Pietro Torri

Pietro Torri (ca. 1650 in Peschiera del Garda – 6 July 1737) was an Italian Baroque composer.

Life

Portrait of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (1662–1726) by Joseph Vivien.

From 1684 to 1688, Torri served as the organist and choirmaster of the Margrave of Bayreuth, and later entered into the service of the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian II Emanuel. In 1692 he followed the prince with some gentlemen of the court orchestra to the Spanish Netherlands and later settled with them in Brussels where Torri married the daughter of the ballet master François Rodier.

Over the following years he lived in Mons, Namur, Lille, Compiegne, and Valenciennes; where his compositions were performed.

In 1715 he returned to Munich, where he occasionally composed cantatas; and an opera annually. In 1726 Maximilian died, and his son Charles Albert succeeded him to the throne of Bavaria. For this occasion, Torri composed a musical tribute to the new ruler: the allegorical cantata Bavaria. This work alluded to an early Bavarian claim to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. On the death of Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei in 1732, he was finally officially appointed as choirmaster at the court of Bavaria. Charles Albert was elected emperor in 1726 as Charles VII Albert and Torri became a musician at the imperial court.

Works

Along with about 50 operas, Torri wrote serenades, oratorios, cantatas, psalms, and a recorder sonata in C major. His most famous oratorios include the Triomphe de la paix composed for the Treaty of Rastatt in 1715 and a Te Deum for Maximilian II Emanuel. The rediscovery of Torri and revival of his works is largely due to the German composer Christoph Hammer, a musicologist and performer of early music.

Some operas and oratorios

References

Discography

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