Sebastiano Cherici

Sebastiano Cherici was born in Pistoia in 1647 and died in the same city, probably in 1703. A composer of sacred music, his output lies within the orbit of the Bolognese school, in which he trained as a pupil of G. P. Colonna, and its procedures from that tradition are recognisable in his work, above all in his pieces in the concertato style.

Much of his career unfolded in Ferrara, where he sang as a soprano in the Accademia della Morte and, from 1670, served as maestro di cappella of the cathedral until 1679. Between 1672 and 1695 he directed the chapel of the Accademia dello Spirito Santo. A brief stay in Dresden, between September 1675 and March 1676, was the only notable interruption of those years. In 1685 he was admitted to the prestigious Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna.

The dedications of his published collections reveal his desire to leave Ferrara: the opus 4 was offered to the Grand Duke Ferdinando III de' Medici, expressing the longing to return to his native Tuscany; the opus 5 to Duke Francesco II d'Este of Modena; and the opus 6 to the Emperor Leopold I. In September 1695 the chapter of Pistoia cathedral invited him to take up the post of maestro di cappella, a position he held until 1703.

His legacy is associated above all with his motets, hymns and vespers works published in Bologna, whose reprints, especially those of the opus 4, attest to a certain reputation in his own time. His oratorios, almost all now lost, were largely premiered in Ferrara.