SARTI, GIUSEPPE, an excellent Italian composer, was born at Faenza, in the Papal States, on 28th December 1729. He studied composition under Padre Martini, at Bologna, and in 1752 produced his first opera, Il Re pastore, which was performed at Faenza with the greatest success. Several other operas which he composed soon afterwards added to his high reputation. In 1756 he was called to Copenhagen as chapel-master and professor of singing to the hereditary prince. Several operas which he composed there were coldly received; and, in disgust, he resigned his employments and returned to Italy in 1765. His countrymen had half-forgotten him, and the operas which he composed for Rome, Venice, &c., had no great success. In 1769 he visited London, but could not get any of his operas performed there, and was obliged to give lessons in singing and on the harpsichord. He published, at London, six sonatas for the harpsichord, which are highly valued by professional musicians. Returning to Italy in 1770, he accepted the office of master of the Conservatory of the Ospedale, left vacant by Sacchini's visit to England. This was the beginning of Sarti's most brilliant career, from 1771 to 1784, during which he composed his best operas,—among these, Le gelosie Villane, Giulio Sabino, and Le nozze di Dorina. In 1779 he was appointed chapel-master of the Duomo at Milan, having proved his superiority over the many eminent competitors opposed to him. The hymn, psalm, and mass for six and eight real voices, which he wrote for that competition, afford evidence of his profound skill and learning. Between 1779 and 1784 he wrote a great deal of church music, besides operas. In July 1784 he was called to St Petersburg as director of court music, and was received with great favour by the Empress Catherine II. In a Te Deum which he composed at this time, he thought to add to the solemnity of effect by introducing cannon, to be fired at certain intervals. By the intrigue of the celebrated singer, Signora Todi, the empress was persuaded to dismiss Sarti, who then found a protector in Prince Potemkin, and employment as master of a singing school in the Ukraine, in a village presented to him by the prince. After the death of Potemkin, Sarti found means to regain the favour of the empress, who not only restored
to him his former appointments, but fixed his salary at 35,000 roubles, with apartments in the palace. By her orders he formed a conservatory of music; and when the pupils gave their first concert in 1795, the empress was so much pleased that she raised Sarti to the highest rank of nobility, and bestowed a considerable territory upon him. His strength failing, he attempted to return to Italy in 1802, but was unable to proceed further than Berlin, where he died, on 28th July, aged 73. The most distinguished of Sarti's pupils was the celebrated Cherubini, who, in his work on Counterpoint and Fugue (French edit., pp. 188–195), gives, as a model, a Real Fugue, in eight parts, for two choirs, by Sarti.
Sarti was one of the most learned and skilful composers of the last century. He had the rare gift of inventing beautiful and appropriate melodies. William Shield, in his Introduction to Harmony, pp. 92–94, gave a charming vocal Terzetto by Sarti. Sarti's dramatic compositions amounted to forty-two; and his compositions for the church were numerous, including a Miserere, four Masses, and the Te Deum before mentioned. He constructed an apparatus for counting the number of vibrations made by any given sound in a second of time. Sauveur had experimented on that subject in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Sarti wrote a severe criticism upon the harmony of two passages in the introductory movement to Mozart's Quartet in C, and in the first movement of that in D minor, for two violins, viola, and violoncello. Certainly the effect of those passages is highly unsatisfactory. (G. F. G.)