LOTTI, Antonio. – Organist and composer, a Venetian by birth, born c. 1667, died in Venice on 5 January 1740. Admitted in 1687 as a singer to the choir of St Mark’s Basilica under the direction of S. Legrenzi, he later became second organist and in 1704 first organist.
He published many secular works for the theatres of Venice and Dresden (Giustino, Giove in Argo, Ascanio e Teofane), but the most important part of his output concerns sacred music. Among the Venetian masters of the 18th century, he is the only one who wished and knew how to rebel against the then commonly accepted manner of writing music for the Church. The sacred music of that time wavered uncertainly between cold academic exercise and theatrical style, with interminable introductions, solo voices and instruments, displaying all kinds of embellishments unsuited to liturgical worship. Lotti energetically and competently advocated a return to the traditions of classical vocal polyphony, without however stifling the spirit of his time or neglecting the technical means then available. On this subject he had to engage in bitter polemics and had lively disputes with his colleagues and even with Benedetto Marcello, his pupil. Among his works are a fair number of oratorios (Il voto crudele, Il ritorno di Tobia, Gioas e Giuditta, etc.), masses, and motets for 4, 10, and 12 voices.
The *Sammlung ausgewählter Kompositionen für die Kirche* by S. Lück (Regensburg 1907) lists 4 masses, various motets (Vere languores for 3 voices, Gaude Maria, Ave Regina coelorum, Regina coeli, Salve Regina for 4 voices, and the well-known Miserere for 4 voices); other compositions appear in other collections (Proske, Rochlitz, etc.).