Vitali At The Este Court, Modena
As one of two vice-maestri di cappella to Duke Francesco II (the other was Giuseppe Colombi), Vitali must have been required to provide church music as well as music for various state occasions. His two published sets of vocal music date from his period at Modena (1674–1692): the Salmi concertati, Opus 6 (1677), vesper psalms in concerted style, and Hinni sacri, Opus 10 (1684), a collection of forty-nine hymns for solo voice with five-part instrumental ritornellos. There are also many vocal works from this period found in manuscript: ten sacred and secular cantatas and four oratorios, the music of two of which survives. The texts of his oratorios are either allegorical or based on the Old Testament. One cantata, Per l'Accademia della Coronatione delle Regina d'Inghilterra, was written to commemorate the coronation of Maria Beatrice, Francesco II's sister, when her husband became King James II of England.
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