Giovanni Valentini (ca. 1582 – 1649) was an Italian
Baroque composer, poet and keyboard virtuoso.
Overshadowed by his contemporaries, Claudio Monteverdi
and Heinrich Schütz, Valentini is practically
forgotten today, although he occupied one of the most
prestigious musical posts of his time. He is best
remembered for his innovative usage of asymmetric
meters and the fact that he was Johann Kaspar Kerll's
first teacher. Little is known about Vhis life. He was
born around 1582/3, probably in Ven...(+)
Giovanni Valentini (ca. 1582 – 1649) was an Italian
Baroque composer, poet and keyboard virtuoso.
Overshadowed by his contemporaries, Claudio Monteverdi
and Heinrich Schütz, Valentini is practically
forgotten today, although he occupied one of the most
prestigious musical posts of his time. He is best
remembered for his innovative usage of asymmetric
meters and the fact that he was Johann Kaspar Kerll's
first teacher. Little is known about Vhis life. He was
born around 1582/3, probably in Venice, and almost
certainly studied music under Giovanni Gabrieli there.
Although the typical graduation Opus 1 of madrigals to
be expected from a Gabrieli pupil – such as Opus 1 of
Mogens Pedersøn (1608), Johann Grabbe (1609) and
Heinrich Schütz (1611) – is not extant, Antimo
Liberati (1617–1692) who worked in Venice in the
1640s records him in a letter of the 1680s as "Giovanni
Valentini Veneziano, della famosa Schola de'
Gabrielli."
In approximately 1604/5 Valentini was appointed as
organist of the Polish court chapel under Sigismund III
Vasa; his first published works are dated 1609 and
1611, when he was still in Poland. In 1614 Valentini
was employed by Ferdinand II (who was then the Archduke
of Styria) and moved to Graz. The Graz court's music
chapel used enharmonic instruments extensively, which
was of considerable importance for the development of
Valentini's style; a contemporary account of 1617
praises him as a virtuoso performer on the enharmonic
clavicymbalum universale, seu perfectum, which had a
keyboard of 77 keys spanning four octaves.
In 1619 Ferdinand was elected the Holy Roman Emperor
and moved to Vienna with the court and the musicians of
the Graz chapel. Valentini served as imperial court
organist in Vienna for several years, then became court
Kapellmeister in 1626, succeeding Giovanni Priuli, and
accepted the post of choral director at the
Michaelerkirche in Vienna in 1627/8. Valentini seems to
have had an exceptional reputation and was favoured by
both Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III (whom he tutored in
music), as evidenced by several large monetary gifts
from the former and financial support for Valentini's
widow from the latter. In this respect, Valentini is
similar to Johann Jakob Froberger, who also was a close
personal friend of Ferdinand III. Valentini also seems
to have been effective as Kapellmeister, managing to
significantly increase the salaries for the court
chapel musicians.
For unknown reasons, Valentini effectively stopped
publishing his music after 1626 (all of his poetry,
however, was published after that year). He was
involved in the production of the earliest Viennese
operas and famously taught the young Johann Kaspar
Kerll music, probably in the 1640s. Valentini held the
position at the Michaelerkirche until at least 1631,
but remained court Kapellmeister until his death in
1649. He was succeeded by Antonio Bertali. In his will,
he bequeathed his works to Ferdinand.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Valentini).
Although originally created for Voices (TTB) and
continuo, I created this Arrangement of "Vulnerasti cor
meum" (You hurt my heart) for Woodwind Quartet (Flute,
Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon).
SHEET MUSIC