Sabbatini, Luigi Antonio Page 1 of 3

Sabbatini, Luigi Antonio

(b Albano Laziale, nr Rome, ?1732; d Padua, 29 Jan 1809). Italian theorist and
composer. His earliest dated work, Benedictus sit Deus for two voices and
continuo (in D-MÜs), was composed in his 13th year and indicates that he had
received a strong grounding in music before he became a pupil of Martini in
Bologna. It is generally supposed that his studies with Martini coincided with his
eight years’ residence at the convent of S Francesco in Bologna. Eitner claimed
that he became a Franciscan around 1759, but most other lexicographers state
that he joined the order in the early 1750s. 202 letters to Martini (autographs in
I-Bc) written between 2 June 1764 and 17 March 1784 reveal that by 1764 he
was no longer Martini’s pupil. They do not substantiate the claim that he later
studied with F.A. Vallotti in Padua (further letters are in I-Baf, Bsf, Pca).
On 28 November 1767 Sabbatini became maestro di cappella at the collegiate
church of S Barnaba in Marino, near his birthplace; his friendship with the
Franciscan Cardinal Ganganelli, later Pope Clement XIV, may have helped him
to obtain this post, as well as one at the Franciscan basilica of SS Apostoli in
Rome, to which he was appointed on 20 April 1772. Late in life Vallotti is
supposed to have named Sabbatini his successor as maestro di cappella at the
basilica of S Antonio, Padua. But after Vallotti’s death Sabbatini recommended
Agostino Ricci, who served from 1780 to 1786. Sabbatini was then invited again
to become maestro; he was nominated unanimously on 22 April 1786 and
served from 18 June until his death. In May 1807 he was elected a member of
the music group of the Accademia Italiana.
All Sabbatini’s known music is sacred; much of it is in the orchestrally
accompanied style of the day, but some is in a learned style using cantus firmus
or strict contrapuntal devices such as canon and fugue. Of his own musical
works only the short Atto di contrizione for two sopranos and continuo was
published in his lifetime, but in 1803 he published an edition of Benedetto
Marcello’s psalm settings Estro poetico-armonico. His several published
treatises on music place him beside F.A. Calegari, Vallotti and Tartini as an
important theorist of the Paduan school and reflect his interest in their work; he
is known to have made a copy of Calegari’s Ampla dimostrazione degli
armoniali musicali tuoni (now in F-Pn). His manuscript Trattato di contrappunto
explains Tartini’s terzo suono and Calegari’s and Vallotti’s theory of chord
inversion. His study of Vallotti resulted in a biographical sketch published in
1780, and in his most important treatise, Trattato sopra le fughe musicali, in
which he analysed Vallotti’s so-called real, tonal and imitative fugues with the
aid of two-, three- and four-part music examples. Musicians in Padua and
Venice praised the work, and the governing board of S Antonio awarded
Sabbatini a gold medal and named him Vallotti’s true successor. Unlike the
other Paduan theorists, he had an interest in the elementary instruction of
children in music. In 1781 he endorsed Gennaro Catalisano’s Grammatica
armonica, fisico-matematica … per uso della gioventù studiosa, and in 1789
and 1790 he published his Elementi teorici della musica with numerous duets
and trios, with and without bass, for teaching beginners. Although Tebaldini
considered his method of setting simple precepts to music childish, his
contemporaries approved, and the book was reprinted in 1795; the music
examples were published separately as Solfèges ou leçons élémentaires de
musique in Paris in 1810 and 1834.
WORKS
Masses: 5, 4vv, org, A-Wn, I-VId; 1, 8vv, org, Pca; 1 for Palm Sunday and Good
Friday, 4vv, Pca; 1 for Holy Week, 4vv, Pca (Ky–San–Ag)

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Messe brevi: 6, 4vv, org, D-Mbs, I-Pca* (2 inc.); 4, 4vv, str, org, Pca*: 1, 4vv, 2 vc, 2
db, 2 org, Ac; 1, 8vv, str, org, Pca; 1, 4vv, Bc*
Mass movements: Ky–Gl, 4vv, org, Pca; 21 Ky, 4vv, str, org, Pca; 5 Ky, 1, 4vv, str,
bc, Bc*, Bsf*, Pca; 10 Gl, 4vv, str, 8 with org, Bc*, Pca; 20 Cr, 4vv, str, org, Bc, Pca,
Vnm; Cr breve, 4vv, str, 2 org, Ac; 5 other mass movts, 4vv, str, org, Bc, Bsf*, Pca
2 requiems, 4vv, org; 2 Messe pei defunti, 8vv, str, 2 org; 4 requiem movts, 4vv, str,
org: all Pca
Ints: 29 for Advent, Lent, 4vv, org; 47, 4vv, org, 1 with str, 1 unacc.; 6 (inc.): all Pca
Grads, mostly 4vv, 3 with str; tracts for Advent, Lent, Palm Sunday, 4vv; Stabat
mater, 4vv, org: all Pca
Responses: for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, 4vv; 3 Si quaeris, 4vv, org; 2, Si
quaeris, 8vv, 2 org (ad lib): all Pca
Offs: for Advent, Lent, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, 4vv, Pca; 19 Domine ad
adjuvandum, 4, 8vv, str, org, Bc*, Pca; Benedictus sit Deus, 2vv, bc (org), D-MÜs;
off, 4vv, I-Vnm
3 communions for Advent, Good Friday, Ember Days, 4vv, Pca
Ants: 4 Alma Redemptoris, 1, 4, 8vv, str, 1 with org; 3 Ave regina, 1, 4, 8vv, str, 1
with org, Bc*, Pca; 3 Regina coeli, 4, 8vv, str, 1 with org, Pca; 3 Salve regina, 4, 8vv,
str, org, Pca; 7 vesper ants, 1–4, 8vv, 4 with str, Pca; 4 for BVM, 4vv, str, Pca; 9
others, 1–4, 8vv, str, org, Pca
35 hymns, 1–4, 8vv, org, 6 with str, Ac, Bc*, Pca; compline hymns with ants, 4vv,
str, org, Pca
Canticles: 9 Mag, 4, 5, 8vv, str, org, Pca; 3 Mag, 8vv, str, 2 hn, org, Pca; Mag breve,
4vv, Bc*, Nunc dimittis, 4vv, str, Bc*
Psalms: 81, 1–4, 8vv, insts, org, Bc*, Pc, Pca; Salmi per tutto l’anno, 4vv, org, VId;
for Terce, 4vv, orch, org, Pc, Pca, VId; for Vespers, 3, 4vv, str, org, Pca, Vnm; for
Compline, 4, 8vv, str, org, Pca; others, 4vv, str, org, BGc, Vnm
Atto di contrizione: Pietà vi supplico, 2vv, bc (n.p., n.d.)
Other sacred vocal works, incl. 19 fugues, 2–4, 8vv, org, 2 with str, D-MÜs, I-Ac, Bc,
Bsf*, Mc, Pc, Pca, Vnm
ed.: B. Marcello: Estro poetico-armonico (Venice, 1803)
WRITINGS
Notizie sopra la vita e le opere del rev. P.F.A. Vallotti (Padua, 1780)
Elementi teorici della musica colla pratica dei medesimi, in duetti e terzetti a
canone accompagnati dal basso (Rome, 1789–90)
‘Brevi memorie intorno alla vita e agli studi del P. Francesco Antonio Vallotti’, in
F. Fanzago: Elogi di tre uomini illustri: Tartini, Vallotti, e Gozzi (Padua,
1792), 96–9
La vera idea delle musicali numeriche segnature diretta al giovane studioso
dell’armonia (Venice, 1799)
Trattato sopra le fughe musicali di L.A. Sabbatini corredato da copiosi saggi del
suo antecessore F.A. Vallotti (Venice, 1802)
Solfèges ou leçons élémentaires de musique (Paris, 1810, 2/1834) [consists
chiefly of music examples from Elementi teorici]
Studi di contrappunto fatti alla scuola del Padre Martini (MS, I-Bc)
Esame d’uno scolaro del Padre L.A. Sabbatini (MS, I-Bc)
Trattato di contrappunto (inc. MSS, I–Pca, Vnm)
Canoni sui principi elementari (2 MSS, I-Mc)
Trascritto ad litteram nell’anno 1791 dal P.L.A. Sabbatini (MS, A-Wn)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
EitnerQ
FétisB
GerberNL

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SchmidlD
G. Della Valle: Memorie storiche di P.M. Giambattista Martini (Naples, 1785),
123
‘Miscellenz’, AMZ, vi (1803–4), 391–2
C. Gervasoni: Nuova teoria di musica (Parma, 1812/R), 258–60
P. Lichtenthal: Dizionario e bibliografia della musica (Milan, 1826/R), iv, 113,
262, 366
M. Balbi, ed.: Trattato del sistema armonico di Antonio Calegari (Padua, 1829)
G. Gonzati: La basilica di S Antonio di Padova descritta ed illustrata (Padua,
1853), ii, 453
A. Isnenghi: La cappella musicale della basilica di S Antonio (Padua, 1854),
456
A. de La Fage: Essais de diphthérographie musicale (Paris, 1864/R), 95–101
A. Capanna: Cenni cronologici dei maestri di musica Minori Conventuali che
dal 1487 fino all’anno 1874 … nelle varie cappelle di Assisi, Padova,
Bologna (MS, I-Bsf)
E. Colombani: Catalogo della collezione d’autografi lasciata alla R. Accademia
filarmonica di Bologna (Bologna, 1881/R), 355–6
L. Busi: Il Padre G.B. Martini (Bologna, 1891/R), 304–11
G. Tebaldini: L’archivio musicale della Cappella Antoniana in Padova (Padua,
1895), 80–85, 111–13, 147
D.M. Sparacio: ‘Musicisti minori conventuali’, Miscellanea francescana, xxv
(1925), 19–29, 33–44, 81–112, esp. 100–02
R. Schaal: Die Tonkünstler-Porträts der Wiener Musiksammlung von Aloys
Fuchs (Wilhelmshaven, 1970), 45
G.G. Butler: ‘Fugue and Rhetoric’, JMT, xxi (1977), 49–109
M.N. Massaro: ‘La Cappella Musicale del Santo nella seconda metà del
Settecento: musicisti e repertorio’, Mozart, Padova e la Betulia liberata:
Padua 1989, 209–16
M.S. Zazo: Luigi Antonio Sabbatini: la vita (Albano Laziale, 1992)
SVEN HANSELL

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