Carissimi, Giacomo

Related Category: Music: History, Composers, and Performers: Biographies

(jä´kōmō kärēs´sēmē), 1605–74, Italian composer. Most of his life was spent in Rome, where he wrote chamber cantatas in a style that lasted for over a century. His Latin oratorios, of which Jephtha is best known, are among the earliest extant examples of true oratorio. Famous as a teacher, he had among his pupils Alessandro Scarlatti.