Albinoni, Tomaso

views updated May 29 2018

Albinoni, Tomaso (b Venice, 1671; d Venice, 1751). It. composer of 81 operas, 99 sonatas, 59 concs., and 9 sinfonias. J. S. Bach made use of several of his themes and used Albinoni bass parts for practice in thoroughbass. In recent years there has been keen interest in his concs. for str., concerti grossi, ob. and tpt. concs. Credited with being first It. composer of ob. concs. and first to employ 3 movts. in concs. (Op.2). The popular Adagio for org. and str. in G minor owes very little to Albinoni, having been constructed from a MS fragment by the 20th-cent. It. musicologist Remo Giazotto, whose copyright it is.

Albinoni, Tomaso

views updated May 17 2018

Albinoni, Tomaso (1671–1750) Italian violinist and composer. He worked mainly in Venice, where he was a friend of Vivaldi. He was one of the first composers of concertos for a solo instrument; he also wrote nearly 50 operas.