(b Venice, c 1670; d Vienna, 28 Dec 1736). Italian composer. He was a chorister at St Mark's, Venice, and proficient on the viol, cello and keyboard. In the 1690s he began writing operas, oratorios and cantatas; his trio sonatas opp. 1 and 2 (1693, 1699) are his only known instrumental chamber works. He served as maestro di cappella da chiesa e dal teatro to the Duke of Mantua, 1699-1707, and maestro di cappella to Prince Ruspoli in Rome between 1709 and 1716, meanwhile composing for other cities. From 1716 until his death he was vice-Kapellmeister at the Viennese court. He was much favoured there for his dramatic works, cantatas liturgical music and oratorios; latterly he also composed stage works for the Vienna Carnival, for court celebrations and for Salzburg. His output (over 3000 works, almost all vocal) was one of the largest of his generation. His operas and oratorios make him a central figure in the creation of music drama in the tradition of Metastasio, many of whose texts he was the first to set.
Caldara, Antonio (äntô'nyō käldä'rä), c.1670-1736, Italian composer. In 1714, Caldara obtained a position at the imperial court in Vienna, where he remained until his death. He composed many operas and oratorios, other sacred and secular vocal music, and chamber works. His canons were especially popular. Franz Joseph Haydn was influenced by Caldara.
Genres: Choral Music, Miscellaneous Music, Opera, Vocal Music
Biography
Antonio Caldara was not only one of the most important composers of his generation, but wielded considerable influence over the evolution of Italian vocal music of the early eighteenth century. Moreover, having lived the last two decades of his life in Vienna, he was a significant factor in shaping the direction of both Viennese and German music. To say Caldara was prolific is an understatement: he wrote nearly 3,500 works, including more than 90 operas, numerous oratorios, liturgical works, cantatas, madrigals, and many instrumental pieces. Unfortunately, many of his scores are lost, but there still exists a substantial body of work by which to judge him positively. As a performer he was immensely talented: he was accomplished as a viol player, cellist, and keyboardist, and in his childhood, as a choirboy at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, he was considered a highly gifted singer. While his operas are rarely performed today, his instrumental and liturgical music has achieved some currency, and because of the increasing availability of them on recordings, Caldara's reputation could be on the upswing.
Antonio Caldara was born in Venice, Italy, probably in 1671. Caldara's educational background is clouded: his first teacher was probably his father, a workaday violinist, and Giovanni Legrenzi, maestro di cappella of St. Mark's, and cello virtuoso Domenico Gabrielli likely taught the young Caldara.
By the early 1690s Caldara's operas were drawing attention, and he was already known as a virtuoso cellist in Venice. In 1699 he was appointed maestro di cappella to the Duke of Mantua, a fanatic lover of opera. Caldara apparently wrote many operas for the Duke, but none of the manuscripts survive.
Caldara relocated to Rome in 1708, where he was taken into the service of Cardinal Ottoboni. Caldara's Serenata Chi s'arma di virtù (1709) was one of many successful works he wrote while in Rome.
In 1717 Caldara resettled once more, this time in Vienna as the vice-kapellmeister under Charles VI. Caldara was required to write many operas, oratorios, and other works as part of his duties. Among his more successful efforts from the Vienna years were the operas Dafne (1719) and Sancio Panza (1730). His sacred music also drew acclaim with such works as Missa Laetare (1729) and Missa in spei Resurrectionis (1732). So busy was Caldara from the demands of his Viennese post that there is evidence exhaustion was a factor in his death on December 28, 1736. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide
Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, probably under the instruction of Giovanni Legrenzi. In 1699 he relocated to Mantua, where he became maestro di cappella to the inept Charles IV, Duke of Mantua, a pensionary of France with a French wife, who took the French side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Caldara removed from Mantua in 1707, after the French were expelled from Italy, then moved on to Barcelona as chamber composer to Charles VI of Austria, the pretender to the Spanish throne who kept a royal court at Barcelona. There, he wrote some operas that are the first Italian operas performed at Spain. He moved on to Rome, becoming maestro di cappella to Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli, 1st Prince of Cerveteri. While there he wrote "La constanza in amor vince l'inganno" (Faithfulness in Love Defeats Treachery) for the public theatre at Macerata. In 1716, he obtained a similar post in Vienna to serve the Imperial Court, and there he remained until his death.
