Giovanni Animuccia ( – March 1571) was an Italian composer of the Renaissance who was involved in the heart of Rome's liturgical musical life. He was one of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's most important predecessors and possibly his mentor. As of St Philip Neri's Oratory and the Capella Giulia at St Peter's, he was composing music at the very center of the Roman Catholic Church, during the turbulent reforms of the Counter-Reformation and as part of the new movements that began to flourish around the middle of the century. His music reflects these changes. Early life: Florence Animuccia was born in Florence around the beginning of the 16th century. The exact date is variously given as the end of the 15th century, , , and . His brother Paolo Animuccia was also a celebrated composer. However, little is known about their training and work during this period. Giovanni's first and second book of madrigals show similarities with, and may have been modeled on, the music of his slightly older contemporary Francesco Corteccia, court composer to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. Animuccia and Corteccia were the only significant composers writing madrigals in Florence at the time and both composers published books of madrigals around 1547. (Animuccia's —Madrigals and Motets for Four and Five Voices—was published at Venice in 1548.) Animuccia's name is also mentioned in association with Florentine literary circles, suggesting that he was involved with cultural life in Florence. Animuccia's second book of madrigals was published in 1551 after his arrival in Rome. Rome After his arrival in Rome in 1550, Animuccia was employed by Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza. Early on, through his association with Florentine circles (in particular the exiled Altoviti family), Animuccia met his fellow Florentine St Phillip Neri. Music for the oratory St Phillip Neri founded a religious congregation called the Oratory. The Oratory began in the early 1550s as small and informal meetings for religious discussion and prayer; these meetings soon began to attract large numbers of people.<ref>Smither, A History of the Oratorio, p. 42</ref> In 1558, when Phillip obtained a larger room to hold the meetings in, the practice of singing of laudi spirituali was introduced. Singing laudi was a popular practice in Florence following the legacy of Girolamo Savonarola who strongly encouraged its use, and it is natural therefore that Phillip would incorporate this practice into his meetings. Although the precise date is unknown,