Cataldo Amodei
Biography
Cataldo Vito Amodei (6 May 1649 – 13 July 1693) was an Italian composer of the mid-Baroque period who spent his career in Naples. His cantatas were important predecessors to the active cantata production of 18th-century Naples and he stands with the elder Francesco Provenzale and younger Alessandro Scarlatti as among the principal cantata composers. Other surviving works include a book of motets dedicated to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; a serenata; two pastorales; two psalms; and four oratorios, which were important contributions to their genre.
Amodei held posts at various musical institutions, maestro del coro (choirmaster) at San Paolo Maggiore and two prestigious conservatories: the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana [it] (1680/81–1688) and second choirmaster at Conservatorio Santa Maria di Loreto [it] (1687–1689). His virtuosic 1685 book of cantatas, Cantate, Op. 2, was the first book of cantatas published in Naples.