About the Composers: Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger (ca. 1580-1651) was born in Venice into a family of German aristocrats. In 1604 he moved to Rome, at the time a center of early Baroque music. Along with Frescobaldi and Macoci he entered the service of Cardinal Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII. A very famous composer even in his own day, he published 32 volumes of works in various genres, greatly surpassing the standards of his age. Alessandro Piccinini (1566-ca. 1638) was born in Bologna into a musical family. During his stay in Ferrara in 1594, where he met prince Gesualdo di Venosa and the composer Giulio Caccini, he held an appointment at the Este Court. In 1597 he moved to Bologna in order to enter the service of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, the papal legate to Bologna and Ferrara. He left two volumes of lute music, ‘Intavolatura di liuto et di Chitarrone, libro primo’ (Bologna, 1623) and ‘Intavolaturo di liuto’ (Bologna 1639...