Felice Giardini

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Felice Giardini

Felice Giardini (Felice de Giardini) (born April 12, 1716 in Turin , † June 8, 1796 in Moscow ) was an Italian violinist, composer and opera director.

Live and act

Giardini received his musical training first in Turin and for a short time as a choirboy at the cathedral singing school in Milan, under Kapellmeister Giuseppe Paladini , before continuing his studies in Turin with the violinist Giovanni Lorenzo Somis . From around 1729 he played in various opera orchestras in Rome and Naples. Giardini toured Germany in 1748 and settled in London in 1750. During his forty-year tenure as director of the Italian Opera Theater, he wrote three operas . Giardini was in the service of the music-loving Duke of Gloucester . Together with his music colleague Johann Christian Bach , who also works in London ,Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Fischer (1733–1800) he was one of the leading composers of the gallant style in England. In 1784 he left London and moved to Naples, where he lived in the palace of his patron, the diplomat Sir William Hamilton . In 1789 he returned to London and was unsuccessful musical director at the Little Theater on Haymarket . He then moved to Saint Petersburg and died allegedly impoverished in Moscow in 1796.

Works (selection)

  • Instrumental
    • 6 trio sonatas op.1 (1750)
    • 6 violin duets op.2
    • 6 violin duets op.3
    • 12 violin sonatas (1755 London), dedicated to the Duke of Lüneburg-Braunschweig
    • 6 violin sonatas op.4 (1765)
    • 6 violin sonatas op.5 (1758)
    • 6 piano quintets op.11
    • Sonatas op.13
    • 6 string trios (violin, viola and cello) op.17
    • 6 sonatas op.18
    • 7 string trios op.20
    • Oboe Quartet op.25
    • 6 string trios op.26
    • 6 trio sonatas op.28 (1790)
    • 6 string quartets op.29 (1790)
    • 6 string trios op. 30 (1790)
    • Solo for viola and bass
    • Solo for flute and bass
    • 4 overtures
    • 6 violin concertos op.15 (1771/1772)
    • Concerto for flute, violin and harp
    • Piano works
    • 2 string trios op. Posth.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Giardini, Felice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giardini, Felice de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian violinist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1716
PLACE OF BIRTH Turin
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1796
Place of death Moscow