Gaetano Pugnani (27 November 1731 – 15 July 1798, full name: Giulio Gaetano Gerolamo Pugnani) was an Italian composer and violinist.

Biography

Gaetano Pugnani was born in 1731 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, the city where he spent most of his life, son of Giovanni Battista Pugnani, secretary in the office of the Director of the Settlement of Turin. The Pugnani originate from the comune of Cumiana, where they held a common farm and where the musician returned often. He trained on the violin under

Giovanni Battista Somis Giovanni Battista Somis (December 25, 1686 – August 14, 1763) was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque music era. He studied under Arcangelo Corelli between 1703 and 1706 or 1707. He was later appointed solo violinist to the ...

, founder of the Piedmontese school of violin playing.Warwick Lister, ''Amico: The Life of Giovanni Battista Viotti'' (Oxford University Press, 2009). In 1752, Pugnani became the first violinist of the Royal Chapel of Turin, and then went on a large tour that granted him great fame for his extraordinary skill on the

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 ...

. In 1754, he was very well received at the

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, but in 1768 he had an even more successful musical encounter in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, directing the King's Theatre from 1767 to 1769. During these years Pugnani worked closely with

Johann Christian Bach Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...

and

Carl Friedrich Abel Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument. Life Abel was born in Köthen, ...

In 1770, Pugnani returned home to Turin and became the director of the Royal Chapel. His fame as a composer began to grow, but it would never equal his fame as a violinist. During this time, he also taught the violin. His most famous pupil was

Giovanni Battista Viotti Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755 – 3 March 1824) was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italia ...

; in 1766 Viotti was placed at the cost of the prince de la Cisterne under Pugnani. From 1780 to 1782 they performed in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Pugnani died in Turin in 1798. His funeral was modest as was his will and he was buried in the cemetery of St. Peter in Vincoli.

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, he was known ...

borrowed Pugnani's name in order to publish some of his pieces (such as Praeludium and Allegro and Tempo di Minuetto), but in 1935 Kreisler revealed that these works were actually his own.

Operas

Operas with music by Gaetano Pugnani: * ''Nanetta e Lubino''. Opera buffa, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini, 1769. The first performance took place on 8 April 1769 at the King's Theatre, London * ''Issea''.Manuscript copy of the full score archived i
Biblioteca da Ajuda
Lisbon. Cf. page 241 of Claudio Re, ''Gaetano Pugnani and the eighteenth-century Italian symphony: a study and edition of the Overture in E-flat (ZT 23)''
PhD thesis
U. Florida, 2011. Libretto by Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi, 1771 * ''Tamas Kouli-Kan nell'Indie''. Libretto by Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi, 1772 * ''Aurora''. Libretto by Giandomenico Boggio, 1775 * ''Achille in Sciro''. Libretto by Pietro Metastasio, revised by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi, 1785. This opera, divided into 3 acts, was premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin on January 15. * ''Demofoonte''. Libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1787. Opera in three acts premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 26 December. *
Demetrio a Rodi
'. Libretto by Giandomenico Boggio and Giuseppe Banti, 1789 * ''La Betulia Liberata''.Modern edition (ed
Pietro Dossena
of the score available from . Oratoria sacra, libretto by Pietro Metastasio. Dedicated to the

Queen of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the nea ...

. This opera was performed in 2012 by the Portuguese Symphonic Orquestra directed by Donato Renzetti, in collaboration with the musicologist Pietro Dossena.Cf
Publico
newspaper, 23/06/2012.

Chamber music

* 6 quartets for strings * 18 sonatas for violin and continuo * 6 quintets for 2 flutes (oboes), 2 corni ad lib, 2 violins, basso continuo * 6 trios for harpsichord, violin and cello * 6 sonatas for 2 violins

External links

*
Demetrio a Rodi
- on-going cooperative transcription in th
Wiki-score
platform of the score of this opera by Gaetano Pugnani.
Pugnani Kreisler: Praeludium und Allegro Violin: Guido Rimonda,Orchestra Camerata Ducale

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pugnani, Gaetano 1731 births 1798 deaths Musicians from Turin Italian Classical-period composers Italian male classical composers Italian violinists Male violinists 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians

Biography

Further reading

Operas

Chamber music

External links

References