Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (b. 1605)

(Gian) Giacomo Carissimi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒaːkomo kaˈrissimi] (listen); baptized 18 April 1605 – 12 January 1674) was an Italian composer and music teacher. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi established the characteristic features of the Latin oratorio and was a prolific composer of masses, motets and cantatas. He was highly influential in musical developments in north European countries through his pupils, like Kerll in Germany and Charpentier in France, and the wide dissemination of his music.