Giovanni Battista Sammartini
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
ist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
. It has also been noted that many stylizations in Joseph Haydn's compositions are similar to those of Sammartini, although Haydn denied any such influence. Sammartini is especially associated with the formation of the concert symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
through both the shift from a brief opera-overture style and the introduction of a new seriousness and use of thematic development that prefigure Haydn and Mozart. Some of his works are described as galant
Galant
In music, Galant was a term referring to a style, principally occurring in the third quarter of the 18th century, which featured a return to classical simplicity after the complexity of the late Baroque era...
, a style associated with Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
ideals, while "the prevailing impression left by Sammartini's work... [is that] he contributed greatly to the development of a Classical style that achieved its moment of greatest clarity precisely when his long, active life was approaching its end".
He is often confused with his brother, Giuseppe
Giuseppe Sammartini
Giuseppe Baldassare Sammartini was an Italian composer and an oboist.A native of Milan, he moved to London together with his brother Giovanni Battista Sammartini. He had started playing the oboe in Milan and in London took up the post of oboist in the Opera orchestra in 1727...
, a composer with a similarly prolific output (and the same first initial).
Life
Giovanni Battista Sammartini was born to French emigrant and oboist Alexis Saint-Martin and Girolama de Federici in MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, in what was Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
during most of his lifetime and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
today. He was the seventh of eight children. He received musical instruction from his father and wrote his first work in 1725, which was a set of vocal works (now lost). Not long after, he acquired the positions of maestro di cappella at Sant'Ambrogio
Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio
The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio is a church in Milan, northern Italy.-History:One of the most ancient churches in Milan, it was built by St. Ambrose in 379-386, in an area where numerous martyrs of the Roman persecutions had been buried. The first name of the church was in fact Basilica...
and to the Congregazione del Santissimo Entierro in 1728. He held the position at Sant'Ambrogio until his death.
Sammartini quickly became famous as a church composer and obtained fame outside of Italy by the 1730s. Over the course of the years, he joined many churches for work (8 or more by his death) and wrote music to be performed at state occasions and in houses of nobility. Although he never strayed far from Milan, he came into contact with many notable composers including J.C. Bach, Mozart, Boccherini, and Gluck, the latter of whom became his student from the years 1737 to 1741.
Sammartini’s death in 1775 was unexpected. Although he was highly regarded in his time, his music was quickly forgotten, and Sammartini wasn’t to be restudied until 1913 by researchers Fausto Torrefranca, Georges de Saint-Foix, and Gaetano Cesari. Ironically, most of his surviving works have been recovered from published editions from outside his hometown of Milan.
Innovations
Sammartini is mostly praised for his innovations in the development of the symphony, perhaps more so than the schools of thought in MannheimMannheim school
Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century as well as the group of composers who wrote such music for the orchestra of Mannheim and others.-History:...
and Vienna
First Viennese School
The First Viennese School is a name mostly used to refer to three composers of the Classical period in Western art music in late-18th-century Vienna: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Franz Schubert is occasionally added to the list.In German speaking countries, the...
. His approach to symphonic composition was unique in that it drew influence from the trio sonata
Trio sonata
The trio sonata is a musical form that was popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries.A trio sonata is written for two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo, making three parts in all, hence the name trio sonata...
and concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
forms, in contrast to other composers during the time that modeled symphonies after the Italian overture
Italian overture
The Italian overture is a piece of orchestral music with which in the late 17th and early 18th centuries several operas, oratorios and other large-scale works opened....
. His symphonies were driven by rhythm and a clearer form, especially early sonata
Sonata
Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...
and rounded binary
Binary form
Binary form is a musical form in two related sections, both of which are usually repeated. Binary is also a structure used to choreograph dance....
forms. His works never ceased to be inventive, and sometimes anticipated the direction of classical music such as the Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...
style.
Compositions
Sammartini was a prolific composer, and his compositions include 4 operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s, about 70 symphonies, ten concertos and some of the earliest chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
known in the history of western music. As of 2004, approximately 450 known works have been composed by Sammartini, although a fair amount of his music has been lost, especially sacred and dramatic works. Some of it may have also been lost due to publication under other names, especially that of his brother, Giuseppe. His earliest music was for liturgical use.
Sammartini's works are referred to, in publications or recordings, either by the opus number
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
they received in his lifetime, or by the J-C numbers they receive in the Jenkins-Churgin catalog referred to below. Newell Jenkins edited some of Sammartini's works, including a Magnificat, for the first time (he was also an editor of works by Vivaldi, Paisiello and Boccherini, among others).
Sammartini’s music is generally divided into three stylistic periods: the early period (1724-1739), which reflects a mixture of Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
and Preclassical forms, the middle period (1740-1758), which suggests Preclassical form, and the late period (1759-1774), that displays Classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
influences. Sammartini’s middle period is regarded as his most significant and pioneering, during which his compositions in the galant style of music foreshadow the Classical era to come.
Known works
- Symphonies (67)
- Concertos (10 or 11):
- For flute
- For violin
- For cello
- Concertinos (7)
- Marches (4)
- Minuets (4)
- String quintets (6)
- Flute and string quartets (27)
- String trios (~177)
- Sonatas (over 50):
- For flute
- For violin
- For cello
- For keyboard (harpsichord and organ)
- Operas (3)
- Memet (1732, Lodi, Lombardy), 'tragedia' in three acts, the first movements of two of Sammartini’s earliest known symphonies appear as overtures
- L'ambizione superata dalla virtù (26 December 1734, Teatro Regio DucalTeatro Regio DucalThe Teatro Regio Ducal was the opera house in Milan from 26 December 1717 until 25 February 1776, when it was burned down following a carnival gala. Many famous composers and their operas are associated with it, including the premieres of Mozart's Ascanio in Alba, Mitridate, re di Ponto, and Lucio...
, MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
), 'drama' in three acts - L'Agrippina, moglie di Tiberio (January 1743, Teatro Regio DucalTeatro Regio DucalThe Teatro Regio Ducal was the opera house in Milan from 26 December 1717 until 25 February 1776, when it was burned down following a carnival gala. Many famous composers and their operas are associated with it, including the premieres of Mozart's Ascanio in Alba, Mitridate, re di Ponto, and Lucio...
, Milan), dramma per musicaDramma per musicaDramma per musica is a term which was used by dramatists in Italy and elsewhere between the late-17th and mid-19th centuries...
in three acts,
- Arias and vocal ensemble pieces (11)
- Cantatas (8)
- Oratorio (1)
- La gara dei geni (28 May 1747, Teatro Regio DucalTeatro Regio DucalThe Teatro Regio Ducal was the opera house in Milan from 26 December 1717 until 25 February 1776, when it was burned down following a carnival gala. Many famous composers and their operas are associated with it, including the premieres of Mozart's Ascanio in Alba, Mitridate, re di Ponto, and Lucio...
, Milan), 'componimento drammatico' (of which only one aria survives)
- La gara dei geni (28 May 1747, Teatro Regio Ducal
- Sacred works (16)
- Mass settings
- Psalm settings
- Litanies
- Magnificat
- Te Deum
- www.google.com