Albinoni Tomaso Giovanni

Biography

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (Italian: Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, June 8, 1671 - January 17, 1751) was an Italian composer of the Baroque period. During his lifetime, he was known mainly as the author of numerous operas, but nowadays his instrumental music is popular and regularly performed. The Adagio in G minor attributed to him (actually a late "reconstruction") is one of the most frequently performed works of Baroque music.

He was born in Venice into a wealthy merchant family. In 1694 he wrote his Opus 1, which he dedicated to Cardinal Ottoboni. From 1700 he served the Duke of Mantua Fernando Carlo as a violinist, to whom he dedicated his Opus 2. In 1701 he wrote Opus 3, which became very popular, and dedicated it to the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand III.

In 1705 Albinoni got married. By this time, he had gained fame as an opera composer in many Italian cities, while also composing a large amount of instrumental music. Until 1705, he composed mainly trio sonatas and violin concertos; later, until 1719, he composed solo sonatas and oboe concertos.

Unlike most composers of the time, as far as is known, Albinoni never sought a position at court or in the church, but had his own funds and the ability to compose music independently[1].

In 1722, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, to whom Albinoni had dedicated a cycle of 12 sonatas, invited him to direct his opera.

In 1742, Albinoni's collection of violin sonatas was published in France as a posthumous edition, so researchers have long believed that Albinoni was dead by that time. Later it turned out, however, that he lived in Venice in obscurity: a record from the parish of St. Barnabas, where Albinoni was born, states that he died in 1751 "at the age of 84" (probably a mistake) from diabetes.

Albinoni composed about 50 operas, 28 of which were staged in Venice between 1723 and 1740, but today he is known mainly for his instrumental music, especially his oboe concertos. His instrumental music attracted the serious attention of Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote at least two fugues on Albinoni's themes and regularly used his bass lines to practice his students' harmony.

Much of Albinoni's legacy was lost during World War II when the Dresden State Library was destroyed, so little is known about his life and music after the mid-1720s.

Compositions

← Go Back to Author List