Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, Vivaldi ranks amongst the greatest Baroque composers and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form into a widely accepted and followed idiom.
Giulio Cesare in Egitto, commonly known as Giulio Cesare, is a dramma per musica in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1724. The libretto was written by Nicola Francesco Haym who used an earlier libretto by Giacomo Francesco Bussani, which had been set to music by Antonio Sartorio (1676). The opera was a success at its first performances, was frequently revived by Handel in his subsequent opera seasons and is now one of the most often performed Baroque operas.
Giovanni Bononcini was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers. He was a rival to George Frederic Handel.
Antonio Caldara was an Italian Baroque composer.
The year 1718 in music involved some significant events.
The year 1716 in music involved some significant events.
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli was an Italian composer, chiefly of opera.
Tolomeo, re d'Egitto is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's Tolomeo et Alessandro. It was Handel's 13th and last opera for the Royal Academy of Music (1719) and was also the last of the operas he composed for the triumvirate of internationally renowned singers, the castrato Senesino and the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni.
Antonio Maria Bononcini was an Italian cellist and composer, the younger brother of the better-known Giovanni Bononcini.
Giovanni Maria Bononcini was an Italian violinist and composer, the father of a musical dynasty.
Muzio Scevola is an opera seria in three acts about Gaius Mucius Scaevola. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli, adapted from a text by Silvio Stampiglia. The music for the first act was composed by Filippo Amadei, the second act by Giovanni Bononcini, and the third by George Frideric Handel. Collaborations of groups of composers were common in the 18th century, though this is the only one done in London. Bononcini had written the music for two earlier treatments of this story on his own, works dating from 1695 and 1710.
Attilio Malachia Ariosti was a Servite Friar and Italian composer in the Baroque style. He produced more than 30 operas and oratorios, numerous cantatas and instrumental works.
Giacomo Facco was an Italian Baroque violinist, conductor and composer. One of the most famous Italian composers of his day, he was completely forgotten until 1962, when his work was discovered by composer, conductor, and musicologist Uberto Zanolli.
Antonio Salvi was an Italian physician, court poet and librettist, active mainly in Florence, Italy. He was in the service of the grand-ducal court of Tuscany and the favourite librettist of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici. Salvi was one of the developers of the opera seria.
Geminiano Giacomelli was an Italian composer.
Andrea Adolfati was an Italian composer who is particularly remembered for his output in the opera seria genre. His works are generally conventional and stylistically similar to the operas of his teacher Baldassare Galuppi. Although his music largely followed the fashion of his time, he did compose two tunes with unusual time signatures for his day: an air in 5
4 meter and another in 7
4 meter.
Francesco Bartolomeo Conti was an Italian composer and player of the mandolin and theorbo. He also wrote the oldest mandolin method book that has survived.
Luca Antonio Predieri was an Italian composer and violinist. A member of a prominent family of musicians, Predieri was born in Bologna and was active there from 1704. In 1737 he moved to Vienna, eventually becoming Kapellmeister to the imperial Habsburg court in 1741, a post he held for ten years. In 1765 he returned to his native city where he died two years later at the age of 78. A prolific opera composer, he was also known for his sacred music and oratorios. Although his operas were largely forgotten by the end of his own lifetime and most of their scores lost, individual arias as well some of his sacred music are still performed and recorded.
Romina Basso is an Italian mezzo-soprano with an extensive discography of baroque opera recordings. She is particularly noted for her performances of Vivaldi.
"Va tacito e nascosto" is an aria written for alto castrato voice in act 1 of George Frideric Handel's opera Giulio Cesare in Egitto, composed in 1724 to a libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym. Sung by the character Julius Caesar, it features extensive solos for natural horn.
