Giovanni Battista Volpe (–1691) was a Venetian composer for operas during the

Baroque period The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

. He was also known as Rovetta and Rovettino. Volpe was an organist at

St Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Chu ...

, and succeeded

Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and ext ...

as ''

maestro Maestro (; from the Italian ''wikt:maestro#Italian, maestro'' , meaning "wikt:master, master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music ...

di capella'' of the

Cappella Marciana The Cappella Marciana is the modern name for the choir and instrumentalists of St Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy. Overview The masters of the ''cappella ducale'' in the 16th and 17th centuries included many of the most notable composers of the I ...

from 1690 until 1691. His uncle was

Giovanni Rovetta Giovanni Rovetta (c. 1595/97–1668) was an Italian Baroque composer and ''maestro di capella'' of the Capella Marciana at St Mark's Basilica, Venice between Monteverdi and Cavalli. He may have been a choirboy at St. Mark's, where his father p ...

, a composer and former ''maestro di capella''. He collaborated with the

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Aurelio Aureli Aurelio Aureli (Venice, before 1652 – id. after 1708) was an Italian librettist. Life Little is known about Aureli's life. He began his operatic career in 1652 with ''L'Erginda''. Until 1687, he worked as a librettist mainly in Venice, excep ...

on several projects. Volpe composed the music for the opera ''La costanza di Rosmonda'', which premiered in Venice's

Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo The Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo (often written as Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo) was a theatre and opera house in Venice located on the Calle della Testa, and takes its name from the nearby Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. Built by the ...

in 1659. He then composed the music for the opera ''Gl'amori d'Apollo e di Leucotoe'', which premiered in the same theatre in 1663. He composed at least one more opera for the theatre. Volpe was the preferred choice of composers ''in absentia'' when changes had to be made to their work.

Compositions

*''La costanza di Rosmonda'', libretto by

(premiered 1659) *''Gl'amori d'Apollo e di Leucotoe'', libretto by Aurelio Aureli (premiered 1663)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volpe, Giovanni Battista 1691 deaths Italian opera composers Italian organists Cappella Marciana maestri