Life
Taken to Rome as an infant, he began vocal study with Pompeo Natali at the age of five and sang in the choir of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini from age eight. At Santi Apostoli he sang and studied counterpoint with Francesco Foggia, where his early compositions were performed. By age sixteen he was maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore, Monterotondo, a historic church near Rome. In 1673 as maestro for the cathedral at Assisi he began intensive study of the works of Palestrina, and in 1676 moved to the cathedral at Rieti.
In 1677 he returned to Rome for a lifelong appointment as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of San Marco. In addition he held a series of prestigious positions as maestro for Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, Rome (from 1686), at St. John Lateran (from 1708, where Palestrina had served from 1555 to 1560), and for the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s (from 1719, immediately following Domenico Scarlatti), and maestro di cappella at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. For the chapter of San Lorenzo in Damaso, he produced major performances over thirty-five years for the music-loving Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, whose extensive circle of artists included Arcangelo Corelli, George Frideric Handel, both Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Bernardo Pasquini, and Filippo Amadei.
Read more about this topic: Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“I have heard that whoever loves is in no condition old. I have heard that whenever the name of man is spoken, the doctrine of immortality is announced; it cleaves to his constitution. The mode of it baffles our wit, and no whisper comes to us from the other side. But the inference from the working of intellect, hiving knowledge, hiving skill,—at the end of life just ready to be born,—affirms the inspirations of affection and of the moral sentiment.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Like plowing, housework makes the ground ready for the germination of family life. The kids will not invite a teacher home if beer cans litter the living room. The family isn’t likely to have breakfast together if somebody didn’t remember to buy eggs, milk, or muffins. Housework maintains an orderly setting in which family life can flourish.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“My life closed twice before its close—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)