ASTORGA, Emmanueled , , a distinguished musical composer, was born at Palermo about 1680. His father, a baron of Sicily, took an active part in the attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke, but was betrayed by his own soldiers and publicly executed. His wife and son were compelled to be spectators of his fate; and such was the effect upon them, that Emmanuele fell into a state of gloomy despondency, which threatened to deprive him of reason, while his mother died on the spot. By the kindness of the Princess Ursini, the unfortunate young man was placed in a convent at Astorga, in Leon, from which town he afterwards took his name. Here he recovered his health, and his admirable musical talents were cultivated under the best masters. In 1703 he entered the service of the duke of Parma, and while at his court produced many compositions. The duke, suspecting that an attachment existed between his daughter and Astorga, dismissed the musician, but gave him a letter of recommendation to Leopold of Austria. The emperor received him kindly, and at his court Astorga produced his pastoral opera of Daphne. In 1705, on the death of his patron, he visited Florence, and then London, where he remained for two years, and wrote his Stabat Mater, considered the best of all his works. He seems to have resided for some years in Spain, and to have died in Bohemia, at or near Prague. The date of Ills death is quite uncertain.