Sarti G. (1729-1802), composer

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
SARTI Giuseppe (1729-1802), Italian composer, bandmaster, teacher. Managed the Court Capella in Copenhagen from 1768 to 1775, then, from 1779 to 1784 held the office of bandmaster at the San Marco Cathedral in Venice. His Russian titles and offices include Russian Court Bandmaster, a position he held from 1784 to 1801, and Collegiate Counsellor (1798). He came to St. Petersburg from Vienna in the summer of 1784 to take over the presidency of the Italian Court Opera, which he headed until 1787. In 1787 he accompanied the court during Empress Catherine II's journey through Novorossia, then served under G.A. Potemkin. He came back to the capital in 1791, where he lived until his departure for home at the end of 1801. In St. Petersburg he wrote 4 Italian opera-serias, and the court companies performed no less than 10 of his operas. He was the first to introduce the genre of the Russian oratorio, solemn hymns to the texts of psalms, composed for large companies of orchestra and choral performers; these oratorios were accompanied by music for horn, cannon shots and fireworks (Gloria in Excelsis Deo, 1792). Sarti was a home tutor for the children of Emperor-to-be Paul I, composing many works for family celebrations. He also taught at the Theatre School, and some of his students included composers A.L. Vedel, D.N. Kashin, S.I. Davydov, and S.A. Degtyarev.

References: Финдейзен Н. Ф. Джузеппе Сарти (1729-1802) // Музыкальная старина: Сб. ст. и материалов для истории музыки в России. СПб., 1903. Вып. 1. С. 1-29; Степанов А. А. Композитор Д. Сарти и его вклад в русскую культуру XVIII в. // Наука и культура России XVIII в.: Сб. ст. Л., 1984. С. 129-143.

A. L. Porfiryeva. Catherine II, Empress
Davydov Stepan Ivanovich
Degtyarev Stepan Anikievich
Kashin Daniil Nikitich
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Potemkin Grigory Alexandrovich, Gracious Prince of Tauride
Sarti Giuseppe
Vedel Artemy Lukianovich
Финдейзен Н. Ф. Джузеппе Сарти (1729-1802) // Музыкальная старина: Сб. ст. и материалов для истории музыки в России. СПб., 1903
Степанов А. А. Композитор Д. Сарти и его вклад в русскую культуру XVIII в. // Наука и культура России XVIII в.: Сб. ст. Л., 1984
Музыкальный Петербург: Энцикл. слов. Т. 1: XVIII век. СПб., 1999 Italian Opera
Theatre College