Maestro Armando Renzi was one of the most complete and genial musician of 1900.
Pianist, Composer and Conductor, in each of these disciplines he poured his inexhaustible genius.
His work method was Renaissance style, he slept very little and already by dawn, he was at the piano or at his seat composing, often writing in standing position like the ancient scribes.
He was Maestro Emeritus at the Giulia Chapel in the Vatican and each day he was to compose the principal vespers, motets and masses for the liturgical services.
As a teacher, he was a beacon to the numerous students whom he guided in his life, including myself.
He taught all the severe rules of Counterpoint and Harmony in precise and rigorous fashion, pointing out to all of us music’s deepest sense of form and structure. They were brilliantly illustrated and explained by the Maestro, often at the piano, the Prelude, the Fugue, the Sonata Form, the Symphony and all music forms.
He encouraged us to compose our music at the piano, to secure the musical thought; he taught us to discern the quality of our compositions to justify their existence without indulging in the trends of the time. His compositions, one for all “La Cantata dell’Acqua Viva” and then the quartets, the sung masses, the vespers, are milestones in the History of Sacred Music in Italy and in the world.
For this and much more a wholehearted Thank You to Maestro Armando Renzi.
Luciano Michelini
Singer Archivist Cappella Giulia
St. Peter in the Vatican
July 2014
