Stefano Bernardi

Stefano (or Steffano) Bernardi (18 March 1580 – 15 February 1637), also known as “il Moretto”, was an Italian priest, composer and music theorist. Born in Verona and maestro di cappella at the Verona Cathedral from 1611 to 1622, he later moved to Salzburg, where he was responsible for the music at the Salzburg Cathedral and composed a Te Deum for 12 choirs performed at the cathedral’s consecration in 1628. Bernardi’s career spanned the transition from late Renaissance music to early Baroque, with some of his works in the polyphonic style of Palestrina and others in the new stile concertato. He composed both sacred and secular music, including several masses and motets as well as sinfonias and three books of madrigals. He also wrote a treatise on counterpoint published in 1615. Biography Bernardi was born in Verona and educated at the Scuola Accolitale (Acolyte College) attached to the Verona Cathedral, where he also sang in the choir under Ippolito Baccusi. In 1622 Bernardi left Verona to take up a post as Director of Court Music to Archduke Carl Joseph, Bishop of Breslau and Brixen. Following the Archduke’s death in 1624, Bernardi settled in Salzburg, where he was to become the Di