Leoni, Leone

1560-date of death unknown

Church composer and chapelmaster at the Duomo of Vincenza about 1588. The excellence of his productions lies in the variety and brilliance of tonecoloring and by the harmony and contrasts of double-choirs. He dedicated a collection of psalms to Palestrina in 1592. Leoni followed the example of Giovanni Gabrieli in the combining of voices and instruments, using the instruments obbligato. His most valued works are his motets for double-choir a 8, fifteen of which appear in the Promptuarium of Schadaeus, 1611, and four in the Florilegium of Bodenschatz, 1621. In Torchi's L'Arte Musicale in Italia, vol. II, there are two of Leoni's madrigals, one of which is a nightingale echo song, the two upper voices meant to represent one bird echoing the other in canon. Most of his works are motets and madrigals for one, two, three, four and even five voices.