Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni

By age sixteen he was maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore, Monterotondo, a historic church near Rome.

In addition he held a series of prestigious positions as maestro for Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, Rome (from 1686), at St. John Lateran (from 1708, where Palestrina had served from 1555 to 1560), and for the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter’s (from 1719, immediately following Domenico Scarlatti), and maestro di cappella at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome.

For the chapter of San Lorenzo in Damaso, he produced major performances over thirty-five years for the music-loving Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, whose extensive circle of artists included Arcangelo Corelli, George Frideric Handel, both Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Bernardo Pasquini, and Filippo Amadei.

He was extremely prolific, with some 325 masses, 800 Psalm settings and 235 motets among the 3500 compositions listed by his pupil and biographer, Girolamo Chiti.

However, given typical performance practices in the early 18th century – vocal ornamentation ("divisions"), instrumental participation, antiphonal location for polychoral elements, just intonation, and varied vocal colors – even the homophonic works must have made a strong impression in the highly reverberative church interiors of Rome.