GALUPPI, BALDASSARE

Early classical composer of church music and opera;b. Burano Island, near Venice (hence his nickname Il Buranello), Oct. 18, 1706; d. Venice, Jan. 3, 1785. His father, a barber and theater orchestra violinist, provided his first music training. After Galuppi's first opera failed in 1722, Benedetto marcello arranged for him to study composition with Antonio Lotti, and this resulted in a steady flow of commissions (112 operas in all). In 1748 he was named vice chapelmaster at St. Mark's, Venice, becoming first chapelmaster in 1762. He was invited to Russia by Catherine the Great, and he spent three years there (1765–68), composing and producing operas, teaching (Bortniansky was a pupil), and serving as the Czarina's adviser on music. By 1773 he had stopped composing operas in favor of oratorios (27) and church music. His sacred works (very few of which have been published) were projected in both an austere a cappella style and in a contemporary style like that of his operas, in which the solo parts are filled with elaborate coloratura passages and the role of the large orchestra is quite important. A gifted harpsichordist, Galuppi also wrote 51 keyboard sonatas, as well as a number of concerti.

Bibliography: No complete modern ed. of his music, but selected arias, sonatas, and Masses have been transcribed. a. della corte, Baldassare Galuppi (Quaderni dell'Accademia Chigiana 18; Siena 1948). w. bollert, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegen-wart, ed. f. blume (Kassel-Basel 1949–) 4:1342–48. e. blom, Step-children of Music (London 1925). Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, ed. n. slonimsky (5th, rev. ed. New York 1958) 532–533. r. eitner, Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten, 10 v. [Leipzig 1900–04; New York n.d. (1947)] 4:138–141. james l. jackman, "Baldassare Galuppi" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, v. 7, ed. s. sadie (New York 1980) 134–138. d. monson, "Baldassare Galuppi" in International Dictionary of Opera, 2 v., ed. c. s. larue (Detroit 1993) 483–486. m.t. muraro and f. rossi, eds., Galuppiana 1985: Studie ricerche atti del Convego Internazionale (Venezia, 28–30 ottobre 1985) (Florence 1986). n. slonimsky, ed., Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (New York 1992) 596–597. r. wiesend, Studien zur opera seria von Baldassare Galuppi (Tutzing 1981).

[r. steiner]