Ristori, Giovanni Alberto
Ristori, Giovanni Alberto
Ristori, Giovanni Alberto , Italian composer; b. probably in Bologna, 1692; d. Dresden, Feb. 7, 1753. He received his education from his father, a violinist in an Italian opera company, with whom he went to Dresden (1715) and obtained the post of director of the Polish chapel in Warsaw. He then was appointed chamber organist to the court of Saxony (1733), church composer (1746), and asst. conductor (1750). He wrote a number of operas for the Italian Opera in Dresden. His Calandro, staged at Pillnitz, near Dresden, on Sept. 2, 1726, was one of the earliest Italian comic operas produced in Germany, and so possesses historical significance beyond its intrinsic worth. Other operas produced in Dresden and in court theaters near Dresden were Cleonice (Aug. 15, 1718), Un pazzo ne fa cento, ovvero Don Chisciotte (Feb. 2, 1727), Arianna (Aug. 7, 1736), Le Fate (Aug. 10, 1736), etc. He also wrote oratorios, cantatas, and masses, and some instrumental music. Many of his MSS were destroyed during the siege of Dresden (1760) and the bombing of the city in World War II.
Bibliography
C. Mengelberg, G.A. R. (Leipzig, 1916).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire