Italian composer, theorbo player. Conti was born in Florence. From 1701 until 1726 he was first associate theorbist, then principal theorbist at the Habsburg court in Vienna. He was also, from 1713, the court composer, succeeding Fux in this position. In this latter capacity, he was responsible for the single most important event of the year, namelt the operea for the carnival season. He relinquished his position of theorbist in 1726 on the grounds of ill-health, and had gone to Italy by 1729. He returned to Vienna in 1732 and produced two new dramatic works before his death in mid-year.
Conti composed mostly dramatic works, both operas (including intermezzos; about thirty in all) and oratorios (about ten) to librettos by Pariati (Galatea vindicata, 1719; rev. 1724), Zeno (Griselda, 1725; the oratorio David, 1724) and others. He also composed chamber cantatas; Masses and other sacred works for voices with instruments; a few purely instrumental works, one for mandolin solo. Notwithstanding Conti's position as a theorbist, his compositions rarely make use of the instrument, even in the continuo ensemble.