Lodovico Zacconi

Lodovico (or Ludovico) Zacconi (11 June 1555 – 23 March 1627) was an Italian composer and musical theorist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He worked as a singer, theologian, and writer on music in northern Italy and Austria; for a time he was in the employ of Archduke Karl of Graz, and worked in Graz and Vienna.

Born in Pesaro, in the Marche, Zacconi became an Augustinian friar at Venice, where he was ordained priest. In 1577 he was in Venice studying at the church of San Stefano, and at some point in the following six years he was accepted by Andrea Gabrieli as a student of counterpoint. In 1584 he auditioned at San Marco as a singer, and was accepted; however he seems to have declined the position. Also at this time he met Zarlino, the prominent Venetian School theorist; he was to mention the meeting in the second part of his Prattica di musica (1622). On 20 July 1585, he joined the musical establishment of Archduke Karl of Graz, a position he retained until Karl's death in 1590. Subsequently he joined the chapel of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria, which was directed by Orlande de Lassus.

In 1596 he left the employ of Wilhelm, returning to Italy; in the following years he worked as a prior at Pesaro, and as a preacher and administrator in both Italy and Crete. He retired to Pesaro in 1612, where he remained until his death (at Fiorenzuola di Focara, near Pesaro).

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