Giovanni Battista Grillo

Giovanni Battista Grillo
(b late 16th century; d Venice, mid-Nov 1622). Italian organist and composer.

He seems to have spent part of his early life in Austria, possibly in Graz, for some of his compositions were presented in manuscript form by the Graz court musician Francesco degli Atti to Duke Ferdinand of Austria in 1613, and Grillo's only surviving printed church music was dedicated to the same prince five years later. A Venetian chronicler, Giovanni Nicolò Doglioni, also reports that he was called to Italy from the service of German princes. But nothing is known for certain until 1612, when on 28 August he was elected organist to the Venetian religious confraternity, the Scuola Grande di S Rocco. His election was later challenged by one of his competitors, Giovanni Picchi, but Grillo's appointment was confirmed on 17 March 1613. He seems to have remained in this post until his death, for he took part in the celebrations of the festival of S Rocco each year. In 1615, according to Romano Micheli's Musica vaga et artificiosa, he was also organist at the church of the Madonna dell'Orto, and he became first organist of S Marco on 30 December 1619. Grillo was one of the composers to write music for the requiem in Venice for Cosimo II of Tuscany (Monteverdi was another) in 1621. His successor at S Marco was appointed in 1623, but from both the records of the Scuola Grande di S Rocco and a letter of Monteverdi (dated 31 December 1622) it seems that he died in mid-November 1622.