Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger

Johannes Hieronymus von Kapsberger, commonly known by his Italian name: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, (also: Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger, Giovanni Geronimo Kapsperger; possibly Venice, c. 1580 – Rome, 17 January 1651) was an Austrian-Italian virtuoso performer and composer of the early Baroque period. A prolific and highly original composer, Kapsberger is chiefly remembered today for his lute and theorbo (chitarrone) music, which was seminal in the development of these as solo instruments. He was nicknamed "the noble German" and "the German of the theorbo", referencing his ethnicity and fame as a virtuoso of the theorbo and of the other instruments belonging to the lute family.