Giovanni Dragoni

Giovanni Andrea Dragoni (or Draconi, c. 1540 – December 1598) was an Italian composer of the Roman School of the late Renaissance, a student of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and a prominent composer and maestro di cappella in Rome in the late 16th century. He left numerous sacred and secular works, almost all vocal, and was especially noted for his often-reprinted books of madrigals. Life Dragoni was born at Meldola, not far from Forlì, but details of his early life are lacking. He studied with Palestrina, as he indicated in the dedication to his first book of madrigals (1575). The next year he acquired the prestigious position of maestro di cappella at one of Rome’s most prominent churches and musical establishments, St. John Lateran, and he retained this position for the rest of his life. In 1594, towards the end of his life, Cardinal del Monte appointed Dragoni to assess the progress on the revisions to liturgical chant, part of the extensive reforms following from the Council of Trent. Dragoni died in Rome. Music Dragoni’s output was extensive, but much of his sacred music, kept in the St. John Lateran archive, has been lost, including a collection of settings of the Lament