Ascanio Mayone (Scanio Maione, Majone, ca. 1565/70 - 1627) was a Neapolitan harpist, organist, and composer who may have been related to other musicians of Jewish-Spanish origin active in Naples. (2) He studied with Giovanni Domenico da Nola and Jean de Macque (ca. 1550-1614). He and Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575 ca. -1647) were the most important representatives of the Neapolitan keyboard school of the early seventeenth century. (3) They along with others influenced the great organist and composer Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 - 1643).
Here is what I could discover of Mayone's life and works: (4)
- 1593: Replaces Scipione Stella as organist at Santissima Annunziata Maggiore.
- 1595: Becomes maestro di cappella there, alternating with his fellow classmate Camillo Lambardi.
- 1597: Mayone's salary is considerably lowered amid some spending cuts due to serious financial problems at the Annunziata church.
- 1599: Mayone's salary is reported higher again.
- 1602: Appointed second organist at the Royal Chapel of the Viceroy Fernando Ruiz de Castro; Trabaci is first.
- 1603: Il primo libro di diversi capricci per sonare is published.
- 1604: Still working at the church despite steady layoffs of other musicians.
- 1604: Il primo libro di madrigali is published.
- 1606: Primo libro di ricercari for three parts is published.
- 1609: The Church governors order that Trabaci and Mayone always both be present at church musical functions. However, due to Mayone's post at the Royal Chapel, they work out a compromise by alternating weekly and performing jointly on special celebrations with double choir.
- 1609: Secondo libro di diversi capricci per sonare is published.
- 1609: Two madrigals are published in Teatro de madrigali a cinque voci, a collection of madrigals by 'various excellent' Neapolitan musicians.
- 1614: Becomes first organist when Trabaci becomes Maestro di Capella at the Annunziata. He remains active at the church until his death.
- 1617: Assists the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri (Philippines) with the purchase of an organ. (2)
- 1618: Composes examples for Fabio Colonna's La Sambuca Lincea (Naples), a harpsichord with six rows of keys and a mean-tone temperament of 31 intervals per octave. (6) Scipione or "Padre" Stella, Mayone's predecessor at the Annunziata, is closely involved in the building of enharmonic keyboard instruments and is mentioned numerous times in Colonna's book.
- 1620: Receives a raise for his 'many merits, for the length of his honorable service, and for the quality of his work.'
- 1620-1621: Marian works:
- 1620: Composes Hymns and Frottole for three voices which survive only in the alto part at the National Library in Naples.
- 1620: Two motets, Ave Regina Coelorum and Regina Coeli, are included in Salmi delle compiete di diversi musici napoletani.
- 1621: the Annunziata church gives him a raise for 'having printed many hymns and motets in praise of the Blessed Virgin.'
- Undated works:
- Magnificat for eight voices.
- Salmo Laetatus sum a 9 voci, manuscript in the archive of the Philippines of Naples.
- Messe e vespri a 8 voci, manuscript in the same archive. Some or all of these as well as Laetatus sum are for double choir.
- Three Canzonette, now lost, are included in a 1632 list of "music of Naples' compiled by the German composer H. Schütz.
Mayone composed at the threshold of the late Renaissance and the early Baroque. His vocal works remain mostly in Renaissance tradition. His keyboard music on the other hand, printed in Naples in a number of collections, was in an adventurous, early Baroque style.
Mayone is best known for his intricate, instrumental music which foreshadows the glories of the high Baroque. Stay tuned for these works in my next two posts. For now, let's listen to some of Mayone's secular and sacred vocal music.
Il primo libro di madrigali (Naples, 1604), a collection of twenty madrigals for five voices, survived in partly damaged form. The entire book received its modern world premiere at the 2009 Copenhagen Renaissance Music Festival by Musica Ficta under Bo Holten. Here are the first four madrigals. The remainder can be listened to here and here.
Regina Coeli (1620) was one of two Mayone motets included in the 1620 collection for Compline by a number of Neapolitan musicians (Salmi delle compiete di diversi musici napoletani).
From the archives of San Filippo di Neri's Oratory, Magnificat for eight voices and the Kyrie from a Mass for eight voices.
____________________________________________________________________
(1)"Ascanio Mayone, Napolitana Organista." Biography, The Ascanio Mayone Society website. (http://ascaniomayone.org/bio.html (09/17/2015))
(2) The lutenist brothers Luys (Luise) and Garsia Maimon (Maymon, Maglione) are possible relatives, as well as the cantor of the Royal Chapel Giovan Domenico Maione (Juan Domingo Maimon). (Dinko Fabris, "MAJONE, Ascanio." Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 67 (2006), treccani.it website. (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ascanio-majone_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ (09/17/2015) citing 'Scipione Cerreto, Della prattica musica vocale, et strumentale, Napoli 1601, pp. 157-159).' In the late fifteenth century a number of ancient Jewish families escaped from Spain to Italy. [According to one--possibly low--estimate, of 235,000 Jews in Spain in 1492, 165,000 emigrated (9,000 to Italy). The remainder converted or perished en route.] On the Sephardic origin of the surname Maymon which is related to that of the twelfth-century Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, see here.
(3)"MAIONE ASCANIO (1570 C.A. -1627), Secondo libro di diversi Capricci per sonare, Napoli, 1609." CD info, Tactus label website, March 2003, world premiere recording. (http://tactus.it/products-page/umanesimorinascimento/tc571302-ascanio-maione-secondo-libro-di-diversi-capricci-per-sonare-napoli-1609-francesco-tasini/ (09/17/2015))
(4) Dinko Fabris, "MAJONE, Ascanio." Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 67 (2006), treccani.it website. (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ascanio-majone_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ (09/17/2015)
(5) Christopher Stembridge, "Music for the Cimbalo Cromatico and the Split-Keyed Instruments in Seventeenth-Century Italy." Performance Practice Review: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 8, 1992. DOI: 10.5642/perfpr.199205.01.08. (http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=ppr (09/18/2015))
(6) Jacob A. Barton, "Latent Possibilities: Asciano Mayone’s Thirty-one Tone Examples." Published at xenharmonic.wikispaces.com, 11/05/2004. (https://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/file/view/sambuca.pdf (09/19/2015))
Here is what I could discover of Mayone's life and works: (4)
- 1593: Replaces Scipione Stella as organist at Santissima Annunziata Maggiore.
- 1595: Becomes maestro di cappella there, alternating with his fellow classmate Camillo Lambardi.
- 1597: Mayone's salary is considerably lowered amid some spending cuts due to serious financial problems at the Annunziata church.
- 1599: Mayone's salary is reported higher again.
- 1602: Appointed second organist at the Royal Chapel of the Viceroy Fernando Ruiz de Castro; Trabaci is first.
- 1603: Il primo libro di diversi capricci per sonare is published.
- 1604: Still working at the church despite steady layoffs of other musicians.
- 1604: Il primo libro di madrigali is published.
- 1606: Primo libro di ricercari for three parts is published.
- 1609: The Church governors order that Trabaci and Mayone always both be present at church musical functions. However, due to Mayone's post at the Royal Chapel, they work out a compromise by alternating weekly and performing jointly on special celebrations with double choir.
- 1609: Secondo libro di diversi capricci per sonare is published.
- 1609: Two madrigals are published in Teatro de madrigali a cinque voci, a collection of madrigals by 'various excellent' Neapolitan musicians.
- 1614: Becomes first organist when Trabaci becomes Maestro di Capella at the Annunziata. He remains active at the church until his death.
- 1617: Assists the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri (Philippines) with the purchase of an organ. (2)
- 1618: Composes examples for Fabio Colonna's La Sambuca Lincea (Naples), a harpsichord with six rows of keys and a mean-tone temperament of 31 intervals per octave. (6) Scipione or "Padre" Stella, Mayone's predecessor at the Annunziata, is closely involved in the building of enharmonic keyboard instruments and is mentioned numerous times in Colonna's book.
- 1620: Receives a raise for his 'many merits, for the length of his honorable service, and for the quality of his work.'
- 1620-1621: Marian works:
- 1620: Composes Hymns and Frottole for three voices which survive only in the alto part at the National Library in Naples.
- 1620: Two motets, Ave Regina Coelorum and Regina Coeli, are included in Salmi delle compiete di diversi musici napoletani.
- 1621: the Annunziata church gives him a raise for 'having printed many hymns and motets in praise of the Blessed Virgin.'
- Undated works:
- Magnificat for eight voices.
- Salmo Laetatus sum a 9 voci, manuscript in the archive of the Philippines of Naples.
- Messe e vespri a 8 voci, manuscript in the same archive. Some or all of these as well as Laetatus sum are for double choir.
- Three Canzonette, now lost, are included in a 1632 list of "music of Naples' compiled by the German composer H. Schütz.
Mayone composed at the threshold of the late Renaissance and the early Baroque. His vocal works remain mostly in Renaissance tradition. His keyboard music on the other hand, printed in Naples in a number of collections, was in an adventurous, early Baroque style.
Mayone is best known for his intricate, instrumental music which foreshadows the glories of the high Baroque. Stay tuned for these works in my next two posts. For now, let's listen to some of Mayone's secular and sacred vocal music.
Il primo libro di madrigali (Naples, 1604), a collection of twenty madrigals for five voices, survived in partly damaged form. The entire book received its modern world premiere at the 2009 Copenhagen Renaissance Music Festival by Musica Ficta under Bo Holten. Here are the first four madrigals. The remainder can be listened to here and here.
Regina Coeli (1620) was one of two Mayone motets included in the 1620 collection for Compline by a number of Neapolitan musicians (Salmi delle compiete di diversi musici napoletani).
From the archives of San Filippo di Neri's Oratory, Magnificat for eight voices and the Kyrie from a Mass for eight voices.
____________________________________________________________________
(1)"Ascanio Mayone, Napolitana Organista." Biography, The Ascanio Mayone Society website. (http://ascaniomayone.org/bio.html (09/17/2015))
(2) The lutenist brothers Luys (Luise) and Garsia Maimon (Maymon, Maglione) are possible relatives, as well as the cantor of the Royal Chapel Giovan Domenico Maione (Juan Domingo Maimon). (Dinko Fabris, "MAJONE, Ascanio." Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 67 (2006), treccani.it website. (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ascanio-majone_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ (09/17/2015) citing 'Scipione Cerreto, Della prattica musica vocale, et strumentale, Napoli 1601, pp. 157-159).' In the late fifteenth century a number of ancient Jewish families escaped from Spain to Italy. [According to one--possibly low--estimate, of 235,000 Jews in Spain in 1492, 165,000 emigrated (9,000 to Italy). The remainder converted or perished en route.] On the Sephardic origin of the surname Maymon which is related to that of the twelfth-century Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, see here.
(3)"MAIONE ASCANIO (1570 C.A. -1627), Secondo libro di diversi Capricci per sonare, Napoli, 1609." CD info, Tactus label website, March 2003, world premiere recording. (http://tactus.it/products-page/umanesimorinascimento/tc571302-ascanio-maione-secondo-libro-di-diversi-capricci-per-sonare-napoli-1609-francesco-tasini/ (09/17/2015))
(4) Dinko Fabris, "MAJONE, Ascanio." Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 67 (2006), treccani.it website. (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ascanio-majone_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ (09/17/2015)
(5) Christopher Stembridge, "Music for the Cimbalo Cromatico and the Split-Keyed Instruments in Seventeenth-Century Italy." Performance Practice Review: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 8, 1992. DOI: 10.5642/perfpr.199205.01.08. (http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=ppr (09/18/2015))
(6) Jacob A. Barton, "Latent Possibilities: Asciano Mayone’s Thirty-one Tone Examples." Published at xenharmonic.wikispaces.com, 11/05/2004. (https://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/file/view/sambuca.pdf (09/19/2015))