Antonio Cesti

Antonio Cesti (; baptised Pietro Cesti, 5 August 1623; died 14 October 1669), known today primarily as an Italian composer of the Baroque era, was also a singer (tenor) and organist. He was “the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation”. Biography He was baptised Pietro Cesti at Arezzo on 5 August 1623. Claims that he studied with Giacomo Carissimi “appear to be groundless”. After holding a post somewhere in Florence as maestro di cappella, he entered the papal chapel in 1660. In 1666 he became Vice-Kapellmeister at Vienna, and died at Florence in 1669. Music Cesti is known principally as a composer of operas. The most celebrated of these were La Dori (Innsbruck, 1657), Il pomo d’oro (Vienna, 1668) It includes a well-known soprano aria “Intorno all’idol mio” (“Around my idol”). Cesti was also a composer of chamber cantatas, and his operas are notable for the pure and delicate style of their airs, more suited to the chamber than to the stage. In 1655, Cesti’s opera L’Argia was premiered in Innsbruck on the visit of the Swedish Queen Christina to celebrate her conversion to Catholicism. As singer, Cesti performed roles in tenor and later also bass voice. The yearly competit