Stefano Bernardi
Stefano Bernardi | |
|---|---|
 Title page of Bernardi's Secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci, Venice 1616 | |
| Born | 18 March 1580 |
| Died | 15 February 1637 |
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Stefano (or Steffano) Bernardi (18 March 1580 – 15 February 1637), also known as "il Moretto", was an Italian priest, composer and music theorist.maestro di cappella at the Verona Cathedral from 1611 to 1622, he later moved to Salzburg, where he was responsible for the music at the Salzburg Cathedral and composed a Te Deum for 12 choirs performed at the cathedral's consecration in 1628.
Bernardi's career spanned the transition from late
madrigals. He also wrote a treatise on counterpoint
published in 1615.
Biography
Bernardi was born in Verona and educated at the Scuola Accolitale (
maestro di cappella of Santa Maria ai Monti in 1610. He returned to Verona in 1611 when he was offered the same position at the Verona Cathedral as the successor to Francesco Anerio. He held that post until 1622 and during that time was also closely associated with the Accademia Filarmonica. He published a treatise on counterpoint, Porta musicale, in 1616 primarily for the students at the Scuola Accolitale where he also taught. Amongst his students in Verona in those years were Antonio Bertali and Pietro Verdina.[4]
In 1622 Bernardi left Verona to take up a post as Director of Court Music to Archduke Carl Joseph, Bishop of
Salzburg,[6] a position he held until 1634. As such, he was also deeply involved in the musical life of Salzburg Cathedral, where he was one of the first composers to introduce the new Italian concertato style.[7] For its consecration in 1628, Bernardi composed a Te Deum (music now lost) sung by twelve separate choirs placed in the various marble galleries of the cathedral.[8] While in Salzburg, he was ordained a priest and also received a doctorate in canon and civil law. Towards the end of his life, Bernardi returned to Verona where he died in 1637.[9]
Works
Most of Bernardi's works were published in his lifetime, primarily in
concerted madrigals) and eight sinfonias.[9] A modern edition of the Concerti Accademici by Flavio Cinquetti and Matteo Zenatti, with critical revision and an essay by Marco Materassi was published in 2008.[12]
Sacred music
Most works were published in Venice, and the years indicate publication dates.
- Motecta for two to five voices (Rome, 1610)[13]
- Psalmi integri for four voices (Venice, 1613)
- Motetti in cantilena for four voices (Venice, 1613)
- Mass for four to five voices (Venice, 1615)
- Missae octonis vocibus modulatae for eight voices (Venice, 1616)
- Concerti sacri scielti, et trasportati dal secondo, et terzo libro de madrigali for five voices and organ (Venice, 1621)
- Psalmi for eight voices, one with organ accompaniment (Venice, 1624)
- Te Deum for 12 choirs (first performed on September 24, 1628 in the Salzburg Cathedral, music lost)
- Missa primi toni octo vocum (1630)
- Encomia sacra for two to six voices (Salzburg, 1634)
- Salmi concertati for five voices (Venice, 1637)
- Messe a otto voci for eight voices (Venice, 1638)
Secular music
- Il primo libro de madrigali for three voices (Rome, 1611)
- Il primo libro de madrigali for five voices (Venice, 1611)
- Il secondo libro de madrigali for five voices (Venice, 1616)
- Concerti academici con varie sorti di sinfonie for six voices (Venice, 1616)
- Il terzo libro de madrigali for five voices concertati (Venice, 1619)
- Madrigaletti for two to three voices, also contains several fagotto(Venice, 1621)
- Il terzo libro de madrigali for six voices concertati with several instrumental sonatas (Venice, 1624)
Writings
- Porta musicale per la quale il principiante con facile brevità all'acquisto delle perfette regole del contrapunto vien introdotto (Verona, 1615)
Notes and references
- ^ Magnabosco (2007) p. 23. There is considerable variation in Bernardi's birth date given in various sources. Magnabosco provides an exact death date but gives the birth date as ca. 1575. Other Italian sources, such as Gatti and Basso (1968) give it as ca. 1576, while Marionni (2004) gives it as 1577 or 1578. Austrian sources, e.g., Heinisch (1991) and Schimek (1995) give it as 1577. Note that English language sources, e.g., Roche and Roche, Arnold (1983), and Randel (1996) give his birth date as the improbably late ca. 1585 and his death date and place as "1636?, probably Salzburg".
- ^ a b c Roche and Roche
- ^ Magnabosco (2007) p. 22. Verona's Scuola Accolitale provided religious, literary and musical education primarily for young men preparing for the priesthood (see Paganuzzi).
- ^ Jensen (1992) p. 26
- ^ Archduke Carl Joseph (1590–1624) was the younger brother of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.
- Thirty Years War and founded the University of Salzburg.
- ^ Buelow (2004) p. 231
- ^ Sadie, Stanley (2006) p. 4.
- ^ a b Magnabosco (2007) p. 23
- ^ Fisher (2008)
- ^ See Sadie, Julie Anne (1998) p. 81 and Kurtzman (1995) p. xvii
- ISBN 978-88-7096-521-6
- ^ Works list primarily based on Roche and Roche
Sources
- Arnold, Dennis (1983). "Bernardi, Stefano" in The New Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press, p. 215.
- Buelow, George J. (2004). A History of Baroque Music. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34365-8
- Fisher, Alexander (2008). "Celestial Sirens and Nightingales: Change and Assimilation in the Munich Anthologies of Georg Victorinus ", Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music Volume 14, no. 1. ISSN 1089-747X
- Jensen, Niels Martin (1992). "The Instrumental Music for Small Ensemble of Antonio Bertali: The Sources". Danish Yearbook of Musicology Volume 20 pp. 25–43
- ISBN 0-8153-2165-1
- Magnabosco, Michele (2007). "Stefano Bernardi: il primo dei moderni". Cadenze. Accademia Filarmonica di Verona, Anno III n. 10 June–August 2007.
- Paganuzzi, Enrico (2001). "Verona". In ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- Roche, Jerome & Roche, Elizabeth (2001). "Bernardi, Stefano [Steffano]". In ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- Randel, Don Michael (ed.) (1996). "Bernardi, Stefano" in The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press (1996) pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-674-37299-3
- Sadie, Julie Anne (1998) "Bernardi, Stefano" in Companion to Baroque Music. University of California Press, pp. 80–81. ISBN 0-520-21414-5
- Sadie, Stanley (2006). Mozart: The Early Years 1756-1781. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816529-3
External links
- Kraibacher, Michael. Biography of Stefano Bernardi and List of directors of court music in Salzburg on Salzburg City of Music. Accessed 22 November 2010.
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