Filippo Maria Gherardeschi

Filippo Maria Gherardeschi (Pistoia, 1738 – Pisa, 1808) was a Tuscan composer and organist whose career unfolded almost entirely in Tuscany. His musical training began in his native Pistoia, in a family setting closely tied to church music: his father, Giuseppe, was organist at two Pistoian churches, and his uncle, Atto, was a singer in the cathedral choir. Today he is chiefly of interest for his sacred output and for his relationship with Padre Martini of Bologna.

Between 1756 and around 1761 he studied in Bologna with Martini, who opened the doors of the Accademia Filarmonica for him. After settling in Livorno in 1761, he gave private lessons and played the organ in several churches in the city. Despite Martini's support, he did not win the post of maestro di cappella left vacant when C. A. Campioni moved to Florence; the position went to Orazio Mei, organist of the cathedral of Pisa. Gherardeschi was maestro di cappella in Volterra in 1763 and, four months later, organist of the Pisan cathedral, where he soon earned a considerable reputation as a harpsichordist in the palaces of patrician families and at the theatre of the Accademia dei Costanti. In 1770 he was appointed maestro di cappella at the cathedral of Pistoia, although he only performed on the great feast days; in 1771 he resigned, and the post passed to his brother Domenico. In 1783 Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo appointed him music master to his children and director of concerts, and in 1785 he named him organist and maestro di cappella of the conventual church of the Knights of St Stephen in Pisa, a post he held until his death.

The bulk of his work is sacred music for choir, soloists and orchestra. Although he knew the Renaissance repertoire, as his study of Palestrina indicates, his style was not the stile antico but a predominantly homophonic and galant writing, inheriting the Bolognese tradition of his teacher. Among his religious works, twenty-six masses and a Gran messa solenne da requiem stand out; the latter was performed in Pisa in 1803 in memory of Louis I, King of Etruria. His hymns and psalms also carry considerable weight; the Confitebor dated Pisa 1773 alternates arias with choral movements. According to his obituary in the Magasin encyclopédique, he admired J. S. Bach and the masters of the German school.

He wrote six operas, all premiered in Tuscany except L'astuzia felice, presented in Venice in 1767, but only libretti and a few loose arias survive. It seems he composed no operas after 1769. His keyboard music enjoyed some circulation during his lifetime; his Tre sonate per cembalo o fortepiano, probably published in Florence around 1785 and dedicated to Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, are notable for their melodic smoothness and for expressive markings typical of pianistic writing. His legacy endures above all in the sacred repertoire of eighteenth-century Tuscany.