scacchi, Marco

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scacchi, Marco

Scacchi, Marco, eminent Italian choirmaster, pedagogue, writer on music, and composer; b. Gallese, near Viterbo, c. 1600; d. there, c. 1684. After studies with Giovanni Francesco Anerio, he went to Warsaw and was made a royal musician in 1626; then served as choirmaster at the court from 1628 until ill health compelled him in 1649 to retire to Gallese, where he devoted himself to teaching. He composed 10 operas for Warsaw (1628–49) and also wrote masses, sacred concertos, and madrigals. For his works, see J. Mattheson, Der volkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739). Scacchi was a distinguished writer on music and effectively defended modern music against the polemics of Paul Siefert. His most significant writings are Cribrum musicum ad triticum Syferticum, seu Examinatio succinta psalmorum (Venice, 1643), Lettera per maggiore informatione a chi leggera il mio “Cribrum” (Venice, 1644), Epistola ad Excellentissi-mum Dn. CS. Wernerum (c. 1648), Judicium cribri musici (Warsaw, c. 1649), and Breve discorso sopra la musica moderna (Warsaw, 1649).

Bibliography

P. Syfert (Seifert), Anticribratio musica ad avenant S.anam (Danzig, 1645).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire