Bononcini, Giovanni Battista, 1670-1747 (cellist and composer)

Dates

• Existence: 1670 - 1747

Biography

Giovanni Battista Bononcini was born in Modena, Italy in 1670. He was the eldest son of Giovanni Maria Bononcini (1642-1678). Bononcini trained as a cellist in Bologna where he published two collections of trios (1685) and three of sinfonie (1685-1687). He was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica, and was a musician at San Petronio, and maestro di cappella at Monte San Giovanni, Modena.

Bononcini went to Milan, commissioned to the Duke of Modena, and then to Rome. In Rome he worked with the poet Silvio Stampiglia on, among other things, an opera,Il trionfo di Camilla, which was the highlight of the Naples Carnival 1696-1697.

In 1698, Bononcini was recruited to the court of Leopold I (Holy Roman Emperor) in Vienna where he became a favourite of Joseph, the son and heir, who succeeded as Joseph II (Holy Roman Emperor) in 1705. He was joined in Vienna by Stampiglia and his own younger brother Antonio Maria Bononcini, also a cellist and opera composer. On the death of Joseph II in 1711, Bononcini left the court in Vienna for Rome where he stayed until 1719.

Bononcini's work made Italian opera popular in England, partly because it was translated for English voices. In 1719, he was invited to London by the Earl of Burlington to become a composer for the Royal Academy of Music under the direction of G. F. Haendel (Handel). In London, he was well received and his operaAstartoopened at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, in 1720. In the early 1720s he spent some time in Paris, and on his return to London he became director of the private concerts of the Duchess of Marlborough, a post he held until 1731.

The early 1730s again saw him in Paris and Lisbon. His last known work was aTe Deumcommissioned by the Empress Maria Theresa in 1741. Cellist and composer Giovanni Battista Bononcini died in Vienna in 1747.

Found in 21 Collections and/or Records: