Giovanni Animuccia

(c.1514 - 1571)


Italian composer. He directed music at St Peter's, Rome, in 1555-71 (as Palestrina's predecessor) and published one book of Masses, one of Magnificats, four of madrigals and two of laude. The latter were written for St Philip Neri's oratory (where Animuccia also ran the music) and proved a formative influence on the nascent oratorio. That he was aware of other progressive movements in the church is show by the heading 'according to the stipulations of the Council of Trent' in the 1567 Mass collection, though in fact the Masses are hardly chordal in style, being plainsong-based settings in a beautifully-wrought imitative manner.





IVF: Palestrina and his School