Carlo Caproli

Italian composer and musician

Also known as: Carlo Caprioli

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Quick Facts

Also called:: Carlo Del Violino

Caproli also spelled:: Caprioli

Born:: c. 1615/20, Rome

Died:: c. 1692/95, Rome?

Also Known As:: Carlo Caprioli

See all related content

Carlo Caproli (born c. 1615/20, Rome—died c. 1692/95, Rome?) was an Italian composer, violinist, and organist, considered by Angelo Berardi and others to be one of the best composers of cantatas of his time.

Caproli wrote his earliest datable cantata about the time that he was working as an organist at the German College in Rome (1643–45). He was a violinist at San Luigi dei Francesi from 1649 to 1670, in addition to performing a number of other music-related functions for various organizations in Rome. At the behest of Abbé Francesco Buti, who was literary agent of Jules Cardinal Mazarin (the first minister of France), Caproli composed, to Buti’s libretto, Le nozze di Peleo e di Theti (1654; music now lost), one of the first Italian operas heard in France. About 70 of his cantatas and canzoni are still extant.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.