Asprilio Pacelli

Asprilio Pacelli, who was born in Vasciano in 1570, was one out of two longest-serving directors of the Polish royal chapel at Warsaw. He accepted an invitation of king Sigismund III of Poland and started work most likely in 1603. From then on he held the position until his death on May 4, 1623. The music that was typical for the Italian style of that time, was of Roman-Venetian orientation; this wants to say that Pacelli knew how to use the learned Roman style coming from Palestrina, but also liked the ideas and possibilities of sound colouring that polychoral works offered to a composer. Most important for the Warsaw chapel were his "Sacrae cantiones" that were published in 1608 and his masses (published after his death, in 1629) - these works formed the basis of said chapel for the beginning of the 17th century. The many manuscripts and reprints that exist of his works let one assume that he was immensely popular all over Europe during his lifetime and shortly thereafter.

Information supplied by Monika Fahrnberger
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