# Antonio Caldara (1670 – 1736)



## Taggart

Caldara was born in Venice. His father was a violinist and Antonio became a chorister at the Basilica of San Marco. As well as being a fine singer, he was also an accomplished player on the viol, viola and cello.

Throughout the 1690's Caldara was establishing his reputation as a composer and continuing to work as a freelance musician. Performances of his operas had been given at Venice and Rome. A personal visit made to Rome around 1697 implies an acquaintance with and perhaps instruction from Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti and Pasquini. He returned to Venice around 1698.

In 1699, Caldara left for Mantua. The Duke of Mantua was a great opera lover and the extravagance of his productions was a strain on the finances of the town. None of Caldara's music from this period has survived. In 1707 Caldara returned to Rome wher he renewed his acquintance with Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti. He also met Handel and Domenico Scarlatti. Corelli who served as orchestra director between 1690 and 1714 and Alessandro Scarlatti were employed by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, who lavishly financed musical events in his Pallazzo della Cancelleria. In 1708, Caldara composed church music and oratorios for Cardinal Ottoboni. Cardinals Ottoboni and Pamphili and Prince Ruspoli also held weekly 'conversazioni' where invited guests could gather for informal conversation, games and to hear new music, usually in the form of cantatas or serenades.

Later in 1708, Antonio Caldara departed for Barcelona as chamber composer to Charles III, the pretender to the Spanish throne (following the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 without any direct heir) and who kept a royal court at Barcelona. There, he wrote some operas that are the first Italian operas performed in Spain.

Early in 1709 Caldara returned to Rome and by July 1st of that year had secured the position of maestro di capella to Francesco Maria Ruspoli, Prince of Cerveteri. From his compositional output during the next seven years it is clear that Caldara's muse flourished in this more stable environment and he composed mainly secular works including 150 solo cantatas, over 50 duets, four operas and nine oratorios.

When Emperor Joseph I died unexpectedly in 1711, Caldara deemed it prudent to renew his connections with Charles III - soon to become Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI .Caldara visited Vienna in 1712, but found Marc'Antonio Ziani and Johann Joseph Fux firmly ensconced in the two highest musical posts. In 1716, following the death the previous year of Ziani and the promotion of Fux to Hofkapellmeister, Caldara was appointed Vize-Kapellmeister to the Imperial Court in Vienna, and there he remained until his death.

Once in Vienna, Caldara was faced with a demanding new position in which he was required to compose many large and small-scale dramatic works each year, including many operas and oratorios. In addition to his busy schedule, Caldara also accepted outside commissions, composing operas for nobles in Salzburg and Monrovia. He was well-respected and well-paid in Vienna (though he had a reputation for lavish spending), and was able to be active as a composer until his death in December 1736. The compositions of these last twenty years were prolific in number, diverse in genre, often brilliant and certainly never less than highly competent in quality, mature and personal in expression and style, and above all, secured for Caldara a European fame that lasted long after his death.

Charles Avison named Caldara along with Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti and George Frideric Handel as the composers …

"… whose works have been thoroughly proved and have stood the never failing test of time."

Charles Burney wrote in his famous History of Music "Caldara was one of the greatest professors both for the Church and the stage that Italy can boast" and "there is no composer of oratorios anterior to Handel of whose choruses I have any great expectations, except Caldara."

Bach, for example is known to have made a copy of a Magnificat by Caldara to which he added a two-violin accompaniment. Telemann in his early years took Caldara as a model for his church and instrumental music. Franz Joseph Haydn, who was taken to Vienna by Georg Reutter, one of Caldara's pupils, sang many of his sacred works when he was a choirboy at St. Stephens and possessed copies of two of Caldara's Masses. Wolfgang Mozart made use of some of Caldara's six hundred canons in KV555, 557 and 562. Ludwig van Beethoven copied several contrapuntal examples by Caldara from a publication by his teacher Albrechtsberger, and Johannes Brahms is known to have possessed a copy of some of Caldara's canons.


Sources Classical Net Bach Cantatas Website Wiki


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## Taggart

Chiacona in B flat major






Trio Sonata in E minor


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## Taggart

Crucifixus à 16 voci






Dies Irae (c.1720)


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## Taggart

The Cervantes Operas. La Ritirata






Ah se toccasse a me - Il giuoco del quadriglio


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## Rogerx

Christmas Cantata​




I hope it's allowed to post in this thread, one of my favorites.


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## Ingélou

Rogerx said:


> Christmas Cantata​
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it's allowed to post in this thread, one of my favorites.


Thanks for posting - it's great to have some recommendations.

Here's one I found this morning - Caldara's Stabat Mater, beautifully sung by The Sixteen.


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## Taggart

A revival at Buxton by La Serenissima


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## Rogerx

Antonio Caldara Sonate a tre,La Fidelissima.

Must be right up your street.


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