Antonio Lotti

Antonio Lotti was an Italian Baroque composer. His father, Matteo, was the Kapellmeister in Hannover, Germany. What is unsettled is when Matteo Lotti and his family arrived in Hanover, and exactly what year Antonio was born. Neither is known with certainty and, hence, his birthplace may have been either city. Antonio Lotti wrote some of the most important music of his part of the Italian Baroque. He wrote in a variety of forms, producing masses, cantatas, madrigals, around thirty operas, and instrumental music. His music for the operatic stage was brilliant while highly dramatic and harmonically daring. In addition to his sacred music and operas, he wrote solo cantatas with strings, and some with continuo only. But he also wrote an unusual assortment of short pieces for two or more singers. His Miserere became a tradition at St Mark's, played every Maundy Thursday at St Mark's during the 18th century and even some in the 19th. In his church music, he was an arch-conservative (usually to the point of foregoing any instrumental accompaniment).