Lorenzo Penna (composer)

Lorenzo Penna OCarm (1613 – 31 October 1693) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, composer and music theorist.

Biography

Lorenzo Penna was born in Bologna. Nothing else is known about Penna's early life. Assuming that Lorenzo was probably his religious name, he could be identified as Vincenzo Penna, born January 23, 1613: this at least transpires from the baptism register of Bologna Cathedral. In 1630 Penna moved to the Carmelite Monastery of S. Martino in Bologna and made his profession the following year. From 1639 to 1642 he was master of novices at the monastery. In 1656 he worked as chapel master at S. Ilario in Casale Monferrato. In 1665 he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Ferrara, and from 1667 to 1669 he was chapel master at S. Cassiano in Imola. Later he was part of the Carmelite monastery in Mantua until 1672 and from 1672/1673 he was maestro di cappella at the religious church in Parma. He then returned to Bologna, where he presumably spent the rest of his life. He was a member of the Accademia dei Filaschisi in Bologna, the Accademia dei Risoluti and, from 1676, the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna.

Most of his compositional work includes sacred choral music, which had almost no effect outside his personal sphere of activity. His only instrumental works are the Correnti Francesi, composed for the wedding of Alessandro Sanvitali, Count of Fontanellato. The fact that he also called the 25 short Correnti by the name of sonata shows that he should have had no contact with either the Bolognese school or its development of the modern violin sonata.

On the contrary, his musical teachings were effective at the time. His Albori musicali appeared in 1672 in three volumes, consisting of a general musical doctrine, a study of multi-voice composition, and a study of figured basso accompaniment. Until 1696 the work went through at least five editions and was also reprinted in Antwerp, Venice and, in part, in French translation. His second teaching is the Direttorio del Canto Fermo, which is aimed at singers and composers of ecclesiastical music, but he failed to popularize the Albori musicali.

Works

• Li primi albori musicali per li principianti della musica figurata (1672)
• Direttorio del canto fermo (1689)

Compositions

• Messe e salmi concertati (1656)
• Psalmorum totius anni modulatio, una cum missa, et falsis bordon (1669)
• Correnti francesi (1673)
• Il sacro parnaso delli salmi (1677)
• Reggia del sacro parnaso… ordinate in messe piene e brevi (1677)
• Galeria del sacro parnaso ornata con adornamenti di messe piene, e brevi (1678)
• Messa ... a cappella (1679)

References

• François-Joseph Fétis, Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1864.
• Josef-Horst Lederer, Lorenzo Penna und seine Kontrapunkttheorie. Graz, Univ., Diss., 1970.
• Josef-Horst Lederer, "Zur Lebensgeschichte Lorenzo Pennas: eine biographisch-bibliographische Studie". In: Kirchenmusikalisches Jahrbuch, 55 (1971), pp. 25–31.
• Josef-Horst Lederer, "Zur Kontrapunkttheorie Lorenzo Pennas". In: Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, 28 (1977), pp. 105–13.
• Francesco Lora, "Penna, Lorenzo." In: Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol. 82. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
• Fritz Oberdörffer, "Penna, Lorenzo". In: Ludwig Finscher, ed., Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Zweite Ausgabe, Personenteil, vol. 13 (Paladilhe – Ribera). Kassel: Bärenreiter/Metzler, 2005, pp. 271–72.

External links

• Works by Lorenzo Penna at Open Library
• Works by Lorenzo Penna at International Music Score Library Project