Francesco Sponga-Usper

„This book is a second and much-changed edition of the monograph Francesco Sponga-Usper (ca 1565/1570 – 1641), Venetian Musician from Poreč (Zagreb, MIC, 1990). The two editions are divided by almost 20 years, during which research has revealed a great deal of new information about musical life in Venice. Several archival documents about Usper’s life came newly to the light of day, particular importance attaching to a baptismal document casting doubt on the previously assumed location of his birth. Some of the more refined insights into the composer’s style to be found in this edition are due to several compositions having become available in the meantime in contemporary editions, two opuses (of 1595 and 1619) being published in integral versions. During the last ten years or so, I myself had the opportunity to test out some of my transcripts of Usper’s music at a number of concerts and recordings. And although I did not have to reconsider any of the fundamental conclusions expressed in the 1990 book, so many new data have been put forward in the interim, and the discourse of the argument changed to such a degree that it is perhaps more appropriate to talk of a new and not of a second edition.“ (Ennio Stipčević)