Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi
Encyclopedia
Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi (August 1, 1755 – March 28, 1818) was an Italian
violin
ist and composer
.
A virtuoso violinist, an innovative composer, and a master teacher, Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi was called “The Orpheus of His Age” by his contemporaries. The fact that he was highly esteemed and favorably compared to the most renowned musicians of his day makes it difficult to understand that, except for his Concerto for Contrabass, he is virtually unknown today.
Born in Brescia in 1755, little is known of his primary education, although his obvious talent for both the violin and composition was recognized early on, for he was sent to Venice to study violin with the celebrated violinist Antonio Nazari (d.1787?) and composition with Ferdinando Bertoni (1724-1813), maestro di cappella at Basilica San Marco.
The musical life of Venice during this time was extremely rich: there were theaters which presented opera and ballet, there were public concerts similar to the concerts spirituels in Paris, and there were innumerable churches, many with their own orchestras. In 1775, Capuzzi was already known as a virtuoso violinist, and by 1780, he had become concertmaster of the theaters of San Samuele, San Benedetto, and San Moisè. By 1785, he was a distinguished member of the orchestra at San Marco, and in 1792, he became the first concertmaster of the new opera theater in Venice, La Fenice. Capuzzi’s closest colleagues in Venice were Simone Mayr (1763–1845), keyboardist, violist, composer; Domenico Dragonetti (1763–1846), virtuoso bassist; Count Alessandro Pepoli (1757-1796), writer, and librettist for Capuzzi’s first opera; and Francesco Gardi (?1760/65-1810), composer of opera buffa. In 1782, Capuzzi married Gardi’s sister, the soprano Giovanna Gardi.
Capuzzi’s fame took him to Vienna and the major cities of Italy, and in 1796, he traveled to London where several of his ballets were produced. Catherine the Great of Russia offered him a prestigious musical post, which he politely declined, preferring to remain in Italy.
After the fall of the Venetian Republic, Capuzzi’s great friend and colleague, Simone Mayr, settled in Bergamo, where he was the maestro di cappella of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. In 1805, Mayr persuaded Capuzzi to move from Venice to Bergamo to become the concertmaster and director of both the Santa Maria Maggiore orchestra and the orchestra at the Teatro Riccardi (now Donizetti), but above all, to teach in the Lezioni Caritatevoli, which Mayr was building into one of the most important schools of music in Italy. Mayr brought the best musicians and teachers to this school, including the renowned teacher of voice, Francesco Salari (1751-1828); Antonio Gonzales (1764-1830), famed organist and teacher, who was the maestro di cappella in the Duomo of Milan; and Capuzzi. With their maturity and vast experience, Mayr and Capuzzi became the driving force in the cultural life of Bergamo. They produced many important musicians at the Lezioni Caritatevoli, including Gaetano Donizetti, Antonio Piatti, Marco Bonesi, and C.A. Zanetti.
Capuzzi flourished in Bergamo, continuing to play, teach, and compose, until he was struck down by an apparent stroke or heart attack in the midst of a concert at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. He died nine days later on the 28th of March, 1818.
Capuzzi’s compositions may be divided into three periods. From1775 to 1790, he wrote mostly chamber music: 18 string quartets (in groups of six), six string quintets with two violas, six divertimentos for violin and bass, six sonatas for violin and bass, several concertos for violin solo and orchestra, and three concertones for solo groups and orchestra. He also composed many duos for two violins, violin and cello, a set of solo violin caprices, sonatas for violin and cembalo, and sonatas for violin and fortepiano. The bass concerto was probably written in Venice during this period when the composer and the bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti were colleagues in the orchestra of San Marco.
From 1790 to 1804, he composed mainly for the theater: five operas, produced in Padua and Venice, and 20 ballets, produced in London, Vienna, Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, Vicenza, Florence, and Ravenna. Unfortunately, all of the operas and most of the ballet music are lost but some individual arias remain as well as some instrumental parts to ballets.
Capuzzi returned to the violin concerto and produced one almost every year from 1804 to 1818, as well as sinfonias, and cantatas for solo voices and orchestra. The works from this period also include a cello concerto, a flute concerto, and a sextet for strings and winds.
The first and third volumes of string quartets were published by Artaria of Vienna in 1780 and 1787. The second volume of quartets was published by Alessandri e Scattaglia of Venice in 1780, and the six string quintets were published in Venice by Zatta e figli, probably around 1785.
The String Quintet with Two Violas is a very special genre that enjoyed great success with composers and audiences from 1770 to 1801. While many composers wrote quintets during this period, the works available today are the three quintets by Michael Haydn (1773), one early quintet (1773) and five late, great works (1787–1791) by Mozart, and twelve by Boccherini which are arrangements of the piano quintets, Opp. 56/57 (1797–1799), arranged for the two-viola configuration as Opp. 60/62 (1801–1802). Beethoven’s Op. 29 quintet also dates from 1801.
The Sei Quintetti, Op. 3 (ca.1783) by Antonio Capuzzi occupy a unique place in this collection. Although they reflect the invention of Joseph Haydn and the textural layers of Boccherini, they are composed in an original Italian voice which reveals profound skill in the operatic styles of the period as well as an extraordinary sense of cantilena.
These works precede the late quintets of Mozart, yet Capuzzi displays in his quintets the juxtaposition of buffa and seria styles as well as an understanding of the concertante elements which Mozart used so well in his later works. Capuzzi takes full advantage of the various pairings available in this ensemble, two violins, two violas, first violin and first viola, first violin and cello, first viola and cello, and he creates mini-operatic scenes with great success.
Capuzzi was obviously influenced by Joseph Haydn’s string quartets, especially the Op. 20 and Op. 33 quartets, composed in the early 1780’s. He owned manuscript copies of these and other works by contemporary composers. Capuzzi played quartets with Haydn when Haydn visited Venice in March, 1790, and Haydn’s influence is readily seen in the sparkling contredanse finales of the quintets. Although the menuet or scherzo usually precedes the finale in works of this period, Capuzzi sets his unusual menuets as second movements of these works, thereby allowing a gentle dissipation of the energy of the first movements. In this way, the operatic arias of the third movements become a rich contrast to the amazingly energetic finales.
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...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist 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...
.
A virtuoso violinist, an innovative composer, and a master teacher, Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi was called “The Orpheus of His Age” by his contemporaries. The fact that he was highly esteemed and favorably compared to the most renowned musicians of his day makes it difficult to understand that, except for his Concerto for Contrabass, he is virtually unknown today.
Born in Brescia in 1755, little is known of his primary education, although his obvious talent for both the violin and composition was recognized early on, for he was sent to Venice to study violin with the celebrated violinist Antonio Nazari (d.1787?) and composition with Ferdinando Bertoni (1724-1813), maestro di cappella at Basilica San Marco.
The musical life of Venice during this time was extremely rich: there were theaters which presented opera and ballet, there were public concerts similar to the concerts spirituels in Paris, and there were innumerable churches, many with their own orchestras. In 1775, Capuzzi was already known as a virtuoso violinist, and by 1780, he had become concertmaster of the theaters of San Samuele, San Benedetto, and San Moisè. By 1785, he was a distinguished member of the orchestra at San Marco, and in 1792, he became the first concertmaster of the new opera theater in Venice, La Fenice. Capuzzi’s closest colleagues in Venice were Simone Mayr (1763–1845), keyboardist, violist, composer; Domenico Dragonetti (1763–1846), virtuoso bassist; Count Alessandro Pepoli (1757-1796), writer, and librettist for Capuzzi’s first opera; and Francesco Gardi (?1760/65-1810), composer of opera buffa. In 1782, Capuzzi married Gardi’s sister, the soprano Giovanna Gardi.
Capuzzi’s fame took him to Vienna and the major cities of Italy, and in 1796, he traveled to London where several of his ballets were produced. Catherine the Great of Russia offered him a prestigious musical post, which he politely declined, preferring to remain in Italy.
After the fall of the Venetian Republic, Capuzzi’s great friend and colleague, Simone Mayr, settled in Bergamo, where he was the maestro di cappella of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. In 1805, Mayr persuaded Capuzzi to move from Venice to Bergamo to become the concertmaster and director of both the Santa Maria Maggiore orchestra and the orchestra at the Teatro Riccardi (now Donizetti), but above all, to teach in the Lezioni Caritatevoli, which Mayr was building into one of the most important schools of music in Italy. Mayr brought the best musicians and teachers to this school, including the renowned teacher of voice, Francesco Salari (1751-1828); Antonio Gonzales (1764-1830), famed organist and teacher, who was the maestro di cappella in the Duomo of Milan; and Capuzzi. With their maturity and vast experience, Mayr and Capuzzi became the driving force in the cultural life of Bergamo. They produced many important musicians at the Lezioni Caritatevoli, including Gaetano Donizetti, Antonio Piatti, Marco Bonesi, and C.A. Zanetti.
Capuzzi flourished in Bergamo, continuing to play, teach, and compose, until he was struck down by an apparent stroke or heart attack in the midst of a concert at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. He died nine days later on the 28th of March, 1818.
Capuzzi’s compositions may be divided into three periods. From1775 to 1790, he wrote mostly chamber music: 18 string quartets (in groups of six), six string quintets with two violas, six divertimentos for violin and bass, six sonatas for violin and bass, several concertos for violin solo and orchestra, and three concertones for solo groups and orchestra. He also composed many duos for two violins, violin and cello, a set of solo violin caprices, sonatas for violin and cembalo, and sonatas for violin and fortepiano. The bass concerto was probably written in Venice during this period when the composer and the bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti were colleagues in the orchestra of San Marco.
From 1790 to 1804, he composed mainly for the theater: five operas, produced in Padua and Venice, and 20 ballets, produced in London, Vienna, Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, Vicenza, Florence, and Ravenna. Unfortunately, all of the operas and most of the ballet music are lost but some individual arias remain as well as some instrumental parts to ballets.
Capuzzi returned to the violin concerto and produced one almost every year from 1804 to 1818, as well as sinfonias, and cantatas for solo voices and orchestra. The works from this period also include a cello concerto, a flute concerto, and a sextet for strings and winds.
The first and third volumes of string quartets were published by Artaria of Vienna in 1780 and 1787. The second volume of quartets was published by Alessandri e Scattaglia of Venice in 1780, and the six string quintets were published in Venice by Zatta e figli, probably around 1785.
The String Quintet with Two Violas is a very special genre that enjoyed great success with composers and audiences from 1770 to 1801. While many composers wrote quintets during this period, the works available today are the three quintets by Michael Haydn (1773), one early quintet (1773) and five late, great works (1787–1791) by Mozart, and twelve by Boccherini which are arrangements of the piano quintets, Opp. 56/57 (1797–1799), arranged for the two-viola configuration as Opp. 60/62 (1801–1802). Beethoven’s Op. 29 quintet also dates from 1801.
The Sei Quintetti, Op. 3 (ca.1783) by Antonio Capuzzi occupy a unique place in this collection. Although they reflect the invention of Joseph Haydn and the textural layers of Boccherini, they are composed in an original Italian voice which reveals profound skill in the operatic styles of the period as well as an extraordinary sense of cantilena.
These works precede the late quintets of Mozart, yet Capuzzi displays in his quintets the juxtaposition of buffa and seria styles as well as an understanding of the concertante elements which Mozart used so well in his later works. Capuzzi takes full advantage of the various pairings available in this ensemble, two violins, two violas, first violin and first viola, first violin and cello, first viola and cello, and he creates mini-operatic scenes with great success.
Capuzzi was obviously influenced by Joseph Haydn’s string quartets, especially the Op. 20 and Op. 33 quartets, composed in the early 1780’s. He owned manuscript copies of these and other works by contemporary composers. Capuzzi played quartets with Haydn when Haydn visited Venice in March, 1790, and Haydn’s influence is readily seen in the sparkling contredanse finales of the quintets. Although the menuet or scherzo usually precedes the finale in works of this period, Capuzzi sets his unusual menuets as second movements of these works, thereby allowing a gentle dissipation of the energy of the first movements. In this way, the operatic arias of the third movements become a rich contrast to the amazingly energetic finales.