Antonio Cifra facts for kids
Antonio Cifra (born around 1584 – died October 2, 1629, in Loreto) was an Italian composer. He lived during a time when music was changing a lot, from the Renaissance period to the early Baroque period. Cifra was an important person in this change, creating music that fit both styles. He was part of the Roman School of composers.
Antonio Cifra's Life
Antonio Cifra was born in a place called Bassiano, near Terracina. His parents were Costanzo and Claudia.
When he was young, he studied music in Rome. From 1594, he learned from a famous teacher named Giovanni Bernardino Nanino at a church called San Luigi dei Francesi. Later, in 1597, he became a boy soprano (a high-pitched singer) in the main choir at St. Peter's Church.
From 1605 to 1607, Cifra worked as a maestro (a music director or teacher) at the Roman Seminary. Then, from 1608 to 1609, he held the same job at the German College in Rome.
In 1609, he got a job as maestro di cappella (which means "master of the chapel," or head of music) at Santa Casa in Loreto. He stayed there for the rest of his life. Loreto was a very important place for religious journeys, so Cifra kept in touch with other composers in Rome. Towards the end of his life, he even helped with big music events in Rome, like a large evening prayer service called Vespers at St. Peter's. He would "beat time" to help one of the choirs stay together.
His Music and Style
Cifra wrote a lot of music! He had 45 different collections of his works published. These included many types of religious music, such as psalms (songs from the Bible), motets (choral pieces), litanies (prayer songs), and masses (music for church services). He also wrote secular music, which means non-religious music, like madrigals (songs for several voices).
His music showed both old and new styles. Some of his masses sounded like the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. This style often used homophony, where all voices move together, making the words very clear. This was important after the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent, which wanted church music to be easy to understand.
But Cifra also wrote more modern pieces, similar to the Venetian style. He even used a technique called monody, where there's one main singing voice with instrument accompaniment. This was a new idea from northern Italy. Some of his madrigals were like small cantatas, which were new types of vocal music that started around the time he died.
Cifra was also one of the few composers who was influenced by Carlo Gesualdo. Gesualdo was known for using very unusual and surprising harmonies. Cifra didn't use this style for most of his work, but he did publish one book of madrigals in 1621 that seemed to copy Gesualdo's style. For these songs, he even used 18 of Gesualdo's own poems!
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