Giacomo Filippo Biumi

Italian composer and organist (b Milan(?), c1580; d Milan, Nov 24, 1653). He was organist of at least two churches in Milan, first of S Maria della Passione, afterwards (certainly in 1612) of S Ambrogio. On 30 March 1623 he was appointed organist at the second organ of Milan Cathedral, succeeding Cesare Borgo, and he held this post until his death. In January 1651 the cathedral chapter saw that he was too old to do the job alone and gave him an assistant, Francesco Fumasio. His contemporaries praised Biumi as an excellent organist. In his sacred music he followed the polyphonic tradition strictly, whereas he showed a freer inventiveness in his instrumental canzoni alla francese. The four-part canzonas and the correntes in this volume are rich in modern stylistic elements, while the eight-part canzonas show the influence of Giovanni Gabrieli and the Venetian polychoral style.