Pietro Raimondi Bust

Pietro Raimondi set himself an unusual compositional problem: could three complete oratorios also work when performed at the same time? Putifar, Giacobbe, and Giuseppe were designed to do exactly that. Their separate musical lines could be combined into a larger structure.

Born in Rome in 1786, Raimondi studied in Naples and worked for many years in southern Italy, including Palermo. He composed operas, taught, and developed a reputation for counterpoint, the art of making independent melodic lines sound coherently together. His theatrical works had uneven success, while colleagues valued his technical command.

The triple oratorio was performed at Rome's Teatro Argentina in 1852. Raimondi's instructions specified separate groups of performers placed at a suitable distance from one another. The arrangement made musical space part of the compositional design, rather than leaving complexity entirely on the written page.

Late that year he became director of the Cappella Giulia at St. Peter's. He died in 1853, soon after returning to his native city. His biography offers a different route through nineteenth-century Italian music from the familiar story of successful opera composers.