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Emanuele Gioacchino Cesare Rincon, baron of Astorga (20 March 16801757, by one report) was an Italian
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
known mainly for his ''Stabat Mater''.


Biography

He was born on 20 March 1680Hans Volkmann, ''Emanuele d'Astorga'', Leipzig 1911, p. 44 in
Augusta, Sicily Augusta (, archaically ''Agosta''; scn, Austa ; Greek and la, Megara Hyblaea, Medieval: ''Augusta'') is a town and in the province of Syracuse, located on the eastern coast of Sicily (southern Italy). The city is one of the main harbours in I ...
. No authentic account of Astorga's life can be successfully constructed from the obscure and confusing evidence that has been until now handed down, although historians have not failed to indulge many pleasant conjectures. According to Volkmann his father, a baron of Sicily, took an active part in the attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke, but was betrayed by his own soldiers and publicly executed. His wife and son were compelled to be spectators of his fate; and such was the effect upon them that his mother died on the spot, and Emanuele fell into a state of gloomy despondency, which threatened to deprive him of reason. By the kindness of the
Princess of Ursini Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...
, the unfortunate young man was placed in a convent at Astorga, in León, where he completed a musical education which is said to have been begun in
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
under Francesco Scarlatti. Here he recovered his health, and his admirable musical talents were cultivated under the best masters. On the details of this account no reliance can safely be placed, nor is there any certainty that in 1703, he entered the service of the
Duke of Parma The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy, which existed between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1859. The Duke of Parma was also Duke of Piacenza, except ...
. Equally untrustworthy is the story that the duke, suspecting an attachment between his niece Elizabeth Farnese and Astorga, dismissed the musician. The established facts concerning Astorga are indeed few enough. They are: that the opera ''Dafne'' was written and conducted by the composer in Barcelona in 1709; that he visited London, where he wrote his ''
Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...
'', possibly for the society of "Antient Musick"; that it was performed in Oxford in 1713; that in 1712, he was in Vienna. Around 1723 he was in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, where in 1726 he published ''Cantate da camera'', his only published piece, and that he retired at an uncertain date to
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, he died on 21 August 1736, in a castle which had been given to him in the domains of Prince Lobkowicz, in Roudnice. However, according to a manuscript in the Santini collection in Münster he died in 1757 in Madrid. Astorga deserves remembrance for his dignified and poignant ''Stabat Mater'', and for his numerous chamber-cantatas for one or two voices. He was probably the last composer to carry on the traditions of this form of
chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
as perfected by
Alessandro Scarlatti Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. ...
.


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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Astorga, Emanuele d 1680 births 1757 deaths People from Augusta, Sicily Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians