Baldassare Galuppi

Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1784) was a Venetian composer. He was born on the island of Burano, from where he got his nickname ‘Il Buranello’. He was a barber; his father, a violinist, was his first teacher. Later on he studied in Venice under the famous virtuoso-composer Antonio Lotti. His first two operas were co-written with another composer, Pescetti, in 1728-29, while later he began to compose his own operas for various Venetian troupes. He visited London in 1741 where his opera-pasticcio arrangement, entitled Alexander the Great in Persia, met major success His music was widely played on English stages, and his music influenced English composers of the age. In 1748 he was appointed secondary concertmaster at St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, rising to first concertmaster in 1768. Between 1766 and 1768 he was the music director to the court of Catherine the Great; his opera Ifigenia in Tauride premièred at the empress’ court. He returned home in 1768 and continued his work at St Mark’s. Galuppi was one of the best-known and most performed composers of his age. He composed at least a hundred operas between 1722 and 1773, both opera buffa and opera seria. Several of the former were written to libretti by the Venetian Carlo Goldoni, a collaboration which began in 1749. The most popular of their works was Il filosofo di campagna (The Village Philosopher), which was composed in 1754. Alongside his operas, he wrote an abundance of sacred and instrumental works.