Banchieri, Adriano (1568–1634)

Italian organist, theorist, and composer. He was a Benedictine monk, and helped to found the Accademia dei Floridi in Bologna in 1615. He wrote theoretical works, especially on figured bass (L'organo suonarino, 1605). Cartella musicale (1614) advises on vocal ornamentation. His sequence of madrigals La pazzia senile (1595) has been described as the first comic opera.

A pupil of Gioseffo Guami, in 1596 he became organist at the monastery of San Michele in Bosco (Monte Oliveto) near Bologna, to which he returned in 1609, remaining there until shortly before his death; from 1600 to 1604 he was organist at Santa Maria in Regola at Imola.

Works Masses; sacred symphonies and concertos; comic intermezzi for the stage; organ works.