Giuseppe Sigismondo
Apotheosis of Music in the Kingdom of Naples
edited by Claudio Bacciagaluppi, Giulia Giovani and Raffaele Mellace
Introduction by Rosa Cafiero English 
translation by Beatrice Scaldini

(Essays, 3)

LXXVIII, 346 pp.; 21 x 15 cm

The Apotheosis of Music by Giuseppe Sigismondo (1739-1826) is an essential work for those undertaking the study of Neapolitan musical repertoire from the 18th century and of the collection from the library of the ‘San Pietro a Majella’ Conservatoire in Naples. It served as a model for the historiographies by the marquis of Villarosa (Lettera biografica intorno alla patria ed alla vita di Gio. Battista Pergolese, 1831; Memorie dei compositori di musica del Regno di Napoli, 1840), by Francesco Florimo (Cenno storico sulla Scuola musicale di Napoli, 1869-70; La scuola musicale di Napoli e i suoi conservatori, 1881-83) and by Salvatore di Giacomo (Il Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio a Capuana e quello di S.M. della Pietà dei Turchini, 1924; Il Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo e quello di Loreto, 1928). The Apotheosis was originally conceived to be published and is frequently quoted in studies on musicians of the Neapolitan school, but it is rarely consulted in its entirety. The four manuscript tomes of The Apotheosis of Music are currently preserved in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, having arrived there after passing through the collections of Franz Sales Kandler (1792-1831), Aloys Fuchs (1799-1853) and Georg Pölchau (1773-1836). The first tome consists of 198 pages containing the musical autobiography of the author, annotations on sacred music and opera theatres and considerations about the partial decadence of music in Naples in the 19th century. The second tome consists of 304 pages on the founding of the first public musical library in the Conservatoire of ‘La Pietà dei Turchini’ and on the history of the four music conservatoires and their music masters. The third tome consists of 308 pages and includes eulogies of Orazio Vecchi, Tomaso Carapella, Egidio Duni, Leonardo Vinci, Giovan Battista Pergolesi, Nicolò Porpora and Domenico Cimarosa. The fourth tome, 284 pages long, comprises the eulogies of Francesco Mancini, Pasquale Cafaro, Antonio Sacchini, Leonardo Leo, Francesco Durante, Tommaso Traetta, Nicola Sala, Nicolò Piccinni and various annotations on the Neapolitan School. The modern edition of the Apotheosis of Music will allow scholars to comfortably access information of fundamental importance about composers from the Neapolitan School, vocal pedagogy, musical venues in Naples and the founding corpus of the collection in the library of the ‘San Pietro a Majella’ Conservatoire.

Claudio Bacciagaluppi graduated in musicology in Zurich and completed his D.Phil. in Fribourg (Switzerland) with Luca Zoppelli. He works for the Swiss RISM branch; he is leader of the project Creating the Neapolitan Canon. Music and music theory between Paris and Naples in the early nineteenth century (Hochschule der Künste, Bern). His research fields are sacred music in seventeenth-century Switzerland and in eighteenth-century Naples. Recent papers appeared in Eighteenth Century Music 12 (2015) and in Pergolesi Studies 9 (2015). He wrote two books, Rom, Prag, Dresden: Pergolesi und die Neapolitanische Messe in Europa (Kassel, Bärenreiter, 2010) and Artistic Disobedience. Music and Confession in Switzerland, 1648–1762 (Farnham, Ashgate, forthcoming). He edited Pergolesi’s Mass in D major for the new Pergolesi complete works series (Milan, Ricordi, 2015).

Rosa Cafiero is Researcher in Musicology and Music History, Lecturer in Music History, Milan Catholic University (1993-present). She studied Composition and Piano at Naples “San Pietro a Majella” Conservatory (Degree 1989), Humanities at the Naples “Federico II” University (Degree 1986). From 1988 to 1993 Lecturer in Music History (Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia, Bari, Salerno, and Potenza Conservatories). From 1997 to 2004 Lecturer in History of Music Theories at Rome "Tor Vergata" University. Co-Advisor for the Web-Based Series Monuments of Partimenti and Monuments of Solfeggi hosted by Northwestern University and produced by the Northwestern School of Music, (edited by Robert Gjerdingen). Her Publications have dealt with 18th- and 19th-Century Italian Music Theory, 18th- and 19th-Century Ballet Music, 19th-Century Music Publishing, 19th-Century Music Collecting (http://docenti.unicatt.it/ita/rosa_cafiero/).

Giulia Giovani received her PhD in Music history at the Università di Roma Tor Vergata with a dissertation on the dissemination of the cantata in printed sources in Italy (1620-1738). She is adjunct professor in Modern and contemporary music history and Fundaments of music at the Università di Siena (A.A. 2015/2016); senior researcher in the project Creating the Neapolitan Canon. Music and music theory between Paris and Naples in the early nineteenth century (Hochschule der Künste, Bern); coordinator in the international project Clori. The Archive of the Italian Cantatas. From 2012 to 2014 she was granted scholarships from the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice (Antonio Vivaldi Institute) and from the German Historical Institute in Rome. In 2013 she took part as researcher in the Printed Sacred Music in Europe project. She has published scholarly editions of cantatas and several essays in the field of vocal chamber music, concerning the history of music printing in the 17th Century and the history of the neapolitan conservatory music library.

Raffaele Mellace graduated in Humanities in Milan, in Oboe in Bologna and received a PhD in Musicology in Bologna. He is currently Associate Professor for Musicology and History of Music at University of Genoa, where he coordinates the Master in Modern Literatures and Performing Arts. His main research focuses are 18th-century opera and church music. To these topics he has devoted several articles in volumes and journals, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani and Dizionario dell’opera (ed. P. Gelli, Baldini & Castoldi, 1996) and three books: Johann Adolf Hasse (L’Epos, 2004, German revised edition, Ortus-Verlag, 2015), L’autunno del Metastasio (Olschki, 2007), Johann Sebastian Bach. Le cantate, preface by Chr. Wolff (L’Epos, 2012; “C.M. Martini International Award” 2013). He edited P. Weiss, L’opera italiana nel ’700 (Astrolabio, 2013) and, together with C. Fertonani and C. Toscani, La musica sacra nella Milano del Settecento (LED, 2014).

Beatrice Scaldini trained at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Florence) obtaining a violin diploma cum laude in 2006, and continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a Newby Trust Scholar with Lydia Mordkovich and Mateja Marinkovic. Following an inspiring encounter with Walter Reiter, she began exploring the fascinating world of period performance, and now performs and records with specialist ensembles across Europe, principally with English Baroque Soloists/Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (Sir J. E. Gardiner), Europa Galante (F. Biondi), as well as Concerto Italiano (R. Alessandrini), where she has also served as leader. As a chamber musician she won the Fenton House Ensemble Competition, performing with Ensemble Caravaggio at Handel House Museum, The Cobbe Collection, Finchcocks and the Händel Festspiel Göttingen. She also works as an Italian and Latin language coach for the Monteverdi Choir.