Giulia Giovani - Francesco Lora
Giacomo Antonio Perti: corrispondenze dall'Europa
(Essays, 12)

Tomo I: CXX, 358 pp.; 21 x 14,8 cm
Tomo II: CXX, 359-724 pp.; 21 x 14,8 cm

A widely admired and influential composer, Giacomo Antonio Perti (Bologna 1661- 1756) was active in every musical genre then in vogue. He was highly versed in sacred music, but was also renowned as the only opera composer who never suffered a fiasco. A master of counterpoint, he taught Giuseppe Torelli and Giovanni Battista Martini, among others. Today he is mostly remembered as chapel master in the San Petronio Cathedral, Bologna. Emperors Leopold I and Charles VI of Habsburg, Pope Benedict XIV, Prince Ferdinand de' Medici, and Duchess Aurora Sanseverino held him among their favorite composers. Perti seldom left Bologna, but exchanged thousands of letters with people of all social classes and backgrounds. These date between the 1680s and the mid-17 th century and attest to the dense network of relationships he cultivated throughout his life. He himself entrusted them to Father Martini. This edition of Perti’s correspondence is a long overdue endeavor. It lets us place each document in a broader framework, while also shedding light on the composer’s relationships, both of musical and non-musical nature. Taken together, those letters are instrumental to the reconstruction of a vibrant European cultural context. Giacomo Antonio Perti: corrispondenze dall’Europa is in two tomes; Volume 1 goes from 1681 to 1703, Volume 2 from 1704 to 1750. The work also includes three introductory essays — on Perti’s life, his correspondence, and the source documents of this edition — plus indexes of correspondents, places, and names.

Giulia Giovani holds a degree and a doctorate in Music History, Science and Techniques, both from the Tor Vergata University, Rome. An adjunct professor in Music History and Musicology at the Siena University, she researches 17 th and 18 th -century Italian vocal music, as well as music collecting (17 th to 19 th century) and music publishing. She authored several essays for books and reviews, produced scholarly editions of music and poetry texts, and wrote two books: «Col suggello delle pubbliche stampe». Storia editoriale della cantata da camera (Roma, SEdM, 2017) and Tra Napoli e Parigi. Storie di una migrazione libraria (Lucca, LIM, 2021).

Francesco Lora holds a degree and a doctorate in Musicology and Musical heritage from the University of Bologna. His main focus is on scholarly editions of operas, oratorios, sacred and instrumental music, as well as on such research areas as opera and oratorio dramaturgy, liturgy practice, state-operated sacred music, the art and profession of singing, and source preservation and cataloging, especially in 17 th - and 18 th -century Po Valley and Tuscany. The Levi Foundation, Venice, awarded him the Pier Luigi Gaiatto Award in 2020. His publications about Perti include the Integrale della musica sacra per Ferdinando de’ Medici (Bologna, Ut Orpheus, 2010-11) e la monografia Nel teatro del Principe (Bologna, Albisani - Torino, De Sono, 2016).