Majone or Mayone, Ascanio

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Majone or Mayone, Ascanio

Majone or Mayone, Ascanio, Italian organist and composer; b. Naples, c. 1565; d. there, March 9, 1627. He was a pupil of Giovanni de Macque in Naples. He was organist (from 1593) and maestro di cappella (from 1621) at the Santa Casa dell’Annunziata there. Existing musical publications by Majone are Primo libro di diversi capricci per sonare (Naples, 1603), II primo libro di madrigali a 5 voci (Naples, 1604), and Secondo libro di diversi capricci per sonare(Naples, 1609; reprinted in Orgue et Liturgie, 63 and 65; Paris, 1964). Two of his madrigals are included in the collection Teatro di madrigali a 5 v. de div. exceli, musici Napolitani, posti in luce da Scipione Ricci, Libraro (Naples, 1609). Majone is mentioned in Scipione Cerreto’s Della prattica musica vocale e strumentale (Naples, 1601) as an outstanding performer on the organ and harp. Majone’s keyboard toccatas are among the earliest examples of the affective Baroque style found later in Frescobaldi.

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire