Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani (15 July 1638

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

–about 1693

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist. He worked in the court at

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

as a violinist at least between 1656 and 1660. Between 1672 and 1676 he was director of the court music at Innsbruck, which, after the extinction of the Tyrolean Habsburgs, had come under the control of the emperor. Although in publications of 1678 Viviani still described himself as holding this position, it seems more likely that he was in fact in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

working on his arrangement of

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque music, Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverd ...

’s '' Scipione affricano'' and his own opera ''Astiage'', which were both performed in Venice that year. Also that year, Viviani directed an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

at the Oratorio di San Marcello in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with

Arcangelo Corelli Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of ...

and

Bernardo Pasquini Bernardo Pasquini (Massa e Cozzile, 7 December 1637Rome, 21 November 1710) was an Italian composer of operas, oratorios, cantatas and keyboard music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player in his day, he was one of the most important Italian compose ...

. He was probably elevated to the nobility in the same year, since he subsequently designated himself ‘Nobile del Sacro Romano Imperio’. Between 1678 and 1679 and 1681 and 1682 he was in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

as director of a troupe of opera singers, and while he was there he performed some of his own

operas Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

and

oratorios An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

. In 1686 he was ''maestro di cappella'' to the Prince of Bisignano. From January 1687 to December 1692 he was ''maestro di cappella'' of

Pistoia Cathedral Pistoia Cathedral, or Cathedral of Saint Zeno ( it, Duomo di Pistoia or ''Cattedrale di San Zeno'') is the main religious building of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy, located in the ''Piazza del Duomo'' in the centre of the city. It is the seat o ...

. As a composer Viviani is known mostly for his

and solo

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of t ...

which follow the style of

Antonio Cesti Pietro Marc'Antonio Cesti () (baptism 5 August 162314 October 1669), known today primarily as an Italian composer of the Baroque era, was also a singer (tenor), and organist. He was "the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation". Biogra ...

. It is speculated that Viviani studied with Cesti during his Innsbruck years which accounts for the similarities in style between the two composers; in any case he certainly knew Cesti’s work. His instrumental works are predominantly in the Italian style, though south German and Austrian influences are also recognizable. Of particular interest are the instrumental recitatives of the ''Sinfonia cantabile'' in his op. 4, which is written in imitation of a solo cantata; there are also two sonatas in op. 4 for trumpet and continuo. The ''Solfeggiamenti,'' textless vocal pieces intended for teaching purposes, are unusual examples of this genre because of the number of their movements and their exceptional length. His other compositions include two sonatas for

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and organ, two sonatas for solo trumpet, sonatas for

and continuo, and several Capriccios.

Selected works

Operas

*''Astiage'' (Naples, December 1682) *''Scipione affricano'' (Venice, carnival 1678) evision of Cavalli’s 1664 opera *''Zenobia'' (Napoles, 1678) ow lost *''Le fatiche d'Ercole per Dejanire'' (Naples, 1679) *''Mitilene, regina delle Amazoni'' (Naples, 13 Nov 1681) *''L’Elidoro, o vero Il fingere per regnare'' (Saponara, 15 June 1686) *''La vaghezza del fato'' (possibly performed in Vienna)

Oratorios

*''La strage degli innocenti'' (Naples, 1682) *''L’Esequie del Redentore'' (Naples, 1682) *''Le nozze di Tobia'' (Florence, 1692) *''L’Abramo in Egitto'' *''Faraone''

Instrumental music

*''Capricci armonici da chiesa e da camera, Op. 4'' (Venice, 1678)

Sources

*Herbert Seifert. The ''

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). and

External links

Sheet music Triosonatas op.1 + Capricci armonici op.4
* * http://www.hoasm.org/VF/Viviani.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Viviani, Giovanni Buonaventura 1638 births 1690s deaths Italian Baroque composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers 17th-century Italian composers 17th-century male musicians