Background
Mainerio was born in Parma, Italy between 1530 and 1540. His father is thought to have been Scottish given that Giorgio signed Mayner as his family name.
Mainerio was born in Parma, Italy between 1530 and 1540. His father is thought to have been Scottish given that Giorgio signed Mayner as his family name.
During his education he studied music, but he did not immediately begin a musical career.
In 1560, being a presbyter, he sought work as a chaplain and altarista by the church of Santa Maria Annunziata in Udine. In Udine, Mainerio spent ten years (from 1560 to 1570) and there, thanks to his previous musical knowledge and to the lessons given to him by two local contrapuntists, Gabriele Martinengo (Maestro di cappella from 1562 to 1567) and Ippolito ChiamaterĂ² (Maestro di cappella from 1567 to 1570), he started his musical career. The Inquisition in Aquileia started a preliminary investigation but the case was closed for lack of evidence.
He was accepted at Aquileia and moved there, living in the quiet and isolated Patriarchate.
In 1578 he became Maestro di cappella at the church of South. Chiesa d"Aquilegia. During the last years of his life he had problems with his health and often left the church in favour of travels to Venice, Ancona, and thermal baths.
His death was announced to the Chapter on May 4, 1582. An adaptation of Mainerio"s Schiarazula Marazula appears as "Ballo in Fa diesis minore" on Angelo Branduardi"s 1977 album Louisiana pulce d"acqua (English edition as Fables and Fantasies, 1980).
Mainerio"s character appears in a story of the popular Italian comics book/horror Dampyr, issued monthly by Sergio Bonelli Editore.
The story, entitled Il musicista stregato ("The Bewitched Musician") and published in #107 of the regular series in February 2009, was written by Mauro Boselli on a plot by Mario Faggella and drawn by Mario Rossi (Majo).