His 18 operas (from 1664, mostly 1675-84) were nearly all produced at Venice. He was highly extolled in his own time, and is conspicuous for a decided development of the orchestral accompaniments and for successful handling of comic scenes and plots. He was also eminent for many sacred and instrumental works (see sec. 94). With him begins the transition to the fertility of the last part of the century. His distinguished pupils were many, including Lotti and Caldara.
To these may be added at Venice Giovanni Rovetta (d. 1668), Monteverdi's successor at St. Mark's in 1643 and a distinguished church composer, with 2 operas (1645-9); Giambattista Volpe (d. 1692), his nephew and pupil (hence called Rovettino), from 1665 organist at St. Mark's, with 3 ( 1659-64); Carlo Grossi, a conceited singer at St. Mark's, with at least 6 (1659-77), besides church works; and Giovanni Antonio Boretti of Parma, with at least 8 (1662-73)·
Outside of Venice before 1670 may be noted, at Rome, Luigi Rossi, one of the many proteges of the Cardinals Barberini, with I (1642), besides another at Paris (1647), Marco Marazzoli (d. 1662), a falTIOUS harpist and from 1637 in the Papal Chapel, with 3 (1642-58), A. M. Abbatini (d. 1677), with 2 at Rome and Vienna (165°-66), and P. F. Valentini (d. 1654), with 2 favole, each with intermezzi (1654), besides learned canons, etc. ; at Genoa, Francesco Righi, with I (1653); at Ferrara and Vienna, Giuseffo Tricarico, with 2 (1655-62); at Naples, Francesco Cirillo, with 2 (1654-5); at Viterbo, Giovanni Battista Mariani (1659); and at Palermo, Vincenzo Amati (1664).
The Earlier Venetian Opera-Writers
