Giovanni Picchi facts for kids

Giovanni Picchi (born 1571 or 1572 – died 1643) was an Italian musician. He was a composer, organist, lutenist, and harpsichordist. He lived during the early Baroque period. Picchi was part of the Venetian School of music. He helped develop new types of instrumental music, like the sonata and the ensemble canzona. He was also the only musician in Venice at that time to write dance music for the harpsichord.

A Musician's Life

We don't know much about Giovanni Picchi's early years. We know he was born in 1571 or 1572. This is because his death record says he was 71 when he died on May 17, 1643.

Early Career

The first time we see Picchi mentioned is in a picture. He appears as a lutenist on the cover of a dance book from 1600. This book was called Nobilità di dame by Fabritio Caroso.

Before February 1607, Picchi became an organist. He worked at the Venetian church of the Frari. From 1623 until he died, he was also an organist. This was at the confraternity Scuola di San Rocco. This group was the richest and most important of all the Venetian confraternities.

In 1624, he tried to get a job as a second organist. This was at St. Mark's Basilica. But another musician, Giovanni Pietro Berti, got the job instead. Picchi lived at the same time as Monteverdi. Monteverdi was a much more famous composer. Picchi was born four years after Monteverdi and died six months before him.

Picchi's Music

Most of Picchi's surviving music is for instruments. He wrote many pieces for the harpsichord. He also wrote music for groups of instruments.

Harpsichord Music

One of his harpsichord pieces is a toccata. It is found in a famous English music book called the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. It's a mystery how his Italian piece ended up in this English collection.

He also wrote three passamezzos. These are dance pieces found in a manuscript from Turin. In 1619, Picchi published a collection of harpsichord dances. It was called Intavolatura di balli d'arpicordo.

Dance Styles

Picchi's harpsichord dances came in three main types. Some were in a triple meter, which means they had three beats per measure. Others were triple meter dances paired with saltarellos. A saltarello is a lively Italian dance.

The third type used a ground bass. This is a repeating bass line that the music is built over. Many of these pieces used a romanesca pattern. This pattern involves a bass line that goes down by a fourth, then up by a step. Then it goes down again by a fourth or fifth, and up by a step. The famous Pachelbel Canon uses a similar repeating bass line.

Ensemble Music

In 1625, Picchi published a collection of 19 ensemble canzonas. These were pieces for groups of instruments. The collection was called Canzoni da sonar. He also wrote one motet, which is a type of vocal piece. It is found in a collection called Ghirlanda sacra from 1625.

Picchi helped develop different ways of writing for instruments. These ideas were very important for later musical forms, like the concerto. He used clear sections in his ensemble music. These included the concertino (a small group of soloists), the ritornello (a returning musical theme), and cadenzas (solo sections). He followed and improved on ideas from composers like Giovanni Gabrieli.

Picchi's writing for the concertino groups was very new for his time. It showed what later composers like Corelli would do. Picchi used musical echoes and repeating patterns. He wrote for many different instruments. These included violins, bassoons, recorders, and trombones. He often used several of these instruments in the same piece.

Picchi sometimes used the words canzona and sonata to mean the same thing. He might call a piece a "canzona" in the main score and a "sonata" in the individual instrument parts. In the early 1600s, these two musical forms were just starting to become distinct.