Lidarti Christian Joseph

Austrian composer of Italian origin. He studied in the convent of the Cistercian monastery of Klagenfurt and then in the seminary of the Jesuits of Leoben. While studying Law and Philosophy at the University of Vienna, he began to study harpsichord, harp and composition as autodidact first and then with the guide of his uncle Giuseppe Bonno, who was the Chapel Master of the University of Vienna. In 1751 he went to Italy in order to finish his musical training and stayed in Venice, Florence and for five years in Cortona, where he worked as teacher of music and composer. In 1757 he studied in Rome with Jommelli, and in the same year - till 1784 - he worked in Pisa as musician of the chapel of Cavalieri di Santo Stefano. In 1761 he became first a member of the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna, and later a member of the Academy of Modena. His last composition dates back to 1793. He had a correspondence with father Martini, Jommelli and with the English music historiographer Charles Burney. If we read this correspondence we can see clearly how much these persons estimated Lidarti both as player and as composer. Lidarti was most of all an author of instrumental chamber music, and his most famous works were the sonatas a tre that appeared in London in an indeterminate date. His instrumental works often present a bipartite structure with a preference for forms as the Minuet - most of all in the last times of the sonatas. Van der Straeten said that Lidarti was also a very good player of violoncello. This piece of information does not find any proof in the historical sources, but it could be true because the violoncello has a very important role in much of his chamber music - and most of all in the quartets - and needs a special instrumental technique in comparison with the analogous contemporary production. Lidarti was also an author of dramatic cantatas that resume the theatrical modes of composition of that age. His production of sacred Hebrew music, that was meant to be played in the synagogues during special events, is particularly original and interesting. These compositions are not so musically different from the other contemporary sacred music production, but the text is in Hebrew - The Ester Oratory and the three chants for the synagogue of Amsterdam.