Falconieri, Andrea
Falconieri, Andrea
Falconieri, Andrea, Italian lutenist and composer; b. Naples, 1585 or 1586; d. there, July 19 or 29, 1656. He may have been a student of Giovanni de Marque in Naples and of Santino Garsi in Parma, where he became a lutenist in 1604 and where he succeeded Garsi as court lutenist in 1610. In 1615 he was in Florence and in 1616 he may have visited Rome. In 1619 he was again in Florence, and then was at the Modena court in 1620–21. After travels in Spain and France, he was once more in Florence in 1628 and then in Parma (1629–32). From 1632 until about 1637 he was a music teacher at the Collegia S. Brigida in Genoa. In 1642 he was again in Modena. In 1647 he became maestro di cappella at the Naples court, remaining there until his death from the plague. He was an adept composer of both vocal and instrumental works.
Works
Libra primo di Villanelle…con I’alfabeto per la chitarra spagnola for 1 to 3 Voices (Rome, 1616); // quinto libro delle musiche for 1 to 3 Voices (Florence, 1619); Musiche… libro sexto, con I’alfabbetto della chitarra spagnuola for 1 to 3 Voices (Venice, 1619); Sacrae modulationes for 5 to 6 Voices (Venice, 1619); // primo libro di canzone, sinfonie, fantasie, capricci, brandi, correnti, gagliarde, alemane, volte for 1 to 3 Violins, Viola or Other Instruments, and Basso Continue (Naples, 1650).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire