A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Astorga, Emanuele d'
ASTORGA, Emanuele Baron d', born at Palermo in 1681 (Fétis pretends to give the day of his birth). He began the serious business of life by witnessing the execution of his father, the Marchese Capece da Roffrano, who was captain of a mercenary troop, and perished on the scaffold along with several Sicilian nobles after an unsuccessful émeute against the power of Spain. In the agony of this terrible occasion his mother actually died, and the child himself fainted away. After a time the orphan attracted the notice of the Princess Ursini, maid of honour to the wife of Philip V, who placed him in the convent of Astorga in Spain. In this asylum it was that he completed the musical education which there is reason to believe he had commenced under Francesco Scarlatti at Palermo. He quitted it after a few years, and on his entrance into the world obtained, through the influence of his patroness, the title of Baron d' Astorga. In 1704 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court of Parma. There he soon became a favourite for his music's sake and for his personal gifts, for he was a handsome man, composed with ease and ability, and sang with extraordinary finish and feeling his own graceful and original melodies. It is not otherwise than consonant with a character of which we have only slight though suggestive glimpses, to hear that on the termination of his mission he still lingered at the court of Parma, forgetful of his Spanish ties, and fettered by a secret love affair with his pupil Elisabetta Farnese, the niece of the reigning duke. Nor is it surprising that his entertainer should soon have found means to transfer so dangerous an ornament of his palace to some distant capital. Accordingly we find Astorga dismissed, early in 1705, with a letter of recommendation to Leopold I at Vienna. The emperor yielded at once to the fascinations of his visitor, and would have attached him to his person had not his own death too rapidly interrupted his intentions. Astorga remained in or returned to Vienna during the reigns of Joseph I and Charles VI, and for many years led a romantic life of travel and adventure, in the course of which he visited and revisited Spain, Portugal, England, and Italy, reconciling himself on his way to the neglected protectress of his boyhood. In 1712 he was in Vienna, and acted as godfather to the daughter of his friend Caldara, whose register (May 9) may still be seen at S. Stephen's. In 1720 he reappeared there for a short time, and thence he finally retired to Bohemia, where he died, August 21, 1736, not however, as usually stated, in a monastery, but in the Schloss Raudnitz, which had been given up to him by its owner, the prince of Lobkowitz, and the archives of which contain evidence of the fact. This circumstance has only very recently been brought to light.
Among Astorga's compositions are his renowned 'Stabat Mater,' for 4 voices and orchestra, probably composed for the 'Society [App. p.525 "Academy"] of Antient Musick' of London, and executed at Oxford in 1713, MS. copies of the score of which are to be found in the British Museum and the imperial libraries of Berlin and Vienna; and a pastoral opera 'Dafni' (not 'Dafne'), composed and performed at Barcelona in June 1709, and probably last heard at Breslau in 1726, and to be found in the Hofbibliothek at Vienna in the Kiesewetter collection. A requiem is also mentioned as possibly lying in the castle where he ended his days. His name is also known by his beautiful cantatas, of which a great number are extant. The Abbé Santini had no less than 98 of these, 54 for soprano and 44 for contralto, with accompaniment for figured bass on the harpsichord, besides ten composed as duets for the same two voices. Of the Stabat Mater Hauptmann (no indulgent critic) writes ('Briefe,' ii. 51), 'It is a lovely thing, … a much more important work than Pergolesi's, and contains a trio, a duet, and an air, which are real masterpieces, wanting in nothing; neither old nor new, but music for all times, such as is too seldom to be met with.' The work is published (with pianoforte accompaniment) in the Peters Collection, and has been recently re-instrumented by Franz and issued by Leuckhart.