Francesco gasparini biography

Opera composer who gave Vivaldi a job

Francesco Gasparini, captured in a caricature by Pier Leone Ghezzi

Francesco Gasparini, one of the great Baroque composers, whose works were performed all over Europe, was born on this day in 1661 in Camaiore near Lucca in Tuscany.

Gasparini also worked as a music teacher and was musical director of the Ospedale della Pietàin Venice for about 15 years, where he made the inspired decision to employ a 25-year-old Antonio Vivaldias a violin master.

By the age of 17, Gasparini was a member of the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna.

He moved to Rome,where he studied under the musicians Arcangelo Corelliand Bernardo Pasquini. His first important opera, Roderico, was produced there in 1694.

After arriving in Venicein 1702, he became one of the leading composers in the city.

He wrote the first opera to use the story of Hamlet - Ambleto- in 1705, although he did not base the work on Shakespeare’s play.

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