Marc'Antonio Ingegneri

Who was Marc'Antonio Ingegneri?

Marc'Antonio Ingegneri was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He was born in Verona and died in Cremona. Even though he spent most of his life working in northern Italy, because of his stylistic similarity to Palestrina he is often considered to be a member of the Roman School of polyphonic church music. He is also famous as the teacher of Claudio Monteverdi.

Not much is known about his early life, but he probably had family from Venice, and he likely studied with Cipriano de Rore at Parma, and Vincenzo Ruffo at Verona. Sometime around 1570 he moved to Cremona, and established a reputation there as a composer and instrumentalist. He may have been an organist, and is known to have been a string player. In 1581 he became maestro di cappella of the cathedral there, and he apparently remained in this position for the rest of his life. While at this position he is known to have taught Claudio Monteverdi, who became important to the transition into the Baroque period.