Giacomo Antonio Perti

Biography

Giacomo Antonio Perti (6 June 1661 – 10 April 1756) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. He was mainly active at Bologna, where he was Maestro di Cappella for sixty years. He was the teacher of Giuseppe Torelli and Giovanni Battista Martini.

Life

He was born in Bologna, then part of the Papal States, and began studying music early, learning harpsichord and violin there; later he studied counterpoint. By the age of 17, he had already written a mass, a motet, and a setting of the Magnificat; and in 1678 he wrote his first opera and oratorio. During a stay in Parma, where he studied with Giuseppe Corsi da Celano, he formed his sacred music style; most of his psalm settings of the 1680s and 1690s show the influence of Corsi. Later he went to Venice, most likely for a production of one of his operas.
In 1690 he was appointed to the post of Maestro di Cappella at S Pietro, replacing his uncle Lorenzo Perti. In 1696 he became Maestro di Cappella in another Bolognese church, S. Petronio, after the death of Giovanni Paolo Colonna the year before. He remained in charge for exactly sixty years, until his death at age 95.
Perti was a prolific composer of operas and sacred music, and was recognized as a distinguished musician not only by other composers but also by aristocrats and emperors, including Ferdinando de' Medici (one of the last of the Medici) and Emperors Leopold I and Charles VI.

Operas

Marzio Coriolano, 1683
Oreste in Argo, 1685
L'incoronazione di Dario, 1686
La Flavia, 1686
La Rosaura, 1689
Dionisio Siracusano, 1689
Brenno in Efeso, 1690
L'inganno scoperto per vendetta, 1691
Il Pompeo, 1691
Furio Camillo, 1692
Nerone fatto cesare, 1693
La forza della virtù, 1694
Laodicea e Berenice, 1695
Penelope la casta, 1696
Fausta restituita all'impero, 1697
Apollo geloso, 1698
Lucio Vero, 1700
Astianatte, 1701
Dionisio re di Portogallo, 1707
Il Venceslao, ossia Il fraticida innocente, 1708
Ginevra principessa di Scozia, 1708
Berenice regina d'Egitto, 1709
Demetrio, 1709
Rodelinda regina de' Longobardi, 1710
Un prologo per il cortegiano, 1739

Oratorios

Due gigli porporati nel martirio di santa Serafia e santa Sabina, Bologna, 1679
Abramo vincitor de' propri affetti, Bologna, 1683 (rev. Agar, 1689; spurious titles: Agar scacciata, Sara)
Il Mosè conduttor del popolo ebreo, Modena, 1685
Oratorio della Passione, Bologna, 1685 (rev. Gesù al sepolcro, 1703)
La beata Imelda Lambertini bolognese, (it:beata Imelda Lambertini child saint), Bologna, 1686
«Oratorio à 6 Voci, con concertino, e concerto grosso» (unknown subject), Modena (?), 1687 (lost)
San Galgano Guidotti, Bologna, 1694
La Passione di Cristo, Bologna, 1694 (= Oratorio sopra la passione del Redentore = Affetti di compassione alla morte del Redentor della Vita; composed in collaboration with pupils)
Christo al Limbo, Bologna, 1698
La morte del giusto, overo Il transito di san Giuseppe, Venice, 1700 (lost)
La Morte delusa, Milan, 1703 (collaboration to the pasticcio)
I trionfi di Giosuè, Florence, 1704 (collaboration to the pasticcio; lost)
La sepoltura di Cristo, Bologna, 1704
San Petronio, Bologna, 1720 (pasticcio)
La Passione del Redentore, Bologna, 1721
I conforti di Maria Vergine addolorata per la morte del suo divin Figliuolo, Bologna, 1723 (spurious title: L'Amor Divino)
Il figlio prodigo, undated
Oratorio della nascita del Signore, undated
San Francesco, undated
La sepoltura di Cristo, undated (attributed to Perti; spurious title: San Giovanni)

Selected recordings

Messa a 5, Silvia Vajente, Pamela Lucciarini, Gloria Banditelli, Orchestra Barocca di Bologna, Paolo Faldi
Messa a 8, New College Choir, Cappella Musicale, Sergio Vartolo
Messa a 12. Color Temporis Vocal Ensemble, Collegium usicum Almae Matris Chamber Choir, Choir & Orchestra of the Cappella Musicale Di San Petronio.
Lamentations. Capella Musicale di S. Petronio di Bologna, dir. Sergio Vartolo
Musiche sacre Arìon Choir & Consort, dir Giulio Prandi. Disc with Amadeus magazine, Italy 2010
Cantate morali e spirituali op.1, 2 CDs. Frisani, Calvi, Lepore, Cappella musicale San Petronio, Sergio Vartolo
Abramo Vincitor De' Proprii Affetti, Laura Antonaz, Elena Biscuola, Gastone Sarti, Ensemble "Il Continuo" Bongiovanni (record label)
Gesu al Sepolcro. Akerlund, Zanetti, Claudio Cavina, Schultze, Cechetti, Cappella Musicale di S. Petronio, Vartolo
San Petronio (Oratorio), Pace, Nirouet, Zennaro, Spagnoli, Ensemble Seicentonovecento, Flavio Colusso. Bongiovanni 1990
Il Mosè conduttor del popolo ebreo. Mosè: Gloria Banditelli; Faraone: Marco Bussi, Generale di Faraone: Laura Antonaz. Ensemble Les Nations. Maria Luisa Baldassari. Tactus (record label) TC 661603 (1 CD, January 2013).