Nicola Fago
1677 - 1745Click here for editions available on this site
Known as 'Il Tarantino' due to his birth in the village of Taranto, Fago was an influential, though now forgotten, master in Naples during the first half of the 18th century. As primo maestro of both the Conservatorio di S Onofrio in addition to the Pieta dei Turchini he had great influence over the development of students in Naples for over 35 years. Among his students were Falco, Francesco Feo, Giuseppe de Majo, Leo, Giuseppe Marchitti, Niccolo Jommelli, Michelangelo Vella, Pasquale Cafaro, Nicola Sala and Antonio Corbisero.
After brief forays into secular dramatic music (of which only two scores survived) Fago concentrated mainly on the sacred and wrote a large number of mass settings as well as many other liturgical works ranging from psalm settings to non-scriptural motets. He also composed a number of attractive secular cantatas.