Giuseppe Sammartini (1695-1750)
- Concerto (II) for the harpsichord, Opera Nona (Op.9)
Performers: Jean Pierre Boullet (cembalo); Ensemble 'Le Rondeau'
Further info: Giuseppe Sammartini (1695-1750) - Recorder Concerto in F
---
Italian oboist and composer. He was the son of a French oboist, Alexis
Saint-Martin, and the elder brother of the composer Giovanni Battista
Sammartini. The report of his death (discovered by Evelyn Lance)
appeared in the Whitehall Evening Post of Saturday, 24 November 1750:
‘Last week died at his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, Signior S.
Martini, Musick Master to her Royal Highness and thought to be the
finest performer on the hautboy in Europe’. Sammartini probably studied
the oboe with his father, with whom he performed in an orchestra at
Novara for a religious ceremony in 1711. In 1717 he and G.B. Sammartini
were listed as oboists at S Celso, Milan, and in 1720 the ‘Sammartini
brothers’ were oboists in the orchestra of the Teatro Regio Ducale
there. An oboe concerto by Giuseppe was published in Amsterdam as early
as about 1717, and in 1724 he contributed an aria and sinfonia for the
second part of a Milanese oratorio, La calunnia delusa. J.J. Quantz, who
visited Milan in 1726, regarded Sammartini as the only good wind player
in the opera orchestra; when he went to Venice he ranked him with the
violinists Vivaldi and Madonis as the outstanding players he had heard.
Sammartini left Italy for Brussels and then for London, where his
collection of 12 trio sonatas, published by Walsh & Hare, had been
announced on 30 September 1727. He was witness to his sister Maddalena’s
marriage in Milan on 13 February 1728, and on 13 July 1728 he was
granted a passport to travel to Brussels with his pupil Gaetano Parenti.
Burney erronously mentioned that Giuseppe’s first appearance in England
occurred at a benefit for ‘signor Piero’ at the Little Theatre in the
Haymarket on 4 April 1723. The first reference to Giuseppe in England
appears in London advertisements for a concert at Hickford’s Room on 21
May 1729, which also featured ‘several pieces on the hautboy by the
famous Sig. St. Martini of Milan, just arrived from the Court of
Brussels’ (Lasocki, 887). Sammartini remained in London for the rest of
his life, quickly winning recognition as a brilliant performer. He
performed at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on 13 May 1730. In the same year he
played for Maurice Greene at Cambridge when Greene obtained the MusD
degree, and also gave a successful benefit concert there. Sammartini
took part in concerts at Hickford’s Room on 20 March 1732 (benefit
concert) and 20 April 1733, and in the Castle concerts, and he played in
the opera orchestra at the King’s Theatre. Burney mentioned an aria
sung by Farinelli in Porpora’s Polifemo (1735) that was ‘accompanied on
the hautbois by the celebrated San Martini’. Though Hawkins said that
Sammartini was at first allied with Bononcini, he also played in
Handel’s orchestra. Dean pointed out that Sammartini’s name is attached
to many oboe solos in Handel’s opera autographs, such as the difficult
obbligato for the aria ‘Quella fiamme’ in Arminio, Act 2 (1737). On 14
March 1741 Sammartini performed an oboe concerto at a benefit
performance of Handel’s Parnasso in festa at the Haymarket Theatre.
Giuseppe probably also played the flute and recorder; he composed
numerous works for these instruments and such doublings were standard
for orchestra players of that time.
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada