A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Cesti, Antonio
CESTI, Antonio, was an ecclesiastic, a native of Arezzo according to Baini, whom Fétis follows, but of Florence according to Adami. He was born about 1620, and in due course became a pupil of Carissimi. He was made a member of the papal choir on Jan. 1, 1660. Bertini says that he was subsequently Maestro di Cappella to the Emperor Ferdinand III.
The bent of Cesti's genius was towards the theatre, and he did much for the progress of the musical drama in Italy. Bertini says of him—'Contribui molto ai progressi del teatro drammatico in Italia, riformando la monotona salmodia che allova vi regnava, e transportando ed adattando al teatro le cantate inventate dal suo maestro per la chiesa.' That he owed much to his master Carissimi, as he did to his contemporary Cavalli, whose operas were then in vogue at Venice, cannot be doubted, but that he deserves to be dismissed as the plagiarist of either of them is untrue.
Allacci gives the following list of the operas of Cesti—L'Orontea; Cesare Amante; La Dori; Tito; La Schiava fortunata; Genserico: this last work he left incomplete at his death, and it was finished by Domenico Partenio. To these Fétis adds Argene, Argia, and Il Pomo d'Oro. Bertini and Gerber say that he set Guarini's 'Pastor Fido' to music, but the work is not known to exist. Dr. Burney has preserved a scene from 'L'Orontea' in his History of Music, and Hawkins has done the like by a pretty little duet for soprano and bass, called 'Cara e dolce è liberta.' The Abbé Santini had a collection of his chamber pieces, and the score of his Dori; some of his canzonets were published in London by Pignani in 1665; and there is a solitary sacred motet by him in the National Library at Paris. [App. p.584 adds that "he died at Venice, 1669, and refer to the last sentence of the article Carissimi, for another composition attributed to him."]