Gabussi, Gabucci, Gabusi, Gabutio, Gabutius, Gabuzio, Gabuzzi, Giulio Cesare, *1555 or 1558 Bologna, †September 1611 Milan, Italian composer, singer (alto), probably a priest. He was a pupil of C. Porta in Ravenna, and subsequently served as maestro di cappella in nearby Forlì until mid-1582. Recommended by C. Porta to Charles Borromeo, he became maestro di cappella of Milan Cathedral in 1584; he remained in that post until his death, with a break from 1601 to August 1602; during this period, he travelled to Poland and spent over a year working in the royal chapel of Sigismund III, most likely as kapellmeister cappella, immediately preceding A. Pacelli.
Gabussi is a representative of the classical polyphonic tradition. Both as a singer and as a composer, he enjoyed high esteem among his contemporaries; his works, regarded as exemplary realisations of the guidelines of the Council of Trent, were still being published from manuscripts 12 years after the author’s death.
Literature: W. Sandelewski G. C. Gabussi a kapela Zygmunta III w latach 1596–1602, “Muzyka” 1963 Nos. 1–2, Italian version G. C. Gabussi in Polonia, in: Primo incontro con la musica italiana in Polonia, Bologna 1974; A. Szweykowska Przeobrażenia w kapeli królewskiej na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, “Muzyka” 1968 No. 2.
Compositions:
Il l libro de madrigali for 5 voices, published in Venice 1580 Gardano
Motectorum liber primus… for 5–6 voices, published in Venice 1586 Gardano
Magnificat X (…) Motectum (…) et Te Deum… for 4–8 voices, published in Milan 1589 Tini
Il 2 libro de madrigali for 5 voices, published in Venice 1598 Vincenti
Concerti de diversi… for 2–4 voices, organ, published in Milan 1608 Tini-Lomazzo (11 works by Gabussi, 29 other authors, 2nd edition 1612, 3rd edition 1616
Illustrissimo (…) F. Borromaeo (…) Pontificalia Ambrosianae ecclesiae ad vesper as musicali concentui accomodata for 2 choirs, published in Milan 1619 Rolla (23 works by Gabussi, 46 by other authors)
Iulii Caesaris Gabutii et Vincentii Pellegrini (…) Litaniae ambrosianae et romanae (…) Hymni et alia for 4–8 voices, published in Milan 1623 Rolla (11 works by Gabussi, 6 by other authors)
individual works appeared in anthologies between 1588 and 1621, including the 6-voice motet Apparuit benignitas, in: Melodiae sacrae, published in Krakow 1604 Skalski
Editions:
Defecit gaudium for 8 voices, ed. G. Vecchi, Milan 1964
I brani di G. C. Gabussi raccolti da Francesco Ludno, ed. B. Curtini, Milan 1971 (works from the collection Concerti de diversi… 1608)
