Cristofano Malvezzi

Cristofano Malvezzi was an Italian organist and composer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers in the city of Florence during a time of transition to the Baroque style.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Cristofano Malvezzi.

From the period sources

Cristofano Malvezzi, born in Lucca, was a significant figure in late 16th-century Florentine music. By 1571, he was a canon at the church of San Lorenzo in Florence, and upon the death of Francesco Corteccia, he succeeded him as maestro di cappella to the Grand Duke of Tuscany (Grove’s Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1904). Malvezzi is primarily recognized as the editor of a collection of dramatic intermezzi, performed for the 1589 marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinand with Christina of Lorraine. This work, published in 1591 as Intermedii et concerti, is notable for foreshadowing the development of dramatic music through vocal monody with instrumental accompaniment (Grove’s Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1904). While his pieces were written in a simple madrigal style for multiple voices, they included “dialoghi” for up to fifteen voices, employing lutes, viols, trombones, and organ (Grove’s Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1904). Malvezzi also taught Jacopo Peri, a key figure in the creation of opera, instructing him in “chant, de clavecin et de composition” (Biographie universelle, 1837). His compositions, including madrigals and ricercari, were considered important enough to be included in Padre Giambattista Martini’s Saggio di Contrappunto (1774-75) as models of 16th and 17th-century counterpoint (Grove’s Dictionary, American Supplement, 1922).