Angelo Berardi (c. 1636 in

Sant'Agata Feltria Sant'Agata Feltria ( rgn, Sant'Êgta) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rimini in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna and about south of Rimini. Overview It is home to a large fortress (''Fortil ...

– 9 April 1694 in Rome) was an Italian

music theorist Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

and composer. Berardi was born in

. He received early education at

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

under Giovanni Vincenzo Sarti (1600–1655). From 1662 he was ''

maestro di cappella (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

'' in

Montefiascone Montefiascone is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, central Italy. It stands on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Bolsena, about north of Rome. History The name of the city derives from that of the Falisci (''Mons Fa ...

, in the

province of Viterbo Viterbo ( it, provincia di Viterbo) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. Geography Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan City of Rome C ...

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. He studied under

Marco Scacchi Marco Scacchi (ca. 1600 – 7 September 1662) was an Italian composer and writer on music. Scacchi was born in Gallese, Lazio. He studied under Giovanni Francesco Anerio in Rome. He was associated with the court at Warsaw from 1626, and was '' ...

Gallese Gallese is an Italian ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo, from Viterbo. It was taken by Duke Thrasimund II of Spoleto in 737 or 738, at which time it was essential to communications between Rome and Ravenna and had a large ...

at some time between 1650 and Scacchi's death in 1662; he included two motets by Scacchi in Book 1 of his ''Documenti armonici'' of 1687, and also cites him frequently. By 1667, when his ''Salmi vespertini concertati'', Op. 4, were published, Berardi was ''maestro di cappella'' at the cathedral in

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history. ...

. He was organist and ''maestro di cappella'' at Tivoli from 21 September 1673 to 1679, and ''maestro di cappella'' and "professor of music" at the cathedral in

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

in 1681 or from 1679–1683. He was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

at the ''collegiata'' of S. Angelo, Viterbo, when the ''Documenti armonici'' (1687) and ''Miscellanea musicale'' (1689) were published. By 17 August 1692 he was ''maestro di cappella'' at

Santa Maria in Trastevere The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere); en, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and ...

in Rome.E. Simi Bonini, ''Angelo Berardi'', "Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana", XXXV/4 (2001), pp. 497-534 He died in Rome in 1694. Berardi composed a significant body of work, mostly of a sacred nature, but he is better known for his writings on music theory and

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

. His first treatise, published in 1670 or in any case before 1681, has not survived, but is referred to in his ''Ragionamenti musicali'' (1681), which deals with the origins of music and the proliferation of musical styles. Both the ''Documenti armonici'' (1687) and the ''Miscellanea musicale'' (1689) discuss contemporary contrapuntal practices.

Compositions

*''Sinfonie a violino solo con basso continuo Libro primo Op. 7'' (Bologna, 1670) *2 collections of two- to four-part sacred songs *4 collections of three- to six-part psalms *about 20 masses *chamber music for various forces

Theoretical works

*''Dicerie musicali'', before 1681, lost *''Ragionamenti musicali composti dal Sig. Angelo Berardi ... dedicati all'illustriss. e reuerendiss. Sig. il Sig. abbate Carlo Antonio Sampieri da Giuseppe Orsolini luchese ... '' Bologna: Giacomo Monti 1681 *''Aggiunta di D. Angelo Berardi, ... alli suoi ragionamenti musicali, nella quale si pruova, che la musica è vera, e reale scienza ... '' Bologna: Giacomo Monti 1681 *''Documenti armonici di D. Angelo Berardi da S. Agata, canonico nell' insigne collegiata di S. Angelo di Viterbo, nelle quali con varii discorsi, regole, et essempii si dimostrano gli studi artificiosi della musica, oltre il modo di usare le ligature, e d'intendere il valore di ciascheduna figura sotto qual sia segno ... '' Bologna: Giacomo Monti 1687 *''Miscellanea musicale di D. Angelo Berardi da S. Agata, canonico nell' insigne collegiata di S. Angelo di Viterbo, divisa in tre parti dove con dottrine si discorre delle materie più curiose della musica: con regole, et essempii si tratta di tutto il contrapunto con l'intreccio di bellissimi secreti per li professori armonici ... '' Bologna: Giacomo Monti 1689 *''Arcani musicali svelati dalla vera amicitia ne' quali appariscono diversi studii artificiosi, molte osservazioni, e regole concernenti alla tessitura de' componimenti armonici, con un modo facilissimo per sonare trasportato'' Bologna: Pier-Maria Monti 1690 *''Il perché musicale, overo staffetta armonica nella quale la ragione scioglie le difficoltà, e gli esempi dimostrano il modo d'isfuggire gli errori, e di tessere con artificio i componimenti musicali; opera del canonico D. Angelo Berardi da S. Agata ... '' Bologna: Pier-Maria Monti 1693

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berardi, Angelo 1630s births 1694 deaths 17th-century Italian composers People from the Province of Pesaro and Urbino Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers Italian music theorists 17th-century male musicians Josquin scholars