Giovanni Battista Sammartini
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (c. 1700 – 15 January 1775) was an Italian
He is sometimes confused with his elder brother, Giuseppe, a composer with a similarly prolific output though not equal renown or influence who ended up in the service of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
Life
Giovanni Battista Sammartini was born to French emigrant and oboist Alexis Saint-Martin and Girolama de Federici in Milan, in what was Habsburg-ruled Lombardy during most of his lifetime and is Italy today.
He was the seventh of eight children, receiving musical instruction from his father and writing his first music in 1725: a set of vocal works now lost. He acquired the prestigious positions of
Sammartini's death in 1775 was unexpected. Although he was highly regarded in his time, his music was soon forgotten, and it was not rediscovered until 1913, by researchers Fausto Torrefranca, Georges de Saint-Foix and Gaetano Cesari. Curiously most of his surviving works have been recovered from editions published outside Milan.
Innovations
Sammartini is mostly praised for his innovations in the development of the symphony, perhaps more so than the schools of thought in
Compositions
Sammartini was a prolific composer, and his compositions include 4
Sammartini's works are referred to, in publications or recordings, either by the
Sammartini's music is generally divided into three stylistic periods: the early period (1724-1739), which reflects a mixture of Baroque and Preclassical forms, the middle period (1740-1758), which suggests Preclassical form, and the late period (1759-1774), that displays Classical influences.[3] Sammartini's middle period is regarded as his most significant and pioneering, during which his compositions in the galant style of music foreshadow the Classical era to come.
Known works
- Symphonies (78)
- Concertos (10 or 11):
- For flute
- For violin
- For cello
- For oboe
- Concertinos (7)
- Marches (4)
- Minuets (4)
- String quintets (6)
- Flute and string quartets (27)
- String trios (~177)
- Sonatas (over 50):
- For flute
- For violin
- For cello
- For keyboard (harpsichord and organ)
- For mandolin ("armandolino") (1)[9]
- Operas (3)
- Memet (1732, Lodi, Lombardy), 'tragedia' in three acts, the first movements of two of Sammartini's earliest known symphonies appear as overtures
- L'ambizione superata dalla virtù (26 December 1734, Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan), 'drama' in three acts
- L'Agrippina, moglie di Tiberio (January 1743, Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan), dramma per musica in three acts,
- Arias and vocal ensemble pieces (11)
- Cantatas (8)
- Oratorio (1)
- La gara dei geni (28 May 1747, Teatro Regio Ducale, Milan), 'componimento drammatico' (of which only one aria survives)
- Sacred works (16)
- Mass settings
- Psalm settings
- Litanies
- Magnificat
- Te Deum
Notes
- ^ a b Cattoretti, Anna, ed. Giovanni Battista Sammartini and His Musical Environment. Brepolis, 2004.
- ^ Churgin, Bathia: "Sammartini [St Martini, San Martini, San Martino, Martini, Martino] Giovanni Battista", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [21 March 2007]), [1] Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Marley, Marie. Giovanni Battista Sammartini: Il Pianto Della Pie Donne. (A-R Editions: 1990), vii.
- JSTOR 958863
- ^ a b Sammartini, Giovanni Battista. The Symphonies of G. B. Sammartini. Ed. Bathia Churgin. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
- ^ Churgin, Bathia: 'Sammartini [St Martini, San Martini, San Martino, Martini, Martino] Giovanni Battistam', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [21 March 2007]), [2] Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-393-95191-X.
- JSTOR 740522
- ^ Tyler, J., and P. Sparks. 1989, 1992. The Early Mandolin. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
References
- Cattoretti, Anna, ed., Giovanni Battista Sammartini and his musical environment, Brepols, Turnhout, 2004. ISBN 2-503-51233-X.
- Churgin, Bathia and Jenkins, Newell. Thematic Catalog of the Works of Giovanni Sammartini: Orchestral and Vocal Music. Cambridge: published for the American Musicological Society by Harvard University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-674-87735-7.
- Stedman, Preston. The Symphony. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1992.