Domenico MUSTAFÀ. — Musician, born in Sellano (Foligno) on 16 April 1829, died in Montefalco on 14 March 1912. Gifted with a fine soprano voice, in 1848 he was admitted among the singers of the Sistine Chapel.
Having succeeded Baini in directing the Sistine Chapel at a time of extreme decline for sacred music, since operatic style had come to prevail, Mustafà was only partially able to restore its fortunes, admired as a director and singer more than as a composer. The castrati singers, among whom Mustafà himself was numbered, now represented a thing of the past, and the fresh voices of the pueri cantores were naturally to take their place, while for sacred composition it was urgent to abandon the secular style and return to the severity proper to the liturgical genre. A profound connoisseur of Palestrina and his intelligent interpreter, Mustafà too could not escape the trend of the times. Yet the need for a revival of ancient polyphony was beginning to be felt, and Mustafà perceived the new demands of sacred art. In 1898 Perosi was called to direct the Sistine Chapel; nevertheless Mustafà continued to struggle in his attempt to impose his own directives over those of the young maestro, but in 1903 his resignation was accepted and he was granted the title of honorary director.
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