Giovanni Battista Casali

Giovanni Battista Casali (* around 1715 in Rome ; † July 6, 1792 there ) was an Italian composer and conductor.

Life

In 1740 Casali was accepted into the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna . Five years later (1745) he appears as coadiutore of Girolamo Chiti in Rome. On September 4, 1759, he finally took up the post of Kapellmeister of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome as his successor , which he held until his death. In addition to his work as Kapellmeister of the Lateran Basilica, he was a member of the Congregazione dei musici di San Cecilia in Rome. In addition to his other position as Kapellmeister, he was also Kapellmeister at Santa Maria in Vallicella from 1761 to 1773 .

Casali enjoyed an excellent reputation as a teacher; his students included, for example, André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry and Pietro Terziani .

Create

Casali's work was mainly limited to Rome. In his activity as Kapellmeister he mainly devoted himself to church music . In some cases he still wrote in the strict a cappella style of the Roman school . The line-ups range from four-part movements to eight or nine-part double choirs . In addition, Casali also used the modern homophonic sentence. In many of his works, these two compositional styles face each other. In general, the operas and intermezzi , which he wrote mainly between 1740 and 1752 , had an influence on liturgical music.

Grétry called him in his Mémoires "one of the most famous band masters in Rome", while the catalog of San Giovanni in Laterano sees him as "one of the most outstanding masters in the church style".

Among his numerous compositions, the Missa in G major and numerous motets (Confitebor tibi, Ave Maria , Exaltabo, Improperium ) became famous . This was published as a reprint in Stephan Lück's collection of excellent compositions in Trier in 1859.

The originals of most of his works have been preserved in the Santini collection , some also in the Berchtesgaden collegiate church .

Works (selection)

Il Bajazette - title page of the libretto, Rimini 1740

Liturgical works

• approx. 150 antiphons for 1–4 soloists
• approx. 110 degrees for mostly 2 votes
• over 90 offers
• approx. 60 psalms
• 43 hymns (a cappella and concertos)
• 24 masses, mainly four- and five-part
• over 20 motets
• 10 Magnificat

Oratorios and cantatas

• San Firmina , 1748 Rome (?)
• Il roveto di Mosè , 1755 Rome
• Per la festività dell'assunzione di Maria Vergine , 1760 Rome
• La Pazienza ricompensata negli avenimenti di Tobia , 1761 Bologna
• Salomone re d'Israele , 1770 (?) Rome
• Componimento drammatico per la festività del S. Natale , 1773 Rome
• La benedizione di Giacobbe , 1774 Rome
• Abigaille , 1787 Rome

• 16 cantatas

Operas

• Candaspe regina de 'Sciti , 1740 Venice
• La costanza vincitrice , 1740 Bologna
• Il Bajazette , 1741 Rimini
• Antigona , 1752 Turin

Intermezzi

• La lavandarina , 1746 Rome
• Le furberie di Bruscolo trasteverino , 1747 Rome
• La finta merciaia , 1747 Rome
• L'impazzito , 1748 Rome
• La finta tedesca , 1753 Rome

literature

• Joseph Otten: Giovanni Battista Casali . In: Catholic Encyclopedia . Volume 3. 1908, p. 396; E-text at Wikisource (English).
• Siegfried Gmeinwieser: Casali . In: MGG , personal section (volume 4). 2nd Edition. Kassel 2000, Sp. 327-329.

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Battista Casali  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Sheet music in the public domain by Giovanni Battista Casali in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)
• Sheet music and audio files by Giovanni Battista Casali in the International Music Score Library Project
• List of stage works by Giovanni Battista Casali based on the MGG at Operone