Anerio, Felice (EN)

Anerio Felice *1560 or 1561 Rome, †26/27 September 1614 Rome, son of the musician Maurizio, brother of Giovanni Francesco, Italian singer, conductor and composer. He was active only in Rome: in 1568–74, he sang at the boys’ choir of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, learning music under G.M. Nanino from 1571, in Cappella Giulia in 1575–79, in the ensemble of the Church of St. Louis of the French in 1579–80; he was a maestro di capella at Collegio degli Inglesi from 1584 to 1585 and at Vertuosa Compagnia dei Musici di Roma from 1589; he was the official composer of the papal choir from 1594, replacing Palestrina. He was also connected with the court of Cardinal P. Aldobrandini, directed the ensemble of Prince G.A. Altemps, took an active part in the work on the post-Tridentine reform of the chorale and, together with F. Soriano, worked on the editing of the Medici edition of the gradual. Anerio’s output includes exclusively vocal music, primarily religious: masses, hymns, canticles, religious motets and concerts, lauds and madrigali spirituali, published many times in Rome and Venice, preserved in manuscripts in libraries in Rome, Vienna, Munich and Berlin, among others, and arranged in tablatures, including the Pelplin Tablature.

Anerio belongs to the leading representatives of the Roman school. In his religious works, based on masses and motets, he strictly adhered to the principles of the Tridentine reform and continued the Palestrina style (some of Anerio’s works, e.g. Stabat Mater and Adoramus te Christe, were long considered to be Palestrina’s works). Newer solutions, similar to those used by Viadana, e.g. introducing solo or small-voice ensembles, are visible in late works composed for the Duke of Altemps’ ensemble. He also created dramatic madrigals-dialogues, similar to the works of G.F. Anerio from the Teatro armonico spirituale.

Literature: F.X. Haberl F. Anerio: Lebensgang und Werke nach archivalischen und bibliographischen Quellen, “Kirchenmusikalisches Jahrbuch” 18, 1903; R. Casimiri Maurizio, F. e Giovanni Francesco Anerio. Nuovi documenti biografici, “Rivista Musicale Italiana” 27, 1920; F. Haberl F. und Giovanni Francesco Anerio, “Musica sacra” 74, 1954; G. Dardo F. Anerio e la “Congregazione dell’Oratorio,” “Chigiana” 21, 1964; J.M. Llorens Cisteró F. Anerio, compositor pontificio, en los Códices Ottoboniani de la Biblioteca Vaticana, “Anuario musical” 19, 1964; P. Ludwig Studien zum otettenschaffen der Schüler Palestrinas, «Kölner Beiträge zur Musikforschung» 143, Regensburg 1986; R. Charteris The Huntington Library part books, Ellesmere MSS EL 25 A 46-51, “The Huntington Library quarterly 50, 1987; P. Dirksen Eine unbekannte Intavolierung Heinrich Scheidemanns, “Die Musikforschung” 1987 no. 4; J.P. Couchman F. Anerio’s Music for the Church and for the Altemps Cappella, dissertation University of California, 1989; A. Morelli Il tempio armonico: musica nell’Oratorio dei Filippini in Roma (1575–1705), «Analecta Musicologica» 27, Laaber 1991; N O’Regan The Performance of Roman Sacred Polyphonic Music in the late Sixteenth and early Seventeenth Centuries: Evidence from Archival Sources, “Performance Practice Review” 1995 no. 2; S. Franchi Allegorie musicali gesuitiche: Le odi latine per laurea al Collegio Romano, in: Ars magna musices: Athanasius Kircher und die Universalität der Musik – Vorträge des deutsch-italienischen Symposiums aus Anlass des 400. Geburtstages von Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), «Analecta Musicologica» 38, Laaber 2007; M. Toffetti, Travelling music: the madrigal „Morir non può ’l mio core” by Giovanni Maria Nanino and its textual and musical transformations, “Musica Iagellonica” 13, 2022.