Giacomo Antonio Perti

Born: 1661
Died: 1756
Education: learning harpsichord and violin, counterpoint at Papal States, studied with Giuseppe Corsi da Celano in Parma
Career: Maestro di Cappella at S Pietro, Maestro di Cappella in another Bolognese church, S. Petronio

Giacomo Antonio Perti 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. Italian composer, born in Bologna. He studied music with his uncle Lorenzo Perti and with Rocco Laurenti, later studying counterpoint with Petronio Franceschini. His Mass was performed at S. Tomaso al Mercato in 1678, and he contributed the third act to the opera Atide the following year; in 1689 his operas Dionisio Siracusano and La Rosaura (facs., New York, 1982) were produced in Parma and Venice, respectively. He succeeded his uncle as maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of S. Pietro in Bologna in 1690, then became maestro di cappella at S. Petronio (where his application had been turned down earlier) from 1696 until his death; he held similar posts at S. Domenico (1704-55) and S. Maria in Galliera (1706-50). He was admitted to the Accademia filarmonica, made censor in 1719, and continued his studies a few months after that in Parma with Giuseppe Corso. Perti's pupils included Giuseppe Torelli and G. B. Martini. He is noted principally for his sacred vocal music, most of it composed for S. Petronio; these are mainly festive works with strings and, on occasion, trumpets, and include numerous Masses, Psalms, motets, hymns, antiphons, and Magnificat settings. He composed some twenty-six operas, most of which have been lost, as well as some twenty oratorios.