Zacconi, Lodovico (Giulio Cesare)

Zacconi, Lodovico (Giulio Cesare), Italian music theorist; b. Pesaro, June 11,1555; d. Fiorenzuola di Focara, near Pesaro, March 23, 1627. He became an Augustinian novice in Pesaro in 1568, where he was a subdeacon by 1573 and received training in organ; in 1575 he became a priest. In 1577 he entered the Augustinian convent of S. Stefano in Venice, where he sang in the convent choir under I. Baccusi; also studied counterpoint with A. Gabrieli. He pursued literary studies in Pavia, where he became cursorato in 1583; then studied theology in Padua. In 1585 he began preaching in Boara Polesine, near Rovigo, but later that year became a singer to Archduke Karl of Austria in Graz. In 1590 he entered the service of Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria. In 1596 he resumed his service in the Augustinian order as a preacher and administrator in Italy and Crete, and as a prior in Pesaro; he retired in 1612. His chief work, Prattica di musica utile et necessaria si al compositore per comporre i canti suoi regolatamente, si anco al cantore (Venice, 1592) and Prattica di musica seconda parte (Venice, 1622), contains treatises on mensural theory and counterpoint, detailed descriptions of contemporary musical instruments, and explanations for executing the ornaments in vocal polyphonic music. He also wrote 4 books of Canoni musicali, with comments and solutions (publ, by F. Vatielli, Pesaro, 1905). Most of his other music is lost. He also prepared a MS autobiography (1626).

Bibliography

E Vatielli, Di L. Z.: Notizie su la vita e le opere (Pesaro, 1912); G. Singer, L. Z.’s Treatment of the “Suitability and Classification of All Musical Instruments” in the “Prattica di musica” of 1592 (diss., Univ. of Southern Calif., 1968); G. Gruber, L. Z. als Musiktheoretiker (Habilitationsschrift, Univ. of Vienna, 1972).

—Nicholas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire