Marco Antonio Cavazzoni

Who was Marco Antonio Cavazzoni?

Marco Antonio Cavazzoni was an Italian organist and composer. All of his extant music is contained in the print Recerchari, motetti, canzoni [...] libro primo, which was published in Venice in 1523. Included are the earliest known ricercars—they are not yet imitative, and are essentially written down improvisations, but there is a considerable amount of thematic development. The rest of the works in the collection are either arrangements of vocal pieces by Cavazzoni or other composers. Their style is firmly rooted in the Renaissance vocal chanson tradition.