Fortunato Santini

Fortunato Santini (Rome January 5, 1778  – Rome September 14, 1861) was an Italian priest, composer and music collector.

Fortunato Santini was born in Rome and raised in an orphanage, where he studied counterpoint with Giuseppe Jannacconi. Later on he took organ lessons with G. Giudi. Between 1798 and 1801 he studied theology and philosophy and was ordained a priest in 1801. In those years he already started to copy and collect music manuscripts of the Roman School. He believed that he would only fully understand these old scores if he were able to copy them. Even in the 19th century it was not easy to understand the complicated handwritten scores of the 16th century. These first copies he made, set up the base for his collection which soon became more and more important. To copy musical compositions, Santini went to look for the originals in the different libraries and archives of Rome's churches and monasteries. Thanks to cardinal Carlo Odescalchi, who quartered Santini’s collection in his private palace in Rome, Santini had access to private archives held by the Roman nobility, like the Ruspoli family.

In 1820 Santini published a catalog of about a thousand musical scores in his growing collection. This catalog was soon recognized throughout Europe and Santini established contacts with an international range of musicologists, musicians and collectors: Karl Proske, Raphael Georg Kiesewetter, Carl von Winterfeld, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

In 1835, through cardinal Odescalchi, Santini became a member of the Congregazione e Accademia di Santa Cecilia; in 1837 of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in 1845 of the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in 1840 of the French Comité historique des arts et monuments du Ministére de l'Instruction Publique.

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