Animuccia, Giovanni

An Italian composer who was called "Father of Oratorio." The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it was near the end of the Fifteenth Century or in the first years of the Sixteenth Century, probably about 1505. He was a pupil of Claude Goudimel and in 1555 he was appointed musical director at the Vatican, where he remained until his death in 1571. He was the predecessor of Palestrina and his music shows the same religious spirit and was undoubtedly a great advance upon that written before his time. Animuccia composed the famous Laudi, which were sung at the conclusion of the regular service of the Oratorio at St. Filipo and these are said to have been the foundation of the oratorios of the present time. He also composed many masses, motets and madrigals.