Orazio Benevoli

Composer Orazio Benevoli was a major exponent of the so-called Colossal Baroque style, writing works for massive choral ensembles. He spent most of his career in Rome. Benevoli was born in Rome on April 19, 1605. He was of French background; his father, Robert Venouot (or Vénevot), was a baker; that name was translated into Italian as Benevoli or, sometimes, Benevolo. Benevoli had his first musical experiences as a choirboy at the church and school of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome from 1617 to 1623. Just 19, he was then hired as music director at the church of Santa Maria in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood, serving there from 1624 to 1630. From 1630 to 1638, he was music director of the Santo Spirito Church in the Sassia (Saxon) district. In 1638, he assumed the same position at his alma mater, San Luigi dei Francesi, remaining in that post until 1644. He then spent three years at the court of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. In 1646, he moved back to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life. He served in high-profile musical positions with the Catholic church: choirmaster at Santa Maria Maggiore Church and at the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter's Basilica. For three years, in 1654, 1654, and 1667, he was Guardian of the Congregazione di Santa Cecilia at the Vatican. Benevoli wrote at least 16 masses, motets, Magnificat settings, and other sacred vocal works, often on a grand scale involving four or more choirs. A Missa Salisburgensis with 53 parts was long thought to be his work but is now thought to have been composed by Heinrich Ignaz Biber or someone else. However, compositions of similar dimensions actually by Benevoli survive, including a mass for 12 four-part choirs and a hymn for 56 voices. His music remains relatively little recorded in comparison with that of Schütz and other composers in the early and middle Baroque polychoral style; as of the mid-2020s, only about 15 of his works were available on recordings. He wrote little instrumental music, but a Sonata a 8 was recorded by the group Sonatores Pannoniae in 2003 on the album The Age of Cesario Gussago. Benevoli's Missa Tu es Petrus for four choirs was recorded by the joined ensembles of The City Musick and I Fagiolini for The Sixteen Productions in 2023. Benevoli died in Rome on June 17, 1672. ~ James Manheim, Rovi