Peranda, Giuseppe (EN)

Peranda, Perandi, Perande, Giuseppe, *baptised 4 April 1626 Macerata, †12 January 1675 Dresden, Italian composer and singer (contralto). He studied at the cathedral in Macerata, where he was ordained a priest in 1645. Between 1642 and 1644, he was a soprano in the Cappella Lauretana in Loreto, and between 1647 and 1650, a contralto in Il Gesù in Rome. On 21 August 1650, he was the maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore in Camerino, and from 1653 to 1654 at the Cathedral of Narni. In 1655 or 1656, he arrived in Dresden to sing in the ensemble of Johann Georg II. In 1661, he had been appointed vice-Kapellmeister at the Dresden court, and in 1663, alongside G.A. Bontempi and H. Schütz, one of three Kapellmeisters; from 1672 until the end of his life, he directed this orchestra (after H. Schütz). Peranda had a significant influence on German composers at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, and his works were copied by J.S. Bach, among others. Peranda’s music was never published, but circulated in numerous copies (many pieces have been lost).

In his sacred music, Peranda drew on the experiences of G. Carissimi and H. Schütz. His most outstanding works include church concertos, which were performed at the Dresden court more often than Schütz’s compositions. They influenced the development of the German Protestant cantata. In many concertos, in addition to concertante passages, Peranda introduces solo arioso and cantilena strophic aria, which bring them closer to the cantata. These works are characterised by skilful use of contrasts in texture, colour, dynamics, rhythm, tempo and metre. For expressive purposes and appropriate interpretation of the text, the composer very flexibly combines full-sounding chord blocks of the tutti parts with the ensemble, independent instrumental parts and solo arioso or aria. The Latin or German text is performed in accordance with its prosody – syllabically or, mainly in the solo parts, with elaborate coloratura. In compositions to German texts, especially in the St Mark Passion, Peranda’s music most closely resembles the style of Schütz. The characteristics of the Roman school are evident in large-scale vocal and instrumental masses. 

Literature: R. Engländer Zur Frage der “Dafne” (1671) von G.A. Bontempi und M.G. Peranda, “Acta Musicologica” XIII, 1941; W. Steude Die “Markuspassion” in der Leipziger Passionen-Handschrift des J. Z. Grundig, “Deutsches Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft” XIV, 1970; M.E. Frandsen Albrici, Peranda und die Ursprünge der Concerto-Aria-Kantate in Dresden, “Schütz-Jahrbuch” XVIII, 1996; J. Heidrich Italienische Einflüsse in Dresdner Messkompositionen zwischen Schütz und Bach, “Schütz-Jahrbuch” XXIII, 2001; M. Frandsen “Schütz and the young Italians at the Dresden court” revisited: Roman influences in “O bone Jesu, fili Mariae virginis” (SWV 471), “Schütz-Jahrbuch” XXVI, 2004; B. Brumana “La Dafne” di Bontempi: Peranda e la sua tradizione in: “Ruscelletto cui rigido cielo”: studi in occasione del III centenario del musicista Giovanni Andrea Angelini Bontempi (1625–1705), ed. B. Brumana, Perugia 2005; L. Berglund The Roman Connection: Dissemination and Reception of Roman Music in the North in: The Dissemination of Music in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Uppsala 2006, ed. E. Kjellberg Bern 2010; A. Hartinger Kompositorische Weiterentwicklung und aufführungspraktische Anpassung: Beobachtungen zu den Fassungen einer Missa von Giuseppe Peranda, “Basler Jahrbuch für historische Musikpraxis” XXXIV, 2010; P. Paoloni Il giovane Peranda: la formazione di un musicista tra le Marche e Roma nella prima metà del secolo XVII (con qualche postilla dresdese), “Marca/Marche: revista di storia regionale” VI, 2016.