Francesco Antonio Bonporti was an excellent instrumental composer, especially noted for his fine, flowing melodies, but was overlooked in his own time. He was from a high-born family in Trent and chose the priesthood as his vocation, obviously expecting to rise through its ranks to higher positions. People in his class did not consider music as a career, so that pursuit was a vocation to him. He excelled in the humanities, philosophy, and theology at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, also taking music lessons with Pitoni and reportedly, Corelli.
