Michi, Orazio

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Michi, Orazio

Michi, Orazio, eminent Italian harpist and composer, known as delia Arpa because of his virtuosity; b. Alifa Caserta, c. 1595; d. Rome, Oct. 26, 1641. From 1614 to 1623 he was in Rome, and after that, with Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy. Until 1914 his works were unknown except for 5 arias pubi, in Bianchi’s Raccolta d’arie (Rome, 1640) and a 6th one publ, by Torchi in Vol. 5 of L’arte musicale in Italia. Then, A. Cametti pubi., in the Rivista Musicale Italiana (April 1914), a full description and complete thematic catalog of about 60 cantatas by Michi, which he had discovered in various Italian libraries and which prove that Michi was one of the earliest and most important Roman masters of the monodie style.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire

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Michi, Orazio

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