Andrea Adolfati

Andrea Adolfati (1721 or 1722, Venice – 28 October 1760, Padua) was an Italian composer who is particularly remembered for his output in the opera seria genre. His works are generally conventional and stylistically similar to the operas of his teacher Baldassare Galuppi. Although his music largely followed the fashion of his time, he did compose two tunes with unusual time signatures for his day: an air in ⁵
₄ meter and another in ⁷
₄ meter.

Title page of Didone abbandonata

Adolfati studied music composition in Venice with composer Galuppi. After completing his studies he became the maestro di cappella at the Santa Maria della Salute, a position he held until 1745. He then worked in the same capacity at the court in Modena, where his divertimento da camera La pace fra la virtù e la bellezza premiered in 1746. Around the same time he composed some songs and arias for Johann Adolph Hasse's Lo starnuto di Ercole, which was given at the Teatro San Girolamo (a small theatre located in the Palazzo Labia) in 1745 and during Carnival 1746.

In 1748 Adolfati became maestro di cappella at the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa. On 30 May 1760 he became maestro di cappella of the Padua Cathedral, succeeding Giacomo Rampini, who had died three days earlier, in that post. He remained there for only a short period, as he also died just five months later.