Note 145 — Chapter XIV · HANDEL AND THE ORATORIO

Giovanni Battista Bononcini (or Buononcini), son and pupil of Giov. Maria Bononcini (maestro di capella at the cathedral of Modena, composer of chamber music, theoretician, etc.), was born about 1660 at Modena, d. about 1750. As first maestro of S. Giovanni in monte, he wrote masses and oratorios, among which are Davidde, Giosue, La Maddelena a piedi di Christro. His instrumental works include Sinfonie a 5-8 (op. 2, 1685), Sinfonie a 3 with Basso continuo (op. 3, 1686), Sinfonie a piu strumenti (op. 5), etc. In 1691 he went to Vienna, and, beginning 1694, devoted himself largely to the composition of operas (Tullo Ostilio, La fedo pubblica, Proteo sul Reno, Polifemo, etc.), produced in Rome, Vienna and Berlin, where he became court composer to Queen Sophie Charlotte (1703). Before his engagement in London he returned to Vienna and produced a number of new operas, from Tomiri (1704) to Muzio Scevola (1710). His fame was perhaps second only to Handel’s, and the direct popular appeal of his pleasing, simple melodic style fully explains the keen rivalry which ensued between the two. His London operas include Astarto (1720), Ciro, Crispo, Griselda (1722), Calpurnia (1724), and Astianatte (1727). His productivity was no less great in chamber music, of which he wrote ayres, various dance movements, divertimente da camera, and sonatas for strings and for clavecin. He fell into disrepute in England through the discovery that he had published a madrigal by Lotti as his own—strange as it may seem that his rival’s offenses in that direction passed without censure.