Giacomo Carissimi

Italian composer Giacomo Carissimi is regarded as the father of the oratorio. After serving apprenticeships in Tivoli and Assisi, he was installed at the Jesuit seminary Collegio Germanico e Hungarico in Rome and, from 1629 until his death, served as its maestro di cappella despite overtures from other institutions, including an offer of the post at St. Mark's in Venice upon the death of Monteverdi. As a teacher, Carissimi educated some major pupils, including Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Alessandro Scarlatti. Carissimi composed numerous motets, cantatas, and oratorios, but more than half of the works ascribed to him are inauthentic.