Draghi, Antonio

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Draghi, Antonio

Draghi, Antonio, noted Italian-born Austrian composer; b. Rimini, c. 1634; d. Vienna, Jan. 16,1700. He received musical training in his homeland and was active as a bass singer in Venice by 1657. He settled in Vienna in 1658, where he was asst. Kapellmeister (1668–69) and then Kapellmeister (1669–82) to the dowager empress Eleonora. He was appointed director of dramatic music at the Imperial court in 1673 and then its Kapellmeister in 1682. Draghi was a leading representative of the Venetian school of composition at Vienna’s Imperial court, being a prolific composer of operas, oratorios, and other dramatic works. From 1666 to 1700 he composed over 100 operas, prologues, and intermezzi, some 13 oratorios, 29 Sepolcri, vocal chamber works, and other sacred works. Much of his music is not extant.

Bibliography

R. Schnitzler, The Sacred-Dramatic Music of A. D. (diss., Univ. of N.C., 1971); N. Hiltl, Die Oper am Hofe Kaiser Leopolds I. mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Tatigkeit von Minato und D. (diss., Univ. of Vienna, 1974); H. Seifert, Neues zu A. D.s weltlichen Werken (Vienna, 1978).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire