Benedetto Pellizzari (? - 1789), a Croation composer, from Split. He arrived in Dalmatia in 1753. He is considered today to be „one of the most outstanding, but also most puzzling personalities in the history of Split maestri di cappella“. He served as maestro di cappella in Split for a full 36 years and produced the greatest opus among all his fellow composers active during the 17th and 18th centuries: more than 300 Pellizzari compositions in about 400 versions have been preserved in the music archives of Split Cathedral, and a small number of them have been found scattered in various church collections along the whole of the eastern Adriatic shores—from Dubrovnik to Cres. His output consists almost solely of church compositions, the most numerous among them being Masses (71), motets (about 50), Lezioni, responsories, Vesperae, passions, litanies, hymns, pastorals, etc. Being no stylistic innovator himself, he did, however, introduce some new forms in the music practice of the Split Cathedral. Starting as a Late Baroque composer, Pellizzari gradually evolved in his mature oeuvre towards a Pre-classicist sensibility of the galant-style type. His life has not been investigated as yet, and only his Masses have been musicologically evaluated up to now. It seems that his role as a music teacher played a decisive role during the greater part of the second half of the 18th century, setting standards for professional music-making in the Split of his time.