1666–1729 · Baroque
Attilio Ariosti (1666–1729) was an Italian Baroque composer from Bologna, who wrote over thirty operas and oratorios along with cantatas and instrumental music. He worked at the courts of Mantua and Berlin, then in London, where he shared the care of the Royal Academy of Music's opera repertoire with Handel and Bononcini. He loved the viola d'amore above all other instruments and wrote 21 sonatas for it.
Attilio Malachia Ariosti was born on 5 November 1666 in Bologna, into a family of the middle classes. In 1688, at the age of twenty-two, he took monastic vows and became a Servite friar. Soon afterwards he was allowed to leave the order, and he became a composer at the court of the Duke of Mantua and Monferrato.
In 1692 he was ordained a deacon, and in the same year he became organist of the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna. The composer's first opera was staged in Venice in 1697.
In 1697 Ariosti received an invitation from Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Prussia, and moved to Berlin. The queen's great-grandfather was King James I of England and her mother was Sophia, Electress of Hanover; she patronised poetry and the arts and took a particular interest in music. In her service, Ariosti wrote and co-wrote numerous stage works for the Berlin court, among them the ballet «La festa di Imeneo» and the opera «La fede nei tradimenti», performed in 1701. He remained court composer in Berlin until 1703. A portrait of Ariosti by the painter Anthoni Schoonjans is kept at Charlottenburg Palace.
From 1703 to 1709 Ariosti served as the Austrian general agent in Italy under Emperor Joseph I. In Vienna his operas «I gloriosi presagi del Scipione Africano» (1704) and «La profezia d'Eliseo nell'assedio di Samaria» (1705) were staged. In 1707 his opera «La gara delle antiche eroine ne' campi elisi» was staged there as well. The oratorio «La Passione di Cristo», staged in Vienna in 1709, is the best known of his oratorios.
After 1716 Ariosti won great acclaim in Paris and London. In London he looked after the opera repertoire of the Royal Academy of Music together with George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini. He was a performer too: during a performance of Handel's opera «Amadigi di Gaula», he performed on the viola d'amore during one of the entr'actes.
In 1724 his opera «Vespasiano e Artaserse» was staged in London. That same year Ariosti brought out a set of cantatas and «Lessons» for the viola d'amore and sold it by subscription.
Ariosti was more than a composer. He could sing, and he also played the violoncello and the harpsichord. In addition, he wrote the libretto «Gli amori di Polifemo», set to music by Giovanni Bononcini.
Ariosti wrote 21 sonatas for the viola d'amore. His works for this instrument with continuo include six published sonatas (also known as «Lessons») and a manuscript collection usually grouped into 15 sonatas. Most of these pieces survive in the State Music Library in Stockholm, which is why they are usually called the «Stockholm Sonatas».
Ariosti died in London in 1729. He left behind more than thirty operas and oratorios, as well as numerous cantatas and instrumental works.
Ariosti was an Italian Baroque composer: he wrote more than thirty operas and oratorios, as well as cantatas and instrumental works. His operas were staged in Berlin, Vienna and London. In Berlin, the ballet «La festa di Imeneo» and the opera «La fede nei tradimenti» (1701) were performed. In Vienna, during his years as Austrian agent, the operas «I gloriosi presagi del Scipione Africano» (1704), «La profezia d'Eliseo nell'assedio di Samaria» (1705) and «La gara delle antiche eroine ne' campi elisi» (1707) were staged. Later, in London in 1724, his opera «Vespasiano e Artaserse» was performed. The oratorio «La Passione di Cristo», staged in Vienna in 1709, is the best known of his oratorios.
Among Ariosti's instrumental works, a notable place belongs to music for the viola d'amore, his favourite instrument. His works for the viola d'amore with continuo include six published sonatas (also known as «Lessons») and a manuscript collection usually grouped into 15 sonatas — 21 sonatas in all. Most of these pieces survive in the State Music Library in Stockholm, which is why they are usually called the «Stockholm Sonatas». In 1724 a set of cantatas and «Lessons» for the viola d'amore came out and was sold by subscription.
The site has one edition of Ariosti's music, «Il Ratto di Proserpina, Cantata di Basso» (a cantata for bass), at the «Intermediate» level; it is a place to start getting to know the composer's music.