Rigatti, Giovanni Antonio (EN)

Rigatti, Rigati, Giovanni Antonio, *baptised 25 October 1613 Venice, †24 October 1648 Venice, Italian composer and singer. From September 1621, he sang in the boys’ choir of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice; from 21 September 1635 to 24 March 1637, he was maestro di cappella at the cathedral in Udine. After returning to Venice on 9 April 1639, he was ordained a priest. From 28 August 1639, he taught music at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, and from August 1642 also at the Ospedale degli Incurabili. On 28 January 1646, he became chaplain to G.F. Morosini (procurator of St Mark’s and brother of the future Patriarch of Venice), and on 14 July 1647, he became sottocanonico of St Mark’s Basilica.

Rigatti’s work, comparable in terms of compositional technique and artistic merit to the achievements of C. Monteverdi, warrants a monographic study. Rigatti was a master of the concertante style, one of the most talented Venetian composers of the second quarter of the 17th century. He used the modern compositional techniques of his era – monody, concertato and polychorality – with ease and ingenuity. His oeuvre is dominated by sacred works: solo motets, small and large-scale church concertos, concertante masses, polychoral and concertante arrangements of psalms and magnificats. Of particular note are the Messa e salmi from 1640, dedicated to Emperor Ferdinand III, and the Salmi diversi di Complieta, containing works probably composed for the Patriarch of Venice. These works are based on a far-reaching principle of contrast – of tempo, metre, texture, dynamics and colour. The form of such contrasting works is usually held together by the introduction of refrains and the basso ostinato technique. Rigatti meticulously marks all agogic, dynamic and expressive changes, and even the registration of the accompanying organ, with written indications. In the concertos, particular attention is drawn to the cantilena melodic line, the skilful use of instruments in independent ritornellos, the virtuosity of the solo parts and the logical distribution of the proportions of the form. Rigatti’s secular works comprise only two collections. In the concertante madrigals, which are predominantly duets and in the canzonetto style, there are clear references to the achievements of C. Monteverdi. The monody collection includes many arias based on ostinato basses, two strophic cantatas and one internally contrasting dialogue cantata to G.B. Guarini’s poem Il pastor fido. These works are characterised by an expressive manner of conveying the poetic text through the use of seconda pratica and moderate vocal virtuosity.

Literature: J. Roche Giovanni Antonio Rigatti and the Development of Venetian Church Music in the 1640s, “Music and Letters” LVII, 1976 and “Musica diversa di Completa”. Compline and Its Music in Seventeenth-Century Italy,
“Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association” CIX, 1982/83; J. Whenham Duet and Dialogue in the Age of Monteverdi, Ann Arbor 1982; J. Roche Antonio Rigatti and His Musiche Concertate of 1636, in: Il madrigale oltre il madrigale, ed. A. Colzani, A. Luppi and M. Padoan, «Contribuyi Musicologici del Centro Ricerche dell’Antiquae Musicae Italicae Studiosi-Como» VIII, Como 1994; M. Kokole Sacred works by Giovanni Antonio Rigatti and other Venetian composers in the context of musical life in Koper in the 17th century in: Early music: Context and ideas. II, Krakow 2008; G. Viglizzo Giovanni Antonio Rigatti: Profilo biografico in: Barocco padano 7, ed. A. Colzani, A. Luppi, M. Padoan, Como 2012; L.M. Koldau Giovanni Antonio Rigattis Messa e salmi, parte concertati (1640) und die Entwicklung des Concertato-Stils, “Schütz-Jahrbuch” XXIV, 2002.