Antimo Liberati (3 April 1617 – 24 February 1692) 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 (ke ...

, composer, and

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

singer. Born in

Foligno Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located so ...

, Liberati began his musical training began in Rome in 1628 when he was admitted to the choir of

San Giovanni in Laterano The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...

, at the time under the direction of

Antonio Maria Abbatini Antonio Maria Abbatini ( or 1610 – or 1679) was an Italian composer, active mainly in Rome. Abbatini was born in Città di Castello. He served as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of St. John Lateran from 1626 to 1628; at the cathedral in Orv ...

. He also studied law and fine arts and for a time worked as a notary in Foligno. From 1637 to 1643 Liberati was a court musician in the service of

Emperor Ferdinand III Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608, in Graz – 2 April 1657, in Vienna) was from 1621 Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary from 1625, King of Croatia and Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 until his death in 1657. Fe ...

and Archduke Leopold in Vienna. He was appointed a member of the Sistine Chapel Choir in 1662, served as its secretary (''puntatore'') in 1670 and its '' maestro di cappella'' in 1674 and 1675. He composed numerous pieces of sacred music of which 22 survive. However, he was primarily known for his writings on music theory, especially ''Epitome della musica'' (1666) and ''Lettera scritta dal sig. Antimo Liberati in risposta ad una del sig. Ovidio Persapegi'' (1685). The diary which he produced in his year as ''puntatore'' of the Sistine Chapel Choir is considered an invaluable source of information on the singers of his day and the workings of the choir. Liberati died in Rome at the age of 74 and was buried in the tomb of the papal singers in

Santa Maria in Vallicella Santa Maria in Vallicella, also called Chiesa Nuova, is a church in Rome, Italy, which today faces onto the main thoroughfare of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the corner of Via della Chiesa Nuova. It is the principal church of the Oratorians, ...

. In his will he left his music scores to the

Foligno Cathedral Foligno Cathedral ( it, Basilica Cattedrale di San Feliciano; Duomo di Foligno) is a Catholic cathedral situated on the Piazza della Repubblica in the center of Foligno, Italy. The cathedral, built on the site of an earlier basilica, is dedicated t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberati, Antimo 1617 births 1692 deaths Italian music theorists 17th-century Italian singers Roman school composers 17th-century Italian composers Sistine Chapel Choir People from Foligno