Carlo Milanuzzi

Milanuzzi was both a poet and an organist who spent much of his time in northern Italy. He held positions as organist and/or master of the chapel in a number of locations including S Stefano, Venice, the Augustinian church in Perugia, S Eufemia, Verona, S Stefano, Venice, Finale de Modena, Camerino Cathedral and S Mauro, Noventa di Piave. Though he was an active priest and church musician, Milanuzzi composed a number of secular monodies. Most of them were short, tuneful arias with possible letters for the guitar. As a monodist, Milanuzzi was quite progressive pushing the proverbial horizon of monody in the development of the strophic aria. His sacred music also demonstrates an important body of monodic literature. Motets which he composed were unified by sectional tutti contrasted with extensive solo passages. Milanuzzi employed an occasional ground bass in some of his compositions and he also experimented with psalm settings using fewer voices than most of his contemporaries. Along the line of modest settings, Milanuzzi's masses were scored for only three solo voices with optional instrumental ensembles. ~ Keith Johnson