Usper, Francesco (EN)

Usper (born Spongia, Sponga, Sponza) Francesco, *23 November 1561 Rovigno (present-day Rovinj), †24 February 1641 Venice, Italian composer and organist. After his ordination, he moved to Venice, where he studied under A. Gabrieli and was a protégé of Lodovico Uspero, from whom he took his surname. From 1596 until the end of his life, he worked in the brotherhood of S. Giovanni Evangelista as a musician (organist from 1596 to 1607, choirmaster from 1624 to 1626), priest and clerk. In 1614, he was organist at the church of S. Salvatore, in 1622–23 he replaced the first organist at St Mark’s Basilica, and in 1617 and 1623 he worked occasionally for the Scuola Grande di S. Rocco. Together with C. Monteverdi and G.B. Grillo, he co-authored a Requiem (lost) for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II de’ Medici, performed on 25 May 1621 at the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.

Francesco Usper was a typical representative of the Venetian school at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. In the preface to his 1614 collection, he described his style as contrary to the latest trends in seconda pratica, but his work clearly succumbed to them. His solo motets show the influence of L. Viadana’s concertos, his psalms are written in the polyphonic style characteristic of the Gabrieli family, while his small-scale motets reveal the influence of Monteverdi in their use of concertante technique and evocative means of expression. Conservative features are present in his debut collection of four-part ricercars and canzonas. Francesco Usper does not specify the instruments; half of the canzonas are arrangements of vocal works by Clemens non Papa and Th. Crécquillon, and the melodic lines are still shaped in a vocal manner. Op. 3, which includes two sinfonias, two canzonas, two capriccios, one sonata and one battaglia per cantar e sonar, demonstrates his familiarity with the latest trends in early Baroque instrumental music. Of particular note is Sinfonia prima for two violins, four violas, recorder, viola or chitarrone and basso continuo, in which the threefold repetition of the tutti ritornello, interspersed with couplets featuring solo parts for two violins or flute and chitarrone against a basso continuo background, is interpreted by A. Einstein as a precursor to the concerto grosso technique. An example of the skilful use of the cori spezzati technique is the sonata for two violins, two cornets and four trombones. In the multi-section eight-voice canzonas and capriccios, the principle of contrasting metre, texture and register prevails, and the instruments are not strictly defined. The spectacular six-part Capriccio sopra La sol fa re mi is based on the same popular theme as Josquin des Prés’ Missa La sol fa re mi.

Literature: A. Einstein Ein Concerto grosso von 1619, in Festschrift for H. Kretzschmara, Leipzig 1918, reprint 1973; E. Selfridge-Field Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi, Oxford 1975, New York 2nd edition 1994; E. Stipčević Francesco Sponga-Usper. Compositore veneziano di origine istriana – considerazioni preliminari, «Atti del Centro di ricerche storiche di Rovigno» XVI, 1985–86 and Francesco Sponga-Usper. Mletački glazbenik iż Poreča, Zagreb 1990.