Giovanni Sebenico

Giovanni Sebenico was a composer, organist, and tenor of Croatian origin. Born around 1640, presumably in Šibenik, Dalmatia, he was likely a student of Giovanni Legrenzi. His early career saw him serving as vice-maestro di cappella in Cividale del Friuli from 1660 to 1663. Following this, he worked as a tenor singer at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice from July 1663 until 1666.

Between April 1666 and the summer of 1673, Sebenico resided at the court of Charles II in London. By 1668, he held the title of "Master of Italian Music." He was mentioned by the diarist Samuel Pepys as a singer, and Roger North reported hearing him play the organ alongside Matthew Locke.

He returned to Italy in 1673 to assume the post of maestro di cappella at the Savoy court in Turin, a position he held until 1690. After likely spending two years in Venice, he returned to Cividale del Friuli in 1692 as maestro di cappella. Towards the end of his life, illness forced him to cease working, and he lived for a time in Corbola before his death in 1705.

In his time, Sebenico was primarily known as a performer and composer of operas. Three of his known operas were staged in Turin: "L'Atalanta" (1673), "Gli Amori delusi da amore" (1688), and "Leonida in Sparta" (1689). The latter was later revised as "L'oppresso sollevato" for a production in Venice in 1692. While the music for these operas appears to have been lost, the printed librettos for the last two have survived.

Three sacred works were discovered in 1971 in the chapter archive of Cividale del Friuli: a mass titled "Messa chiamata ‘L'imitazione zoccolantissima’" for two choirs and continuo; a somewhat operatic "Responsorio di S Antonio di Padova" for solo voice and violins; and the motet "Lauda, Jerusalem, Dominum," described as a lush score with rich harmony. A fourth work, "O dolor, o moeror," is preserved in the Moravian Museum in Brno.

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