Giovanni Maria Nanino

Giovanni Maria Nanino (Tivoli, 1543 or 1544 – Rome, 11 March 1607) was one of the most influential musicians in Rome at the end of the sixteenth century. A maestro di cappella, pedagogue and composer, his name appears both in the history of sacred polyphony and in that of the madrigal, and his younger brother, Giovanni Bernardino, was also a musician of some renown.

As a boy he sang as a soprano in the cathedral of Vallerano, near Viterbo. Some sources maintain that he may have studied with Palestrina in the 1560s, when the latter directed the chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore; however, the identity of a certain "Gaudio Mell", with whom both are said to have studied according to some early accounts, is not known with certainty. Around 1567, or between 1567 and 1569, he became maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore, and in April 1575 he held the same post at San Luigi dei Francesi, a position he kept until October 1577, when he joined the papal chapel as a tenor.

He remained in the papal chapel for the rest of his life, among some twenty-five singers. After 1586 he was elected maestro di cappella several times, a post that was then rotated among musicians following the reforms of that year. That same year he was sent to Mantua to thank Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga for a favour shown to the chapel; the letters say nothing about music, but they portray a methodical and reliable man.

His teaching was, perhaps, his most lasting contribution. He maintained ties with San Luigi dei Francesi, where he taught the choirboys, and several authors credit him with directing a public music school in Rome. Among his pupils were Felice Anerio, Antonio Brunelli and, according to some authors, names such as Gregorio Allegri or Antonio Cifra. His teaching notebooks survive in numerous European libraries. His prestige is also reflected in print: in the anthology Le gioie (1589) his madrigal opens the volume, and during the decade following Palestrina's death he was, apparently, the undisputed head of the great Roman school.

His legacy has been overshadowed by that of Palestrina, and his secular music, in particular, has barely been studied. Works such as Le strane voci, Morir non può or Dolorosi martir reveal a highly distinctive musical personality and a remarkable expressive range. It should be noted, moreover, that the one hundred and fifty-seven counterpoints on "La Spagna" attributed to Nanino in many secondary sources appear in fact to correspond to Costanzo Festa, with some pieces by Nanino.