Giuseppe Sarti

Giuseppe Sarti, baptized on December 1, 1729 in Faenza, was an Italian composer, kapellmeister, and influential music teacher whose career spanned much of Europe. Born to a jeweler who played violin as an amateur, he received his first musical training as a choirboy before studying with Francesco Antonio Vallotti in Padua and Padre Martini in Bologna. By the late 1740s he had secured a position as organist in the cathedral of his hometown, but he soon left it to dedicate himself fully to opera, and among his earliest works was the opera "Pompeo in Armenia," which achieved notable early success.

In 1752 Sarti achieved his first major triumph with the opera "Il re pastore" in Venice. That same year he became director of the opera theater in Faenza and accepted an invitation from impresario Pietro Mingotti to serve as musical director in Copenhagen. Arriving there in 1753, he earned rapid acclaim, becoming royal kapellmeister and head of the Danish Royal Orchestra while also teaching the future king Christian VII. During his long Danish stay he produced numerous operas, including "Didone abbandonata" and the admired "Ciro riconosciuto," as well as several singspiels in Danish despite never mastering the language and relying on interlinear translations. His output in Copenhagen ultimately reached two dozen operas. Although he briefly returned to Italy after the death of Frederick V, the Danish government reaffirmed his position, and he resumed his post until the bankruptcy of the Italian opera troupe forced him to leave Denmark by judicial order in 1775.

After Denmark he worked briefly in Venice and later in London in 1769, where he survived mainly by teaching music, before returning to Italy to lead a Venetian conservatory from 1775 to 1779. Supported by Giovanni Paisiello, he was appointed music director of Milan Cathedral, where he composed extensively for the church while producing many of his finest operas. His operatic creativity flourished with works such as "Le gelosie villane" (1776), "Achille in Sciro" (1779), "Giulio Sabino" (1781), and the celebrated "Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode" (1782). The latter achieved tremendous success in Vienna, where Emperor Joseph II received him with special favor, and where he met Mozart and Salieri. Mozart quoted an aria from it in "Don Giovanni" and even composed keyboard variations on its theme. This period also saw the early development of Sarti’s pedagogical legacy, as he taught the young Luigi Cherubini.

In 1784 Sarti was invited to replace Paisiello as court kapellmeister to Catherine II of Russia. On his way to St. Petersburg he again passed through Vienna, where his music was widely admired. In Russia he composed several operas, including "Gli amanti consolati" and "I finti eredi" (both 1785), "Castor e Pollux" and "Armida e Rinaldo" (1786), and later "Andromeda" (1798). His sacred compositions for the Russian court included a Te Deum for the victory at Ochakov, famously incorporating the firing of real cannons. A hostile campaign at court led by the celebrated singer Luisa Todi damaged his position, prompting his resignation in late 1786.

Between 1787 and 1791 he served Prince Potemkin, working mainly in Kremenchuk and Kyiv, and attempting to found a musical academy in the newly developing city of Ekaterinoslav. He recruited Italian musicians for this institution, and though its duration is uncertain, he retained the title of director at least through 1792. During this "Potemkin period" he composed grand ceremonial works, including the cantata for Catherine II’s visit to Kherson (1787) and the oratorio "Tebe Boga khvalim" for the Russian capture of Ochakov (1789), as well as choruses to Euripides’ "Alcestis" for Catherine’s vast theatrical project "The Initial Governance of Oleg." His monumental Russian ceremonial works often employed enormous forces; performances such as "Slava v vyshnikh Bogu" (1792) involved multiple choirs, large orchestras, percussion groups, bells, and even artillery.

Sarti returned to the post of court kapellmeister in St. Petersburg in 1793 and continued there under Paul I, who granted him the rank of Collegiate Councillor, two estates near Moscow, and later letters of nobility. In 1793 he also founded what contemporary sources referred to as a Russian conservatory for music. His stage works of this period included the opera "Enea nel Lazio" (1799) and the ballet "Les amours de Flore et de Zéphire" (1800). He also produced major ceremonial pieces such as the "Requiem for Louis XVI" (1793) and the cantata "The Genius of Russia" for Paul I’s coronation in 1797.

His Russian years were particularly rich in sacred music for both Catholic and Orthodox traditions, despite his lack of proficiency in Russian. Alongside his Te Deum for the capture of Kiliya (1790) and his two Requiems (1793 and 1798), he composed a substantial body of Orthodox liturgical music, including settings of the Cherubic Hymn, "Rejoice, O People," "Bless the Lord, O My Soul," "I Weep and Lament," "Now the Powers of Heaven," and numerous multi-choral concertos. Many of these manuscripts remain unpublished and preserved primarily in St. Petersburg.

During his later years Sarti pursued scientific research on musical acoustics. In 1796 he presented a report to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, of which he became an honorary member, demonstrating an experimental basis for the "Petersburg pitch" of 436 Hz, a standard that remained influential for nearly a century.

Sarti’s influence in Russia was considerable, and he taught several important composers, including Stepan Degtyaryov, Stepan Davydov, Daniil Kashin, Lev Gurilyov, Artemy Vedel, and also Piotr Turchaninov. His musical legacy extended widely across Russian culture of the late eighteenth century. In 1801 he retired and set out for Italy the following year but died en route in Berlin on July 28, 1802. His burial place is unknown, and among his descendants was Luigi Mussini, a noted Italian painter, chess player, and chess composer.

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