Rossi, Luigi

 

One of the earliest composers of cantatas; was born in Naples toward the close of the Sixteenth Century, and about 1620 was living at Rome, where he was called II Divino. He was a contemporary of Carissimi. His cantatas, many of which were written for a single voice with accompaniment, are said to be equal to the music of Scarlatti. A number of these remain in manuscript in the British Museum, and over a hundred at Oxford; while the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society, London, contains an opera in manuscript by Rossi, and that of the Magliabecchi in Florence, part of a sacred drama.