Michelangelo Rossi

Michelangelo Rossi ( Michel Angelo del Violino ) (* 1601 or 1602 in Genoa, † 1656 in Rome) was an Italian composer and violinist.

Rossi was a pupil of his uncle Lelio de Rubeis (1601-1638) on the Genoa Cathedral of San Lorenzo. In 1624 he moved to Rome in the service of Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy, where he met with the madrigal composers Sigismondo d'India ( 1582-1629 ) together. He studied with Girolamo Frescobaldi. His opera Erminia sul Giordano was premiered in 1633 at the theater of the Palazzo Barberini and laid in the pressure four years later; the second opera Andromeda (1638, partially lost) was performed in 1638 in Ferrara. In 1639 he was Kapellmeister in Forlì.

Although he was praised as an excellent violinist, is now regarded his keyboard music as very significant. This is especially true for the Toccatas, which Girolamo Frescobaldi and Johann Jakob Froberger stylistically closely related, but as independent progressive compositions have the highest appreciation. They are real experimental music that were written partly for all the keys in just intonation performing Archi harpsichord. In the meantime the repertoire belonging Toccata Settima is the final chains of chromatic thirds and replaces in parts completely the reference to the key on.