| Antonio Scandello (1517-80) and Giovanni Battista Pinello di Ghirardi (c. 1544-87) seem unlikely candidates to have become Saxon electoral court Kapellmeister. Scandello was trained as an instrumentalist and worked in that field from 1530, serving in his native Bergamo and Trent before joining the Dresden court in 1549. Although we have no evidence he had any training in vocal music, Scandello was appointed Vice-Kapellmeister in 1566 and Kapellmeister in 1568, and he served in that post until his death in 1580.;Pinello, from Genoa, worked as a singer in the Landshut chapel of Duke Wilhelm V, then served as Vicenza Cathedral maestro di cappella before joining the Innsbruck imperial chapel. Pinello, a catholic nobleman, served as Dresden Kapellmeister from 1580 until 1584.;During his tenure at the Dresden court, Scandello composed about 140 works. His first print, Il primo libro delle canzone napolitane, was published in 1566. His last printed work, the Passio das Leyden unsers Herrn Jesu Christ, nach;Scandello's works reveal a command of Flemish contrapuntal technique and an awareness of contemporary developments in the Italian secular style, including the use of motivically-based imitation with overlapping voice entries and a more energetic approach to rhythm. Typically, Scandello is conservative in his use of chromaticism and dissonance, reserving them for particularly expressive events.;Pinello's output consists of approximately 120 extant works, although evidence suggests that additional collections have not survived. Pinello's works range from brief canzone napolitane to long Lieder, German Magnificats, and motets. Overall, many of Pinello's German and Latin works display a highly expressive use of chromaticism and dissonance, as well as a command of Flemish imitative technique and the Italian secular style. In comparison, Pinello was often quite daring, frequently employing Italian techniques in his sacred works, while Scandello generally maintained a more traditional balance of sacred and secular styles, reserving the Italian elements for his weltliche Lieder and canzone napolitane. |
