Pietro Torri ( – 6 July 1737) was an Italian Baroque composer.
Life Torri was born in Peschiera del Garda, Republic of Venice., Neue Hofkapelle München, Christoph Hammer It is possible, but not certain, that soprano Anna Maria Torri was his sister. From 1684 to 1688, he 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, Compiègne, 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. He died in Munich.
Compositions His most famous works for voices and orchestra include his Magnificat (for some time erroneously attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Lotti), andLe Triomphe de la paix, a cantata celebrating the Treaty of Rastatt (1714).
Dramatic works
+ Dramatic works by Pietro Torri Title Genre Libretto Date Place Occasion dramma per musica 1688 Bayreuth Birthday of .Torri, Pietro at . cantata 1689 Oct/Nov Munich Name day of Elector. and .BSB Mus.ms. 216 (composer's autograph of Fetonte) and BSB-Hss WINtj 52 (contemporary manuscript copy of Fetonte) at Bavarian State Library website. serenata (tourney) 6 February 1690 Munich Tournament..BSB Mus.ms. 221 (composer's autograph of Gli oracoli di Pallade e di Nemesi) and Gli Oracoli di Pallade e di Nemesi (libretto) at Bavarian State Library website. opera buffa 1691 Munich serenata Luigi Orlandi 1691 May() Leuchtenberg For Electress Palatine..D-WINtj 53 (c.1700 manuscript copy of I Preggi della primavera) at Bavarian State Library website. dramatic work 1691 Jul Munich opera 1695 Jan.? Brussels? Marriage of Elector & Electress?.BSB Mus.ms. 209 (composer's autograph of Le Peripezze della Fortuna) at Bavarian State Library website. (attr.) cantata (tourney) 1695 Oct. Brussels Birthday of Electoral Prince..D-WINtj 63 (contemporary manuscript copy of Il Giorno festivo) at Bavarian State Library website. oratorio teatrale 1692–1701 Brussels? . oratorio teatrale 1692–1701 Brussels? .. (attr.) dramma per musica Francesco Palmieri 1696 Feb.? Hanover Carnival., , , , and .BSB Mus.ms. 172 (manuscript copy of Briseide) at Bavarian State Library website. ("Figli de' monti") cantata (tourney) 30 January 1702 Munich .BSB Mus.ms. 222 (composer's autograph of Torneo) at Bavarian State Library website. dramatic oratorio 1707–1714 Le martyre des Maccabées at ..BSB Mus.ms. 229 (composer's autograph of Le Martir des Maccabées) at Bavarian State Library website. prologue 17 May 1712 Namur . opera 1712 Valenciennes . pastorale 1713 Sep.? Dinant? For Elector of Cologne?.BSB Mus.ms. 173 (composer's autograph of Enone) at Bavarian State Library website. divertissement 1714 May() Valenciennes . dramatic cantata 1714() Celebrating Treaty of Rastatt..BSB Mus.ms. 226 (composer's autograph of Le Triomphe de la paix) at Bavarian State Library website. pasticcio (+Steffani) Luigi Orlandi 1715 Aug. Munich 18th birthday of Electoral Prince.. (=) opera 1715 Oct.? Munich cantata 1715–1716 Munich . serenata 29 August 1716 Munich Return of Electoral Prince..BSB Mus.ms. 175 (composer's autograph of La Baviera) at Bavarian State Library website.. dramma per musica Antonio Salvi 12 October 1716 Munich Name day of Elector.Libretto: VD18 14794462 and Bavar. 4015-1,1/5#Cah.1 at Bavarian State Library website. (rev. of ) dramma per musica Antonio Salvi 1717 Feb.() Munich .BSB Mus.ms. 171 (composer's autograph of Andromaca) at Bavarian State Library website. ("Già dall'Iser ameno") cantata (tourney) 6 May 1718 Leuchtenberg . cantata (wedding) 17 February 1719 Munich Marriage of Ferdinand Maria and Maria Anna.. dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 12 October 1719 Munich Name day of Elector..BSB Mus.ms. 206 (composer's autograph of La Merope) at Bavarian State Library website. (attr.) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno/Antonio Salvi 11 July 1720 Munich Birthday of Elector..BSB Mus.ms. 147 (Torri's manuscript of Eumene) and Eumene (libretto) at Bavarian State Library website. (attr.) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 12 October 1720 Munich Name day of Elector.. cantata 17 July 1721 Munich Birthday of Elector..Mus.ms. 176 (composer's autograph of Per l'anniversario della nascità de S. A. E. Massimiliano Emanuele) at Bavarian State Library website. dramatic cantata 6 August 1721 Munich Birthday of Electoral Prince..BSB Mus.ms. 177 (composer's autograph of Gli dei festeggianti) at Bavarian State Library website. dramma per musica Adriano Morselli 12 October 1721 Munich Name day of Elector..BSB Mus.ms. 215 (composer's autograph of L'amor d'amico vince ogni altro amore) at Bavarian State Library website. dramma per musica Antonio Salvi 18 October 1722 Munich Marriage of Electoral Prince and Archduchess..BSB Mus.ms. 154 (composer's autograph of Adelaide), and libretto prints Bavar. 4015-1,1/5#Cah.3, Bavar. 4015-22,1/4#Cah.2 and VD18 14823764 at Bavarian State Library website. cantata (tourney) Pietro Pariati 22 October 1722 Munich Marriage of Electoral Prince and Archduchess..BSB Mus.ms. 220 (composer's autograph of La publica felicità) and La publica felicità (libretto) at Bavarian State Library website. (rev.) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 3 January 1723 Munich (=) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 24 January 1723 Munich Carnival.Libretto: VD18 15228304-003, Bavar. 4015-13,1/4#Cah.3 and L.eleg.m. 1170 m#Beibd.3 at Bavarian State Library website. (attr.) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 12 October 1723 Munich Name day of Elector..BSB Mus.ms. 163 (Torri's manuscript of Griselda) at Bavarian State Library website. dramma per musica 1724 Oct. Munich Birth of Princess..BSB Mus.ms. 164 (composer's autograph of Amadis di Grecia), and libretto (translated in German): 4 L.eleg.m. 8#Beibd.4, 4 Bavar. 2165, VII, 19 and VD18 14786184-001, at Bavarian State Library website. (attr.) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 12 October 1725 Munich Name day of Elector..BSB Mus.ms. 162 (Torri's manuscript of Venceslao) and 1731 version of the Venceslao libretto at Bavarian State Library website. pastorale Name day of Electoral Prince.. dramma per musica Domenico Lalli 11 May 1727 Munich Birth of Prince.Basso, Alberto (1996). Musica in scena, Vol. 3, p. 40. UTET.BSB Mus.ms. 170 (composer's autograph of L'Epaminonda) and L'Epaminonda (libretto) at Bavarian State Library website. dramma per musica Domenico Lalli 1728 Oct. Munich Visit of Count Palatine..BSB Mus.ms. 214 (composer's autograph of Nicomede) at Bavarian State Library website. tragedia per musica Domenico Lalli 22 October 1729 Munich Birthday of Electress..BSB Mus.ms. 156 (composer's autograph of Edippo) and Edippo (libretto) at Bavarian State Library website. tragedia per musica Domenico Lalli 22 October 1731 Munich Name day of Electress..BSB Mus.ms. 165 (composer's autograph of L' Ippolito) at Bavarian State Library website. (attr.) dramma per musica 1733 Munich Visit of Archbishop-Elector..BSB Mus.ms. 166 (Torri's manuscript of Ciro), and libretto (translated in German): Bavar. 4015-9,1/4 and VD18 14568225-001, at Bavarian State Library website. (rev.) dramma per musica Apostolo Zeno 1735 Feb.() Munich Carnival.Griselda: dramma per musica (libretto) at Library of Congress website. tragedia per musica Metastasio 1736 Munich .BSB Mus.ms. 158 (composer's autograph of Catone in Utica) at Bavarian State Library website.
Sacred music
Magnificat
Torri likely composed his Magnificat in C major for double choir and orchestra in the 1690s. The work is scored for double SATB choir, two trumpets, bassoon, strings (two violin parts and two viola parts) and basso continuo/organ.Magnificat; V (8), orch, org; C-Dur in Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website. and .
The Magnificat in C major, BWV Anh. 30, is Johann Sebastian Bach's arrangement of Torri's Magnificat. In Bach's versionMus.ms. Bach P 195 at Berlin State Library website. of the work there are an additional trumpet and timpani..
Masses Missa pro Defunctis: Requiem mass for the Elector (died in 1726). The composition is for SSATB singers and an orchestra consisting of oboes, strings and continuo (organ)... Missa solemnis in D major.. Mass in C major..
Oratorios Torri wrote more oratorios than any composer before George Frideric Handel (see also several dramatic oratorios mentioned above among Torri's dramatic works):. Abelle (Brussels 1692–1701; Munich 1734).. San Gaetano (Brussels 4 April 1705). La vanità del mondo (Brussels 5, 12 and 19 March 1706), libretto by Carlo Francesco Melchiori. Giacobbe, also known as Rebecca (Brussels, Mons or Namur 1705–1714).. Genesio (Brussels, Mons or Namur 1705–1714).. Elia (Munich, Spring 1730), libretto by .. Abramo (Munich, Spring 1731), libretto by Domenico Lalli..Mus.2140-D-1 (composer's autograph of Abramo) at Saxon State and University Library Dresden website. Gionata (Munich ), libretto by Apostolo Zeno..
Other 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:Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. .Confitebor from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. .Dominus illuminatio mea from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. .In caelo stellato from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. , performed 31 October 1728 (23rd Sunday after Trinitas).In te Domine speravi from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. .Laudate pueri from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. Two different s.Lauda Jerusalem (1) and Lauda Jerusalem (2) from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website. and . .Laetatus sum from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website.. .Veniat dilectus meus from Mus.ms. 30299 at Berlin State Library website..
Chamber music
Trastulli The (trifles) 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 are, at least in part, extracted from larger vocal works:. The first volume contains 14 Recitative and Aria pairs: Con insoliti fregi (aria: "Non si scorge più dipinto"; S, vdg). Dalle spine da i Numi (aria: "Le rose odorose"; S, b, fl). Non v'è nube importuna (aria: "Di Vulcan nelle prigioni"; B, b, 2fl/2vl). Volano d'ogni intorno (aria: "I molli zeffiretti con le fronde"; S, b, ob). Passan di ramo in ramo (aria: "Dal petto canoro"; S, b, fl/ob). Con dolci melodie (aria: "Ciò che vegeta"; S, b, vdg/ob). Le ninfe più vezzose (aria: "Con placido incanto"; B, b, fl, fld). Le Castalide suore (aria: "Qui soggiorna un vago nume"; S, b, vdg). Bella diva (aria: "Per te sola sorge l'alba"; S, b, vdg/fl). Seguono i tuoi vestigi (aria: "Quante pompe ha la bellezza"; B, b, fl). Del Latio antico e delle Greche scole (aria: "Ben traluce nell'aspetto"; S, b, vdg/ob). Or va con tanta luce (aria: "Due seni più felici"; S, b, vdg/ob). L'opre nostre e i pensieri (aria: "Voi sarete con"; S, b, fl).