Pietro Marc'Antonio Cesti () (baptism 5 August 162314 October 1669), known today primarily as an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...

composer of the

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 th ...

era, was also a singer ( tenor), and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

. He was "the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation".

Biography

He was born at

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level ...

, and studied with various local musicians. In 1637 he joined the Order of Friars Minor, or

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, a Roman Catholic religious group founded by

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christian ...

. While he was in

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History Volt ...

he turned more toward secular music, perhaps due to the patronage and influence of the powerful Medici family. Here he also came in contact with

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...

, who wrote libretti for a number of Cesti's

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 th ...

s. By 1650 Cesti's calling as a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

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 Ferdinand Charles (17 May 1628 – 30 December 1662) was the Archduke of Further Austria, including Tyrol, from 1646 to 1662. As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia de' Medici, he succeeded his father upon the latter's death in 1632, u ...

. 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.

Music

Cesti is known principally as a composer of operas. The most celebrated of these were ''La Dori'' (Innsbruck, 1657), ''

Il pomo d'oro ''Il pomo d'oro'' (''The Golden Apple'') is an opera in a prologue and five acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Francesco Sbarra (1611-1668). It was first performed before the imperial court in a specially constructed op ...

'' (Vienna, 1668) and ''

Orontea ''Orontea'' is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini (revised by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni). Performance history The first performance took place in Innsbruck on ...

'' (1656). ''Il pomo d'oro'' (''The Golden Apple'') was written for the wedding in Vienna of Emperor Leopold I in 1666, and first performed in 1668, in a famously lavish production. 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 ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

''), 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. It includes a well-known soprano aria "''Intorno all'idol mio''" (English: "''Around my idol''"). Cesti was also a composer of

chamber cantata Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations *Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics *Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...

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 (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

'' style of the 17th century, and his compositions were heavily influenced by his career as a professional singer. His musical writing owes much to the emerging

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is ca ...

of the time.

Works

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:

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musi ...

Judith Nelson Judith Anne Nelson, née Manes (10 September 1939 – 28 May 2012) was an American soprano, noted for her performances of baroque music at the beginning of the "early music revival" of the 1970s and 1980s. Nelson was born in Evanston, Illino ...

, William Christie,

Konrad Junghänel Konrad Junghänel (born 27 February 1953) is a German lutenist and conductor in the field of historically informed performance, the founder and director of the vocal ensemble Cantus Cölln. Career Junghänel studied at the Hochschule für Musik ...

. ORF Edition Alte Musik. *''Le disgrazie d’amore'',

Auser Musici Auser 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 The ensemble was founded in 1997 by the flautist Carlo Ipata and has perform ...

, Carlo Ipata, director, Hyperion CDA67771 (2010) *''Alma Mia'', Raquel Andueza, soprano with La Galania directed by Fernández Baena: excerpts from operas ''L'Argia'', ''La Dori'', ''Orontea'', ''Il Tito'', and two cantatas: ''Non si parli più d'Amore'' and ''Ò quanto concorso''. Anima e Corpo AeC003 (2014)

References

* David L. Burrows. "Antonio Cesti", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed December 29, 2005)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Grout, Donald; Claude Palisca. ''A History of Western Music'', 6th edition. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, 2001.

External links