Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (usually Lodovico Viadana, though his given name was Grossi) (c. 1560 ? May 2, 1627) was an Italian composer, teacher, and Franciscan friar of the Order of Minor Observants. He was the first significant figure to make use of the newly developed technique of figured bass, one of the musical devices which was to define the end of the Renaissance and beginning of Baroque eras in music. Viadana is important in the development of the early Baroque technique of basso continuo, and its notational method, known as figured bass. While he did not invent the method, he was the first to use it in a widely-distributed collection of sacred music (Cento concerti con il basso continuo), which he published in Venice in 1602. Agostino Agazzari in 1607 published a treatise describing how to interpret the new figured bass, though it is clear that many performers had by this time already learned the new method, at least in the most progressive musical centers in Italy. (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
