MERULO (MERLOTTI), CLAUDIO. – Musician, born in Correggio on 8 April 1533, died in Parma on 4 May 1604. On 2 July 1557 he was appointed second organist at St Mark’s in Venice, after having served as organist in Brescia. In 1566 he succeeded A. Padovano as first organist; in 1586 he moved to Parma as organist at the court of Ranuccio Farnese and in the church of the Steccata.
A composer of rich harmony, his works, especially the madrigals, are creations of incomparable beauty, while his instrumental music reaches heights never attained by his predecessors through the fusion of thematic and coloristic elements. The five volumes of Madrigals for three, four, and five voices were printed in Venice in 1566, 1568, 1579, 1580, and 1604; likewise the two volumes of Masses (ibid. 1573, 1609); and the six volumes of Motets and Sacrae cantiones (ibid. 1578, 1584, 1593, 1594, 1595, and 1605).