Secondo Libro di Ricercari a tre voci

The ricercars for three voices by Pietro Vinci and some ricercars by Antonio Il Verso, his pupilIn 1591 the most important contribution to instrumental music by Sicilian authors in the 16th century appeared: the Secondo Libro de Motetti e Ricercari a tre voci di Pietro Vinci con alcuni Ricercari di Antonio Il Verso suo discepolo, published in partbooks in Venice by the heirs of Girolamo Scotto and dedicated to the Prince of Paternò.
Pietro Vinci, the founder of the Sicilian polyphonic school, was born in Nicosia (central Sicily, now in the province of Enna) in around 1515.
He seems to have received his musical training in Sicily for his first known works, though published in Venice, were dedicated to illustrious Sicilian personages.
Between 1567 and 1581, he lived in Lombardy, where he served for twelve years as maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo.
In 1581 he returned to his native Nicosia, and he died there in 1584.
He probably traveled to Naples toward the end of the 1550s and the early 1560s, for he had pupils from Neapolitan circles.
Pietro Cerone, in his monumental treatise , referred to Pietro Vinci by such epithets as musico singular, madrigalista moderno da imitar seguramente y sin peligro, inventor de las diversidades de los contrapuntos.
Antonio il Verso, Vinci’s most important disciple, was born in Piazza (now Piazza Armerina) in about 1560.
After the death of his teacher, Il Verso moved to Palermo where he died in 1621, leaving behind numerous pupils from the aristocracy and the clergy.