Giovanni Battista Bononcini

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Giovanni Battista Bononcini

Giovanni Battista Bononcini , occasionally Giovanni Battista Buononcini (born July 18, 1670 in Modena , †  July 9, 1747 in Vienna ), was an Italian cellist and composer .

Life

Bononcini was the son of the church musician Giovanni Maria Bononcini from Modena. He received his first artistic training from his father. When he died in 1678, he became a student of Giovanni Paolo Colonna and Giorgio Buoni in Bologna , from whom he received cello lessons. Bononcini was also able to publish his early works in Bologna.

From 1688 Bononcini held the office of church musician in Bologna. There he made the acquaintance of the famous librettist Silvio Stampiglia . In collaboration with Stampiglia, five operas were written between 1692 and 1696, including Il Trionfo di Camilla, regina de 'Volsci , which on December 27, 1696 with the famous Vittoria Tarquini in the title role and the famous castrato Domenico Cecchi “ il Cortona ” on Teatro San Bartolomeo was premiered in Naples and was Bononcini's real breakthrough and arguably greatest success as an opera composer.

Caricature of the composer by Pier Leone Ghezzi

From 1692 on Bononcini stayed in Rome and in 1696 traveled to Vienna via Venice . There he became a member of the court orchestra of Emperor Leopold I , where he was also successful as a composer. In between, he also stayed in Berlin , where he saw the premiere of his opera Polifemo with great success in the spring of 1702 .

Bononcini was established as a composer by 1706 at the latest. His engagement at the imperial court lasted until 1711. He then went on long study trips, including to Venice and Rome. From there he engaged the Italian Opera House in London in 1720 (together with Georg Friedrich Handel ).

Bononcini's works were on a par with Handel's, and composing between the two musicians turned out to be a competition at times. The concerts, which Bononcini often performed as a soloist with the violoncello, were highly valued by the London aristocracy; the Marlborough family employed him as a house musician for some time.

Between 1720 and 1724 Bononcini was a member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. On May 6, 1727, his opera Astianatte premiered at the King's Theater in London. At the last performance on June 6th 1727 there was a dispute (still known today) between the famous prima donnas Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni .

At the turn of the year 1727/28 there was a scandal in London when Bononcini presented the madrigal In una siepe ombrosa as his own creation. In fact, it came from Antonio Lotti , who published it as part of his Duetti, terzetti e madrigali . From then on, Bononcini, as an "undesirable person", did not receive any more orders and also lost his memberships. Forced by this plagiarism affair , Bononcini went to Paris and composed in 1733 for the “ Concert Spirituel ”. In 1735 he stayed in Lisbon for a year.

In 1737 he lost a lot of money in dubious speculations and temporarily had to earn his living as a copyist . Later he turned to the court in Vienna and from 1741 received a pension from Empress Maria Theresia . His last known composition is the Te Deum from 1741, commissioned by the Empress. Bononcini spent the last years of his life in Vienna, where he died 9 days before he was 77 years old.

Works

Operas

Aria from Astianatte (c. 1727), sung by Faustina Bordoni

A total of 27 operas.

  • Eraclea, pasticcio (1692)
  • Xerse (1694)
  • Tullo Ostillio (1694)
  • Muzio Scevola (1695)
  • Il trionfo di Camilla regina dei Volsci (1696)
  • L'amore eroica fra pastori (1696)
  • La clemenza di Augusto (1697)
  • La fede pubblica (1699)
  • Gli affetti più grandi, vinti dal più giusto (1701)
  • Cefalo (1702)
  • Polifemo (1702)
  • Etearco (1707)
  • Turno Aricino (1707)
  • Mario fuggitivo (1708)
  • Abdolomino (1709)
  • Caio Gracco (1710)
  • Astarto (1720)
  • L'odio e l'amore (1721)
  • Crispo (1721)
  • Griselda (1722)
  • Erminia (1723)
  • Calphurnia (1724)
  • Astianatte (1727)
  • Alessandro in Sidone (1737)
  • Zenobia (1737)

Serenates

  • La nemica d'Amore (1692)
  • La nemica d'Amore fatta amante (1693)
  • La costanza non gradita nel doppio amore d'Aminta (1694)
  • La notte festiva (1695)
  • Amore non vuol diffidenza (1695)
  • Amor per amore (1696)
  • L'Euleo festeggiante (1699)
  • La gara delle quatri stagioni, "festa in musica" (1699)
  • Il fiore delle Eroine, "trattenimento in musica" (1704)
  • Il ritorno di Giulio Cesare, "festa in musica" (1704)
  • La nuova gara di Giunione e Pallade, "festa in musica" (1705)
  • Endimione, "favola per musica" (1706)

Componimenti

  • Proteo sul Reno, Poemetto dramattico (1703)
  • Il natale di Giunone festeggiato in Samo (1708)
  • Li sagrifici di Romolo per la salute di Roma (1708)
  • L'arrivo della gran madre degli dei in Roma (1713)

Oratorios

  • San Nicola di Bari (Rome 1693)
  • La conversione di Maddalena (Vienna 1701)
  • Ezechia (Vienna 1737)

Others

  • over 300 cantatas
  • 4 Missae breves (1688)
  • Laudate pueri (five-part and orchestra, 1733)
  • Te Deum in C minor (1741)
  • Madrigals
  • Op. 1: 12 Trattenimenti da camera à tre , due violini, e violone , con il basso continuo per il harpsichord (Bologna, 1685)
  • Op. 2: 12 Concerti da camera à tre (Bologna, 1685)
  • Op. 3: 12 Symphony a 5, 6, 7, e 8 strumenti, con alcune à una è dué trombe, servendo ancora per violini (Bologna, 1685)
  • Op. 4: Symphony a tre istromenti col basso per l'organo (Bologna, 1686) OCLC 70785615
  • Op. 5: Symphony a quattro strumenti (1687)
  • Op. 6: Symphony a tre strumenti (1687)
  • Op. 8: 10 Duetti da camera (Bologna, 1701)
  • Prelude by Sign.r Bononcini in Select Preludes or Volentarys for the Violin by the most eminent Masters in Europe (London, 1705)
  • 12 Cantate e [2] duetti (London, 1721)
  • 8 Divertimenti da camera tradotti pel harpsichord da quelli pel violino o flauto (London, 1722)
  • 12 Sonatas for the Chamber for two Violins and a Bass doubled (London, 1732)
  • 24 Ayres in 3 Parts as Almands , Corrants , Preludes , Gavotts , Sarabands , and Jiggs with a thorough Bass for the Harpsichord (London)
  • Suites de Pieces pour le clavecin
  • 1 movement in The Spinnet: or Musical Miscellany: being a Collection of Choice Songs, and lyrick Poems: set to Musick by the most eminent Masters (London, 1750)

literature

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Bononcini  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of stage works by Giovanni Battista Bononcini based on the MGG in Operone
  2. ↑ Vittoria Tarquini dite la Bombace , online at Quell'usignolo (French; accessed October 27, 2019)
  3. ^ Il trionfo di Camilla regina de 'Volsci (Giovanni Bononcini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  4. ↑ Curriculum vitae and list of works on the haendel.it website
personal data
SURNAME Bononcini, Giovanni Battista
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buononcini, Giovanni Battista
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian cellist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1670
PLACE OF BIRTH Modena
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 1747
Place of death Vienna