composer

Ferretti, Giovanni

Where Giovanni Ferretti was born is not certain. It may have been Venice or Ancona. His first appearance in documents was his employment as maestro di cappella (choirmaster) at the cathedral of Ancona, in 1575. Exact dates are missing, but in the last part of the 16th century he worked in Loreto, Gemona and Friuli. We don’t know when he died as well, but the last document in which he appeared was from 1609.
His musical output consists of two books of canzoni alla napolitana – the second of which is presented here – and five books for five voices, all appearing in Venice (Publisher: the renowned Girolamo Scotto).
Ferretti wrote some madrigals as well, but few have survived. Three of his madrigals however are to be found in the Donemus edition Musica Divina. His work was selling well and often reprinted in Nuremberg, Antwerp and London. Together with the music of Orazio Vecchi Ferretti’s music is considered to be of very important influence on the English madrigal style of Thomas Morley, which started with the publication in England of Musica transalpina, a popular collection of Italian madrigals on English words.