Life
His training was situated in the transitional phase of the Late Baroque that prepared the birth of the new taste, while his full artistic maturity was expressed entirely within the period of Arcadia, of which he was a prominent exponent in Venice.
Born in Venice in 1666, Antonino Biffi presumably trained with Giovanni Legrenzi. On July 6, 1692, he entered the choir of the St. Mark's Chapel as a contralto and, after just one week, the Procurators entrusted him with assisting the maestro di cappella Gian Domenico Partenio.
Upon Partenio's death (1701), the competition for the leadership of the Marciana Chapel opened: candidates included the vice-master Carlo Francesco Pollarolo, and organists Antonio Lotti and Benedetto Vinaccesi. The choice fell on Biffi, officially appointed on February 5, 1702; he held the direction until his death, ensuring continuity and decorum for the Marcian liturgy.
In parallel, he also succeeded Partenio as director and choir master at the Conservatorio dei Mendicanti. Among his pupils were Giovanni Battista Ferrandini and, perhaps, Daniel Gottlob Treu.
His production, predominantly sacred, reflects the color and expressiveness of the Venetian school, tempered by a more sober taste of Roman ancestry; he preferred the concerted style over dense counterpoint. He died in Venice in 1733.
Aneddoto
A stellar competition at St. Mark's
In 1702, Biffi won the direction of the Ducal Chapel, overcoming candidates of the caliber of Pollarolo and Antonio Lotti: the latter would only succeed him years later, a testimony to the level of the competition.Works
Oratorios
- Il figliuol prodigo (libretto by R. Ciallis, 1769, Venice; lost)
- La mamma in deserto (1723, Venice; lost)
Sacred Music
- 6 psalms: Ecce quam bonus (2 voices); Et exultavit con meum (2 voices); Miserere (4 voices and violins, violas, organ); Natus in ludea (3 voices and b.c.); Quia laetatus (2 voices and b.c.); Repleti prius (2 voices and organ)
- Various masses and mass movements
- Various motets
- Sacred cantatas
- Other psalms
Cantatas
- Amante moribondo (fragment)
- Adorar beltà
- La primavera
Briciole di storia
of medicine
Layered bones
With Anatome ossium, Domenico Gagliardi was the first to describe the lamellar structure of bones. The work enjoyed European success and was reprinted in Leiden in 1723.
Pubblico dominio (Commons)
