Pietro Torri


Pietro Torri was an Italian Baroque composer.

Life

From 1684 to 1688, Torri served as the organist and choirmaster of the Margrave of Bayreuth, and later entered into the service of the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian II Emanuel. In 1692 he followed the prince with some gentlemen of the court orchestra to the Spanish Netherlands and later settled with them in Brussels where Torri married the daughter of the ballet master François Rodier.
Over the following years he lived in Mons, Namur, Lille, Compiegne, and Valenciennes; where his compositions were performed.
In 1715 he returned to Munich, where he occasionally composed cantatas; and an opera annually. In 1726 Maximilian died, and his son Charles Albert succeeded him to the throne of Bavaria. For this occasion, Torri composed a musical tribute to the new ruler: the allegorical cantata Bavaria. This work alluded to an early Bavarian claim to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. On the death of Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei in 1732, he was finally officially appointed as choirmaster at the court of Bavaria. Charles Albert was elected emperor in 1726 as Charles VII Albert and Torri became a musician at the imperial court.

Compositions

Along with about 50 operas, Torri wrote serenades, oratorios, cantatas, psalms, and a recorder sonata in C major. His most famous works for voices and orchestra include his Magnificat, Le Triomphe de la paix, a cantata celebrating the Treaty of Rastatt, and a Te Deum for Maximilian II Emanuel. The rediscovery of Torri and revival of his works is largely due to the German composer Christoph Hammer, a musicologist and performer of early music.

Dramatic works

Sacred music

Magnificat

Torri likely composed his Magnificat in C major for double choir and orchesta in the 1690s. The work is scored for double SATB choir, two trumpets, bassoon, strings and basso continuo/organ.
The Magnificat in C major, BWV Anh. 30, is Johann Sebastian Bach's arrangement of Torri's Magnificat. In Bach's version of the work there are an additional trumpet and timpani.

Masses

Torri wrote more oratorios than any composer before George Frideric Handel :
The Mus.ms. 30299 manuscript of the Berlin State Library not only contains a copy of Torri's Magnificat, but also following sacred music, from the same composer:

''Trastulli''

The Trastulli is a collection of 60 short vocal works surviving in a four-volume autograph, written between 1692 and 1701. The first of these volumes contains 14 chamber cantatas, each consisting exclusively of a recitative and a da capo aria. The other volumes contain such arias without recitative. The Trastulli are, at least in part, extracted from larger vocal works:
  1. Con insoliti fregi
  2. Dalle spine da i Numi
  3. Non v'è nube importuna
  4. Volano d'ogni intorno
  5. Passan di ramo in ramo
  6. Con dolci melodie
  7. Le ninfe più vezzose
  8. Le Castalide suore
  9. Bella diva
  10. Seguono i tuoi vestigi
  11. Del Latio antico e delle Greche scole
  12. Or va con tanta luce
  13. L'opre nostre e i pensieri
  14. Vi piova il ciel benigno
  1. From Briseide act 3 scene 8: "Godi giubila alma mia"
  2. From Briseide act 1 scene 9: "Vieni o cara amata sposa al mio cor"
  3. From Briseide act 1 scene 4: "Agitati miei pensieri"
  4. From Briseide act 2 scene 5: "Onde chiare imparate a non amare"
  5. From Briseide act 2 scene 2: "Dolce auretta che sì grata"
  6. From Briseide act 2 scene 10: "Un core o pianti o sassi"
  7. "Luci serene se per voi moro"
  8. "Di pastorella oh quanto è bella"
  9. "Spero sì dagli aspri marmi"
  10. "Fra gli orrori di notte più ombrosa"
  11. "Se dar voglio al mio crudo tormento"
  12. "Vivo in pene e di consiglio non ho speme"
  13. From Briseide act 1 scene 7: "Rendetemi al mio ben fati inclementi"
  14. "Cresce il foco a poco"
  15. From Briseide act 3 scene 8: "Nel mio fiero penar"
  16. From Briseide: "Quando venne nel mio core"
  17. From Briseide act 1 scene 11: "Hai finito a tanti guai"
  1. "Son di foco e son di ghiaccio"
  2. "Il sospiro è una parola"
  3. "All'or che vezzosa sul prato"
  4. "Chi non gode di sua lode"
  5. "Sei menzognera sei lusinghiera"
  6. "Con tal voce il ciel richiama"
  7. "Quanto dura omai ti rendi"
  8. "Il rispetto che mi rende"
  9. "Già langue il seno e già vien meno"
  10. "Il pastorello s'en giace afflitto"
  11. "Lascivoli il mio desio"
  12. "Sorghin pur tempeste irate"
  13. "Orror profondo la terra ingombra"
  14. "Si vendicate o dei"
  15. "Sonno amico de' mortali"
  1. "Traffitto ho il seno da un guardo ameno"
  2. "Aurette flebili che qui spirate"
  3. "Se un guardo girate pupille vezzose"
  4. "V'amo sì care luci adorate"
  5. "Ombre amene della notte deh calmate"
  6. "Deh volate o miei pensieri"
  7. "Deh volgi sereno quel guardo che ameno"
  8. From S Landelino: "Per dar sfogo al mio crudo".
  9. "Sei pur cruda a miei tormenti"
  10. "Triste remous funeste inquiétude"
  11. "Vuo cercando il mio ristoro"
  12. Aria without text
  13. "Come ahi lasso ti perdei"
  14. "Al languido seno"

    Sonatas