Giovanni Ghizzolo (c.1580-c.1625)

Italian composer. Equally at home in the prima and seconda prattiche, Giovanni Ghizzolo (Brescia, ca. 1580 - Novara, ca.1625 ) wrote sacred music for the church, and five-part madrigals, monodies, dialogues, mascherate, arie, canzonette and scherzi for the private chambers of his various north Italian mecenati. In his two collections of Madrigali et arie (1609, 1610) he probed the new grounds of monody. A singer himself, he was certainly aware both of the potential of the human voice and the limitations of amateur singers. His use of passaggi and esclamazioni is therefore restricted and calculated to highlight emotive words and situations. Ghizzolo is at his best when following the natural ebb and flow of the poetical text and reflecting its emotional content. His most successful composition is certainly his setting of the Gioco della cieca in book 1. This scene of 123 text-lines from Guarini's Il pastor fido (act 3, scene 2) is set by him in a fluent interchange ofmonologues, dialogues and choral responses and creates a vivid dramatic scene.

Source: Judith Cohen: Giovanni Ghizzolo quoted from Israel Studies in Musicology Online accessed 07 February 2010


2010-02-07, Christian Mondrup, Werner Icking Music Archive

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