Berardi, Angelo (EN)

Berardi Angelo, *ca. 1636 Sant’Agata (near Urbino), †9 April 1694 Rome, Italian composer, music theorist, and clergyman. He initially studied music under Sarti, but there is no detailed information about his further musical education. He considered himself a student of M. Scacchi, whom he met no earlier than around 1668. It is known that Berardi worked as a bandmaster: in 1662 in Montefiesole, in 1668 in the cathedral in Viterbo, in 1673–79 in the cathedral in Tivoli (also as an organist), and in 1679–83 in the cathedral in Spoleto. In 1687 he was canon of the collegiate church of S. Angelo in Viterbo (without a musical function), and in 1693 he was bandmaster at S. Maria in Trastevere in Rome. Berardi published several collections of his works, mainly sacred.

Berardi is highly regarded in contemporary musicology because he is considered one of the first codifiers of the principles of musical systematics based on compositional practice and the principles of Baroque counterpoint and a new treatment of dissonances. However, it is not taken into account that all the views expressed by Berardi had already been formulated more than 40 years earlier by M. Scacchi. Berardi himself did not hide this dependence; on the contrary, he often referred to Scacchi, quoted his compositions and numerous statements from his theoretical writings, and cited musical examples from Cribrum musicum (1643). Berardi’s merit, however, was the systematic presentation of the knowledge that Scacchi had passed on to him, mainly in the field of counterpoint. He developed in particular the problems of ‘artificial counterpoints’ (combinations of multiple counterpoints, enigmatic canons, retrograde forms, inversion, and others). He also codified the principles of composing a tonal fugue (which would fully develop in the final decades of the 17th century), already outlined by Scacchi in Cribrum musicum. Berardi also adopted Scacchi’s scheme of musical systematics and a whole series of definitions of basic concepts, some of which he significantly expanded. Documenti…, Miscellanea… and Arcani… primarily present a system of compositional rules, while in Ragionamenti… Berardi deals with music theory, devoting much space to traditional, purely speculative problems. His own compositions demonstrate great contrapuntal skill.