Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco (12 July 1675,

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

— 12 July 1742,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

) 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 def ...

, violinist, and cellist.

Life

Dall'Abaco was born in

to renowned guitarist Damiano dall'Abaco. He is thought to have been a pupil of

Torelli Torelli may refer to: People * Achille Torelli (1841–1922), Italian playwright * Alberto Torelli (born 1995), Italian football player *Alec Torelli (born 1987), American professional poker player * Alfonso Torelli (1856–1913), Italian General ...

's from whom he would have learned violin and cello. He became a violinist with

Tommaso Antonio Vitali Tomaso Antonio Vitali (7 March 1663 – 9 May 1745) was an Italian composer and violinist of the mid to late Baroque era. The eldest son of Giovanni Battista Vitali, he is chiefly known for a Chaconne in G minor for violin and continuo, to whi ...

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, and in 1704 joined the court of

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian II (11 July 1662 – 26 February 1726), also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Electorate of Bavaria, Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last governor of the Spani ...

in Munich as ''Kammermusiker''. After only a few months, he fled with the court to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

following Maximilian's defeat at the

Battle of Blenheim The Battle of Blenheim (; ; ) fought on , was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied victory ensured the safety of Vienna from the Franco-Bavarian army, thus preventing the collapse of the reconstituted G ...

. When he went into exile with the court, he spent time in France and absorbed some of the influences there. On Maximilian's restoration and return to Munich in 1715, Dall'Abaco was appointed ''Concert-meister''. He continued to compose

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

at the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

courts until 1740, when he retired. Dall'Abaco's music is especially indebted to

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

and Corelli. Dall'Abaco died on his 67th birthday. While in

, dall'Abaco fathered Joseph Abaco (1710–1805).

Published works

* Opus 1: 12 ''Sonate da Camera'', for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

violoncello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C ...

with accompaniment * Opus 2: 12 ''Concerti a quattro da Chiesa'' * Opus 3: 12 Sonate da Chiesa a tre * Opus 4: 12 Sonate da Camera a violino e violoncello * Opus 5 & 6: Concerti a piu Instrumenti

External links

* *
Spotify

References

1675 births 1742 deaths Musicians from the Republic of Venice Emigrants from the Republic of Venice Immigrants to the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian violinists 18th-century Italian male musicians Italian Baroque composers Italian male classical composers Italian cellists Italian male violinists Musicians from Verona {{Italy-composer-stub