and preserved in Sucre, Bolivia, seems a local compilation based on the other two Masses. His dramatic music, including two complete oratorios and portions of a third one, is mostly gone. Three sections of the 'Mission opera' San Ignacio de Loyola - compiled by Martin Schmid
Martin Schmid
Martin Schmid was a Swiss Jesuit priest, missionary, composer and architect who was active in the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos in present day Bolivia....
in Chiquitos many years after Zipoli's death, and preserved almost complete in local sources - have been attributed to Zipoli.
For decades, his music continued to be highly regarded by his Jesuit colleagues, decisively influencing later composers.