Biography

Tomaso Cecchini (Verona, about 1582 – Hvar, 1644) is the most important Italian composer to have worked in the Croatian lands in the first half of the 17th century. It was probably in his native city, or somewhere else in Italy, that he acquired a sound musical education. He first arrived in Dalmatia in 1603, at the invitation, it seems, of the learned archbishop of Split, Marcantonio de Dominis. For a period of over thirty years, in Split up to 1614 and in Hvar from 1614 until his death, he had various positions related to music. He was maestro di cappella of the cathedrals, teacher of voice and also organist. From 1612 to 1635 Cecchini published at the Venetian printers Ricciardo Amadino and Giacomo and Alessandro Vincenti at least 27 collections containing only his own works of spiritual and secular music, monodies, polyphonic madrigals and canzonette, psalms, motets, several collections of masses, instrumental sonatas and dances. But of the whole of this relatively copious musical bequest, only 8 collections are extant in their entirety, the rest to be found only more or less fragmentarily; apart from the instrumental sonatas (1625), only four collections of madrigals (1612, 1613, 1616, 1617) are accessible in a contemporary editions. For Croatian culture, Tomaso Cecchini of Verona is just as important as is Handel for English and Italian maestro Jean-Baptiste Lully for French. But the music of the Split and Hvar Kapellmeister is still awaiting its well merited revival.

Ennio Stipčević (c) Croatian Music Information Centr