Giovanni Croce

An Italian composer of songs, primarily madrigals, and sacred motets, masses, and canzonettes. Croce can be considered a formulator of the sacred cantata though it did not come to full fruition in his works. Qualitatively his compositions can be compared with Morley -- who was probably influenced by him -- and his contemporary Gabrieli. Suggestions of keyboard accompaniment are present in the content of his masses though none is required. The motets are set in a manner that is conducive to performances by small choirs without a real soprano. This is indicative of the characteristic of his music, that none of his compositions had extreme ranges. Croce did appeal to the use of double choirs and in the use thereof employed responsorial choruses to occasional solo voices (the nascent cantata). Compositions spread throughout much of Europe including Germany, England, and the Netherlands. Influentially he had a greater impact than his travels would indicate as they were minimal at best. ~ Keith Johnson