Joseph Pitoni

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

A musician, born at Rieti, Perugia, Italy, 18 March, 1657; died at Rome, 1 Feb., 1743, and buried in the church of San Marco, where he had been choirmaster, in the Pitoni family vault. His biography, by his pupil Girolamo Chiti, is in the library of the Corsini palace. At five years he began to study music at Rome. Not yet sixteen, he composed pieces which were sung in the church of the Holy Apostles. At that age he was in charge of the choir at Monte Rotondo; at seventeen at the Cathedral of Assisi. At twenty (1677) he returned to Rome, and was maestro di cappella in many churches; in 1708 he was appointed director of St. John Lateran. In 1719 he became choirmaster of St. Peter's, and remained in that office for twenty-four years. In the Accademia di S. Cecilia he was one of the four esaminatori dei maestri. Pitoni acquired such a marvellous facility, that for his compositions, which were of great musical value, he could write every part separately, without making a score. The number of his compositions, says Chiti, is infinite. Many of them are written for three and four choirs. He also began a Mass for twelve choirs; but his advanced age did not allow him to finish it. He left a work "Notizie dei maestri di Cappella si di Roma che oltramontani".

Dictionary of Music from 1450-1880 (London, 1880); EITNER, Quellenlexicon, VII (1902), 462-64; BAINI, Memorie . . . di G. P. da Palestrina, II (Rome, 1828), 55, nota 502, Ger. tr. KANDLER (Vienna, 1834).

A. WALTER.