Cristofaro or Cristoforo Caresana (ca. 1640–1709) was an Italian

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

composer, organist and

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. He was an early representative of the Neapolitan operatic school.

Life and career

Born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, his precise birthday is not known. After studying under

Pietro Andrea Ziani Pietro Andrea Ziani (1616 in Venice 1684 in Naples) was an Italian organist and composer.Rappresentazione sacra: geistliches Musikdrama am Wiener Kaiserhof Richard Bletschacher - 1985 PIETRO ANDREA ZIANI Wurde am 21. 12. 1616 in Venedig getauft. ...

(uncle of

Marc'Antonio Ziani Marc'Antonio Ziani (c. 1653 – 22 January 1715) was an Italian composer living in Vienna. Ziani was born in Venice. He probably studied with his uncle, the organist Pietro Andrea Ziani. From 1686 to 1691 Ziani was ''maestro di cappella'' to Du ...

) in Venice, he moved to Naples in his late teens, where he joined the theatre company of Febi Armonici which produced early examples of

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

. Later, in 1667, he became an organist and singer in the Chapel Royal and director of the Neapolitan

Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana This is a list of music conservatories in Naples, Italy. Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella The Naples Conservatory of Music is a music school located in Naples, Italy. It is situated in the complex of San Pietro a Majella. It was originally ...

, one of the famed orphanage-music schools of Naples, until 1690. In 1699 he succeeded

Francesco Provenzale Francesco Provenzale (25 September 1632 – 6 September 1704) was an Italian Baroque composer and teacher.Fabris 2016. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. Notably Provenzale was the teacher of famed castrato 'i ...

as Master of the Treasury of San Gennaro. He wrote music for a number of other Neapolitan institutions until his death in Naples in 1709. Amongst others, the Spanish guitarist and composer

Gaspar Sanz Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 ( baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theo ...

studied music theory under his tutelage. He is remembered for his

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s, especially for the nativity season as well as instrumental interludes sometimes featuring spatially separated ensembles.

Works

*Missa defunctorum for double choir.

Dinko Fabris Dinko Fabris is an Italian musicologist. He specializes in lute music, the music of Naples, and Italian music in general, having written books on Italian composers such as Andrea Falconieri, Andrea Gabrieli, Francesco Provenzale and Francesco ...

''Music in seventeenth-century Naples: Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704)'' 2007 p. 97 "Provenzale's colleague Cristoforo Caresana left at least one Missa defunctorum for double choir and instruments ... Auctore Christoforo Caresana 1667' (Di Giacomo 1918, 41)."

Selected recordings

*''L’Adoratione de’ Maggi''

Christmas cantata A Christmas cantata or Nativity cantata is a cantata, music for voice or voices in several movements, for Christmas. The importance of the feast inspired many composers to write cantatas for the occasion, some designed to be performed in church ser ...

for 6 voices (1676) with ''La Veglia'' Christmas cantata for 6 voices (1674), ''Demonio, Angelo e Tre Pastori'' cantata for 5 voices (1676), Partenope Leggiadra – secular cantata (1703).

Cappella della Pietà de' Turchini Cappella Neapolitana is an early music ensemble based in Naples and dedicated to the recovery of Neapolitan musical heritage, primarily from the baroque era. The Cappella Neapolitana was founded in 2016 by the musicologist and conductor Antonio ...

dir. Florio, Glossa 2010.

Sources

Cristofaro Caresana
hoasm.org

musicweb-international.com *''

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caresana, Cristofaro Italian male classical composers Italian Baroque composers 1640s births 1709 deaths Year of birth uncertain Italian classical composers of church music