Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi (also ''Capucci''; 1 August 1755 – 28 March 1818) was an Italian

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 ...

ist and

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 ...

. He studied in

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 438 bridge ...

under the direction of A. Nazari (

) and F. G. Bertoni (

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

). Beginning in 1780, he was concertmaster with the orchestra at the Teatro di S. Samuele and eventually became the orchestral director at the Teatro di S. Benedetto. After his tenure at the Teatro di S. Samuele in 1805, he became orchestral director and a professor at the Bergamo Conservatory then located at the S. Maria Maggiore. Although popular in his day, most of his music is now forgotten. The most commonly performed piece today is his concerto for

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. The

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

was found in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, and was dedicated to Kavalier Marcantonio Montenigo, who is assumed to have performed on that instrument. An arrangement of the second (andante) and third (rondo)

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

of the concerto is also performed on

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

, and

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

. In addition Philip Catelinet arranged all three movements of the concerto for concert band and symphony orchestra. He performed it several times during his tenure at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. His students also performed this piece. The parts may be obtained from Barry Catelinet. Several of Capuzzi's

string quintet A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet ...

s are also performed by chamber groups. He was also a prolific composer of

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s that took place between acts of

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

and

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s. The most famous ballet was La villageoise, performed in London in 1796. His other known works include 5 operas, 11 ballets, 4 violin concertos, 18 string quartets, and other chamber music.

References

Citations

# Randel, D. M. (2003). "Capuzzi apucci Giuseppe Antonio (1 Aug. 1755, Breno - 28 Mar. 1818, Bergamo) Violinist and composer".
The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
' - via Credo Reference

Sources

External links

from Cinnabar Records * 1755 births 1818 deaths Academic staff of the Bergamo Conservatory Italian violinists Italian male violinists Italian composers Italian male composers Italian ballet composers Musicians from the Republic of Venice {{Italy-composer-stub