Italian composer Antonio Bertali (1605-1669)
He was born in Verona and received early music education there. Probably from 1624, he was employed as court musician in Vienna by Emperor Ferdinand II. In 1649 Bertali succeeded Giovanni Valentini as court Kapellmeister. He died in Vienna in 1669.
Bertali's compositions are in the manner of other northern Italian composers of the time and include operas, oratorios, a large number of liturgical works, and chamber music. Particularly his operas are notable for establishing the tradition of Italian opera seria in Vienna. Approximately half of his output is now lost; copies survive made by Bertali's contemporary, Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, some of the pieces are currently in possession of Vienna's Hofbibliothek, the library of the Kremsmünster Abbey and the Kromeríž archive. The most important source for Bertali's work is, however, the Viennese Distinta Specificatione catalogue, which lists several composers of the Habsburg court and provides titles and scoring for more than 2000 compositions.
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