Concerto Romano gave the modern day premiere of Il San Vito by Bernardo Pasquini last Wednesday afternoon at Emmanuel Church in Boston under the umbrella of the Boston Early Music Festival. Renowned in his day as a virtuoso keyboard player, Pasquini (1637-1710) was the most important Italian composer of keyboard music between Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti, and was also regarded as the leading dramatic composer in Rome until he was overshadowed by Alessandro Scarlatti. Yet little of his music was published in his own lifetime, and his operas, oratorios, and cantatas are still not well known.

Oratorios originally took their name from the beautifully decorated halls where they were first performed. By the later 17^th century, however, they were often heard in aristocratic palaces or in private chapels. In Rome, where theatrical spectacle was often frowned upon, oratorios on sacred subjects often took on the epic and romantic appeal of opera. Pasquini’s oratorio tells the legendary story of Vitus, who was taken as a boy to Rome to drive out a demon that had taken possession of a son of the Emperor Diocletian. But because he remained steadfast in the Christian faith, he was nevertheless condemned to death along with Modestus, his tutor, and his tutor’s wife, Crescentia.