Pier Francesco Tosi

Born in Cesena around 1653 and dying in 1732, Pier Francesco Tosi was an Italian singer, composer, and music writer active during the Baroque era. He was the son of the musician Giuseppe Felice Tosi, and he built an international reputation as a performer and teacher.

Tosi is best remembered today for his treatise Opinioni de' cantori antichi e moderni (later translated into English as Observations on the Florid Song). The book is an important source on eighteenth-century singing, offering practical advice and vivid insight into ornamentation, expression, and vocal training.

Because so much of his influence came through teaching and writing, his name still matters far beyond the music he personally performed. For listeners interested in early opera and vocal art, he remains one of the key guides to how singers of his time thought about their craft.