Battistini, Giacomo

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Battistini, Giacomo

Battistini, Giacomo, Italian organist and composer, grandfather of Gaudenzio Battistini; b. 1665; d. Novara, Feb. 5, 1719. He was maestro di cappella at the Novara Cathedral (1694–1706), then at the church of S. Gaudenzio. He is reputed to have been the first to introduce the violoncello into instrumental accompaniment. He composed several masses, motets, and organ works, and also contributed music to the third act of the drama Antemio in Roma (1695; with A. Besozzi and D. Erba). See Vito Fedeli, Le cappelle musicali di Novara in Vol. III of Istituzioni e monumenti dell’arte musicale italiana (Milan, 1933), containing musical illustrations of his Battistini’s works.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire