Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger
Encyclopedia
Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger (also: Giovanni Girolamo or Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger), (c. 1580 – 17 January 1651) was a German
-Italian
virtuoso
performer and composer of the early Baroque
period. A prolific and highly original composer, Kapsberger is chiefly remembered today for his lute
, theorbo
and chitarrone music, which was seminal in the development of these as solo instruments.
, the city which may have been Kapsberger's birthplace. After 1605 Kapsberger moved to Rome
, where he quickly attained a reputation of a brilliant virtuoso. He cultivated connections with various powerful individuals and organizations; and himself organized "academies" in his house, which were counted among the "wonders of Rome". Around 1609 Kapsberger married Gerolima di Rossi, with whom he had at least three children. He started publishing his music at around the same time, with more than a dozen collections of music appearing during the next ten years. These included the celebrated Libro I d'intavolatura di lauto (1611), Kapsberger's only surviving collection of music for lute.
In 1624 Kapsperger entered the service of Cardinal Francesco Barberini
, where he worked with numerous important composers (such as Girolamo Frescobaldi
and Stefano Landi
) and poets (which included Giulio Rospigliosi, the future Pope Clement IX
). Kapsberger worked in Francesco's household until 1646. He died in 1651.
Kapsberger is best remembered as a composer for lute
and chitarrone. At least six collections were published during his lifetime, two of which are currently lost. Kapsberger's writing is characterized, especially in toccata
s, by spontaneous changes, sharp contrasts, unusual rhythmic groupings and, sometimes, passages that do not conform to the rules of counterpoint
that were in use at the time. The vast majority of contemporary critics praised Kapsberger's compositional skill and innovations. Among them was Athanasius Kircher
, who described Kapsberger as a "superb genius" and attested that he has "successfully penetrated the secrets of music." One notable exception was the critic Giovanni Battista Doni
, who was initially supportive of the composer, but then turned against him for unclear reasons and criticised his music in print. Also, Kapsberger's toccatas may have influenced those of Girolamo Frescobaldi
, much like French lute music would, some years later, influence Johann Jakob Froberger
's suite
s.
Some contemporaries, such as Stefano Landi
, mentioned that Kapsberger was not as meticulous a composer as he was as a performer. The features listed above led some modern scholars to share this view and they tend to believe that Kapsberger was a composer of inferior ability. Prominent among these critics is lutenist Rolf Lislevand: in his words, "Kapsberger was as bad a composer as he was a fine instrumentalist [...] The ideas are often badly developed, and are freely associated with one another; no real musical discourse is built up [...] the rhythm—even after serious efforts at fathoming it—wavers between inspired cleverness and total confusion." However, regardless of how one regards his compositional prowess, Kapsberger was one of the principal composers of lute and theorbo music during the early Baroque era (together with Alessandro Piccinini
) and greatly contributed towards advancing European plucked string instruments of the time.
Kapsberger's other music includes two collections of instrumental ensemble dances, rare for the period, and a wealth of vocal music, which was widely performed during his lifetime, but which is now critically less acclaimed. Kapsberger also wrote stage music, almost all currently lost. The only surviving work of this kind is Apotheosis sive Consecratio SS Ignatii et Francisci Xaverii (1622).
Also, a compositional treatise by Kapsberger, Il Kapsperger della musica, was announced in 1640 in the preface to Libro quarto d'intavolatura di chitarrone, but is now lost.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
performer and composer of the early 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...
period. A prolific and highly original composer, Kapsberger is chiefly remembered today for his lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, theorbo
Theorbo
A theorbo is a plucked string instrument. As a name, theorbo signifies a number of long-necked lutes with second pegboxes, such as the liuto attiorbato, the French théorbe des pièces, the English theorbo, the archlute, the German baroque lute, the angélique or angelica. The etymology of the name...
and chitarrone music, which was seminal in the development of these as solo instruments.
Life
Nothing is known about Kapsberger's date and place of birth. His father Colonel Guglielmo Kapsperger was a military official of the Imperial House of Austria, and may have settled in VeniceVenice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, the city which may have been Kapsberger's birthplace. After 1605 Kapsberger moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he quickly attained a reputation of a brilliant virtuoso. He cultivated connections with various powerful individuals and organizations; and himself organized "academies" in his house, which were counted among the "wonders of Rome". Around 1609 Kapsberger married Gerolima di Rossi, with whom he had at least three children. He started publishing his music at around the same time, with more than a dozen collections of music appearing during the next ten years. These included the celebrated Libro I d'intavolatura di lauto (1611), Kapsberger's only surviving collection of music for lute.
In 1624 Kapsperger entered the service of Cardinal Francesco Barberini
Francesco Barberini (seniore)
Francesco Barberini was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. The nephew of Pope Urban VIII , he benefited immensely from the nepotism practiced by his uncle...
, where he worked with numerous important composers (such as Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
and Stefano Landi
Stefano Landi
Stefano Landi was an Italian composer and teacher of the early Baroque Roman School. He was an influential early composer of opera, and wrote the earliest opera on a historical subject: Sant'Alessio .-Biography:Landi was born in Rome, the capital of the Papal States.In 1595 he joined the Collegio...
) and poets (which included Giulio Rospigliosi, the future Pope Clement IX
Pope Clement IX
Pope Clement IX , born Giulio Rospigliosi, was Pope from 1667 to 1669.-Early life:Born Giulio Rospigliosi to a noble family of Pistoia, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, he was a pupil of the Jesuits. After receiving his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Pisa, he taught theology there...
). Kapsberger worked in Francesco's household until 1646. He died in 1651.
Works
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
and chitarrone. At least six collections were published during his lifetime, two of which are currently lost. Kapsberger's writing is characterized, especially in toccata
Toccata
Toccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers...
s, by spontaneous changes, sharp contrasts, unusual rhythmic groupings and, sometimes, passages that do not conform to the rules of counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
that were in use at the time. The vast majority of contemporary critics praised Kapsberger's compositional skill and innovations. Among them was Athanasius Kircher
Athanasius Kircher
Athanasius Kircher was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar who published around 40 works, most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine...
, who described Kapsberger as a "superb genius" and attested that he has "successfully penetrated the secrets of music." One notable exception was the critic Giovanni Battista Doni
Giovanni Battista Doni
Giovanni Battista Doni was an Italian musicologist who made an extensive study of ancient music. Known, among other works, for having changed the name of note Ut renaming it Do after his own family name to ease solfege.- Life :...
, who was initially supportive of the composer, but then turned against him for unclear reasons and criticised his music in print. Also, Kapsberger's toccatas may have influenced those of Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
, much like French lute music would, some years later, influence Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
's suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
s.
Some contemporaries, such as Stefano Landi
Stefano Landi
Stefano Landi was an Italian composer and teacher of the early Baroque Roman School. He was an influential early composer of opera, and wrote the earliest opera on a historical subject: Sant'Alessio .-Biography:Landi was born in Rome, the capital of the Papal States.In 1595 he joined the Collegio...
, mentioned that Kapsberger was not as meticulous a composer as he was as a performer. The features listed above led some modern scholars to share this view and they tend to believe that Kapsberger was a composer of inferior ability. Prominent among these critics is lutenist Rolf Lislevand: in his words, "Kapsberger was as bad a composer as he was a fine instrumentalist [...] The ideas are often badly developed, and are freely associated with one another; no real musical discourse is built up [...] the rhythm—even after serious efforts at fathoming it—wavers between inspired cleverness and total confusion." However, regardless of how one regards his compositional prowess, Kapsberger was one of the principal composers of lute and theorbo music during the early Baroque era (together with Alessandro Piccinini
Alessandro Piccinini
Alessandro Piccinini , was an Italian lutenist and composer.Piccinini was born in Bologna into a musical family: his father Leonardo Maria Piccinini taught lute playing to Alessandro as well as his brothers Girolamo and Filippo...
) and greatly contributed towards advancing European plucked string instruments of the time.
Kapsberger's other music includes two collections of instrumental ensemble dances, rare for the period, and a wealth of vocal music, which was widely performed during his lifetime, but which is now critically less acclaimed. Kapsberger also wrote stage music, almost all currently lost. The only surviving work of this kind is Apotheosis sive Consecratio SS Ignatii et Francisci Xaverii (1622).
List of works
This list only includes works published during the composer's lifetime; the few pieces that survive in manuscripts, as well as pieces of questionable attribution, are not included.Lute and chitarrone
- Libro primo d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1604): 6 toccatas, 7 sets of variations, 12 gagliards, Tenore del Kapsberger
- Libro primo d'intavolatura di lauto (1611): 8 toccatas, 12 gagliards, 12 correntes
- Libro terzo d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1626), a recently rediscovered collection
- Libro quarto d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1640): 12 toccatas, 16 preludes, 10 passacaglias, 5 chaconnes, and numerous other pieces, including dances, variations, canzonas, etc.
Other instrumental
- Libro primo de balli, gagliarde et correnti, a quattro voci (1615): 8 balli, 6 gagliards, 6 correntes
- Libro primo di sinfonie, a quattro voci (1615): 18 sinfonies à 4 with basso continuo
Sacred vocal
- Libro primo di mottetti passeggiati (1612), 20 motetMotetIn classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s for voice and basso continuo - Cantiones sacrae (1628), 21 pieces for 3–6 voices and basso continuo
- Modulatus sacri diminutis voculis concinnati (1630), for voice and basso continuo
- I pastori di Bettelemme (1630), for six voices and basso continuo
- Missae urbanae (1631), three massesMass (music)The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
for 4, 5 and 8 voices with basso continuo - Litaniae deiparae virginis (1631), four litaniesLitanyA litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions...
for 4, 6 and 8 voices with basso continuo
Villanellas
- Libro primo di villanelle (1610), 20 villanellaVillanellaIn music, a villanella is a form of light Italian secular vocal music which originated in Italy just before the middle of the 16th century...
s for 1–3 voices and basso continuo - Libro secundo di villanelle (1619), 21 villanellas for 1–3 voices and basso continuo
- Libro terzo di villanelle (1619), 20 villanellas for 1–3 voices and basso continuo
- Libro quarto di villanelle (1623), 23 villanellas for 1–3 voices and basso continuo
- Libro quinto di villanelle (1630), villanellas for 1–4 voices and basso continuo
- Li fiori – Libro sesto di villanelle (1632), villanellas for 1–4 voices and basso continuo
- Libro settimo di villanelle (1640), villanellas for 1–3 voices and basso continuo
Arie passeggiate
- Libro primo di arie passeggiate (1612), 22 arias for voice and theorbo basso continuo
- Libro secundo di arie passeggiate (1623), 30 arias for 1–2 voices and basso continuo
Other works
- Libro primo de madrigali (1609), madrigals for five voices and basso continuo
- Poematia et carmina [...] liber I (1624), 10 settings of verses by Pope Urban VIIIPope Urban VIIIPope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...
, for voice and basso continuo - Coro musicale (1627), wedding songs for voice and basso continuo
Lost
- Maggio Cantata nel Real Palazzo de Pitti (1612), secular cantataCantataA cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
- Libro secundo d'intavolatura di chitarrone (1616)
- Libro secundo d'intavolatura di lauto (1619)
- Epitalamio [...] recitativo a piu voci (1628), secular vocal music
- Libro terzo d'arie passeggiate (1630)
- Poematia et carmina [...] liber II (1633), settings of verses by Pope Urban VIII
- La vittoria del principe Vladislao in Valacchia (1625), opera
- Fetonte (1630), dramma recitato
Also, a compositional treatise by Kapsberger, Il Kapsperger della musica, was announced in 1640 in the preface to Libro quarto d'intavolatura di chitarrone, but is now lost.
External links
- Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger biography at HOASM
- Free scores at Luth-Librarie
- Richard Yates: Lute Music in Tablature, includes sheet music for 7 toccatas from the recently discovered Libro terzo d'intavolatura di chitarrone