Giovanni Battista Martini
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Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Martini,
Biography
Giovanni Battista Martini was born in
In 1725, though only nineteen years old, he received the appointment of chapel-master at the
Most contemporary musicians spoke of Martini with admiration, and Leopold Mozart consulted him with regard to the talents of his son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The latter went on to write the friar in very effusive terms after a visit to the city.[2] The Abbé Vogler, however, makes reservations in his praise, condemning his philosophical principles as too much in sympathy with those of Fux, which had already been expressed by P. Vallotti. His Elogio was published by Pietro della Valle at Bologna in the same year.[1]
In 1758 Martini was invited to teach at the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna. He died in Bologna.
Among Martini's pupils: the
The greater number of Martini's mostly sacred compositions remain unprinted. The Liceo of Bologna possesses the manuscripts of two oratorios as well as three intermezzos, including L'impresario delle Isole Canarie;[3] and a requiem, with some other pieces of church music, are now in Vienna. Litaniae atque antiphonae finales B. V. Mariae were published at Bologna in 1734, as also twelve Sonate d'intavolalura; six Sonate per l'organo ed il cembalo in 1747; and Duetti da camera in 1763. Martini's most important works are his Storia della musica (Bologna, 1757–1781) and his Esemplare di contrappunto (Bologna, 1774–1775). The former, of which the three published volumes relate wholly to ancient music, and thus represent a mere fragment of the author's vast plan, exhibits immense reading and industry, but is written in a dry and unattractive style, and is overloaded with matter which cannot be regarded as historical. At the beginning and end of each chapter occur puzzle-canons, wherein the primary part or parts alone are given, and the reader has to discover the canon that fixes the period and the interval at which the response is to enter. Some of these are exceedingly difficult, but all were solved by Luigi Cherubini.[4]
The Esemplare is a learned and valuable work, containing an important collection of examples from the best masters of the old Italian and Spanish schools, with excellent explanatory notes. It treats chiefly of the tonalities of the plain chant, and of counterpoints constructed upon them. Besides being the author of several controversial works, Martini drew up a Dictionary of Ancient Musical Terms, which appeared in the second volume of GB Doni's Works; he also published a treatise on The Theory of Numbers as Applied to Music. His celebrated canons, published in London, about 1800, edited by Pio Cianchettini, and his unpublished set of 303 canons,[5] show him to have had a strong sense of musical humour.[6]
References
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 800.
- ^ "Cappella musicale". Basilica San Francesco (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
- ISBN 978-8827125014
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 800–801.
- ^ Heigemeir, Ray (April 5, 2018). "Breaking the canon: Padre Martini's vision for the canonic genre". Stanford Libraries Blog. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 801.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Martini, Giovanni Battista". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 800–801. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Sources
- Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, [vol. # 11].
- Elisabetta Pasquini, Gimbattista Martini. Palermo, L'Epos, 2007. ISBN 978-88-8302-343-9
External links
- More information, including full text, of Martini's Storia della musica in the University of North Texas Music Library's Virtual Rare Book Room
- Free scores by Giovanni Battista Martini at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Free scores by Giovanni Battista Martini in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)