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  • Polymath of the Baroque: Agostino Steffani and his Music
  • Carolyn Gianturco
Polymath of the Baroque: Agostino Steffani and his Music. By Colin Timms. pp. xviii + 422. (Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 2003, £50. ISBN 0-19-515473-8.)

Even a brief sketch of Agostino Steffani's life, in a one-volume music encyclopedia, mentions all three of his musical and non-musical careers, [End Page 285] but, because we read such entries for information related to our own field, it is his connection with music that sinks in. We notice that he became a bishop and that he was used as a diplomat, but we somehow regard these as extra, less important roles. Perhaps this is because we find it difficult to believe that a fine and successful composer could have had any other significant career, could have possessed the ability and found the time to rise to such elevated non-musical positions as well. Whether or not Colin Timms began where many of us have stayed, it is clear that he is now fully aware that Steffani was a 'remarkable figure' (p.xv) and achieved distinction in three walks of life. His monograph thankfully is devoted more to proving how Steffani was indeed a 'Polymath of the Baroque' than one would expect from his subtitle, although the music is of course fully treated.

Steffani's beginnings were fortuitous—in fact one could say that his whole life was fortuitous. He was born in Castelfranco, near Venice, of a respectable family from Padua who, although they were not musicians, realized his talents and sent him to study in that city, where he became a treble in the choir of the famous basilica of S.Antonio. His musical ability (he sang in operas in Venice when he was 11 and 12) and general intelligence brought him to the attention of a series of ruler-patrons, which enabled him to travel, study, learn court etiquette, and refine himself and his compositions. At 13, he was summoned by the Elector Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria to Munich (where he remained for twenty-one years). The Elector sent him to Rome, Paris, and Turin, and the Elector's son and successor Maximilian II Emanuel began employing him as a diplomat, on missions to Hanover, Düsseldorf, and Vienna. By this time Steffani—organist, music director, and composer—was also a priest.

In 1688 Steffani joined the court of Duke Ernst August of Hanover, where his talents as both composer and diplomat were again employed. Fifteen years later, he entered the service of the Elector Palatine, Johann Wilhelm, at Düsseldorf, and his political duties obliged him to give up music almost entirely. During his six years there he progressed in his ecclesiastical career: in 1706 he became Bishop of Spiga;after mediating in a conflict between the Pope and the Emperor, he was made Domestic Prelate and Assistant to the Papal Throne; and in 1709 he was appointed to his most important position, that of Apostolic Vicar in northern Germany.

Even just this abbreviated and unannotated list of events in Steffani's life, including mention of the lively environments in which he lived, and of the rulers with whom he came into contact — those who determined the politics of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries—is impressive. In a monograph devoted to this 'polymath', however, simple mention would not be sufficient. I imagine that this was a question that Timms must have pondered deeply: how much of necessity do you say about each of these roles in order to know and evaluate the man Steffani? He apparently felt that to arrive at his goal he needed to comprehend the history and importance of each city, court, and political and ecclesiastical position, and each person encountered. He clearly believes, too, that this is all necessary for the reader, because none of these is mentioned without a thorough, and always clear, presentation. One is certainly grateful tohim for this, since, while it is pleasant to knowsomething about Castelfranco, Padua, or Munich, it is essential to grasp the intricate rapport between many of the ruling houses of Europe (and not to get confused...

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