Biography
Born in Lucera, the Italian composer Cazzati devoted the greater share of his inventive years to Santo Petrino in Bologna. His catalog embraced numerous instrumental compositions, several operas, abundant sacred vocal music, and assorted arias, cantatas, canzonettes, and oratorios. He produced roughly 66 volumes, the majority vocal, yet his instrumental works proved most influential. Trumpet lines were set apart from string lines in many of his sonatas, especially within fugal passages, imparting a responsorial character to the exchange between those forces. He also became the first in Bologna to write sonatas for unaccompanied violin. Perhaps the most significant aspect of his legacy was the support he furnished for solo vocalists and solo instrumentalists in that city, an advance that opened fresh paths for instrumental music and supplied performers with suitable venues.