Agostino Agazzari

Agostino Agazzari ( born December 2, 1578 Siena, † April 10, 1640 ) was an Italian composer and music theorist of the Baroque.

Life

Agazzari comes from an old noble family from Siena. After first artistic training in his native city, he went to Rome in 1601 and worked there in the years 1602 to 1607 as a lecturer at the Collegium Romanum. During this time, his friendship with the musician Lodovico Grossi da Viadana created.

1607 Agazzari returned back to Siena and has been appointed in the same year for the first organist at the local cathedral. In 1630 he became Kapellmeister.

Agazzari composed sacred music and madrigals also next to the drama Eumelio. As a music theorist, he is still known by his work Del sonar sopra il basso. This is one of the earliest and most important works about basso continuo, with the Agazzari Michael Praetorius Syntagma Musicum influenced in his.

Works

• Cento concerti ecclesiastici (1602 )
• Eumelio ( 1606 )
• Del sonar sopra il basso: con tutti istromenti e dell'uso loro nel conserto. - New York: Norton, 1950 ( Repr ed d Roma 1607)