Pietro Antonio Gallo

Pietro Antonio Gallo, also known as Pietrantonio, was an Italian composer and music teacher active in Naples for much of the eighteenth century. His year of birth is put somewhere between 1695 and 1700, though it is not known for certain, and he died in Naples on 15 August 1777. His importance rests above all on his long dedication to music teaching at one of the great Neapolitan conservatories.

On 25 April 1742 he succeeded Giovanni Veneziano as second master at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto. After the death of the first master, Francesco Durante, in September 1755, he shared the directorship with Gennaro Manna, maestro di cappella of the Naples cathedral and, from April 1760, also with an elderly Nicolò Porpora. Porpora and Manna resigned after a year, and in May 1761 Gallo became the sole director. During his thirty-five years as master he trained pupils including Pasquale Anfossi, Antonio Sacchini, Domenico Cimarosa, Giuseppe Giordani and Niccolò Zingarelli.

Despite having served at Santa Maria di Loreto for longer than any previous master, Gallo has been unjustly forgotten. He was first eclipsed by Durante and then by his own pupil and successor, Fedele Fenaroli. Moreover, at the beginning of the nineteenth century some writers confused his career with that of Ignazio Prota, and out of this confusion emerged a supposed 'Ignazio Gallo', said to be a pupil of Alessandro Scarlatti, to whom the achievements of Pietro Antonio Gallo were attributed.

His known output is exclusively sacred and reflects a late Baroque style, with themes and textures of an instrumental character. His St John Passion is notable for passages of strong individual character, in which the narrative alternates simple and accompanied recitatives with arioso and ritornellos. The role of Christ may be sung either by a bass or a tenor. His catalogue includes masses, magnificats, lamentations, cantatas and pieces for religious festivals, many of them preserved in Naples.