Adriano Banchieri

Adriano Banchieri was a versatile organist and composer working in Northern Italy, especially Bologna, around 1600.  He was also author of several books not only on music but on Bologna customs and architecture.  He entered Benedictine Orders in 1587 at age 19, and became organist at S. Michele in Bosco, Bologna in 1595.  He subsequently held positions at Imola, Gubbio, Venice (S.Elena), Verona.  In 1609 he returned to S. Michele in Bosco, and remained there until his death in 1634.  None of these positions is of great musical significance, perhaps the Order prevented a more significant post. 

Being a monk and church organist did not prevent him from writing a wide variety of vocal and instrumental music from traditional polyphonic motets to ‘concerti ecclastici’,  from “madrigal comedies” to instrumental ‘canzoni’ of which “L’Alcinagena” is an example.  His long list of publications beginning in 1597 with ‘Primo libro di Madrigali a 4 voci’ published in Milan and ending in 1630 with ‘Trattenimenti da villa, VI Libro madragali a5″ printed in Venice, encompasses a multitude of forms, and beggars the slight offering here.