ASOLA, GIOVANNI MATTEO. - Musician, born at Verona about 1560, died at Venice on 1 Oct. 1609. The scant biographical information is derived from isolated indications in his own works: it is known only that he was an ecclesiastic and became choirmaster at Treviso in 1578 and at Vicenza in 1581. He was an exceptionally prolific author of polyphonic compositions, for 4 to 12 voices, exclusively in the religious style, partly published and partly unpublished; these include chiefly masses, motets, hymns, lamentations, Improperia, laudi, and related forms. The quantity of his printed works indicates the favour enjoyed by his music among his contemporaries.
A. composed during the period of the Counter-Reformation and followed the course of post-Palestrinian art, thus adhering rigorously to the prescriptions of the Council of Trent, especially as regards the intelligibility of the religious text to be preserved in musical composition. Carrying out his activity in northern Italy, A. was partly influenced by the Venetian school, from which he largely adopted the tendency towards the homophonic style as well as the taste for effective rhythmic-melodic declamation.