Arresti, Giulio Cesare
Arresti, Giulio Cesare
Arresti, Giulio Cesare, Italian organist and composer; b. Bologna, c. 1617; d. there, c. 1704. He pursued his career in Bologna, where he was 2nd organist (1649–59) and 1st organist (1659–61; 1671–99) at the church of S. Petronio. He also served as maestro di cappella at S. Salvatore, and later at S. Domenico (1674–1704). In 1666 he helped to found the Accademia Filarmonica, where he was its principe in 1671, 1686, and 1694. His blistering attack on Maurizio Cazzati, the maestro di cappella of S. Petronio, publ. as Dialogo fatto tra un maestro ed un discepolo desideroso d’approfittare nel contrappunto (1659), engendered bitter contention between the two men until Cazzati resigned his post in 1671. Arresti was a notable composer of organ music. He also wrote oratorios, masses, and sonatas. His son, Floriano Arresti (b. Bologna, c. 1660; d. there, 1719), was also an organist and composer. After training with Bernardo Pasquini in Rome, he succeeded his father as 2nd organist at the church of S. Petronio in 1692. He also was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica from 1694, and served as its principe in 1714. Among his works were operas and oratorios.
Bibliography
U. Brett, Music and Ideas in Seventeenth-Century Italy: The Cazzati-A. Polemic (N.Y. and London, 1989).
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire