Gaetano Brunetti (1744-1798)
- Sinfonía en Fa mayor, No.23 (1783)
Performers: Angelicum Orchestra of Milan; Newel Jenkins (1915-1996, conductor)
Further info: Symphonies For Kings
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Italian composer, violinist and orchestra director, active in Spain. The
son of Stefano Brunetti (of Fano) and Vittoria Perusini, he probably
studied the violin in Livorno with Pietro Nardini. Having moved with his
parents to Madrid by 1762 (the date of a collection with one small
piece by him), he entered the service of Charles III in 1767 as a
violinist of the royal chapel. He also taught music and the violin to
the king’s son, the Prince of Asturias, and composed for the court. By
1771 his duties had expanded to include commissions for festivities at
Aranjuez, and in 1779 he was appointed music director of such
festivities. When Charles IV became king (1788) he appointed Brunetti
director of the newly formed royal chamber orchestra; Brunetti wrote
much for the group and selected a wide repertory from contemporary
European composers, with works of Haydn strongly featured. Brunetti was
also responsible for collecting and maintaining the royal library, and
he is partly responsible for the rich collection now housed in the royal
palace, Madrid. In spite of the social and governmental weaknesses of
his court, the king’s interest in art (as Goya’s patron), his
accomplishments as a violinist and his insatiable appetite for new works
provided a stimulating cultural atmosphere in which Brunetti
flourished. Brunetti was also a welcome and frequent visitor at the
court of the Duke of Alba, to whom he dedicated several works, and his
influence extended to numerous other courts in Madrid, including that of
Boccherini’s patron, the Infante Don Luis. He remained in Charles’s
service until his death, which occurred within a month of his second
marriage. He was survived by a daughter and a son Francesco (c.1770-?), a
cellist in the royal chamber orchestra.
Brunetti’s music has remained virtually unknown since the 18th century;
very little was published during his lifetime, and only a few pieces are
available in modern editions. Most of his 451 works are chamber pieces
written to be performed by and for the king and his ensemble. The
symphonies, mostly in four movements, form another important group. The
music found in the royal palace archives indicates Brunetti’s exposure
to a wide range of stylistic influences from composers of various
nationalities. The king’s preference, however, was for the style of the
early Classical composers, and Brunetti’s music, written with unusual
imagination in a blend of traditional and progressive styles, best fits
into that category. He most frequently wrote in Classical forms –
sonata-allegro, variation and rondo; he also used dance forms and
occasionally inserted a minuet into a final rondo. The sonata-form
movements have extended development sections (generally based on the
principal theme and favouring the minor mode) and abbreviated
recapitulations that may invert the order of thematic material or omit
the principal theme altogether; there is seldom a coda. The transitional
or developmental passages frequently make use of interesting and
original chromatic or enharmonic modulations, and the return to the
tonic is often intentionally unprepared. The symphonies feature
prominent wind parts, and some of the later works, particularly the
minuets and contredanses, use large-scale forces: flute, two oboes, two
bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. The third
movements are usually in a double dance form other than the minuet and
trio, with the first dance scored for a wind quintet and the second for
strings.
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