Conte Pirro Albergati Capacelli

Pirro Albergati (Capacelli)
(b Bologna, 20 Sept 1663; d Bologna, 22 June 1735). Italian composer. Born of noble parents, Marcantonio Albergati Capacelli and Vittoria Carpegna, he soon took a lively part in Bolognese musical life, and was a friend (and perhaps pupil) of G.A.

Perti and Corelli. The dedication of Albergati's op.5 to Leopold I led Eitner to assume that he was in that emperor's service, but this thesis is unsupported. Although Albergati accepted a post as maestro di cappella in Puiano in 1728, his chief musical activity besides composition was that of enlightened dilettante and patron of other composers. G.M. Bononcini and Giuseppe Jacchini both dedicated works to him. The Albergati palace in Bologna, according to the chronicles, was the scene of many festive serenatas, academies and cantatas. Between 1682 and 1731 Albergati was elected 24 times to the governing body of Bologna, the Anziani. From 1701 to 1708 he served six times as gonfalonier of justice. In 1721, at the age of 58, he married a woman of 21, Elisabetta della Porta of Gubbio; she died only six years later.