Virchi, Paolo

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Virchi, Paolo

Virchi, Paolo, Italian instrumentalist and composer; b. Brescia, c. 1550; d. Mantua, May 1610. He was the son of the Italian instrument maker Girolamo di Virchi (b. Brescia, c. 1523; d. after 1754). By 1574 he was an organist in Brescia. In 1579 he entered the service of the Este court in Ferrara as an organist, instrumentalist, and teacher. From 1598 he was organist at the church of S. Barbara in Mantua. Virchi publ. four distinguished vols, of madrigals (Venice, 1574-91).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire