AGAZZARI, AGOSTINO. - Musician, b. in Siena on 2 Dec. 1578, d. there on 10 Apr. 1640. Choirmaster, first at the Collegio Germanico in Rome from 1608 to 1630, then at the cathedral of Siena, from 1630 until his death, he was of great importance for the diffusion of the basso continuo, of which, together with Banchieri, Bianciardi and Ludovico Grossi da Viadana, he was one of the first proponents and of which he laid the foundations in a fundamental theoretical work that is also considered the first true treatise on instrumentation: Del sonare sopra'l basso con tutti li strumenti e dell'uso loro nel conserto (Siena 1607).
Another of his theoretical works on sacred music in conformity with the Council of Trent is La musica ecclesiastica, dove si contiene la vera diffunzione della musica come scienza non più veduta e sua nobiltà (Siena 1638). As a composer he left a vast sacred output, including 4 books of Sacrae Cantiones for 2 to 8 voices (1602-1606), various collections of Psalms (1609, 1610, 1611, 1612), Missae quattuor (for 4, 5, 8 voices, Venice 1617), Stille soavi di celeste aurora a 3, 4, 5 voci col basso per sonare (Venice 1620), "Eucharisticum melus" (Rome 1625), Litanie della B. V. M. (Rome 1639), etc. A modern edition of some compositions is found in Proske's Musica Divina (IV: Stabat Mater), and of the 1607 treatise there is a facsimile published by the Bollettino Bibliografico Musicale of Milan.
Bibliography
Luisa Cervelli