Giulio Cesare Martinengo (1564 or c. 1568 – July 10, 1613) was an Italian composer and teacher of the late Renaissance and early Baroque Venetian School. He was the predecessor to Claudio Monteverdi at St. Mark's. Events March 27 — Naples bans kissing in public under the penalty of death June 22 — Fort Caroline, the first French attempt at colonizing the New World September 10 — The Battle of Kawanakajima Ottoman Turks invade Malta Modern pencil becomes common in England Conquistadors crossed the Pacific Spanish founded a colony... Events March 23 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... Events January - Galileo observes Neptune, but mistakes it for a star and so is not credited with its discovery. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 to 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced. ... Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi. ... San Marco di Venezia, as seen from the Piazza San Marco St Marks Basilica (Italian: Basilica di San Marco) is the most famous of the churches of Venice and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. ...

He probably came from Verona, and was the son of composer Gabriele Martinengo. Accounts giving his birthdate are conflicting: one from his mother claims he was born in 1564, but a document from the "house of the Accoliti" in Verona gives his age in 1583 as 15. He studied with his father in Verona, and in the 1590s he served at Verona Cathedral as a singer as well as a priest. Verona (population est. ... 1583 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... Events 1590 March 14 - Battle of Ivry - Henry IV of France again defeats the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne. ... Roman Catholic priests in traditional clerical clothing. ...

Martinengo is principally famous as the successor to Giovanni Croce, and predecessor to Claudio Monteverdi, to the post of maestro di cappella at St. Mark's in Venice, which was by far the most prestigious post in northern Italy. He was hired on August 22, 1609, at a pay of 200 ducats, after an audition, and on the recommendation of the Veronese. Martinengo's tenure was a failure; he was sick most of the time, and the standards of the choir and instrumentalists slipped badly, according to contemporary accounts. In addition, the establishment took on considerable debt and became disorganized and demoralized. Martinengo lacked the ability to manage the finances; according to the records of San Marco, he continually asked for advances on his salary, he was unable to pay the basilica's creditors, and on his death he still owed the treasurer his back salary for several months. He died only four years after his appointment, and the basilica authorities where much relieved to be able to hire Claudio Monteverdi, who restored the musical establishment at San Marco to the magnificence it had lost. Giovanni Croce (also Ioanne a Cruce Clodiensis) (1557 – May 15, 1609) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the Venetian School. ... Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi. ... Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venexia) is the capital of the region of Veneto and the province of the same name in Italy. ... August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... // Events April 4 – King of Spain signs an edit of expulsion of all moriscos from Spain April 9 – Spain recognizes Dutch independence May 23 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia. ...

Little of Martinengo's music has survived. One motet, Regnum mundi, is in the progressive concertato style, similar to contemporary works by Lodovico Grossi da Viadana. He also wrote three books of madrigals. In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... Concertato (sometimes called stile concertato) is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a genre or a style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. ... Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (usually Lodovico Viadana, though his given name was Grossi) (c. ... A madrigal is a setting for 3–6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ...

References and further reading

• Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• Denis Arnold, Monteverdi. London, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1975. ISBN 0-460-03155-4
• Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi. New York, Dover Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-486-28151-5
• Denis Arnold/Tiziana Morsanuto: "Giulio Cesare Martinengo", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 13, 2005), (subscription access)