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• Usper, Francesco: Aria francese + Ricercar (1595)

Usper, Francesco: Aria francese + Ricercar (1595)

for 4 instruments.

Francesco Usper, who started life with the name Sponga (sometimes Spongia or Sponza) was born in Istria (now part of Croatia) sometime in the 1560s; for reasons of his own he took on the name of his patron Lodovico Usper. By 1596 Francesco was organist at the confraternity of San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice; in 1622-3 he substituted for Giovanni Battista Grillo as first organist at the basilica of San Marco, though he failed to get a permanent position there. He died in Venice in 1641. Altogether he published five collections of vocal and instrumental music.
These two pieces come from Usper´s Ricercari et arie francesi a quattro voce of 1595, on the title page of which he is still referred to as “Sponga”. They are obviously quite youthful works, but show the hand of a good contrapuntalist. Most of the pieces in the collection are ricercari in a conservative style, while the arie francesi are no different from canzoni da sonar of other musicians working in northern Italy in the 1590s.
In this edition the original note values have been retained; a few editorial accidentals appear above the stave, printed small: these apply to the one note only.