Donemus Webwinkel — Anerio, Felice

Felice Anerio was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, and a member of the Roman School of composers. He was the older brother of another important, and somewhat more progressive composer of the same period Giovanni Francesco Anerio.
Anerio was born in Rome (c.1560), where he lived his entire life. He got his musical education at the Cappella Giulia where he sang as a boy soprano from 1568 till 1577, the last years of this period as an alto. His first compositions appeared round 1580. Those were madrigals, influenced by Luca Marenzio, a very famous and influential composer of madrigals.
By 1584 Anerio was appointed maestro di cappella at the Collegio degli Inglesi (the English College) in Rome. And he seemed to have combined disappointment with the same function elsewhere. In that time he wrote sacred music amongst which a Passion Play. In 1594 he replaced Palestrina as the official composer of the papal choir in the Roman School, the most prominent position in Rome for a composer.
In 1607 he became a priest. Together with Francesco Soriano he helped to reform the responsories of the Roman Gradual, another of the late activities of the Counter-Reformation in Italy. He died in 1614 in Rome.

Cees Wagemakers, 2023.