Barrè, Antonio

Extract

(b Langres; fl Rome, 1551–72). French printer. He was a singer in the Cappella Giulia intermittently from March 1552 until at least the end of 1554, and was also active as a composer: in 1552 his Madrigali a quattro voci were printed in Rome by Valerio and Luigi Dorico.

In 1555 he began to print music, publishing a series of collections entitled ‘delle muse’, Vicentino’s L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna pratica (1555; in 1551 Barrè had been a witness at the famous debate between Vicentino and Lusitano in Rome) and a few volumes devoted to single composers. His first publication, Il primo libro delle muse a cinque (1555), set a high standard, with canzone settings by Barrè himself, Berchem, Vincenzo Ruffo and Arcadelt, including Arcadelt’s superb setting of Petrarch’s Chiare, fresch’e dolci acque. Barrè’s Primo libro delle muse a quattro voci (1555) includes his own setting of four stanzas from Ariosto’s ...