Cristofaro or Cristoforo Caresana (ca. 1640–1709) was an Italian

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

composer, organist and

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

. He was an early representative of the Neapolitan operatic school. Born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, his precise birthday is not known. After studying under

Pietro Andrea Ziani Pietro Andrea Ziani (1616 in Venice 1684 in Naples) was an Italian organist and composer.Rappresentazione sacra: geistliches Musikdrama am Wiener Kaiserhof Richard Bletschacher - 1985 PIETRO ANDREA ZIANI Wurde am 21. 12. 1616 in Venedig getauft. ...

(uncle of

Marc'Antonio Ziani Marc'Antonio Ziani (c. 1653 – 22 January 1715) was an Italian composer living in Vienna. Ziani was born in Venice. He probably studied with his uncle, the organist Pietro Andrea Ziani. From 1686 to 1691 Ziani was ''maestro di cappella'' to Duk ...

) in Venice, he moved to Naples late in his teens, where he joined the theatre company of Febi Armonici which produced early examples of

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

. Later, in 1667, he became an organist and singer in the Chapel Royal and director of the Neapolitan Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana, one of the famed orphanage-music schools of Naples, until 1690. In 1699 he succeeded

Francesco Provenzale Francesco Provenzale (25 September 1632 – 6 September 1704) was an Italian Baroque composer and teacher. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. Notably Provenzale was the teacher of famed castrato 'il cavaliere ...

as Master of the Treasury of San Gennaro. He wrote music for a number of other Neapolitan institutions until his death in Naples in 1709. Amongst others, the Spanish guitarist and composer

Gaspar Sanz Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 (baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theolo ...

studied music theory under his tutelage. He is remembered for his

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s, especially for the nativity season as well as instrumental interludes sometimes featuring spatially separated ensembles. His music continues to be played and recorded to the present day and stands as a testament to the quality of this Neapolitan baroque composer.

Works

*Missa defunctorum for double choir. Dinko Fabris ''Music in seventeenth-century Naples: Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704)'' 2007 p. 97 "Provenzale's colleague Cristoforo Caresana left at least one Missa defunctorum for double choir and instruments ... Auctore Christoforo Caresana 1667' (Di Giacomo 1918, 41)."

Selected recordings

*''L’Adoratione de’ Maggi'' Christmas cantata for 6 voices (1676) with ''La Veglia'' Christmas cantata for 6 voices (1674), ''Demonio, Angelo e Tre Pastori'' cantata for 5 voices (1676), Partenope Leggiadra – secular cantata (1703).

Cappella della Pietà de' Turchini Cappella Neapolitana is an early music ensemble based in Naples and dedicated to the recovery of Neapolitan musical heritage, primarily from the baroque era. The Cappella Neapolitana was founded in 2016 by the musicologist and conductor Antonio F ...

dir. Florio, Glossa 2010.

Sources

Cristofaro Caresana
hoasm.org

musicweb-international.com *'' Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caresana, Cristofaro Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers 1640s births 1709 deaths Year of birth uncertain Classical composers of church music