Gioseffo Guami

Gioseffo Guami
(b Lucca, 27 Jan 1542; d Lucca, 1611). Organist and composer. He was the most illustrious member of the family.

The circumstances of his early training are unknown, but he must have shown unusual promise, for he was sent to Venice to study, perhaps as early as 1557, under the sponsorship of two Lucchese noblemen. Here he was a pupil of Willaert and Annibale Padovano and a singer in the cappella grande. As early as 1562, his compositions were appearing in anthologies alongside those of the leading composers in Venice. In 1567 Lasso made a special trip to Italy to recruit Gioseffo and his brother (2) Francesco for the Bavarian court chapel as organist and trombonist respectively. Both were employed at the court from at least 1568 with equal salaries of 180 florins each (there are no court records extant from before that date). The records show Gioseffo's service there until 1570 and again from 1574 to 1579. Massimo Troiano's official account of the wedding of Duke Wilhelm V to Renée of Lorraine, in 1568, already names Guami, praising him as the ‘excellentissimo’ organist. Between 1570 and 1574 he spent some time in Italy with Lassus, but the full circumstances of these years are not known. One sworn testimony supporting his later appointment at S Marco, Venice, shows he held the title of capo delli concerti, as well as organist at the Bavarian court chapel; this may refer to his second period of employment at the court. In 1574 Guami was also appointed organist at S Michele, Lucca, but he did not actually take up the position until 1579 when he received a special gift of 130 florins from the Bavarian court to return to Lucca, where he was married on 6 July of that year. Guami's length of service in Lucca is uncertain, but he was still there in 1582. By 1585 he was serving as maestro di cappella at the court of Prince Gian Andrea Doria in Genoa. He had returned to Lucca by 1587, but the exact circumstances of his employment are unknown. He was elected to the post of first organist at S Marco, Venice, on 30 April 1588, and, according to a letter of recommendation from a priest there, had already achieved ‘universal renown’. Zarlino's sworn testimony in the proceedings stated that there was ‘none better qualified than he to serve the church’ an assessment echoed in the sworn testimonies of ten other leading Venetian musicians, including Giovanni Gabrieli. Three years later under somewhat mysterious circumstances Guami left the position ‘senza licenza’ and returned to Lucca; the reason may have been his disappointment at not being selected as Zarlino's successor as maestro of the cathedral. He was appointed on 5 April 1591 to his last position, as organist at Lucca Cathedral which he held until his death 20 years later. It was while serving there that he had Adriano Banchieri as a pupil. After his death his son (4) Vincenzo was elected on 20 January 1612 to succeed him as organist at the cathedral.