Cataldo Amodei



Cataldo Vito Amodei (6 May 1649 – 13 July 1693) was an Italian composer of the mid-Baroque period who spent his career in Naples. His cantatas were important predecessors to the active cantata production of 18th-century Naples, and he stands with the elder Francesco Provenzale and younger Alessandro Scarlatti as among the principal Italian cantata composers. Other surviving works include a book of motets dedicated to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; a serenata; two pastorales; two psalms; and four oratorios, which were important contributions to their genre.

Amodei held posts at various musical institutions, maestro del coro (choirmaster) at San Paolo Maggiore and two prestigious conservatories: the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana (1680/81–1688) and second choirmaster at Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto (1687–1689). His virtuosic 1685 book of cantatas, Cantate, Op. 2, was the first book of cantatas published in Naples.

Early life
Cataldo Amodei was born in Sciacca, Sicily, near Agrigento; at the time, Sciacca had a reputation for producing important Sicilian musicians. In 2003, the musicologist Domenico Antonio D'Alessandro identified Amodei with a "Cathaldus Vitus" ("Cataldo Vito"), born in 6 May 1649 and baptized the same day at St. Mary Magdalene, Sciacca. Accordingly, Amodei's full name was Cataldo Vito Amodei, and he was the last of six children to Gaspare and Antonia, with Antonio de Facio and Francesa Nicolosi as his godparents. His family probably consisted of mostly merchants of Genoese origin. The priest Bonaventura Sanfilippo-Galiotto records in his Sacrum Xacca Theatrum (1710) that Amodei studied with the Maestro di Cappela in Sciacca and violinist Don Accursius Giuffrida; Amodei was purportedly his most talented pupil. The priest Vincenzo Farnia wrote in his 1897 Biografie di uomini illustri nati a Sciacca (Biographies of illustrious men born in Sciacca) that Amodei went to Naples "for the honor that the city is accorded by all the nations as being the mistress of melody" in 1669–70. However, records indicate that Amodei was still in Sciacca; he is first recorded in Naples in 1679, though he may have arrived there between 1670 and 1679.

Naples
In Naples, Amodei was ordained a priest and presumably completed his musical education, the details of which are not extant. In March 1680, Amodei succeeded Filippo Coppola as maestro di cappella (choirmaster) of the Theatine church San Paolo Maggiore. In particular, Amodei worked for San Paolo Maggiore until his death, regularly making and performing music; for their services he wrote at least four ontarios: L'innocenza infetta dal pomo, Il flagello dell'empietà, La Susanna and Il Giosuè vittorioso. According to Sanfilippo-Galiotto, by at least 1685 he gained an additional post of maestro di cappella at the Dominican Collegio di San Tommaso d'Aquino. D'Alessandro notes that records indicate Amodei was actively involved in the music of San Paolo Maggiore, while it remains uncertain whether his other ecclesiastical appointments were occasional or regular. At the church, a Pastorale by Amodei was performed for Christmas 1688, which may be the surviving Pastorale per la novena del Signore for four voices.

In 1680/81, Amodei succeeded Pietro Andrea Ziani as maestro di cappella at the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana, one of four major musical institutions of the city. He received the additional position of second maestro di cappella at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto—another of the major institutions—on 14 September 1687. This post was to assist the primary maestro di cappella Nicola Acerbo, who was finding difficulty in teaching over a hundred students alone. Instructing the students in harpsichord and voice, the governors raised his pay to a ducat over even Acerbo, perhaps in light of his renown as a musician. Upon his obtainment of the Loreto post, governors' records praise Amodei, declaring him "one of the outstanding personalities of the city". Amodei left his position at Sant'Onofrio in 1688 and was succeeded by Cristoforo Caresana—D'Alessandro suggested that he was exhausted from a year of two simultaneous conservatory positions. The February of the following year, he resigned from his post at Santa Maria di Loreto, reportedly "because of his many commitments", and was succeeded there by Alessandro Scarlatti.

Amodei was known as a colleague of Francesco Provenzale, who is often considered the founder of the Neapolitan School, and was probably acquainted with A. Scarlatti. After his time at the conservatories he may have offered private lessons; it is unclear if his student Francesco Bajada was from a conservatory or private pupil. Francesco Solimena painted the Sacrestia di Solimena throughout 1690, during which Amodei prepared music for the Feast of Saint Gaetano there. He presumably assisted with the music for subsequent feasts at San Paolo Maggiore, including the Feast Day for the Madonna of Purity (8 September) and Andrew Avellino (10 November). On 13 July 1693, Amodei died in Naples. The city newspaper reported on this the following day: "Yesterday, to universal mourning, the famous Maestro di Cappella of san Paolo, Sig D. Cataldo Omodei [sic] passed away. He was a fine exponent of his profession." The historian Bonaventura Sanfilippo-Galiotto described Amodei as:

"'Cataldo Amodei, the most excellent Maestro di Cappella of San Paolo Maggiore of the Order of Regular Clerics in the City of Naples, and of the Collegio di San Tommaso d'Aquino of the Dominican Fathers and of the Royal Conservatory of Sant'Onofrio who wrote an infinite number of compositions'"

Overview
Amodei's compositions consist of oratorios, motets and cantatas. Almost all of Amodei's works were published in Naples, usually being printed by Novello De Bonis and their "stampator arcivescovile" ("archiepiscopal printer"). Novello De Bonis's editions of music by Amodei show them—like Mascardi in Rome—attempting to use a three-systems layout to fit more musical notation per page.

Amodei set text by Andrea Perrucci twice; first for the 1686 oratorio La Susanna and later for 1692 serenata La sirena consolata. Musicologist Dinko Fabris noted that both Amodei and Perrucci were Sicilians who moved to Naples.

Cantatas
18th-century Naples was an active site of cantata production, first with composers such as A. Scarlatti, Francesco Mancini and Domenico Sarro. Amodei's cantatas were the most significant predecessor to this. Amodei stands with the elder Provenzale and younger A. Scarlatti as among the principal Italian composers of cantatas. His book of 1685 cantatas, Cantate Op. 2, is the earliest book of cantatas to be printed in Naples; the next single cantata was Antion del Ricco's ''Urania armonica. Cantate a voce sola, Op. 1 of 1686 and the next book was Pergolesi's Quattro cantate da camera'' of around 1736. The work's full title is Cantate a voce sola, libro primo, opera seconda, di Cataldo Amodei, maestro di cappella di San Paolo Maggiore de' molto reverendi Padri Teatini, del Collegio di San Tomaso d'Aquino de' molto reverendi Padri Domenicani, d del Real Conservatorio di S. Honofrio di Napoli. Unlike earlier Italian cantatas such as the anonymous Squarciato appena havea and  L'amante impazzito con altre Cantate, e Serenate a solo, et a due con violini (1679) by Milanese composer Simone Coya, Amodei's Cantate are particularly virtuosic and do not conform to the earlier Italian archetype of ironically setting popular tunes to serious subjects. Musicologist Alfred Einstein favorably compared Amodei's cantata "L'interesse" from the Op. 2 to Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Einstein explained:

"'This is, in a way, a distant ancestor of Wagner's Ring. Both embody revolt against capitalism. Amodei's horrible representation of Interest foreshadows the giant Fafner who 'sits in possession:' only instead of Wagner's redemption through love, he invites us piously to raise our eyes to heaven. The music has a distinct expressive value.'"

Oratorios
Amodei's four oratorios, L'innocenza infetta dal pomo, Il flagello dell'empietà, La Susanna and Il Giosuè vittorioso are important works in establishing the form and content of Italian oratorios. Described by musicologists Rosa Cafiero and Marina Marino as "rather homogeneous" ("piuttosto omogeneo)", the works were all written for San Paolo Maggiore and share subject matter and musical form. They are thus exemplary to the Italian oratorio's increasing tendency to have its subject matter, structure, patronage and performance aligned.

During the beginning of the 17th century, librettists were typically more prominent than composers, with the latter more likely to be anonymous. Only one of the oratorios—La Susanna—has a librettist listed (Perrucci), suggesting a switch in the dominance of composers and librettists.

Others
Primo libro de' mottetti (First Book of Motets; 1679), his Op. 1 motets for 2–5 voices, was dedicated to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. The motet's 1679 publication was the first published music in Naples since a 1645–1653 series of various first editions and reprints by composers such as Bartolomeo Cappello, Giovanni Salvatore and Francesco Vannarelli.

Editions
Amodei's works are included in the following collections:

Recordings
Numerous cantatas by Amodei were recorded in Cataldo Amodei: Cantatas (2004) by soprano Emma Kirkby, lutenist Jakob Lindberg and harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen. Three of these recordings were rereleased in The Artistry of Emma Kirkby (2009).