Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (1671 – 1751) was an Italian
Baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera
composer, he is mainly remembered today for his
instrumental music, such as the concertos, some of
which are regularly recorded.
Born in Venice, Republic of Venice, to Antonio
Albinoni, a wealthy paper merchant in Venice, he
studied violin and singing. Relatively little is known
about his life, especially considering his contemporary
stature as a composer, and the comparatively...(+)
Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (1671 – 1751) was an Italian
Baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera
composer, he is mainly remembered today for his
instrumental music, such as the concertos, some of
which are regularly recorded.
Born in Venice, Republic of Venice, to Antonio
Albinoni, a wealthy paper merchant in Venice, he
studied violin and singing. Relatively little is known
about his life, especially considering his contemporary
stature as a composer, and the comparatively
well-documented period in which he lived. In 1694 he
dedicated his Opus 1 to the fellow-Venetian, Cardinal
Pietro Ottoboni (grand-nephew of Pope Alexander VIII);
Ottoboni was an important patron in Rome of other
composers, such as Arcangelo Corelli. His first opera,
Zenobia, regina de Palmireni, was produced in Venice in
1694. Albinoni was possibly employed in 1700 as a
violinist to Charles IV, Duke of Mantua, to whom he
dedicated his Opus 2 collection of instrumental pieces.
In 1701 he wrote his hugely popular suites Opus 3, and
dedicated that collection to Cosimo III de' Medici,
Grand Duke of Tuscany.
His instrumental music greatly attracted the attention
of Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote at least two fugues
on Albinoni's themes (Fugue in A major on a theme by
Tomaso Albinoni, BWV 950, Fugue in B minor on a theme
by Tomaso Albinoni, BWV 951) and frequently used his
basses for harmony exercises for his pupils. Part of
Albinoni's work was lost in World War II with the
destruction of the Dresden State Library. As a result,
little is known of his life and music after the
mid-1720s. The famous "Albinoni Adagio in G minor" for
violin, strings and organ, the subject of many modern
recordings, is now thought to be a musical hoax
composed by Remo Giazotto, although the recent
discovery by musicologist Muska Mangano, Giazotto's
last assistant, of a modern but independent manuscript
transcription of the figured bass portion and six
fragmentary bars of the first violin, "bearing in the
top right-hand corner a stamp stating unequivocally the
Dresden provenance of the original from which it was
taken," provides some support for Giazotto's account
that Albinoni was his source.
Althpugh originally written for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2
violins, 2 violas, bassoon and basso continuo, I
created this arrangement for Piano and Strings (Solo
Violin, 2nd Violins (2), Viola & Cello).
