“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” ― Aldous Huxley
Giacomo Carissimi (baptised April 18, 1605 – January 12, 1674) was an Italian composer. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi's exact birthdate is not known, but it was probably in 1604 or 1605 in Marino near Rome, Italy.
Of his early life almost nothing is known. His father was a barrel maker. At the age of 20 Carissimi became chapel master at Assisi. In 1628 he obtained the same position at the church of Sant’Apollinare belonging to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, which he held until his death. This was despite him receiving several offers to work in very prominent establishments, including an offer to take over from Claudio Monteverdi at San Marco di Venezia in Venice. In 1637 he was ordained a priest.He seems to have never left Italy at all during his entire lifetime. He died in 1674 in Rome.
Carissimi’s successor as maestro di cappella at the Collegium Germanicum in 1686 described him as tall, thin, very frugal in his domestic affairs, with very noble manners towards his friends and acquaintances, and prone to melancholy. The great achievements generally ascribed to Carissimi are the further development of the recitative, introduced by Monteverdi, which is highly important to the history of dramatic music; the further development of the chamber cantata, by which Carissimi superseded the concertato madrigals which had themselves replaced the madrigals of the late Renaissance; and the development of the oratorio, of which he was the first significant composer.
Carissimi’s position in the history of church, vocal and chamber music is somewhat similar to that of Francesco Cavalli in the history of opera. While Luigi Rossi was his predecessor in developing the chamber cantata, Carissimi was the composer who first made this form the vehicle for the most intellectual style of chamber music, a function which it continued to perform until the death of Alessandro Scarlatti, Emanuele d’Astorga and Benedetto Marcello. Carissimi is also noted as one of the first composers of oratorios, with “Jephte” as probably his best known work, along with Jonas. These works and others are important for establishing the form of oratorio unaccompanied by dramatic action, which maintained its hold for 200 years.
The name “oratorio” comes from their presentation at the Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso in Rome. Carissimi may also be credited for having given greater variety and interest to the instrumental accompaniments of vocal compositions. Charles Burney and John Hawkins both published specimens of his compositions in their works on the history of music, while Henry Aldrich collected an almost complete set of his compositions, which are currently housed at the library of Christ Church College, Oxford. The British Museum also possesses numerous works by Carissimi. Most of his oratorios are in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris.
Here is Cantus Cölln, under Konrad Junghänel. in Giacomo Carissimi’s – “Historia di Jephte - Oratorio à 6”
I. Cum vocasset in proelium
II. Cum autem victor Jephte
III. Cum vidisset Jephte
IV. Abiil ergo in montes filia Jephte
V. Plorate filii Israel
Giacomo Carissimi (baptised April 18, 1605 – January 12, 1674) was an Italian composer. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi's exact birthdate is not known, but it was probably in 1604 or 1605 in Marino near Rome, Italy.
Of his early life almost nothing is known. His father was a barrel maker. At the age of 20 Carissimi became chapel master at Assisi. In 1628 he obtained the same position at the church of Sant’Apollinare belonging to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, which he held until his death. This was despite him receiving several offers to work in very prominent establishments, including an offer to take over from Claudio Monteverdi at San Marco di Venezia in Venice. In 1637 he was ordained a priest.He seems to have never left Italy at all during his entire lifetime. He died in 1674 in Rome.
Carissimi’s successor as maestro di cappella at the Collegium Germanicum in 1686 described him as tall, thin, very frugal in his domestic affairs, with very noble manners towards his friends and acquaintances, and prone to melancholy. The great achievements generally ascribed to Carissimi are the further development of the recitative, introduced by Monteverdi, which is highly important to the history of dramatic music; the further development of the chamber cantata, by which Carissimi superseded the concertato madrigals which had themselves replaced the madrigals of the late Renaissance; and the development of the oratorio, of which he was the first significant composer.
Carissimi’s position in the history of church, vocal and chamber music is somewhat similar to that of Francesco Cavalli in the history of opera. While Luigi Rossi was his predecessor in developing the chamber cantata, Carissimi was the composer who first made this form the vehicle for the most intellectual style of chamber music, a function which it continued to perform until the death of Alessandro Scarlatti, Emanuele d’Astorga and Benedetto Marcello. Carissimi is also noted as one of the first composers of oratorios, with “Jephte” as probably his best known work, along with Jonas. These works and others are important for establishing the form of oratorio unaccompanied by dramatic action, which maintained its hold for 200 years.
The name “oratorio” comes from their presentation at the Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso in Rome. Carissimi may also be credited for having given greater variety and interest to the instrumental accompaniments of vocal compositions. Charles Burney and John Hawkins both published specimens of his compositions in their works on the history of music, while Henry Aldrich collected an almost complete set of his compositions, which are currently housed at the library of Christ Church College, Oxford. The British Museum also possesses numerous works by Carissimi. Most of his oratorios are in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris.
Here is Cantus Cölln, under Konrad Junghänel. in Giacomo Carissimi’s – “Historia di Jephte - Oratorio à 6”
I. Cum vocasset in proelium
II. Cum autem victor Jephte
III. Cum vidisset Jephte
IV. Abiil ergo in montes filia Jephte
V. Plorate filii Israel
This portrait is actually Alexander Morus.
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