Everything about Giovanni Battista Sammartini totally explained
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (
1700 or
1701 –
January 15,
1775) was an
Italian composer,
organist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted
Gluck among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including
Johann Christian Bach. It has also been noted that many stylizations in
Joseph Haydn's compositions are similar to those of Sammartini, although Haydn denied any such influence. Sammartini is especially associated with the formation of the
concert symphony through both the shift from a brief opera-overture style and the introduction of a new seriousness and use of thematic development that prefigure Haydn and
Mozart. Some of his works are described as
galant, a style associated with
Enlightenment ideals, while "the prevailing impression left by Sammartini's work... [isthat] he contributed greatly to the development of a Classical style that achieved its moment of greatest clarity precisely when his long, active life was approaching its end".
He is often confused with his brother,
Giuseppe, a composer with a similarly prolific output (and the same first initial).
Life
Giovanni Battista Sammartini was born to French emigrant and oboist Alexis Saint-Martin and Girolama de Federici in
Milan, in what was
Austria during most of his lifetime and
Italy today. He was the seventh of eight children. He received musical instruction from his father and wrote his first work in 1725, which was a set of vocal works (now lost). Not long after, he acquired the position of
maestro di cappella of the Congregazione in 1728.
Sammartini quickly became famous as a church composer and obtained fame outside of Italy by the 1730s. Over the course of the years, he joined many churches for work (8 or more by his death) and wrote music to be performed at state occasions and in houses of nobility. Although he never strayed far from Milan, he came into contact with many notable composers including J.C. Bach,
Mozart,
Boccherini, and Gluck, the latter of whom became his student from the years 1737 to 1741.
Sammartini’s death in 1775 was unexpected. Although he was highly regarded in his time, his music was quickly forgotten, and Sammartini wasn’t to be restudied until 1913 by researchers Fausto Torrefranca, Georges de Saint-Foix, and Gaetano Cesari. Ironically, most of his surviving works have been recovered from published editions from outside his hometown of Milan.
Innovations
Sammartini is mostly praised for his innovations in the development of the symphony, perhaps more so than the schools of thought in
Mannheim and
Vienna. His approach to symphonic composition was unique in that it drew influence from the
trio sonata and
concerto forms, in contrast to other composers during the time that modeled symphonies after the
Italian overture. His symphonies were driven by rhythm and a clearer form, especially early
sonata and
rounded binary forms. His works never ceased to be inventive, and sometimes anticipated the direction of classical music such as the
Sturm und Drang style.
Compositions
Sammartini was a prolific composer, and his compositions include 3
operas, about 70
symphonies, ten
concertos and some of the earliest
chamber music known in the history of western music. As of 2004, approximately 450 known works have been composed by Sammartini, although a fair amount of his music has been lost, especially sacred and dramatic works. Some of it may have also been lost due to publishment under other names, especially that his brother, Giuseppe. His earliest music was for liturgical use.
Sammartini's works are referred to, in publications or recordings, either by the
opus number they received in his lifetime, or by the J-C numbers they receive in the Jenkins-Churgin catalog referred to below. Newell Jenkins edited some of Sammartini's works, including a Magnificat, for the first time (he was also an editor of works by
Vivaldi,
Paisiello and Boccherini, among others).
Sammartini’s music is generally divided into three stylistic periods: the early period (1724-1739), which reflects a mixture of
Baroque and Preclassical forms, the middle period (1740-1758), which suggests Preclassical form, and the late period (1759-1774), that displays
Classical influences, including Mozart. Sammartini’s middle period is regarded as his most significant and pioneering, during which his compositions in the
galant style of music foreshadow the Classical era to come.
Known works
- Operas (3)
- Memet (1732), a drama in three acts
- The first movements of two of Sammartini’s earliest known symphonies appear as overtures
- Sonatas (over 50):
- For organ
- For cello
- For violin
- For flute
- Concertos (10):
- For cello and piccolo
- For flute
- For violin
- Symphonies (68 or more)
- Concertinos (7)
- Marches (4)
- Minuets (4)
- String quintets (6)
- Flute and string quartets (21)
- String trios (~200)
- Arias and vocal ensemble pieces (9)
- Cantatas (8)
- Sacred works (17)
Further Information
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