STEFFANI, AGOSTINO. - Musician, b. at Castelfranco Veneto on 25 July 1654, d. at Frankfurt am Main on 12 Feb. 1728.
At the age of fourteen he was chamber and court musician in Munich. In 1674 he printed his first work, Psalmodia vespertina, for eight voices, and on 1 March 1675 he was appointed court organist. Ordained priest around 1680, on 5 Jan. 1681 he was assigned the parish benefice of Lepsing near Nördlingen (Bavaria). In 1688 he had a dozen operas performed at the Court of Hannover with great success; they were translated into German and also performed in other German cities. S. also carried out important diplomatic activity in Hannover and Düsseldorf; on 13 Sept. 1706 he was appointed titular bishop of Spiga, and in 1709 apostolic vicar of Upper and Lower Saxony for the preservation of Catholicism in the country, as well as in Hannover and Braunschweig. Among his last religious works are the Stabat Mater and a motet for five voices and organ, Qui diligit Mariam, sent by him to London, where the “Academy of ancient music” had wished him to serve as president. Also worthy of mention is the polemical pamphlet on music theory, Quanta certezza abbia dai suoi principi la musica... (Amsterdam, 1700).