By the fact that one of the madrigals ("Volgi cor lasso") from his first book of four-voiced madrigals was composed as early as 1566 we can see that Vecchi's career as a composer began quite early, when he was only sixteen. Like many other musicians of his time, Vecchi held a position as chapel organist, this post being in his native Modena. He later determined to enter a priestly order, and in 1586 attained a canonship in the cathedral at Correggio. In 1591 he was appointed to the archdeaconry. In the same year he participated in the editorship of the Roman Graduale, published in Venice by Gardano. In the years after he left Correggio, Vecchi lost his local canonship and with it the stipend of money. He received in its place, however, the post of leading musician in the cathedral at Modena, and two years later was appointed to the ducal chapel. He fell into a dispute, however, with his superiors at the cathedral, and because of the irreconcilability lost his post to his student Geminiano Capilupi. The Modena chronicler Spaccini reported in 1595 that Vecchi was assaulted with a dagger by a stranger, but was not wounded. Catelani reports further adventures and disputes with which he met. These, added to the cathedral dispute in Modena, indicate a rather stormy temperament and love for excitement. Through it all, Vecchi was an extremely happy man, and his music reflects his felicitous and excitable nature. He wrote often in a facetious vein, as one sees clearly in L'Amfiparnaso. Even in his serious moments he did not sink to the deep despair typical of Gesualdo and Monteverdi. In some repects Vecchi was ahead of his time. While his harmonic style does not display extreme chromaticism, it shows a decided tendency toward the common-practice concept of tonality, especially at the cadence points.

As a composer Vecchi enjoyed a widespread reputation, and princes endeavored to draw him to their courts. We know, for example, that the courts at Vienna and Warsaw sent him costly presents. Of his many compositions nearly all have been preserved, both secular and sacred.

Horatio Vecchi's 1594 madrigal comedy L'Amfiparnaso ("The Environs of, or Striving toward, Mt. Parnassus"), is an allegorical title referring to that mountain of sublime artistic aspirations in Greece, frequented by the Muses.  Allegorical titles had come very much into vogue at the close of the 16th century in the publication of secular vocal works.  Elusive titles attracted attention and were found to stimulate purchases.  In the light of such a practical expedient we are perhaps more content to dismiss the enigma and accept the Italian title into our own language.  The subtitle, "Comedia harmonica" signifies a musical comedy, a term which has come down to our own day.

The music of L'Amfiparnaso is set for five voices: Canto, Alto, Quinto, Tenore and Basso. The text of L'Amfiparnaso, presumably written also by Vecchi, is in several dialects, as befit the characters representing various parts of Italy and Spain. Vecchi depends for his humor almost entirely upon the plays on words which he is able to introduce through these various dialects. A fine balance is maintained by alternating comic and serious elements throughout the work.

L'Amfiparnaso Editions from API

Full Score - AP-1705 - English and Italian texts - edited by William J. Ballard

Compact Disc Recording - AP-0086 CD - The Tudor Singers directed by William J. Ballard

Separate L'Amfiparnaso Selected Titles

• A Tender Madrigal - SATTB - AP-1710
• Come Here, Zannico - SATTB - AP-1707
• I Want Your Daughter - SATTB - AP-1706
• Knick Knack Knick Knock - SATTB - AP-1711
• Lets Arrange the Wedding - SSATB - AP-1709
• Lifes Dearest Treasure - SSATB - AP-1712
• My Dear Captain - SATTB - AP-1708

Notes on Three Marches for Dr. Kabyl

In the biography of Dr. Kabyl enclosed within this score of Three Marches authored by the composer, one can find enough interesting material to wow anyone about the one and only bizarre Dr. Kabyl (we don’t even know his first name!). Yet, we know that he was born in Moravia, came to the USA, fought in the Civil War, played his clarinet at the Battle of the Big Horn, worked on the laying of track for the Northern Pacific Railway, wrestled whales in Puget Sound, etc. etc... In 1893, he coincidentally met Antonin Dvorak in St. Paul when he was visiting Minnehaha Falls. In 1895, we find him in Africa, working with pygmies,— a tribe named Kabyles. And the story continues! A most interesting chap who led a most varied life!

The Czech Moravian spirit of wit and wonderful craziness of Dr. Kabyl lives on via the musical craft of Jan Vicar. As entertaining and engaging as the life of Dr. Kabyl was, that same essence is captured by the composer in "Vicar’s," "Three Marches," "—General McCook," "Walking Whales in Washington," and "Pixie" —which celebrate certain characteristics of Kabyl with sheer abandonment through singing, whistles, percussion punches, and sparkling dissonances of melodic fragments at 1/2 step intervals, all creating a champagne of sheer musical frolic! Perfect for marching band satires, encores, children’s programs, political rallies, and scores of other events. Three Marches is guaranteed to bring smiles of joy and laughter!

"Who is Dr. Kabyl?" by Jan Vicar

Dr. Kabyl was a lawyer, traveler, adventurer and builder of American railways, an amateur musician, and lover of fine arts. He was of Czech origin. Information about his life is based solely on the material incidentally preserved in a newspaper article — Dr. Kabyl, unknown comrade of General Alexander McDowell McCook —published in Nebraska sometime in March of 1899. An attempt to verify at least some of the statements in this article has led to the surprising discovery that official records for the name Kabyl are either missing in registers and other archive files or have been changed for unknown reasons. Alas, Kabyl'’s Christian name is nowhere to be found. He will never be known by any name other than the title of doctor by which he was identified in the retouched record about Kabyl’'s birth.

Dr. Kabyl was born in Krelov near Olomouc (in today’s Czech Republic) in 1839. He studied liberal arts at the University in Olomouc, and, after the cancellation of this university by the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I in 1860, he went on to study law at the newly established University in Innsbruck, present-day Austria. As a native Moravian, he was active in the Czech national revival student movement. However, after he had participated in transporting the historical insignia of Olomouc University to Innsbruck, he was denounced for national ambiguousness and political time-serving. This experience, followed by an abortive attempt to work as an articled clerk in Vyskov and Holesov (in Moravia, present-day Czech Republic), probably contributed to his decision to emigrate to America.

In America, he fought in the Civil War against the South at the side of General McCook, to whom he dedicated his march "Captain." Four bars of the instrumental introduction to this composition are known because they were reprinted as a facsimile of a manuscript in the above mentioned newspaper article. Later, Dr. Kabyl took part in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean and particularly, in the building of the railway station at the edge of the Missisippi River, in the locality named Saint Cloud (today, St. Cloud, Minnesota). Later, in the region of Puget Sound in the state of Washington, he became a household name for his whirls with whales.

But Kabyl’'s unfulfilled dream, inspired by his reading of books by Jules Verne, was to connect the American Capitol, Washington, D. C., with Seattle (Washington) and Vancouver in Canada by an elevated express rail-line. He traveled to the Capitol itself occasionally, especially to lobby for this and other visionary projects. He also participated in some demonstrations at the Mall aimed against the malpractices of some Republican Congressmen.

At Minnehaha Falls in Minnesota, he met Antonin Dvorak in 1893 by accident. But he came to see this chance meeting as the major event of his life. He passionately loved music, and since his service in the Military Band of the 40th king and emperors’ infantry regiment in Olomouc, he played a fair clarinet. For this instrument, he wrote the tragically lost work, "Assassination," which the above mentioned article cryptically suggests as having a possible relation to the famous Sioux victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn, as well as some subtle allusions to his friendship with the celebrated Sioux Chief, Sitting Bull, whom he reputedly met several times.

It is not evident how Dr. Kabyl supported himself in America, and moreover, what caused his sudden departure for Africa. In the middle of 1890, where, already in the employ of British Queen Victoria, he explored the catchment of river Zambezi in the area of Victoria Waterfalls from the point of view of building a railway. He kept company with the pygmies, Bushmen and Liliputs, studied their languages and called them friendly (skr“etove, pronounced "skrzhehtohveeh"). He claimed that the smallest elf he had ever met was able to hide himself behind the picture hanging on the wall of his workroom. All traces of Dr. Kabyl vanish soon after the publication of the article in 1899, although this musical adventurer and traveller appeared among the Moravians in the area of Salem (today's Winston-Salem) in North Carolina for a short visit. After several months, he left for North Africa, intending to do research among Berberian tribes the origin of a tribal group designated mysteriously as Kabyles.

Dr. Kabyl was an excellent connoisseur of languages, especially of English which he spoke fluently, with only the slightest strange residue of his Moravian pronunciation, and especially of its Kr“elovian variant.

Dr. Kabyl was, more or less accidentally, recalled for the first time in the Song of Zambezi published in 1963 by the authors Jan Vicar and Zdenek Karlach. The Three Marches for Dr. Kabyl by Jan Vicar, composed in 1999, are a memorial to this mysterious personality. The first two parts of this cycle were premiered by the musicologist and conductor Dr. Stanislav Bohadlo in McCook, Nebraska, on March 14, 1999. The complete performance of the three marches was introduced by the lieutenant Radomil Cilecek and Garrison Music Brno at Semilasso Hall, on November 6, 2000. The Three Marches are dedicated to McCook, Nebrastka ("General McCook"), to Kenton Frohrip ("Walking Whales in Washington"), and to the St. Cloud (MN) University Wind Ensemble, Richard Hansen, conductor ("Pixie"). The composer arranged Three Marches for Dr. Kabyl also for brass quintet which was finished on March 14, 2000.

He made simple four-part settings of psalms taken from the the fourth edition of his Psalmi poenitentiales (1611) and published them under the title Sacrarum odarum, libri duo, quorum prior psalmos Davidicos (Frankfurt 1618). Traces of modalism and 16th-century methods are found in his works. "Rorando Coeli" is written homophonically for double choir (antecedent) overlapping closely with the second choir (consequent) in the final section. The original was in the key of C but has been transposed to A major to provide a better tessitura for contemporary choirs.

This work is most effectively performed with a solo quartet singing the echo standing at a distance from the choir. Utilize the accoustics of your performing area to the best advantage in bringing alive this work created 400 years ago!