Biography

My name is Santino Cara. I was born near Rome in Palestrina, the town where Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the “Prince of Music”, was born in 1525.

I started studying music at the end of the Sixties with the maestro Father Luigi Buttiglieri. From him I learned the most important rules, first the studying the organ, then the polyphony. Consequently to my studies I fell in love with the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach, but at the same time I discovered inside of me a deep interest for Baroque Music and in particular for great Venetian Harpsichord Composers.

Over the years, the wise teacher Father Luigi, teached me all the techniques to review the works for organ of the great composers of seventeenth century. In the mid 70’s, I began to study harmony and composition, and I composed my first works for voices and organ, achieving knowledge and confidence in music writing, particularly in the Chorales, Preludes, Fugues, Masses, etc.

Under the guidance of Father Luigi, I started the study and knowledge of other instruments, in particular, the piano that made me get confidence in the composition. At this point of my life, I threw myself passionately into the romanticism of Fryderyk Chopin and Ludwig van Beethoven‘s appeal.

In 1981, he holds the position of Choirmaster and organist in the church of St. Anthony Abbot of Palestrina and always in ’81 I was called in the same city to organize the “Musical Theater” at the Seminary the Infant Jesus.

From 1990 I began the cycle of those which I consider my most important pieces, for their stylistic level, such as the  “Missa Brevis Op.003” for choir of mixed voices and organ, the “Missa Requiem in D Minor Op.44” for chorus of mixed voices and orchestra, which took two years to be completed, the ” Missa Solemnis Op.524” for choir of mixed voices and organ, and the “Missa in Nativitate Domini Op.525” for solo voices and chorus of mixed voices a cappella. I did an enormous job also for composing the “Four books of sacred songs”  divided in: voices “a cappella” , organ and voices, supported by Prof. Arnaldo Luperini, historical, music critic and lecturer in music history, which drafted and adapted the Latin texts of all my Sacred Music, and the same number of books for “Chorales for Organ”, which are the reissue of the “Four Books of Sacred Songs”. Also :Piano Sonatas, Nocturnes, Ballads, Waltzes.

At the same time, I have dedicated myself with passion viscerata with the transcriptions on the great composers of the Baroque period, especially Johann Sebastian Bach with Orchestral Suites transcribed for piano, as well as many concertos, and chorales, preludes, toccatas and fugues, all the fantasies, etc., and Vivaldi, with many concertos transcribed for piano, Oboe or Flute and piano, Albinoni, of which I reconstructed the whole “Opera Quinta” of 12 Concertos of the 1707 for flute and String orchestra, Telemann, with numerous concertos for oboe or flute and piano, Marcello, Sammartini, Scarlatti, Pergolesi, Porpora, Galuppi, Lotti, Brescianello, and many other less famous but whose works arouse much interest regarding the compositional purity recognized and appreciated by historians as inestimable value of the Italian Baroque.

Of Classical Music, I transcribed the Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 in C minor Op.67 for piano solo. Mozart with the 20 String Quartets (the first six called Milanese, the next six called Viennese, the other six to follow dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn, the No.19 called Dissonant, and No. 20 called Hoffmeister, in this catalog missing the last three, 21, 22 and 23 called Prussians, I have not transcribed, not for lack of interest, but of time.) I have also transcribed for piano some quartets for oboe and flute, the Symphony No.40 in G minor, K 550 for piano and other quartets for flute and oboe.

From the Opera Lirica I transcribed the Verdi’s arias for solo voices with piano accompaniment extracted from “La Traviata“, “I Lombardi in the first Crusade” for solo voices, choir and piano. Bellini with arias extracted from “Norma“. Donizetti with arias from “L’Elisir d’Amore“. Puccini’s arias for solo voices and piano extracted from “Gianni Schicchi, La Bohème, La Fanciulla del West, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Tosca and Turandot. Rossini’s arias for solo voices and piano extracted from “La Gazza Ladra“.

Then there are the various Books that contain distinct genres for a diverse part of all these my work, but a book in particular I want to report: My Method of Harmony and Musical Composition, which not contains secrets, but the rigorous and strict rules from A to Z to learn to write music in a proper and safe way, as well as the great composers of the past have taught us..

Currently, my compositions and transcriptions cataloged with the CS code (My initials before the number on the composition or transcription) are 2,100, there are others that are still to be digitized, in particular some of which date back to the beginning of my career .

Not satisfied, I continue to write and transcribe music as it the first piece. In my writing and interpreting a musical composition, I think you can listen to the harmony of the past and the different classical schools of thought that have followed over the centuries. I hope these my works can lead young musicians to the awareness of the majesty, the grandeur and sublime harmony that transmits a classical composition.

To young students of music I always say, that it doesn’t matter whether classical or modern, in every piece of music (rock, pop, beat, reggae, Latin American or whatever) there is always the harmonious pace, even if maybe it’s only of 4 beats, and that there is always the echoes of a great past, which since the Renaissance (Renaissance Music), the great composers have created. I hope that you young musicians, with the listening or viewing my work, you may find interest in knowing these great composers.

My motto is: “Listening to a Nocturne is like praying, but playing a Nocturne is like praying twice”

Santino Cara