Pietro Alfieri

Alfieri, PIETRO, a priest and at one time a Camaldolese monk, b. at Rome, June, 1801; d. there June 12, 1863. For many years the professor of singing at the English College in Rome, he is remembered chiefly for his scientific writings and his collections of the music of the old masters. Perhaps his most valuable work is his “Raccolta di Musica Sacra” in seven large volumes, a reprint of the sixteenth-century church music, mostly by Palestrina, which was supplemented by later and smaller collections, such as “Excerpta ex celeboibus de musica viris” (Rome, 1840) and “Raccolta di Motetti” (Rome, 1841). On plain chant he published “Accompagnamento coll’ organo” (Rome, 1840); “Ristabilmento del canto e della musica ecclesiastica” (Rome, 1843); “Saggio storico del canto Gregoriano” (Rome, 1845); “Prodromo sulla restaurazione de’ libre di canto Gregoriano” (Rome, 1857). He also translated into Italian Catel’s “Traite d’harmonie” and contributed to the “Gazzetta musicale di Milano” and other periodicals many articles of church music of great value to the student.

J. A. VOLKER