Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio (c. 1700,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

– c. 1758, Milan) 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 ...

, conductor, violinist, and singing teacher who is chiefly known for his

opera 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 librett ...

s. His work displays a natural expression and uses figurations similar to that of

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

Life and career

He was born in Milan. The earliest record of Brivio was in a court document indicating his position as a violinist at the Royal Palace of Milan in 1720. He soon after to become the music director at the Royal Palace's theatre where he remained until 13 October 1732. He later returned to the theater in c.1738 and remained active there through 1742. At the Teatro Ducale his first known opera, ''Ipermestra'', premiered on 6 December 1727. While in Milan he also ran an influential school of singing. Two of his notable pupils were

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

s Giulia Frasi and Caterina Visconti. Brivio went on to write five more operas: ''L'Olimpiade'' (premiere 5 March 1737, Teatro Regio di Torino), ''Artaserse'' (premiere 2 June 1738, Teatro degli Obizzi di Padova), ''Merope'' (premiere 26 December 1738, Teatro Ducale di Milano), ''La Germania trionfante in Arminio'' (premiere 2 May 1739, Teatro Ducale di Milano) and ''

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'' (premiere carnival 1742, Teatro Ducale di Milano). His music was also used in three

Pasticcio In music, a ''pasticcio'' or ''pastiche'' is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, o ...

mounted at

the King's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

, Haymarket, London during the 1740s, ''Gianguir'' (premiere 2 November 1742), ''Mandane'' (premiere 12 December 1742), and ''L'incostanza delusa'' (premiere 9 February 1745). The final stage work to use his music was another pasticcio, ''L'Olimpiade'', which premiered at the Teatro Marsigli-Rossi di Bologna on 10 May 1755. Besides opera, Brivio produced a small amount of instrumental music. One of his two known

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

s was included in a well known publication of Italian music by French parliamentarian

Pierre Philibert de Blancheton Pierre Philibert de Blancheton (9 October 1697 – 6 March 1756) was a French politician and music patron and collector. From 1724 until his death 30 years later he was a member of the Parliament of Metz. Well known for his passion as a music colle ...

, alongside composers Angelo Maria Scaccia and

Carlo Zuccari Carlo Zuccari (November 10, 1703 – May 3, 1792) was an Italian composer and violinist. Active during the late Baroque music, Baroque and early Classical period (music), Classical music periods, Zuccari worked mainly in Milan, Olomouc, and Lond ...

. Brivio died in Milan around 1758.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brivio, Giuseppe Ferdinando 1700s births 1750s deaths 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Milan Voice teachers Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain