Giovanni Croce [Chiozzotto] (1557 - 1609) was an
Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the
Venetian School. He was particularly prominent as a
madrigalist, one of the few among the Venetians other
than Monteverdi and Andrea Gabrieli. He was born in
Chioggia, a fishing town on the Adriatic coast south of
Venice, the same town as Gioseffo Zarlino, and he came
to Venice early, becoming a member of the boy's choir
at St. Mark's under Zarlino's direction by the time he
was eight years old. Zar...(+)
Giovanni Croce [Chiozzotto] (1557 - 1609) was an
Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the
Venetian School. He was particularly prominent as a
madrigalist, one of the few among the Venetians other
than Monteverdi and Andrea Gabrieli. He was born in
Chioggia, a fishing town on the Adriatic coast south of
Venice, the same town as Gioseffo Zarlino, and he came
to Venice early, becoming a member of the boy's choir
at St. Mark's under Zarlino's direction by the time he
was eight years old. Zarlino evidently found him in a
choir in Chioggia Cathedral, and recruited him for St.
Mark's. Croce may have been a parish priest at the
church of Santa Maria Formosa, and he took holy orders
in 1585; during this period he also served as a singer
at St. Mark's. He evidently maintained some connection,
probably as a director of music, with Santa Maria
Formosa alongside his duties at St. Mark's.
After the death of Zarlino, he became assistant maestro
di cappella; this was during the tenure of Baldassare
Donato. When Donato died in 1603 Croce took over the
principal job as maestro di cappella but the singing
standards of the famous St. Mark's cathedral declined
under his direction, most likely due more to his
declining health than his lack of musicianship. He died
in 1609; the position of maestro di cappella went to
Giulio Cesare Martinengo until 1613, at which time
Monteverdi took the job.
Croce wrote less music in the grand polychoral style
than Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, although he left a
grand mass for four choirs, composed for Ferdinand of
Austria (the future Emperor Ferdinand II) and several
triple-choir Psalm settings (only one of which has
survived), and as a result his music has not maintained
the same fame to the present day; however he was
renowned as a composer at the time, and had a large
influence on music both in Italy and abroad. As a
composer of sacred music he was mostly conservative,
writing cori spezzati in the manner of Adrian Willaert,
and parody masses more like the music composed by the
members of the contemporary Roman School. However,
later in his career he wrote some music in a
forward-looking concertato style, which attempted to
combine the innovations of Viadana with the grand
Venetian polychoral manner. This posthumous collection,
the Sacre Cantilene Concertate of 1610, is for 3, 5 or
6 solo voices, continuo and a 4-voice Ripieno which can
be multiplied ad lib (presumably in different parts of
the church). Most of Croce's sacred music is for
double-choir: this includes three masses, two books of
motets, and sets of music for Terce, Lauds and Vespers.
Although most of his sacred music was written for the
professional singers of St Mark's (including several
pieces written for their participation in a freelance
company of musicians under Croce's direction, who
performed for the Scuole Grande of Venice) much of his
music is technically simple: for that reason much of
it, especially the secular music, has remained popular
with amateurs. One collection, the motets for 4 voices
of 1597, is clearly designed for less ambitious church
choirs.
Croce is also credited with the first published
continuo parts, many of his double-choir collections
being issued either with a 'Basso per sonare
nell'organo' or a 'Partidura' (or Spartidura) which
indicated both choirs.
Stylistically, Croce was more influenced by Andrea
Gabrieli than his nephew Giovanni, even though they
were exact contemporaries; Croce preferred the
emotional coolness, the Palestrinian clarity and the
generally lighter character of Andrea's music. Croce
was particularly important in the development of the
canzonetta and the madrigal comedy, and wrote a large
quantity of easily singable, popular, and often
hilarious music. Some of his collections are satirical,
for example setting to music ridiculous scenes at
Venetian carnivals (Mascarate piacevoli et ridicolose
per il carnevale, 1590), some of which are in
dialect.
Croce was one of the first composers to use the term
capriccio, as a title for one of the canzonettas in his
collection Triaca musicale (musical cure for animal
bites) of 1595. Both this and the Mascarate piacevoli
collections were intended to be sung in costumes and
masks at Venetian carnivals.
His canzonettas and madrigals were influential in the
Netherlands and in England, where they were reprinted
in the second book of Musica transalpina (1597), one of
the collections which inaugurated the mania for
madrigal composition there. Croce's music remained
popular in England and Thomas Morley specifically
singled him out as a master composer; indeed Croce may
have been the biggest single influence on Morley. John
Dowland visited him in Italy as well.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Croce)
Although originally written for Male Voices (ATBB), I
created this arrangement of "Exaudi Deus" (Hear God)
for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, English Horn &
Bassoon).
