Girolamo Cavazzoni

Girolamo (Hieronimo) Cavazzoni (c. 1525 – after 1577) was an Italian organist and composer, son of Marco Antonio Cavazzoni.
Little is known about his life except that he worked at Venice and Mantua, and published two collections of organ music. These
collections only contain music written before about 1549, but are of high quality, and established the traditional form of imitative
ricercars and canzonas.

Contents
Life
Works
List of works
Editions
References
External links

Life
Practically nothing is known about Cavazzoni's life. The approximate year of his birth can be surmised from his remarks in the
preface to Intavolatura libro primo, the first collection of his music to be published. The volume was printed in Venice in 1543, and
Cavazzoni informs the reader in the preface that he is "not much more than a boy" (anchor quasi fanciullo), which indicates
Cavazzoni was around 17 at the time. Cavazzoni's reputation must have been considerably high already at that time, since he was
able to secure a privilege from the Venetian council to publish this collection. The second collection of Cavazzoni's music,
Intabulatura d'organo, carries no publication date (it appeared somewhere between 1543 and 1549) and contains no biographical
details.

By 1552 Cavazzoni may have been working in Urbino, and from 1565 to 1566 he supervised the building of the organ in the court
church of S Barbara in Mantua. The composer was apparently on good terms with Guglielmo X Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and
worked as organist at S Barbara. The last known mention of Cavazzoni is from 1577, naming him as or
ganist of that church.

Works
Cavazzoni's surviving oeuvre comprises two collections published during his lifetime, and two ensemble ricercares. All of this music
dates from before 1552, thus Cavazzoni's late work is completely unknown. Cavazzoni's published collections mostly contain
liturgical music: hymns, alternatim masses, and alternatim Magnificat settings. Cavazzoni's writing in these works is distinguished by
the freedom with which he treats chant melodies: unlike most of his predecessors and contemporaries, who sought to present the
chant clearly and without serious changes, Cavazzoni derives multiple themes from a single chant by stretching or omitting notes,
changing the rhythmic design, etc. Cavazzoni would also employ innovative structures in his works. For example, in Magnificat
settings he treats portions of the chant imitatively, and since each verse is different and presenting a decorated form of the melody,
Cavazzoni's settings are effectively miniature variation sets. In hymn settings, Cavazzoni sometimes employs fore-imitation:
anticipatory imitative sections before the actual chant is set, and/or between verses.

The most historically important works by Cavazzoni are his ricercars and canzonas, from which the history of imitative ricercars and
canzonas starts, as far as is known. The four ricercares of Intavolatura libro primo are multi-sectional works consisting essentially of
series of imitative expositions of different subjects. The two surviving ensemble ricercares by Cavazzoni do not share these
characteristics: there are no sections, no clearly defined cadential points, and the works are quite short compared to their keyboard
counterparts. Cavazzoni's two canzonas, also contained in Intavolatura libro primo, are similar in design. They employ short, lively
subjects derived from those in works by other composers.

List of works
Intavolatura cioe recercari, canzoni, himni, magnificat [...] libro primo(Venice, 1543)

Ricercar I
Ricercar II
Ricercar III
Ricercar IV
Canzon sopra Il est bel et bon
Canzon sopra Faultre d'argent
Christe redemptor omnium
Ad coenam agni providi
Lucis creator optime
Ave maris stella
Magnificat primi toni
Magnificat octavi toni
Intabulatura d'organo, cioe misse, himni, magnificat [...] libro secondo(Venice c.1543–1549)

Missa Apostolorum
Missa Dominicalis
Missa de Beata Virgine
Veni creator Spiritus
Pange lingua gloriosi
Exsultet coelum laudibus
Iste confessor
Jesu nostra redemptio
Jesu corona virginum
Deus tuorum militum
Hostis Herodis impie
Magnificat quarti toni
Magnificat sexti toni
2 ensemble ricercaresà 4 (1540) and à 3 (1551)

Editions
Girolamo Cavazzoni: Orgelwerke, Oscar Mischiati (Mainz: Schott, 1959–61)

References
Apel, Willi. 1972. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press.
ISBN 0-253-21141-7. Originally published asGeschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700by Bärenreiter-
Verlag, Kassel.
Slim, Colin H. "Girolamo Cavazzoni".In Deane L. Root. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University
Press. (subscription required)

External links
Free scores by Girolamo Cavazzoniat the International Music Score Library Project(IMSLP)

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