Attilio Ariosti

Attilio Ariosti (Malachia [Clemente]) [Frate Ottavio]
(b Bologna, 5 Nov 1666; d London, before 3 Sept 1729).

Italian composer. From about 1672 to about 1684 he was a chierico (altar boy) at S Petronio, where he most likely received his musical training. By 1682 he had substituted Clemente for his baptismal name Malachia. As Frate Ottavio he entered the monastic Order of Servites on 25 July 1688, and he served as organist at their basilica, S Maria dei Servi, in Bologna. He became a deacon in 1692, and he preceded his name with ‘frate’ in dedications and correspondence. Yet he was usually termed ‘padre’ by contemporaries, so he may have attained the rank of priest. He dedicated his first two oratorios (1693–4) and his Divertimenti da camera (1695) to noble patrons. These works presumably attracted the attention of the music-loving Duke of Mantua, since Ariosti entered his service by March 1696, when the libretto for a Mantuan oratorio names its composer as ‘P[adre] Attilio Ottavio Ariosti, virtuoso della [duca di Mantova]’. In the autumn he was perhaps responsible for one act of the opera Tirsi, which was dedicated to the duke. After composing his first complete opera in 1697, he was sent by the duke to the Berlin court of Sophie Charlotte, Electress of Brandenburg, whom he served as maître de musique (according to his title in the text of the serenata Mars und Irene). Since her court was Protestant, the Servite Order was highly displeased by this move and repeatedly commanded his return to Bologna. He had, however, quickly managed to become Sophie's favourite musician, and she successfully manoeuvred to extend his visit, enlisting Italian dukes and cardinals as well as the German philosopher Leibnitz to support her cause. Leibnitz reflected that Ariosti was not easy to replace, because he could sing, perform on several instruments and write dramatic texts as well as music. For Sophie he wrote the music for two operas and three shorter works, as well as the text for Giovanni Bononcini's Polifemo. After Sophie capitulated, Ariosti prudently declared his readiness to return to his order by way of Vienna, even though – as she wrote to Leibnitz – ‘he is dying for fear of returning to his monastery’.