Pontio or Ponzio, Pietro

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Pontio or Ponzio, Pietro

Pontio or Ponzio, Pietro , Italian music theorist and composer; b. Parma, March 25, 1532; d. there, Dec. 27, 1595. He was ordained and then served as maestro di cappella at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo (1565–67) and at Madonna della Steccata in Parma (1567–69). From 1577 to 1582 he was maestro di cappella at Milan Cathedral. In 1582 he returned to his previous position in Parma. Pontio publ. the treatises Ragionamento di musica…ove si tratta de passaggi…et del modo di far motetti, messe, salmi et altre compositioni (Parma, 1588; facsimile ed. in Documenta Musicologica, XVI, 1958) and Dialogo…ove si tratta della theorica et prattica di musica (Parma, 1595). He also publ. 11 vols, of sacred vocal works (Venice, 1580–95), 4 of which are not extant.

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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