Claudio Merulo (1533-1604); ITA

Claudio Merulo (1533–1604) was an Italian composer, organist, and music printer, born at Correggio. In 1557 he won appointment as one of the organists of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, where he worked during one of the most brilliant periods of the Venetian musical tradition. He left Venice in 1584 and eventually entered the service of the Farnese court in Parma, where he remained for the rest of his life and served as organist of the cathedral and the ducal church of Santa Maria della Steccata.

Merulo was one of the most important keyboard composers of the late Renaissance. His toccatas are especially significant for alternating contrapuntal passages with increasingly brilliant, improvisatory figuration, helping establish techniques that would flourish in Baroque keyboard music. His publications include books of Toccate d’intavolatura d’organo and Canzoni d’intavolatura d’organo. He also wrote madrigals, motets, and other vocal music, but his enduring historical importance rests chiefly on the expressive and virtuosic development of the keyboard toccata.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.