Domenico Gallo

Domenico Gallo (* around 1730 in Venice ; † in the 18th or 19th century) was an Italian composer and violinist .

Life

Almost nothing is known about Gallo's life. François-Joseph Fétis wrote in 1837 in his biography universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique :

“GALLO (Dominique), an important composer and violinist, born in Venice around 1730, wrote a lot of church music and became known for violin sonatas and successful symphonies. All works remained manuscripts. In the old Breitkopf range in Leipzig there are three symphonies by him for two violins, viola and bass (see the appendix to the thematic Breitkopf catalog from 1767). "

Fétis' sources are unknown; the style of Gallo's compositions makes the statement “born around 1730” seem credible. For the sometimes found indication of the year of death "approx. 1775 ”no source evidence is known.

Works

Contrary to Fétis' assertion, some compositions by Gallo have appeared in print:

• 6 sonatas for 2 violins and basso continuo (Venice no year)
• 6 sonatas for 2 flutes and basso continuo (London 1755?)
• 6 sonatas for violin and basso continuo: Sei sonate a due / violino, e violloncello [sic], o harpsichord / composte dal Signor Domenico Gallo (Venice no year)
• An overture is contained in Sei ouverture a piu stromenti (Paris 1758)
• 12 trio sonatas for two violins and basso continuo (London 1780), under the name Giovanni Battista Pergolesis : Twelve Sonatas for two violins and a bass or an Orchestra compos'd by Gio. Batt.a Pergolese. Author of the Stabat mater (The indication "or an Orchestra" means that all parts can also be chorus.) Three editions up to 1795. See below for this print

Other trio sonatas and church music have been handed down by hand. For some works it is disputed whether they can be ascribed to Domenico Gallo from Venice or to that from Parma.

The print from 1780

In 1780 the London publisher Robert Brenner brought out twelve trio sonatas , which he attributed to the composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, who died in 1736 . Pergolesi was still a famous composer in 1780; Printed works of newly found compositions that could be ascribed to him promised high sales, and therefore several hundred non-his compositions were published under his name in the decades after his death. Several critics of the 18th century, including Charles Burney (1789), doubted the authenticity of the trio sonatas published by Brenner. Nevertheless, they found their way into the complete edition of Pergolesi's works. The pieces have been mentioned several times in musicological literature as early examples of the sonata form; but always in the belief that they came from a composer who died in 1736.

Only in the 1940s, in the course of systematic research into the Pergolesi forgeries, could some of the trio sonatas be identified as definitely coming from Gallo by comparing them with manuscripts in Italian libraries. Due to the unity of style and compositional quality, Gallo is now considered the author of all twelve sonatas. As works by a composer born around 1730, however, they can no longer be described as the revolutionary forerunners of a later spelling, they are "the work of a capable composer who wrote in the gallant style of the 1750s and 1760s" .

Stravinsky's arrangements in Pulcinella

From 1919 to 1920 Igor Stravinsky composed the ballet Pulcinella "based on motifs by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi" . The composition consists largely of orchestrations and free arrangements of movements that Sergei Djagilew had copied for Stravinsky from various sources and which at the time it was believed that Pergolesi composed them. Stravinsky wrote about the work: “[…] it was a very daring undertaking to inject new life into these scattered fragments and to unite the many disjointed pieces into a whole, especially since it was the music of a composer I have been always loved tenderly. " . Seven of the 18 movements in the ballet are based on the Brenner print of Gallo's trio sonatas.

No. of the sonata / movement, key	No. and title of the sentence in Pulcinella
I / 1, G major	1. Overture. Allegro moderato
II / 1, B flat major	3. Scherzino. Allegro
II / 3, B flat major	4. Allegro
III / 3, C minor	8. Allegro assai
VII / 3, G minor	13/11. Allegro - Alla breve
VIII / 1, E flat major	5. Andantino
XII / 3, E major	20th finale: Allegro assai / 18th Allegro assai

Similar family names

It remains unclear whether the following musicians are relatives.

• A Neapolitan family of musicians Gallo of the 18th century (especially Pietro Antonio Gallo , * between 1695 and 1700; † Naples 1775) does not seem to have any connection to Domenico Gallo.
• The musician, instrument maker, sculptor, calligrapher and painter, Domenico Galli from Parma (1649–1697) published a Trattenimento musicale sopra il violoncello in 1691 . As an instrument maker, he made at least one ornate violoncello and a corresponding violin for Francesco II. D'Este in 1687 , which are kept in the Estense Gallery.

supporting documents

1. ^ François-Joseph Fétis, Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique . Volume 4, Brussels 1837, p. 252.
2. ↑ Helmut Hucke , The musical templates for Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella . In: Helmuth Osthoff on his seventieth birthday , Tutzing 1969, p. 241.
3. ↑ http://www.classical-music-review.org/reviews/Gallo.html
4. ^ Opera omnia di Giovanni Pergolesi , ed. by F. Caffarelli, Rome 1939–1942.
5. ↑ for example Ernst Bücken : Die Musik des Rokoko und der Klassik (single volume without number from: Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft , edited by Ernst Bücken), 1928, pp. 23-25.
6. ^ F. Walker: Two Centuries of Pergolesi Forgeries and Misattributions . In: Music and Letters XXX (1949), p. 297. - Charles L. Cudworth: Notes on the Instrumental Works attributed to Pergolesi . In: Music and Letters XXX (1949), p. 321.
7. ^ Charles L. Cudworth: Gallo, Domenico . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Volume 7. Macmillan Publishers, London 1980. p. 128.
8. ^ Igor Stravinsky, Pulcinella. Ballet en un acte pour petit orchester avec trois voix solistes d'après des motifs de Giovanni Battista Pergolesi . Boosey & Hawkes publisher.
9. ↑ Igor Stravinsky, Memories , trans. by Richard Tüngel (original title: Chroniques de ma vie , 1936). In: Writings and Conversations I , here the reprint Darmstadt 1983; P. 93.
10. ↑ Helmut Hucke , The musical templates for Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella . In: Helmuth Osthoff on his seventieth birthday , Tutzing 1969, p. 241.
11. ↑ Illustration of one of the instruments in the Estense Gallery

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Domenico Gallo in the International Music Score Library Project