Born in Venice, Giovanni Kapsberger won early distinction as a player of the chitarrone and published what seems to have been the first collection of music for the theorbo in 1604. He settled in Rome, where in 1624 he entered the service of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of the newly elected Pope Urban VIII.
Lute Music
As one of the leading players of the theorbo, Kapsberger left a number of collections of lute tablature for his instrument.
Vocal Music
A Mass by Kapsberger was performed in the Sistine Chapel, and he set other liturgical texts. His secular vocal music includes a number of collections of madrigals, villanelle and songs. Only one of his stage works survives: the Apotheosis sive Consecratio SS Ignatii et Francisci Xaverii of 1622.