Antimo Liberati (3 April 1617 – 24 February 1692) was an Italian

music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...

, composer, and

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

singer. Born in

Foligno Foligno (; Central Italian, Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennine Mountains, Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clit ...

, Liberati began his musical training began in Rome in 1628 when he was admitted to the choir of

San Giovanni in Laterano The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran (officially the ''Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica, Metropolitan and Primatial Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of A ...

, at the time under the direction of

Antonio Maria Abbatini Antonio Maria Abbatini ( or 1610 – or 1679) was an Italian composer, active mainly in Rome. Abbatini was born in Città di Castello. He served as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of St. John Lateran from 1626 to 1628; at the cathedral in ...

. He also studied law and fine arts and for a time worked as a notary in Foligno. From 1637 to 1643 Liberati was a court musician in the service of

Emperor Ferdinand III Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608 – 2 April 1657) was Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1625, King of Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 to his death. Ferdinand ascended the throne at the begi ...

and Archduke Leopold in Vienna. He was appointed a member of the

Sistine Chapel Choir The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the Pope's personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other chur ...

in 1662, served as its secretary (''puntatore'') in 1670 and its ''

maestro di cappella ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

'' in 1674 and 1675. He composed numerous pieces of

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...

of which 22 survive. However, he was primarily known for his writings on music theory, especially ''Epitome della musica'' (1666) and ''Lettera scritta dal sig. Antimo Liberati in risposta ad una del sig. Ovidio Persapegi'' (1685). The diary which he produced in his year as ''puntatore'' of the Sistine Chapel Choir is considered an invaluable source of information on the singers of his day and the workings of the choir. Liberati died in Rome at the age of 74 and was buried in the tomb of the papal singers in

Santa Maria in Vallicella Santa Maria in Vallicella, also called Chiesa Nuova, is a church in Rome, Italy, which today faces onto the main thoroughfare of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the corner of Via della Chiesa Nuova. It is the principal church of the Oratorians ...

. In his will he left his music scores to the

Foligno Cathedral Foligno Cathedral () is a Catholic cathedral situated on the Piazza della Repubblica in the center of Foligno, Italy. The cathedral, built on the site of an earlier basilica, is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, the martyr Felician of Fol ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberati, Antimo 1617 births 1692 deaths People from the Papal States Italian music theorists 17th-century Italian singers Roman school composers 17th-century Italian composers Sistine Chapel Choir People from Foligno