Bonifazio Asioli (30 April 176926 May 1832) was an Italian composer of classical and

church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...

Biography

Born in

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

, Asioli was a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

, commencing his study of music at five years of age, and having composed several

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

es and a

piano concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...

by the age of eight. By the time he was eighteen, he had composed five masses, twenty-four other works for church and theatre, and many instrumental pieces. Later Asioli became a student of Angelo Morigi. Asioli is the author of theoretical treatises on music, which were published by Ricordi in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, and also a Trio for

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

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 ...

and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

; a Duo for two voices with guitar accompaniment, published by Ricordi, and two methods for the guitar — a short one published by Ricordi and a more comprehensive work published by B. Girard & Co., of Naples. This latter work contained a diagram of the instrument and airs arranged for guitar solo. His treatise on contrabass playing, ''Elementi per il Contrabasso con una Nuova Maniera di Digitare'' (1823), developed a three-finger system which flourished in Italy in the mid-nineteenth century after it was promoted by Giuseppe Andreoli and others. In 1787, he moved from Correggio to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

where he resided for nine years. In 1796, he accompanied the Duchess Gherardini to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, 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 li ...

, where he remained until 1799. He lived in Paris in 1810 in the service of the Empress

Marie Louise Marie Louise or Marie-Louise is a French feminine given name, compound given name. In other languages, it may take one of several alternate forms: * Maria Luiza (Bulgarian, Portuguese) * Maria Luisa (Italian, Spanish) * Maria Luise (German) * Mari ...

, and remained there until the fall of the empire, when he returned to his native town.

References

External links

* * * (See

Dino Ciani Dino Ciani (16 June 1941 – 28 March 1974) was an Italian pianist. Ciani was born in Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia) and studied piano with Martha Del Vecchio in Genoa. He obtained his diploma at the Conservatory in Rome at the age of 14 and ...

.) * * * * 1769 births 1832 deaths Italian Classical-period composers 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians Italian male classical composers 18th-century Italian male writers 19th-century Italian male writers Italian classical mandolinists People from Correggio, Emilia-Romagna {{Italy-classical-musician-stub