Cesare - Canzona

Grove Music Online Cesare, Giovanni Martino (b Udine, ?c1590; d Munich, 6 Feb 1667). Italian composer and cornettist. He and his brother, Giovanni Francesco, were employed in Austria around 1600. On returning to Udine in 1603, they were engaged as trombonists at the cathedral; however, in 1605 Giovanni Martino left the post to return abroad. At the time of his first publication, in 1611, he was a cornettist and a member of the household of the Margrave of Burgau at Günzburg, near Augsburg. In 1610 he was paid by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria for teaching the cornett, and in 1612 he played in the duke's chapel in Munich (it was not uncommon for Augsburg instrumentalists to be called into service there from time to time). In 1615 he entered Maximilian's service in Munich as a cornettist and in 1622 became a member of his household. That he dedicated his last publication (1621) to various members of the Fugger family suggests that he still maintained his connections with Augsburg. Cesare composed both sacred works and instrumental canzonas. His large-scale Magnificat settings and Marian antiphons follow the style of Hans Leo Hassler in the antiphonal treatment of vocal groups and the combination of contrapuntal and homophonic passages. The few-voice motets, which enjoyed considerable popularity and were included in several of the most important anthologies of the time, were more forward-looking: they alternate between duple- and dance-like triple-time sections, make frequent use of melismas to underscore important parts of the text, and several contain parts for obbligato instruments. The Musicali melodie, Cesare's last published collection, contains 14 instrumental canzonas in one to six parts with continuo alongside 14 motets. The canzonas have colourful programmatic titles, many of them honouring patrons, including the Fugger family and members of the Bavarian court. While the cornetto is usually given a leading role, Cesare also includes parts for trombone, violin and viola. His instrumental canzonas present an interesting mix of old and new: nearly all begin with an imitative section based on the canzona rhythm, yet there are a number of newer effects, including symmetrical triple-time sections, concertato interplay, echo effects and idiomatically conceived virtuoso writing. ‘La Hieronyma’ for solo trombone and continuo is an example of the canzona all bastarda, a piece in which a basic melodic line is richly ornamented in the style associated with the viola bastarda.

Bibliography

G. Vale: ‘La cappella musicale del duomo di Udine’, NA, vii (1930), 87–201, esp. 129– 30 W. Senn: Musik und Theater am Hof zu Innsbruck (Innsbruck, 1954), 195, 200, 203 A. Kellner: Musikgeschichte des Stiftes Kremsmünster, nach den Quellen dargestellt (Kassel, 1956), 158 B. Smith: Trombone Technique in the Early Seventeenth Century (diss., Stanford U., 1981) A. Scharnagl: ‘Musik um Kurfürst Maximilian I: Ein Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte Bayerns in der ersten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts’, Capella Antiqua München Festschrift, ed. T. Drescher (Tutzing, 1988), 237–89, esp. 243–4 A. Beer: Die Annahme des ‘stile nuovo’ in der katholischen Kirchenmusik Süddeutschlands (Tutzing, 1989), 155, 236, 290 H. Weiner: ‘Giovanni Martino Cesare and his Editions’, Historical Brass Society Journal, iii (1991), 56–64 A. Lindsey Kirwan/Steven Saunders