Giovanni Paolo Colonna

Giovanni Paolo Colonna (Bologna, 1637 – Bologna, 1695) was one of the leading figures of Italian sacred music in his time. A composer, teacher, organist and organ expert, he spent almost his entire career in Bologna, the city where he was born and died, and held the most important posts at the basilica of San Petronio there. The son of a well-known organ builder from Brescia, he inherited from his father not only the trade of tuner and keeper of the instruments, but also considerable authority in the field.

His training began with organ lessons in Bologna under Agostino Filipucci. He later went to Rome to study composition with Abbatini, Benevoli and Carissimi, and there he absorbed the polychoral writing that would mark much of his later output. It is possible, though unproven, that during his Roman stay he worked for a time as organist at San Apollinare. On returning to Bologna he became second organist at San Petronio in 1658, although he did not take up the post until December 1659. After a brief spell as sole organist and a period back in his earlier position, he was appointed maestro di cappella of the basilica in 1673, a post he held until his death. He also served as maestro di cappella at the Madonna di Galliera and at San Giovanni in Monte.

At the same time he maintained ties with several courts. Between 1680 and 1694 he worked for Francesco II d'Este on oratorios and organs, and he collaborated with Ippolito Bentivoglio, with Ranuccio II Farnese, and with the Medici court in Florence, for which he composed secular cantatas. He was also one of the founders of the Accademia dei Filarmonici in Bologna in 1666, and presided over the institution on several occasions. His name is linked to the controversy of 1685 with Corelli over alleged parallel fifths in an allemande from his Op. 2, an episode which, according to some accounts, contributed to the estrangement between the Bolognese and Roman schools. In 1694 he travelled to Rome in an attempt to recover his reputation and dedicated his third book of psalms, Op. 11, to Pope Innocent XII. The pope offered him the post of maestro di cappella of St Peter's in the Vatican, but Colonna declined it, possibly for reasons of health.

His legacy centres on sacred music. He was one of the great composers of oratorio between Carissimi and Handel, although only eight survive. Thanks to an agreement with the Emperor Leopold I, the Austrian National Library in Vienna holds 83 of his sacred works. His masses and concertato psalms, scored with strings, trumpets and two choirs, are closely tied to the acoustics of San Petronio. His contrapuntal writing, skilful and lively, and his church cantatas of Opp. 2 and 3 are said to anticipate the style of Handel's chamber cantatas. His pupils, among them Giovanni Bononcini, attest to an influence that was recognised during the composer's lifetime and throughout the eighteenth century.