Neri, Massimiliano (EN)

Neri, Negri, Massimiliano, *1620 Bonn, †between September 1670 and October 1673 Bonn, Italian organist and composer, son of Giovanni Giacomo Neri, a Kapellmeister active at German courts. Around 1628, he moved with his father to Venice, where he was the principal organist at St Mark’s Basilica from 1644 to 1664, while also holding a similar position at the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo from 1644 to 1646 and from 1657 to 1664. In 1655 he was also maestro di coro in Ospedaletto, and in 1658 – music director at S. Caterina. Until 1644, he was a member of the Accademia degli Erranti in Brescia, and in 1651 he was at the imperial court in Vienna. Between 1664 and 1670, he was organist and Kapellmeister at the court in Cologne; in 1666, he applied for a new position as organist in Bonn, where his uncle Giuseppe had long been active as a musician.

Neri was one of the outstanding representatives of the Venetian instrumental school of the first half of the 17th century. In his work, he drew on the experience of G. Gabrieli, D. Castello, F. Usper, and G.B. Riccio. His surviving instrumental works include 17 sonatas and canzonas for three to twelve voices and 6 correnti for four voices. His sonatas and canzonas are of primary importance (in Op. 1, there are no significant genre differences motivating this distinction; in Op. 2, all works are designated as sonatas). Both the sonatas and canzonas are composed of clearly distinguished three to six parts, in which the sections are arranged according to the principle of contrast in meter, texture, tempo, and expression, thus in a manner typical of the Venetian sonata in the stile moderno. There is also a sizeable group of compositions in which the number of sections is clearly limited, and returns and motivic transformations contribute to unity and a quasi-cyclical character. Neri was particularly fond of using fugal technique, most often in the opening section and in the finale. It was considered an innovation that he introduced harmonically rich slow movements, foreshadowing the later adagios of the Bolognese school.

The works for three to five voices from Opp. 1 and 2 are intended for a violin ensemble, while the double-choir sonatas for six to twelve voices from Op. 2 are scored for families of wind and string instruments. Neri defines the instrumental scoring precisely in the construction of phrases, taking idiomatic characteristics largely into account; however, he avoids the extravagant virtuosity typical of early-17th-century sonatas, focusing instead on the development of motivic work. In compositions for three to five voices, following the model of Castello’s concert sonatas, extensive solo passages appear alongside tutti sections; in Op. 2, Neri transplanted the technique of separating a group of solo instruments (referred to in print as concertini) into the polyphonic sonata and used it in a manner similar to the principle of the later concerto grosso (Sonata Op. 2 no. 10 and Op. 2 no. 14). Neri’s work, now incomplete and completely unknown, was of great importance for the development of independent instrumental music, especially in Venice, as it synthesized the achievements of the Venetian school with general trends and paved the way for the development of the Venetian concerto in the 18th century.

Literature: W. Apel Die italienische Violinmusik im 17 Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden 1983, English ed. Italian Violin Music of the Seventeenth Century, Bloomington (Indiana) 1990; P. Allsop The Italian „Trio” Sonata. From Its Origins until Corelli, Oxford 1992; G. Vio Nuovi elementi biografici su alcuni musicisti del Seicento veneziano, “Recercare” XIV, 2002; P.A. Rismondo Massimiliano Neri (ca. 1618–dopo il 1670) e la famiglia Negri tra Italia e Germania, “Rivista internazionale di musica sacra” XXVI, 2005.