Rutini, Giovanni Marco

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Rutini, Giovanni Marco

Rutini, Giovanni Marco , Italian composer, father of Ferdinando Rutini; b. Florence, April 25, 1723; d. there, Dec. 22, 1797. He was a student of Leo (composition), N. Fago (harpsichord), and Pagliarulo (violin) at the Cons. della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples (1739–44). In 1748 he went to Prague, where he found a patroness in Maria Antonia Walpurgis, the Electress of Saxony. He went to St. Petersburg in 1758 and served as harpsichord teacher to the future Empress Catherine II and as conductor of the private orch. of Count Peter Shereme-tev. In 1761 he returned to his homeland and in 1762 he was made a member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna. While spending most of his time in Florence, he also held the title of maestro di cappella to the Duke of Modena from 1769. Rutini was especially successful as a composer for the theater. However, his historical significance rests chiefly upon his harpsichord sonatas which played a major role in the development of the Classical style, and which greatly influenced Haydn and Mozart.

Works

DRAMATIC (all 1st perf. in Florence unless otherwise given): Alessandro nell’Indie (Prague, Carnival 1750); Semiramide (Prgue, 1752; rev. version, Dresden, 1780); Il retiro degli dei (St. Petersburg, Dec. 13, 1757); Il negligente (St. Petersburg, 1758); II caffè di campagna (Bologna, Carnival 1762); I matrimoni in maschera (Cremona, Jan. 1763); Ezio (Jan. 30, 1763); L’olandese in Italia (1765); L’amore industrioso (Venice, 1765); II contadino incivilito (March 31, 1766); Le contese domestiche (Dee. 26, 1766); L’amor tra l’armi (Siena, July 3, 1768); Faloppa mercante (Dee. 26, 1769); La Nitteti (Modena, Carnival 1770); L’amor per rigiro (Poggio a Caiano, Oct. 5, 1773); Vologeso re de’ Parti (Jan. 22, 1775); Sicotencal (Turin, Carnival 1776; rev. as Zulima, Florence, Jan. 25, 1777); Il finto amante (Pistoia, 1776). keyboard: Over 80 harpsichord sonatas (1748–86); 12 divertimenti facili e brevi for Harpsichord, 4-Hands or Harp and Harpsichord (1793); Rondò for Piano and Orch. ad libitum (1797). VOCAL: Oratorios, cantatas, and sacred pieces.

Bibliography

G. Balducci, La figura e l’opera di G.M. R.(diss., Univ. of Florence, 1964); F. Meinero, Le sonate di G.M. R.(diss., Univ. of Turin, 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Rutini, Giovanni Marco

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