Gaetano Isola (1754-1813)
- Concerto per clavicembalo obbligato (live recording)
Performers: Davide Mingozzi (cembalo); L’Arcadia Ligustica
Further info: Gaetano Isola (1754-1813)
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Italian composer. It is known from a letter he wrote to Padre Martini
(in I-Bc) that he spent about ten years at the Palermo Conservatory
studying for a diploma as maestro di cappella. Returning to Genoa in
1775 he began a career as a composer and music director. From 1777 to
1796 he was maestro di cappella at various churches and from 1789
maestro al cembalo at the Teatro S Agostino, of which he also seems to
have been director at least for the last years of his life. In 1800 he
was a member of the music section of the Istituto Nazionale della
Liguria. Between 1785 and 1797 six operas and an oratorio by him were
performed in Genoa, Turin, Florence and Lisbon to public acclaim. Two in
particular were big spectacle pieces. For La conquista del vello d’oro
Boggio chose a mythological subject on which to construct an opera in
the French style. It incorporates a dance of the infernal spirits and
some machine spectacle in the form of a fire-breathing dragon and a
temple of the sun appearing in mid-air. The trio that closes Act 2
contains programmatic storm music, generously scored for percussion and
wind including solo bassoon, clarinet and trumpet in addition to the
usual oboe and horn. In Le danaidi, the innovatory librettist Sertor
provided a formally more fluid work including many ensembles, choruses
and pantomime. Two of the ensembles involve some action, and several
include a chorus. Besides operas Isola wrote songs and sacred and
instrumental music; his works survive only in manuscript. His sacred
music includes a Credo and four-voice mass for the coronation of the
doge Raffade de Ferrari, dated 25 November 1787. Isola also composed a
few cantatas for the Accademia biennale delle Scuole Pie in Genoa. Of
his stage works, in most cases only the librettos and a few arias
survive. His pupils included the English tenor and composer John Braham.
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