Biography
Bernardo Pasquini, an Italian composer and acclaimed keyboard virtuoso active during the Baroque era, earned renown for his operas as well as his harpsichord compositions while ranking among Rome’s most sought-after and esteemed musicians in the closing decades of the seventeenth century. Born in 1637 in Massa Valdinievole, a Tuscan town, he spent his boyhood at a school in Uzzano studying under Mariotto Bocciantini. During his teenage years he resided with an uncle in Ferrara and took lessons from Antonio Cesti and Loreto Vittori; at the same time he undertook a rigorous examination of the music of Frescobaldi and Palestrina that shaped his compositional voice for decades to come. His first professional post came in 1653 when he assumed the prestigious role of organist at the Accademia della Morte. Two years later he relocated to Rome, where churches and cathedrals quickly engaged him as an organist. He continued in such positions until 1664, when he was named Organist of the Senate and Roman People at the church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. As the city’s foremost keyboard virtuoso he was repeatedly invited to play before royalty and high-ranking clergy, among them King Louis XIV, Queen Christina of Sweden, and Cardinal Flavio Chigi. Beyond his duties at Santa Maria he appeared in oratorios at San Marcello, and in 1666 he accepted an additional post as musical director and harpsichordist to Prince Giambattista. In 1671 he took up residence in the Palazzo Borghese, where he remained for the rest of his life; around the same period he formed a close friendship with violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli. The two musicians frequently performed together, Corelli sometimes directing Pasquini’s scores, and together they rose to leadership within the local musicians’ guild, exerting considerable influence over their colleagues. Pasquini’s theatrical works enjoyed peak popularity throughout the 1670s, yet demand waned in the following decade with the arrival of younger talents such as Alessandro Scarlatti. Although his overall output diminished during the 1690s, he still completed several keyboard pieces, three oratorios, and one opera. His stature as a teacher extended well beyond Rome, drawing both local and foreign pupils that included Georg Muffat, Johann Philipp Krieger, and Domenico, son of Alessandro Scarlatti. By 1706 Pasquini and Corelli had joined Alessandro Scarlatti and other leading composers and writers as members of the Arcadian Academy. Pasquini died in Rome in 1710.