A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Conti, Francesco

CONTI, Francesco Bartolomeo, eminent theorbist and dramatic composer, born at Florence Jan. 20, 1681, appointed court- theorbist at Vienna in 1701. He resigned in 1705, but was reappointed theorbist in 1708, with the additional post in 1713 of court-composer. From this time he devoted himself with marked success to the composition of operas, especially the higher kind of comic operas. His best work was the tragi-comic opera 'Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena,' which is a model of its kind for the clear delineation of each separate character. It was performed first at the Carnaval of 1719 in Vienna, and afterwards (1722) at Hamburg, in German. His first opera, 'Clotilde' (Vienna, 1706), was produced in London (1709), and the songs published separately by Walsh. Conti's cantatas and oratorios are solid and thoughtful. Von Köchel (J. J. Fux: Vienna, 1872) gives a catalogue of all his works performed in Vienna between 1706 and 1732. They comprise 16 grand operas, 13 serenades or 'Feste teatrali,' and 9 oratorios, the scores of which are to be found almost entire in the Imperial library and in the archives of the 'Gesellschaft der Musik-freunde' at Vienna. Mattheson, in his 'Vollkommene Kapellmeister' (1739 p. 40), casts a grave slur on Conti's character through a confusion between him and his son Ignaz. The mistake was corrected by Quantz in Marpurg's 'Kritische Beiträge' [App. p.597 "Historish-kritische"] (1754, vol. i. p. 219), and by Gerber in his 'Neues Lexicon,' but Fétis maintained the authenticity of the anecdote in the 'Révue musicale' (1827, No. 3), and even repeated it in his 'Biographie Universelle' after the real facts had been made known by Molitor in the 'Allg. musik. Zeitung' (1838, p. 153). Conti died in Vienna July 3O, 1732. Mendel, in his 'Mus. Conv. Lexicon,' states that he was promoted to the post of court chapel-master, but this is incorrect, as he was still court-composer at the time of his death. The younger Conti, Ignaz, whom Fétis is uncertain whether to call the son or the brother of Francesco, was really his son, born in 1699. He held the post of 'Hof-scholar' [App. p.597 "Hof-compositeur"] up to the time of his death, March 28, 1759, and composed several serenades and oratorios which bear no traces of his father's ability.

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