Gian Francesco Fortunati

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Gian Francesco Fortunati (born February 27, 1746 in Parma ; † December 20, 1821 there ) was an Italian classical composer and conductor.

Life

Gian Francesco Fortunati was the son of the fortress commander of Piacenza , at the age of seven he received music lessons from Padre Omombo Carletti (1727-1803). After the family lived in Parma again, he was tutored by Francesco Pocini (1704–1782). Thanks to a scholarship from the Duke of Parma , Fortunati was able to study counterpoint from 1767 with Padre Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna . After submitting a Dixit dominus , he was accepted into the Accademia Filarmonica in 1769 .

His first opera I cacciatori e la vendilatte was performed in Parma in 1769, around the same time Fortunati became court conductor and music teacher of Archduchess Maria Amalia . Over the next ten years, his operas were performed in Parma, Berlin, Modena, Turin and in the Palace of Colorno , the summer residence of the ducal family. In 1774 he succeeded his teacher Poncini at the Parma Music School. There were Ferdinando Simonis (1773-1837) and Ferdinando Paër as well as his future wife, the singer Francesca Riccardi , among his students. In 1780 he became director of the orchestra at the Teatro ducale. During this time he was in regular correspondence with the music theorist Padre Stanislao Mattei .

Between 1790 and 1800 he traveled several times to Dresden and Berlin, where some of the compositions he wrote for King Friedrich Wilhelm II . composed in libraries. After the Duke's death, Fortunati mainly worked as a music teacher. In 1810 he was accepted into the "Accadamia di science, lettere ed arti" initiated by the French government as one of eight members of the music section.

His son Ferdinando Fortunati , * 1772 in Parma; † around 1812 in London, was an important oboist who was temporarily in the Berlin court orchestra of Friedrich Wilhelm III. worked.

Works (selection)

Operas

  • I cacciatori e la vendilatte (melodramma giocoso, 1769, Parma)
  • La notte critica (libretto by Luigi Bernardo Salvoni , 1771, Parma)
  • Le Négociant (dramma giocoso, 1772, Berlin)
  • Le gare degli amanti (libretto by Luigi Bernardo Salvoni, dramma giocoso, 1772, Colorno)
  • Ipermestra (libretto by Pietro Metastasio , dramma per musica, 1773, Modena )
  • La contessa per equivoco (1776, Turin )
  • L'ospite incognito (dramma giocoso, 1778, Colorno)
  • L'incontro inaspettato o fortunato (commedia, 1800, Parma)

Other vocal works

  • La contesa delle Muse , cantata (1788)
  • 4 canzonets for two sopranos, bass and bc (1796)
  • 4 Canzonette campestri (1796)
  • 6 cantatas con strumenti
  • 4 arias for one or more voices and orchestra
  • 12 Ariette sacre e 6 profane to three voices (1817)
  • 6 Ariette per soprano (1818)
  • 6 Duetti di camera for two sopranos, two violins, viola and bc

Instrumental

  • 6 Symphony Op. 1 (1783)
  • String quartets
  • 1 string quintet
  • several concertante symphonies
  • Sonatas and dances for keyboard instrument ( harpsichord or fortepiano )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ François-Joseph Fétis: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie génèrale de la musique Volume 3 pp.299-300
personal data
SURNAME Fortunati, Gian Francesco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer and conductor of classical music
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1746
PLACE OF BIRTH Parma
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1821
Place of death Parma