Pollarolo, Carlo Francesco

Pollarolo, Carlo Francesco , prominent Italian organist and composer, father of (Giovanni) Antonio Pollarolo ; b. c.1653; d. Venice, Feb. 7, 1723. His father, Orazio Pollarolo, was organist in Brescia at the parish church of Ss. Nazaro e Celso and at the Cathedral, and it is likely that Carlo Francesco studied with him. After serving as organist at the Congregazione dei Padri della Pace and substituting for his father at the Cathedral, he was named his father’s successor at the latter (1676). He was elected capo musico there (1680), and also held a similar post with the Accademia degli Erranti (1681–89). He then went to Venice, where he was elected second organist at San Marco (1690). He became its vicemaestro di cappella (1692), a position he held until his son Antonio succeeded him (1702); was also music director of the Ospedale degl’Incurabili. He composed about 85 operas, many of which are not extant; among those surviving are Il Roderico (1686), Onorio in Roma (Venice, 1692), La forza della virtù (Venice, 1693), Il Faramondo (Venice, 1699), Semiramide (Venice, 1713), Ariodante (Venice, 1716), and Astinome (Rome, 1719). He also wrote oratorios and many other sacred works, 19 solo cantatas with Basso Continuo or Orch., 67 arias and 5 duets with Basso Continuo or Orch., etc.

Bibliography

O. Termini, C.F. P.: His Life, Time, and Music with Emphasis on the Operas (diss., Univ. of Southern Calif., 1970).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire