Orazio Benevoli

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Orazio Benevoli (1605 in Rome – 1672 in Rome) was a significant composer of large scaled polychoral sacred choral works, one work featured 48 vocal and instrumental lines. He was Italian by birth, with a French ancestry. He served as the choirmaster in various Roman churches from 1624 to 1643. Benevoli served in the Austrian court from 1643 to 1645, it is there he was supposed to have composed the magnificent Missa Salisburgensis à 53 voci, a work now know to have been composed by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber or Andreas Hofer later in the 17th century. From 1646 onwards, Orazio Benevoli returned to Rome, where he served as the choirmaster at the Vatican.

Benevoli's sacred compositions frequently make us for four or more choirs. Many of Benevoli's works are massive and could be described as being in the Colossal Baroque style.

Little of the music of Orazio Benevoli has been performed or recorded in modern times.