Carlo Francesco Pollarolo

Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (ca. 1653 – 7 February 1723) was an Italian composer, organist, and music director. Known chiefly for his operas, he wrote a total of 85 of them as well as 13 oratorios. His compositional style was initially indebted to the opera tradition of Giovanni Legrenzi and Carlo Pallavicino, but he moved beyond this style with innovations to the compositional structure of the aria characterized by expanded forms and orchestral elaborations. His early work used three part strings in the Legrenzi and Pallacino tradition of orchestration, but his mid and later works had developed into a richer orchestration of five strings parts and expanded instrumentation of brass and woodwinds. He was the first Venetian opera composer and one of the earliest Italian composers to use the oboe in his opera orchestrations. Life and career Born into the Pollarolo family of musicians in Brescia, Carlo Francesco Pollarolo was the son of musician Orazio Pollarolo. His father was the organist at the Santi Nazaro e Celso, Brescia from 1665–1669, and then at the Brescia Cathedral from 1669 through 1675. His younger brother Paolo Pollarolo (b. 1672) was also a professional musician in Brescia