Giulio Santo Pietro de’ Negri

Giulio Santo Pietro de' Negri, also cited as Del Negro, was an Italian composer active in the first decades of the seventeenth century, about whom only a few biographical details are known. He was born in Milan, the city in which he spent most of his life, and his documented activity spans roughly from 1607 to 1620. His output belongs to the field of early Baroque vocal chamber music in Italy, a sphere in which the repertoire of madrigals and songs was changing rapidly.

Negri may have lived briefly in Lecce, at the opposite end of the peninsula, since one of his opus collections includes an occasional piece dedicated to an event there. Given his financial position and the absence of any known professional post, he is probably regarded as an amateur with private means. Some evidence suggests that he may have received advice from Ghizzolo, who was active in Milan between 1610 and 1613, and that he frequented similar circles, as both dedicated songs to the same patrons. His op. 11 further suggests that he belonged to some academy, although this is not confirmed.

Publications dated between 1607 and 1620 survive from his output, while at least five volumes have been lost. The words "moderna" and "concertata" appear frequently in his collections, showing that by about 1613 he had enthusiastically adopted the new monodic and concertato styles. The madrigals of opp. 5 and 8 reveal an amateur's freedom with respect to convention, alongside a certain insecurity in handling unusual progressions. Nevertheless, they stand out for highly expressive dissonances and harmonic juxtapositions, as well as a notable sense of tonality in the use of sequences and passages of carefully crafted declamation. His strophic songs are less outstanding, although Ama, pur, ninfa gradita stands out for an early use of the refrain.

Negri is today regarded as one of the most interesting secondary composers of Italian vocal chamber music of the early seventeenth century. His importance lies above all in the originality of his texts and in the example he offers of how the new monody and the concertato style also reached non-professional authors.