Pisari, Pasquale

1725-1778

Italian church composer, whom Martini called the Palestrina of the Eighteenth Century. Son of a mason. Born and died at Rome. His voice was cultivated by Gasparino, and from 1752 till his death he was a supernumerary in the Papal Chapel, but he devoted his time chiefly to composition, in which Giovanni Biordi was his teacher. His poverty prevented his works from being published, but most of them are preserved in manuscript in the Papal Chapel, and several are in the Santini collection. They include a nine-part miserere; masses; eight-part motets; psalms; and Te Deums. His best works are a Dixit and a collection of motets for the church year.