Antonio Sacchini (1730-1786)
- Sinfonia in Re maggiore
Performers: Orchestra da Camera di Napoli
Painting: Thomas Patch (1720-1782) - Florence, A View of Ponte Santa Trinità Crossing the Arno River
Further info: Sinfonie Napolitane
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Italian composer. He was taken by his father at an early age to Naples,
where he studied violin under Nicola Fiorenza and composition under
Francesco Durante at the Conservatorio Santa Maria di Loreto. In 1756 he
composed his first opera, Fra Donato, which launched his career as a
composer of opera in Italy. Although he served for several years as an
assistant maestro di cappella at the conservatory, he abandoned his
teaching profession by 1763 to concentrate on commissions from
throughout the country, eventually establishing a reputation as a
dramatic and talented composer. In 1768 while in Venice he became
director of the Conservatorio dell’Ospedaletto, teaching singing to
students such as Nancy Storace. In 1772 he moved to London, where he
obtained a great success with his operas but was known for a dissolute
lifestyle. This forced Sacchini to travel to Paris in 1781, where he was
caught in the middle of the feud between Niccolò Piccinni and Christoph
Willibald von Gluck, both of whose partisans condemned him as a member
of the other’s faction. In 1786 he produced his most enduring work,
Oedip à Colonne, at the request of Marie Antoinette, but his early death
from his lifestyle and acute gout prevented him from realizing its
success. As a composer, Sacchini was known for his dramatic musical
style, particularly in serious opera. He was able to move fluidly
between both the Italian and French styles, often using varied forms and
progressive harmonic structures. His works include 47 operas, seven
oratorios, two symphonies, six string quartets, six trio sonatas, and 12
violin sonatas or lessons, in addition to numerous insertion arias,
Masses, motets, Psalms, and other sacred works.
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