Giacobbe Basevi, known as Giacobbe Cervetto (1680 – 14 January 1783)Speare, Marija Đurić (2001)
"Cervetto, Giacobbe Basevi"
''New Grove Dictionary of Musicians''. Retrieved 11 September 2018 (subscription required for full access). was an Anglo-Italian

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish musician, who was a leading cellist and composer for cello in 18th century

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Life

According to the ''

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' ( en, Biographical Dictionary of the Italians) is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biograp ...

'', little is known about his early life but he is thought to have been born in northern Italy. s.n. (1970)
"Basevi, Giacobbe, detto Cervetto"
''

'', Vol. 7. Treccani. Online version Retrieved 11 September 2018 Burney referred to him as "a Venetian". ''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' states his birthplace as

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

.Rubinstein, W. and Jolles, Michael A. (eds.) (2011)
"Cervetto, Jacob Basevi"
''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'', p. 312. Springer. He first arrived in England in 1728, originally as a vendor of fine stringed instruments including violins of

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...

.Conway (2012), pp. 71-2 In 1739/40, he settled in England and became solo cellist at the

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...

, where the musician and music historian Charles Burney met him when he joined the theatre's orchestra in the season of 1744/45. He reported that Cervetto had "brought the violoncello into favour, and made us nice judges of that instrument." Burney further wrote of Cervetto "He was an honest Hebrew, had the largest nose, and wore the finest diamond ring on the forefinger of his bow hand", but considered him an indifferent performer. The ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine' ...

'', in an obituary of his son

James Cervetto James Cervetto (8 January 1748 – 5 February 1837) was an English cellist, playing in aristocratic venues and in important concerts of the day. He was the soloist for the premiere of Haydn’s second cello concerto. Life Cervetto was born in Lo ...

(1747–1837, also a cellist and composer for his instrument), noted that the audience in Covent Garden would often shout to the elder Cervetto " 'play up, Nosey'....Hence the origin of a phrase not infrequently heard at the theatre even to the present day".Gentleman's Magazine, , April 1837, p. 437. Cervetto maintained links with others of the Basevi family in England, whose members included the architect

George Basevi Elias George Basevi FRS (1 April 1794 – 16 October 1845) was a British architect who worked in both Neoclassical and Gothic Revival styles. A pupil of Sir John Soane, his designs included Belgrave Square in London, and the Fitzwilliam Mus ...

and Maria D'Israeli (née Basevi), the mother of Benjamin Disraeli. He died at the age of 101 in the Friborg

snuff Snuff may refer to: Tobacco * Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose ** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco ** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste Media and entertainment * Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder Literat ...

shop in the

Haymarket, London Haymarket is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, London. It runs from Piccadilly Circus in the north to Pall Mall at the southern end. Located on the street are the Theatre Royal, Her Majesty's Theatre, New Zealand ...

. His will, in which he left his son the substantial fortune of £20,000, stipulated that he should be buried according to the rites of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Selected works

* Six sonatas or trios Op. 1 (1741) * Twelve Sonatas for Cello and B.c. , Op.2 (self-published in London by subscription, n.d., ''ca'' 1750) * Eight Solos for a German Flute and B.c. Op. 3 (1757) * VI Trios for 2 Violins and Violoncello/Cembalo (1758) * Six Lessons or Divertimenti for 2 Violins und B.c. Op. 4 (1761)

References

Notes

Sources

* Conway, David (2012). ''Jewry in Music: Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

External links

* 1680 births 1783 deaths English Baroque composers English classical cellists Italian emigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain Italian classical cellists 18th-century Italian Jews Jewish English musicians Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism 18th-century classical composers 18th-century Italian male musicians English male classical composers 18th-century English musicians English centenarians Men centenarians {{cellist-stub