Cataldo Amodei

Cataldo Vito Amodei (6 May 1649 13 July 1693) was an Italian composer of the mid-Baroque period who spent his career in Naples. His cantatas were important predecessors to the active cantata production of 18th-century Naples, and he stands with the elder Francesco Provenzale and younger Alessandro Scarlatti as among the principal Italian cantata composers. Other surviving works include a book of motets dedicated to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; a serenata; two pastorales; two psalms; and four oratorios, which were important contributions to their genre. Amodei held posts at various musical institutions, (choirmaster) at San Paolo Maggiore and two prestigious conservatories: the (1680/81–1688) and second choirmaster at (1687–1689). His virtuosic 1685 book of cantatas, Cantate, Op. 2, was the first book of cantatas published in Naples. Life and career Early life Cataldo Amodei was born in Sciacca, Sicily, near Agrigento; at the time, Sciacca had a reputation for producing important Sicilian musicians. In 2003, the musicologist Domenico Antonio D’Alessandro identified Amodei with a “Cathaldus Vitus” (“Cataldo Vito”), born in 6 May 1649 and baptized the same day at St. Mary Magdalene,