Possenti Pellegrino, *9 July 1597 Venice (?), †20 April 1649 (?), Italian composer, priest. He worked in several Italian cities, including Ferrara, Naples, Ravenna, Bologna (in 1612–14, 1622, 1624, 1629–31, 1634, 1640–42), where spent the longest period of time, and briefly in Venice and Treviso prior to 1625.
In Lamento d’Arianna and Li sospiri d’Ergasto (1–3 voices with basso continuo) from the collection Canora sampogna (Venice 1623), Possenti made clear reference to the experiences of C. Monteverdi. In addition to two laments, he also included madrigals for two and three voices and canzonettas for two voices, which, together with his two madrigals (for 2 and 4 voices with basso continuo) from the anthology Madrigali del sig[nor] cav [aliere] Anselmi (Venice 1624), reveal the influence of the Venetian stile moderno. The collection of monodies Accenti pietosi d’Armillo (Venice 1625) contains solo arias and canzonettas in the form of strophic variations, reminiscent of similar works by A. Grandi. The 18 sonatas from Concentus armonici, duobus, tribus & quatuor instrumentis concertati (Venice 1628) are works in three movements consisting of a fugal fragment repeated at the end (as indicated by the terms “da capo” and “sino al fine”) and a chordal middle movement in triple metre, in which dynamic contrasts are introduced on a very small scale and the concertante technique is also employed sparingly. Due to the homogeneity of the motivic material, the dominance of fugal technique and the clear sonata form, these works are unique among contemporary compositions of this type.
