Biography
Legrenzi stood at the forefront of late Baroque musical evolution, with his reach evident in pieces by Bach, Torelli, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, and Handel. The last of these drew particular inspiration from Legrenzi’s operas, six of which survive intact. Within those operas his arias gained greater weight relative to the surrounding drama and assumed an array of structural guises across his output. His fugues and ensemble sonatas for strings and continuo stood out for their forward-looking design. He held successive posts as organist at S Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, maestro di cappella at the Accademia dello Santo Spirito in Ferrara, and chorus master at the Conservatorio dei Mendicanti. His works spanned operas, oratorios, cantatas, masses, psalms, canzonettes, and sonatas. Throughout his career the underlying style stayed consistent across every genre, yet the individual pieces grew steadily more refined.