Trabaci, Giovanni Maria
Trabaci, Giovanni Maria
Trabaci, Giovanni Maria, eminent Italian organist and composer; b. Monte Pelusio, c. 1575; d. Naples, Dec. 31, 1647. He settled in Naples, where he was made a tenor at the church of the Annunziata in 1594, and later was organist at the Oratorio dei Filippini. He was named organist of the royal chapel of the Spanish viceroys in 1601, and then was maestro di cappella there from 1614 until the end of his life. During the rebellion of the Neapolitan populace against the fruit tax of 1647, Trabaci fled to the monastery of the Trinità degli Spagnuoli, where he died. He is known to have composed 169 sacred vocal works, 60 secular vocal compositions, and 165 keyboard pieces. His greatest contribution was to the keyboard genre; among his works were Ricercate, canzone francese, capricci, canti fermi, gagliarde, patite diverse, toccate, durezze e ligature, et un madrigale passagiato nel fine (Naples, 1603; 12 ed. in Monumenti di Musica Italiana, 1/3, 1964) and II secondo libro de ricercate & altri vari] capricci (Naples, 1615). His canzonas include examples of rhythmic variants of a single theme (’Variation canzonas”), anticipating Fres-cobaldi in this respect.
Bibliography
R. Jackson, The Keyboard Music of G.M. T.(diss., Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, 1964).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire