Life
Little is known about Valentini's life. He was born around 1582/3, probably in Venice, and almost certainly studied music under Giovanni Gabrieli there. Although the typical graduation Opus 1 of madrigals to be expected from a Gabrieli pupil - such as Opus 1 of Mogens Pedersøn (1608), Johann Grabbe (1609) and Schütz (1611) - is not extant, Antimo Liberati (1617-1692) who worked in Venice in the 1640s records him in a letter of the 1680s as "Giovanni Valentini Veneziano, della famosa Schola de' Gabrielli."
In approximately 1604/5 Valentini was appointed as organist of the Polish court chapel under Sigismund III Vasa; his first published works are dated 1609 and 1611, when he was still in Poland. In 1614 Valentini was employed by Ferdinand II (who was then the Archduke of Styria) and moved to Graz. The Graz court's music chapel used enharmonic instruments extensively, which was of considerable importance for the development of Valentini's style; a contemporary account of 1617 praises him as a virtuoso performer on the enharmonic clavicymbalum universale, seu perfectum, which had a keyboard of 77 keys spanning four octaves.
In 1619 Ferdinand was elected the Holy Roman Emperor and moved to Vienna with the court and the musicians of the Graz chapel. Valentini served as imperial court organist in Vienna for several years, then became court Kapellmeister in 1626, succeeding Giovanni Priuli, and accepted the post of choral director at the Michaelerkirche in Vienna in 1627/8. Valentini seems to have had an exceptional reputation and was favoured by both Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III (whom he tutored in music), as evidenced by several large monetary gifts from the former and financial support for Valentini's widow from the latter. In this respect, Valentini is similar to Johann Jakob Froberger, who also was a close personal friend of Ferdinand III. Valentini also seems to have been effective as Kapellmeister, managing to significantly increase the salaries for the court chapel musicians.
For unknown reasons, Valentini effectively stopped publishing his music after 1626 (all of his poetry, however, was published after that year). He was involved in the production of the earliest Viennese operas and famously taught the young Johann Kaspar Kerll music, probably in the 1640s. Valentini held the position at the Michaelerkirche until at least 1631, but remained court Kapellmeister until his death in 1649. He was succeeded by Antonio Bertali. In his will, he bequeathed his works to Ferdinand.
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