Stefano Landi

Italian composer, singer, and influential figure in early Roman Baroque music.Stefano Landi was an Italian composer and singer active in Rome during the early Baroque period. He served in various prestigious positions, including at the Collegio Germanico and as a singer in the papal choir (Cappella Giulia) at St. Peter's Basilica. Landi is best known for his sacred music (masses, motets) and secular works, particularly his 1632 opera 'Il Sant'Alessio' (Saint Alexius), considered one of the earliest significant operas on a historical subject and a landmark in the development of Roman opera. His style blended Renaissance polyphony with emerging Baroque monody and expressive recitative.
  • Landi's opera 'Il Sant'Alessio' was commissioned by the powerful Barberini family, specifically Cardinal Francesco Barberini, showcasing the close ties between art and powerful patrons in Rome.
  • He held positions at major Roman institutions: maestro di cappella at the Seminario Romano and the Collegio Germanico, and later became a tenor in the Cappella Giulia under Pope Urban VIII.
  • His death occurred relatively young, at around 52 years old, though the specific cause remains unknown (historical records from 1639 are often incomplete).