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The Carissimi family were originally from the Umbrian-Marche area of the Apennines, one authority on the composer, Lino Bianchi, having established the exact location as the small town of Castel Sant’Angelo di Visso. A text exists documenting the eventual emigration of Giacomo’s grandfather (with the surname Carissimo) to the gently rolling hills of Lazio, where in 1553 he acquired a plot of land under vines at Marino. The sons of grandfather Carissimo, amongst whom was Giacomo’s father Amico, are designated as having the job of copellaro, which is to say the artisan who produced the large wooden containers into which the wine was poured and kept, critical for the successful commercialisation of wine-making, the wine in this case being the excellent wine of the Castelli Romani region. In 1595, at the age of forty-seven Amico married Livia di Prospero, and their sixth child was baptized on 18 April 1605 under the name Giacomo, or more precisely Iacomo. It is not known from whom the young boy received his rudimentary musical education, but when he is first mentioned, at the age of eighteen, he was already a singer at the cathedral of Tivoli, and later in October 1624 he had risen to the position of organist to said church. From 1627 the maestro di cappella at Tivoli was Francesco Mannelli, who was to be a prime-mover in the creation of the San Cassiano theatre in Venice, the first public opera house. By 1627 the fame of the young musician from Marino must have already spread beyond the confines of Tivoli since the vicar Apostolic to Assisi summoned him to the role of maestro di cappella at the cathedral of San Ruffino in the city of Saint Francis. Eloquent testimony to Carissimi’s deep interest in Palestrina can be found preserved in the church archives, which include a copy, presumed to be in his hand, of the Missa ad fugam, the epitome of sixteenth-century counterpoint. The Chapter’s administrative archive bears witness to elements of his daily life. From them we learn that he was abstemious (or at least this can be deduced from his wine allowance that was traded in for money or other foodstuffs), that he was loved and admired by the members of the Chapter from whom he received generous Recreationi (today we would say productivity bonuses) in the form of bread, candles and money. Under Carissimi’s guidance the cathedral choir undoubtedly enjoyed a period of particular glory, testimony to which are the renowned singers they employed during this time: Leonelli (the so called “basso dell’Umbria”) and Giambattista Bovicelli from Assisi, author of one of the most famous treatises on figuration and ornamentation. The Jesuit priest Castorio, rector of the German College in Rome, who had been called to Assisi to pray, would have first come across the extraordinary talent of the local maestro at the feast dedicated to San Rufino, which took place on 11 August every year. In fact it was the rector who personally enticed Carissimi to Rome. So at the beginning of 1630 his brief stay in Assisi came to a close, and he assumed the responsibility that was to occupy his entire life, that of maestro di cappella of the Collegium Germanicum Hungaricum and the attached church of Sant’Apollinare.
The German College, founded and directed by the Jesuits, was created in 1552. It was to a large extent based on the model provided by the seminary, the centre for training candidates for the Catholic priesthood instituted as a result of the Council of Trent. The College was famous throughout Europe and musical training was one of its key educational measures. Such prestigious names as Tomás Luís de Victoria, Agostino Agazzari and Giacomo Carissimi, all of who assumed the mantle of maestro di cappella, demonstrate the widespread fame of the music performed at the church of Sant’Apollinare, making it second to none in Rome.
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