Life
Trained in the heart of the Baroque, his mature career took place in the Late Baroque phase, a transitional era that saw the conclusion of the seventeenth-century style and the emergence of the first rationalist ferments that would lead to the birth of Arcadia.
Born in Celano in 1631, Giuseppe Corsi—also known as Celani from the name of his town of origin—trained in Rome under the guidance of Giacomo Carissimi, one of the most important masters of the seventeenth century. Thanks to the instruction he received, he developed a mature style capable of combining contrapuntal solemnity with the new Baroque expressiveness.
He was a chapel master in various cities, including Città di Castello, Rome, Naples, and finally Ancona. His career was characterized by prestigious appointments and a musical production that touched both the sacred and secular spheres. In 1670 he underwent an inquisitorial trial for moral issues, which led to a period of detention, but his musical activity was not crushed by it: he continued to receive commissions and to be appreciated for his compositions.
He died in Ancona in 1691, leaving a significant musical corpus, now partly preserved in the Vatican Apostolic Library and other Italian archives.
Aneddoto
A persecuted master
In 1670 he was imprisoned by order of the Inquisition, but he soon returned to composing and holding prestigious positions, demonstrating the esteem that continued to surround him.Works
Among his works are masses, psalms, hymns, and motets, as well as secular cantatas, madrigals, and oratorios. A significant portion of his compositions is still unpublished. Some oratorios and cantatas, such as L’Incoronazione di Santa Caterina, have been rediscovered and published in modern editions.