His teacher in his early years was probably Maurizio Cazzati (1616–1678), maestro di cappella at the main church in Bologna, San Petronio Basilica from 1657 to 1671.
[1] The first documented evidence of Vitali’s musical activities appears in the records of the San Petronio orchestra for 1658, when he is listed under the title ‘Violoni’,[2] referring to the cello/bass instrument that he played (to be discussed below).
Vitali remained in the orchestra until 1673, when he took up an appointment as maestro di cappella at the chapel of the Confraternità del Rosario, Bologna.
He was also, significantly, not an organist – unlike the vast majority of maestri di cappella in Bologna during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
It is unlikely, therefore, that even if Vitali had stayed longer in Bologna he would have been offered the job of maestro di cappella at San Petronio, the most important musical position in the city.
[2][3][4] Vitali played a bowed stringed bass instrument but, due to the shifting terminology in use at the time, this is referred to under various names.
The bowed bass section of the San Petronio orchestra at this point therefore comprised Colonna on violone and Franceschini on violoncello.
The fact that this distinction in terminology was not deemed necessary earlier implies that Vitali was playing the same instrument as Colonna (the ‘Violone grosso’, not the ‘Violoncello’).
The style of the writing is much more clearly suited to the cello, which suggests that Vitali is still using ‘Violone’ as a general term for bowed bass.
The Accademia dei Filaschisi was formed in 1633 by Domenico Brunetti and Francesco Bertacchi [3] and Vitali claims to be a member of this institution on the title page of his first publication, Opus 1, 1666.
Most of his subsequent published works describe him as a member of both institutions – Accademico Filaschise, e Filarmonico, - despite the fact that the Accademia dei Filaschisi was no longer in existence.
The musical community of Bologna was split in the 1660s by a bitter polemic started by Lorenzo Perti, a priest at San Petronio.
He identified some apparent musical errors in the Kyrie of Cazzati’s Missa primi toni, which had been published in his five-part Messa e salmi, Opus 17 (1655).
Giulio Cesare Arresti (1619–1701), newly installed as organist at the San Petronio Basilica, sided with Perti and was consequently dismissed in 1661.
However, Vitali publicly acknowledged Cazzati as his teacher in the letter to the reader of his Opus 1 (1666) – an unexpected gesture from one of the Accademia Filarmonica’s most prominent members, if indeed hostilities were rife.
There are also many vocal works from this period found in manuscript: ten sacred and secular cantatas and four oratorios, the music of two of which survives.
The next collection of da camera sonatas, Balli in stile francese a cinque stromenti, Opus 12 (1685), is scored a quattro, for two violins, viola and continuo.
In Vitali’s last published collection, Sonate da camera a tre, due violini e violone, Opus 14 (1692), the forty-four movements, including examples of ballo, giga, borea, minuet, gavotta and zoppa, are divided into eight suites.
The remaining collection of da camera sonatas, Varie partite del passemezo, ciaccona, capricii, e passagalli, a tre due violini, e violone, o spinetta, Opus 7 (1682), is a highly unusual set for the period, containing only dance movements employing variation technique, rather than balletti, correnti and other common dances.
Artificial Musicali ne quali si contengono canon in diverse manners contrapuntal topic, inventions curious, capital e Sonate, Opus 13 (1689) is one of the most comprehensive studies of counterpoint before Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge and Musicalisches Opfer.
Vitali also employs similar compositional devices in the non-canonic pieces in the collection – for example, a balletto in three different meters simultaneously, a passacaglia which modulates from E-flat major to E major through the cycle of fifths, and another Balletto for two treble instruments which has one line written in G and the other in F. Vitali’s first collection of ‘da chiesa’ sonatas, Sonate a due violini col suo Basso continuo per l'organo, Opus 2 (1667), consists of twelve short, three or four-movement works.
In Vitali’s last book, Sonate da chiesa a due violini, Opus 9 (1684), the twelve sonatas are more consistent in terms of number and type of movements than those of Opera 2 and 5.