Francesco gasparini biography

Italian baroque composer and teacher Francesco Gasparini was born at Camaiore near Lucca on 19 March 1668. He studied in Rome with Corelli and Pasquini and wrote his first important opera, Roderico, there.

Moving to Venice in 1702 he established himself as one of the city's leading composers. Significant works are the opera Ambleto and the Missa Canonica (both of 1705).

He taught Benedetto Marcello, Johann Joachim Quantz and Domenico Scarlatti, and was musical director of the Ospedale della Pietà, where Vivaldi worked as a violin master.

Gasparini returned to Rome in 1720 for Tigrane (1724), his last important work, and died there on 22 March 1727, aged fifty-nine, leaving over sixty operas.

A selection of articles about Francesco Gasparini

Ensemble. Not To Be Missed - Giuseppe Pennisi reports from a performance of Vivaldi's pastiche 'Tamerlano'

Ensemble. A Gasparini Renaissance - Giuseppe Pennisi experiences 'Il Bajazet'

Ensemble. Excellent Singing - Handel and Rossini from Los Angeles Opera impress Maria Nockin

Francesco Gasparini (19 March 1661 – 22 March 1727) was an Italian Baroque composer and teacher whose works were performed throughout Italy, and also on occasion in Germany and England.

Biography

Born in Camaiore, near Lucca, he studied in Rome with Corelli and Pasquini. His first important opera, Roderico (1694), was produced there. In 1702 he went to Venice and became one of the leading composers in the city. In 1720 he returned to Rome for his last important work, Tigrane (1724). He wrote the first opera using the story of Hamlet (Ambleto, 1705) though this was not based on Shakespeare's play.

Gasparini was also a teacher, the instructor of Marcello, Quantz and Domenico Scarlatti. He was musical director of the Ospedale della Pietà, where he employed Antonio Vivaldi as a violin master. He wrote a treatise on the harpsichord (1708). At one time, Metastasio was betrothed to his daughter. He died in Rome in 1727.

Works

Operas

See List of operas by Francesco Gasparini.

Other

• Missa canonica for f
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  musica Dei donum
  

  
  
  
  
  

  CD reviews

  
  
  
  
  
  Francesco GASPARINI (1661 - 1727): "Sonate e Cantate"
  
  Fons Musicae
  Dir: Yasunori Imamura
  rec: [n.d.], Grimisuat (Switzerland), Studio Tibor Varga
  Pan Classics- 10189 (� 2006) (78'41")
  
  Chi non sa che sia morire^b, cantata a voce sola e basso [1]; Dori e Daliso (Dimmi gentil Daliso)^abcd, cantata a due; Dori e Fileno (Sapessi almen perch�)^abcd, cantata a due; La Lontananza^acd, cantata per canto, 2 violini e basso; Sinfonia (Sonata a 3 per due violini e bc)^cd
  
  Monique Zanetti^a, soprano; Pascal Bertin^b, alto; Fran�ois Fernandez^c, St�phanie Pfister^d, violin; Roberto Gini, cello; Yasunori Imamura, theorbo; Laurent Stewart, harpsichord
  
  
  Francesco Gasparini is one of many Italian composers of the late 17th and early 18th century which is almost forgotten in modern times, but who was a well-known and respected master in his own days. He was born in Camaiore, near Lucca, and in 1682 he was active as organist in Rome. There he probably studied with Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. In the mid-80's he