Padre Martini, "iudex et arbiter". On a "concorso" in Bologna in 1760

At Bologna in 1760, the position of assistant (with future promotion) to the “maestro di cappella” in San Petronio was advertised, owing to the fact that Giuseppe Maria Carretti, «because of his advanced age», could not «always participate in all the chapel’s functions». Giambattista Martini was judge and undisputed arbiter of the competition, from the moment when the preliminary criteria were compiled up to the proclamation of the winner, which took place after some difficult vicissitudes and almost a year after the start of the work of the commission. Beyond offering a vivid cross-section of the comptetitive practices in the mid-1700s, such colourful events stimulate reflection upon the qualifications of the “maestro di cap-pella” and on the teaching of counterpoint as seen by padre Martini: not only because his presence was decisive in determining the proceeding of the competition, but also because the hoped-for outcome had to be favourable to one of his disciples (Callisto Zanotti).