Lotti, Antonio
Lotti, Antonio
Lotti, Antonio, eminent Italian organist, pedagogue, and composer; b. probably in Venice, c. 1667; d. there, Jan. 5, 1740. He was a student of Legrenzi in Venice by 1683, then became an extra (1687) and regular (1689) singer at S. Marco; was made assistant to the second organist (1690), second organist (1692), first organist (1704), and primo maestro di cappella (1736). He visited Novara (1711) and later was in Dresden at the Crown Prince’s invitation (1717–19). Lotti was one of the most important composers of the late Baroque and early Classical eras in Italy; his sacred music and madrigals are particularly notable. He was held in great esteem as a pedagogue, numbering among his students Domenico Alberti, Baldassari Galuppi, Michelangelo Gasparini, and Benedetto Marcello. His Duetti, terzetti e madrigali a più voci, op.l (Venice, 1705), dedicated to Emperor Joseph I, includes the madrigal In una siepe ombrosa; it was arranged by Bononcini and presented as his own work in London in 1731, but Lotti successfully defended his authorship in 1732. Much of his music is not extant.
Works
dramatic: opera (all first perf. in Venice unless otherwise given): II trionfo dell’innocenza (1692); Tirsi, dramma pastorale (1696; Act 1 by Lotti); Sidonio (1706); Achille placato, tragedia per musica (1707); Le rovine de Troja, intermezzo (1707); Dragontana e Policrone, intermezzo (1707); Teuzzone (1707; rev. by G. Vignola as L’inganno vinto dalla ragione, Naples, Nov. 19, 1708); Cortulla e Lardone, intermezzo (1707); II Vincitor generoso (Jan. 10, 1708); II comando non inteso et ubbidito (Feb. 6, 1709); La Ninfa Apollo, scherzo comico pastorale (Feb. 12, 1709; in collaboration with F. Gasparini); Ama più chi men si crede, melodramma pastorale (Nov. 20, 1709); Isacio tiranno (1710); II tradimento traditor di se stesso (Jan. 17, 1711; rev. by F. Mancini as Artaserse, re di Persia, Naples, Oct. 1, 1713); La forza del sangue (Nov. 14,1711); Porsenna (1712; rev. by A. Scarlatti, Naples, Nov. 19, 1713); L’infedeltà punita(Nov. 12, 1712; in collaboration with C. Pollarolo); Irene augusta (1713); Polidoro, tragedia per musica (1714); Ciro in Babilonia (Reggio Emilia, April 1716); Costantino (Vienna, Nov. 19, 1716; in collaboration with others); Foca superbo (Dec. 1716); Alessandro Severo (Dec. 26, 1716); Giove in Argo, melodramma pastorale (Dresden, Oct. 25, 1717); Ascanio, ovvero Gli odi delusi dal sangue (Dresden, Feb. 1718); Teofane (Dresden, Sept. 13, 1719); Li quattro elementi, carosello teatrale (Dresden, Sept. 15, 1719); Griletta e Serpillo, intermezzo (n.d.). Oratorios: La Giuditta (1701); II voto crudele (Vienna, 1712); Triumphus fidei (Venice, 1712); L’umiltà coronata in Esther (Vienna, c. 1714); II ritorno di Tobia (Bologna, 1723); Gioas, re di Giuda (Venice, n.d.); Judith (Venice, n.d.). other: Other sacred music including masses and choral works. instrumental: Concerto for Oboe d’Amore and Strings; 6 sinfonie; 6 trios for Various Instruments; 6 sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo; also numerous secular cantatas, [12] Duetti, [4] terzetti e [2] madrigali à più voce for Voices and Basso Continuo, op.l (Venice, 1705), and Spirito di Dio ch’essendo il mondo for 4 Voices and Basso Continuo (Ascension Day, 1736).
Bibliography
H. Bishop, ed., Lettres from the Academy of Ancient Music of London to Signor A. L. of Venice with his Answers and Testimonies (London, 1732); O. Chilesotti, Sulla lettera-critica di B. Marcello contro A. L. (Bassano, 1885); C. Spitz, A. L. in seiner Bedeutung als Opernkomponist (diss., Univ. of Munich, 1918); R. Holden, 6 Extant Operas of A. L. (1667–1740) (diss., Univ. of Conn., 1967); K. O’Donnell, The Secular Solo Cantatas of A. L. (diss., Iowa State Univ., 1975).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire