GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
A musical genius who left an indelible mark on history, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi pioneered a new way
of making music, paving the way for the revolution of opera buffa
He was born in Jesi on January 4, 1710. The nickname Pergolesi came from his grandfather Francesco, a craftsman originally from Pergola who moved to Jesi in 1635. He soon showed a natural talent for music, taking his first lessons from Francesco Santi, director of the Cathedral Chapel. Thanks to the patronage of Marquis Cardolo Maria Pianetti, he was admitted to the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo in Naples, where he studied for five years.
He gained European fame with “La serva padrona“, an intermezzo from the opera “Il prigionier superbo“ (1733), which gave rise to Italian opera buffa and French comic opera, becoming an unmatched model of the genre. Among his other works are the musical comedy “Lo frate ’nnammurato“ (1732) and “Livietta e Tracollo“, another intermezzo from “Adriano in Siria“ (1734). After moving to Rome in 1734, he composed the opera “L’Olimpiade“, performed in January 1735 on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, and considered the most perfect of his serious works.
Returning to Naples, Pergolesi composed “Flaminio“; a drama. As his health worsened—likely due to tuberculosis—he moved to Pozzuoli to be treated in a Franciscan convent. There, in the final months of his life, he composed his sacred masterpiece, the “Stabat Mater“ (1736). Pergolesi died at just 26 on March 16, 1736, in the Capuchin convent, and was buried among the poor in a common grave in the cathedral of Pozzuoli.
For further study
Pergolesi-Spontini Foundation
promotes musicological research on the great composer
