An Italian composer of opera, singer and organist who adopted the name of one of his early patrons. (His various names included Caletti, Caletto, Bruno, Caletti-Bruni, and Caletto Bruni.) The majority of his work was composed in and for the city and patronage of Venice though he was disposed to Paris for the wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresia. Following Monteverdi, whose company he surely knew, Cavalli was "the" figure in the composition of operas for public audiences. Within the grasp of his technique was the ability to match the music to the content of the text. Free prose was often designated in his operas by the delivery of the text in choral recitatives. Cavelli was also able to expand the use of rhythms and meter in his development of the opera though he was prone to syllabic representations with only occasional melismatic embellishments. Most of the characteristics of his operatic work are present in his sacred works as well (excepting the early compositions). His mindfulness of the textual message in relation to musical representation was clear. Genres of Cavalli's compositions included opera, masses, arias, cantatas, vespers and a plethora of other sacred works. Cavelli was the leading operatic composer in the mid-17th century. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi