Cavalli, Francesco (redirected from Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni)

Cavalli, (Pier) Francesco

 orig. Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni

(born Feb. 14, 1602, Crema, Republic of Venice—died Jan. 14, 1676, Venice) Italian opera composer. In his teens he was a singer under Claudio Monteverdi at St. Mark's Basilica, Venice. Also an organist, he would rise to the post of maestro di cappella there in 1668. He wrote some 30 operas for Venice's public opera houses. The most popular opera composer of the decades following Monteverdi's death, he was the latter's leading successor, his chief rival for that status being Antonio Cesti (1623–69). His most celebrated operas were Egisto (1643), Giasone (1649), Xerse (1654), and Erismena (1655).

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Cavalli, Francesco 

(real name, Pietro Francesco Caletti). Born Feb. 14, 1602, in Crema; died Jan. 14, 1676, in Venice. Italian composer. Son and pupil of a cathedral choirmaster in Crema.

Cavalli completed his musical education in Venice, where he lived from 1616. In 1617 he became a singer (tenor), at St. Mark’s Basilica, and then its organist and conductor. He wrote church music (notably his Requiem), but basically he composed operas and was a leading master of the Venetian school. He wrote 42 operas, including The Marriage of Teti and Peleo (1639), Didone (1641), Jason (1649), Xerxes (1654), and Mutio Scevola (1665). Almost all his operas were commissioned by Venetian theaters.

REFERENCES

Kretzschmar, H. Istoriia opery. Leningrad, 1925. (Translated from German.)
Rolland, R. Opera v XVII veke v Italii, Germanii, Anglii. Moscow, 1931. (Translated from French.)
Prunières, H. Cavalli et l’opéra italien au XVII siècle. Paris, 1931.