Antonio Cesti
Encyclopedia
Antonio Cesti (bap. 5 August 1623 – 14 October 1669), known today primarily as an Italian
composer of the Baroque
era, he was also a singer (tenor
), and organist
. He was "the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation".
, and studied with various local musicians. In 1637 he joined the Franciscan
order. While he was in Volterra
he turned more toward secular music, probably due to the patronage of the powerful Medici
family. Here he also came in contact with Salvator Rosa
, who wrote libretto
s for a number of Cesti's cantata
s. By 1650 Cesti's calling as a monk and his success as a singer and composer for operas was coming into conflict, and he was officially reprimanded. In 1652 he became a member of the court at Innsbruck
of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria. After holding a post somewhere in Florence as maestro di cappella, he entered the papal chapel in 1660. In 1666 he became Vice-Kapellmeister at Vienna
, and died at Venice in 1669.
Cesti is known principally as a composer of operas. The most celebrated of these were La Dori (Venice, 1663), Il pomo d'oro
(Vienna, 1668) and Orontea
(1656). Il pomo d'oro (The Golden Apple) was performed for the wedding of Emperor Leopold I
. It was far more elaborate than contemporary Venetian operas, including a large orchestra
, numerous choruses, and various mechanical devices used to stage things like gods descending from heaven (deus ex machina
), naval battles, and storms. Orontea was revived seventeen times in the next thirty years, making it one of the most frequently performed operas on the continent in the mid-17th century. Even Samuel Pepys
owned a copy of the score.
Cesti was also a composer of chamber cantata
s, and his operas are notable for the pure and delicate style of their airs, more suited to the chamber than to the stage. He wrote in the bel canto
style of the 17th century, and his compositions were heavily influenced by his career as a professional singer. Cesti's musical writing owes much to the emerging tonality
of the time.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
composer of the Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
era, he was also a singer (tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
), and organist
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
. He was "the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation".
Biography
He was born at ArezzoArezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
, and studied with various local musicians. In 1637 he joined the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
order. While he was in Volterra
Volterra
Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri, to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy.-History:...
he turned more toward secular music, probably due to the patronage of the powerful Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
family. Here he also came in contact with Salvator Rosa
Salvator Rosa
Salvator Rosa was an Italian Baroque painter, poet and printmaker, active in Naples, Rome and Florence. As a painter, he is best known as an "unorthodox and extravagant" and a "perpetual rebel" proto-Romantic.-Early life:...
, who wrote libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
s for a number of Cesti's cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
s. By 1650 Cesti's calling as a monk and his success as a singer and composer for operas was coming into conflict, and he was officially reprimanded. In 1652 he became a member of the court at Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria. After holding a post somewhere in Florence as maestro di cappella, he entered the papal chapel in 1660. In 1666 he became Vice-Kapellmeister at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and died at Venice in 1669.
Music
Il pomo d'oro
Il pomo d'oro is an opera in a prologue and five acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Francesco Sbarra . It was first performed before the imperial court in a specially constructed open-air theatre Vienna in 1668...
(Vienna, 1668) and Orontea
Orontea
Orontea is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini . The first performance took place in Innsbruck on 19 February 1656...
(1656). Il pomo d'oro (The Golden Apple) was performed for the wedding of Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
. It was far more elaborate than contemporary Venetian operas, including a large orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, numerous choruses, and various mechanical devices used to stage things like gods descending from heaven (deus ex machina
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
), naval battles, and storms. Orontea was revived seventeen times in the next thirty years, making it one of the most frequently performed operas on the continent in the mid-17th century. Even Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
owned a copy of the score.
Cesti was also a composer of chamber cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
s, and his operas are notable for the pure and delicate style of their airs, more suited to the chamber than to the stage. He wrote in the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
style of the 17th century, and his compositions were heavily influenced by his career as a professional singer. Cesti's musical writing owes much to the emerging tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
of the time.
Works
| Title | |Libretto | |Première date | |Place, theatre | Venice Venice Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region... , Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo The Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo was a theatre and opera house in Venice located on the Calle della Testa, and takes its name from the nearby Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. Built by the Grimani family in 1638, in its heyday it was considered the most beautiful and comfortable theatre... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Il Cesare amante | Dario Varotari Dario Varotari the Younger Dario Varotari the Younger was an Italian painter, engraver, and poet of the Baroque.He was born in Padua, the son of the painter Alessandro Varotari, and grandson of Dario Varotari the Elder.He was popular as a portrait painter.... |
1651 | Venice, Teatro Grimano | |
| Cleopatra | Dario Varotari | 1654 | Innsbruck Innsbruck - Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus... |
revised version of Il Cesare amante |
| L'Argia | Giovanni Filippo Apolloni | 1655 | Innsbruck | |
| Marte placata | Giovanni Filippo Apolloni | 1655 | Innsbruck | |
| Orontea Orontea Orontea is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini . The first performance took place in Innsbruck on 19 February 1656... |
Giacinto Andrea Cicognini Giacinto Andrea Cicognini Giacinto Andrea Cicognini was an Italian playwright and librettist, the son of poet and playwright Jacopo Cicognini.Cicognini was born in Florence. In 1627, he graduated from the University of Pisa, and he lived in Florence from 1640 to 1645 where he have legal advice to the poet and playwright... , revised by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni |
19 February 1656 | Innsbruck | |
| La Dori | Giovanni Filippo Apolloni | 1657 | Innsbruck | |
| Venere cacciatrice | Francesco Sbarra | 1659 | Innsbruck | lost |
| La magnanimità d’Alessandro | Francesco Sbarra | 1662 | Innsbruck | |
| Il Tito | Nicolò Beregan | 13 February 1666 | Venice, Teatro Grimano | |
| Nettuno e Flora festeggianti | Francesco Sbarra | 12 July 1666 | Vienna | |
| Le disgrazie d'Amore | Francesco Sbarra | 19 February 1667 | Vienna | |
| La Semirami | Giovanni Andrea Moniglia | 9 July 1667 | Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre... |
revised 1674 in Modena Modena Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.... as La schiava fortunata |
| La Germania esultante | Francesco Sbarra | 1667 | Vienna | |
| Il pomo d'oro Il pomo d'oro Il pomo d'oro is an opera in a prologue and five acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Francesco Sbarra . It was first performed before the imperial court in a specially constructed open-air theatre Vienna in 1668... |
Francesco Sbarra | 12–14 July 1668 | Vienna | |
| Genserico | Nicolò Beregan | 1669 | Venice |
Recordings
- Pietro Antonio Cesti "Pasticcio", Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck 1980, excerpts from operas "Il pomo d'oro", "Argia", "Tito", "Orontea", "Dori", "Semirami". Performers: Rene Jacobs, Judith Nelson, William ChristieWilliam Christie (musician)William Lincoln Christie is an American-born French conductor and harpsichordist. He is noted as a specialist in baroque repertoire and as the founder of the ensemble Les Arts Florissants....
, Konrad JunghänelKonrad JunghänelKonrad Junghänel is a German conductor and lutenist. He has given numerous solo concerts all around the world and has also worked with ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants and others....
. ORF Edition Alte Musik.
- Le disgrazie d’amore, Auser MusiciAuser MusiciAuser Musici is a period instrument ensemble centered in Pisa that specializes in early music repertory from the Tuscan region of Italy.-History, Mission, and Activities:...
, Carlo Ipata, director, Hyperion CDA67771 (2010)
See also
- Baroque opera
- Francesco CavalliFrancesco CavalliFrancesco Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron Federico Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman.-Life:Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy...
- Claudio MonteverdiClaudio MonteverdiClaudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
, a contemporary of Cesti