Mustafà, Domenico

MUSTAFÀ, DOMENICO. - Musician, b. at Sellano (Foligno) on 16 April 1829, d. at Montefalco on 14 March 1912. Gifted with a beautiful soprano voice, in 1848 he was admitted among the singers of the Sistine Chapel.

Succeeding Baini in the direction of the Sistine Chapel at a moment of extreme decadence for sacred music, since the melodramatic form had ended up taking over, M. managed only in part to raise its fortunes, admired as a director and singer more than as a composer. The castrato singers, among whom was M. himself, represented by then 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 profane style and return to the severity proper to the liturgical genre. A profound connoisseur of Palestrina and an intelligent interpreter of him, M. even in this could not escape the fashion of the time. But by now the need for a rebirth of ancient polyphony was beginning to make itself felt, and M. perceived the new demands of sacred art. In 1898 Perosi was called to the direction of the Sistine Chapel; nevertheless M. continued to struggle still in the pretension of imposing his own directives over those of the young master, but in 1903 his resignation was accepted and he was retained with the title of honorary director.

Silverio Mattei