Giovanni Picchi

(fl. end 15th Century)


(c. 1600 - 1625) Italian composer, organist and lutenist. He was organist of the Cà Grande, Venice, by 1615, and on March 5, 1623 he was also appointed organist of the Scuola di San Rocco, Venice. In 1624 he applied unsuccessfully for the post of second organist at St Marco and was passed over in favour of Giovanni Pietro Berti. His published works include eight keyboard dances included in Intavolatura di balli d'arpicordo (Venice, 1618, 2nd Ed. 1621), and canzonas and sonatas in partbook form in Canzoni da sonar (Venice, 1625). In the dedication to the reader of the Intavolatura Picchi promised 'four books of dances which I shall have printed when I see that this first book proves pleasing to the public'. As no more than the one book has survived, the public's response can only be guessed. Besides a paduana and a large-scale passamezzo paired with a saltarello, it includes several more unusual dances such as a ballo alla polacha and a ballo ongaro.





A Partial Giovanni Picchi Discography |  IVG:Dance Music in the Renaissance