Italian composer, choirmaster and music theoretician. Born January 19, 1679 in Siena, after his early music instruction there in 1713 he went to Rome as a "Magister Musices" and organist for further study with Bernardo Gaffi and Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, familiarizing him with the style of Palestrina. In 1726 he was appointed maestro di capella at S. Giovanni Laterano. He collected and worked on many Palestrina works and wrote numerous theoretical and practical music texts.