Francesco Feo (1691 - 18/01/1761), an Italian composer; born and died in Naples. He studied with Basso and Fago, perhaps also in Rome with Pitoni. Served as maestro of the Conservatorio di S. Onoffio, 1723 - 1739, with Jommelli among his students; as maestro of the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo, 1739-43; and as maestro di cappella at the church of the Annunziata, 1726 - 1745, where he was succeeded by his nephew, Gennaro Manna. A portrait of him, seated alongside theory books of Zarlino, Fux, and Scorpione, is in the Civico Museo bibliografico musicale, Bologna.

From the late 17th century onwards, mainly through the contributions of leading opera composers such as Feo, Galuppi, Hasse, Pergolesi, Jommelli, Gassmann, Cimarosa and Gossec, individual movements of the requiem became gradually larger, the orchestration richer and the solo vocal writing more elaborate. In some cases, single texts, usually the sequence and the responsory, were set separately, either as independent motets or as a means of providing vivid contrast within chanted forms of the funeral service.