Maschera, Florentio or Florenzo

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Maschera, Florentio or Florenzo

Maschera, Florentio or Florenzo, Italian organist, string player, and composer; b. probably in Brescia, c. 1540; d. there, c. 1584. He first studied with his father, and then was a pupil of Merulo. He served as organist at Santo Spirito in Venice. On Aug. 22, 1557, he succeeded Merulo as organist at the Brescia Cathedral. He publ. Libro primo de canzoni da sonare a quattro voci (Brescia, 1584), which was ed. by W. McKee in The Music of Florentio Maschera (1540–1584) (diss., North Tex. State Univ., 1958).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire