Giovanni Battista Vitali

Cantata: Per l'incoronazione di Maria Beatrice d'Este a Regina d'Ingliterra il 3 Maggio 1685

Vitali wrote nine cantatas for meetings of the Accademia dei Dissonanti in Modena, an intellectual talking-shop centred on Duke Francesco II's court. Many of these works are described as 'accademia', suggesting a distinct subgenre of cantata at this time. Six of them survive in a single source, held in the Biblioteca Estense universitaria di Modena (Mus. F. 1261 (1)), which is a fair copy score from which, presumably, parts were made for the performance. Although the manuscript is undated, the last of the six, 'Donde avvien che'tutt'ebro di vera gioia l'universo' was written to celebrate the coronation of Maria Beatrice as queen of England in 1685.