Agostino Steffani

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Agostino Steffani;
oil on canvas 89 x 69 cm by Gerhard Kappers (circa 1714)
An 1816 lithography of Agostino Steffani from an unknown original.
Beginning from the autograph of the Duetto da camera Pria ch'io faccia by Agostino Steffani.

Agostino Steffani (25 July 1654[1] – 12 February 1728[2]) was an Italian bishop, polymath, diplomat and composer.

Education

Steffani was born at

chorister at San Marco, Venice.[citation needed
]

Steffani excelled as a choirboy and was asked to sing at important occasions. Aged 11 and 12 he sang opera in Venice.

Johann Kaspar Kerll, in whose charge he lived, Steffani was sent in 1673 to study in Rome, where Ercole Bernabei was his master, and among other works he composed six motets, the original manuscripts of which are now in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge.[1]

On his return to Munich with Bernabei in 1674, Steffani published his first work, Psalmodia vespertina, a part of which was reprinted in Giovanni Battista Martini's Saggio di contrappunto in 1774. In 1675, Steffani was appointed court organist.

Royal appointments

The date when he was ordained priest, with the title of abbot of Lepsing, is not precisely known. His ecclesiastical status did not prevent him from turning his attention to the stage, for which, at different periods of his life, he composed work which exercised a potent influence upon the dramatic music of the period. Of his first opera, Marco Aurelio, written for the carnival and produced at Munich in 1681, the only copy known to exist is a manuscript score preserved in the royal library at Buckingham Palace. It was followed by Solone in 1685, by Audacia e rispetto, Prerogative d'amore, and Servio Tullio in 1686, by Alarico in 1687, and by Niobe, regina di Tebe in 1688.[1]

Notwithstanding the favor shown to him by the Elector

Handel, who was then just entering upon his career. Steffani inaugurated a long series of triumphs in Hanover by composing, for the opening of the new opera house in 1689, an opera called Henrico Leone on Henry the Lion. For the same theatre he composed La Lotta d'Ercole con Achilleo in 1689, La Superbia d'Alessandro in 1690, Orlando generoso in 1691, Le Rivali concordi in 1692, La Liberia contenta in 1693, I trionfi del fato and I Baccanali in 1695, and Briseide (with Pietro Torri[5]) in 1696. The libretto of Briseide is by Francesco Palmieri.[6] Those of most if not all the others are by the abbot Mauro.[1]

The scores are preserved at Buckingham Palace, where, in company with five volumes of songs and three of duets, they form part of the collection brought to England by the Elector of Hanover in 1714, when ascending as King George I of Great Britain. But it was not only as a musician that Steffani distinguished himself in his new home. The elevation of Ernest Augustus to the electorate in 1692 led to difficulties, for the arrangement of which it was necessary that an ambassador should visit the various German courts, armed with a considerable amount of diplomatic power.[1]

Diplomacy

Steffani was sent on this mission in 1696, with the title of

Upper and Lower Saxony, a new Roman Catholic diaspora jurisdiction, embracing Upper and Lower Saxon territories.[citation needed
]

In 1698, he was sent as ambassador to

protonotary of the Holy See. To avoid any breach of etiquette that might arise if he continued to produce dramatic compositions, Steffani produced two new operas: Enea at Hanover and Tassilone at Düsseldorf in the name of his secretary and amanuensis Gregorio Piva, whose signature is attached to the scores preserved at Buckingham Palace. Another score, that of Arminio in the same collection, dated Düsseldorf, 1707, and evidently the work of Steffani, bears no composer's name.[2]

Steffani did not accompany the elector George to England, but in 1724 the

Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome. This was the last time the two composers met. Steffani returned soon afterwards to Hanover, and died on 12 February 1728 while engaged in the transaction of some diplomatic business at Frankfurt.[2]

Compositions

Steffani stands somewhat apart from contemporary Italian composers (e.g., Alessandro Scarlatti) in his mastery of instrumental forms. His compositions, including opera overtures, show a combination of Italian suavity with a logical conciseness of construction attributable to French influence.[citation needed]

Works

In popular culture

Donna Leon's contemporary thriller novel, The Jewels of Paradise (October 2012), uses Steffani's life and works as a background.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 869.
  2. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 870.
  3. ISBN 9780195348279
    .
  4. ISBN 9780195348279
    .
  5. ^ Briseide : dramma per musica da recitarsi alla Carte Elettorale d'Hannover per il carnevale dell' anno 1696.
  6. ^ Timms, Colin Ronald. The Chamber Duets of Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), with Transcriptions and Catalogue. Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Music. University of London King's College, 1976, p. 49.
  7. ^ "The Jewels of Paradise by Donna Leon". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 24 June 2013.

External sources and further reading

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