Nicola Montani

Nicola Aloysius Montani, KCSS (6 November 1880 in Utica, New York – 11 January 1948 in Philadelphia ) was a conductor, composer, arranger, and publisher of sacred music. His earliest musical studies were in Indianapolis with his brother Gaetano, Charles Schultze, composition with H. D. Beissenherz, organ with W. H. Donley, and Leslie E. Peck. In Indianapolis he formed part of the Montani Brothers Orchestra, and was also a member of the early Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Karl Schneider. In 1903 he studied in Rome at the Conservatory of St. Cecilia, studying voice with Clara Bretschneider and future wife Catherine Sherwood, organ with Filippo Capocci, Gregorian chant with Rodolfo Kanzler and Antonio Rella. Further personal studies were pursued in Rome with Don Lorenzo Perosi, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir. In 1906 he studied Gregorian chant with the Benedictine Solesmes monks exiled on the Isle of Wight in Appuldurcombe House, including with Dom André Mocquereau and Dom Eudine. Upon his return to New York, he was music director of Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and professor of music at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Mahwah, NJ. He moved to Ph