Francesco Cavalli

Francesco Cavalli (February 14 1602 – January 14 1676), Italian composer, was born at Crema. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron, a Venetian "nobleman".

Music and influence

Cavalli was the most influential composer in the rising genre of public opera in mid-17th century Venice. Unlike Monteverdi's early operas, scored for the extravagant court orchestra, Cavalli's operas make use of a small orchestra of strings and basso continuo to meet the limitations of public opera houses.

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Cavalli introduced melodious arias into his music and popular types into his libretti. His operas have all the characteristic exaggerations and absurdities of the 17th century, but they have also a remarkably strong sense of dramatic effect as well as a great musical facility, and a grotesque humour which was characteristic of Italian grand opera down to the death of Alessandro Scarlatti. Cavalli's operas provide the only example of a continuous musical development of a single composer in a single genre from the early to the late 17th century in Venice — only a few operas by others (e.g. Monteverdi and Antonio Cesti) survive. The development is particularly interesting to scholars because opera was still quite a new medium when Cavalli began working, and had matured into a popular public spectacle by the end of his career.

Related Topics:
17th century - Alessandro Scarlatti - Antonio Cesti

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Cavalli wrote 33 operas, 27 of which are still extant, being preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Library of St Mark) at Venice. Copies of some of the operas also exist in other locations. In addition, 9 other operas have been attributed to him, though the music is lost and attribution impossible to prove.

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In addition to operas, Cavalli wrote settings of the Magnificat in the grand Venetian polychoral style, settings of the Marian antiphons, other sacred music in a more conservative early 17th-century style, and some instrumental music.

Related Topics:
Magnificat - Venetian polychoral style

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