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A renowned organist in San Salvador in the 17th Century: Francesco Usper

Francesco Usper (whose original surname was Sponza or Sponga) was born in Porec, in Istria, around 1570.
He came to Venice in order to study, under the guidance of Andrea Gabrieli, as testified in his first work Ricercari e canzoni francesi , published in 1595, where he signs himself as pupil of Andrea Gabrieli, even if the latter had died ten years before.
According to the custom of the age, he adopted the surname of his patron, a jurist named Ludovico Usper, member of the St. John the Evangelist confraternity
He had different appointments in this institution, one of the Venetian Scuole Grandi, both as a musician and as an administrator, till his death in 1641.
In 1621 he joined Claudio Monteverdi and Giov ann i Battista Grillo in the composition of the mass for Cosimo II de' Medici's funeral in St. John and Paul's (his are the ‘graduale' and the ‘tractus').
For a short period he took Grillo's place as first organist in St. Mark's, but he never managed to get a permanent appointment in the cappella marciana.
Starting from 1614, Usper took office also as organist in San Salvador Church.
In particular, it is linked to this appointment a collection called Compositioni armoniche nelle quali si contengono mottetti, sinfonie, sonate, canzoni et capricci , printed by Gardano and signed as organista nella chiesa di San Salvador di Venetia (organist in the church of San Salvador in Venice).
The collection reveals his link with this church since the solo voice motet Salvator Mundi , written certainly for the Transfiguration feast, and is an important testimony of the venetian musical traditions outside the places musicologists have studied most (cappella marciana and Scuole Grandi) in the years when the presence of Claudio Monteverdi as choirmaster in St. Mark's was outstanding. It is a very large collection, including motets from one to eight voices, even divided in two choirs, as well as instrumental pieces as ann ounced by the title, and it requires the use of several instruments, violins, violas, cornets, trombones, bassoons, chitarrones and flute, which were particularly in vogue in Venice and used also in the liturgical context.
The collection includes also some compositions by his nephew, Gabriele Usper.

Compositions by Francesco Usper:
Ricercari et arie francesi a quattro voci , Venezia 1595
Il primo libro de madrigali a 5 voci , Venezia1604
Messa e salmi da concertarsi... et insieme sinfonie et mottetti , Venezia1614
Compositioni armoniche... mottetti, sinfonie, sonate, canzoni et capricci et infine la battaglia , Venezia1619
Salmi vespertini per tutto l' ann o , 1627
1 motet in Fiori del giardino II parte , Nurnberg 1604
1 madrigal in Giardino nuovo bellissimo di fiori musicali , Kopenhagen 1606
2 motets in II raccolta de sacri canti , Venezia 1624
1 motet in Ghirlande sacre , Venezia 1625

Bibliography
Denis Arnold, Music at a Venetian Confraternity in the Renaissance , Acta Musicologica, XXXVII (1965)
Denis Arnold, Usper in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, XIII, Kassel 1966
Eleanor Sefridge-Field, Venetian instrumental music from Gabriei to Vivaldi, Oxford 1975
Eleanor Sefridge-Field, voce Usper in The New Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, London 1980
Usper , in Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei musicisti, Torino 1983
James Ladewig, introduction to Francesco Usper, ricercari et arie francesi..., London 1990 pp. XI - XVI

Modern editions:
Ricercari et arie francesi... , edited by James Ladewig, cit.
Compositioni armoniche... , edited by Martin Lubenow, 2002 (edition available through the site www.musichevarie.de )

 

(Historical and bibliographical note by Marco Rosa Salva)

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