CESTI, MARCO ANTONIO

CESTI, MARCO ANTONIO. - An accomplished opera composer, b. at Arezzo in 1623, baptized with the name Pietro, he took the name Antonio on entering the Conventual Franciscans in 1637; he was choirmaster at the seminary of Volterra (where he was perhaps ordained priest in 1646), then at Venice, Arezzo, Florence, Lucca, Innsbruck (1653), Rome (an extra singer in the papal chapel from 1659 to 1662), then again at Florence, Venice, Vienna (where he was probably court choirmaster), and subsequently at Venice and Florence, where he died in 1669. Besides theatrical music, he also wrote sacred music, examples of which are found in the Estense Library at Modena (motets for one and several voices of 1620), 14 vocal compositions for 1 to 8 voices, and at the British Museum in London (a composition for 4 voices, Filiae Ierusalem).