(flc1400). Composer. His name appears only attached to the triplum voice of the (otherwise anonymous) Latin virelai Laus detur multipharia (F-CH 564, f.16v) in honour of St Catherine. The triplum, marked ‘triplum: laus detur: petrus fabri’ was the last of the work's four voice-parts to be copied and it seems likely that, as with similar identifications elsewhere in the manuscript, the ascription serves to identify the author of the piece to which the triplum is to be added, rather than the composer of the added triplum. The virelai employs red minims somewhat unusually to achieve sesquitertia proportion in both cantus and triplum. The most recent modern edition, in PMFC, xviii (1981), erroneously transcribes a flat sign as a rest, causing the cantus part to be incorrect (bars 3–17), while Apel's edition in CMM, liii/3 (1972), is correct. The use of hocket, short imitative passages and sesquitertia proportion is reminiscent of the so-called ‘realistic’ virelai, suggesting that the Latin text may be a contrafactum.
U.Günther: ‘Die Anwendung der Diminution in der Handschrift Chantilly 1047’, AMw, xvii (1960), 1–21
ANNE STONE
Fabri [Fabbri], Stefano (i)
(b Orvieto, c1560; d Loreto, 28 Aug 1609). Italian composer, father of stefano Fabri (ii). His Flemish father, Francesco, was maestro di cappella of Orvieto Cathedral, where the young Stefano served as singer (1568–85), organist (1580–81) and trombonist (1582–3). From 11 May 1590 until March 1591 he was maestro di cappella of the Collegio Germanico, Rome, and from 1 May 1599 to 30 September 1601 he held the same position at the Cappella Giulia in the Basilica di S Pietro. From October 1607 to August 1608 he was maestro of S Giovanni in Laterano, Rome, and on 23 September 1608 he became maestroof the Santa Casa, Loreto; he died less than a year later. As a composer he is known by only two pieces, a five-part madrigal (RISM 16048) and a six-part motet (16132).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G.Baini: Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (Rome, 1828/R), i, 71; ii, 281
G.Tebaldini: L'archivio musicale della Cappella Lauretana (Loreto, 1921)
T.D.Culley: Jesuits and Music, i: A Study of the Musicians connected with the German College in Rome during the 17th Century and of their Activities in Northern Europe (Rome, 1970), 49–51
B.Brumana and G.Ciliberti: Orvieto, una cattedrale e la sua musica (1450–1610) (Florence, 1990), 56–7
ARGIA BERTINI/NOEL O'REGAN
Fabri [Fabbri], Stefano (ii)
(b Rome, c1606; d Rome, 27 Aug 1658). Italian composer, son of stefano Fabri (i). A pupil of G.B. Nanino, he was maestro di cappella of the Seminario Romano, 1638–9, and of S Giovanni dei Fiorentini until 1644. While at the Seminario Romano he presided over music for seven choirs of voices and instruments at the centenary celebrations of the founding of the Jesuit order at the church of the Gesù in 1639, organized by Cardinal Antonio Barberini. On 7 October 1644 he became maestro di cappella of S Luigi dei Francesi. This position, to which Romano Micheli hoped to be appointed, should have been assigned by competition, but the papal singers, who had already refused to sing under Micheli because of his hostile attitude to the papal chapel, sought and obtained the abolition of the competition and the appointment of Fabri, who held the post until December 1656. On 25 February 1657 he was appointed maestro of S Maria Maggiore but died 18 months later. Like his father he seems to have published no collection of his music, though a volume of psalms in the concertato style appeared posthumously, and he is well represented in anthologies of the time devoted to sacred music, again by pieces for small forces.
R.Casimiri: ‘Romano Micheli (1575–1659) e la Cappella Sistina del suo tempo’, NA, iii (1926), 233–45, esp. 238
R.Casimiri: ‘“Disciplina musicae” e “mastri di cappella” dopo il Concilio di Trento nei maggiori istituti ecclesiastici di Roma: Seminario romano – Collegio germanico – Collegio inglese (sec. XVI–XVII)’, NA, xv (1938), 49–64, esp. 59
H.Wessely-Kropik: ‘Mitteilungen aus dem Archiv der Arciconfraternità di San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, detta della Pietà in Rom’, SMw, xxiv (1960), 44–60, esp. 49
G.Dixon: ‘Musical Activity in the Church of the Gesù in Rome during the Early Baroque’, Archivum historicum societatis Jesu, xlix (1980), 323–37
J.Burke: Musicians of S. Maria Maggiore Rome, 1600–1700, NA, new ser., ii (1984), suppl., p.18
J.Lionnet: La musique à Saint-Louis des Français de Rome au XVIIe siècle, NA, new ser., iii (1985), suppl., pp.74–5, 80–83, 90, 95, 146