Antonio Lotti

Antonio Lotti was an Italian Baroque composer of sacred and secular music. He was one of the top composers in Venice in the early 18th century and an important influence on his younger contemporaries, which included Bach, Handel, and Zelenka. He was born in 1667 in Venice, and while he was still a baby, his family moved to Hanover, where his father began an appointment as Kapellmeister. Later in 1682, he moved with his family to Venice, where he studied music with Lodovico Fuga and Giovanni Legrenzi at St. Mark's Basilica. Lotti's first professional appointment began in 1689, as an alto at St. Mark's. Three years later, he was promoted to the post of assistant to the second organist, and then he became the second organist in 1692. He was also active as a composer, and that same year, his debut opera, Il trionfo dell innocenza, was premiered in Venice. It was very successful, and Lotti's reputation quickly grew thereafter. In 1698, he published a book of masses, and in 1704, he was promoted to the position of first organist at St. Mark's. For the next ten years he continued in his position at St. Mark's and composed over a dozen operas. It was also around this time when he met the famous soprano Santa Stella, whom he married in 1714. She sang in several major opera productions of the time, including Lotti's Sidonio, Achille placato, and La forza del sangue. From 1717 to 1719, Lotti and his wife were employed at the court of Friedrich August I, Elector of Saxony in Dresden. Lotti was tasked with composing Italian-style operas for the King's newly formed Italian opera ensemble, and he completed Giove in Argo, Teofane, and Li quattro elementi. J. S. Bach was also in Dresden in late 1717 for a highly publicized keyboard duel against Louis Marchand, and he could have met Lotti there, but there is no record of any such encounter. After Lotti fulfilled his obligations in Dresden, he stopped composing theatrical works altogether and returned to Venice in 1719, where he resumed his duties at St. Mark's. Additionally, he served in an unknown position at St. Maria dei Carmini, and he became highly respected as a music educator. Some of his more prominent students included Baldassare Galuppi, Benedetto Marcello, and Domenico Alberti. In 1736, he became the Kapellmeister at St. Mark's, and he continued teaching and composing until his death in 1740.
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