Cesti, Antonio (EN)

Cesti Antonio (not Marc-Antonio), Christian name Pietro, baptised 5 August 1623 Arezzo, †14 October 1669 Florence, buried in Arezzo, composer, virtuoso singer (tenor), Franciscan. Cesti’s prolific activity and the frequent changes of residence and position that accompanied it mean that his biography has not yet been definitively established, and the literature on him is inconsistent on many points. As a boy, Cesti sang at the cathedral in Arezzo (in 1633) and at S. Maria della Pieve (between 1635 and 1637). In 1637 he joined the Franciscan order in Volterra, where he took the name Antonio, by which he was known exclusively to his contemporaries (this name was also borne by Cesti’s elder brother, which has led to many errors in biographical accounts). He first spent time in the novitiate in Florence, and from July 1637 at the monastery in Arezzo. He probably received his musical education in Arezzo (suggestions that he was a pupil of A.M. Abbatini in nearby Città di Castello lack sufficient basis). He remained in Arezzo until mid-1643; in the second half of that year (or possibly earlier) he was organist at S. Croce in Florence, and from March 1644 at the cathedral in Volterra; a year later he became its Kapellmeister (until mid-1649), whilst also serving as magister musices at the local Franciscan monastery. In 1647 he performed in Siena, taking part in a spectacle (as a singer or actor) for the opening of the Teatro dei Filomati, subsidised by the Grand Duke of Tuscany; at this time he also entered the inner circle of Medici patronage, where he remained until his death, regardless of his positions at other courts. From the autumn of 1649 to April 1650, Cesti was based in Pisa as a singer with the cathedral chapel; in 1650, he probably sang in Florence in F. Cavalli’s Il Giasone and in Lucca (most likely also in Il Giasone). By then, he had already gained considerable renown as a vocalist. In 1651, his first dramma in musica, Alessandro vincitor di se stesso, was staged in Venice at the Grimani Theatre (there is also a view, refuted in recent scholarship, that Cesti had already composed the music for L’Orontea, staged in Venice at the Teatro SS. Apostoli in 1649; F. Luzza is now considered the composer of the music for that production). For the 1652 carnival, Cesti prepared Il Cesare amante for the Grimani Theatre. It is not known where he was permanently based during this period. From December 1652, he was engaged by Archduke Ferdinand Karl at the Tyrolean court in Innsbruck as Kapellmeister of the chamber ensemble (comprising a large number of vocalists), and from mid-1653 as Kapellmeister of the newly built court opera theatre. The first work staged there in 1653 was Cesti’s Cleopatra (a slightly revised version of the Venetian Il Cesare amante), followed by his dramma L’Argia (4 November 1655) to mark the visit of Queen Christina of Sweden. During the 1656 carnival, L’Orontea was staged (Cesti’s authorship of this version is documented), and the following year La Dori (probably during carnival). In 1659, Cesti travelled to Rome, where he obtained a dispensation from his monastic vows and permission to join the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. In January 1660, he became a singer in the papal chapel and a musician in the service of the Pope’s nephew, Flavio Chigi. In April 1661, with the consent of his patrons, he travelled to Florence for four months to prepare, alongside others, for the wedding of Grand Duke Cosimo III to Marguerite Louise d’Orléans, the performance (12 July) of Ercole in Tebe (music by J. Melani), in which he sang the leading role. Contrary to the terms of his contract, Cesti did not return to Rome, but in the autumn of that year he sang in Florence in L’Orontea and La Dori; in February 1662 he arrived in Innsbruck, where he prepared La generosità d’Alessandro, which was staged twice (on 4 and 11 June) during the visit of Christina of Sweden. In December 1662, Cesti’s patron, Archduke Ferdinand Charles, died, followed in 1665 by his successor, Sigismund Francis. Consequently, La Semirami, which Cesti had been preparing for the latter’s wedding, was staged only later at the court of Emperor Leopold I in Vienna, where, from April 1666, Cesti was active as a singer and organiser of musical spectacles. At the same time, for the 1666 carnival season, Cesti prepared his work Il Tito for the Grimani theatre in Venice. He worked at the Viennese court until March 1669, collaborating with F. Sbarra on the composition of theatrical productions. The largest production they realised together was the grand, spectacular dramma per musica Il pomo d’oro, prepared for the emperor’s wedding to Margaret of Spain, but not staged until 12 and 14 July 1668 (in two parts, with stage design by L. Burnacini). In 1669, Cesti entered the service of the Medici court in Florence, probably as a producer of spectacles. In May of that year, his work L’Argia inaugurated the reopening of the Degli Intronati theatre in Siena, which had been rebuilt with funding from the Medici family. This was the last production that Cesti oversaw. He died in 1669; there is a theory that he was poisoned.

All the drammas for which Cesti wrote the music – with the exception of those composed for the Viennese court – were revived in various Italian cities, particularly La Dori (in around 20 cities) and L’Orontea (in 15 cities) – a situation that was quite exceptional in the 17th century. These works owed their success to both the music and the libretto, in which serious conflicts were interwoven with elaborate buffo episodes, drawn from the repertoire of the commedia dell’arte performers.

Cesti’s works were not published during his lifetime – only a few pieces appeared in print much later – nor have they yet been the subject of a monograph. Cesti is generally regarded as the principal – alongside F. Cavalli – representative of the Venetian school of the third quarter of the 17th century, even though he was active as a composer for exactly half the time Cavalli was and only three of his works were written specifically for the Venetian stage (for its most lavish theatre, the Grimani), whilst four others were only staged there as revivals. Cesti wrote primarily for the court stage, which relied on patronage; he thus had access to far greater resources for performance than the public theatres of Venice. Whilst the Tyrolean court’s taste, as far as the subject matter of performances is concerned, seems not to have differed from that prevailing in Venice at the time, works for the imperial court were strictly dependent on the patron’s occasional and representational needs. For this reason, the grand, spectacular dramma per musica Il pomo d’oro, Cesti’s best-known work today – thanks to its publication in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich – is not typical of his oeuvre.

The foundation of Cesti’s dramma per musica is recitative, although the structure of the work shows a tendency to diminish its role and to draw a clear distinction between recitative and fully developed arias, as well as passages of a quasi-aria nature. At the same time, however, Cesti, like Cavalli, introduces into the recitative short passages of a few bars with a more song-like melody, often in an odd metre. In some scenes, recitativo accompagnato is used, in which the instrumental parts are carefully crafted.

Cesti’s arias vary in structure, though the predominant form is an aria based on two stanzas of poetic text, set to music either as a strophic aria, a strophic variation, or a two-part aria, with the metre usually changing in the second part. Odd metres predominate in Cesti’s arias. Three-part arias with an ABB’ or ABA’ structure are characterised by a significant shortening of the repeated section. Cesti also employs more complex structures, such as ABCA’ or – albeit exceptionally – even an extension of the latter: AA’BCC’A’A (cf. the aria Eolo, Ha la forza dell’oro from Act III of Il pomo d’oro). Arias based on ostinato bass lines play a relatively significant role. 

Here, the composer displays considerable artistry, introducing, for example, two ostinato motifs that alternate in the aria (e.g. Orontea’s aria Dormi, dormi, ben mio in Scene 18 of Act II of L’Orontea). Cesti constructs arias of a plaintive or lamenting nature – as did almost all composers of the time – on a descending tetrachord progression of the passacaglia type (e.g. the aria Efestione Si mantiene il mio amor in Scene 1 of Act II of Alessandro vincitor di se stesso). Choirs and vocal ensembles play a relatively significant role in Cesti’s drammi, particularly those intended for court performances. The involvement of ensembles, as well as the number of voices, increases considerably in works for the Viennese court; the choir there comprises up to eight voices. The ensemble parts are characterised by their elaborate arrangement, employing concertante, polychoral and polyphonic techniques.

The instrumental passages in Cesti’s scores are composed with great care (in contrast to the sketch-like instrumental parts found in Venetian scores of the time), sometimes expanded to three or four parts. Mostly these are for four voices, but there are also ritornellos for six or even eight voices (Il pomo d’oro); the composer frequently employs the technique of imitation here.

The role of the basso continuo in Cesti’s works is particularly distinctive. He continues and develops the practice initiated by Monteverdi and employed by Cavalli, in which the basso continuo line interacts melodically with the vocal part. Some passages are based on a constant exchange of short phrases between the continuo and the voice. The basso continuo demonstrates considerable activity, even when accompanying syllabic, repetitive vocal melodies; for example, throughout the aria Questo Marte (Scene 4, Act I of Il pomo d’oro), the continuo performs continuous eighth-note figurations. In sections for a bass vocal part, the melodic line and rhythm of the basso continuo repeat the vocal line in unison, without simplifying its ornamental turns, as was often customary.

Cesti’s works are characterised by a relatively large number of comic characters, whose parts are often highly elaborate. The primary musical language of these characters is popular melody, similar in character to the canzonetta (from which the composer constructs short arias), rapid parlando, as well as parodic musical effects, which often require a high degree of virtuosity. The part of Momo from Il pomo d’oro is usually cited as a model of an elaborate comic part. Some scholars (N. Pirrotta et al.) also point to Cesti’s tendency to encapsulate individual episodes of the drama within self-contained musical forms, and to focus his compositional attention on arias and duet scenes. This means that Cesti’s music serves not so much to convey dramatic tension as to express lyrical moods, particularly of an elegiac nature. W. Osthoff provides several details characteristic of Cesti’s compositional technique, already evident in his first dramma per musica: the very frequent use of a secondary chord on the strong beat of the bar, emphatically highlighted by figuration (though these are very sparse in Cesti’s work), the use of quarter-note groupings (four minims against two semibreves in 3/2 metre); and the employment of hemiolas in the melodic writing.

Cesti’s chamber works for a solo voice, now referred to as cantatas, enjoyed great popularity. In modern times, they have been placed on a par with the works of L. Rossi and G. Carissimi (though the suggestion that Cesti was a pupil of Carissimi lacks sufficient evidence). Cesti’s cantata output has survived only in manuscript collections; consequently, determining the date of composition, and sometimes also the authorship of individual works, presents considerable difficulties (the best-documented are Cesti’s numerous cantatas to texts by G.F. Apolloni and S. Rosa). Around 70 of Cesti’s cantatas are currently known. The form of these works is based on a free succession of arias of varied structure, sometimes separated by recitative (though without a regular sequence of these sections); there may be between 2 and over 20 such sections; in terms of their expressive character, they do not differ significantly from the lyrical episodes in drammi per musica. Cesti was also renowned as one of the finest singers of his time.

Literature: H. Kretzschmar Die venetianische Oper und die Werke Cavallis und Cesti’s, “Vierteljahrschrift für Musikwissenschaft” VIII, 1892; E. Wellesz Zwei Studien zur Geschichte der Oper im 17. Jahrhundert, “Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft” XV, 1913–14; E. Wellesz Ein Bühnenfestspiel aus dem 17. Jahrhundert, “Die Musik” 1914, English version Essays on Opera, London 1950; F. Coradini Pietro Antonio Cesti (5 agosto 1623–14 ottobre 1669). Nuove notizie biografiche, “Rivista Musicale Italiana” XXX, 1923; P. Nettl Ein verschollenes Tournierballet von M. Antonio Cesti, “Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft” VIII, 1925/26; A. Tessier “L’Orontée” de Lorenzani et “l’Orontea” du Padre Cesti, “La Revue Musicale” IX, 1928; N. Pirrotta Tre capitoli su Cesti, «Chigiana» X, 1953; F. Schlitzer Fortuna delll’ “Orontea”, «Chigiana» X, 1953; N. Pirrotta Le prime opere di Antonio Cesti, in: L’orchestra. In onore G. Marinuzzi 1882-1945, ed. P. Castiglia, Florence 1954 (contains a fragment of the the opera L’Orontea); W. Senn Musik und Theater am Hof zu Innsbruck, Innsbruck 1954; F. Schlitzer Intorno alla “Dori” di Antonio Cesti, Florence 1957; W. Osthoff Antonio Cestis “Alessandro vincitor di se stesso”, “Studien zur Musikwissenchaft”, Beihefte DTÖ, XXIV, 1960; F. Schlitzer “L’Orontea ” di Antonio Cesti Storia e bibliografia, Florence 1960; D. Burrows Anotnio Cesti (1623–1669), «The Wellesley Edition Cantata Index Series» I, Wellesley 1964; W.C. Holmes G.A. Cicognini’s and Antonio Cesti’s “Orontea” (1649), in: New Looks at Italian Opera, Festschrift D.J. Grouta, Ithaca 1968; R. Giazotto Nel CCC anno della morte di Antonio Cesti Ventidue lettere ritrovate nell’Archivio di Stato di Venezia, “Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana” III, 1969; T. Antonicek Antonio Cesti alla corte di Vienna, “Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana” IV, 1970; J.V. Crowther The Operas of Cesti, “The Music Review” XXXI, 1970; W.C. Holmes Cesti’s “L’Argia”. An Entertainment for a Royal Convert, «Chigiana» XXVI–XXVIII, 1971; C.B. Schmidt Antonio Cesti’s “La Dori”. A Study of Sources, Performance Traditions and Musical Style, “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia” X, 1975; J.W. Hill Le relazioni di Antonio Cesti con la corte e i teatri di Firenze, “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia” XI, 1976; C.B. Schmidt “La Dori” di Antonio Cesti Sussidi bibliografici, “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia” XI, 1976; C.B. Schmidt Antonio Cesti’s “Il pomo d’oro”. A Reexamination of a Famous Hapsburg Court Spectacle, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XXIX, 1976; C.B. Schmidt An Episode in the History of the Venetian Opera. The Tito Commission (1665–66), “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia” XIII, 1978; L. Bianconi Cesti Pietro, in: Dizionario biografico degli italiani, 1980; W.C. Holmes Yet Another “Orontea”. Further Rapport between Venice and Vienna, in: Venezia e il melodramma nel Seicento, ed. M.T Muraro, Florence 1976; B.L. Glixon Recitative in Seventeenth-Century Venetian Opera. Its Dramatic Function and Musical Language, thesis Rutgers University, New Brunswick 1985; Dresdner Operntraditionen, ed. G. Stephan and H. John, «Schriftenreihe der Hochschule für Musik C.M. von Weber Dresden», special No. 9, Dresden 1985; E. Rosand Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice. The Creation of a Genre, Berkeley 1991.